Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou. Episode 12 Discussion

Yeah I do agree Manaria was quite annoying but she was definitely made to be that kind of character on purpose. But Icl I actually did kind of like her in the end she’s definitely messed up but she gave Rae the push she needed to properly purse Claire.

But regardless Rae and Claire’s dynamic was the highlight of the show for me, they work so well together, this is definitely a top 3 yuri for me.

Rae this ep: "Nah, I'd win" ✍️🔥🔥

Why do Yuri shows always fumble in the last handful of episodes. Sakura Trick did the same thing. They introduce a character you hate in the last three episodes and ruin all of the romantic buildup of the entire season. ALSO, Manaria is a f*cking r^pist, so I hate that they tried to make her a sympathetic character. Other than that, overall a very enjoyable show, but it falls victim to the classic Yuri Fumble as I am now calling it. 8/10

As flawed as Manaria's opinion on the outcome of unrequited love is, I think the true weakness of this conflict is the sheer dichotomy of threatening Claire and Rae with implied sexual assault to the stark contrast of "Teehee, I was just teasing you because I love you!"

It's such a slap in the face. The previous logic while flawed makes sense to Manaria's character and her experience, but threatening Claire like this is just too much of a leap. I feel it could've been written as Manaria just doubling down and saying "This time I'll do it right, with Claire." and have her challenge Rae as it was already shown that Rae was realizing her cowardice and how unrealistic of a relationship it is.

Man, the last scene left me grinning like an idiot xD. I loved hearing Claire call Rae by her name and it was great to see Claire's dere side many times in the finale.

Like Rae, I loved Claire. Her design, personality, reactions, her seiyuu, she really was one of my favorite girls of the season.

I'm going to miss this show, the dynamic between Claire and Rae was super fun and I'm glad we got something concrete in their relationship by the end of the season. The OP will also be missed, I loved listening to Rae and Claire singing it.

I hope we get a S2 in the future, I want to see more of them now that they are together!

@GooseBolt Manaria’s only bluffing to force Rae to act. She already sees herself as irredeemable and acts as such at that point because she knows it will make Rae actually do something.

@KilledbyCuriosty That only works if there were any hints in her actions that she was just pushing Claire and Rae together. The acts Manaria takes are not ones of simple bluffing or sly attempts to get them to reveal each other's feelings. For example, the scales. Manaria uses the heaviest item in the known land. While one could try to explain that away as plot convenience to show Rae finally giving in to using her otherworldly game knowledge, I believe that is writing yourself into a corner if your only recourse is to suddenly spring this sort of contrivance. One can only suspend so much disbelief. The other issue I have is there's absolutely nothing in Manarina's actions to tell the viewers she is after Rae. It looks more like her backstepping to not gain as much ire. In the end, this is all subjective pedantry. I believe Manaria was written poorly but obviously, she did her job as a character that upsets the audience and they easily wrote her that way. To me, it felt a bit lazy as Manaria's experience is a great wake-up call to Rae even if it is a flawed assumption that all unrequited love will end with that sort of heinous action but the base message of you're only hurting yourself and others with this is great. It's just the backstepping at the end saying "I was just after you!" is such a lazy twist.

On another note, I saw you mention Manaria's actions while heavily implied as such in the Manga and Anime, are different in the LN. Where could I find that? Getting nothing on Mangareader for results.

@GooseBolt First of all Manaria's been pretty specifically interested in Rei since her first appearance. She explicitly includes Rei in conversations despite Claire's protests and only really starts being explicitly antagonistic towards Rei (at least in Rei's perspective) after she says she's content with Claire not returning her feelings. Until then, Manaria goes out of her way to talk to Rae and in both the sub and the dub is not subtle about trying to seduce her with her tone of voice

Secondly, Manaria at the end of the day still wants to have Rei for herself which is why she gets the Floss Flower. Her actions contradict each other and she is hypocritical as a result. She tells Rei that unrequited love will always break but lets her love of Rei remain unrequited. She becomes furious at Rei for giving Claire up so easily. She expects Rei to not take a duel over Claire seriously because Rei said that she dislikes the similar ideas in Posie Amour. She tries to get Rae and Claire to interact more but Rae is stubborn and hates Manaria too much to notice. I'm rambling and idk how to say my thoughts exactly so sorry, but I don't really think Rae as she was would've actively pursued Claire without being shown that she either has to act or even can act and Manaria gets her to do both. Like...this is the first time in the entire series that Rae doesn't pass off her flirting and pursuit of Claire as a joke which is why their relationship fails to progress until Manaria shakes things up.

You can find the LN via seven seas, I'm not about to advocate for piracy of a series that I both love and know the author of personally. She's an amazing person and you should support her.