Sam’s perception of love in yhs is SO weird. So here’s me talking about it along with my speculations + headcanons
He's a 2nd year highschooler that's sort of antisocial and prefers to spend his time with his best friend Taurtis or his teddy bear. In YANDERE, he said he didn't want to meet new people or to have more friends other than Snugglemuffins, but he warmed up to Taurtis pretty quickly since they had some stuff in common.
So what does this mean? Well, it's suggested that the two have been very close during YANDERE and all the way to Tokyo Soul, so not spending time with people other than your best friend all the time can give you some pretty weird perspectives in life, especially considering how unique Taurtis and Sam are.
Episode 1 of Yandere high, Sam gave Sookie a carrot all because she was staring at him (and she stares quite a bit after re-watching, tho that’s only near the start of the series) and thought that she was now his girlfriend after that, with Taurtis giving him a thumbs up for trying even though she returned it. That simple thing lead him to check out Sookie more and eventually, he fell for her hard to the point it got dangerous, since he would smell her hair, cross dress and poison Soul just to win her over.
He was later hitting on Yuki when Taurtis asked her out to prom, which I found surprising at first, but he was just doing it for competition and admitted it when Taurtis got together with Chan. Though later on, even after being threatened to date her, he chose to stay with her even though he still had a crush on Sookie. He forgets about her near the end of the series and stops mentioning he's using Yuki to make her jealous (which didn't work, mind you), breaking up with her in the end.
Sam doesn't even mention Sookie around Tokyo Soul, only his "dead girlfriend" and Invader after she gets to the school. This brings up the question of how he forgot her so easily and just moved on, even though he was crazy obsessed with her?
Well, I have two things leading on with this. First one is that Sam is just really that terrible at love, and the second is that he blocked her out of his memory.
First explanation- Sam doesn't really seem to,,, understand love. He know friendship though it's a little twisted in his eyes, but it works since his best friend is Taurtis, who forgave Sam for stabbing him (leaving Grian absolutely baffled for putting up with his shit lmao) and it's hinted that they take baths together. Hell, they even share the same room no matter where they move, which I think indirectly suggests they're friends with SOMEWHAT benefits. They look like they have the "bros just being bros" relationship (same kinda applies to Taurtis and Grian in ts), which I think really does confuses Sam's perception of love.
His friendship with Taurtis is very strong, to the point where he believes what they're doing is normal. Sam says yes to Jerry/Taurtis kissing his bruises, and even checked him out whenever he'd wear girly outfits like Sookie's stolen uniform or that one uh,,, nurse costume. He seems to believe that's all normal behavior as best friends, which you can do as well, but he doesn't really do the same with Sookie. He was very awkward, has violent tendencies after figuring out she's with Soul, and will do something creepy towards her whenever she's near, thinking that this is how love is. Yeesh.
So, for this argument, seeing how quickly he developed a crush for Sookie, he also swiftly lost interest in her after the Yuki accident, seeing as he can't really be near her anymore and would rather be safe and sound with his friends.
Second explanation! Sam's memory could be very,,, weird at times. When he made Grian dress as Taurtis temporarily, he forgot that he stabbed Taurtis in the first place and who Grian was, but recovered after Taurtis gained his memory back. He's able to block out his own memories to cope with his situations, which is possibly what happened to Sookie.
She never really loved him back and got embarrassed after revealing that Samantha wasn't real, so he probably didn't want to get hurt further and blocked her out around the start of Tokyo Soul, since he still seemed somewhat attached when Yuki dated him.
And for this one, I think Sam's head messes up his own memories just so that he's happy and sane, because we know what happens when Taurtis isn't around, and we especially know how he acts whenever he "snaps". He probably found out that he can never be with Sookie, who he was overly obsessed with, so he made himself forget about her.
ALSO, enough of his crushing on Sookie, let's move on to Invader, then Yuki.
With Invader's case, she's just as obsessed with Sam like he is with Sookie, but he found that creepy. He still acts somewhat kind to her and decided to break up with her even though they weren't in a relationship in the first place, but still hates her clinginess. It's sort of hypocritical since it's what he does to Sookie too, but since Invader isn't really his type, he's ultimately uninterested and doesn't reciprocate her feelings, even though they act mostly the same coming to their crushes.
With Yuki, he started flirting with her only for the competition, but later on was okay with dating her. He does seem annoyed with clingy people since she wouldn't leave him alone on the Taurtis 2 episode, but warmed up to her eventually. She gives him space, supports him with harming people and only decided to break up with her after she killed Rowan, which is pretty nuts. He does admit that he killed a certain percentage of people as well, only breaking up with her after she got rid of his PE teacher, suggesting that if they never killed Karu and she never killed Rowan, they'd still be together.
One last thing, I don't think he's ever experienced proper love himself to know how to treat others he "loves". Sure, his dad is seen to be overly loving towards Sam but it's hinted he spend his whole life with Taurtis after the playdate. They've never been separated which is why he goes mad whenever he's not around and only thinks they're very best friends, nothing more and less. He does call his mother sometimes, but they had limited contact throughout yhs' first season, and never again in Tokyo Soul. They do talk, but not enough to be checking up or caring towards each other.
Sam also has a lack of remorse- admitted by himself during Tokyo Soul- which means he doesn't feel bad whenever he hurts someone, thinking that's normal. He harmed Taurtis for talking about Yuki, and threatens a lot of people whenever he has the power even though he's seen to be more kinder at the start of yhs. He thinks it's for people's own good, and eventually insinuated it with romantic love, which is probably why he acts the way that he is.
In conclusion, Sam isn't the best with most interactions and his actions lead to some dire consequences. Him and Taurtis have been unaware of this, which is why they think nothing's wrong unless there's certain situations where the other says no. Even though he's my favorite, he's a little cray-cray in the head. He was raised with some morals, but still makes bad decisions.
