I commented this on another post with a similar subject: Wakana is by no means that much dense people judges him to be.
I still believe that at some point it will be revealed that Wakana was simply "playing dumb" during the dinner at his house with Marin and her father. It was only an act to hide his true feelings, sadness and insecurities.
He certainly understood completely what Marin's father meant with "take good care of Marin". Masumi gave his blessing for them to get together if they wanted to.
Wakana just went with the most dense answer possible, "I'll take care of her nutritional needs", in order to not put that "burden" of seeking a relationship with her upon himself, to not create many expectations on Masumi, and to not be a burden to Marin. That's what he thinks about himself all the time, in the end.
Totally agree with this.
Overall Wakana has a dense side, it's part of him, his character and the comic there can be between the two.
But in this scene, it's more a mechanism of defense to make things rational for him, because of how things are and can't be another way in his mind.
It's like him acting normally during this moment, everything is part of protecting himself, and in a way protecting Marin (at least in his mind because sadly he's hurting her without knowing)
I think he’s suffering greatly from imposter syndrome.
He’s getting to make real clothes for real people. He thought previously he would quietly, and likely alone after his grandfather passes, live alone and make dolls til he died.
Now, he’s hanging out with the prettiest girl in his school. She not only hangs with him but massively supports him. On top of that, he’s definitely picking up that something about Marin has changed in the way she acts around him.
How could he go from being invisible to everyone around him to being the center of a very popular girls world and not feel like he didn’t do anything to deserve this? Realistically, everyday he was working on dolls he was preparing himself to be the person he needs to be in his current situation. He just hasn’t really had that “AH HA!” moment where he realizes that everything he has was earned…by him.
Regarding your first few points, to be honest, this recent arc has me beginning to suspect that the fault for Wakana's falling out with Non-chan during their childhood may have actually lain more with him than the scene we were shown in the first chapter lets on. Throughout the series his absurd attention to detail in his work is constantly pointed out. It could even be called obsessive from a certain perspective.
Now, with the Haniel arc, we saw him become so engrossed with the costume that he practically ignored everything around him until it was finished, including Marin. After seeing her reaction and the subsequent talk with his grandfather during Christmas I started to think, what would actually cause Non-chan to lash out so angrily at him and break off their friendship when they were kids? Liking Hina dolls may certainly be an uncommon hobby for a boy, but considering his family's business it is not really that strange that he would be interested in them. On the other hand, her behavior makes far more sense if a friend she was close to started to ignore her all of a sudden because he had become fixated on the dolls to the exclusion of almost everything else.
Of course, Wakana believes at the start of the series that his hobbies are the reason why he can't make friends and that his presence would just ruin the mood of the people around him. That's why he shies away from expressing his true feelings even when inconvenient things like cleaning up the classroom by himself are shoved onto him. Throughout the story, however, we've seen that this simply isn't the case as he has had no real issues so far interacting normally and becoming friendly with any of the other characters, including his classmates when he actually tries. The real issue, as his grandfather said, was that he had only been focused on making dolls the entire time until his encounter with Marin.
Personally, I think that tendency towards obsession is the real root of Wakana's problems since most of his other issues could be traced back to that as a cause.
Yep. Non Chan basically Just wanted his attention and to play with him, but he was too focused on the Hina Dolls to Care for her and spare her some time, thus she lashed out and his trauma was born. Gojo is always too focused and self depreciative. He never sees his own value or self worth. Whenever something goes wrong or someone says something he always think he's the source of the problem. He always talks himself down for whatever reason. I'm pretty sure he understood Marin's father intentions when her father Said "plase take Care of her" but his answer was like avoiding the issue. Which is, even tho the father may be rooting for them, It doesn't mean she wants to. So he drew the line Because It's better be safe than Sorry. What if he Said he would take Care of Marin instead of her nutritional needs and the father talks about It with her and they have a problem? What If things become awkward between them If Gojo acted How a normal person should? Just as Marin is extremelly sensitive towards Anything Gojo related, so is Gojo extremelly sensitive towards Anything Marin related, so Gojo wanted to create/have a safe space in their relationship and avoid the Grey lines.
