| uran10 said:
From my perspecctive, Raku is always the one helping chitoge not the other way around. Every other girl in the story has helped him out more than her and they spend less time with him that she does especially kosaki. At almost every crossroad its usually kosaki (or shu) who gives him the advice that allows him to make his choice. I get the opposite attracts thing but let's be honest here if he wasn't around her to the point where he is (it takes him 2 years to actually fall for her, yet it took him less than that to fall for kosaki in middle school and he still holds those feelings) and we took into account personality his best choice would be Haru as their personalities completment each other well and they would be great together.
That's definitely an exaggeration. I could see the argument that Raku's problems are usually resolved from help through other characters, but to say Chitoge helps him the least is far from true. Heck, even in Chapter 1 she spent all night looking for his giant locket, and since then has helped fix the locket, make him bentos, and staying by his side while he was sick. Even more than that though, she supports him emotionally, and she's one of the few people he's able to be himself around.
And I'd also argue Raku fell for Chitoge much earlier than 2 years. His feelings have been hinted at since they were locked in the shed back in the early chapters, and it's been shown pretty fairly consisently since. If hints aren't enough, Hana was pretty clear about his feelings in Chapter 60 or so. This really isn't a new thing. XD Though I do imagine Raku will remain ignorant until the story is near its end...since the tension is one of the draws of the manga.
And now for my favourite part, the cultural festiva arc. This is what cemented it for me in all honesty, yes Raku is ignorant of her feelings but how would he be able to tell? Did she straight up tell him? Did she give any hints before starting to act that way? not really. In the end even though she was supposed to apologize it was Raku who ended up doing it. He apologized for nothing as far as I'm concerned. If a girl develops feelings for me and she expects me to see that change as soon as it happens and adapt one time then she has got to be psycho. They are a fake couple and she was supposed to keep it up btu because of those feelings she physical hurt Raku multiple times and then in the end had him apologize for doing nothing. The only people who realize the change in chitoge are Shu and Marika so this really doesn't add up regardless.
That's...pretty interesting. The arc that made you hate that character is what really made the ship into my OTP. The slap scene was such a stark contrast to how most of the relationships are drawn. It was such a powerful moment for both of them, and seeing their reactions to it absolutely killed me. Chitoge cried over how she wasn't able to voice her feelings, and Raku could only think of how painful it was to have her so angry with him. After that...honestly, every other ship felt like a joke to me. I do still like the other girls, but it was obvious how much more care Komi puts into the main relationship over everyone else's.
And though it's true that it wasn't entirely Raku's fault, I took the scene at the beach as being pretty cruel on his part. The fact she was asking that question in the first place was enough evidence that something had changed in their relationship, and it was shown afterwards that Raku's answer wasn't completely sincere in the first place. He didn't mean to hurt her, but it was clear in his retrospect that that was exactly what happened.
Of course, you could argue that she should have apologized for the slap, but in the context of the scene, it didn't seem all that necessary. Chitoge is a character for whom actions speak much louder than words, as seen all the way back in Chapter 1, and her actions following the apology left me satisfied with the result. To me, showing remorse for her actions, and supporting Raku when he needed it are more than enough.
And If you watch how every other girl has approached raku or helped out Raku or how they are devoted to him she pales in comparison. Marika is by far the most devoted and she would do anything for Raku and the way he treats her is wrong so I rather not go into details with that one, but we've seen on multiple occaisions how she would go out of her way just for raku. She even pushed Yui to confess because of how she cares for Raku. She wants him, but she wants what's best for him. Chitoge usually only cares about herself in that regard when it comes to raku, not what's best for him. Onodera is a trope where she is strong at the start but because she and him are already in love with each other they are unable to build her character more without them actually getting together and the longer the story the weaker her character. It doesn't help that her advances always get interupted. The one thing she does is look out fo Raku though. She's always there to give him advice and always there for him. I don't remember between her and Tsugumi who has given him more advice but I think its her and that's because of how much she cares for him. While she does want a relationship with him his well being will always come first with her. I don't see that very often with chitoge, maybe I'm misrembering but most of the time I don't see it with her. Its usually just trying to push her way on to Raku and failing until he ends up having to save her from some stupid situation. In this sense Marika is far too good for Raku, while onodera who is always there for him would be good and Raku who is constantly having to save the person who doesn't really help him out much or look out for him as much as the others is far too good for her. That's how I see it. He did the one thing no one else did for her and fixed her relationship with her mom and she was grateful, but I don't see her doing anything to help raku's life out other than try to get into a relationship with him, which he already said wouldn't work because of how she is.
