Sukitte Ii na yo 11 – Friends and Enemies

Mei and Megumi are incredibly similar when we take their pasts and attitudes towards others into consideration, but regardless of such similarities they are exact opposites in terms of how they have approached the problems in their life. Mei, with the help of her new friends and Yamato has decided to face her fears and learn to trust others. Her painful memories and feelings of rejection and betrayal had a clear impact upon how she approached society, believing that everyone would eventually betray her so there was no point in even trying to make friends. At the beginning of the series we see a girl who has rejected society and social contact, instead she drifts through life like she were a ghost. Meeting Yamato, Asami and Aiko changed all that and throughout the series we have seen Mei gradually open up to these characters and begin to enjoy life to it’s fullest. Part of the reason for this change has been Mei’s inherent understanding of what it means to be alone and treat like a ghost. Her encounters with Aiko and Asami have helped to demonstrate how compassionate and understanding a character Mei is. Through her painful experiences she has helped Aiko and Asami get over their own complexes and realise what is important in life, and in doing so has built strong and lasting bonds with them.

Sukitte Ii na yo 10 – Lies and Misunderstandings

The introduction of Kai would always bring with it another set of problems, specifically for Yamato, but his characters also helped to demonstrate the uneasy relationship that Yamato has with Mei. Up until this point Yamato has demonstrated how shallow he can be, and how damaging his willingness to help anyone and everyone has been to his relationship with Mei. The appearance of Megumi prompts Mei to question her position with Yamato, almost convincing herself that she never had any business falling in love with Yamato in the first place. For his part, Yamato is portrayed to be as naïve and new to love as Mei; his willingness to help others, along with his general attitude further exacerbates an already tense situation. As Mei and Yamato grow further apart, kicking themselves about what they did or didn’t do, what they said or wanted to say, we began to see how alike these two characters are. Mei and Yamato initially appear as polar opposites with Yamato’s popularity portrayed in stark contrast to the almost invisible nature of Mei. Partly because of this Mei continued to back herself into a corner, blaming herself for allowing Yamato to model and get close to Megumi. It is an uneasy relationship because Mei’s overly cautious and arguably introverted nature, coupled with Yamato’s ineptitude and inability to understand the consequences of his actions have gradually been building up and gaining ever more power and influence. They clearly love each other, but because of these problems they continue to bump into other issues that potentially hurt their relationship.

Sukitte Ii na yo 09 – Missing the Point

While previous episodes have focussed on the problems that Mei and Yamato face with the appearance of Megumi and Yamato’s increasing popularity as a model, this week takes a slightly different approach. Up to this point Mei has been dealing with a substantial inferiority complex along with the emotional and psychological baggage of her past. The appearance of Megumi prompts Mei to question her position with Yamato, almost convincing herself that she never had any business falling in love with Yamato in the first place. For his part, Yamato is portrayed to be as naïve and new to love as Mei; his willingness to help others, along with his general attitude further exacerbates an already tense situation. As Mei and Yamato grow further apart, kicking themselves about what they did or didn’t do, what they said or wanted to say, we began to see how alike these two characters are. Mei and Yamato initially appear as polar opposites with Yamato’s popularity portrayed in stark contrast to the almost invisible nature of Mei. Partly because of this Mei continued to back herself into a corner, blaming herself for allowing Yamato to model and get close to Megumi.

Sukitte Ii na yo 08 – Romance for Beginners

The importance of being true to yourself and understanding that being in a relationship isn’t necessarily an easy thing was finally realised by our main characters in this weeks episode. Throughout the series Yamato has come across as good-natured but also incredibly dense. His kindhearted nature and willingness to get along with everyone has its good points but ultimately lead to a near breakup with Mei. There continues to be a fine line between kindness and simple ignorance with Yamato frequently crossing it with regards to his relationship with Megumi. It is this relationship in particular that has caused the most drama and problems for everyone, with Yamato demonstrating how little he really understands about human emotions or relationships in recent episodes. However, to label him as the only one at fault would be wrong because the current problems that both Yamato and Mei are going through are a product of both their and Megumi’s attitudes and ways of approaching life and their own relationships.

