305

[branchandroot]

Having given the matter sober and measured consideration, I have come to the following conclusion.

Konomi, you suck.

In the space of two pages you have totally slaughtered all the characterization you have previously built up.

For one, Ryouma is a brat, and has the Mouth that ate Manhattan, but he is not, or has not been to date, the kind of evil little fucker that would perpetrate indignities on an unconscious opponent.

For another, as Michelle points out, NO ONE STOPPED HIM. Not even Tezuka.

And that says some pretty nasty things about Tezuka himself, things that I had not thought to be true. That Tezuka does not, in fact, care for good gamesmanship and respect for the game and the opponents nearly as much as he makes out.

Getting back to Hal's observation about this not really being a typical sports-story, this is the kind of thing that the VILLAIN-TEAM does.

If I accept what those couple pages say about characters I love, I'm just going to have to cry. And I'd really rather not.

So Konomi? You suck. Get your shit back together, man.

Comments

[prillalar]

I didn't realise until I read somebody's write-up that Atobe was unconscious throughout. It did change the face of things.

I think I can stretch my acceptance of what Ryoma did because A. he's 12, B. it's just hair, C. they had previously agreed upon this outcome, and D. he must be pretty light-headed and not thinking clearly after that match.

(I don't see it as so far-fetched that he would participate in, say, a prank like this against a sleeping teammate. Though this is a different situation, of course, and he should be showing more respect to his opponent.)

But the fact that nobody tried to stop him or gave him what-for afterwards is a bit troubling. I don't find it quite as character-destroying as you do, but it does seem inconsistant.

[branchandroot]

*nodnod* Atobe not being aware was what broke it for me, too. Until I read that, I'd kind of assumed that Atobe did the clipping himself, which would have made the whole thing... well, just Ryouma being his snarky self.

*snerks* Yeah, I could /totally/ see Ryouma doing something like that to, say, Momo or Eiji. Possibly to Inui or Kaidou. But, you know, not to Tezuka or Fuji or Oishi. And they're the ones I would /really/ expect to stop him.

I think part of what scralls my knurd about all this is that Seigaku wins all the time, and that's only narratively acceptable for the good guys. If they're not going to be the good guys, then they haven't, narratively, earned the constant wins, and I start to get annoyed because Konomi is breaking the implicit promise of the genre he's writing in. And breaking it in a way that undercuts the moral message. *fangs grumpily at Konomi*

[prillalar]

I forgot to mention: how the hell could Ryoma reach high enough to shave Atobe's head?

[branchandroot]

... good point. I can accept Ryouma having a razor in his pocket, but a step-stool?