Forum › Hana Ni Arashi discussion
When I look back at the details, the Chidori-Igarashi story isn’t nearly so straightforward as I thought it was. What (I think) we know:
Chidori had feelings for Igarashi that she calls “being in love” in the previous school year. I had thought of this as a relationship, but what Chidori says is, “My feelings were a mess. I was always upset or crying,” and that she “decided to put an end to it.”
So it sounds like there had to be an “it” to put an end to (i.e., some kind of relationship rather than just “an end to” Chidori’s own feelings).
I had also assumed that a problematic relationship must have been the senpai’s fault, since Chidori is such an adorkable little cutie-pie with Nanoha, but we don’t get any hints about anything the senpai did or didn’t do, just how Chidori felt.
On the other hand, Igarashi and Chidori apparently haven’t been in contact since well before the term started in September (when Chidori cut her hair) until Valentine’s Day, even though in Chidori’s mind the “it” with Igarashi wasn’t actually “ended.” So that’s not a very proactive relationship on Igarashi’s part.
So Chidori’s previous experience is rather more ambiguous than I thought—judging by the actual evidence of the text, it might have been a formal “we’re dating” (secretly, of course—this is Chidori after all) relationship, or a flirtation/crush that affected Chidori emotionally back then but the senpai was only trying to seal the deal in February.
A final question is: how did Chidori and the senpai spend time together in the first place? The gang are first-years when Chidori and Nanoha meet, which means senpai (who in the narrative present has graduated) must have been two years ahead of Chidori. (I think—I always get Japanese school years fucked up in my head.)
last edited at Aug 3, 2019 9:34AM
So, Chidori cut her hair "September of [her] freshman year" to declare to "never fall in love again".
The Japanese school year begins in April, and September is just after summer break.
So presumably she had some "it" with Igarashi between April and end of Juli and/or during Summer break.
The following February / half a year later, the Valentine's Chocolate thingy happened (Ch.10&22)
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/hana_ni_arashi_ch10#11
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/hana_ni_arashi_ch22#12
(two flashbacks, same time-frame, different POV)
Chidori already has them feelz for Nanoha and decides to "end it" with Igarashi.
Half a month later / Spring, Nanoha confessed to Chidori and they're a couple ever since... in secret, of cos.
A final question is: how did Chidori and the senpai spend time together in the first place?
I kinda thought Igarashi may have been a member of the literature club.
I can't base this on anything but a hunch caused by
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/hana_ni_arashi_ch04#5
Chidori thinking "Somehow, it feels strange having Nanoha here" [in the club room].
Me thinks, that maybe, just maybe, Chidori had a one-sided crush on her senpai, confessed before or during summer break, didn't get the desired reaction (judging from the card later, prolly something amongst the lines of "you like me? ...like, in the gay-way? um, can't we be just friends?"), and cut her hair, still secretly swooning over her senpai because hearts can't be convinced so easily as getting a hair-cut.
But, she developed feelings for Nanoha over the time, then - half a year later?! - by Valentine's Day, senpai changed her mind, sent her the chocolate as well as that implicative card ("These aren't just as friends") - but, too late gal, Nanoha has her hooks deep into Chidori's heart already, so Chidori (incidentally spurred on by something Nanoha said) went to Igarashi and told her her true feelings "Yeah, thanks but no-thanks. I mean, what did you expect, keeping me on arm's length for half a year... I MOVED ON, BIATCH!" (-paraphrased).
Lucky for her, a few weeks later she finds out that Nanoha is one whose Love is the same as hers~
That's what I get from the text so far, but I wouldn't mind if things turned out to have happened differently / more dramatic, for the sake of suspense...
last edited at Aug 3, 2019 12:09PM
[Snip for space]
Me thinks, that maybe, just maybe, Chidori had a one-sided crush on her senpai, confessed before or during summer break, didn't get the desired reaction (judging from the card later, prolly something amongst the lines of "you like me? ...like, in the gay-way? um, can't we be just friends?"), and cut her hair, still secretly swooning over her senpai because hearts can't be convinced so easily as getting a hair-cut.
But, she developed feelings for Nanoha over the time, then - half a year later?! - by Valentine's Day, senpai changed her mind, sent her the chocolate as well as that implicative card ("These aren't just as friends") - but, too late gal, Nanoha has her hooks deep into Chidori's heart already, so Chidori (incidentally spurred on by something Nanoha said) went to Igarashi and told her her true feelings "Yeah, thanks but no-thanks. I mean, what did you expect, keeping me on arm's length for half a year... I MOVED ON, BIATCH!" (-paraphrased).
Lucky for her, a few weeks later she finds out that Nanoha is one whose Love is the same as hers~That's what I get from the text so far, but I wouldn't mind if things turned out to have happened differently / more dramatic, for the sake of suspense...
This all fits quite plausibly with the relatively few details that we know; as you say, there’s room for things to have been/go in a very different direction as well.
