You say goodbye, but I say hello, hello hello! and welcome to my read-through of Chapter 167: Nonsense and a Word in which everything is awful, but I love Fukuda, and I speculate wildly.

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Nonsense and a Word Summary

Fanned the Flames

Shujin looks online at images of Miho being torn, CDs being broken, and copies of Reversi being burned. He notes that it took off like a rocket after the tabloid’s release.

Saiko doesn’t have the energy to deal with it: he’s dating Miho. Shujin knows that, but it’s all too much.

Shujin is offended on Miho’s behalf: they’re trash-talking her like she’s dirty, even though Miho and Saiko have never even kissed. Saiko points out, correctly (sigh), that her having a boyfriend – whether they’ve kissed or not – is a problem. Perception is key.

Shujin privately thinks the opposite is true: their chastity has everything to do with this, and it pisses him off that people are treating their completely pure dream with such contempt and malice. He tries to get a rise out of Saiko by mentioning the death threats; they can’t ignore them!

Saiko would be unsurprised if those death threats weren’t on there before this all happened.

Shujin freaks out about the volume, though; they’re accusing Miho of nepotism for the drama CD. Saiko thinks that is, technically, accurate.

Shujin gets heated: It’s not true! It’s fulfilling his dream: both of them wanted to pursue manga and voice acting, and they’ve been striving so hard to achieve it. He’s insulted that people would shit talk them for that.

Saiko has no answer to that. Shujin likens their relationship to “an endangered species”. Saiko’s simply happy that Shujin cares so much. But his answer remains the same: keep making good manga.

Shujin reminds him that the anime staff is coming on the 9th to visit; he already knows that, that’s why he’s working ahead of schedule. Shujin reminds him that they might not let Miho play Naho because of this whole thing. He might lose the opportunity he’s been waiting 8 1/2 years for because of a stupid rumor.

Saiko asks him what he should do: announce his existence and that he hasn’t touched his girlfriend? He doesn’t want to make excuses; it’s not manly, and he thinks Miho wouldn’t want that. Besides, they won’t believe him. Shujin sees the light.

But Saiko still plans to ask the team to let Miho play the role of Naho, as the creator of Reversi, that is his prerogative.

Shujin’s hesitant, but agrees they have the right. Miho is a voice actress, and her acting skills are what matter most. Not her relationship status. Shujin thinks Saiko is trying to convince himself that that’s the right of it.

At the same moment, Hattori arrives to pick up the final draft. Saiko requests Shujin close his laptop.

Complications and Apologies

Hattori approves the final draft, but Shujin asks if they’ll be okay. Hattori’s confused until Shujin clarifies the Miho situation. He explains they’ve done nothing wrong, but privately, he notes that things have gotten out of hand.

Meanwhile, at Miho’s company, Ririka and her manager apologize profusely for the slip. Miho’s manager? yells at them for upending her career at the worst possible time in her development. The president assumes – probably not incorrectly – that she posted the blog post out of jealousy. He goes on to berate her with a fury for how many fans Miho is going to lose as a result of this fracas. What will Kitami do if Miho loses jobs because of this?

Miho intervenes and raises her voice, to her manager’s shock: she asks him to chill on Kitami. It’s not like she did it on purpose.

Oh Miho. Sweetheart.

The president wonders how she thinks that. But Miho explains she knows that Kitami is friendly and kind based on their work together on Instant 12. Ririka admits she genuinely admires Miho and never meant for this to happen. She didn’t realize it would cause so much trouble.

Miho downplays it: it’s the truth, after all, if he can’t keep her career as a voice actress, it’s only because she is not up to the task. The president is aghast and demands she never admit that she has a boyfriend.

Miho looks like she’s getting ready to do the exact opposite of that.

Anime Staff Meeting

On February 9th, the boys welcome the Producer, Konaka, the Director, Ehara, the Animation Director, Tamiya, and the Screenwriter Obayashi to their studio, while apologizing for its slovenliness.

Konaka and Ehara both hand out their business cards, but the boys don’t have any in return.

They provide chairs for them all to sit in to begin the meeting.

They have a productive, amiable chat over the direction of the anime. Konaka explains they want to respect the manga and hope to create an anime that is extremely faithful. The boys would be thrilled if they did that.

And finally, they ask if the boys have any requests.

Hattori, Saiko, and Shujin grimace at that but provide an honest response.

Shujin prepares to ask, but Saiko intervenes: he wants to have Miho Azuki play the role of Naho.

The anime staff are shocked.

Konaka explains: they don’t want to be rude, but there are rumors.

