 |
 |
 |
It seems the big day came a little earlier than expected.
It’s fitting that Chihaya had a Shingeki no Kyoujin outfit hanging on her wall (right next to Yukiatsu’s Menma dress), because Servant X Servant was probably in competition with the identity of a certain female titan for the worst-concealed “spoiler” of the season, and both revealed what we pretty much already knew this week. As with AoT, though, the interest here is not so much in the surprise itself, but the aftermath. Just where does the Hasebe x Lucy relationship (and I think it’s fair to call it that now) go from here?
As usual with S x S, watching this episode was a bit of a light-switch experience. It would be hard to find an exploration of two couples about whom my feelings are more diametrically opposed – of Lucy and Hasebe I have complete buy-in, and as far as Chihaya x Inchimiya I couldn’t give a rat’s tail. I don’t like either of them all that much as individuals and worse, I’ve yet to see any compelling reason that either of them would want to date the other. Ichimiya just digs himself deeper every week with his lack of either a spine or a clue, and Chihaya continues to try and undercut Hasebe in Lucy’s esteem.
That latter point is at least interesting, because it leads to the question of why she does it. Does Chihaya hate men generally? Does she have feelings for Lucy herself? Does she specifically hate Hasebe – or have feelings for him that she can’t reconcile with? Chihaya has certainly seen enough of Hasebe by this point to know that the horror stories she’s telling Lucy about him are absurd. There does seem to be an element of jealousy in the way she views their relationship – but of who? Maybe a little bit of both of them – and there’s probably a measure of simple peevishness that her own romance is such a joke. She still can’t bring herself to tell Touko about it despite being given a perfect opening (and we sure as hell know Ichimiya won’t tell her), and he continues to treat her with a combination of deference and abject terror that’s about as far from romantic as it’s possible to get.
I will give Chihaya credit for one thing – when Hasebe and Lucy showed up at the same cafe where she and Touko were hanging out, she had the decency to discreetly get out of the way without Touko gumming up the works of their date. As for that date, while it may have been an anti-climax in the relative lack of dramatics, I found it to be pretty satisfying. In the first place, Lucy looked every bit as good in her outfit as I expected – and to give a little more credit to Chihaya, it was a fine choice for Lucy, cute and sexy while retaining a bit of classical grace. I haven’t yet figured out if the glasses thing was Hasebe’s true feelings or just a bit of fun, but I suspect he likes Lucy equally well either with or without megane (I know I do).
The date itself was classic Hasebe, pretty much. He was low-key, considerate and affectionate. He took Lucy to places where she’d be comfortable – most especially a used book store he’d picked out just for the occasion. The key moment for me was when Lucy, wrestling with her artificial “nice vs. normal” Hasebe debate (you can thank Chihaya’s sabotage for that) came to the realization that with Hasebe, nice is normal. The way he treats her isn’t an act, it’s who he really is. It’s understandable that this was a bit of a panic moment for her, given that it sort of shakes her foundations to the core, but it’s an important milestone nonetheless. Of course Hasebe is right that Lucy uses her name as a convenient excuse to avoid having to face real grown-up concerns in her life, and he was gently but firmly pushing her to address her true feelings when in typical anime fashion, his phone rang at the worst possible moment.
Even if it’s been pretty obvious from the beginning that Hasebe’s Dad was the one who approved Lucy’s name, there are still some interesting questions attached to that scenario. Did said Dad tell Kaoru to bring Yutaka over because Kaoru told him who Yutaka’s date was with, and he wanted to reveal the truth – or did Hasebe suspect and confront his unsuspecting father about it? And then there’s the matter of Kaoru’s husband to be – I suppose he could be no one of consequence, but I still suspect there could be some sort of Chekov’s Gun angle at play here, and there are hints he’s connected to the larger plot somehow. As for how Hasebe will break this to Lucy and how she’ll react, that seems to be the groundwork for the season (hopefully) finale. Superficially this is a hurdle, but in the long view it’s a positive – give Lucy a chance to confront her white whale at last, and she’ll no longer be able to use the hunt as an excuse to avoid giving Yutaka a straight answer about their relationship.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Jeb Nemo
September 20, 2013 at 5:05 amHasebe's dad, who is just as nice, agrees to take a punch from Lucy. Problem solved.
admin
September 20, 2013 at 5:38 amThat occurred to me as well – definitely a possibility.
Scruffy
September 20, 2013 at 7:17 pmWell Lucy did say in an earlier episode that she could give his grandchild a similar name! She has the actual ability to do that! Get procreating Lucy!!!