I kinda want the senpai to have been more of a jerk, though, mainly because she threatens our adorkable duo, and because I want an appropriate target for NANOHA SMASH!
(Smash with the power of love, of course.)
Oh wow
holy fuck not this fucking shit again
Well, with Chidori having been all about "not my kind of love"... senpai could have gone the disgusted/no-homo route, but toying with Chidori for the attention until Chidori was like "love suxx..." and called it quits.
Now she's back, she could be mean and stuff and find out about the girls' secret relationship and go on to threaten Chidori to tell everyone about her gay-ness (pretending it to be a valuable lesson for her kohai).
Eventually she spills the beans to all of their friends, but twist being them all going like "Oh... yeah, we knew." :P
...during the moment of relief, Nanoha who learned about Igarashi being all mean to her precious cleavage-girl might then smack the b**ch up.
I really hope the author is much more creative than me .-.
Thanks for ferreting out the backstory chronology! Need to think about that for a while.
last edited at Aug 3, 2019 3:54PM
ah shit here we go again
Strap in boys and girls, this one's gonna be rough
A final question is: how did Chidori and the senpai spend time together in the first place? The gang are first-years when Chidori and Nanoha meet, which means senpai (who in the narrative present has graduated) must have been two years ahead of Chidori. (I think—I always get Japanese school years fucked up in my head.)
See here.
I kinda want the senpai to have been more of a jerk, though, mainly because she threatens our adorkable duo, and because I want an appropriate target for NANOHA SMASH!
(Smash with the power of love, of course.)
Nanoha doesn't smash, she casts Starlight Breaker.
A final question is: how did Chidori and the senpai spend time together in the first place? The gang are first-years when Chidori and Nanoha meet, which means senpai (who in the narrative present has graduated) must have been two years ahead of Chidori. (I think—I always get Japanese school years fucked up in my head.)
See here.
You’re right—I had totally forgotten that next page, which is a condensed (and somewhat cryptic) replay of the Chidori-senpai relationship.
Looks like (at least) senpai flirting with her by praising her long hair, adding some salt to Chidori’s decision to cut it. (I mean, a haircut is a traditional way to signal a fresh start, but it means even more here.)
Girl what u doing here now?! Trying to stirr up stuff between the couple??
Lots of mangas here with almost the same thing happening, an ex lover coming to trouble the main couple and leaving after unfinished things are talked through XD
...somehow, when I went through the entire thing yesterday, this chapter magically slipped through my fingers (and memory).
Your explanation makes a lot of sense too ^^ So, she indeed had been a member of literature club... Seems she was intentionally flirty with Chidori too... >.< what on Earth could she have done to make Chidori swear off love for a while?
Strap in boys and girls, this one's gonna be rough
...read this and realized a moment later how (ecchi) manga ruined me for life. ^^;;;;
I am catching up on this, I didn't know it,but... there's Yoshida and Abe...right? they have something going on, why, why can't Chidori-not-Fate and Nanoha just tell their friends...I've been in a sort of secret relationship, cos she was in the closet. IT'S THE WORST,well it was the worst for me, would nevah do it again
I am catching up on this, I didn't know it,but... there's Yoshida and Abe...right? they have something going on, why, why can't Chidori-not-Fate and Nanoha just tell their friends...I've been in a sort of secret relationship, cos she was in the closet. IT'S THE WORST,well it was the worst for me, would nevah do it again
Well, the first thing the other girls did when they found out about that couple was to go tease them, and Nanoha and Chidori want to to avoid that, and to avoid disrupting the group dynamic as well.
Secrecy seems to matter to Chidori in particular, though, to a degree that suggests something beyond avoiding teasing. And then there’s the family issue. . .
It’s a bit of an open question whether there’s more to it than the above, along with simply being one of the premises of the series.
At this point, though they might have initially kept it a secret out of fear or mockery or whatever, I think at this point it's more out of general shyness. They can't even say "you're my girlfriend" to each other without stammering and blushing (most of the time), so it'd probably be even more difficult to say that to anyone else. So the potential reactions of their friends is kind of irrelevant, since it's just so difficult for Chidori and Nanoha to talk about at all.
Also, there might just be an element of inertia. Except for Chidori's short musings during the sleepover, we've never seen either of them consider even for a moment why they're hiding their relationship or if it makes sense to do so. I think sometimes people make decisions and then stick with them not because that decision continues to make sense but rather because it just doesn't occur to us to change our minds.
I think sometimes people make decisions and then stick with them not because that decision continues to make sense but rather because it just doesn't occur to us to change our minds.
Oh how many times has that happened / is happening to me.
Someone should make a book out of the life lessons shared in this forum...
(I mean it, between the weird fights, random meme posts, wonderfully way too serious analysis of the manga in question - which I enjoy deeply - there are quite some gold nuggets here and there. Maybe this forum would benefit from a thread of "life-lessons-motivational-posters"?)
