Hey Jack, I read Koimonogatari both the officially translated version, and the scanlated version, but there're still many scenes I don't understand. One of them is the scene between Seki and Yamato where Yamato talks about being cool vs. acting cool, and Seki said as long as they like each other, nothing else matters (loosely paraphrased). It seems to have a big impact on Yamato, but I don't quite follow. What's your take?
YES i love that scene HAHA so i definitely have a lot of thoughts on it! A big part of Yamato keeping himself in the closet is hiding himself underneath this sort of gentle mask, so people like him. In one of the earliest chapters, Yamato has this inner dialogue while looking in the mirror saying something to the effect of, I found safety from my fear of others by being nice to them. "I must seem really fake."
It's established at multiple points that Yamato and Seki are v popular at the school. From this perspective, when Yamato is talking about being "cool", I interpret that as him having a lot of respect for Seki's natural and honest charisma. And that feeds into why he cares about Seki's opinion so much and why he's so scared of coming out to him. There are people who think Yamato's kind "persona" is fake (note the conversation Yamato overhears where a random girl says he seems fake) and what if Seki thinks that too? What if this mutual respect and friendship between the two of them crumbles because Seki sees Yamato as someone who has been feigning his personality because he's afraid of people discovering his sexuality?
And the exact quote of "I should become cool, rather than act cool", I think Yamato is saying that he wants to be confident enough in himself, so he can stand as equals to Seki, who he sees as someone who is legitimately "cool", rather than "lying" in a sense to his best friend.
And then Seki, super flustered, basically replies BRO i pretend to act cool a lot too, it's fine if we're both putting on some airs, that's normal. So, when he follows up with "You like me. I like you. Does anything else matter?", I see that as Seki basically saying that, no matter how we act around each other, even if some of it is fake (implying, I think, even if you've hidden your sexuality from me), none of that matters because we're friends.
This also ties back to an early chapter when Yamato is confiding in Yuiji about worrying about keeping himself in the closet to Seki and feeling some guilt with that. Recall, this was Yuiji's reply:
Essentially, the sentiment is exactly what Seki says so many chapters later. No matter what sort of guilt and overthinking is going on in Yamato's head, they're friends because they time they spend together is legitimate, fun, and happy. "Does anything else matter?"
So, when Yamato is outed and people are immediately acting differently towards him, Seki affirming this sentiment that Yuiji gave Yamato early on gives Yamato a lot of security and relief. Like, yeah, random classmates and strangers might be giving him a lot of shit for his sexuality, but Seki is his friend through and through and even if he's fully aware that Yamato was being dishonest with him, he's totally okay with that.
They'll be friends no matter what.
