[Commentary] Chizuru Mizuhara Doesn't Speak Her Heart: "I Like You" Between ｔhe Situation and Her Action!
■Original Japanese version
【解説】好きとは言わない水原千鶴の 状況と行動の間にある「好き！」
Hi, everyone! Are you enjoying Kanokari?
Today, I'm going to share with you some tips on how to enjoy Kanokari tenfold!
That's…!
the "feeling" that lies between the situation and the action.
The heroine, Chizuru Mizuhara, who doesn't say "I like you" in words, has gone down in manga history. LOL.
If that's the case, then maybe she doesn't really like Kazuya yet...?
No, that's not true.
Chizuru has been thinking "I like Kazuya, I want him" for a long time, even though she hasn't said it in words. It's not a direct expression, but Chizuru's feelings are clearly expressed in the story (*). It's so clear, so distinct, so striking.
If you change the way you read the manga, you can grasp Chizuru's feelings. It is expressed in such an easy to understand way. It is not a work that is open to consideration or interpretation.
What is important is the "situation" given to Chizuru Mizuhara (especially her relationship with Kazuya) and the "actions" she took at that time!
*NOTE: Chizuru's love is never depicted through physical contact like Ruka's. For Japanese people, a girl like Ruka is an ideal image, not a real one. In fact, we don't often express our love in the way she does, nor do we say "I love you" in words on a daily basis (it depends on the person, but such people are in the minority in Japan). The only time we say, "I like you," is when we confess our love. Chizuru's love for Kazuya is portrayed not through physical contact, not through words, but through the cooperation and trust between them. Please make no mistake about it.
Chizuru Mizuhara Does Not Speak Her Heart out, nor Does She Show It on Her Face
Chizuru Mizuhara is a super-duper tsundere character. If she were a typical tsundere, she would have desperately tried to convey her fondness for him while saying offensive words and being shy. But Chizuru doesn't really show her affection in front of Kazuya; even after reaching volume 20, she never says "I like you" to Kazuya, nor does she talk about it in her psychological descriptions.
Chizuru is very embarrassed that the person she is conscious of as a boy (a future boyfriend), in other words, the person she likes, knows her true feelings. That's why it's hard for her to express her feelings of love for Kazuya, and how happy she is to be with him.
She can't say "I love you" or even "thank you" very well. Expressing her gratitude means that she has relied on him, so she may feel that she is showing her weakness. Even though she says "thank you" in front of Kazuya, she does her best not to show a happy expression.
◆あなた時間ある？ (Do you have time for me now?) 55話
◆ありがとう もう一回言いたくて （I just wanted to say thank you one more time.） 146話
I'm not interested in you.
I'm only helping you because you asked me to.
I only came to see you because I had to.
Because of the relationship between the rental girlfriend and the client, which is not private, she takes this attitude (tsun) thoroughly towards Kazuya... No matter how full of gratitude and love she is in her heart, she doesn't show her fondness on her face, and hides it with a lot of logic.
So it's impossible to read Chizuru's feelings from her words and facial expressions. Oh, as expected of a super-duper tsundere…
Well, actually, no matter how much she tries to hide it, it's obvious to me, lol.
This may be difficult for readers who usually read only shonen (for Japanese teenagers) manga. For example, all the heroines in Gotoubun-No-Hanayome (negi haruba) are honest, and when they are in front of the boy they like (Futaro), they honestly say "I want you to do this" or "I want you to do that," and when they don't get what they want, they clearly puff up their cheeks. Furthermore, when they say something they don't really mean, they always tell their true feelings through psychological descriptions, such as "I'm really thinking...". So the reader can easily know the heroines' feelings.
In a typecal shonen manga, there is no real human relationship where you can say something to this person but not to that person. Characters who can clearly express themselves in any situation look cooler. Such characters are favored, and those who can't speak honestly are made to speak their minds through psychological descriptions.
However, Chizuru does not speak her heart, nor does she show her true feelings on her face.
Still, I said, "Chizuru's feelings are clearly depicted. This is because Chizuru does not speak honestly and does not show it in her facial expressions, but instead shows it in her actions.
We need to understand Chizuru's situation and think about the meaning of the actions she took. If we do so, we can say that the "feelings" in between them are clearly depicted.
