From Shirukii:
Ai-chan didn’t ask him to go out with her on the spot, she simply asked him to look at her, not as a childhood friend, not as a sister figure, but as a girl, one that he may come to like one day. Yet Shin shuts her down, tells her that he could never think of her that way, and vows to forget the instance which took all of Ai’s courage to build up to. Not that I can really blame the guy, hell if I know what I’d do in that situation, but still… that was pretty bad of him.
I know what I would do.
Ai: Just look at me… I beg you!
Kabitzin: I… I’m blind! My, er, soul has just been rocked. Sorryokbye.
Fortunately, I know from experience that while Ai is saying “Look at me as a girl you could come to like,” what she really means is, “Let’s get married, start a family, and move in with my parents right now.” Sure it starts as looking, but soon you’re getting jiggy in the storeroom with your ex-best friend’s ex-girlfriend. These things form a slippery slope!!!
It’s interesting how in so many shows the sister or childhood friend qualities can be very moe attributes that are used to lure the target in. But in Ai’s case, these attributes hinder her. This is because she never should have agreed to go out with Miyokichi. She should have said, “Sorry, but there is someone else I like.”
Also, I think Shinichiro handled it about as well as he could have. It sucks so bad to be put on the spot like that and then have to reject someone. Then there’s always that awkward aftermath when groups of friends have to choose sides like in a civil war. When Ai was crying and begging, my danger sense was instantly going into overdrive thinking “Oh damn, this is some emotional baggage I so do not need right now,” so I probably wouldn’t be a very good (or popular) character in a harem or romance series.
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Which reminds me, anyone still watching water, has the guy’s sudden recovery from blindness after episode 1 ever come into question? There was zero transition there, if I were him I’d be all “HOLY CRAP THE COLORS, I CAN SEE. HEY! AREN’T YOU THAT GIRL WHO FELL ASS FIRST INTO MY FACE YESTERDAY?!”
Hey guys, yea… I was just kidding about being blind the other day. Sorry about grabbing your ass.
It’s interesting that the childhood friend status has become a harem handicap when years back it was considered an unassailable lead.
Well perhaps Hiromi was a better childhood friend? It is not as common for there to be multiple childhood friends; maybe Hiromi was able to secure a verbal agreement (that Shinichiro forgot about).
Just as “maybe being related” is a great excuse to turn someone down, “being blind” is a great excuse for getting frisky.
“Sure it starts as looking, but soon you’re getting jiggy in the storeroom with your ex-best friend’s ex-girlfriend.”
That sounds hot, though pretty unrealistic. Might be why the statement also reminds me of School Days. :P
It’s interesting to see how bias for certain characters make us desire that they become, an “indecisive fool” whose feelings waver between people. In the case of Shin’s rejection of Ai, most people, including me (especially non-Ai-fans) deemed it as something admirable, because it quickly ended what would’ve been a more tragic and painful drama later on.
Ai fans however, will find a way to justify what she has done in the past, think that she’s the one who’s more deserving of Shin’s love despite all that, and would thus want him to… look at her.
Usagijen, that is a really interesting point. I don’t see how someone can deserve love, since it is the object of affection’s love to give. What really sucks for Ai fans is that Ai is begging just to get in the game. She’s not even a real contestant, and I can’t see her getting much more screentime.
Ai, at best, is like the Ralph Nader of True Tears.