Which Saiko immediately confirms. Konaka takes the news…warily. Since the rumors are true, they’ll have to be careful about whether they choose her.

Shujin demands to know why. She’s perfect for Naho, and her acting skills are top-class. Konaka makes the subtext text: if they hire her knowing the rumors about her relationship with Saiko are true, it would look like favoritism, and it would fan the flames of the rumor. Ehara says nothing, but Konaka explains that, to make sure the series is as popular as possible, if these rumors make Reversi unpalatable to the nerdy parasocial audience they’re trying to milk dry, it won’t reflect well on the production.

The boys take that about as well as you could hope. But Ehara interjects.

The VAs will be chosen by audition, and if Miho auditions and she’s suited for the role of Naho, they’ll let her play it. Konaka, while respecting the director’s authority, is still shaky on it.

Later, as the two are going home, Shujin wonders if the director can actually do that if the producer is against it.

Uhhh, he basically can’t. Signed me, the guy with the film degree.

Shujin wonders whether the producer or the director is the head honcho. Saiko remains “confident” that Miho will win the role with her skills alone.

The Rumors Get Worse

On March 5th, Issue 14, the Jump copy announcing Reversi’s anime is released. And at the same time, the threads online get even worse. Everyone is salty about their relationship and assumes Miho is going to get the role because of nepotism.

Other people think she’s “Dirty,” and others believe the anime studio would be idiotic to hire her at this rate. Another notes that Miho cut back on her work to get this role. Others assume she lost work because of the BF reveal.

They vow never to watch Reversi. Another notes that they were an Azu-kyun fan because of their projection of innocence and purity. She is christened “Bitch-kyun” by another commenter.

How clever.

Saiko shuts the laptop off and tells Shujin that whatever happens is going to happen.

Fukuda has an Idea

At Fukuda’s apartment – now, apparently, larger and nicer as far as I can tell – Yujiro fills them in on the hot goss surrounding the whole situation with Miho and Saiiko. It’s been a hassle at the office having to field threatening calls from Azu-kyun fans.

Yasuoka thinks she’s cute, but that being an idol sucks dick. Fukuda doesn’t think any of this justified the breaking of her CDs, tearing her photo apart, and burning it. He takes special issue with the death threats and slut shaming of Miho.

Man, good Yankee Fukuda. I like you, bro.

Yujiro agrees and mentions that Hattori has been stressed out over the whole ordeal because of how hard those two had been working toward their dream without even seeing each other.

Fukuda has a moment of recognition. Yujiro confirms that Miura also told him about it: at +Natural’s audition, Miho declared her desire to be the heroine in an anime for an Ashirogi manga, and it’s been her dream since high school.

Fukuda remembers something.

Ko Aoki’s One-Shot Time of Greenery.

OH SHIT. EMOTIONAL AFFAIR TO THE RESCUE

No, FUKUDA to the rescue

Fukuda dismisses his own damn editor (like a boss), much to Yujiro’s confusion; Yujiro takes the final draft before Fukuda makes a phone call. He’s talking to Aoki.

He asks to confirm whether the one-shot she created before Time of Greenery was based on Saiko and Miho’s relationship. Aoki thinks the rumors are terrible. Saiko and Miho have a pure relationship, and they’ve supported each other for so long…

Fukuda wants all the deets, but Aoki directs him to either Saiko or Shujin instead.

Fukuda dials Shujin and asks about he relationship between Saiko and Miho.

A little while later, we get an all-timer panel for Fukuda

Rock Solid Gold.

Fukuda is absolutely furious to hear about all the awful shit they said about the relationship, knowing how pure it is. Unforgivable. Fukuda asks Yasuoka if today’s the radio broadcast for Road Racer Giri. Yup. Can he still make it? Huh?

Fukuda tells Shujin to tune into the Road Racer Giri broadcast and Saiko as well.

At the Road Racer Giri radio broadcast, Ran Adachi, who plays Giri Buchi, and Shoichi Arakawa, who plays Tobashi Buchi, host a radio program devoted to Road Racer Giri, which is both an extremely popular manga in Shonen Jump and an extremely popular anime. And tonight they have a special guest who barged in unexpectedly demanding to be on air.

Oh shit.

Shint Fukuda, the creator of Road Racer Giri.

The hosts drop some epic sound effects of honks and shit while Fukuda agrees them.

Ran thanks him for coming on the program despite his tight deadlines. Fukuda wants to cut the bullshit and skip the formalities. he has something he’s gotta say. And he needs five to ten minutes of their time.