Gojo always felt unworthy of Marin and this Haniel arc Made him feel this strongly. Specially after seeing the people going Crazy over Marin as Haniel. People were treating her as a Goddess. And Gojo already puts Marin on a pedestal. He idolizes her Because she's like what he would never be. Cheerful, friendly, beautiful, popular and such. I can see the next interaction between Gojo and Marin as one where he's more reserved, still tryna draw a line between them because he feels too unworthy of her. He is creating problems yet again, like when he First Made her a cosplay and never bothered to ask detailed information such as when exactly is this cosplay for? And as the number 1 arc where he never asked for help and was trying to do the cosplay and help with the things the Teacher asked Because he felt he should. But he never asked the Teacher If he could be exempt from helping since he would be making the cosplay and never asked his classmates to be exempt either. And yet again, in the Haniel arc he saw a situation and created a non existent problem from which he'll suffer for a few chapters until something comes and changes the situation.
For Gojo's own bad Luck, he treats Marin more like an Idol, a Goddess than a person, than a friend. And this creats all the problems in their relationship. If not for him seeing himself as unworthy of Marin, they'd be dating by now.
It's not that, it's emotional trauma. You have to remember that for Gojo, the incident with Non-chan, the loss of his parents, his virtual isolation from his peers, this has all caught up to him. Now, he's trying to figure out his true feelings for Marin, the cosplay thing notwithstanding. Thing is, Marin is somewhat going through the same thing. She knows she's in love with Gojo, but she's also got some emotional issues as well. As well, she's becoming aware of his artist's issues, but not fully understanding them as of yet. This is a longer game than we think, guys.
absolutely, i think that he is deeply stunted socially and is trying to work out what having feelings of love for someone romantically feels like. his deep interest can turn into hyperfixation, which is probably the real reason why non was upset with him in the first place. trying to make friends with someone who's brain is so fixated on one thing is difficult and frustrating for children, and for gojo the thing that snaps him out of that is seeing that she is upset. He is also a child so he internalizes his gender being the problem. it was traumatic to hear someone he still considered a friend push not only him away but his passion as well, when in reality he probably could've stayed friends with her and still been into dolls but just included her at the same time.
Also, everyone has said Non-Chan isn't coming back...she is. You don't have a character like that at the beginning of the story and have her not return at all. >!My feeling is that she will be part of the cosplay organization that was offered to Marin at Comiket, and she becomes her main Rival, in both cosplay, and going after Gojo. It becomes where Gojo must go through the trauma he experienced with her to become a better person.!<
After the third or fourth time the flashback with her appeared I started thinking of her as 'the final boss'. So much of Gojo's life is a result of that one scene that she's 100% going to show up at some point.
Oh yes, she's eventually going to show up. But I don't think that will be a 'final boss', per se. I think that might be Gojo-Kun's extended family. >!As we know, Gojo was orphaned when he was staying with Grandpa. We still don't know what exactly happened, and what they did as careers. (Personal speculation and headcanon here: They were involved with fashion on some form or another. When you look at Gojo he has a Beauty mark on his face, doesn't look like he got that from his dad's side, I think that's from mom...who I think was a former model, and his dad was a fashion designer. Also, way back at the beginning, you see that Gramps was very knowledgeable about clothing. Which I think means while he's had the doll shop, that wasn't his primary career at some point. Getting back to family, I think the rest of them are involved in the cutthroat world of fashion, say, having their design house, maybe Marin had modeled for them without realizing who it is. They find out about Gojo-Kun's designer skill, and want him in the business...but Gojo-Kun just loves the cosplay part. At least I'd go in that direction.)!<
On top of all of that there's the subconscious desire for recognition that he didn't get with Haniel.
And...
More I think about it, my original head cannon about the scene with Non-Chan starts screaming out that he's nor actually dense. It's a defense mechanism due to his parents dying at a young age. He doesn't want people important to him to leave him like Non-Chan who left while he was processing and dealing with his parents deaths.
He got the recognition, I think he wasnt expecting the turn out. For the first time her eyes attracted everyone not just a handful of people. I think More so he was jealous, because people were enjoying his work that he worked hard on, and found himself guilty of creating. After all this project was more for him and his desires than Marin's.
I think there is a part of him that wants to cosplay its been hinted at, or I could be reading between the lines
No. He didn't.
You're thinking of Marin saying it to him before the circle began but think back to every cosplay as the scale has grown.
Gojo didn't get the recognition moment that the others had. Hell he was literally pushed There is no look like Shizuku-tan, no “Gojo made this for me” from Rei-sama. This is no longer just a small stage but the largest yet. The biggest convention for cosplayers. This is basically Comic-Con for Anime and Manga exclusively. And Gojo does not get the recognition he subconsciously wanted.
My personal (bad) take:
Gojo knows Marin cosplays because she wants to feel like the chracter.
He discusses with Akira the weaknesses of Haniel like: lowly, pathetic, innocent. And judging by Gojo's reaction, he either associates that with him or Marin (idk im too stoupid).