That is the expression of the "feeling" between the "situation" and the "action. This is Chizuru's true feelings, which she cannot honestly express in words or on her face.
Feelings Between ｔhe Situation and Her Action !
For example, let's consider Chizuru's feelings after being saved by Kazuya at sea in volume 3.
Let's organize Chizuru's "situation (including her relationship with Kazuya).
Chizuru has just met Kazuya, a customer, as a rental girlfriend. For Chizuru, who likes her job of being a love cheerleader, Kazuya, who is trying to recover from a broken heart, is a customer she would like to rent from again. However, she still doesn't know who Kazuya is and doesn't trust him.
Unfortunately, Grandma Sayuri almost finds out that he is working as a rental girlfriend, and Chizuru introduces Kazuya as her real boyfriend. She promised Kazuya that they would tell the grandmothers (Nagomi and Sayuri) that they were breaking up. On this trip to the beach, she also praised Kazuya, saying, "You have a manly side," for telling people around him that he was thinking of breaking up with her.
Let's take a look at Chizuru's actions. Kazuya risked his life to save her when she drowned in the ocean.
レンタル彼女だって 言ってんじゃん！
(I told you I'm a rental girlfriend!)
Saying this, Chizuru regretted that she had endangered the life of Kazuya, who was just a client. At that time, Chizuru's mind was filled with these words.
あいつ悪いヤツじゃねーんだ
きっと あんたのこと 最後は幸せにしてくれると思う
(He's not a bad guy. I'm sure he'll make you happy in the end.)
我が孫を好きになってくれた女性に 何を怒ろうか
(I don't know what to be angry with a woman who fell in love with my grandson.)
◆レンタル彼女だって言ってんじゃん!!! (I told you I'm a rental girlfriend!) (15)
Kazuya risked his life to save Chizuru. She thought that Kazuya must be a "good guy" as Kibe said. Moreover, for his sake, the feeling of not wanting to make Grandmother Nagomi sad moved her again.
That's why, afterwards, when Kazuya told her, "Well, thanks for that... for going that far to help me...!", Chizuru acts like this!
◆当然でしょ 彼女なんだから (Of course, because I'm your girlfriend.) (15)
当然でしょ 彼女なんだから
(Of course, because I'm your girlfriend.)
It's a "girlfriend declaration"!
She had promised Kazuya to tell their grandmothers and Kazuya's friends about the breakup. But she declared herself as his girlfriend in front of Kazuya's friends!
The feeling there is
I will continue my false lover relationship with Kazuya
or more specifically
I want to help Kazuya as a rental girlfriend
Because this feeling was born in her at that time, when Kazuya later asked her, "I want to rent you," she said, "Okay," and "Don't worry, I won't leave you alone while I'm your girlfriend." That's why she promised Kazuya that she would continue to be his fake girlfriend until he got a real one (chapter 20).
◆そう サンキュ…（I see. Thanks） （16）
Chizuru does not speak her heart easily to either Kazuya or the reader. Especially when she first meets him, she is offensive and uses harsh words. After being rescued from the sea, she is also too embarrassed to express her feelings honestly through words or facial expressions because she is shy anout the fact that she did something like kissing him. She turns her back to Kazuya. But with the "action" (including saying the words) that I explained above, Chizuru's feelings are clearly portrayed.
This is Reiji-sensei's expression of the "feeling" between "situation" and "action".
Besides, for example, when Chizuru reveals her dream to Kazuya,
◆ヒいた？ （It's silly, right?） （61）
約束なの…いつか女優になるって おじいちゃんとの
だから残されたおばあちゃんに 私が銀幕に立っている姿を見せたい
それが私の夢 ヒいた？
(I promised my grandpa that one day I would be an actress. That's why I want my grandma to see me on the silver screen. That's my dream. It's silly, right?）
She doesn't make a single expression of happiness when he listens to her. But
I want Kazuya to know about my dream.
I want him to be on my side.
Because of this feeling, she told him.
As Chizuru herself says, her dream is a "childish" dream. Chizuru, who has a high sense of pride, probably never told anyone about her dream. But she did tell Kazuya about it, because when she was about to give up on her dream, Kazuya encouraged her, saying "Don't say you're giving up!" For Chizuru, Kazuya is an important person who is on her side. It is because of Kazuya that Chizuru wanted to tell him.
