One half of the group chooses not to go after their unrequited loves (at least in the beginning for #Mugi anyway), instead settling for friends with benefits to satiate their bitter #loneliness. In the end, they seem perfectly content with just confessing their feelings (only to be rejected, as expected).

The other half is more persistent, determined enough to take the extra mile to make their unrequited sweethearts theirs, and stubborn enough to not stop trying even in the face of enormous odds, as is the case with #Moca, #Ecchan, and Sanae’s cousin Atsuya.

By the end of the story, most of the characters decide to go their separate ways. Nothing much in the way of romance or reciprocation is resolved, and even though most were able to successfully undergo profound inner transformation, on the surface they are back to where they were before — single, and strangers, to one another.

Ecchan / Sanae reaches a mutual understanding with #Hanabi during their time at the cabin and amicably part ways as lovers. Now they are just simply friends. Sanae decides to be more trusting of her cousin, but doesn’t really agree to any sort of romantic relationship with him, still being unable to reciprocate Atsuya’s feelings. Moca seems to have been liberated personally by her feelings — or rather the relinquishing of her feelings — for Mugi, having ended the story a grown woman of sorts and no longer a loli. The two main characters, Hanabi and Mugi, who spent the entire story half being friends with benefits and the other half frolicking around with other men and women (because obviously the other wasn’t enough to cushion the blow of their loneliness by themselves), end their relationship more than amicably by choosing to stay apart so the other could grow.

All this however, was to be expected. In Mr. Spock’s words, it was the logical outcome. Hanabi isn’t really in love with Ecchan; she was just using her and how she felt to feel better about herself instead of firstly considering the emotional toll such a relationship might take on her best friend. For Hanabi, her emotional respite with Ecchan felt like a sexual escape from the pain of her problems. So it makes perfect sense to quit the relationship, and in the end stay friends. Moca’s feelings for Mugi are also one-sided. It equally makes sense for nothing more to happen between them, and for Mugi to at least temporarily let Moca be, and not use her as another shower plug for his sexual frustrations and gnawing loneliness.

As for Kuzu no Honkai’s aptly named power couple, Mugi and Hanabi seem to have finally realized by the last episode how disproportionately unhealthy their relationship had been, how much of it involved being overwhelmingly selfish to get by, and how little of it involved actual love and affection, replaced instead by lust and blind infatuation. In the end the two agreed that it had all become too convoluted and complicated to continue, and that the best course of action would be to simply move on.

If Reddit, Tumblr, and anime streaming online forums are any indication, most of the people who saw the anime and read the manga pretty much agreed with the ending mangaka Mengo Yokoyari and teleplay writer Makoto Uezu had envisioned and decided on. The characters were meant to learn a lesson, then grow apart. There is one exception however, one half of the ending that got viewers wrinkling their brows in confusion instead of nodding vehemently in agreement. While everyone else went off their separate ways and no one batted an eyebrow and complained as to why, the two teachers, Narumi Kanai and Akane Minagawa, much to the chagrin of many viewers and readers, eventually ended up together, in spite of all the obvious red flags that came their way.

In the last few episodes of Kuzu no Honkai, we find #NarumiKanai slowly trying to build a genuine connection to Miss Akane; he wants to open her up and be let in, and appropriately prove his love to her, an originally one-sided quest that culminates in their brief night and vacation in the countryside where the former finds himself hastily proposing to the latter. Surprisingly, commitment-phobe Akane says yes to marrying Kanai and by the show’s finale, everyone in their school is celebrating their engagement.

The general reaction to the more-than-perfect outcome of Kanai-sensei and Miss Akane’s less-than-perfect love story has been painfully mixed, with most leaning toward revulsion, confusion, and passionate disagreement. “Kanai-sensei is so stupid! Can he not see Miss Akane is a serial seducer? She doesn’t even love him, they barely know each other, and he is just blindly infatuated! This relationship is so rushed!”

