@ klice : the grandfather’s quote from volume 1 is in fact a mistranslation. A japanese speaking anon on /u told that the japanese meant something like « you are free to do what you want for a time ». The grandfather seems to give a limited free time to Mei but also reminded her that she’ll have soon to be back to follow her duty.

Anyway, i think he lets her choose but at the same time she feels obligated to do so because she’s thankful to him. A part of him probably knows that she’s cannot dare reject it because she places following her family wishes above everything else.

Like Mei, the grandfather seems conflicted between Mei’s hapiness and the need to assure bloodline for business. Nothing is black or white here, and i like that the chapter 35 shows how different characters like the manager, Mei and the grandfather have to attune their dilemna.

I went back and read all the chapters up to this point again and it really makes a difference when there's no month gap in between chapters. At first I was really annoyed seeing Mei getting dragged off into another love triangle-like arc but the way this chapter played out really got me to change my mind, especially after seeing Mei break down for the first time. This time Mei isn't just letting whoever drag her around anymore -- or at least, she wants to stop it from happening but can't bring herself to do it which is very different from the way things have gone in the past.

I don't think Mei has ever been a completely cold-hearted person on the inside, and I'm glad Yuzu has managed to get that part of her to nearly disappear. Otherwise Mei wouldn't have continually let Yuzu come to school in her getup, hang out after school every day, and I'm sure if it hadn't been for Harumin's sister showing up Mei would have let Nene run around with her blonde hair.

I wonder if she's just doing what grandpa wants because he's getting worse and she just wants to repay him for pretty much raising her before he passes away. The old Mei would have just gone with the plan but now that she's fallen in love with Yuzu it's a fight between choosing her pride or her heart and she doesn't really have anyone who isn't Yuzu to ask for advice.

As for the anime I think it's done such an amazing job at adapting the manga, I'm almost blown away I really thought it was gonna be all sorts of screwed up. But because it's doing such a perfect adaptation I'm a little worried the later episodes will be rushed.

I wonder if she's just doing what grandpa wants because he's getting worse and she just wants to repay him for pretty much raising her before he passes away.

Excpet he didn't raise her, after her dad left she continued to live in their own home by herself. She doesnt even know her own grandfather that well, which makes this whole deal with her wanting to inherit the school more peculiar.

I wonder if she's just doing what grandpa wants because he's getting worse and she just wants to repay him for pretty much raising her before he passes away. The old Mei would have just gone with the plan but now that she's fallen in love with Yuzu it's a fight between choosing her pride or her heart and she doesn't really have anyone who isn't Yuzu to ask for advice.

That is pretty much her motivation, yeah.

Except he didn't raise her, after her dad left she continued to live in their own home by herself. She doesn't even know her own grandfather that well, which makes this whole deal with her wanting to inherit the school more peculiar.

He still made sure all of her needs were taken of and he had daily contact with her at school. That alone makes him a bigger influence on her life than Shou.

Lol, no to your no, Cannibal, I actually spent a decent amount of time in Japan, courtesy of my aunt who lived there for 9 years, and I happen to move mostly in those circles. My opinion was formed on the basis of what I observed, but I guess that pales in comparison to your ability to google stuff (if you even did that much, because honestly, at this point it is obvious you are peddling what you think upper classes are like for facts). Adoption was common for the aristocracy, marrying into the wife's family is common now, in cases where a particular bloodline faces extinction.
This is a country that prides itself in the continuity of its bloodlines, how do you think they managed to keep the same family on the throne for over two and a half millennia? By pure male primogeniture? Look up basically any of their aristocratic families of old, even a cursory reading will tell you that what you are saying is bullshit. Modern business magnates are not much different, and often they also are the descendants of that same aristocracy.

Again, you have no idea what you are talking about, if the family is prestigious enough, potential male fiances would be more than available. Shocking, I know, but the upper classes do not work as often depicted in fiction.

And there is absolutely no indication that would happen here seeing the previous teacher plotting to steal everything away from Mei and run off with his mistress. Clearly showing that the husband isn't in it for the long run.

