The Lungfish Diaries

Mami is burning everything down, just as Chizuru long feared she would. The big question is how Chizuru will respond, but first, let’s take a look at how Kazuya’s monologue this chapter sets the stage for how he will handle his family. We’ll also take a look back at Mami’s path to this moment and why it may have come up short, as well as some wildcards that could change how this all plays out. Two minutes to midnight. Kazuya, poised to fall on his sword This week’s opening section up through page 10 may have seemed a bit like the “same old, same old” material we often see, but I suspect Miyajima is trying to get Kazuya’s state of mind out of the way so we can jump right into the action next week. If so, I would call this a fairly smart trick: having Kazuya process this whole event in his thoughts could slow everything down, and Miyajima has instead gotten a lot of exposition about Kazuya’s point of view and state of mind out there for us to chew on. In particular, Kazuya question...

After last week’s shocker, we got a well-deserved breather chapter before a “shocking development” has been promised for next week. Even so, there’s a lot to mine about this chapter, including Mami letting Chizuru off the hook, Chizuru practically sleepwalking through this chapter, and Kazuya once again bending over backwards to let Chizuru go as painlessly as possible for her. Let’s take a closer look. Chizuru is not ready for this As we look upon Chizuru approaching Kazuya this chapter, it’s important to keep in mind that Chizuru is not ready to be in a real relationship with Kazuya. This is a bit of inference, but it’s not a huge stretch. When Kazuya confesses to her, Chizuru says to herself she needs to do something (174) She seems to test the waters at Umi’s party, giving Kazuya a pretty clear sign that she’s interested (179) when she echoes back one of the most romantic things he’s ever said to her And yet, Ruka’s bluff makes her cold again And she avoids Kazuya’...