The two voice actors have no idea what to say.

Fukuda shouts passionately, in a manly way you might say, as he announces he came on because he wants to have a word about an important buddy of his.

On that truly heroic note, the chapter concludes.

Nonsense and a Word Reaction

If this chapter weren’t so good I’d be so damn pissed right now

Okay. So this is the direction we’re planning to take it. THIS is the direction we’re planning to take it. THIS IS THE DIRECTION WE’RE PLANNING TO TAKE IT.

And I feel okay.

So, aside from the fact that this feels like the most overt “Stand-alone that doesn’t stand-alone” bullshit in the entire series, and I’m using bullshit because there is healthy dollop of cheap member berries pathos in this chapter and some deep cuts from literally 100 chapters ago (I remember the arc vividly), this was kinda….perfect, as a way to cap the dumbest ongoing plot line in the entire story.

And it ALMOST. ALMOST. Makes me forgive how frustrating this stupid fucking plotline is.

Almost

Now, whether I give Ohba a pass for making this the reason he kept Miho and Saiko apart the whole series will depend entirely on how it’s handled after this chapter, but, for once, I think I have a rock-solid idea of how things are going to go. And also, let me just say it.

Fukuda is saving this arc for me.

Not that these last few chapters are bad; on the contrary, they’ve been beautifully handled. And I kinda want to talk about how the realistic depiction of online hate culture is giving me a fucking traumatic flashback to toxic fandom interactions I’ve seen online play out in real time.

But yeah, I think Fukuda is the reason I’m okay with all the bullshit.

So let me tell you my theory of what is almost certainly going to happen to cap this volume off in the next chapter:

Fukuda’s Proofs

So Ishizawa’s return at this juncture was not a coincidence because, in a certain way, this arc is technically a rehash of the Aoki-Panty arc, which I loathed to an incredible degree. It’s also a sequel. And it’s bigger, and it’s more climactic.

I forgot about how Ishizawa proved so goddamn ruinous in the previous arc. And now that I remember how that played out – namely Fukuda’s intervention as a true Yankee and Manly Man/Shonen Good Boi (one might argue the best boi, although Saiko is obviously the best boi fuck you, fight me) by beating the stuffing out of him.

But I totally spaced on the fact that Ko Aoki based her one-shot on Saiko and Miho’s relationship. That detail escaped me. And I remember being wildly annoyed about it at the time, in part because of Shujin’s emotional affair with Aoki leading to it, and also the kind of privacy-ruining nature of it.

But now it’s been deployed and it’s being deployed to incredible effect.

Obviously, Fukuda is going to use it to prove definitively that Miho and Saiko’s relationship – the endangered one – is purer than the fresh drawn snow and Miho’s image is, in fact, completely untouchable. And this will somehow reverse the course of public opinion.

If I had to guess, though, memories of Team Fukuda might come in, but I’m a lot less sold on that aspect.

I also assume that in dredging up the one-shot that Aoki wrote, Ishizawa is going to be revealed for having tried to sexually assault Aoki and generally creeped on her, which will lead to the final knockout and will absolutely wreck his fuckingshit. Which I am all for.

Because he might officially be the worst character, given all that’s happened. Nakai is probably still the worst character, honestly, but Ishizawa i sa C-hair away from the honor because goddamn, this has been miserable.

But seeing MY BOY FUKUDA come into his radio show to use his soft power to help absolve Miho and Saiko in the court of public opinion with verifiable data from Shujin. Chef’s kiss.

And Tozai Sports might publish a follow-up article. Based on the one-shot. That’d be even better if that’s how Ishizawa was outed.

However, I do have to note that the arc is also setting up the fact that Miho is going to have to publicly deny she has a boyfriend, so I have a suspicion it will come to her doing that. And she’s obviously going to admit it publicly. It’s been set up pretty hard here. Especially since her president is so adamant about denying it, that’s basically just a setup for her to say it publicly.

But I think Fukuda will help. So neener neener.

But yeah, Fukuda is repping the “Disagreeable Giver” mentality to a tee, and I’m here for it.

Disagreeable Givers

This is a term coined by Adam Grant about what type of person you should aspire to be. It’s in a quadrant based on Agreeability and taking/giving.

A Disagreeable Giver is a curmudgeon who is openly hostile to people’s requests and wishes and makes themselves infamous for not being super likeable. But when push comes to shove, they’ll give the things they ask for. It’s supposed to be used in a work context to describe a type of personality you actually want.

Because an Agreeable Giver gets exploited, an Agreeable Taker will destroy you, and a Disagreeable Taker is just the {redacted}.

