sorry got another bad post in me
while i think takumi/nozomi can become real and be meaningful on its own - mostly in r0 and second scenario imo (coincidentally routes where takumi has to meet nozomi as her own person anew) - takumi/karua really, really feels like comphet
it's...a lot of things. it's that it's kinda thin on its own. it's that it feels very aggressively gender roles-y of prince and princess/protector and damsel. it's that adhering to said gender roles can lead to the absolute worst of takumi being weird to nozomi (who. wants to protect people just as much as he does, which isn't a trait that karua has). it's that it's literally implanted into takumi to get him to fight. but either way it kinda gives comphet vibes and it's not a coincidence most of takumi ships i like have less of him in a Protector to Helpless Woman role.
like an Experience i've had seeing other people play the game is the absolute disconnect of "karua WHO/nozomi WHO" when takumi focuses on someone else. like imo takumi when he's acting as Just a protector to them is him at his worst-well okay not worst, that's whenever brainwashing is involved, but at his "pretty bad". he...shouldn't be. her prince. imo. oftentimes when he does he doesn't see her, not even getting into how he assumes a position of power and knowledge over all his friends that is inherently unfair to them and often becomes unhealthy. him always focusing on karua/nozomi would make him a lot more distasteful, imo. i kinda like the aspect of him developing Other bonds than just the one. ones that don't push him into that protector/prince ideal that he's both bad at and a monster while he performs it. i also think him and nozomi are at their best when they can fall into that. when he can dial it back. she doesn't want to be protected, she wants to protect just as much as he does.
(i'd also argue a part of r0's tragedy for me is that he really had gotten to the point of being normal to nozomi/forming a real bond with her as her own person...aaand then her death happens. it's not her fault at all. it couldn't ever be. but god it really is mrgh to see it punt him right back to square one-before square one-re: treating her as her own person and not being weird to her)