Actually, he was not plotting to steal and run off. He was just talking about having money and prestige befit of his new position (again, clear indication they intended to make him an Aihara, this is something you just flat out refuse to accept, some families would be fucking ecstatic about this, especially if they are trading in one of their younger sons). It would be somewhat difficult to maintain his new position in society if the first thing he would do was run off with a mistress.
If you actually bothered to read, you would have realised he was talking about being married into money and position, and he would maintain his mistress on the side. He expressly stated the best he would do for Mei is "treat her nicely". Basically, he envisioned a cold marriage, not a get-the-money-then-run scenario. The two years he is talking about ("play the love game for two years") is the facade he intended to maintain until the marriage took place, which would probably be after Mei graduated, hence the wait. After that, the "most I'll do is treat her nicely" would kick in, and the marriage would basically be a formality for him from that point onward.

Also, you are reading it as though the grandfather knew what kind of a bastard the teacher was. The teacher was putting up a facade, I have no doubt whatsoever that his behaviour was impeccable when in public, or in grandfather's presence.

How is he a piece of shit?

This chapter and the exchange at the hospital shows that he is a stern but reasonable man. And read his dialogue, he express regret over having to push the responsibility to Mei, he acknowledges that the school has grown beyond the Aihara family. He is not perfect by any means but he's doing his best.

You are wasting your breath, once Cannibal forms an opinion, it is beyond any discussion. Which is why almost no one bothers anymore.
What do we know about the grandfather? He values the family legacy. He values the continuous good running of the academy. He expects of his descendants to carry the torch. He is disappointed his son abandoned that duty. He expects of Mei to carry it instead. He is arranging prospective husbands for her to meet. Nothing out of the ordinary for an upper class family. He is not being a total controlling dick about it. Mei actually has more freedom than a typical heiress in her place would. Her social contacts are not monitored, her free time is for her to spend it however she chooses, and she actually has a surprising amount of free time, given her responsibilities. As these things go, she actually has a lot of freedom.

At the same time (and these are the things Cannibal wilfully ignores), Mei genuinely cares about the family legacy (that is the whole point, without that, her inner struggle would not fucking exist), she willingly goes along with grandfather's plans (even though her heart is not fully in it), she never objects, and she clearly loves the old man.
Fact is, upper classes do not live the same as lower classes, you can not judge them by the same standards, it is more than just obligation to some abstract idea, there are real, tangible responsibilities here. In this specific case, to the entire staff and student body of the academy.

Since Cannibal is all into reading things in the worst possible light, let us do that here as well. Mei chooses Yuzu, announces their relationship publicly, at which point, grandfather's opinion does not actually matter any more. For reasons I stated in one of my previous posts, Mei would not inherit the position. The academy goes, after the old man dies, to another family. They decide to drastically re-arrange the classes. Standards plummet, enrolment as well, the income dries up, and the whole thing is sold for scrap. Sorry, teaching staff, off to the job market with you. Sorry students, exemplary academic records we could have offered you here are unavailable. I know the upper classes are stereotypically viewed as useless leeches, and there are indeed many who genuinely are like that, but just as often, there is real responsibility attached to positions, and some (Mei obviously falls into this category) take that to heart.

My point is that Grandpa seems like he would rather let Mei take over with no need of a marriage but external factors like Mei's age and yes, her gender force their hand to find a suitor if only to validate Mei's claim over the school.

Those factors probably do play a role (especially the age, more so than the gender in this case, in my opinion, after all they are talking about CEO position, and Mei is not even out of high school yet), I agree, but I also maintain that the continuation of the line is probably a notable factor as well. After all, both Mei and the grandfather are always on about the Aihara legacy. In Japan, longevity of prestigious families is quite important, always has been. And in practical terms, it is the best way to ensure the academy continues to operate as exemplary as it did before.

There is also one more detail that supports the theory about grandfather actually being mindful of his granddaughter's eventual position at the head of the household, and that is the fact he specifically brings up the prospective fiance's calmness and gentleness, as well as experience in management, but also stresses the fact these will be helpful to Mei in her heavy responsibilities. If this would play out as it usually does in real life, he will be given one of the executive positions, but Mei would be the CEO, and their future son (preferably) would then one day take over.