Narumi Kanai is a Japanese language teacher at Hanabi, Mugi, Moca, and Ecchan’s high school in Japan. He is both Hanabi’s childhood friend, affectionately referred to as “Brother” or onii-chan, and homeroom teacher. Hanabi has been hopelessly harboring romantic feelings for him since she was little.

Kanai-sensei is described as being “conventionally boring,” not sex-hungry or prone to drinking like most other men in the show. He is shy and socially awkward, and generally a kind and warm-hearted individual. When Hanabi finally confesses her feelings, he does not try to shame her for it or take advantage of the opportunity to have sex with an underage student like what Akane has routinely done; instead he feels her pain and weeps for her, and takes her in his arms, and together help Hanabi finally move on from her love.

It is second nature for Narumi Kanai to love and care for others unconditionally because of his mother and how he was raised, something that has consistently thrown Miss Akane off given that she has expected him to act predictably — basically be selfish and chase solely after life’s little pleasures at the expense of everyone else — like most other people she’s dated. Instead of rushing to sex and taking advantage of Akane’s willingness to do it right away during their first date, he hesitates and actually shows genuine concern for her feelings, opting first to ask for permission. Instead of jumping straight to the bedroom and inviting Akane for some sexy romp in the sack right away during each and every one of their dates, he instead opts to just spend time with her out in public at completely wholesome locations like the aquarium or the café — no ass squeezing or sexual innuendos required, which again baffles Akane. A generally put together and decent man, he seems to only act on his sexual feelings when under the influence of alcohol, suggesting remarkably low tolerance and a lack of addiction to any sort of vice. But even then his reactions and movements remain mild. Even under the influence of sake, he does not seem to be capable of resorting to brute force or any type of aggression. He does not appear to be easily prone to any bouts of jealousy either, or similarly, spite.

Narumi Kanai is, in general, exceedingly, and consistently, polite and considerate, almost saintly, traits which have repeatedly led Akane to conclude that Kanai is a boring man, and will always be boring.

Akane Minagawa on the other hand, is the complete opposite of Kanai. She is self-involved and manipulative at an almost sociopathic level, and takes pleasure and pride in openly hurting other people, if only to see the pain and anger in their eyes when they react. A music teacher and skilled piano player from Hanabi and company’s school, Akane seems to get a kick out of hurting others by sleeping around with and dating the people they’re in love with, as with Hanabi’s case, seemingly enjoying seeing the hurt in their faces upon realizing they’ve been had. She is also a nymphomaniac, a serial cheater and serial seducer, opting for a life of sleeping around — compulsively and obsessively — with just random people, or just anyone with a penis really, if only to feel good about herself.

Akane Minagawa likes feeling wanted and desired, especially in a sexual setting, and takes enormous sadistic pleasure in stringing along different men and having sex with as many people as possible; she especially likes testing other people’s resolve by watching how they react to her cheating; she enjoys watching how predictably angry or upset they can get after realizing they’ve been played along with, or after they realize they have fallen, tragically, for a serial cheater. The “spectacle” is amusing to her — even morbidly entertaining to some degree — and it is implied she likes being a nymphomaniac because she gets to watch all these people hopelessly desire her, only to be shut down and left behind in the end.

On the plus side, Akane Minagawa is fiercely independent, and you might say even empowered as a female, which would normally be a good thing (even if she does like to sleep from guy to guy, that is still her choice and free right; nothing particularly wrong if she is not knowingly hurting anyone) if she isn’t so damn manipulative and sadistic. She originally agrees to go out on a date with Narumi Kanai just to spite Hanabi. She does the same thing with Mugi for the same reason. She allows herself to fool countless men, stringing and playing them along like puppets in a show, having them think she was theirs and that she too had fallen in love with them, only because for her, “it is so much fun to tear down their hopes at the last moment.”

Ladies, it’s okay to take charge of your lives and do whatever you want; just don’t hurt other people deliberately for the heck of it, or because “it’s fun.” That is morally repulsive, no matter which way we look at it. People have feelings. Of course, since nobody is exempt, this goes for men too.

