Nont2082

They tried way too hard to make the show “Korean Game of Thrones” to pander to US audience that it kinda lost its identity

That’s an interesting take. I will rewatch the show with more open-minded then.

If you watch the show closely, you will realize that Natsu is still spineless for almost everyone. The only person he can stand up to is his estranged father because he considers his dad to be scummier than him.

He never stands up for Mizuki because if he did, he would have explained to everyone a long time again that it was her decision to abort and he was kept in the dark about her changing her mind. Instead, he just keeps being everyone’s doormat.

I don’t want her (and of course, I don’t want all woman) to accept her bf’s kid. I just find it unnecessary for them to add her abortion backstory because without it, the result of her character remains the same.

This show raised the bar so high.

The asadora shows that will come after really have a big shoe to fill.

Why did you drop it?

The other characters: “Natsu, you should stop being shy and make decisions.”

Meanwhile, those same characters whenever Natsu wanted to make his own decisions: “Blah blah blah I’m not listening to you. I have made up my mind about what I want to do. Deal with it!”

There’s no character arc for Natsu because nobody (mainly the script) let him have his moment. They also actively invalidated his feelings and struggles (“We struggle more than you so you have no right to feel sad about things”). The only one who listened to him is his a*hole father.

The more I think about it, the more I hate how the show just keeps kicking him down.

Oh, absolutely. I’m fine with Yayoi dumping Natsu. What I’m not fine with is that it made her abortion backstory and arc pointless (which I kinda understand that the show wants to show the feminist message but in my opinion, a show like Tora ni Tsubasa did it in a much more tasteful manner). Everyone else has an arc (yes, and that also includes Mizuki) except for her and Natsu. I hate how Natsu by the end of the story still can’t stand up for himself and has no personal life outside of being Umi’s father what so ever.

P.S. I think the term you want to describe a boring handsome dependable guy is “himbo”.

Things could have been much easier if Mizuki just let Tsuno be Umi’s father but hey, we need forced drama so that never happened. Also, I’m glad he’s not with Yayoi because he deserves better.

I find it really weird that they gave her an arc of wanting to become a mother just so that she would chicken out in the end. Because that made those arc pointless. She started as an irresponsible mom who aborted her own child then ended her story as someone who refused responsibility of being Umi’s mom anyway so even if the abortion backstory was removed, her character remains the same so why included that in the first place?

Yayoi’s arc is an anti-Chekhov’s gun.

I think the main reasons of the backstory is to show how pro-choice the show is and to subvert our expectations by having her dumping Natsu because raising a child isn’t “fun” anymore but that kinda ruined her character (plus, if it was her who’s pregnant with someone else’s kid and Natsu dumped her, he would look like an a-hole in an instant), at least for me, because there’s no personal growth. Even Natsu’s estranged dad who is supposed to be a douchebag still has more character growth than her in just one episode.

Plus why did he have to choose at all? The dichotomy was too extreme and it felt like everyone was taking advantage from the male lead thanks to how spineless he is.

The story can be summed up like this

Mizuki: Being irresponsible and putting other people in trouble
Everyone: “Oh poor girl.”

Natsu: Sneezes
Everyone: “F*ck you. You piece of sh*t!”

I beg to differ.

I think it’s fine that Yayoi dumped Natsu because Natsu deserves so much better.
Like, if someone dumped you at the first sign of trouble (knowing that it’s not your fault that you didn’t know about this kid’s existence for 7 years), then she probably doesn’t worth your time.

Overall, a great series.

The hiccups were of course, Mizuki (that I think the writer unintentionally wrote her to be a selfish narcissist) and Yayoi’s arc about becoming a mother that went nowhere.

The only thing that I hate about Natsu in this story is how spineless he is, considering that everyone keeps kicking him when he’s down (and yes, including Umi too). Even by the end, he still never stand up for himself.

Is Mizuki’s character flawed and human? Yes.
Is she extremely selfish and manipulative? Also yes.
Like, did the writer even aware that what she did were things that a villain would do?