---

Fuck, by the time I wrote this and had dinner, so much more crap was added, I just do not have the energy to address it all. Nor is there any point in doing so. "A rose by any other name"? "High class prostitution"?? Will you shut the fuck up, you fucking piece of shit, my family engaged in those for generations, and is still doing it now, DO YOU EVEN FUCKING KNOW ANYONE WHO ACTUALLY IS IN AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE????? Newsflash, the world does not fucking work like you fucking imagine it! All this crap about the grandfather, selling Mei as a piece of meat, high class prostitution, these are ALL just your fucking opinions on something you look at as a fucking outsider, and you are looking at it IN FUCKING FICTION AT THAT! I am not saying it is all fucking sunshine and rainbows, but it is also not the fucking things you are peddling here. It is the same fucking story with you every fucking time, Izetta, Yuzumori, now this. You selectively choose parts of the canon, interpret them in a cartoonishly simplistic way, disregard any piece of actual canon that contradicts your interpretation, form these strong opinions, which you then mistake for facts. You dislike the grandfather, I get it. I myself do not actually like him, but I can see where he is coming from. But you then make a mountain out of this dislike, and suddenly he is a cold-hearted bastard who is whoring away his granddaughter. Do you even fucking read what you write, like, ever?? And then your comically stereotypical views on the upper classes kick in, and it is suddenly a fucking high class prostitution. Fuck you. I am done with this crap. Gods, I am an idiot as well. I knew where discussing anything with you leads, and I allow myself to fall for it anyway.

Uranus that just sounds even worse to me than what cannibal said the whole arrange marriage thing ^

last edited at Jan 26, 2018 5:39PM

Uranus that just sounds even worse to me than what cannibal said the whole arrange marriage thing ^

Not when he unironically calls it high class prostitution, there is no way in hell I am going to take that as anything other than personal, it shows not only an otherwise comical level of ignorance, but it basically casts an entire class of people as nothing but disposable meat, fucking sold to the highest bidder. It is not all sunshine and rainbows, but it is also not the crap he is pushing, and I am sick of it.

HEY EVERYONE, LET'S GUESS HOW MANY MORE POSTS THIS MUTUAL PISSING MATCH BETWEEN CANNIBAL AND URANUS IS GOING TO GO ON

My vote is zero. Who's with me?

I already said I am done with it, so I guess I am with you. It was a discussion on my part, until I read what he posted while I was typing, and I got livid. Apologies, should have controlled myself.

Don't worry about it. After all the ridiculous stuff this thread has attracted since it started, letting go and just moving forward is move valuable than any apology could be.

The thread is more dramatic than the manga itself lol

My vote is zero. Who's with me?

Oh, wrong again...

He still made sure all of her needs were taken of and he had daily contact with her at school. That alone makes him a bigger influence on her life than Shou.

Awesome, doesn't mean he raised her. She even said herself that she doesn't know him that well.

Lol, no to your no, Cannibal, I actually spent a decent amount of time in Japan, courtesy of my aunt who lived there for 9 years, and I happen to move mostly in those circles. My opinion was formed on the basis of what I observed, but I guess that pales in comparison to your ability to google stuff (if you even did that much, because honestly, at this point it is obvious you are peddling what you think upper classes are like for facts). Adoption was common for the aristocracy, marrying into the wife's family is common now, in cases where a particular bloodline faces extinction.

Haha what a fucking joke. My aunt lived in Alaska for 20 years, doesn't mean I know shit about the Inuits. What a shit stance to take. You have no actual data to back up any of the bullshit you're spilling, especially when it has absolutely no basis in the manga. Remember, your whole name change shit started because you are trying to cover up a plot hole.

Actually, he was not plotting to steal and run off. He was just talking about having money and prestige befit of his new position. It would be somewhat difficult to maintain his new position in society if the first thing he would do was run off with a mistress.
If you actually bothered to read, you would have realised he was talking about being married into money and position, and he would maintain his mistress on the side. He expressly stated the best he would do for Mei is "treat her nicely". Basically, he envisioned a cold marriage, not a get-the-money-then-run scenario. The two years he is talking about ("play the love game for two years") is the facade he intended to maintain until the marriage took place, which would probably be after Mei graduated, hence the wait. After that, the "most I'll do is treat her nicely" would kick in, and the marriage would basically be a formality for him from that point onward.

Oh, I'm reading it. Where does he say that the woman is his mistress that he intends to keep to the side? It doesn't, even tells the woman he loves her. She is in on the whole thing, she isn't some mistress, she is his lover that he will run off to once he has the money in his hands.

