I'm not sure where the mangaka was going with this, tbh.
Hina's actually a very selfish character. She constantly hopes that Itsuki will go back to being a guy, despite Itsuki saying many times that she has no intention to. Hina hovers around her, hoping that her "love" will cause Itsuki to snap out of being attracted to men and be her boyfriend. She even gets jealous and blurts out to random strangers that Itsuki "is a guy", when it could be dangerous for Itsuki. Not to mention how Hina always calls Itsuki "he" and refers to her as a "gay guy", completely disregarding Itsuki's wants.
And Itsuki never calls her out on anything. Itsuki just takes everything Hina throws at her with a smile.
Hina's the one stuck in the past and in love with a person who doesn't exist anymore. Well-adjusted people move on when their love isn't reciprocated, they don't hang around hoping for an opening. That's not friendship or love for the other person, that's just selfishness and the inability to take no for an answer. Itsuki's not guilty of anything, she isn't responsible for Hina's feelings. I actually liked it when Itsuki said that the world wouldn't pamper Marui — because that's exactly what Hina's expecting: to be pampered by Itsuki. Who cares what Itsuki wants, as long as Hina gets what she wants?
Yuck.
The ending isn't completely rancid but it's still pretty damn awful. It implies that Itsuki is reconsidering some things about the way she presents, but also that she "can't be a guy", which IMO means she has no intention to stop identifying as a woman, though perhaps not as openly? (i.e. wearing female clothing and makeup). But if we take it like this, it's still a step back from before, and all for Hina's sake because she doesn't want to be seen in public dating a woman. Even if it's not a total "trans person was ~cured~" ending, it's still an ending where Itsuki's back in the closet and not allowed to express herself like before, which we see from the Susukino chapter how happy it made her (girl cried when she referred to herself as "watashi" for the first time, ffs).
Don't even know what to rate this. It had some good moments but the writing is a mess. |