Wacko Conqueror
September 22, 2013 at 1:42 am@scruffy LOL. I never thought of that, but I like where this could be going.
Croos Cruz
September 20, 2013 at 7:56 amI knew it! Hasebe's father or the Manager were my suspect and this episode finally finalize my theory.
Anyway.
>Does Chihaya hate men generally?
Answer: No, Enzo. I think Chihaya doesn't hate guy but she only thinks that they are just complicated. Cause? Her boyfriend.
>Does she(Chihaya) have feelings for Lucy herself?
Answer: No, she doesn't have feelings for her. She just want her to put some cos-play that fits some character.
>Does she(Chihaya) specifically hate Hasebe – or have feelings for him that she can't reconcile with?
Answer: Chihaya's hate for Hasebe is actually complicated. She thinks that he is a perverted man who hits on any innocent girl but she also thinks that if only some of Hasebe's traits were in his boyfriend(Ichimiya) then her dating life with her boyfriend would be at least "NORMAL". Thus this makes Chihaya have mix hate feelings for Hasebe.
>There does seem to be an element of jealousy in the way she(Chihaya) views their relationship – but of who?
Answer: No. she is not jealous of at a person but rather Chihaya is just jealous with their(Hasebe and Lucy's) relationship.
I think that she really want to help Hasebe get together with Lucy despite it irritates her to see them having "Lovey-dovey" moments while she isn't able experience it due to her "BOYFRIEND" being protective as if Chihaya was her younger sister.
MgMaster
September 20, 2013 at 11:49 amWhen you add it all up,Chihaya does end up being the most complex character in SxS.I can't help but be entertained by her when she takes the spotlight.She might not be as likeable as Lucy but she probably wasn't intended to be anyway.She's still my favorite though 😛
ishruns
September 20, 2013 at 11:50 amI think you're looking way too much into Chihaya's motives when she tries to influence the Hasebe x Lucy relationship. I'm pretty sure it's none of what you suggest, rather it's just the mangaka adding some basic comedy.
On Lucy x Hasebe, I certainly see why people enjoy their relationship so much and I really liked how normal or mature (at least from Hasebe's side) it was. He made a joke, took her for food and to her favorite place; no real firework drama but the kind of real to life low-key data in a burgeoning relationship between a guy that likes a girl. I still don't really feel much for Lucy but I guess that's better than feeling apathy for Toko and her ilk.
Worst kept secret indeed. Which means that we get a surprise climax unlike Working!. I think my judgement on Lucy will wait until next week. If she shows the maturity of Hasebe, she'd be fine but as this is a sitcom 4-koma manga I don't think she will.
On the loser, well I really think that one day he's going to let blow that he's been castrated. That's the only reason that in their private time a full grown 20+ man would not allow his loving girlfriend to do what she wants in bed.
litho
September 20, 2013 at 11:52 amNo offence Enzo, but the reason you don't care for Chihaya x Ichimiya is because you seem to understand jack-shit about their character (as Croos Cruz noted above), you're almost like Seo Kouji with regards to your understanding of human interaction when it comes to this show, which is surprising.
Anyways, I'm not as picky as Enzo and tend to enjoy all episodes of S x S – with the exception of Geroge/Jyoji, I like all the characters – but this one was truly awesome. That "zama" Chihaya said at the end of it was the cherry on top.
admin
September 20, 2013 at 12:39 pmThank you. It's always helpful when I'm told what I'm thinking by someone who isn't me.
ishruns
September 20, 2013 at 8:10 pmOh burn, hahaha.
Stöt
September 20, 2013 at 11:09 pmJeez, he did say 'no offense', Enzo. Even though I'm pretty sure Hitler said that too, but people still took offense. What insolence!
Anyway. There's a fine line between interpreting the smallest signals and undertones in the interactions of character and just projecting random feelings that aren't there to validate your own misguided theories about a character. Wait a minute, that might actually be a huge difference. And it seems like Litho suffers from the latter of the two.
To me, Chihaya remains a mystery, but mostly because very few of her actions are motivated in any way.
Inchimiya is however very straight forward. He's a real "Toffel" which in Swedish literally means " a slipper", but in this case means a (male) person without a spine, bent by the will of (female) others, and shows as little emotion as required. (I suppose because slippers are flexible and useless as a weapon).
Inchimiya avoids getting dumped by showing the absolute bare minimum of affection towards Chihaya and it really pisses me off.
Rannta
September 20, 2013 at 4:12 pmI don't discuse chihaya's behaviour. The only thing that i can say is that the date between lucy and hasebe was a little dissapointing, and that is a shame considering the "hype" that the series itself created.