"play the love game for two years." - The marriage has already been decided, there is no reason to play the love game. It's an arranged marriage, no love required. Mei has already been sold off, the teacher is talking about how long he has to wait before he can run off.

I just love how you are adding your own little interpretations to the story because you know that what is presented is just dramatic trash that wasn't fully thought out.

You are wasting your breath, once Cannibal forms an opinion, it is beyond any discussion. Which is why almost no one bothers anymore

Ironic, I wont change my opinion and you wont change yours. Once you formed an opinion it's beyond discussion. You will even make shit up to try to justify it.

He is not being a total controlling dick about it.

So Mei didn't ball up into a corner and cry her eyes out because her grandfather is forcing her to marry someone else in order to save the school from something that has never been mentioned once before? Aight.

For reasons I stated in one of my previous posts, Mei would not inherit the position. The academy goes, after the old man dies, to another family. They decide to drastically re-arrange the classes. Standards plummet, enrolment as well, the income dries up, and the whole thing is sold for scrap. Sorry, teaching staff, off to the job market with you. Sorry students, exemplary academic records we could have offered you here are unavailable. I know the upper classes are stereotypically viewed as useless leeches, and there are indeed many who genuinely are like that, but just as often, there is real responsibility attached to positions, and some (Mei obviously falls into this category) take that to heart.

There is a difference between reading the worst in what we are presented, there is another to making up complete bullshit like you are. The school isn't in danger of any of that. Even if it were sold off to another family there is absolutely no reason to believe that it would fall into disarray. It's not like this is the only high class school in Japan. That's just you injecting your own reasons to justify melodrama, not actually looking at what we are given. And again, ironic that you are portraying the next owners as "useless leeches".

There is also one more detail that supports the theory about grandfather actually being mindful of his granddaughter's eventual position at the head of the household, and that is the fact he specifically brings up the prospective fiance's calmness and gentleness, as well as experience in management, but also stresses the fact these will be helpful to Mei in her heavy responsibilities. If this would play out as it usually does in real life, he will be given one of the executive positions, but Mei would be the CEO, and their future son (preferably) would then one day take over.

Except for the whole engaging her to a useless leech who was going to abuse her... I guess you forget that part when its convenient. The grandpa has shown multiple times not to give a shit and yet you wipe it from your memory when necessary.

"A rose by any other name"? "High class prostitution"?? Will you shut the fuck up, you fucking piece of shit, my family engaged in those for generations, and is still doing it now, DO YOU EVEN FUCKING KNOW ANYONE WHO ACTUALLY IS IN AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE????? Newsflash, the world does not fucking work like you fucking imagine it! All this crap about the grandfather, selling Mei as a piece of meat, high class prostitution, these are ALL just your fucking opinions on something you look at as a fucking outsider, and you are looking at it IN FUCKING FICTION AT THAT! I am not saying it is all fucking sunshine and rainbows, but it is also not the fucking things you are peddling here. It is the same fucking story with you every fucking time, Izetta, Yuzumori, now this. You selectively choose parts of the canon, interpret them in a cartoonishly simplistic way, disregard any piece of actual canon that contradicts your interpretation, form these strong opinions, which you then mistake for facts. You dislike the grandfather, I get it. I myself do not actually like him, but I can see where he is coming from. But you then make a mountain out of this dislike, and suddenly he is a cold-hearted bastard who is whoring away his granddaughter. Do you even fucking read what you write, like, ever?? And then your comically stereotypical views on the upper classes kick in, and it is suddenly a fucking high class prostitution. Fuck you. I am done with this crap. Gods, I am an idiot as well. I knew where discussing anything with you leads, and I allow myself to fall for it anyway.

Congrats, it seems you have descended from a family of prostitutes, the least you can do is give them the respect they deserve and recognize the sacrifice they went through. Sorry the truth hit you a little too hard across the face. I thought it was pretty common knowledge that arranged marriages are just high class prostitution where families sold off their daughters and sons for political gain. These aren't opinions, it's the definitions. Families are selling off their child's chastity for political or monetary gain, it's prostitution simple as that. And just because a large portion of the world is fine with this type of prostitution doesn't make it not do.

