@Sunnyskies posted:
Kotooka is really damn good at self-destructing.
She's the human incarnation of a trainwreck.
I agree. She is self destructive, but I find this quality in her refreshing, actually.
I was kind of in the "rolling my eyes" spot when she was being built up as the character feel sorry for and the fans collapsed into her wagon. I mean, it's fine, expected, but...expected is boring to me. That said...the author hasn't yet given us many options because even though Shiratori seems to be the primary protagonist, Kotooka is the most complex character at this point. She's the most interesting character right now, but I hope ...the author develops all three girls more.
Lots of teenager--and just people, in general--are like Kotooka. Hide behind boyfriends, etc., to cover up personal insecurities. There are much more cliché ways of portraying a Kotooka-like character, so I'm still happy with the development of her character portrait. (I'm thinking that the span of time covered is still short, so from chapter-to-chapter we're getting a better sense of who she is and not so much seeing growth in her character, yet.)
As for the chapter, I enjoyed reading it with multiple lenses, with reader knowledge versus Kotooka's knowledge versus Shiratori, etc. The disparate knowledge gives us a very concrete means of evaluating character's reactions differently. In short, I'm enjoying the author's exaggerated?? focus on incomplete knowledge. For example, when we see the half-smile on Washio's face at advising Kotooka, it carries much more meaning (for us readers) than the last time we saw that expression.
Content wise, I'm with a number of other folks in that I have no sympathy for public outing. If she really wanted to help them, she could talk to Washio and Shiratori individually, but she was near to just giving into her own sense of frustration.
Another thought about the Washio advice sequence: It was kind of off putting. I'm with Kotooka on that one. She didn't ask Washio to save anything. A bit presumptuous. I don't know if the author is intentionally giving Washio a bit of a hero-complex flaw or something. Maybe not, given how people seem to be reacting to Kotooka in this chapter. I still see Washio as an unknown, but I'd like to play a bit of devil's advocate and say that Kotooka's not the only one with room to grow here.