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Kuzu no Honkai continues to focus on the growth and development of Akane and delivers quite a storyline. Though, it does leave you to wonder, how will things end for the two young lovers we begun this journey with?
Episode Focus: “People can change. But it’s always because of someone other than me.” (Mugi, Akane, and Kanai)
Kanai breaks through. Despite Akane’s long, established, and seemingly comfortable history of sleeping with me for validation and comfort, that may have come to an end. Her pursuit of Kanai, and Mugi chipping away at her calculated exterior, has allowed her to be vulnerable long enough for Kanai to get inside. For him to find that young woman who needed someone to love and accept her, despite her faults and perhaps socially unacceptable methods to survive.
He found a way to force her to pursue something real and not just something convenient and fun. Kanai made her be the aggressor, allow herself to be unsure and unable to path out what could happen next. But, most of all, despite all she has done and all she thought she was undeserving of, he taught her that she could be loved despite of.
So while with some hesitation, she accepts his marriage proposal and breaks things off with Mugi without a kiss or sexual contact. Leaving Mugi devastated but realizing the woman he wanted to change, that was the woman he loved. So now the Akane he knew is but an eternal memory.
Commentary
With how Akane has been handled, it really has me questioning what will be done in the finale? It feels like it has been an awfully long time since we saw Hanabi and while she does make a short appearance in this episode, to help note she hasn’t seen Mugi since the summer ended, and it is now October, she has been sort of ghostly. So with Akane and Kanai out of the picture, having some form of a sunset ending, what will come of the teenagers? May Noriko or Ecchan get a happy ending? What about Mugi? Will we see, once again, him and Hanabi crawl to the other as they lick their wounds?
Also, let’s discuss the picture above. With Mugi, we kind of got to understand his fascination with Akane. She was this broken woman he could fix. That was his attraction to her and it seems to be the source of his attraction to the women in his life in general. Him being the sole person they can come to for the fixing of some insecurity they have. But what about Kanai? What was his reasoning behind loving and accepting Akane as she was?
His mother.
To me, I see a slight Oedipus Complex like situation here. Kanai sees something in Akane which reminds him of his mom, the person she was and the love she gave, and he wishes to get and return that to her. Something he does through Akane for she reminds him so much of this woman he no longer has access to. Which, I know, is a creepy theory, but being that Kanai’s character is the sole one we haven’t seen a dark side to yet, I feel confident in thinking that this is his quirk.
Alternative Take
Prattle’s Take on the Episode
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