HachiKuro happi endo
Thinking about Honey & Clover again, in light of epilogue which all ye non-J-enabled can now read.
The three pairings that get together by the end actually haven't. I'm talking emotionally, not physically. None of the relationships are properly reciprocal. On the emotional level, in all three cases it's like this:
Rika <-- Mayama
Ayu <-- Nomiya
Hagu <-- Shuuji
For shoujo manga it's such a weird ending, because all three !couples are operating as if they were couples, engaging in couple-appropriate behavior ranging from cohabiting to talking about cohabiting to giving (and wearing) rings, and yet in all cases I don't get a sense that the female partner is actually in love (恋), per se.
We know all three of the women have been in love with other people:
Rika/Harada
Ayu --> Mayama
Hagu <--> Morita
and haven't rly trly gotten over those other people--Nomiya and Ayu are most explicit about this--but all three are nevertheless easing into at least the form of relationships with the suitors (haha) who patiently and persistently wooed them. Are they just doing this because it's the path of least resistance? Are they "settling"? If so, how is that happi endo?
Yet I'm pretty sure Umino does mean this to be happi endo, what with the ferris wheel and the clovers and all that shiz in the final image, and the generally optimistic tone. I'm pretty sure she doesn't mean for the reader to assume all three leading ladies are doomed to hollow, interminably one-sided relationships, or that Nomiya's talk about happytiems in Nagano is pure fantasy that will never be realized. So Umino must be making one (or both?) of the following suggestions:
A. 恋 will happen (practice the form; content will follow)
B. whether 恋 happens doesn't really matter if 愛 is present
And I'm still not sure which. Or whether I entirely agree with either. In any case, "not quite there yet" place is a weird place to stop, but I think that tension is part of what makes the ending strong, or stronger than an explicit "totally there" would be.
Then again, maybe I only read it this way because I am hapless idealist with rose-colored glasses grafted to skull. I find this end satisfying because I willingly hallucinate a promise of sparkly future? Much as I usually do unless explicitly instructed otherwise by the author? Readers who do not come with his function enabled will have a different experience? But how can you look at that last page and NOT assume happi endo?
*spazzes*
Also, why has no one written really satisfying Nomiya/Ayu first time fic yet. Shuuji/Hagu is my cross to bear, obvs, no one in their right mind will touch that, but the Nomiya/Ayu is popular and should be easily done. Come on, internets.
The three pairings that get together by the end actually haven't. I'm talking emotionally, not physically. None of the relationships are properly reciprocal. On the emotional level, in all three cases it's like this:
Rika <-- Mayama
Ayu <-- Nomiya
Hagu <-- Shuuji
For shoujo manga it's such a weird ending, because all three !couples are operating as if they were couples, engaging in couple-appropriate behavior ranging from cohabiting to talking about cohabiting to giving (and wearing) rings, and yet in all cases I don't get a sense that the female partner is actually in love (恋), per se.
We know all three of the women have been in love with other people:
Rika/Harada
Ayu --> Mayama
Hagu <--> Morita
and haven't rly trly gotten over those other people--Nomiya and Ayu are most explicit about this--but all three are nevertheless easing into at least the form of relationships with the suitors (haha) who patiently and persistently wooed them. Are they just doing this because it's the path of least resistance? Are they "settling"? If so, how is that happi endo?
Yet I'm pretty sure Umino does mean this to be happi endo, what with the ferris wheel and the clovers and all that shiz in the final image, and the generally optimistic tone. I'm pretty sure she doesn't mean for the reader to assume all three leading ladies are doomed to hollow, interminably one-sided relationships, or that Nomiya's talk about happytiems in Nagano is pure fantasy that will never be realized. So Umino must be making one (or both?) of the following suggestions:
A. 恋 will happen (practice the form; content will follow)
B. whether 恋 happens doesn't really matter if 愛 is present
And I'm still not sure which. Or whether I entirely agree with either. In any case, "not quite there yet" place is a weird place to stop, but I think that tension is part of what makes the ending strong, or stronger than an explicit "totally there" would be.
Then again, maybe I only read it this way because I am hapless idealist with rose-colored glasses grafted to skull. I find this end satisfying because I willingly hallucinate a promise of sparkly future? Much as I usually do unless explicitly instructed otherwise by the author? Readers who do not come with his function enabled will have a different experience? But how can you look at that last page and NOT assume happi endo?
*spazzes*
Also, why has no one written really satisfying Nomiya/Ayu first time fic yet. Shuuji/Hagu is my cross to bear, obvs, no one in their right mind will touch that, but the Nomiya/Ayu is popular and should be easily done. Come on, internets.