If you want to get personal you go right ahead, show how thin skinned you are. You can't even discuss fiction without bringing your own family problems into this.

I don't selectively choose parts of the canon and ignore others, I look at the canon as a whole. I see what we are actually presented and take it at face value. You on the other hand inject your own imagination to fill in the blanks and act like they are facts. You do this every time. Your own imagination seems to be more canon for you than what you actually read on the screen. And yes, bring up Izetta and Yuzumori, I would love to explain to you over and over again how bad your comprehensions skills continue to be.

The fact is that gramps is whoring Mei out. He takes her out, shows her off like a piece of meat, and is giving her away to anyone who can give him what he wants. That is exactly what is happening and you want to cover your eyes and deny it because the same prostitution culture seems to be ingrained in your own family, you don't want to face the reality of it all.

last edited at Jan 26, 2018 11:17PM

Not enough facepalm in the world...

Oh man, Cannibal is stroking his/her own ego again, in yet another manga?! Boy oh boy, how did I missed this?!

Comparison between manga and anime of episode 3

https://imgur.com/a/LV3px

Man I can't believe what an incredible downgrade this is. I mean, in the anime everybody seems completely nuanced and there's like two expressions in everybody's faces: Barely worried and barely content.

Like, I know we give a lot of shit to Mei about being stoic and all, but in the manga she was worried about her grandfather. In the anime is like "My grandfather is in the hospital? Oh no, I guess"

Oh man, Cannibal is stroking his/her own ego again, in yet another manga?! Boy oh boy, how did I missed this?!

How about you just stick to the dank loli memes in Yuzumori if you don't want to actually add anything.

Oh man, Cannibal is stroking his/her own ego again, in yet another manga?! Boy oh boy, how did I missed this?!

How about you just stick to the dank loli memes in Yuzumori if you don't want to actually add anything.

Nah, I rather keep making fun of you and your pathological need to appear as the intellectual superior of the bunch in a debate about fictional characters in fictional settings, as if you were educating us by being all condescending and stuff

But thanks for your concern

Nah, I rather keep making fun of you and your pathological need to appear as the intellectual superior of the bunch in a debate about fictional characters in fictional settings, as if you were educating us by being all condescending and stuff

Just dripping in irony, arentcha? Sorry that you can't defend against the points I made and instead go for the pathetic ad hominem. Sorry to break it to you, but sometimes garbage that you like gets called out for being garbage. Either try your best to defend yoir opinion or accept that your opinion isnt well thought out.

Either try your best to defend yoir opinion or accept that your opinion isnt well thought out.

Oh you think this is about the manga? OH right

No pal, this is about you. And how full of yourself are you. I don't give three square miles of shit what point are you making right now. I just find your crusade to prove yourself right and everybody else wrong to be absolutely fucking annoying.

You make spectacular points from time to time. As a matter of fact I usually agree with you in the overall comments on yuzumori. But then you name it your personal mission to demonstrate how stupid and garbage is any particular manga you're commenting on and how stupid does that make anyone who likes it.

And that's where the problem is. You seem to have this inch to prove everything you said right. You don't care about discussion. You care about winning an argument.

And, looking by the general response to your comments, it seems to be getting pretty fucking old really quickly.

Want to have an intelligent discussion? Drope the condescending tone and maybe people would be interested in debating you like intelligent people.

Until then, idk man, just don't be surprised if we take it personal

Well essentially ALL relationships are prostitution then, as they are ALL about exchanging something for something else, including sex.
And in the end "arranged" is simply one method for "meeting" someone else. And in the end it doesn't matter how you meet others, it's how you treat them after you meet them that counts.

Certainly an arranged marriage where the participants have no say in the matter would be a type of abuse akin to kidnapping, but from what I know or have heard about it the participants in an "arranged" marriage do get to decide if they want to go ahead with the "arrangement".

I mean the grandfather is deeply flawed but the discourse here is overly categorical. It may seem illogical for Mei to act the way she does, but the simple fact is people usually don't act in a logical manner regarding matters of emotion. People have explained why they feel Mei's behavior can be understood and why the grandfather's behavior may not be solely out of malice or greed. It's perfectly fine for you disagree, but you can't see every story you read as only having one possible interpretation. And if you insist that others must do so, you'll drive everyone crazy

last edited at Jan 27, 2018 6:27AM

Oiiiiii...