And Fukuda has always been the gruff, no-nonsense guy who is also the Romeo of Hiroshima. But when push comes to shove, he’s looking out for who matters. He’s got the anti-hero vibes. And he’s doing the right thing.

I love it.

And they’re the kind of people you want on your side when you’re in the shit because they will use their power to get what you need, even if they’re cranky about it

And to wit, Fukuda used the leverage he had on hand – a whole podcast about his damn series – to get what he has to say across. mad respect.

Now back to he rest of the chapter, which was a lot more stressful.

The Spiraling out of Control Was Too Real

Yeah, so even if cancelling may or may not exist – depends on who you ask – pubcli’s shitty behavior towards random internet strangers is second to none. And this harassment campaign – from the burning of the content to the slut shaming, death threats, and general rancor all read as painfully real.

Not that it didn’t happen before the internet. John Lennon famously created the firestorm with the More Popular Than Jesus commentary, where people burned his records. And that’s to say nothing of the various book burnings and bannings, and general fervor we see today.

And I think Saiko is handling it…reasonably maturely. The best thing you can do with it is not engage.

But I think Shujin is the more realistic reaction. Or one of the reactions you expect. Watching the tinder catch flame and set off a firestorm.

Both are rational responses, but one of them is healthier than the other.

And I do have to appreciate Saiko’s outlook on it: engaging with it won’t make it better, and confirming or denying it will only make him culpable. He has to ride this wave no matter how shitty it is. I also appreciate that he sticks to his guns with the anime committee because, yeah, he needs to stick to his guns.

But it’s all so profoundly nasty and over the top.

And it’s also why I hate internet dogpiling culture. Because it can cause pretty irreparable harm even if nothing bad has happened. Or no one has done anything wrong. That’s the most real part of this: Saiko has done nothing wrong, but he still has to pay for it.

It’s heinous.

Because the public is not a monolith. It’s a collection, but it takes on its own character and can spiral out of control quickly. It’s also hard to rein in once the frenzy has been unleashed.

Which is why I love Ehara.

Sasaki Vibes are What I Need

Aside from Fukuda, this chapter, I really needed Ehara, the director, to give off that pure early series Sasaki vibe where, if she’s good, she’ll get it, and if she’s not, she won’t.

Unfortunately, his producer probably has other ideas – until Fukuda can help spin it as a pure relationship, more on that in a moment – because, if you know nothing about film, know this: what the producer says, goes.

Now, this isn’t *entirely* the case; the ship is still being captained by the Director, who is making all the creative choices and leading the whole creative team. I speak from some experience on that one. But the Producer is the one who secures funding and oversees production on a practical level. It’s actually a bit of a complicated title because various producers exhibit varying levels of control over a production

But in Anime, the producer is basically king.

But hearing that Ehara is willing to go to bat for the boys gives me hope. I also think that Miho’s audition will be screened as part of the climax. And he’ll get it. I think.

Or maybe PCP? Pweaze? Maybe?

Sigh. I know. The Miho Audition is the thing. But I just wanted to be mega-right.

Same with Miho and

Kitami’s Apology

Okay, so Miho is a better person than I am because I would not have taken that apology at face value for shit. I think it’s pretty naive that she still assumes that Kitami has her best interests in mind.

Granted, at this point narratively, it doesn’t make sense for Kitami to have ulterior motives for the post outside of some petty jealousy because a famous mangaka isn’t single. But in the real world.

Well…

Here’s the thing: I’m very trusting. And I will usually take people at face value. It has taken me many years – and much heartache – to understand why you should not do that, and you should learn to read between the lines.

It’s because polite society dictates that you save face.

This is the biggest thing that is sunderpinning this whole arc, and which is such a uniquely huge feature of Japanese culture: face-saving.

Everyone here is operating out of a need to save their reputation, or protect it from additional damage. And it’s not absent in the US: Face-saving is alive and well here. But whereas the Japanese stake their personal reputation on politeness, kindness, and a good public image, the US treats face-saving as a personal, individual endeavor.

So instead of thinking about how you might come off to people at large, you are more concerned with how you come off to the person in front of you. You want to have them feel like you like them, even if you don’t, because the possibility that they may not like you would be uncomfortable for you.

Not to me, I’m a fucking weirdo. But this is something I have had to learn.

And this idea kinda makes sense: if you’re telling people out-of-pocket shit, they might get uncomfortable, or think of you as a weirdo and not want to spend time with you. So you adjust what you say nd what you feel to allow people easy exit and entry between your relationship and the wider world.