Miss Akane however is not openly like any of the above I said (at least at first). For the most part, she tries to project an image of meek perfection, kind of like a traditional yamato nadeshiko, effectively keeping her attractive to potential lovers and hiding her true lifestyle from them, until time comes to finally tear them down. When Narumi Kanai accidentally finds out about Akane’s real self, she is momentarily emotional, as if upset — in her own odd way — that she was exposed in front of Kanai-sensei of all people, implying that in spite of her pride (over the supposed merits of her lifestyle), there is still a significant part of her that is ashamed it exists.

Akane Minagawa has stated toward the end of the show that she feels disconnected from everyone else, perhaps as a survival mechanism to keep from getting hurt. She keeps herself disconnected and others at a distance so she is prevented from having any form of emotional attachments that could hurt her, a childlike fear of pain that has since manifested in her seeming sociopathic behavior and extreme sexual escapades growing up. In short, Miss Akane, like Hanabi and Mugi and the others, is also lonely. Perhaps she is afraid of being left behind, and so to protect herself, prefers to always be the first to leave. Consistently.

Ironically, the boring young man she so claimed to hate, is what had finally, and inevitably, ended her habitual suffering, and this neverending cycle of pain.

Everyone’s issue with Akane Minagawa is warranted. She is essentially what most of us would brand as “bad news,” with red flags erratically scattered all over the place.

She is disturbingly self-serving, frighteningly egocentric, and she basically cheats and has sadistic sex the way most of us breathe air or drink water. She is unable to value relationships and people for what they truly are, and instead uses everyone involved as a means to an end, essentially as a way of satisfying her loneliness, or #boredom, nothing more. She doesn’t seem to be capable of changing her ways, has even asserted that she doesn’t plan to, and doesn’t want to, and has repeatedly defended the so-called merits of her selfishly volatile chosen lifestyle.

What’s even worse is she doesn’t even feel bad for it. She doesn’t regret anything. She has never apologized — not once — for her behavior, not even after her time at the inn. For her, this is all normal and routine, and if you’ve been sucked into the black hole, it’s your fault for being too stupid to see the trap, and if you’ve been rejected, it’s your fault for not being good enough.

Honestly I can already see a skilled therapist having a field day just trying to get something out of her, if they could even get a chance to meet her at all.

Miss Akane has massive issues committing to only one person and seeing their inherent value beyond what they can do for her; with this said, it can be easily argued that even if she gets married to Kanai-sensei, there’s no telling if she will actually remain faithfully monogamous to him. In fact, it’s argued that she will very easily fall back to her old ways, if she even sheds them at any point in their marriage at all. In which case, their union will result in a failure, and Kanai-sensei would have made the wrong choice proposing to — and ultimately marrying — such a troublesome woman.

For many viewers of the show, the red flags surrounding Akane Minagawa are so obvious, and we feel frustrated with Kanai for failing, or maybe refusing, to notice them. In the first place, it barely makes sense for Kanai to be okay with Akane’s cheating. In a baffling turn of events, Narumi Kanai expressly told Akane that she can go on with her lifestyle if she wants — behaving like a single woman even as she “might be” getting married — and he would still support her regardless, a statement which has been regarded by many as an unrealistic reaction to serial cheating. Because seriously, who in their right mind would even be okay with just being “one another guy” in their supposedly committed partner’s life?

But again, this actually makes sense, if you try to analyze his choice given Akane’s personality.

In spite of all the looming red flags, Miss Akane — as a partner — remains somewhat redeemable. In her own strange way, she displays traits, and carries traumas, that prove she can still be saved from herself.

