Keiichi' behavior just beggars belief! How can he keep acting this way? I so hope that Shingo just wordlessly hands him the ring and walks away after that reception.
I mean, it should be obvious to Keiichi that noone flies all the way over just to return a ring without saying anything, so if that what happens he is to blame.
I like this, but I found the continous depiction of the characters as chibi confusing. I thought it had something to do with the nature of the parallel world, only to find out not.
Personally, I think normal characters should only be shown in chibi version to give an impression of an immediate emotional inner state, but other show the outer reality.
I just became a member just so I could comment on this!!!
Anyway, after thinking about it and reading a lot of other posts, I went back and reread the very start of the manga. And the themes of scent, abondonment are all there from the very start.
Which left me with several conclusions/points:
1) Shingo could smell Keiichi from the get go, and at that point it Keiichi who is pursuing an unwilling Shingo. Shingo doesn't fall for or accept the realtionship with Keichi until later. It would seem then that what the Brother said was the truth, and scent reflects the emotions of the person emitting it not the one smelling it.
2) There is a very touching scene where Shing says that saying "Don't leave" (and being left) is even more painful than being abondoned. Considering He was abondoned several times as a child, if this is to seem emotionally true, Shingo would now have a hard time with emotional dependancy, wanting to keep a (as with Masayan) a certain amount of distance. This relationship was Keiichi's idea, who went into it knowing Shingo's history. Shingo, while wanting to be with Keiichi, will also have instincts telling him to get away.
3) Considerin all 2) Keiichi's recent behavior would definitely have made Shingo instincts scream. Heck they would have made mine scream, and I don't suffer from issues. And no matter how you cut it, from Shingo's perspective Keiichi deciding to go off to the US for an extended period of time without discussing it in what was supposed to be a shared life, is a withdrawal from the relationship. Inviting Shingo to go along last minute, to a place he has nothing to doand knows no one, is no compensation.
Love isn't always enough. I can understand why so many want Shingo to accept the ring, but it wouldn't be emotionally true. It was Keiichi's initial behavior and actions that led Shingo to doubt the strength of their relationship. And Keiichi chose to ignore Shingo's early signs of concern, despite knowing his history. That there might be a good reason for Keiichi's behavior is another story.
Now I feel better for having got all that off my chest!!!
longest comment eva seen
Totally agree
THIS.
yesS^^^^
Agrees, here. The recent chapters were both heartbreaking and liberating. It was like finding Shingo's roots, his doubts, his happiness, the very scale of his being. I don't think he should accept the ring.
Ikr- neither are ready yet for that ring; Keiichi needs to repair the the damage he wrought and understand why he can't act that way, and Shingo needs to learn to finally let some of the pain of the past go and that relationships can last.
True. Do you know the "domain" and "function" theory in Math? Their relationship is just like that. They share a new 'identity' and yet the hold their own 'identity', something like that. I understand Keiichi's magnitude of possessiveness and affection for Shingo from the previous books, what I don't understand are his recent actions.
Agreed. And if we can't understand them, then someone like Shingo would understand them even less, and that would make him even more insecure.
Shingo's dilemma is very similar to mine. But I guess people have different coping mechanism and defense mechanism. What's Yuujin trying to do anyway? And that director.
Sorry to hear about dilemma, awful horns to be caught in. As to Yuujin & Angelo, I look forward to seeing how the mangaka resolves all this. And also what backstory Keiichi will get to explain his actions. We've mainly been shown events from Shingo's POV.
Yeah, a bitter pill to swallow though it merits growth. True, his POV would apply a different tone and hue to the painting. Anyway, why do I feel like Yuujin's character has been remodeled since his sidestory?
My best friend said the same when she broke up with her ex. He was making future plans that didn't include her. She got the message.
Something that still bothers me is Yuujin's attitude in all this. First off, he gives the ring to Shingo, despite Keiichi telling him not to. Obviously the ring was ordered when both felt differently than they do now. The circumstances have changed. The efforts that Keiichi went to about the ring can hardly be Shingo's fault, yet that is the feeling I get from Yuujin. Moreover, if Keiichi didn't want to give him the ring himself, then I can't see why Shingo should be obligated to return it in person. And if there is someone Yuujin should be confronting with the ring it should be Keiichi, his own brother, not Shingo.
Don't forget Yujin used to suffer in his love life before setting things between him and Ei. Now, he is happy and know very well what it's like to suffering from lack of communication and misunderstanding. I think he's a nice guy under the shell of the cold hearted businessman. I think he loves his brother and maybe Shingo too (even if he's jealous because of Rio) so he just want those two to speak. If they still want to break up, he will accept it but if there is a tiny chance that they could make up, he would do everything possible to help.
That's what I think (I take a liking to Yujin).
Oh I agree as to why he does what he does, but not how. Would it not be more natural for him to try to talk sense to his own brother rather than guilt-trip Shingo into going? Especially as he and Shingo haven't really known each other for very long.
I so agree with you! But the cold eyes Kagami gave when he first saw Shingo ripped my heart in pieces! ╥﹏╥
well all this story is between Shingo and Keichi and maybe Yujin thinks he is more than enough involved in it (because of Keichi !) ?
Like I said in a precedent post, I d'on't really feel that it's a cold look (in chapter 9 his look is the coldest I have saw in the Kuroneko serie). The firts time I read, I feel like you but in reading it again, I find his look is perhaps a little cuning but mostly happy. Shingo fly here to see him so he understand that Shingo still loves him. But waht I fear the most is that he will tease Shingo to get revenge and that would be bad...
I hope you're right, because their current relationship is breaking my heart into pieces! ╥﹏╥
I hate to say it, but it feels more like a plot device that was needed to get Shingo to the US. It would have been better if Yuujin had just given him the ring, and told all the trouble Keiichi went to, and it was Masayan who convinced Shingo to go and talk it out, as they had that kind of relationship. The end result is the same, but more true to the characters supposed level of acqaintance.