But can we talk about Gou [Kou] Matsuoka for a second? Rei is the savior and hero of the episode; Kou is the savior of the entire series.
She too lost her father at a young age, and the anime did not expound upon the effects such a tragedy had on her. Regardless, she is not weighed down by the burden of fulfilling her dead father’s lost dreams like Rin is, but I do think she felt a certain degree of responsibility for her older brother. While Rin was overwhelmed by the past and by his own insecurities and guilt, Kou was simultaneously burdened by her own guilt, regret at her brother’s situation, and a sense of personal responsibility for her brother.
We saw from the beginning that Kou took a vested interest in Makoto, Nagisa, and Haru because they were Rin’s old friends. We know that her initial goal was to talk about her brother with him, because she ultimately wanted to achieve Rin’s liberation from his internal demons and a reunion with his dearest friends. This is why she befriends the three boys in the first place; her brother was closed off and hard to deal with for most of the anime because he was struggling constantly. She had very little contact with him, most of which was clinical or cold [through ignored text messages and unexpected run-ins everywhere]. She had to hide while watching the ‘showdown’ between Rin and Haru at the sportswear store and come to her own conclusions. All of this was also her own personal demon wrapped into a package.
Kou makes lasting friendships with Nagisa, Haru, Makoto, and Rei. We love to laugh and coo about how adorable and relatable she is with respect to her fawning over men’s musculature, but it is also indicative of her extensive knowledge of anatomy/biology and swimming. She was probably the most effective leader and manager the swim club could have - she pushed them to keep going, to not give up; she encouraged them to train harder, she created and honed rigorous training regimes, she covertly signed the boys on for another swim meet event after their first loss, she believed in them from the start. She knew everything she had to do, and honestly, she’s a force of nature to be reckoned with. She did not give up herself, and if anything, the anime implied that she’d stay up late into the wee hours planning and fussing and worrying over details and her beloved brother.
Ultimately, it is because of Kou that our boys could leap over the heaps of obstacles placed in front of them. It is because she continually walked the extra mile and it is because she was wise, practical, firm, and kind. The biggest takeaway, however, is not only that she’s the driving force behind the mechanism that is the Iwatobi swim club/her own brother’s removal from his own demons, but that she herself is free - free of guilt, free of feeling responsible for her brother’s pain, free from fretting about her brother and being torn between two groups. She too is finally free, because she got what she always desired - a reconciliation between her beloved brother and her beloved friends, and bonds that will last for eternity.
gummygunk
theartofmadeline
vaporwave
stormborns