In Kanokari, there are no self-serving explanatory dialogues by the author; Reiji-sensei never lets his characters say words that contradict their feelings in order to explain them to the readers. In real Japanese relationships, sometimes you want to talk to this person, can't talk to that person, can say it because you want to and can't say it well in some cases. These are really "live" words like that in Kanokari.
When Kazuya covers for her at a drinking party, Chizuru doesn't say "I'm glad" or "Thank you."
◆一ノ瀬だけは死んでも守んなきゃって (I thought I had to protect Ichinose at all costs.) （73）
But she did leave a bottle of "turmeric lover" (a supplement for hangover) with the comment "You're drunk!" for him in the fridge.
◆ヨッパライ！ ウコンの恋人 (turmeric lover with a comment) (74)
I'm glad you covered for me at the party. Thank you.
She felt this feeling, which is why she gave Kazuya the supplement.
When she declared him a "fair neighbor relationship," she didn't just mean that she was giving him permission to have a private neighborly relationship.
She greets Kazuya with "Good morning," and Chizuru herself has already begun to treat him as a neighbor (chapter 40). However, Kazuya is not aware of this and avoids having a private relationship with Chizuru as much as possible because they are a rental girlfriend and a client.
Chizuru is not happy about that.
◆これからはフェアなお隣さん （We will be fair neighbors from now on.） （57）
I want you to talk to me more. I want to be with you.
Because she felt this way, she told him that she wanted him to be a fair neighbor.
◆学内でのあいさつ （Greeting on campus） (61)
Especially for Chizuru, a rental girlfriend, having a private relationship with a client is something she wants to avoid as much as possible. Still, she wants to spend time with Kazuya.
This is the expression of "I like you" between the "situation" and her "action". It's Chizuru Mizuhara's hidden "dere" (The word "dere" is a Japanese word that means an expression of affection.)
For the first year after meeting Kazuya (Volumes 1-6), she shows her affection for him by helping him out as a "rental girlfriend." Later, after he supports her as an actress (Volumes 7-12), she declares that she wants him to be a fair neighbor, forgives him for letting Ruka stay in his room, leads him on dates, and shows her affection for him in relationships other than as a rental girlfriend and a client. After the film production begins (Volumes 13-19), she shows her affection for Kazuya by making their dreams come true and living up tp his desire.
Chizuru doesn't say "I like Kazuya", she will not try to hug or kiss him, and sometimes she can't even smile well at him. But if we can capture Chizuru's feelings from the situation and her actions, it's equivalent to saying that she likes Kazuya, wants to be close to him, and that he's important to her.
Chizuru's Feelings Expressed Clearly and Impressively
I have always said that Chizuru's feelings cannot be understood just from her lines or facial expressions. This is because Chizuru herself rarely speaks her true feelings, nor does she try to express them in her facial expressions. However, if you understand Chizuru's situation (especially her relationship with Kazuya) and think about what she wanted to do with her actions, her feelings are clearly and impressively depicted.
◆馬鹿ね 私も… (I'm such an idiot.) (86)
◆でも彼ほど 貴方に相応しい人はいないわ (But there's no one better for you than him.) (112)
◆I DON'T LIKE HIM, BUT I DON'T NOT LIKE HIM, EITHER (127)
◆聞いた？俺の理想の彼女は―――だって （Did you hear that? He said "my perfect girlfriend is.…"） (166)
◆馬鹿みたい…っ 私… (I feel like an idiot.) (174)
Especially in the important scenes, words are distant, but Chizuru's feelings are expressed through "situations" and "actions". For example, when Chizuru realized that she was in love with Kazuya (chapter 86), when she believed that it was okay to love him (chapter 112), when she wished for the future of the two of them while suffering from the "fact" that he didn't like her (chapter 127), when she strongly wished to be by Kazuya's side (166), and when she finally learned Kazuya's true feelings for her (chapter 174), etc.
My explanations are based not only on facial expressions and words (lines), but also on "situation" (especially the relationship with Kazuya) and her "action". Please refer to it.
【解説】超重要回 水原千鶴が「私 和也が好き」と気づいた瞬間！
Please try reading Kanokari again.
See you in the next article!
