I just compared them and agree (almost) entirely. In particular, I thought in the boat scene the key word being “trust” rather than “faith” was much better (“faith” isn’t wrong, but the religious connotation is a little much).
I'll clarify the choice of faith over trust. The original word in Japanese (信頼) can mean both. But in the context of what Sayaka was literally saying "that you would remain the you that I love. It's an expression of faith/trust, I think," what she meant was that she could only hope that Touko would still remain being the person she loves even if she was to change. What Sayaka was hoping for is a lot more arbitrary since in the context of what she was saying, Touko could change for better or for worse and that's kinda out of both of their controls. In that light, we thought that faith conveys that idea better than trust. But yeah, it just comes down to preference and phrasing.
You’ll have this when there’s so much overlap in the denotation, and the sense works either way. For me, as I said, “faith” is used so extensively in religious contexts that it carries a bit of weight in a divergent direction that “trust” doesn’t.
In any case, Sayaka’s telling Touko the main thing she has long needed to hear (I’ve been shouting it from the rooftops at Touko like forever, but would Miss Princess listen to me? Noooo—but let Sayaka say it and suddenly she sees the light): people are inevitably going to change, but loving someone means that you anticipate (trust/have faith) that those changes won’t fundamentally change your feelings.
(I am on record in this very forum saying that a person may change in such a way that you like them even better than before. You can look it up.)
And if I should discover that my beloved partner is actually a serial killer, I can tell you right now: we’re done.
Probably. Unless there were good reasons. I’ll listen, at least. Because that’s love.