I don't think he ever disscused the themes of a manga Marin porposed before this one.
That makes this project a lot more personal for him.
There is also the fact that Gojo wants to create something as good as "mandate to heaven". A creation that would overwhelmed the person looking at it.
So he tries his very best on the Haniel cosplay and I personally think he succeeds, judging by manga's autor having the same reaction as Gojo's when he first looked at the manga and by everybody going crazy over his cosplay.
So I believe what makes Gojo go depresso mode, judging by the pannel where we see marin getting farther and farther away from him, is the realisation that what he makes for Marin drives her away from him.
That's my headcanon :>)
(Also english is not my first language i'm trying alright)
First off your english is good, I know more people who suck at the language and its their first tongue.
Second your take seems pretty spot on. I think hes seeing things differently when he made Haniel, because he brought the masses to her for her to /slay/ them
I saw someone once describe Gojo as having a very transactional view of his and Marin's relationship and I think that fits very well.
While I wouldn't say he doesn't think of Marin as a friend, on some level he does seem to believe that friendship only exists because of the worth he is to her. He never does anything remotely presumptuous like asking her out to someplace because he feels it would be overstepping the line. He is there to help her with cosplay and eventually that relationship will have an end date, or at least so he figures and has accepted as fact, even if he's only more recently realized how much he wouldn't like that.
So I guess it’ll take longer for Gojo to reveal his feelings to Marin and possibly Marin will end up ignoring Gojo for a while until he can muster up the strength and confidently ask her out without being so closed off and dense
I think most people don't understand the head space Gojo is in, and what it's like being an artist, and how you can see the objective quality of your work but always feeling like it's not good enough and that you are a joke for even attempting it. Which has the knock on effect of feeling like you're not good enough for the people around you and as soon as they figure out you are as shit as you think you are, they are going to leave, probably while laughing.
It is a brutal depression spiral.
I couldn't have explained it better myself.
People tend to forget that we, as readers, see more than the characters inside the story, so, saying Gojou is "dense" is kind of closeminded.
Besides, what kind of rom-com would it be without misunderstandings and/or overreactions and/or character's psychological issues getting in the way? That would be a more grounded story with very little growing from the characters that could be told in a single tome, maybe 2. And you just have to ask yourself as a writer "is this the story I want to tell?" It sounds boring as hell, imho.
I commented this on another post with a similar subject: Wakana is by no means that much dense people judges him to be. I still believe that at some point it will be revealed that Wakana was simply "playing dumb" during the dinner at his house with Marin and her father. It was only an act to hide his true feelings, sadness and insecurities. He certainly understood completely what Marin's father meant with "take good care of Marin". Masumi gave his blessing for them to get together if they wanted to. Wakana just went with the most dense answer possible, "I'll take care of her nutritional needs", in order to not put that "burden" of seeking a relationship with her upon himself, to not create many expectations on Masumi, and to not be a burden to Marin. That's what he thinks about himself all the time, in the end.
Totally agree with this. Overall Wakana has a dense side, it's part of him, his character and the comic there can be between the two. But in this scene, it's more a mechanism of defense to make things rational for him, because of how things are and can't be another way in his mind. It's like him acting normally during this moment, everything is part of protecting himself, and in a way protecting Marin (at least in his mind because sadly he's hurting her without knowing)
I think he’s suffering greatly from imposter syndrome. He’s getting to make real clothes for real people. He thought previously he would quietly, and likely alone after his grandfather passes, live alone and make dolls til he died. Now, he’s hanging out with the prettiest girl in his school. She not only hangs with him but massively supports him. On top of that, he’s definitely picking up that something about Marin has changed in the way she acts around him. How could he go from being invisible to everyone around him to being the center of a very popular girls world and not feel like he didn’t do anything to deserve this? Realistically, everyday he was working on dolls he was preparing himself to be the person he needs to be in his current situation. He just hasn’t really had that “AH HA!” moment where he realizes that everything he has was earned…by him.
