Sweet story. But yeah, what happened to mom? And did Konatsu not have any friends in Tokyo?
Kind of feels like excessive angst recently given the lack of actual 'text'.
Going by how Konatsu imagines the salamander suggesting she lay low and just try to fit into her class if she didn't want to feel lonely in the first chapter, it's likely that's what she also did before in Tokyo and that she just had some shallow friendships with classmates, none of which deep enough for her to stay in touch with them after moving to Ehime. She definitely never had anyone she connected with on the level of Koyuki, which is made pretty clear by how hurt she was by seeing her hang out alone with Kaede despite Kaede also being her friend. So if she moves back to Tokyo now, she feels like she's going to lose something irreplaceable as it's not simply a matter of making more friends or reconnecting with the ones she had. This distinction would be much easier to see if the series was explicit romance, but we'll take the girlship and like it.
Also, it seems rather bizarre that the aquarium club is so important to the school -- has special events -- and yet had only one member who was a super revered student. Like, you'd think some fans would show up, or students guilt-tripped into taking one for the school, either way.
Koyuki did have fans, or at least guys with the hots for her, but her status as model student never let her fit in or seem approchable enough for others to want to join the aquarium club. Koyuki's father probably could've strong-armed a couple students into joining the club to give her a hand, but he was aware of her loneliness and it's difficult for a parent to interfere and impose something on their child, so he stayed close and helped her out himself until she was able to find someone on her own.
As for the club's importance, apparently in real life the school the one in the manga is based off of has the only aquarium club in the region, and in the manga it's treated as a local attraction. It's definitely not a common sight in a high school. Ironically the manga has become an ambassador for the real-life town it's set in and last year they organized a tour with various cross-promotion, so it probably ended up making the real aquarium club more famous.
last edited at May 19, 2020 5:39AM