Shino is maturing so much. She is increasingly thoughtful and sometimes even wise, and those wistful shots of her the past couple chapters are great. Nozomi has plenty of experience but less emotional flexibility so it's lovely how far she has come with Shino's support.
Plus they're so good for each other that as they patch up their weaknesses the "they were roommates" vibe keeps increasing. Dammit Kuzushiro.
And we got a reminder of the foreshadowing from chapter 103. We know Akiko was called to her own sister's home during vacation, Akiko's sis had an ulterior motive and paid for the trip, and now Akiko somehow got uncomfortable. Did the sister get engaged, or pregnant, or come out as queer? Those seem the most likely reasons, since Shino is going to be impacted as collateral damage after hearing about it.
The thing this most reminds me of is the superb Ikkoku Nikki, even though this is much more tropey and conventional in its scene construction and art style—I feel like I’m actually watching the lives of people who are situated these particular emotional circumstances rather than observing a story machine run its programmed routines (which I do enjoy immensely when it’s done well).
Superb is the perfect word for Ikkoku Nikki. These two stories have extremely similar premises and emotions, but they play out differently. Nozomi and Shino are more energetic than that aunt and niece. Ikkoku Nikki is a more philosophical exploration of trauma and doesn't have the romantic undertones, heck the cool aunt is dating a cool dude.
Venting: Nozomi and Shino's relationship really couldn't go romantic until recently (if it ever does) without having a big squick factor from either seeming as Nozomi manipulating a grieving child, or failing as a reliable guardian. That'd be romance genre but extremely unromantic.
Sure we could have gone somewhat beyond subtext, but subtext is probably better than representation that may be only good for titillation and undercutting the realistic trauma drama. For good angsty mistakes let alone a healthy relationship to be made, both women need to be becoming mature and mentally stable enough to slightly manage the situation. Consent is sexy. If outsiders figure it out they'll see that romance as deeply wrong, especially Nozomi's mom, but at least we the audience must be convinced it's worth cheering for. In retrospect if Kuzushiro brought in too much more romance before now it would have brought down the story quality to merely very good, and from around this point forward if the story goes romantic for a long stretch it will probably become a masterpiece. If it's nothing but subtext, I usually hate that, but this work will still be great Yes this is exhausting but it's so very good. \vent
last edited at Feb 28, 2022 11:25PM
