Why I Love Takano
So, re-reading Takano Masamune no Baai, I wanted to post and talk about it some…
Not that I'm complaining in the LEAST, but I find it almost amusing and a bit confusing (so…bemusing?? :D) that while Ritsu is very clearly supposed to be the "main character" of SH, much like Misaki is for JR, I as a reader feel like I'm being led to sympathize and identify SO much more with Takano-san.
Over the course of the series, we've only really been faced with Ritsu's conflicted feelings, confusion over what happened in high school and whether or not that means it's okay for him to fall in love with that person all over again. I like Ritsu and all, but I can't really get invested in him as a character because…well, he seems so stubborn :P
We also never really get the full picture from him. We don't feel his emotions because we don't really see any deeper ones, only mostly superficial ones. The deepest connection I ever felt, the most invested I ever felt in him getting what he wanted was in the car at Christmas when he reflected on his past and how he'd felt about Saga. I want to see MORE of that, more of how he fell in love, more than just a little scrawny kid who's infatuated with his sempai.
I also find it a little strange and unbelievable that Ritsu could endure Saga blowing up at him, calling him disgusting and annoying and driving him away, and STILL come back to him, still try to help him get through the rough time in his life…and yet all Saga had to do was snort at him for asking an admittedly stupid question, and he was HEARTBROKEN? :/ One of these things is not like the other...
On the other hand, with Takano we get SO much more. We get to see him being torn, even through Ritsu's eyes, between Ritsu and Yokozawa, between his past and his present. Feel his desperation as he tries to rekindle their relationship DESPITE being hurt so badly. It really strikes me that despite everything he'd suffered with Ritsu--being abandoned, finding out he'd been two-timed, thinking he'd just been a fling--he was completely willing to forget all about it, act like none of it mattered (when to any logical person it would've mattered a great deal) and just start completely over without any promises or explanation, because he wanted Ritsu back that badly. It's kind of pathetic, too :( But it just makes me pity him all the more.
Takano Masamune no Baai is one of the most endearing and at the same time heart-breaking chapters I've ever read ;~; It's beautiful, too, in how the story loops together, with the first words ("Though you probably don't know it…") looping around and connecting at the end to finally make sense ("You were my first love. Though you probably don't know it."). And seeing Saga's slow descent from boredom into amusement into confusion into guilt into affection into flat-out love is…so heart-flutteringly sweet I can't bear it :P
And I feel like Saga fell in love with Ritsu in two ways: he fell in love first with the fact that Ritsu was in love with him, and from that followed a deeper love and affection for the guy himself, his goofy way of tripping over himself around Saga, his innocent enthusiasm for the same things Saga appreciated. And even when the latter bits were taken away, Saga/Takano was able to hold onto that love for Ritsu for loving HIM for ten years, and it never changed even in the present. From there, he was then able to fall back in love with the new person that Ritsu had become, ala Chapter 10, and was in that same situation from before: being utterly head over heels for someone who doesn't (or can't) understand just how strongly he feels.
We can't see into his head like we can with Ritsu, but it still strikes such a chord in me that I feel so much more invested in Takano's happiness, feel like I understand his pain more, than the main character.
Absolutely no complaints though :3
Not that I'm complaining in the LEAST, but I find it almost amusing and a bit confusing (so…bemusing?? :D) that while Ritsu is very clearly supposed to be the "main character" of SH, much like Misaki is for JR, I as a reader feel like I'm being led to sympathize and identify SO much more with Takano-san.
Over the course of the series, we've only really been faced with Ritsu's conflicted feelings, confusion over what happened in high school and whether or not that means it's okay for him to fall in love with that person all over again. I like Ritsu and all, but I can't really get invested in him as a character because…well, he seems so stubborn :P
We also never really get the full picture from him. We don't feel his emotions because we don't really see any deeper ones, only mostly superficial ones. The deepest connection I ever felt, the most invested I ever felt in him getting what he wanted was in the car at Christmas when he reflected on his past and how he'd felt about Saga. I want to see MORE of that, more of how he fell in love, more than just a little scrawny kid who's infatuated with his sempai.
I also find it a little strange and unbelievable that Ritsu could endure Saga blowing up at him, calling him disgusting and annoying and driving him away, and STILL come back to him, still try to help him get through the rough time in his life…and yet all Saga had to do was snort at him for asking an admittedly stupid question, and he was HEARTBROKEN? :/ One of these things is not like the other...
On the other hand, with Takano we get SO much more. We get to see him being torn, even through Ritsu's eyes, between Ritsu and Yokozawa, between his past and his present. Feel his desperation as he tries to rekindle their relationship DESPITE being hurt so badly. It really strikes me that despite everything he'd suffered with Ritsu--being abandoned, finding out he'd been two-timed, thinking he'd just been a fling--he was completely willing to forget all about it, act like none of it mattered (when to any logical person it would've mattered a great deal) and just start completely over without any promises or explanation, because he wanted Ritsu back that badly. It's kind of pathetic, too :( But it just makes me pity him all the more.
Takano Masamune no Baai is one of the most endearing and at the same time heart-breaking chapters I've ever read ;~; It's beautiful, too, in how the story loops together, with the first words ("Though you probably don't know it…") looping around and connecting at the end to finally make sense ("You were my first love. Though you probably don't know it."). And seeing Saga's slow descent from boredom into amusement into confusion into guilt into affection into flat-out love is…so heart-flutteringly sweet I can't bear it :P
And I feel like Saga fell in love with Ritsu in two ways: he fell in love first with the fact that Ritsu was in love with him, and from that followed a deeper love and affection for the guy himself, his goofy way of tripping over himself around Saga, his innocent enthusiasm for the same things Saga appreciated. And even when the latter bits were taken away, Saga/Takano was able to hold onto that love for Ritsu for loving HIM for ten years, and it never changed even in the present. From there, he was then able to fall back in love with the new person that Ritsu had become, ala Chapter 10, and was in that same situation from before: being utterly head over heels for someone who doesn't (or can't) understand just how strongly he feels.
We can't see into his head like we can with Ritsu, but it still strikes such a chord in me that I feel so much more invested in Takano's happiness, feel like I understand his pain more, than the main character.
Absolutely no complaints though :3