#hnrasks

I was sad, but more than sad I think I was hopeful.

So the extra took place 6 years since the final chapter. A lot of people are making Shishio out to be this heartbroken man still but I kind of disagree there. It's clear he still has feelings for Suzume after all these years but they're not heartbroken, clinging sentiments. He mentioned he didn't see her for a while until Yukichi's wedding- seeing her again probably made him remember everything a little more clearly, but I think that's the only reason why Suzume was back at the forefront of Shishio's mind.

I guess I'm remembering the way Shishio once missed Tsubomi? He went about his daily life just fine, but seeing someone again or hearing them mentioned forces you to remember. I'm pretty certain Shishio goes about his daily life just fine most of the time while keeping his feelings for Suzume to himself. He obviously hasn't bothered her since the events of chapter 78, and six years is still long enough for heartbreak to cool off even if he still hasn't forgotten. Shishio's not some broken, lonely man. 

I say hopeful because Samejima seems really good for Shishio. There's already common ground between them because Samejima's a shoujo manga editor and Shishio's a manga nerd and his collection includes shoujo. He expressed interest in her work at the end of the chapter, they're probably going to hit it off from there. Both Shishio and Samejima seemed to take initiative with each other (I'm probably wording this awkwardly OTL). Shishio asked her out for a drink before he really caught himself, and Samejima, who seems pretty introverted, found herself naturally discussing more about herself. Seems like a pretty good start for them, though it'll be a slow process because Shishio needs to eventually let go of his feelings before moving on. 

It depends on what you want compared. Contrasting one mangaka's storytelling/art to another isn't really fair and doesn't make sense.. but I think you mean me to talk about both HNR and AHR and compare my thoughts regarding the two?

Regarding Ao Haru Ride's latest chapter: FUCKING FINALLY. Man Kou was making me seriously doubt him and his abilities to make Futaba happy and secure. Poor girl's always been trying her best for everyone while still making room for her own happiness and I madly respect that. I'm a HUGE fan of Futaba uwahhh (*´・ｖ・) I can't say that I approved of her decision to date Touma was a great one (pretty clearly a rebound relationship, the readers have hindsight that Futaba doesn't, and honestly I feel Touma swayed her decisions. A lot of the time when she expressed being unsure, Touma encouraged her to choose him, so that dragged on a lot longer than it should have. Touma's not a bad kid, just.. nah. LOL. 

I used to feel exasperated with Kou because of the whole Narumi ordeal before I thought about it. Being emotionally manipulated isn't really the fault of the one being manipulated, especially if it's out of pity and empathy. Kou and Narumi both went through the terrible experience of losing someone close to them and having little social support around to be their lifeline through it all. They were quite young, too. Kou started healing sooner than Narumi did and wasn't dependent on her, but felt responsible for her because she was dependent. For Narumi, who saw her "lifeline" and interest slipping away, did whatever she could to snatch it back. Her methods were terrible and I'm not defending them, but she's a kid who felt like she was losing someone all over again without other social supports to turn to. That's why I forgave Kou. He looked at the girl he liked, Futaba, and saw a strong and forward girl surrounded by social supports and figured she could get along fine without him. Kou saw Narumi with no one, felt responsible, and took it upon himself to be there for her. It put Futaba through hell but Kou did the right thing in the end. I was also a bit put off by the "I'm going to steal her back thing".... but Futaba hadn't moved on from him anyway so. I guess it's not really stealing anyone, just hate the choice of words, makes Futaba feel like an object and I cringe whenever shoujo does that pls. 

I HAD TO EXPLAIN WHAT I THOUGHT OF ALL THAT TO EXPLAIN MY THOUGHTS TOWARDS CHAP 46 LOL. Kou being a massive dork with the flowers and crap. HE WAS SO PLEASED WITH HIMSELF TOO D'AW yeah I melted into a puddle of goo and I'm really glad they found their way back to each other through all this. They've both messed up, but it's a manga about youth and youth is about screwing up, but still being okay at the end of the day. I was really satisfied and things feel more or less complete between Kou and Futaba.