Gramps gave the teacher the okay to eventually bang Mei, he did not such thing for Yuzu.

Because that's where our opinions differ. He didn't gave the okay to the professor to bang Mei before their marriage, the expression consuming a marriage isn't there for anything, nor is the notion of virginity as a sense of purity and worth. But since you seem to consider arranged marriage as the work of Satan Himself, I guess you'll make everything that happened in this context okay, so it's useless to argue about it.

Besides, last time I checked age of consent in Japan ranges between 16 and 18 without parental approval.

There's a difference between morals and the laws, even if they do overlap.

You would have to be a complete moron to believe the two are not connected, do you think the students and their parents of the prestige academy are really that stupid?

You don't understand, it's public image, not literal truth. Obviously everybody at school understood that, but the general public doesn't know, so the official story is still that nothing happened and nobody will spill the beans. It just becomes a secret or a rumour of the school, not what happened in the records. Public order is paramount in Japan.

He left to go travel the world because he couldn't handle the pressure and responsibility put on him, it was even enough to have him abandon his own daughter.

That's not the father directly putting pressure on the son, it's just the situation of the school and the society they are in. After all, the son was free to leave everything behind and ruin his daughter's sense of self to indulge himself on his quest for enlightenment. I don't think he could have if the grandpa was the manipulating devil tyrant you paint him to be.

Yes, a social encounter to present his granddaughter like a pristine mare ready for breeding.

Public image and stuff. It's not because you make everything to succeed in a job interview or a business meeting that you have to accept the deal even if things turn out well, but you still have to uphold your own reputation and image. And be respectable, that's standard etiquette.

Spent the minimal amount of money doing a background check on the dude. Yuzu found out everything in only a couple of days. Gramps is suppose to be filthy rich, yet couldn't afford a PI to make sure his granddaughter wasn't marrying a scumbag.

Maybe the scumbag was smart enough to hide everything, maybe he appeared as somebody respectable. Public image is a thing in Japan, I suppose it would be rude to dispute somebody's word without concrete stuff. Perhaps he was somebody the grandpa knew to be respectable and trusted him without knowing everything about him, since he trusted him to work in his school before that.

No, he clearly doesn't care about his family since he already engaged his daughter to an abusive creep who was going to rob her. Why do you want to gloss over this fact?

Because he didn't know. Why can't you understand that?

He can tell his granddaughter whatever he likes, fact is that she didn't going to meeting by herself.

She is accepting it, it's for her own goal which is inheriting the school. If she said no, she probably wouldn't have to go.

He was the one who set it up, he was the one who picked her up, escorted her, told her everything she needed to know about the dude she might marry.

He is the one arranging the meeting, this isn't for a love marriage (that stuff is for the poor). And what would you have preferred? That he left her completely in the dark and say again "okay you'll have to marry this dude, deal with it" and just dragged her with him? Yeah, maybe something along "that's already what he's doing" or "he shouldn't have forced her (which he did not) and let her do whatever she likes with her life (what he asked her to do)"; it's not his fault if his granddaughter is still willing (atm) to go along with all this stuff for the school and her family's sake.

And then Mei goes and cries in the corner when everything is all said and done, because grandpa is a prick that is ruining his family's lives.

Because Mei is torn between following her life goals and following her love life with her step-sister; two things which aren't compatible, that's the core of the story right now. Grandpa's not ruining anything, only Mei's making herself cry at this moment, she would just have to leave like Shou and everything would be over; what would probably happen, unless she manages to make her love life with Yuzu continue on the side of her marriage, or inherit the school without marriage which is a possibility but I'd have a hard time understanding it given the social context.

Yes, and in the fine print it seems like inheriting the school requires being sold like a piece of meat.

As long as you keep trying to apply your own individualistic and idealistic views of how a life should be spent on this situation, you won't be able to understand why she has to marry a man and build a family to run her grandpa's school, and why the grandpa has to be the one organising it. Hate the game, not the player, as they say.

Who the fuck care about the family living on if no one in the family is happy?

That's the problem right there. Being happy doesn't bring you any money, any power, any prestige. That's where your point of view clashes with the point of view of Mei (and her grandpa's, and Tywin's) about the school. You put the individual's happiness above all, Japanese (or rich people) put the group and society above the individual. There is a thing called duty, working for something above yourself and your own happiness.

