What are you on about? He's a "pushy, self-centered loser who doesn't deserve any of the girls because he can't see what they really want"? Are you telling me the girls are so perfect that they bear zero responsibility? Did they know or care about what he wanted? Despite all the effort he put in, he's a loser for not being a mind-reader and serving their 'real' needs? Yeah, he's made mistakes, that's a significant theme of this manga, but he's also been learning and growing from them.
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Nobuta:
He wasn't exactly trying to 'get' her, so whether he 'deserves' her or not doesn't matter. What he did to her in the past, quite frankly, does deserve an apology. There's nothing wrong with finding out someone who hurt you long ago still remembers and sincerely regrets it. Yeah, it was in middle school, he was young and stupid, dealing with a messed up family situation and peer pressure, but when they meet again for the first time since she says, "After all, younger guys are scary." Who says that?!
Of course their last encounter was playing in her mind then, and she willingly said something like that. This is what triggered his concern, and for good reason. Whether subconsciously or intentionally, *she* volunteered that fear to him. Why? Deep down, maybe she wanted him to know.
Then she insisted she was okay, she's fine, but when he offered his number for if she ever needed anything, she exploded, slapped him, and angrily berated him. That's not something you do if you were ever really 'okay'. Even if you're annoyed by his persistence, if you truly no longer cared you would just put the number to the side and forget about it after he leaves.
Yet not only was she enraged, her eyes welled up with tears before she paused and put back on her mask of denial. She then proceeded to go on the offensive and shame him, assume his motives, and even used his recent breakup against him, "...act like you were the victim," despite admitting she knew nothing of the circumstances. She clearly wanted to hurt him. Why?
The whole time she spoke loudly and fluently, yet she stuttered one time when she said, "...I-I'm happy as I am right now." Why?
If she had gotten over it, why did she react so violently so quickly? If she was truly happy, why would she need to hold onto this grudge?
If she built a wall around herself because of what happened, which justified all her decisions moving forward and led to her current life, then the very act of forgiving him would be a threat. It would unravel everything built upon it, and she would be scared that it might undo how she feels right now. So she protected her grudge by reacting defensively, and labeled him as self-serving so he had no opening to apologize. She's not being honest with herself, so she couldn't even be honest with him.
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Makino:
He put everything towards helping her. Driving her around to her various jobs, easing the burden of those jobs whenever he could, making sure she had a place to sleep, even regularly protecting her family from those violent debt collectors. All he wanted was some semblance of the relationship they were supposed to be in. He was understanding of her predicament, and managed to stick it out for an *entire* year. No intimacy, not even the time for a decent conversation, just a year of constant helping.
Is he a loser for this dedication and sacrifice?
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Yamaguchi:
Even when it was clear he had a thing for Makino, she relentlessly pursued him. Everyone around him pushed him toward her, including Makino. Not knowing if he could fall in love with her, he gave it a shot. He didn't lie to her; she knew his feelings. She forced her way into moving in with him, because she wanted to run away from home.
She was the shy girl who changed herself for a man, exactly like his mother. That set off alarm bells in his subconscious. When the man left, his mother fell apart. He had to pick up the pieces when he was only a small child. No matter how nice or beautiful she was, his psyche was rejecting her due to the associated painful memories.
Is he a loser because he couldn't fall in love with her due to his fucked-up childhood?
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Hermes:
She did not maintain a proper boundary with her student, and that confused him into thinking his one-sided love had hope. She was physically close with him and relied excessively on him emotionally.
Despite being deeply hurt from her rejection, feeling misled and played with, he still did the right thing and cleared up all misunderstandings with her boyfriend and workplace. Even at the sacrifice of his own embarrassment by publicly exposing his failure and naivety. He didn't have to, but he took all the blame onto himself. It showed he really did care about her, enough to put aside himself for her sake.
Is he a self-centered loser for this?
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Ch.4 Woman:
He consoled a drunk and violent woman and convinced her to talk things out with her husband. He had nothing to gain, even disliked her, but he still helped her.
Is he a self-centered loser for this?
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British Girl (first girlfriend):
This violent girl constantly hit him for the slightest of perceived problems. He worked very hard to learn English to talk to her so she wouldn't feel so lonely. Yet, he noticed, she never seemed to try learning or speaking Japanese. She then left him without a proper explanation, making him feel like utter shit, like he was to blame and all his efforts were wasted, ending on what she knew to be a misunderstanding because it "hurt too much". She couldn't give him a sliver of honesty. Talk about being selfish and inconsiderate toward him. He never found out the truth until after his accident as an adult.
Is he a self-centered loser for this, too?
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Please elaborate on where you get off calling this guy a self-centered loser.
What I see is an imperfect guy with some baggage doing his best. When it comes to life, everyone is clueless, but many people try to pretend they know shit they don't. This guy is surrounded by such people, judging him when they don't actually know anything about him. Yet he still tries to earnestly consider their words and improve himself. I fail to see how that makes him a loser.
*clap* *clap* I agree.
so long oh my god
He so self center that doesn't see what the girls really want. He's such a pushy and don't deserve any of the girls. Such a loser