Dealing with someone like Akane Minagawa, who is frustratingly stubborn and headstrong, takes calculated risks and careful precision when making the right decisions; since she is the type to closely follow her own set of rules, and also not listen to or be governed by anyone else, the only way to force her out of her habits is to ironically play by her rules, and prove her wrong using the SAME SET OF GUIDELINES she’s been using to justify every facet of her lifestyle this entire time — kind of like destroying a structure by infiltrating and ruling from within. This is a classic technique in carrying out reverse psychology, something I know all too well because it is often used against / for me.

• POINT 1: Akane went for Kanai-sensei and continued to see him in spite of his outwardly boring nature because she found him unpredictable.

Akane Minagawa has repeatedly, bluntly, asserted that Kanai-sensei’s behavior throws her off. He is the stereotypical “nice guy,” courteous and harmless, non-intimidating, sweet, sincere, the perfect gentleman. Initially this bores her. So much so that she has even stated that she hates it. She hates that he won’t willingly drink from his sake bottle, that he won’t just take advantage of her, that he won’t just easily take charge, or selfishly use her like the other men in Kuzu no Honkai. She hates how nice he is, how genuine he can be, how differently he behaves. She hates how she can’t see through him, she hates how she can’t foresee or accurately predict his actions as well as she does with her other suitors and lovers.

Ironically, despite being “predictably nice and boring” conventionally, Kanai is unpredictably nice and boring in Akane’s world, which is filled to the brim with men completely different from him.

And this is precisely why she’s so drawn to him. This is part of the reason why she agreed to marry a man she barely even knows. Because he is unpredictable to her, and she finds that fascinating. For her, Kanai-sensei is a rarity and a conundrum; I would argue respectfully that that is why she kept coming back for more, in spite of all her complaints and protestations.

Just like how Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Asuka Soryu finds herself hopelessly attracted to the meek Shinji Ikari in spite of her overwhelming hatred of him, Akane Minagawa is attracted to Narumi Kanai — without even being consciously aware of it — because he is different from the others, and because he is unpredictable; out of everyone she’s ever dated, he is the only man that did not behave to expectations. He is the only one that behaves patiently in response to hate, reacts kindly in respond to infidelity, loves unconditionally even when he is “hated,” something Akane has found unthinkable, even impossible, growing up.

And this — this overwhelming disparity — is exciting for Akane. Anything that is difficult to predict will always be exciting, and so is anything that seems or feels new and foreign and fresh. And for Akane, that new thing is Kanai. And that new and unfamiliar venture is marriage with him.

• POINT 2: Akane agreed to marry Kanai because she liked how it felt having sex with someone who loved her unconditionally.

Another reason Akane agreed to Kanai’s proposal was almost explicitly stated by Akane in Episode 11. She loved how it felt to have sex with someone who actually loved her without condition.

For so long, all Akane Minagawa knew was how to have sex. Dirty, messy, animalistic sex with no strings attached. Short and scattered periods of lust between two people barely in love, in bed only to satisfy their own separate needs, and never the other’s. That was all Akane Minagawa knew how to do since her first time. In her eyes, sex is nothing more than simply satisfying a primal need, much like eating or sleeping or drinking water; for her, selfishness in sex is not a choice, it is a requirement; in contrast, love in intercourse is not a necessity, it is a useless distraction. For Miss Akane, people have sex for themselves, not for anyone else, and that is how it should always be.

However, the second time Akane had sex with Narumi Kanai, it felt different. She didn’t feel like she was using him, or that conversely, he was just using her to feel desired or to satisfy some form of sexual longing. She didn’t feel like they were separately just humping and thrusting for the sake of doing so; for once, the sex held meaning beyond the primal, and it was soft and profound, loving and pure, nothing like she’s ever experienced her whole life.

