I think i understand the early edgyness from MC (after watching ep11)

ToMuchMayo said:
With How the Mc talks about how him and his sister's always try to give up on something before it hurts them. Or denying wanting something. Maybe the reason why he was so edgy about murder and stuff earlier was because it was his way of coping with his feelings. His obsession with murdering Yamada was just his actual feelings for her but it was clouded by his persona he created to protect himself from everyone else because he didn't know how to fit or be more social at the time. It only took some eps for the persona to fade so he could realize the true meaning behind it. 

PeripheralVision said:
I mean...yeah. That is the point. Him wanting to murder her came off as overcompensation for his own loneliness and social isolation. Now while part of this is understandable, much of it also came down to his own actions; his isolation is very much self-imposed due to his perceived inability to connect with people normally. We call it "outsider's pride".

He was basically the type of kid who would become a school shooter who blamed everyone else for his problems while denying himself any level of culpability. I am watching the anime, and I think it is a tad weird how quickly they abandoned the premise and his initial personality...to an extent. Like he is still fucking creepy and possessive I'd argue, and t is actually perfectly in line with someone who would want to initially murder someone for this exact same reason.

I argue it is portrayed much too positively, but it is just me. I do not have an issue with the actual idea of this "change".

Dinobunn said:


It's kinda crazy to compare him to school shooter because even in the first episode he never actually want to murder Yamada, in fact he always did the opposite. He always tried to protect her and made her feel comfortable in every situation, such as the presentation scene. This idea of "murder" in his head is just his way to not acknowledge his feeling for her. He's basically just a chuuni and not an actual psychopath. That's why it's very easy for him to drop that idea once he actually realize his feeling

Early on in the series, Ichikawa is a bitter social outcast, often having violent fantasies involving people who slight or annoy him. This, accompanied with his interest in true crime and fantasy stories has his internal monologue being that of a psychopathic killer.

While Ichikawa quickly realizes that he has unique opportunities to interact with Yamada, his poor self-esteem and still-negative personality often causes him to dismiss her cues that she is also developing feelings for him

PeripheralVision said:


That is quite the interpretation. As I see it, his initial resentment of Yamada and wanting to kill her stems partially because he sees her as representative of his wider issues with society. Having violent fantasies of this nature is not normal. There is a difference between the everyday sort of anger mixed with hormones, and then there is wanting to murder someone because of your broader issues with the world and the people around him. It is this part that is reminiscent of a mass shooter.

Just because the idea is not taken seriously by the premise does not mean it is not troubling and not an actual part of his character; why not make him someone with a plan to shoot up his school and treat it just as lightly as his desire to stab his classmate? It ends being the same thing not just because his mindset is any different, but because of how the story treats this as some passable flaw. If he is a Chuuni, he is a very disturbed Chuuni. In the context of Japanese culture, this is far darker than you may realize if you are a resident of the states, where murder in schools is fairly benign news. Wanting to stab your classmate evokes earlier memories of the Sasebo slashing or the Osaka school massacre. Kyou is by definition the Japanese cultural analaog of a mass shooter in America.

The issue is that his idea of "protecting" Yamada is still very much in line with someone with seriously emotional disturbances. I hate to rain on your parade, but women do not necessarily appreciate this sort of "protection"; it undermines their autonomy with the sort of paternal oversight reserved for children, not people who should be your peers. You say it is the opposite, that he doesn't want to really kill her and wants to protect her and to an extent I agree, it is the opposite; he swung from one healthy extreme to the other extreme. This is not as inconsistent as it appears.

People with these sort of issues regarding resentment also tend to be highly possessive in their relationship. They often have abandonment issues/low self-esteem, and a tendency to blame the world for causing all their personal turmoil, instead of you know...themselves.

Ichika, is described as:



I mean...yeah, sounds like a mass shooter in the making to me. I am not attempting to criticize the anime, and in a way I think it is mildly neat that there could be a more cohesive explanation to Ichika's seemingly tsundere-kuudere personality. Regardless of whether or not you think he genuinely wants to kill Yamada, it is very true that his fantasies stem from incredibly poor self-esteem and an intense dislike of others. Those are very much real, and literally the point of the story. He is suppose to grow to be more tolerant and accepting of the rest of society through his relationship with Yamada.

Arkaniet said:


I agree with Dinobunns take on this but you're touching on some very interesting points there. To me, Ichi is a Chuni that focused his chuniness into murder-crime stuff because his goal was to push people away from him so that he wouldn't get hurt by them. He used to put his murder books up on full display so that people would avoid getting closer to him and he stuck with that approach and slowly but surely delved deeper into that material. He initially has an intense attraction to Yamada and misinterprets that as murderous intent because he doesn't fully comprehend what love means at that point. So by episode 3 it hits him that it was never murderous intent and that's pretty much when he somewhat drops that whole angle and grows past that.

I think your assertion with the possessive behaviour, abandonment issues, low self esteem and blaming others for their personal turmoil is pretty spot on and the story is about outgrowing that with the help of others. Oddly enough some of this is propably why I like the show so much hahaha...
On the protecting aspect. Yeah I see where you're coming from with the autonomy and such. I think it depends on person to person and from where they are right now there's still a lot of room for

"no one wants to commit suicide, it is just thought of as the best option".

PeripheralVision said:


I think it would be too much of a coincidence that Ichika simply chose true-crime as his obsession versus any other hobby or interest. Kids like him tend to gravitate towards true-crime partially because they can identify with serial killers and mass murderers, many of whom were social outcasts of various types who did not have a good start in life nor a good social life. They see themselves in people many others would call monsters, and so any pity others may have turns into something far darker and more personal than that. They share in some parts of their often misanthropic worldview.

While it would be wrong to say Ichika does not have empathy, he clearly feels a great deal of stress and anxiety at his age, much more than children typically have it seems. Murder doesn't require a lack of empathy, just enough anger and resentment to override self-control. I think I understand the point though. He thinks he wants to murder Yamada simply because of what he has read. This is still incredibly unhealthy, but I think I understand what you are driving at. I suppose it is like they say,



Replace suicide with homicide, and you might have Ichika. Truth be told, I don't think this is all intentional on the anime/author's part, but it is fun to talk about.

ToMuchMayo said:
With How the Mc talks about how him and his sister's always try to give up on something before it hurts them. Or denying wanting something. Maybe the reason why he was so edgy about murder and stuff earlier was because it was his way of coping with his feelings. His obsession with murdering Yamada was just his actual feelings for her but it was clouded by his persona he created to protect himself from everyone else because he didn't know how to fit or be more social at the time. It only took some eps for the persona to fade so he could realize the true meaning behind it.