I need to rant for a minute bc antis (outside of tumblr) who call aqukana shippers delusional and say we need to reread the manga blow my mind. Full disclosure: this is going to be aquakane critical, so pack up if you're not interested in listening to that.
Antis will state with conviction that Aqua never returned Kana's feelings...when the manga literally says the exact opposite, in plain text, no interpretation needed, multiple times
But show them these pages and they'll immediately fume and write paragraphs about how the manga is wrong, we can't take things at face value because Aqua is a liar who can't be trusted to understand his own feelings (wtf), and even Mem, Akane, and Gorou are not accurate in their deductions either 💀
From a Doylist perspective, the author isn't going to use outside characters like Akane, Mem, and Gorou to confirm Aqua likes Kana romantically if that wasn't what he really meant, and Aqua even admits their deductions are correct himself when he says "I know". From a Watsonian perspective that allows greater freedom of interpretation, it still doesn't make sense to deny this truth. Sure, Aqua is a liar, and his emotions get very messy at times, but I find it absurd (and insulting) to look at his literal panic attack over the idea of Kana being hurt because of him and say it's a lie.
And going back to his conversation with Gorou, what reason does he have to lie about that anyway? If you're going to look at things from a Watsonian perspective then you should have an answer to that. Be so fr right now, it's just grasping at straws. Akane is also a pro at psychoanalyzing ppl accurately, and aquakane fans always like to boast about how she understands him the best, so why is her deduction about his feelings towards Kana suddenly unable to be trusted? You can't have it both ways.
On the flipside, if you ask them for proof that Aqua had romantic feelings for Akane, it's always the phone call where he never even says he has romantic feelings for her, but is instead expressing gratitude for everything she has done for him. They have to write paragraphs dissecting every word to arrive at evidence of what is at most a faux romantic attachment developed as a result of Akane attempting to fill the void left by Ai Hoshino. Not only that, but the notion that what he said on the phone means he could actually be in love with her is immediately disproven the very next chapter, because (up until that point in the story) he never had any intention of having an equal and honest relationship with her.
After that, no outside characters are able to confirm Aqua's feelings either, other than Kana who fails to meet the criteria of a credible source from both a Doylist perspective (the fact that her assumption is proven to be incorrect the next chapter) and Watsonian perspective (Kana is known to always put herself down and assume the worst). So when all else fails, they write essays about how much more emotional depth aquakane has to compensate for the lack of definitive proof of Aqua returning Akane's feelings. But you know what? You can have a deep emotional connection with someone that you don't romantically love *points at self*.
Akane was never the reason Aqua didn't choose Kana, nor did he avoid responding to her feelings because he didn't return them. It had everything to do with his own trauma, fears, and inability to let go of his revenge. Those are the same things that led to the end of his relationship with Akane, but here's the kicker: if Aqua never had all that baggage, he never would've dated her (fake or not) to begin with, because he would've just dated the girl he liked.