For once in her life, Akane Minagawa actually feels connected. To her surroundings, to herself, and to the man she is having sex with. For once, the room doesn’t feel like just some private getaway with which to screw around in. For once, she doesn’t feel like a sexual object or a hypersexual being just out to use Narumi Kanai to feel exceedingly good about herself. For once, she feels connected to her feelings, to her inner, deeper fears and traumas, the things that tragically made her this way, her real dreams for the future, the old her, the real her that is just wanting for love, anything at all to satiate her loneliness the best she can — and when she realizes all this, she cries. For the first time ever, Akane Minagawa, who has made countless boys and girls cry, is the one crying and baring her heart out. For the first time, she learns how to be properly loved, and how overwhelmingly beautiful it can feel to have someone so pure love you like you are the sun that lights up their sky, and how it might feel to love someone like that too, in return.

For the first time ever, with Narumi Kanai in that inn, Akane Minagawa was making love, not having sex. And she reveled largely by how it felt. The profound connection she had felt between herself and Kanai almost felt otherworldly, and she was instantly attracted to it, and wanted more. This new craving for making love, rather than having sex, is a large part of the reason why Akane agreed to marry Narumi Kanai; it will also be the main vehicle through which she finally learns to shed her unhealthy habits and embrace a more loving, and less controlling, lifestyle. Simply because it is different from what she is used to, and because it has turned out more intense and meaningful than anything she has ever gone through with other men her entire life.

The only thing more punishing than change is, often, having to hold on to and sustain it. After all, it is as they say: old habits tragically die hard. At some point, being the fractious human beings that we are, we inevitably fall back to our old customs and revert to how things used to be. The temptation is just too strong.

Moreover, it is simply too difficult to just quit on something that for us has already become so mundane and painfully routine. It’s like suddenly having to quit our current job being a doctor to start new work as an advertising executive. Change is simply too burdensome. And so we change only for a short while… and after a few months or so, return to our old ways.

Given that, it is also logical to assume Akane Minagawa will be faced with the same difficulties upon marrying Kanai-sensei. Miss Akane is so used to being sexually active with more than one man that staying faithful to just Narumi Kanai might realistically be impossible for her.

But if we simply go by her boredom, or the logic surrounding her boredom, given how making love with Narumi has become even more exciting than having sex with multiple guys at a time, Miss Akane might eventually see the astounding discrepancy between sex with Kanai and sex with other men, and realize the others are actually lacking compared to what Kanai-sensei is able to offer. When this happens, Akane will naturally, logically, learn to hate — or more like grow bored of — cheating with other men and gravitate harder toward Kanai, the new, more interesting element in her life.

And I believe Kanai-sensei knows this; that’s why he said all those things about being okay with Akane’s cheating and still marrying her either way. Deep down, he probably knows — by virtue of what he can tell from his future wife’s personality — that in the end Akane will inevitably “come home” to him, that no matter how many more guys she sleeps with, he will be the only one she has special sex with. He knows he is special, he is confident he is special, and he has enough faith in her to convince himself every day of that “fact” because that’s just the type of guy he is.

• POINT 4: At some point, sex with strangers will become too dry, predictable, and boring for Akane, since in her eyes most other men except Kanai are the same, in which case she will learn to gravitate only to Kanai, the only legitimate boredom killer, and exciting / meaningful sex left in her life.

The other men in her life might have been effective boredom killers — because after all, it’s always interesting to be desired in different, varying ways, like a different box of chocolates every time — but at the end of the day they are still all the same. Most are hopelessly hungry for animalistic sex, often with no strings attached. Those that do fall for her expect her to stop seeing other guys and express hurt, anger, and jealousy every time she doesn’t. Most are easily selfish; if they can get what they want without having to work too hard for it, they jump at the chance right away, at the expense of everyone else and whatever fuck else they’re feeling.

At some point in her marriage with Kanai, cheating and animal sex with other guys will become too dry for the normally adventurous, easily bored Akane, and one by one she will cancel these other men out. In the end, she will be left only with Narumi Kanai.

• POINT 5: Just as she was able to say no to Mugi shortly after accepting Kanai’s proposal, she too will learn to say no to the other men that will eventually come her way.