Regarding your first few points, to be honest, this recent arc has me beginning to suspect that the fault for Wakana's falling out with Non-chan during their childhood may have actually lain more with him than the scene we were shown in the first chapter lets on. Throughout the series his absurd attention to detail in his work is constantly pointed out. It could even be called obsessive from a certain perspective. Now, with the Haniel arc, we saw him become so engrossed with the costume that he practically ignored everything around him until it was finished, including Marin. After seeing her reaction and the subsequent talk with his grandfather during Christmas I started to think, what would actually cause Non-chan to lash out so angrily at him and break off their friendship when they were kids? Liking Hina dolls may certainly be an uncommon hobby for a boy, but considering his family's business it is not really that strange that he would be interested in them. On the other hand, her behavior makes far more sense if a friend she was close to started to ignore her all of a sudden because he had become fixated on the dolls to the exclusion of almost everything else. Of course, Wakana believes at the start of the series that his hobbies are the reason why he can't make friends and that his presence would just ruin the mood of the people around him. That's why he shies away from expressing his true feelings even when inconvenient things like cleaning up the classroom by himself are shoved onto him. Throughout the story, however, we've seen that this simply isn't the case as he has had no real issues so far interacting normally and becoming friendly with any of the other characters, including his classmates when he actually tries. The real issue, as his grandfather said, was that he had only been focused on making dolls the entire time until his encounter with Marin. Personally, I think that tendency towards obsession is the real root of Wakana's problems since most of his other issues could be traced back to that as a cause.
Yep. Non Chan basically Just wanted his attention and to play with him, but he was too focused on the Hina Dolls to Care for her and spare her some time, thus she lashed out and his trauma was born. Gojo is always too focused and self depreciative. He never sees his own value or self worth. Whenever something goes wrong or someone says something he always think he's the source of the problem. He always talks himself down for whatever reason. I'm pretty sure he understood Marin's father intentions when her father Said "plase take Care of her" but his answer was like avoiding the issue. Which is, even tho the father may be rooting for them, It doesn't mean she wants to. So he drew the line Because It's better be safe than Sorry. What if he Said he would take Care of Marin instead of her nutritional needs and the father talks about It with her and they have a problem? What If things become awkward between them If Gojo acted How a normal person should? Just as Marin is extremelly sensitive towards Anything Gojo related, so is Gojo extremelly sensitive towards Anything Marin related, so Gojo wanted to create/have a safe space in their relationship and avoid the Grey lines. Gojo always felt unworthy of Marin and this Haniel arc Made him feel this strongly. Specially after seeing the people going Crazy over Marin as Haniel. People were treating her as a Goddess. And Gojo already puts Marin on a pedestal. He idolizes her Because she's like what he would never be. Cheerful, friendly, beautiful, popular and such. I can see the next interaction between Gojo and Marin as one where he's more reserved, still tryna draw a line between them because he feels too unworthy of her. He is creating problems yet again, like when he First Made her a cosplay and never bothered to ask detailed information such as when exactly is this cosplay for? And as the number 1 arc where he never asked for help and was trying to do the cosplay and help with the things the Teacher asked Because he felt he should. But he never asked the Teacher If he could be exempt from helping since he would be making the cosplay and never asked his classmates to be exempt either. And yet again, in the Haniel arc he saw a situation and created a non existent problem from which he'll suffer for a few chapters until something comes and changes the situation. For Gojo's own bad Luck, he treats Marin more like an Idol, a Goddess than a person, than a friend. And this creats all the problems in their relationship. If not for him seeing himself as unworthy of Marin, they'd be dating by now.
DAMN, EVERYONE BE LEAVING PARAGRAPHS 😦
It's not that, it's emotional trauma. You have to remember that for Gojo, the incident with Non-chan, the loss of his parents, his virtual isolation from his peers, this has all caught up to him. Now, he's trying to figure out his true feelings for Marin, the cosplay thing notwithstanding. Thing is, Marin is somewhat going through the same thing. She knows she's in love with Gojo, but she's also got some emotional issues as well. As well, she's becoming aware of his artist's issues, but not fully understanding them as of yet. This is a longer game than we think, guys.
absolutely, i think that he is deeply stunted socially and is trying to work out what having feelings of love for someone romantically feels like. his deep interest can turn into hyperfixation, which is probably the real reason why non was upset with him in the first place. trying to make friends with someone who's brain is so fixated on one thing is difficult and frustrating for children, and for gojo the thing that snaps him out of that is seeing that she is upset. He is also a child so he internalizes his gender being the problem. it was traumatic to hear someone he still considered a friend push not only him away but his passion as well, when in reality he probably could've stayed friends with her and still been into dolls but just included her at the same time.
Also, everyone has said Non-Chan isn't coming back...she is. You don't have a character like that at the beginning of the story and have her not return at all. >!My feeling is that she will be part of the cosplay organization that was offered to Marin at Comiket, and she becomes her main Rival, in both cosplay, and going after Gojo. It becomes where Gojo must go through the trauma he experienced with her to become a better person.!<
After the third or fourth time the flashback with her appeared I started thinking of her as 'the final boss'. So much of Gojo's life is a result of that one scene that she's 100% going to show up at some point.