Back on topic, gayness and relationships are both two topics that still aren't handled ...well, exactly openly in japanese culture / society (although it's gotten ahelluva lot "better" / westernly in the past few decades). It's a far cry from the handling of lgtb+ in where I presume most of us readers/commentors live. E.g.: While in most western societies romance and love/relationships were very openly handled, only some 20-30 years ago queer people were ridiculed in pop-culture and shunned in every-day life - ...and now basically anyone even so much as trying to shun minorities gets ridiculed and shunned.
Now, Japan (and to my understanding most eastern cultures) handles the whole topic of romance (or sexuality) much differently (basically "do what you must in your own home behind closed doors, but present yourself according to conformity"), and even though things changed a lot in recent history, even if certain topics are being discussed and presented in a much more serious fashion in pop-culture, there still is a huge difference culturally.
There's also the much bigger seperation/differentiation between media (-consumption) and real life (-expectation/-execution) at play here...
(And as an aside, yes, romance has always been fodder for the muses and enjoyed by the masses, but real-life 'application' was(/is) still handled much differently to western cultures. I am sure we all know about the "holding hands in public" thingy - which to my knowledge has gotten to being treated much less eye-brow-frowny / shock-value'y in the past decade as well, but there's still some truth to it.)
I guess, what I'm trying to say is... when we read these manga we like to perceive them from our own experience and with our own cultural / sociologcial background in mind and easily forget that these are initially stories by japanese for their japanese audience, who share a similar culturalization and therefore understanding; of where the story comes from, what the characters' enviroment is and means to them, how to (not) take the story in relation to real life, and how some things are huge issues that in our mind are mere banalities (and the other way around).
So, yeah, I agree strongly with the above posts but would put additional weight on "trying to fit in" and a not-so-irrational "fear of repercussions"...
last edited at Aug 5, 2019 12:38PM
^ In the first instance I tend to approach these questions as, “What are the expectations created in this specific storyworld?” Hence my emphasis on the reaction to Abe-Yoshida-senpai relationship—acceptance, of a sort, but not without (fairly benign) social consequences.
As it happens, because Dynasty manga often load slowly or hang up on my tablet, when I’m doing a complete re-read of a longish series I often read it elsewhere, where, for some reason, they don’t include the Volume 2 extras, which, as it happens, I had forgotten gives a pretty complete overview of the other girls’ attitudes about same-sex relationships, attitudes which suggest that Chidori and Nanoha coming out as a couple would meet with—wait for it—acceptance, of a sort, but not completely without social consequence, at least among their friends.
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/hana_ni_arashi_volume_2_extras#1
In this story, I honestly don't think being gay has anything to do with why they're hiding it. If Chidori were dating some guy from another school, she'd probably keep it from her friends for much the same reasons.
In this story, I honestly don't think being gay has anything to do with why they're hiding it. If Chidori were dating some guy from another school, she'd probably keep it from her friends for much the same reasons.
It’s a little hard to argue against (or for) a counterfactual like that. The fact remains that, for whatever reasons, they’re committed to keeping the relationship secret, Chidori rather more than Nanoha, although it’s unknown whether that’s just because Nanoha is more outgoing (she almost lets it slip a couple of times) or because Nanoha’s mostly keeping it secret because she knows how much Chidori cares about it.
People have been saying that if and when their secret does come out, the other girls will have known all along. While I still think that’s mostly readers ironically flipping the script (I just can’t see those bubbly girls not letting on that they know), on re-reading the series I now think it might be possible that at least one of them knows or suspects—every time there’s the possibility of the secret coming out, somebody does that “Right, we all love each other!” thing and bails them out.
Whether that’s just plotting or also characterization remains to be seen.
^ In the first instance I tend to approach these questions as, “What are the expectations created in this specific storyworld?” Hence my emphasis on the reaction to Abe-Yoshida-senpai relationship—acceptance, of a sort, but not without (fairly benign) social consequences.
You're absolutely right. But... I'd still argue that Nanoha and Chidori were not present there, and might not know their friends are actually this open-minded and casual about the topic (with one of them basically being branded as westernized).
And them being all gropey-touchy could be considered as goofing off and not be taken as their actual stance on the matter (by N&C). So, I guess, in this specific storyworld they can be afraid to come out, because they don't know any better..? (and keep nullifying any opportunities to find out, like the group-chat in ch.8)
If Chidori were dating some guy from another school, she'd probably keep it from her friends for much the same reasons.
I'm not trying to argue that, I could not provide evidence for the contrary, but I would kinda like to know if you have a particular basis for that?
...not to stretch out the discussion, but because I am honestly curious and would like to be given insight.
...did I mention I love the way-too-serious analysis of manga here? :P
Now, Japan (and to my understanding most eastern cultures) handles the whole topic of romance (or sexuality) much differently (basically "do what you must in your own home behind closed doors, but present yourself according to conformity")
Or put another way shame cultures are utterly hung up on outward appearances. Less prominent in "guilt" cultures like the Western ones nowadays but that's a relatively recent developement.