(Apr. 15, 2017 8:19 PM)TheBlackDevil Wrote: [ -> ]There's that too, but if I recall correctly, Mariah/Mao also refers to Ray with the honorific -nii, which translates to "brother" when she obviously sees him as something more. And as you mentioned, her being associated with Kai's old teammate just triggered another warning signal. The way I see it, Hiruta is respecting Ayaka as his superior and not as an older sister per se; she clearly doesn't look like someone who's going to lay down and take orders from a character like him - she's going to be his superior and expect to be treated as such (as seen when she takes his beyblade without permission, and he doesn't throw as much as a fit as I assume he should have.) Or maybe I'm just being paranoid? If she really is Hiruta's sister, then I applaud Aoki for relieving me of this stress, but until there's a more concrete confirmation on their exact relationship, I'm just not sure about what's going on right now other than it seems all too likely that Ayaka is going to be Kai's sister/cousin/relative. Whatever it is, there goes the lone-wolf image that makes Kai, Kai.
Geez, this whole thing is bringing out the pessimism in me. I wonder if Takao Aoki gets a kick out of seeing his readers flip out speculate over this?
Correct, but she has every reason to call him "brother", since the three of them (Rai, Rei
and Mao), if it wasn't clear enough from the Japanese dub, are not just "nakama" ("
comrades, friends"), but "
kyoudai" ("
siblings"), ever since they were newborns.
Rai himself
specified this in the manga, which only added to how obviously the three of them are more than just a group of best friends considering the two boys' dynamic and constant fighting to get the title, both in the anime
and the manga. And of course, Mao uses the
-nii honorific not just for Rei, but for both Rei
and Rai, which we know is her biological brother. We all know she used to see him as something more
in the anime, but in the anime itself he also blatantly friendzoned her.
In the manga, Rai is clear: "we're not just comrades: ever since we were newborns we have been raised as siblings" (and you even see them in the same crib!! Mao is the youngest so she'll join them later on).
Ayaka, however, acted just like an older sister would: no need to ask for permission, since I'm the superior one. And the way Hiruta reacted was very much like a younger brother
annoyed by his sister's disrespect for his own spaces, yet resigned to his destiny: regardless of what I say, she'll do whatever she pleases, so where's the point? Basically the relationship between me and my younger brother (sorry not sorry, ops?).
It was too much of a
lighthearted kind of interaction to be one between a superior expecting to be treated as one and a subordinate. The "Makoto" (where Kai and the rest of the Shell Killers used to refer to him as "Hiruta"), the complaining, and her smile at the end... sorry, I can't get a "neutral" feeling from these two. Especially since they even seem to
live together. Poor Hiruta, I feel bad for him, now I need to hug my bro!
Well, if anything, now you know in what kind of hell I've been living for the past 12 years? I said it once, and will never stop saying it: Aoki-sensei is sneaky one and most likely also sadistic. Trust me when I say that by being Kai's fan you're one heck of a lucky lady!
(Apr. 15, 2017 8:19 PM)TheBlackDevil Wrote: [ -> ]And correct me if I'm wrong, but is Aoki done with Ayaka's story? Usually he adds a "to be continued" at the end, but it just says "end" after the last panel. Here's to hoping Rising Chapter 4 isn't going to take another two months to be released...
Nono, you're correct. This thing with Ayaka seems to be over.
HOWEVER, Rising was also supposed to be over with Chapter 2, but oh well, sounds like things can always get worse than what they are.
Again, I used to trust Aoki-sensei back in the day, and I only earned a huge kick in the butt by both him and his oh-so-lovely fans. No more!! Better safe than sorry:
beware!