Member
10:14 am, Feb 3 2010
Posts: 530
Quote from Cromagnum
Ok this is an old ass topic. I posted on this like 6 months ago. But I'm still pissed off about the ending. AYA SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE........ Sorry but dudes he was in a shack naked with her. I know that it may seem that most manga have that sort of of story line but it is what makes it good. I mean I''s was amazing and it had that type of storyline. And if you hate I''s well then your a crazy mother fucker.
Well Manaka was in a shack naked with Aya, is that your best reason? Well they had to spend the night together as they were forced to and that was only
once.
Lets see how many times, Nishino and Manaka spent a night together in the same room on the same bed, by my count,
5 times, once in the nurse's room, once in Manaka's room, once in an inn, once in Nishino's country-house, once more in Nishino's room, and there was one part where Nishino changed put on her underwear while Manaka was in the same room. So by your reasoning of Aya should have been the one because she spent one night with Manaka in the same room., Nishino spent more nights with Manaka and none of them were forced or accidental, so according to your reason, Nishino should be the one, right?
Member
9:07 am, Feb 4 2010
Posts: 530
Nope, Aya wasnt his other half, Nishino suited him better and just like that example, there are tons of other examples that shows the diffeence in quality of time spent. Manaka and Nishino spent alot of time together, just the two of them, made alot of memories, as opposed to Aya. Aya was the starting girl, but their love basically stayed on the runaway, never really took off. While Nishino and Manaka's love started off slowly but just kept gathering speed at a steady rate until it finally took off.
Fated to be together wont help you if you keep depending on god to do things for you while you ask your crush to go on a date with another girl and confuse him more by misfired signals alot of times. Aya took two steps back for each step forward.
Last edited by dark mage at 9:13 am, Feb 4 2010
Member
8:32 pm, Feb 24 2011
Posts: 1
For me, the girl for Manaka has to be Nishino.
In the beginning we get the initial attraction between Manaka and Aya, and by the time they are starting high school they realize fairly well that they like the other, that they go together well, but...for the rest of the manga the relationship never progresses beyond that. They always like one another. They always get thrown into various situations where they learn they like each other a little more, but even through all the times they had, they never really made anything of it. They didn't trust one another's feelings enough to come out and just say what was in their hearts. In short, their initial feelings for one another were the strongest by far, but despite being together on an almost daily basis, they only develop by inches. In the end, they still really like one another...you might even say they love one another...but at no point do the two ever really fall in love together.
On the other hand, there's Nishino...and at the beginning their feelings for one another are probably the least certain of any of the three main girls. Tsukasa likes him and finds him fun, and Manaka thinks she's cute and is somewhat interested in her. But they're both young, immature, and they don't really believe in one another's feelings yet. However unlike every other relationship, once Tsukasa puts distance between them, they lose that daily luxury of being together. This forces each subsequent meeting between the two of them to take on meaning...important meaning...and with each one they take another step towards one another. When they first break up, it's like an understanding that the feelings and relationship they had before was immature...and that while Nishino was ready to mature, Manaka wasn't. So she leaves him behind for a while, but she doesn't stop having feelings for him.
From there, there is the Valentine's chocolate incident (the first one) where Manaka finds out that Tsukasa is still thinking about him...and despite being broken up, they know they still think about one another. That's important, because it shows they did not have a clean break. They haven't completely moved on, and while the other girls are with him all the time making their moves, none of it ever pushes Tsukasa completely from his heart. The incident where he protects her from her fans after school helps prove to Tsukasa that his feelings the first time were real, even if they weren't mature. The second movie trip where Nishino stars and their meetings between their two part-time jobs establish a continuing dialogue between them again, a chance to steadily grow closer without as much pressure to be romantic. Later, the birthday they spend together in the nurse's office is the night Manaka realizes that her feelings for him are real...and that's probably the first real inclination towards love that he shows, being willing to do whatever she wants with him that night until the interruption. Little incidents after that continue to strengthen their bond, and they both draw a little closer, until she's having trouble denying that she still loves him again. Only this time the feelings on both sides become more mature...deeper...until finally, she breaks down and calls him to go on a trip with her. That is the point where her feelings are truly irreversible...when her love seems to fully bloom, and though he doesn't realize it, almost that exact moment when he makes up his mind in the same futon at her summer home and turns to encourage her to chase her dream, his feelings begin to mature for her as well. It also helps her to understand that his feelings might be maturing as well, which sets the stage for their big date at the Aquarium...and the beautiful, nostalgic pull-up confession she pulls on him when she just can't wait for him any longer.
His response that night when she leaves reveals just how strong his feelings about her become, that 'I'm happy...I'm happy, damn it!' is the first time he ever seems to react positively to anybody's confession to him (Satsuki was, after all, fairly rejected and Mukai just kind of surprised him). Of course, what happens the next day with Toujou and her 'boyfriend' (brother) seems to have a lot to do with why he visits Nishino that night...but if you think about it, misunderstandings and insecurities were pretty much par for the course for the Toujou-Manaka relationship all along (not knowing who she was at first, her encouraging him to date Mukai, the Amachi problem). It wasn't that great a coincidence that one of those would occur that day...and that in his darkest hour, he went to the person with whom he really had seen the worst of him already, Nishino. It's probably that night when he thinks he is taking advantage of her, when he realizes just how much it hurts to be rejected a person you like, that he begins to understand how Nishino must have really felt confessing. And when she walks away, it's almost like a snapshot moment of realization and maturity that leads him to realize what's been developing in his heart all this time, eventually growing from the weakest of his 3 female bonds to his strongest...his love for Nishino.
From that point on, it's mostly just about him finding the courage to face the reality of the other girls he had hurt and understanding that he needed to reject them for both their sakes...then actually doing it. Of course, fate throws him one last great temptation in Aya's long-overdue confession, but by then he's been through too much development, taken too many steps (again, one big one with each meeting since they parted the first time) towards Nishino...and his feelings for her matured before anyone else. So he rejects Aya, which is the only thing he really can do at that point, because he's finally made up his mind. It's poetry in motion from that point on, the last days before Nishino leaves...the epilogue when she finally returns and they're together...for me, it was the most beautiful and most fitting ending the series could have had for the two of them. That is why it's my favorite series all-time, and why the Nishino-Manaka relationship is the ur-relationship for all manga relationships for me. Nothing can compare. 'Tis why I wrote Intermezzo as an unofficial (totally unlicensed and non-profit/for-fun) fan-story between the two of them over on FF.net.
...Of course, none of that answers the initial question about this forum, that is who deserves better. Clearly, in my opinion, Satsuki does. By the end, Mukai's immature love seems to have shifted to a more fitting target in the prep class, and Toujou's finally delivered her first confession, having it rejected flat-out...meaning she's free to move on without any lingering doubts if she wants to (even though she doesn't). Satsuki, on the other hand, confesses and is rejected multiple times, but Manaka's insufferable waffling (I like him, but the guy would take two months just to decide between a Big Mac and a Whopper) keeps teasing her and luring her back in for more. The number of times she's made to cry in the series is just wrong...she's a dynamite girl with an excellent personality that could make just about any guy happy if she wanted...she just wants the one she can't have, which is almost tragic. But one day, maybe, it'll turn around for her.
Anyway, those are my over-long thoughts. Love the series, love Junpei and Tsukasa ending up together, and definitely believe Satsuki deserves a better ending.
Last edited by Kaoru Ichinose at 2:08 am, Feb 25 2011
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I heard there was a secret chord...that David played and it pleased the Lord.
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