So I've thought about it a lot, and I think I've figured out how I would "fix" whatever direction shinoa's character is going right now, and how it would support an overarching theme between her and yuuichiro without sacrificing shinoa's own agency (EDIT: I don't actually agree with some of the stuff I said near the end anymore but there's still some substance to it I think)
Warning for manga spoilers ofc and lots of ramble under the cut ^^;
So to start off, I have two main points to my thought process. One to stay faithful to the arc with, and one I believe the arc is lacking.
1. Keep shinoa's motivations yuu-influenced
2. Let shinoa's actions center more on herself outside of her attachment to him
There's a whole other conversation to be had about the trend in ONS of female characters holding little-to-no agency outside of a man. In this particular case, I don't think yuu being the catalyst for her current arc is an entirely bad writing choice. Yuu is the main character, so he's going to have a big impact on the story and the trajectory of other characters. It also serves as a reminder to an early shinoa line:
Which I do believe is one of the best pieces of dialogue in understanding shinoa's character & how she parallels yuuichiro specifically.
As we know, shinoa grew up feeling that she was incompetent enough that her family 'abandoned' her, insignificant outside of her family name, that she has no actual will or value of her own. And we know this was mainly influenced by mahiru's abuse in order to protect her from the hiiragi family's curse.
Because of these emotional walls that shinoa has put up since she was little, she stands out in ONS as someone without any big goal/plan/desire. It's made a point in the series that characters have something they desire in their life, and that is their reason to stay living, despite how horrible the world has become. Whether that be to protect, save, or avenge a loved one, to be in control, or free to live their own life.
There is also obviously a link between desire & love in the series (familial, platonic, romantic, whatever) and shinoa is someone who has stated herself to have never known or crave any kind of love or validation. Yuuichiro was the one to break her out of that. Subconsciously or not, shinoa starts to crave the love and validation she never had before.
Much later in the story, shinoa learns about how much mahiru sacrificed for her. This didn't seem to change her belief that her life had value, as she still seems to put herself down in comparison to mahiru, but I do think it could've been a push in that direction. Or at least I wanted it to be.
Now, where my biggest hang-up starts with her arc. I do not agree with the insistence that shinoa's sudden motivation for living is because of yuu only. Yes, she admires him, he was the first person to make her feel genuinely valued. But I think it would be so much more meaningful to the story if her sudden "motivation for living" reflected this exact sentiment—
Furthering their parallels and allowing shinoa's struggle with validation to be explored outside of her attachment to yuu.
Again, it's very much what shinoa's arc is going for
She simultaneously believes she does not deserve any kind of love, yet she craves it all the same, and that's hurting her.
I just don't understand why this notion couldn't have extended to her squad. It could be so much more impactful in tying together a theme between her and yuuichiro, and her screentime would not revolve around lusting after him— because she has a whole friend group who value her just as much. She is their leader after all.
The whole "all girls fall in love at some point" thing that they're going for is flat and dumb from a writing standpoint, because I know it's just plain sexism and the author is not intentionally writing commentary on amatonormativity. I can't even tell if this is trying to be a love interest sideplot because yuu has not been shown to reciprocate anything other than friendship for her. So for my own sanity, I like to read it as a "the feeling was friendship but she had never experienced it before" type of thing.
If I were the writer, "all girls yearn for love" would be "all humans yearn for love", and it would not just mean romantic love.
Yuu would not be shinoa's motivation to live, but the catalyst to her finding it.
Shinoa's arc would still be about the human desire for love and validation, despite how undeserving you think you are of it. And it would not just cater to a love interest.
Thank you for reading and I hope this was comprehensible enough >_>











