This is just badly written, sorry

Sorry, but if we're talking dramatic subtlety, he did not dump Yuuki due to "societal" reasons. He started being robotic, cold, aloof and rude to Yuuki before the babies and lady colleague. It started when he thought Yuuki was missing then found him on the beach and realized he was afraid of losing that happiness. The author was smart enough to show how he's a "runner." He ran away with fear after teh first kiss. He ran away with fear after realizing how much he loved Yuuki and dreaded loving him more. THAT was why he ran. He used societal reasons (family,children) as the excuse, but that wasn't the reason the author set up early and even reiterated later.

Exactly. You got it (others seemed to miss that). Societal values was the excuse he latched onto to leave Yuuki, but the distancing came from terror at loving so deeply that the loss of that love might destroy him. So, he ran first before Yuuki could dump him. (Exactly as when he first kissed him and ran away afraid Yuuki would hate him.) He never changed his character: he is afraid of losing Yuuki, then and then and now.

Nope, it doesn't get to be subtle and obvious at the same time. Pick a side.

It was obvious in 1: foreshadowing that Akira would run away when afraid of his feelings (as he did after the kiss,), which was fulfilled when he emotionally ran away after the beach thing and physically ran away after the coworker came onto him.

It was obvious that the REAL reason he pulled away from Yuuki was his fear of loving him TOO Much and not recovering from a blow if Yuuki left him or was lost to him. (Lost like the lighter, that's the subtle metaphor).

The subtle: the white line that symbolized theiir early relationship showed that Yuuki would always wait for Akira (like he did in rain or shine for days, later in terms of years alone).

The subtle: how the limited white line becomes the broad, open white snowy expanse when Akira finally breaks free of his mental/emotional bounds.

Many stories have both obvious and subtle, so BZZZT, you're wrong to limit it.

Oh, and the other subtle "reversal" aspect: the lighter is a metaphor of light. Yuuki is light for this guy. When he lost the lighter, it was a symbol that he would lose Yuuki (through his own carelessless). Since Yuuki found the lighter that time (terrifying Akira at the depth of his feeling so that he soon runs away), we know that it will then be Akira's turn to go in search of the light (no lighter) and the light is symbolized by 1. the aurora borealis in the sky --like lines and 2. by Yuuki himself, the light of Akira's life.

Seme was stupid actually i don't get him TBH.to me it feels like he wanted to believe himself that it was all because of society norms (delusional) is what I will say here.but in his heart he got too scared to love him too much which he said himself.it can be be that societal pressure was one of the little factor because it was given in a manga by the author but .societal pressure seems like a excuse of him to get away from the uke (because as he said he loves him too much) more then the actual problem .even if it was out of true love or it was due to societal pressure it was wrong of him. In both the cases what he did was selfish and cowardly.

And as you said the thing that piss me off the most is he got forgiven with just I love you and in the past or present always got what he wanted where Yuki spent eight years sleeping around with people who resemble seme .

Hey Annabis I just read what you recommended here to rattail and let me tell you it's a gem I loved it thanku

Um, nope. You don't get to conflate two different issues that you think someone else is doing while doing it yourself then act like you're not doing it.

See, subtlety CAN be obvious. To DIFFERENT people, AS the person themselves said. Just as people can miss what's BLATANTLY written out for them.

You ASSumed that societal values are the same as holding up societal values as a fake excuse. If not, then you should really address the VALID points that everyone else made, before posting, next time. Otherwise it just looks like you're ignoring them because you can't be bothered to deal with them and thus still think you're right in everything you said. And which... brings us back to the point I made in my FIRST paragraph. KT.

See, Annabis is the one who made a really great point for YOUR side. I can totally see how someone can come away from this believing that Itou is making up how he was afraid to fall in love more deeply with Yuuki as just yet another excuse. Even though it is NOT my interpretation.

Huh? Please quote and share any part of my post in which I a) described the mangaka as flawed and b) presented my views as anything more than an opinion.