The last scene between Mugi Awaya and Akane Minagawa is pivotal not just for Mugi, but more significantly for Akane, who finally learned how to say no — to a man. She went on her last date with Mugi, expressly saying it would be the last because she was getting married, and was able to control herself enough to keep from falling into her usual habits.

And just as she was able to successfully part from Mugi, she will learn over time to consistently do the same thing to other men as well. That scene in the rain with Mugi is often credited as Mugi’s ultimate coming-of-age moment, but few are able to notice that it was more significantly Akane’s as well. Mugi learned to let go, sure, but saying no when the forbidden fruit is already at your feet is often much harder, more so if you are a nymphomaniac and a serial cheater like Akane. This was Akane’s moment and could very well define her marriage in the foreseeable future.

• POINT 6: Kanai-sensei is the first person to touch Akane’s heart and open her up, and make her feel like she is finally connected to the rest of the world.

Before meeting and forming a relationship with Narumi Kanai, Akane Minagawa had been living her whole life blind, blissfully unaware of the real reason she had been avoiding commitment, and sleeping around with just about any man she could find. She had always justified her behavior as her way of feeling like she was important, and desired, but it never did quite occur to her that perhaps all along she had been willingly living like this out of immeasurable loneliness. After all, the mask she wore to keep others at a distance, also effectively kept her own self at arm’s length. Some of the disconnection she feels (from the world and herself) might be involuntary, but I would argue that a great part of it is intentional, like a form of security mechanism.

However when she met Kanai, everything suddenly began to split open. Her mask, the flimsy excuses she had been telling herself. Kanai-sensei was able to reach into the deepest, most painful crevice hidden away all this time in Miss Akane’s heart, touch it, and gradually open her up. For the first time, she found herself finally seeing, and acknowledging, the real depth of her loneliness, and how much of her obsessive sleeping around actually involved some form of inconsolable emotional anguish, and her trying her best to sate it. As twisted as it was, everything she had been doing up until the last episode was simply her own way of coping with her pain. Sort of like a defense mechanism (albeit a flawed one).

Remember prior to spending time with Kanai at the inn, Akane had begrudgingly told herself while picking up her phone that she sleeps around with random guys because “it’s the only thing she knows how to do.” She obviously did not realize it then, but some part of her already seemed to acknowledge the burdensome effect her loneliness had been having on her. She seemed to already know, by instinct, that this was her life because it was the only life she knew how to live. Everything else, including her marriage with Kanai, is foreign to her.

And this is exactly why ultimately, Akane Minagawa might not even cheat at all. Narumi Kanai is the first person to open her up and make her feel connected, the first one to draw her into the realization of her overwhelming loneliness, only to softly cushion it with his warmth. Kanai-sensei not only woke her out of her nightmare, he also saved her from it — from herself — and did not stop supporting her even after the pain of waking up had already passed. He was there for her at the beginning, during the painful epiphany, and after, and has professed to staying for as long as she wants him to. He was there every step of the way. And did not leave her side, not once. Not even in her darkest and lowest moments. Essentially, Narumi Kanai is the first and only person to fully understand Akane — the real Akane Minagawa, not the mask she’s been slipping on — and still love her unconditionally in spite of it. Or maybe even because of it.

He is the first person to make her feel genuinely loved. Sure, Mugi loved her, and maybe others also did, the ones that fell in love with her, but they did not understand her, nor did they try to. They did not try to save her either, or save her without also hating the person she used to be. There was always hate in addition to love, the former of which Kanai does not carry. Furthermore, Mugi Awaya himself said that he only loved Akane when she was “a weak, manipulative, and broken woman,” and seemed to hesitate when he realized she was beginning to change. Kanai loves her either way.

And that is why marrying Akane Minagawa might not turn out to be such a bad idea after all. Underneath that massive blanket of her boredom — which by the way, is what Akane uses to unconsciously cover up her loneliness — is just a cheerless, unhappy, lonely girl looking for love and warmth in all the wrong places, but thankfully, now that she has Kanai, she doesn’t have to. She is finally in the right place.

