FUCK THIS CURSED ANIME, FUCK THE CHARACTERS, AND FUCK AI YAZAWA for her stupid misogynistic ideals.
not a single good thing happened on here. ai yazawa seems to think that complex characters have to be the scum of the earth just for them to be layered. THAT'S NOT THE SAME THING. a complex character isn't someone who just does awful shit constantly. complexity comes from motivations, contradictions, growth, and internal conflict. here it just feels like everyone is terrible and we're supposed to treat that as depth.
she also seems to think that cheating is normal? and that it's somehow a more complicated thing than it actually is?? the show keeps framing it like it's this deep, emotional gray area, but most of the time it's just people being selfish and hurting each other while the narrative just kind of shrugs at it.
i'm not one to point out culture in things that i watch, but this anime is FULL of cultural and societal influence and not in a good way. the relationships constantly push this weird dynamic where the men have the overall presence and the women are the ones who have to adjust themselves around that. we see it with shoji saying idiotic things like "i can't say i love you, japanese men don't do that" like that's supposed to excuse emotional immaturity. we see it with ren refusing to use protection because HE wants children, so nana o is the one who has to constantly be on the pill and deal with the consequences. somehow the burden always lands on the women while the men get to be "complicated." this is not me singling out japan as a whole, but come on, japan does not treat women as fully autonomous beings and unfortunately it is accepted as the norm. which is why i can't fully blame her for writing her characters like this. BUT I DO BLAME HER LOWKEY.
It's treated like this is what makes the characters deep, but honestly it just comes across as weirdly misogynistic, and we can see the patriarchal views spilling straight into the writing.
ren refusing to use protection because he wants children is FUCKED UP. reira being a straight-up PEDO is FUCKED UP. don't even get me started on TAKUSHIT. mind you, a good chunk of these character's narratives was completely avoidable and unnecessary.
hachi is actually not too bad of a character, but her character is dumbed down completely and oversimplified. she has no defining qualities except her obsessions, and everyone around her ridicules her while being shit people themselves. there is no resolution to hachi's story, she does not improve as a character. it feels unresolved, and my annoyance is mainly skewed toward the fact that to me she would've been a well-written character if it wasn't for her idiocy masquerading as complexity. of course this is hardly her fault. AI YAZAWA I'M LOOKING AT YOU.
i'm a completionist but this one was insufferable, especially after finding out that it literally does not get better. i will not be punishing myself further.