I thought the character development was inexplicable in the third chapter and the book itself didn't present the realism others lauded it for. I appreciated the points Annabis and ManganiME made about his fear driving his decisions rather than societal pressure. But for me it read as an abrupt insertion of a problem for the sake of creating conflict rather than coming organically from the story. Fear clouding sense fit with a younger Itou in the beginning but not after years in a stable, loving, long term relationship as depicted in the story. If it is that Itou did not mature *at all* over the years then I think that needed to be illustrated. Tokokura took the short cut of telling not showing (with the panel series of Itou's inner monologue) but I found it inadequate for such a major plot turn.

That's all. I never stated that the mangaka herself was flawed. (Mangaka ≠ writing.) In fact, the misstep stood out for me because everything before it was sensitively and charmingly done. Annabis recommendation of the Asou Mitsuaki is an excellent example of a book which approaches emotional authenticity.

As for the "opinion" issue, the Cambridge English Dictionary defines it as: 1. A thought or belief about something or someone; 2. a judgement about someone or something. That's what I did, literally. That's what all of us do here every day. Unless someone explicitly tries to assert their view as fact, then opinions are the default. Why is this something I need to bring up every time I do a post? Naah.

My counter opinions to the "realism" defence sprung directly from "considering other interpretations first". No, I don't find it realistic ie resembling reality that any person dumped as coldly as Nishi was after building a life together would meet the person umpteenth years later and forgive them after a punch, slap, and kiss. Feel free to disagree. We're in the manga discussion board section, open to readers, where we can share *opinions*.

Anyway....

Sigh. You don't understand my point and all misunderstandings flow from there. You are absolutely right---the mangaka did blatantly write out a neat summary of Itou's reasons for his decision, right in the series of panels at the beginning of chapter four. Yes? She had to because Itou took a 180 from Supportive Partner Of Several Years to I'm Scared This is Pointless I'ma Marry the First Woman Who Says She Likes Me.

This for me was off, structurally and stylistically. Sensei took two chapters which involved several tiny scenes on which she built their relationship which spanned several years. At this point, as I stated, they functioned like a married couple. The scenes in that single chapter to the climax of the break up felt rushed in comparison. And then the reasoning for it wasn't illustrated but wrapped up in a few lines in what's a manga not a novel. (His entire relationship with the woman happened off page! For a far more realistic depiction of this kind of dilemma there's Sojou No Koi Wa Nido Haneru by Mizushiro Setona.) That sense of it being rushed to meet a deadline or a page limit was compounded when the joyful reunion and resolution occurred in an even shorter number of pages. That's not balanced to me but obviously opinions differ.

I don't think it's a shame that you think differently, or that you're so dumb you're missing something.

And I think how great it could have been if the sensei took the time to flesh it out, because Itou was seriously acting like some PTSD person just on the basis of Yuuki not being in the bed next to him.

I definitely liked that we got snapshots of some years, but it still was rushed, and this trauma they experienced needed more. Maybe it's not sensei's fault and the editors rushed her. Could be Happens. But I Liked this so much when they were young and we saw their gradual progression, that suddenly slapped with "I'm love you too much, now I'm cold to you, now I'm leaving you cause Chick/Baby/Fear/RunningAwayAgain" was whiplashy.

I do really like the stylistic element of showing us their age, but we didn't see enough. And you're right, a scene more with the gf/wife about how that relationship was deteriorating (I mean, we go from zero to dissatisfied, and that makes no sense).

I am really thinking now more them your actual comment what made people anxious more was you topic line (￣∇￣")

Than*

Right: you've described my reaction precisely lol. I know editors have a lot of control in the writing process so that wouldn't surprise me. I wouldn't have posted anything if I hadn't been so dissatisfied by the "realism" defence.

I like the first two chapters so much I'm sure I'll reread them.

LOL. I guess so ╮(￣▽￣)╭. The more I like something the stronger is my opinion about it. I made a deliberate choice to state how I felt in a separate post rather than insert myself in earlier threads about Itou's actions precisely because I didn't want to change the tone in those conversations. And I don't make it personal or shade others for disagreeing (unless they do it first ;>).

Ikr. You are welcome. (⌒▽⌒)