Nagi No Asukara

Well, character development is rather in focus here. Change. Most notably for Hikari, Miuna, and Saya, I'd say.

And the lack of it in Chisaki. Though she did change, while remining herself. Probably my favourite scene in the series was when Chisaki saw how much of she'd changed, and then Hikari, fresh out of hibernation, recognises her as the same Chisaki he'd always known.

agree.

the silent hug at the end of the second Ofunehiki between Chisaki and Tsumugu was quite the nice touch, as well.

Agreed. Lots of nice touches in the last episode in the general. Like how Hikari is fine with going to the surface without Manaka. Overall, though, the last episode "merely" delivered on the expected feels. Nothing too interesting.

I find the sea god's fate even more tragic than before. If the subs I saw were correct, the spirit fire is him after he cast away his form and emotions. My headcanon is that he discarded those in order to maintain his power. And all the crap that Hikari and company had to deal with is simply the result of him on what is basically auto mode. Dang, you could make an entire series out of that concept.

edited 5th Apr '14 12:53:44 AM by fillerdude

I disagree. Chisaki's the character who changed the most. She was the only of the four original friends who completely left the group. This was the thing she feared the most in episode 2 of the show. She changed her romantic feelings, her entire lifestyle, her social bonds. She had a hard time with it because she was afraid of it the most.

Hikari changed? Of course, but his change is barely significant when you compare him to Chisaki, who had a drastic change, including a physical one. You can say he matured more than he changed completely. He matured while he remained the same, with his same reckless temper, his love for Manaka, his love for his family. What changed in Hikari was his view of the surface.

You're confusing quantity for focus. I didn't say she didn't change much. I said what was in focus for her was what didn't change.

I'm not confusing anything, because you hardly mentioned any "focus". The entire focus of Chisaki's arc was her drastic change and her problems to cope with this fact. Hikari didn't change, the point of his character is that he changed very little. His feelings are the same, his friends are the same (others joined his group, he didn't seek them out), his basic personality is the same.

Bringing up Hikari's absolutely stupid remark on Chisaki (which was wrong and the excuse Chisaki used to lie to herself out of her guilt) when he's canonically an oblivious kid who doesn't even know the feelings of the girl he loves as valid observation as you did is ridiculous. Kaname, the character who actually knows his friends (unlike Hikari who is always portrayed as an unobservant moron with a strong heart and drive to do things, but completely dense), knew she changed.

Hardly mentioned it? It was explicitly what I talked about. Not amount of change.

Chisaki's life changed completely. She herself didn't change nearly that much. For me her story was about what remained the same, despite all that was different in her life. That's also what Hikari's comment meant. For all the changes she'd gone through, she was still the Chisaki he knew. It doesn't even matter if he's dense, because it's his opinion that mattered. And Chisaki's problem was her inability to put her own happiness ahead of others', even if it ironically enough made others hurt more. She was unable to move on before she saw the others did.

Somehow I'm surprised you take Hikari's (the most dense and unobservant character of the show next to the sea god) word at face value. He's the one who claimed the one who helped Manaka and Chisaki to be friends again was Kaname (when it was Tsumugu): He doesn't know his friends at all. He can't read or understand them.

Chisaki did change. She never considered being a nurse before, Kaname was surprised of this choice she had. If you don't think a life career isn't a big change, you're underage. "Moving on" isn't the same as 'change'. She didn't need people awake to do this, she needed to learn Manaka didn't love Tsumugu. She was using that fear of change as excuse to shield herself under the guilt of having a life with the man her friend loved. She changed so much she wanted things to change. Whereas, in the past when she confessed to Hikari, it was the opposite.

Of course her life also changed drastically, but that is what triggered her change. Hikari's life changed too to trigger his less than significant change. Hikari didn't change all that much, he only changed his views of the surface, and matured a little. He remained the same boy, with the same feelings, with the same friends.

Chisaki, meanwhile, was a complete different character. She didn't even hang out with her friends anymore in the epilogue. She did not longer choose to live in the sea when she was the one who said she didn't need the surface back in episode 2. Chisaki is the character who changed the most.

No, his opinion doesn't matter when Kaname and Chisaki already said his opinion was crap in episode 24. Chisaki was forcing herself to appear the same. Kaname noticed she was different.

edited 12th Apr '14 11:52:55 PM by Ena

I was right the first time. You did confuse the terms, because you don't understand what I meant.

And be very careful about assuming stuff about people. For instance, I've gone through a career change.

edited 13th Apr '14 8:42:59 AM by AnotherDuck