For the first time ever, Akane Minagawa is not (regarded as) a sex object. She is (regarded as) a person worthy and deserving of love. Others over the years have showered her with hate (as with Hanabi) or jealousy, and plenty more have branded her a slut (including but not limited to Mugi and Takuya). But Narumi Kanai has never hated her or seen her that way. For the first time, someone has responded to her behavior not with revulsion, but with compassion and care, throwing her off enough to finally wake her from nightmare she has long since trapped herself in. Finally, thanks to Kanai, she is free. It is very likely she agreed to marry Kanai, not so much because she was bored, but because she liked how it felt to be connected so intimately to someone, to be loved genuinely and not be lonely anymore, something Kanai-sensei is able to provide.

If the more audacious side of Narumi Kanai could talk, he would say this:

“I understand you are bored and looking to be adventurous. You want your life to always feel exciting, different, pleasantly varied every time. But you have lived the life of a nymphomaniac among greedy men for so long I can see the experience no longer excites or feels unpredictable to you. Instead of experiencing the usual thrills, you notice routine; instead of variety, you see repetition. Everything has suddenly become so dull and ordinary. Sleeping around with strangers who are only in it for your body, putting up a mask, pretending to be happy — whether you are ready to admit to it or not, this maverick lifestyle of yours has already become your ‘ordinary.’ And so it no longer excites you.

And I think this is where I can help you.

It is true you have done a lot of things, most of them pretty crazy, but you have never even tried committing to any one person yet, or marrying a man who does not see you as a sex object and instead actually loves you for you — someone who, unlike most, can actually tell you’re not really bored at all, but simply, lonely —

Committing to me could potentially be the most exhilarating experience of your life, simply because it is a life that is foreign to you. It might seem boring on the surface, granted, and I admit I can be rather dull to most people, but because you are not used to someone like me, and to marriage — because you are not used to commitment and it is unfamiliar to you — it will ultimately turn out exciting and unpredictable. So for me? It’s okay, you may continue sleeping with other men. Cheat if you want, I don’t mind. You don’t need my permission. But eventually you will realize that the unknown I am capable of offering you is ultimately more interesting than anything they could ever offer, and when that happens, you will tire of these men, they will start to bore you, and when that day comes, it will no longer matter how selfish or maverick they could be, they will no longer satisfy your boredom. Or satiate your growing loneliness.

Aside from boundless acceptance and love, what I have to offer you is the unknown, and the unknown, I’m sure you already know, can be immensely exciting, more intoxicating than all the bold, sexually maverick Don Juans and Captain Kirks you’ve met and might still meet, combined. As I said, I am also here to offer you love without condition, as well as unmitigated understanding, two things I know you deeply, secretly, want, with the pain of loneliness having already broken, and dulled, your heart. I can help you with that, and I want to. I want to help undo those cracks, tame the demons in your heart with my embrace, kiss the darkness with just enough warmth to transform itself into light. I want to help you find your way back into the world again, not through anger or bitterness, but love, compassion, and patience. I want you to feel, not just know, that you are no longer alone in this world, or separated by any means, and that I am here for you whenever or wherever you want, if you will let me.

Those other men who adore you clearly despise the side of you that is sexually maverick herself. But I don’t. I love and accept you wholeheartedly as you are, compulsive cheater or not. I don’t mind if you continue cheating, because I know they are just some men, and I am the one you said yes to marrying. Of course the above is just another possible outcome. Even if you don’t change, I will still be here for you, I will still love you, because I support you, and at the end of the day I just want to make sure you are happy, even if that means having to continue sleeping around with other people. I just don’t want you to feel lonely anymore.”

Realistically, it is impossible to convince someone of something else by simply forcing our ideals on them. Not only will such a move not work, it will also backfire on the one imposing, because the other person will understandably feel attacked or disrespected — regardless of whether the action was warranted or not — and quickly resent it. Instead, the best way to convince someone of another view is to use their own logic against them, prove them wrong within the limits of their own brand of reason.