Much of this ties into my early responses. The only thing I have to add is that, as the female lead, many of Chitoge's stories will tend to follow her. The other girls are important, but as support cast members (this is mostly verbatim, but I consider anyone outside of the main premise to be part of the support cast), their role is tied into Raku's story most of the time. Meanwhile, Raku and Chitoge, as the lead characters, tend to be presented with problems, and rely on friends to get over those problems. That's the only way I can possibly interpret your opinions on the various characters, since my interpretation has always been quite the opposite.
I do hope that Chitoge helps Raku in a situation similar to what happened with Hana, since I think that'll be a good catalyst to him realizing his feelings, but I still stand by that Chitoge's support tends to be more emotional, rather than obvious.
I was backing onodera cause I dislike chitoge's trope and onodera is the "always lose" trope. Then I grew to like onodera and I tried to like chitoge but that ending left a really really bad taste in my mouth (chapter 50 or so). Couldn't get around to liking her since. As for which girl I believe should get him, see above.
About the violent trope part as well, a lot of people do complain and do think it warrants an apology when a male is hit but as you said its just comedy but I do dislike that side of it which is another reason for disliking her in a way. Its unwarranted most of the time and I don't care if she wanted to apologize. It doesn't count unless she actually does it. Raku apologized and instead of stopping him and apologizing herself she just went with it... That's not how it goes Love is a two way street not a one way.
Opinion...opinion...see above.
Also, it doesn't count if she doesn't actually apologize? What? Of course it counts, we the reader are seeing her thoughts and actions. It seems to me like a lot of our disagreement stems from whether we're treating these scenes as elements in a story, or actual living people. I root for characters, but there's really a limit to much vicariousness should impact your opinion.
Either way everything here is an opinion. Komi made the story with the idea of making her and him end up together so he's goign to go with that but that doesn't change the fact that even with the truck load of character development she's gotten Marika, Haru and even the impossible to develop kosaki still outrank her especially in the caring department. of course my hate could lead to misremembering but this is how I see it. As it stands he's going to end up with a girl who has a key and out of those Marika would be the best end but she is honestly too good for him while onodera would be a good end and I personally see chitoge as a bad end as do quite a lot of others when you consider her popularity has been passed by marika and onodera continues to be #1.
This is probably one of the only things you've brought forth I can't really argue against, and also probably my biggest worry in seeing my OTP come to frution. It's true...Kosaki and Marika are much more popular characters. If I had to rationalize it, I'd say those types of girls tend to be preferred by the fanbase that typically reads shonen romance, and that those characters also attract a very...devoted group of fans (I recall one poll where Komi mentioned a fan voting over 100 times, goodness!).
With that said, nothing has really changed in the manga for me to assume Komi's plan has changed in any drastic way from when he wrote the one-shot and Chapter 1. Chitoge still appears in nearly every story-arc (remember when she randomly had an appearance while Raku and Marika were on the island? that made me laugh) and she still appears on Jump covers and crossover spreads (look up nearly any Jump cover with Nisekoi and see who appears; heck Raku/Chi even made the cover in the middle of that Onodera Christmas arc). In some ways, she seems like Komi's poster-child for the series, I seem to see her even more than Raku while looking at off-canon material. She even fought with Luffy and Goku in the new Jump Stars game. XD
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