Sitting with it for a day, I have more feelings about Go For it, Nakamura!
Again, I really enjoy this story and what feels like the beginning of something that didn't get to be fully actualized.
Onto that critique... Below the cut!
I think I know the significant issues bothering me regarding the finale: repetition and contradiction.
Ep 12 Nakamura: I'm happy for him! Yeah, I can handle being friends with him and... WHY DO I FEEL A HORRID SENSE OF DREAD AND LONELINESS AND MY INSIDES ARE RIPPING APART? I SHOULD BE USED TO NEVER HAVING LOVE! ISN'T THIS FRIENDSHIP, HAPPINESS?!
Ep 13 Nakamura: I'm happy! I think so! Yeah, I can handle being friends with him... I'll just keeping loving him while we hang out and that will be fine. This certainly went well before. I'm okay. If he dates anyone else, I'll be totally fine. Yup. La la la. I'm only worthy of unrequited love.
We saw Nakamura break down in the penultimate episode of season 1, because his brain is processing that society doesn't recognize his love as anything more than fujoshi fodder. He can only love who he loves in an imaginary world. He doesn't fully comprehend this in words, because he doesn't know how. Coming to the realization that who and what you love isn't traditional and you often feel forced to hide it, is devastating. Don't be seen at the book signing for a BL. Don't let anyone know that the queer literature is yours. Don't be perceived.
He says he can just be friends with Hirose, but we see that is tearing him apart. You might say it's only the girlfriend, but that's not acknowledging the whole picture. The illusion of possibility for his happy ending is gone. He feels like he even tricked himself into thinking it might work by the shoe lockers.
Then, episode 13 rolls around and the dream slides back in because Hirose is single. But no, no, Nakamura tells himself, we can just be friends. We're friends. I can handle this.
But bro, YOU CAN'T! We literally just saw you have a mental breakdown over it. Then, Nakamura falls back into saying that he loves Hirose and that's okay too. Like, jk, it's not just friendship for me. I LOVE HIM! That's okay, he thinks. I can love him still! I'll be okay!!!
We all know, though, the second Hirose dates someone else, Nakamura is going to be a pile of garbage.
Wait, wait, you tell me, right before Hirose got dumped, Nakamura had become okay with it.
Y'all, that was like, for barely any time. Could you imagine the SPIRAL he would have hit if he saw Hirose kissing someone else? This boy is one crack away from crumbling. He's glueing himself back together every time and refusing to acknowledge that he's piecing himself into what is "acceptable".
The only love you can feel is from afar.
You don't get to hold hands.
You don't get confessions.
Love will always be a fantasy, a story on a shelf that you must buy and self insert.
THIS is my frustration with the end of season 1.
Again, I still really enjoyed it. I think there is a lot of good within it. Showing the invisible strain of outside pressure was remarkable.
I also believe the story was watered down at the end and made into something more digestible for the masses.
This happens to stories made for mass media quite often.
It's easier to say you are a fan of the queer show if it isn't too queer, right?
You guys gotta watch this anime, you tell your friends. It's about this boy who is in love with another boy in class, but it's not like overtly gay. It's very sweet. It's like silly, and light, and you'll like it. It doesn't shove the gay stuff in your face.
That's what it felt like to me. Go For it, Nakamura! had a chance to be a new LGBTQ+ story that gave hope to closeted teens that, yes, there are other people with diverse sexualities around you and that person you're crushing on might not be unobtainable. Instead, it fell back onto a contradictory "friendship will see you through" trope that they had literally shown was not healthy for Nakamura to clutch onto in the previous episode.
I'll still make content for this story. I really enjoy the characters and the potential dynamics between them. I think there is a solid base.
But, I think a critique is fair! Nothing is perfect. Endings are difficult! Even more so when the internet has proven itself a hostile community toward the mangaka.
I hope to continue to see wonderful creations by the community to support love in all its forms, so we might keep the hype for a season 2 where Nakamura can see that he is worthy of Love, and can, in fact, go for it!!!
