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secretlygeekyHirunaka no Ryuusei, admittedly, has become a favorite shojo manga series of mine lately, despite just having read it out of the blue. I've become smitten with the perky yet mysterious Shishio Satsuki and his relationship with the naive yet surprisingly strong Yosano Suzume. Notice how I'm mentioning Shishio first as if he's the main character of the series, lol.
I normally really don't like teacher/student relationships, honestly, and I was a bit disappointed to find out that Shishio was Suzume's teacher - I was already sold with the thought of Shishio being Uncle Yukichi's "weird boyfriend"! But what's really promising about HnR is that Shishio and Suzume's relationship is more than just the usual ~forbidden love~ trope. Considering that they first met outside of the school, you'd know that they didn't just fall for one another as just teacher and student.
Though of course, despite all my love and praise for HnR (*cough* and Shishio *cough*), it also has its flaws.
For one, Shishio gets a lot of hate from HnR fans, and I understand why, despite being a big Shishio fan. He is definitely not the most likable shojo love interest. As Shishio admits himself, he is selfish and indecisive most of the time; perhaps a bit cunning, even. He actually reminds me of a younger, naive, and not-so-twisted Shigure Sohma (my friend agrees with me on this). I've noticed, however, that most bash on him for being so misleading to Suzume, despite his being an adult, and that he should know better.
But I think that's what the author intended with Shishio's character; he knows he is an adult, and he tries his best to act like one - and fails, most of the time. That's all there is to it. Shishio has been really careless in regards to his relationship with Suzume - he comes on to her even after he rejects her, gets her alone in a corner of the school and (sort of) confess, hold hands with her outside of school, attempt to kiss her when they're alone in his apartment, nearly take advantage of her when they're alone in an inn together, and lastly - reject her for the second time and deny his feelings for her after doing all of those! After enumerating all those, it IS pretty understandable why some fans hate on Shishio, haha!
As compared to Mamura who's lately been straightforward with his actions and feelings, as well as being a teenage boy who's slowly maturing, Shishio is hardly the teenager (though he sort of acts like one, doesn't he?) and has been really misleading to Suzume. I won't try to justify his actions and how he's hurt her, but his feelings for her are definitely undeniable. In the manga, you can see how he's struggling with his feelings for Suzume - and he knows he shouldn't feel this way for her, seeing as she's his student.Can you imagine if they weren't teacher and student in the same school? I feel like they would've gotten together much more easier! *sob* But, well, like any careless young man in love, he really just can't keep denying his feelings for the girl altogether.
And despite all the angst chapters 46-47 brought, I feel like it was appropriate for Shishio to have made that decision. He and Suzume have really been taking it too far at this point, and they're actually lucky that only a tad few have found out about their relationship; and really, Shishio needed that scolding from Yukichi. In chapters 40 onwards, you can see how Shishio is very, very troubled about their relationship - he realizes their age difference and that this whole thing is wrong.
Case in point - from chapter 45.
Suzume is still young and naive, after all, and Shishio knows that if they continue this relationship, he may deprive her of so many things she's yet to discover in her youth. And as Yukichi has mentioned in chapter 46, Shishio can't always be there for her when she needs him, and it's not just because of their age difference, but because of the very difficult position they are both in - as teacher and student. Both of them are definitely not ready for this relationship yet, and they'll be needing the time apart to mature. Therefore, it's inevitable that Suzume may fall for Mamura in the long run, which I actually don't mind at all, especially if that's what would help her mature.
Shishio could've been worse, honestly. If his character were written more badly, he could've actually taken advantage of her in the inn, or maybe would've still kissed her despite her hesitation at his apartment, and he could've been more of a jerk to her. Despite admitting to being a selfish guy, letting Suzume go was actually very selfless of him. He chose to take the fall for his carelessness in their relationship and denied his feelings for her. He could've gone the easy way and told him to keep their relationship a secret or told her the truth about Yukichi discovering their relationship and all, but he didn't. He didn't want to ruin the relationship Suzume had with her uncle, nor let her take on the risk of having a relationship with him. Instead of increasing the chances of Suzume being hurt by their current relationship, he chose to hurt himself instead - and that just shows how much he loves her and treasures her. You've gotta give him that.