Grandpa's constructed something that gives his family money and power, and he wants the thing he has constructed to continue so his heirs would have the same advantages : he wants to build legacy. Something concrete that matters in society, not something fickle like individual enjoyment that ends when you die or when you stop actually enjoying it.

About the bad example, I said he was bastard, but that his point of view on the family's legacy made sense, meaning individual quarrels, preference or whatever don't matter over time. Giving an example that he was a cruel bastard is useless, since I already admitted it and I'm not comparing Grandpa to him, anyway. And he's talking about the family as a name, a legacy almost as company, not the traditional family with a mother and a father.

---

@ klice : the grandfather’s quote from volume 1 is in fact a mistranslation. A japanese speaking anon on /u told that the japanese meant something like « you are free to do what you want for a time ». The grandfather seems to give a limited free time to Mei but also reminded her that she’ll have soon to be back to follow her duty.

Ah well, I don't have the French translation next to me (I'd guess they translated from English, probably), but after three sources telling the exact same thing, I'd have thought it was a valid translation. However, I don't know about the legitimacy of our dear anon, but that doesn't change the fact that he cares for her to some degree in my mind.

Anyway, i think he lets her choose but at the same time she feels obligated to do so because she’s thankful to him. A part of him probably knows that she’s cannot dare reject it because she places following her family wishes above everything else.

Like Mei, the grandfather seems conflicted between Mei’s hapiness and the need to assure bloodline for business. Nothing is black or white here, and i like that the chapter 35 shows how different characters like
the manager, Mei and the grandfather have to attune their dilemna.

This is what I'm trying to convey without managing to succeed, apparently. Mei is still a willing participant, so for the grandpa that means that's what she wants and he can respect that even if it would pain him to see her hurt.

---

And in the end it doesn't matter how you meet others, it's how you treat them after you meet them that counts.

QFT.

last edited at Jan 27, 2018 12:22PM

I wonder how it will be solved. Because I cannot imagine Mei choosing to let down her family, she's so proud of it. A simple rejection of the engagement would totally be out of character even though it is what we want to have our happy ending. So, I try to find how Saburouta could assure a happy future for Mei and Yuzu together without making Aihara legacy crumbles, which would be something that will break Mei no matter what.

Of course, there is Shou coming back as a trump card, but that doesn't solve the problem of the heir. He would need to have another child which is totally impossible if we don't want to add complications. And imagining that the happy end would be Yuzu being Mei's secret mistress is to be excluded. Yuzu's nindo, life's conception is to live without hiding who she is, without barrier so she wouldn't agree.

last edited at Jan 27, 2018 10:27AM

He would need to have another child which is totally impossible if we don't want to add complications.

I don't know Yuzu's mother age, but why not make her and Shou finally fall in love and give Mei and Yuzu a little brother? Mei would still have to forget her goals... Or she could act as an intendant for the time he comes of age and still run the school from the shadow afterwards!

And imagining that the happy end would be Yuzu being Mei's secret mistress is to be excluded. Yuzu's nindo, life's conception is to live without hiding who she is, without barrier so she wouldn't agree.

On that, I completely agree, even if it would look like the perfect compromise considering Mei's goals.

last edited at Jan 27, 2018 10:34AM

Usually, Saburouta creates a big drama that seems to expands to the point we feel everything will go to hell and she solves it very easily in an undramatic way.
Anyway, the problem is to find a way to maintain Aihara bloodline.

I will add that two characters foreshadowed maybe Mei's decision. Sho told in chapter 7 that Mei will understand she has to find her own path, meaning pursue her happiness, and Shiraho almost said the same thing in chapter 33. Too much echoes to be a coincidence on the plot's future.

Edit : i cannot imagine Mei taking the school as it is and maintaining the toxic rules there (toxic from an individualistic point of you), with all these girls attending it to be perfect heir to their family and being engaged in marriage without love. And at the same time, being with Yuzu. Or, the only way for her to be the school headmistress and living with Yuzu would be to revolution the school. I wonder if it's possible in regard to Japanese social conventions even in a fictional world.

last edited at Jan 27, 2018 1:12PM