- #10
azenobio said:
I think we can all agree that Asaba is a little problematic in the final chapter.
I was loving the idea where he was describing his role as a father figure and finally realized the “love” he was looking for was within the family that Arima and Yukino have created together. That is understandable. It should’ve stayed as that. Then Sakura confesses to him. I think this triggered a can of worms he didn’t really want to admit to, especially how uncomfortable he looked half the time. However, it is unsettling for sure when he admits that Sakura is the “woman” he loves and that he “doesn’t know what he’s doing”. Like…if you’re an adult, you should know better. Asaba was practically there helping Arima and Yukino raise their children. It definitely gave me Usagi Drop vibes lmao
Hoshi14 said:
This manga pushes the boundaries of relationships. Maybe including things that are taboo just makes it more attractive to readers because it's thrilling to play around with a forbidden fruit? E.g. May-December relationships (Literal cradle-snatcher), brother-sister relationships. Other relationships that started off with hate, bullying, and revenge but later blossomed into love are also very intriguing and motivates readers to follow their progress.
My two cents on this.
Yes, the anime pushes a few boundaries. The society has those boundaries in place to protect itself since the majority of children are not wise enough to take the proper decisions and some adults are predatory. The other situation like this was with Maho and her 28 year old dentist boyfriend.
However the situations presented in this manga both involve a very smart younger girl falling for a much older guy. And both older guys are responsible enough to wait it out until they are even more mature. I do not see the problem with this if Asaba and Sakura have a platonic relationship for around 3 years and if she still feels the same way about him after that then it's their decision without anyone being able to deny it (although the society will still frown upon it).
I do understand that there is a huge cultural difference between Japan and other nations when it comes to “consent” and what’s ‘acceptable’ for dating, especially during the 90s when this manga was made. The perspective was different for the time. I just think it’s cradle-robbing the younger she is you know?
While the situations were handled really well for its time (ie Maho/Dentist BF, Sakura/Asaba) a lot of people won’t agree with it nowadays (maybe they never did but we don’t know that besides Japan).