How I relate this to HNR: *side-eyes HNR* Well I explained my thoughts about the finale here. Obviously my ship sank but apart from that I really did question a lot of the ending. The only thing I refused to digest about it was the vilification of Mamura's mother for simply exercising her right to divorce a man she didn't live. Her choice was basically """"justification"""" for her son's misogyny which years of coed school socializing failed to fix. Also I wish Suzume hadn't been "that girl different from other girls" but rather by the end Mamura was accepting of ALL girls. By accepting I mean able to socialize with them without disliking them as a whole. Like in HNR I see a lot more that could have been tied up neatly.

Also, a friend brought this up, but AHR shows a teacher/student relationship a lot more realistically than HNR does. Even if consenting and completely non-sexual, it's still taboo and comes with a shitload of consequences. Neither HNR's or AHR's teacher/student ships revolve around the illicitness of the relationship but are rather about two people in love who happen to be teacher and student.

BUT. Suzume still doesn't know it was her uncle who found out about the relationship, and didn't think about the trouble she could have gotten in. In AHR, Murao was forced to realize what trouble a relationship with a teacher could result in, and what it could mean for both teacher and student. AHR's Tanamura ship still stands a chance despite being broken because Murao and Tanaka are both aware that now isn't the time. There's always a chance after grad. Shishio and Suzume also shared a relationship- Shishio was understandably hesitant, and I wish at some point Suzume had gotten the same shock that Murao did. I wish Suzume had realized Shishio was almost "caught". That might have led her to understand the breakup, understand Shishio loved her, and waiting was worth her while. I think it might have saved Shizume ya feel. 

I haven’t found a source for it which is why I say rumour but the extra about how Shishio is doing after chapter 78 shows how he got back together with Tsubomi.

// ‘Kay so Shishio is my favorite HNR character and Tsubomi is actually my next favorite so it’s nothing I have against the characters but literally what the fuck. They’ve been shown as extremely platonic ever since they straightened things about about their past relationship. Hell, Tsubomi even pushes Shishio in Suzume’s direction multiple times and I just don’t see ShiBomi as…. a romantic pair anymore. They had a good relationship once but loose ends there were tied so I??? I mean Two Beer was unfortunate (did I mention that meme is now on tvtropes) but still better than a forced-feeling relationship to show Shishio doesn’t end up alone. Shishio was never depicted as the kind of guy who moves on/falls for someone quickly so a lot of time better have passed if the rumour’s true and I really hope it’s not. They make fantastic friends, Tsubomi knows Shishio like the back of her hand and is overall like his wise older sister, I feel.  But she’s a free spirit who works internationally whereas Shishio is pretty much a “grounded” kinda guy who’s most comfortable indoors. Unless Tsubomi decides to settle or Shishio resigns himself to an on-and-off kinda thing…. how’s it going to happen? 

w h a t

I've been crying on and off since yesterday afternoon and round #1 of spoilers because as you guys know shizume is pretty much built into my soul ahah. Now I've calmed down a bit and I see one half of the fandom celebrating and the other claiming popularity contest influence and I agree with neither.

I'll admit my first reaction was horrible and I was taken by surprise because after chapter 77, I really didn't see it coming. I was angry that I got my hopes up so high and I wished that my ship had just stayed "dead" since they broke in chapter 47. The ending, no matter which ship you ship, is pretty hands-down rushed. I mean by the end of second-last chapter, it could have easily gone either way and halfway through the finale suddenly there's no way shizume could work.... I think mazume fans, if they got their ending, really did deserve a little more surety and a little more Mamura/Suzume time together. That kiss was cute, but the end was literally the first and only time Mamura is directly referred to as the daytime shooting star. That theme felt rather forced but of course the title as to tie ito the endgame somehow. 

Despite the rushed ending, I did a little thinking about why, structurally, Hirunaka no Ryuusei is set up how it is. What I mean by that is why the first 47 chapters are so strongly shizume and after a transition period, why it's nearly exclusively mazume. A lot of the shizume fandom are claiming she switched endgames because of popularity but I have to disagree. One, even though I turned a blind eye to it, there's a lot of mazume endgame hints from a while ago, including in extra chapters. Two, it's how relationships work in real life, isn't it? When you find someone you really love, you think "this is is. He is the one for me" and your thoughts begin to revolve around your lover. Suzume's feelings for Shishio weren't just a crush, as explained in the chapter. She really did fall for him, so of course Shishio would be the central hero of Suzume's story while she loved him. 