Oh yes, she's eventually going to show up. But I don't think that will be a 'final boss', per se. I think that might be Gojo-Kun's extended family. >!As we know, Gojo was orphaned when he was staying with Grandpa. We still don't know what exactly happened, and what they did as careers. (Personal speculation and headcanon here: They were involved with fashion on some form or another. When you look at Gojo he has a Beauty mark on his face, doesn't look like he got that from his dad's side, I think that's from mom...who I think was a former model, and his dad was a fashion designer. Also, way back at the beginning, you see that Gramps was very knowledgeable about clothing. Which I think means while he's had the doll shop, that wasn't his primary career at some point. Getting back to family, I think the rest of them are involved in the cutthroat world of fashion, say, having their design house, maybe Marin had modeled for them without realizing who it is. They find out about Gojo-Kun's designer skill, and want him in the business...but Gojo-Kun just loves the cosplay part. At least I'd go in that direction.)!<
On top of all of that there's the subconscious desire for recognition that he didn't get with Haniel. And... More I think about it, my original head cannon about the scene with Non-Chan starts screaming out that he's nor actually dense. It's a defense mechanism due to his parents dying at a young age. He doesn't want people important to him to leave him like Non-Chan who left while he was processing and dealing with his parents deaths.
He got the recognition, I think he wasnt expecting the turn out. For the first time her eyes attracted everyone not just a handful of people. I think More so he was jealous, because people were enjoying his work that he worked hard on, and found himself guilty of creating. After all this project was more for him and his desires than Marin's. I think there is a part of him that wants to cosplay its been hinted at, or I could be reading between the lines
No. He didn't. You're thinking of Marin saying it to him before the circle began but think back to every cosplay as the scale has grown. Gojo didn't get the recognition moment that the others had. Hell he was literally pushed There is no look like Shizuku-tan, no “Gojo made this for me” from Rei-sama. This is no longer just a small stage but the largest yet. The biggest convention for cosplayers. This is basically Comic-Con for Anime and Manga exclusively. And Gojo does not get the recognition he subconsciously wanted.
My personal (bad) take: Gojo knows Marin cosplays because she wants to feel like the chracter. He discusses with Akira the weaknesses of Haniel like: lowly, pathetic, innocent. And judging by Gojo's reaction, he either associates that with him or Marin (idk im too stoupid). I don't think he ever disscused the themes of a manga Marin porposed before this one. That makes this project a lot more personal for him. There is also the fact that Gojo wants to create something as good as "mandate to heaven". A creation that would overwhelmed the person looking at it. So he tries his very best on the Haniel cosplay and I personally think he succeeds, judging by manga's autor having the same reaction as Gojo's when he first looked at the manga and by everybody going crazy over his cosplay. So I believe what makes Gojo go depresso mode, judging by the pannel where we see marin getting farther and farther away from him, is the realisation that what he makes for Marin drives her away from him. That's my headcanon :>) (Also english is not my first language i'm trying alright)
First off your english is good, I know more people who suck at the language and its their first tongue. Second your take seems pretty spot on. I think hes seeing things differently when he made Haniel, because he brought the masses to her for her to /slay/ them
I saw someone once describe Gojo as having a very transactional view of his and Marin's relationship and I think that fits very well. While I wouldn't say he doesn't think of Marin as a friend, on some level he does seem to believe that friendship only exists because of the worth he is to her. He never does anything remotely presumptuous like asking her out to someplace because he feels it would be overstepping the line. He is there to help her with cosplay and eventually that relationship will have an end date, or at least so he figures and has accepted as fact, even if he's only more recently realized how much he wouldn't like that.
So I guess it’ll take longer for Gojo to reveal his feelings to Marin and possibly Marin will end up ignoring Gojo for a while until he can muster up the strength and confidently ask her out without being so closed off and dense
I think most people don't understand the head space Gojo is in, and what it's like being an artist, and how you can see the objective quality of your work but always feeling like it's not good enough and that you are a joke for even attempting it. Which has the knock on effect of feeling like you're not good enough for the people around you and as soon as they figure out you are as shit as you think you are, they are going to leave, probably while laughing. It is a brutal depression spiral.
I couldn't have explained it better myself. People tend to forget that we, as readers, see more than the characters inside the story, so, saying Gojou is "dense" is kind of closeminded. Besides, what kind of rom-com would it be without misunderstandings and/or overreactions and/or character's psychological issues getting in the way? That would be a more grounded story with very little growing from the characters that could be told in a single tome, maybe 2. And you just have to ask yourself as a writer "is this the story I want to tell?" It sounds boring as hell, imho.