Masamune-kun no Revenge – 05
Things might get evil…
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So it looks like it’s time to slam the breaks, so to speak, on the back and forth from last episode and introduce a new character. Does she work out, or is it a case of Imposter Love? |
School Pool Punishment
This machine kills traffic
So we pretty much start right where we left off from last time – the potential roadblock to the Revenge plan. Now this is pretty standard for just about any sort of romance story, comedy or otherwise. You introduce complications and make your story out of the way you choose to make the sparks fly. Otherwise it’s, “two people meet, they fall in love, and then they live in the sunset happily on fire, etc”. Now that’s a story at it’s most basic, but it doesn’t really say much about much of anything really. For the hook, the romance, to work, you need a deadline, you need adversity beyond what the two leads already bring. This is where you get your spoiler characters, like Neko.
I find your lack of brains disturbing…
Right on the face, she’s just perfect isn’t she, but aren’t all first meetings just like that at first blush? She pious and pure, the near-complete opposite to Aki’s stern, abrasive exterior. When she makes mistakes, she’s demure about clearing up the misunderstanding, and doesn’t stop the proceedings, whereas things just have to grind to a halt until Aki is pleased. Both girls and boys love being around her, and whereas most of that just the novelty of being a transfer student, she doesn’t have the synophant crew. And finally, their first meeting is one of for the legends, “you were kind to me once, and I never forgot it” and is clean as a whistle compared to the hoarse breathing that is the shared past of our two leads.
So…what if she had used a mayonnaise packet, what would THAT have looked like, eh?
But she’s ketchup ain’t she? Sure to be, Neko Fujinomiya will be having a lot more to say about herself as the story moves on, but for right now she’s saying a bunch more about the leads. This is one of the tipping point moments after all. This is where both Aki and Makabe can get that genuine door to open and move away from each other, so Neko is the caretaker, in a certain way, of that door. But both Makabe and Aki have invested in this odd relationship and neither one wants the other to say they quit the deal. Or that one wimped out, or something to that effect cause at this point, it just goes to ammo to fire back doesn’t it. Makabe came so close not only tipping how he really felt, and Aki came close to showing just how vulnerable she is. But both are backing away from those moments as quick as the can.
Both of them punishing the other…
Without Neko, they would have keep the back and forth up until it got really ugly, and maybe less interesting. Now if only Makabe could focus much much much less on his dumb-ass callow youth revenge plan, then maybe he wouldn’t act like an idiot. If Aki could maybe drop the defenses she could see that, cause of the two, she’s probably quicker on the uptake. Also, one last thing. Isn’t it neat that they came to this head during a shared punishment? What you trying to tell us, story!? There’s going to be more fun in future, this is just the beginning…
Just a few more to go on…
The wind of fate…
About skylion
All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 46 comments
Listen here, mister. There is absolutely nothing wrong with dem legs and dat booty.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
That’s why I said, “This machine kills traffic”
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Looks like Yoshino isn’t the only one playing a deep game. BTW, it’s time I said this–Yoshi has a really nice body. And so as not to just be focused on the physical, despite her not being good at school, she’s far from being a dummy.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Neko, like all the characters the show has focused on, has a fairly deep game you’re right. I think that Yoshino might edge her out in so far as interesting motives are concerned, but that’s just me, and will be told in future. But, as I pointed out a few posts ago, she’s not book/test/study smart. She’s the think on her feet/clever/shrewd/can read people smart that neither of the two leads can be right now. And yes, attractive as all get out, but my heart, as it were, belongs to Aki.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Physically, Aki is more my type, too. But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate Yoshino’s curves.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
All in it’s beauty and splendor, yes…
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I really do love real life-anime comparisons…
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
For the romance to work, you need a deadline…adversity beyond what the 2 leads already bring. This is where you get your spoiler characters like Neko.
Can a romance work if there are no spoiler characters to generate adversity? For example, the romantic leads in Rakudai Kishi have no significant characters like Neko who are romantically interested in either of them – every other girl Ikki meets have never fallen in love with him.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I put the word “romance” in italics for a specific reason, but perhaps I didn’t provide a contrast as much as I initially thought I did.
Yes, you can have a romance without a spoiler character(s). But since these guys are as much abstracts as they are characters in their own right, that means they’re saying something specific about the adversity. So yeah, to me, romance has all the stuff. Anything else is just a straightforward love story…