The transition period lasted a long time, like it does in the real world when you still think about your ex, but also begin to notice someone else. And the mazume arc really began when Suzume responded to Mamura's feelings and asked him out. 

Suzume heard Shishio's heartfelt confession that last chapter and knew after hearing it that she would have given the world to hear this months back, but that wasn't the case anymore. Either way, I am happy Shishio spoke his honest thoughts this time ad it wasn't Tsubomi part 2 where he was left hanging and hoping. Suzume rejected him clearly and also did express that it meant something to her, but she couldn't return back to the times it meant love to her. 

What I'm really upset about, and why I was crying so much wasn't because I didn't get my endgame. It's how Shishio responded to rejection. We know from after the Shishio/Mamura race that Shishio had readied himself for rejection. Shishio said this chapter that he knew Suzume wouldn't have dated Mamura unless she was already earnestly moving on, but he thought it was worth a shot to express himself anyway. Some part of him hoped. In the aftermath of it, we see Shishio smile and shake it off like it's nothing, and keep that smile up for everyone, though Tsubomi and Yukichi who know him best know it's not how he really feels. It's so true to Shishio's character to internalize his pain and laugh it off. He smiled for Suzume to ease her pain, but that's really just such a sad thing to do when really your heart's breaking, and that's why I'm so upset. It feels like my chest is caving in thinking how the man feels and went out to distract himself and drown his sorrows and how tough passing Suzume in the halls is going to be for him now. I want to avoid HNR for a good while now so I can attempt to heal lmao.

I really wish Yukichi had come forth and revealed to Suzume his involvement in the breakup and apologized porperly. Suzume deserves Yukichi's apology too. I can't believe she'll never know the truth about this...

As much as I've always defended Yamamori-sensei and pointed out that controversial events always had another meaning behind them (like my belief that the Shishio/Mamura race's purpose was Suzume's self-doubt and possibly foreshadowing, as well as the point of HNR kind of telling two stories) I can't defend one thing. That is the truly cringeworthy first part of this manga. We're shown Mamura's mother who found another man to love and left the family. I come from India and I know in many parts of the Eastern world, that's a low thing for a mother to do- leaving her responsibilities towards her child and husband behind for her own happiness. Of course in this age, we know a woman has every right to be happy and nothing of what Mamura's mother did deserved how Mamura grew up feeling about her. His sadness at losing his mother manifested itself in discomfort with girls and him judging girls as a whole. It's supposed to somehow justify Mamura's earlier behaviour despite the fact that school would have provided more than enough exposure to girls for Mamura to have gotten used to them. I wish the part about Mamura's mother hadn't been written in, honestly, it vilified the poor woman for what? Falling in love? Exercising her right to divorce? His mom didn't ever abuse Mamura; she did love her son. It may be cultural difference, but I can't make myself comfortable with this whole aged idea.

All in all, I can understand the two-story theme in HNR, but this last chapter feels rushed and not well-thought out. I understand there's a point of no return once you've broken up with someone, so even as a shizume shipper, I accept the reply Suzume gives Shishio. I wish the story hadn't been so vague about Suzume's thoughts about Shishio being ones due to lack of closure rather than lingering feelings. It's a bit of a slap in the face to turn it around literally last minute. I'm in pieces over Shishio who fakes a smile until the end and disagree wholeheartedly with the bit about Mamura's mom. I'll probably look over this series more objectively later, I know right now I'm certainly giving an emotional answer, I'm still fucking sobbing while writing this, but yeah please forgive. 