Sukitte Ii na yo 07 – Hiding Away

It would be very easy to suggest that the problems Mei is currently facing were the fault of Megumi, but in reality the situation is more complicated. The appearance of Megumi has certainly had an effect on the group dynamics within the series. Her appearance and status as a well known and popular amateur model give her the sort of presence that Mei lacks, and she is also relatively open about aiming for Yamato (at least she is open to Yamato himself). The group of friends that Mei has slowly been acquiring has therefore been invaded in a sense, and with the appearance of Megumi, the activities that they want to do have changed. Before there is the assumption that this group may not do things that Mei dislikes, and instead focuses on other activities, but Megumi has changed all of this. She is a straightforward and very strong willed character, someone that pushes forward and in a way gets exactly what they want through the strength of their character. Her appearance has therefore changed the way this small group of friends works, with characters like Asami and Kenji all to happy to be associated with her.

Sukitte Ii na yo 06 – Judging a book by its cover

As anyone who has watched romance anime and in particular shoujo anime before, the most recent developments wont be much of a shock. The appearance of a beautiful rival to Yamato’s affections, while slightly cliché works rather well with the story that Sukitte Ii ya no tells. At the core of Sukitte Ii ya no is a story about the frailty of human emotions and how superficial relationships can be if they are based purely on physical appearances. Mei is certainly not the most beautiful character in the series, and the numerous other girls who flock to Yamato outdo her in this respect, but she has demonstrated the dangerous nature of simply believing what you see. Mei has been capable of seeing through the superficial nature of many people, and although she has yet to fully trust anyone you get the impression that she truly wants friends and people whom she can trust and enjoy her life with.

Sukitte Ii na yo 05 – Intentions and Acceptance

Many of us, be it intentionally or unintentionally have laughed off certain potentially depressing or emotionally damaging situations in the mistaken belief that to take things lightly will mean we wont get hurt. The idea of taking life lightly, while credibly also runs into numerous issues because it is impossible to laugh everything that may happen to you off. In Sukitte Ii ya no we are presented with Yamato, a character who appears to go through life with ease. He has demonstrated a habit of treating everything with a pinch of salt, such as suggesting that the black kitten in this week’s episode will be picked up eventually because it is cute. This fits into his chameleon like appearance and attitude towards social interaction that has already been brought up in a previous episode. The idea behind such an attitude towards social groups is that by getting on with everyone and by simply agreeing with whatever is said he will never be the target of abuse of bullying.

Sukitte Ii na yo 04 – Superficial Appearances

Throughout Sukitte Ii ya no Mei has remained the one point of consistency, and that despite her obvious issues with social interaction has also been the character that helps others regardless of the situation. She continues to demonstrate a straightforward approach to life, although her attitudes and ways of dealing other people have subtly changed due to her relationship with Yamato. Mei continues to demonstrate that she a character who doesn’t need a ‘prince on a white horse’ to rescue her from tricky situations, exhibiting an element of self-respect and self-determination that other Shoujo female characters often lack. Furthermore, her strong will and ability to stand up for what she believes in partly shows up the more traditional and arguably out of date thinking that Yamato shows in this episode. Through the eyes of Mei we are beginning to see the complex nature of school and broader social interaction. Many of the characters are considered popular or beautiful, but they also suffer from similar problems to Mei, and regardless of how popular they may be there is the notion that they are as alienated, if not more so than Mei once was.

Sukitte Ii na yo 03 – Expectations and Attitudes

There are certain expectations of whom or what you are supposed to be that affect your sense of self throughout life. These can be both social and cultural, with a classic example being fashion, where the idealised view of men and women are put up for the whole world to see. Such images of slender women, or well built and toned men can have a significant impact upon ones self esteem with the attitude that you are not good enough becoming potentially damaging. This can have a big impact upon teenagers who are already the focus of immense social pressures, along with notions of what it means to be cool. But obviously they are not the only ones who have to contend with these social and cultural pressures about how you are supposed to appear and act, what you are supposed to like and other attitudes.

Sukitte Ii na yo 02 – Friendship and insecurities

The first episode of Sukitte Ii ya no demonstrated the importance of social contacts and a social group by showing what could happen when you become so alone and those who you have relied upon and suddenly not there. This doesn’t mean that people have to be incredibly popular, but it is the creation of even the smallest of social groups and contacts that can help you move forward with your life instead of staying in the past. Mei has slowly begun to realise this, and her problem with the stalker demonstrated that by deliberately alienating herself from society she became an easy target for such people. At the same time, her experiences with betrayal have left a strong impression on her, made even stronger since it happened when she was much younger. While her attitude that everyone is willing to betray their friends at a moments notice may be incorrect, her ideas that there are those who will happily drop you when the situation calls for it remains perfectly accurate.