If we try to force our own set of beliefs on another person, they will most likely resist — firmly. But if their own set of rules are respected, and we attempt to change their mind using the same logic they abide by, they are usually more likely to listen, even agree. Essentially, if we can prove that our way is the better way, or is the more pleasantly helpful way, in their world, they will take more kindly to considering it.

And that’s what I believe Kanai-sensei is doing, to help Miss Akane. If he isn’t aware of it, then at the very least he is doing it subconsciously, fueled by his own love for Akane. I know it seems like he is so incapable of smug confidence, but he does seem a little too self-assured — about his connection to Akane, in his own quietly humbled way — and that has to come from somewhere.

Maybe the #marriage is inappropriately rushed. Perhaps Miss Akane is irredeemable after all; perhaps she will never really learn to truly love the meek and innocent Narumi Kanai, content on only seeing and valuing him as the boredom killer that he naturally is. However, whether or not Akane learns to legitimately reciprocate is irrelevant; Kanai-sensei already loves and accepts her either way. Maybe he is being stupid, and naively aloof, but that’s how he is, and realistically, if you think about it, the marriage can survive even without Akane’s genuine reciprocation. As long as Kanai remains unconditionally loving, the marriage will not die. It might come out empty, sure, but it’s looking like Narumi loves Akane Minagawa enough to not care either way.

Paradoxically however, Episode 11 proves that even someone as “irreparably” broken as Miss Akane can still change and learn to appropriately love. All is not completely lost.

As mentioned previously, when Narumi was slowly opening her up during their time in the inn, he touched her enough to bring her to tears for the very first time, which easily implies she is not as unemotional, remorseless, or unfeeling as we had originally thought. Akane Minagawa does have a heart; she is capable of loving, caring, and being sincere; she is capable of genuine reciprocation; it’s all just hidden away underneath a blanket of fear and insecurity disguised as pride, aggression, and pointless bravado; the real Akane hidden away underneath several layers of pain and trauma, and ultimately an overwhelmingly false sense of security. As mentioned under point 6, Akane is not simply bored; she is lonely. Ridiculously lonely. And the fact that it was Kanai who saved her will eventually factor in to whether or not she will still continue to sleep around, because why would you even hurt the one person who for some weird reason managed to touch you, and not just touch you, but safely move you, save you, and protect you?

Akane owes Kanai a great deal, and potential #sociopath or not, even someone like her knows how to deliver gratitude. She might theoretically continue to hurt other people in different ways, but she will most likely not hurt Kanai. Or at the very least, she will hesitate.

Kanai drew her back into the world she got separated from, the world she rejected, the same world that rejected her, and didn’t make it feel the least lonely, like it used to be. Akane finally found the connection she had been longing and searching for — albeit unconsciously — all this time; she’s not about to cut that off again anytime soon. And even if she does, it will be temporary, and she will very likely run back to Kanai the second things get a little too lonely again. It is true people do not change that fast, but at least the process has already started for Akane. The first step has already been taken.

So yes, even though it’s also very likely the marriage will survive albeit empty, it’s also just as probable it will grow to be loving and real; it all depends on the development of Akane’s personality, on her ability to conquer her own demons. And judging by her behavior during the last time she saw Mugi, I would argue she is not actually completely helpless, or hopeless; Akane Minagawa is stronger, more independent and empowered, than most care to admit; if she can will her life to go down the path of the nymphomaniac, she can also very well will it to go down the opposite path. Of course this is assuming she has no conceivable mental illnesses to worry about, and everything can be mentally decreed with enough time and effort. But even then, as I said, she will still feel grateful to Kanai, and hence will likely think twice upon cheating on him, or continuing to cheat on him.

Akane Minagawa has always been inspiringly confident and headstrong despite her pride and tendency toward manipulation. Maybe in this case, for her marriage, these traits will finally work positively to her favor.