It’s similar in Japan, but it’s expressed differently.

In the case of Kitami, I think she is probably apologizing sincerely but only because she knows her career is absolutely cooked if she doesn’t. She’s also young and naive and probably didn’t realize that you do not talk about the sausage getting made in public like that. You do it by making an almost 200-page fictional manga in which you can air your dirty laundry.

…anyway

The sincerity of her apology would not have changed the fact that she would have had to act like she was sincerely sorry regardless. She caused a lot of trouble and lost face for her company, which is impacting her future career. And I’m thinking she’s kind and friendly, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s sincere about that.

That’s just…you know, politeness to your coworkers. Which you are because you want to maintain a good working relationship with them. Again, it’s a socially conditioned layer, but everyone engages in this. Some are just more mercenary about how honest their politeness is.

So yeah. I’m sure Kitami didn’t mean it in the sense that she wanted to cause trouble. But she wasn’t acting purely either. Miho is too kind.

But she’s also pure, which is the most important part of this because:

This is how they’re justifying it.

So yeah, I love how they’re bringing this back to one of the biggest problems of the series. the one that I have complained about ad nauseam and have found the most frustrating with: Miho and Saiko’s non-relationship.

And the reason I’m not uber pissed that they’re trying to dust the complications and weirdness of it under the rug is simple.

This finally acknowledges, if obliquely, that it actually kinda is a problematic narrative device.

Not in the sense that Ohba disbelives in the purity of the dream – he’s made it clear now without question that he fully believes that it’s a beautiful dream to have and that it’s wonderful to pursue – and the series is getting quite lawyerly about it too with the nepotism: no she didn’t get it because she’s his boyfriend (she did, she most certainly did) she got it because she worked hard to be a voice actress. Saiko worked hard to get a good manga, and when the opportunity arose, they made the dream happen to fulfill a larger dream.

And that’s…like, okay. Sure. It is a lovely dream. It’s a common dream. It’s one I had at one point – that’s the subtext I’m bringing out here – but it’s also a dangerous dream when it’s not tethered to reality.

So the fact that Ohba spends the last part of the story justifying its existence tells me, on some level, that he is aware this dream is not actually a great one to have or pursue at least in the real world.

In a story, it’s fine. It’s a story, we know it’s going to happen even when it feels like it doesn’t.

But the fact that he put this here at the very end tells me he knew, on some level, that he needed to keep them apart for this long.. Or someone brought it to his attention during the course of this story, and he figured he had to explain why they couldn’t see each other narratively to justify its structure

Otherwise, it really doesn’t make any sense. Are these two socially awkward introverted weirdos suddenly going to give up everything just because they are happy with each other?

That suggests that once their dream has occurred that is exactly what will happen. And that’s not a happy ending either. It also meant 8 years of loneliness.

And that’s the squeeze. It only makes sense because the story wants it to make sense.

Even though it would ruin the arc of the story, 8 1/2 years of actual memories would have been great.

And you can split hairs: they want to be a mangaka and a VA, they’re never going to have time together anyway. And yeah, sure, that’s true.

But the story knows the underlying flaw in the logic here. It’s acknowledging it.

Yes, it is rationalizing it, and yes, it’s still not ideal.

But it’s being used effectively as a plot device.

I’m finally cool with it.

I don’t love it. I’ll never love it. And none of my past bitching about it has been negated.

But I’m cool with it.

I’ll just let the dream be beautiful. Because it is. It really is. Now I wish I could have indulged successfully.

Anyway, the next chapter is set to be a doozy. And from there, the final volume.

Let’s see if they stick the landing.

Stray Thoughts:

–Regarding online message boards being ruinous. During the anime sequence, they have every right to be nervous about the rumors. There is a famous incident regarding the production of Gurren Lagann Episode 4 – which had a guest director, and the result was so poor (it is my least favorite episode by a wide margin, everything is off model, and it’s gross) that one of the studio heads at Gainax took to 2chan to shit on it and got fired for his comments. People are watching, man. People are watching.

–I didn’t get to go into a whole lot of detail about this. But I love how this chapter shows us just how much Japan excels at commercializing every aspect of anime production, down to their own podcasts about specific series. Truly ahead of the curve. Even featuring the voice actors.

–The Chat Room sequence was probably one of the most accurate elements of the entire chapter. Including the rampant speculation, the totally misguided read with incomplete info, and the use of “bitch-kyun”. I’ve spent too much time on the internet.

–I really want this arc to end.

So until next time,

Peace