Well, that was long! Despite the manga's current development with Suzume and Mamura (despite how much it hurts me *sob*), I still am Team Shishio. HANG IN THERE, BBY! (ToT)/~~~
I would also like to mention how great a shojo heroine Suzume is! I love how she doesn't really care what people think of her, and that most of all, she doesn't let her whole world revolve around the guy she likes, as opposed to other shojo heroines and teenage girls in general.
I normally really don't like teacher/student relationships, honestly, and I was a bit disappointed to find out that Shishio was Suzume's teacher - I was already sold with the thought of Shishio being Uncle Yukichi's "weird boyfriend"! But what's really promising about HnR is that Shishio and Suzume's relationship is more than just the usual ~forbidden love~ trope. Considering that they first met outside of the school, you'd know that they didn't just fall for one another as just teacher and student.
Though of course, despite all my love and praise for HnR (*cough* and Shishio *cough*), it also has its flaws.
For one, Shishio gets a lot of hate from HnR fans, and I understand why, despite being a big Shishio fan. He is definitely not the most likable shojo love interest. As Shishio admits himself, he is selfish and indecisive most of the time; perhaps a bit cunning, even. He actually reminds me of a younger, naive, and not-so-twisted Shigure Sohma (my friend agrees with me on this). I've noticed, however, that most bash on him for being so misleading to Suzume, despite his being an adult, and that he should know better.
But I think that's what the author intended with Shishio's character; he knows he is an adult, and he tries his best to act like one - and fails, most of the time. That's all there is to it. Shishio has been really careless in regards to his relationship with Suzume - he comes on to her even after he rejects her, gets her alone in a corner of the school and (sort of) confess, hold hands with her outside of school, attempt to kiss her when they're alone in his apartment, nearly take advantage of her when they're alone in an inn together, and lastly - reject her for the second time and deny his feelings for her after doing all of those! After enumerating all those, it IS pretty understandable why some fans hate on Shishio, haha!
As compared to Mamura who's lately been straightforward with his actions and feelings, as well as being a teenage boy who's slowly maturing, Shishio is hardly the teenager (though he sort of acts like one, doesn't he?) and has been really misleading to Suzume. I won't try to justify his actions and how he's hurt her, but his feelings for her are definitely undeniable. In the manga, you can see how he's struggling with his feelings for Suzume - and he knows he shouldn't feel this way for her, seeing as she's his student.
And despite all the angst chapters 46-47 brought, I feel like it was appropriate for Shishio to have made that decision. He and Suzume have really been taking it too far at this point, and they're actually lucky that only a tad few have found out about their relationship; and really, Shishio needed that scolding from Yukichi. In chapters 40 onwards, you can see how Shishio is very, very troubled about their relationship - he realizes their age difference and that this whole thing is wrong.
Case in point - from chapter 45.
Suzume is still young and naive, after all, and Shishio knows that if they continue this relationship, he may deprive her of so many things she's yet to discover in her youth. And as Yukichi has mentioned in chapter 46, Shishio can't always be there for her when she needs him, and it's not just because of their age difference, but because of the very difficult position they are both in - as teacher and student. Both of them are definitely not ready for this relationship yet, and they'll be needing the time apart to mature. Therefore, it's inevitable that Suzume may fall for Mamura in the long run, which I actually don't mind at all, especially if that's what would help her mature.
Shishio could've been worse, honestly. If his character were written more badly, he could've actually taken advantage of her in the inn, or maybe would've still kissed her despite her hesitation at his apartment, and he could've been more of a jerk to her. Despite admitting to being a selfish guy, letting Suzume go was actually very selfless of him. He chose to take the fall for his carelessness in their relationship and denied his feelings for her. He could've gone the easy way and told him to keep their relationship a secret or told her the truth about Yukichi discovering their relationship and all, but he didn't. He didn't want to ruin the relationship Suzume had with her uncle, nor let her take on the risk of having a relationship with him. Instead of increasing the chances of Suzume being hurt by their current relationship, he chose to hurt himself instead - and that just shows how much he loves her and treasures her. You've gotta give him that.
Well, that was long! Despite the manga's current development with Suzume and Mamura (despite how much it hurts me *sob*), I still am Team Shishio. HANG IN THERE, BBY! (ToT)/~~~
I would also like to mention how great a shojo heroine Suzume is! I love how she doesn't really care what people think of her, and that most of all, she doesn't let her whole world revolve around the guy she likes, as opposed to other shojo heroines and teenage girls in general.