There’s decent sensei/student side stories in Ao Haru Ride and Kimi ni Todoke but they’re doomed to side story status OTL I’m so glad for HNR

He didn’t have any choice, if he didn’t break her heart to leave her, Suzume would have tried to talk things out. Especially if she knew the truth regarding Yukichi’s involvement. Being the straightforward and unafraid of confrontation girl she is, she’d march straight to Yukichi and possibly destroy that relationship in the process. Suzume would have come off as someone in her teen rebellion stage to Yukichi, and if Yukichi became concerned enough, I think he’d have gone to the authorities over this. Shishio loses the ability to teach forever, and Suzume probably will have to change highschools because of ensuing stigma. Can you imagine how messy that would have gotten…

Shishio ended it very clearly and quickly. “Clean break” as they say. He gave Suzume no remaining doubt about his feelings (“Do you love me?” “No, I don’t”) while also telling Suzume that he never had any faith in her feelings towards him either. That’s a step worse than saying you don’t love someone, you’re saying you didn’t have any trust in their feelings either. With that, Suzume would have no reason to linger and regret, and she could cleanly move on. 

What Shishio never saw coming was that his feelings were to strong to just die out like he hoped they would. Keeping that kind of thing locked inside while seeing the person you love around every day has to feel like burning from the inside out. 

I'll abbreviate as SZ, MZ, Mamu, Suzu and sensei to respect your decision to stay out of searches then?

There's certainly been strong hints of MZ being endgame. There was the special chapter with the menu order that was rumoured to make any couple who ate it stay together forever, which MZ ate. The crossover with Hibi Chouchou features MZ as the HNR couple, though that could simply be because they're all highschool kids and sensei would have been the odd one out, but the girls did comment to each other that the other's boyfriend would make a terrific husband. Even now, there's strong possibility that Suzu will return to Mamu by the end of the series after reconciling with sensei. 

You know what, that's all okay. It's fine with me and should be fine with others too if everyone finds closure as the series wraps up. If everyone can move forward with their lives without lying to themselves or being haunted by regret, no matter which ship is endgame, you'd have to be a fool to feel wronged. 

What pisses me off is that people consider this whole shoujo a male/male competition over who wins the beautiful girl's heart. And shame on Margaret for encouraging it with the sensei vs. Mamu themes, it's nothing more than a marketing ploy to get fans riled up. Because that's really not how Yamamori-sensei intended to get her characters across. Like can hnr fandom even read tbh lmao. Not only does that objectify Suzu, who is a wonderful, charming, multilayered character who has only ever enriched the lives of people she meets, but it throws all of sensei's and Mamu's gradual and realistic character development out a window. Yeah, obviously the two have had face-offs in the past, to the point of grabbing each other's ties. If you're literate at all though, you'll have realized they didn't get so worked up over simply getting the girl. Mamu considered sensei to have selfish and potentially hurtful intentions regarding Suzu.

"If you were a teacher, you wouldn't flirt with your student." Mamu is hella rightful in being scared and threatened because we know teachers to be the one at fault regarding illicit teacher/student relationships. 

What Mamu doesn't know is that sensei would never take advantage of Suzu like that.

"I would be the happiest person in the world if I could flirt with her freely."

Sensei's fallen for someone he knows damn well he is trusted guardian for. He's started to fall hard, and knows as long as he's a teacher and she's his student, he won't be allowed to do what anyone would otherwise be entitled to: spending time with someone they have mutual feelings for. 

What I'm trying to get across is that there's no "I deserve the girl and you don't". The race, people massively missed the entire damn point of. Maybe it does foreshadow that Mamu, who has worked hard, will end up reaping the rewards of that effort. But the race itself wasn't for sensei and Mamu to fight it out or whatever.

It was for two things: one, to generate internal conflict for Suzu. Who was it she cheered for without thinking? We don't know, she denies knowing but her unease about it and avoidant attitude hints it was probably sensei. Conversely it could have been Mamu and she's just surprised she would root for him over sensei. Idk tbh.

Two: for sensei and Mamu to finally talk it out. True, during the race, Mamu's anger towards sensei fuelled his sudden burst. He remembers the time sensei first rejected Suzu, and again when sensei broke up with Suzu, because he was there for Suzu soon after. It's almost like sensei read Mamu's thoughts here- he knew Mamura thoight of his antics as childish, and affirmed it (knowing he never should have gone into the relationship with so much uncertainty). Mamu's really surprised that unlike last time, sensei's not up in arms about defending himself or his actions/feelings. I think this post-race talk was a huge motivator for Mamu do do what he did for Suzu in chapter 75/76.