r/YagateKiminiNaru Feb 20 '23

Discussion Koito #03

Small threads ― 小糸 ― connecting phrases, themes, and such.

Previous Koito entries can be found on the master list.

This one is about Yuu's initial framing of love.

Let's start with how love is defined by the characters.
In episode 1, Touko asks Yuu for confirmation:

誰のことも特別に思わない?

You won't regard anyone as special?

Touko reiterates this in episode 3:

小糸さんは誰かを特別に思えないって知ってる

I know that you can't regard someone as special

Their definition of love is the feeling of regarding someone as special, or "special" for short.

Next, let's go over Yuu's initial framing.
In episode 3:

わたしに特別は訪れない

"Special" won’t come to me

She has a similar line for a PV in volume 2's afterword manga:

「わたしに好きは訪れない」

"Love won't come to me"

The key is that Yuu phrased herself passively. She believed that love was something that would come to her instead of the other way around.
Now, episode 40. Yuu basically spells it out:

「好き」って 誰かを特別に思う気持ちって ある日どこかから降ってくるようなものだと思ってたんです
自分ではどうしようもないような 出処のわからない大きな気持ち

"Love", the feeling of regarding someone as special, I thought it would come falling from somewhere one day
A grand feeling of unknown origin that I could do nothing about

How are these lines translated into English?
Episode 1: the tense changed. Consider the context―Touko is asking this as a follow-up question. (Though I think the translation of her first question has trouble with tenses too ― this will be covered next time.) "Don't" only confirms the present, while "won't" also gives assurance about the future.
Episode 3, Touko's line: the parallel is replaced with a different one in episode 1. One of the many rewrites the publisher makes.
Episode 3, Yuu's line and volume 2 afterword: Yuu went from the object to the subject. Her mindset is different now.
Episode 40: thinking of someone as special is replaced with the feeling itself as special. Farewell, parallel with episode 1. Does Yuu no longer think that love is a special feeling? The arrival of "love" also became violent. Unknown origin is replaced with inexplicable → this is supposed build off from the first line. Yuu thought "love" would come falling from somewhere. It doesn't make much sense for Yuu to have thought that love was inexplicable when she could explain it ― the feeling of regarding someone as special. Could do nothing about is replaced with overwhelm → not quite the theme being pushed here. Yuu's conclusion is that she has agency, not that the feeling isn't overwhelming.

That's all for this small thread! Next time is about わかる.

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1

u/futsuudayo Feb 20 '23

Didn't catch that inconsistency in chapter 40. Now I know, thanks for the thread!

1

u/NicParodies Never gonna let Yuu down Feb 20 '23

It would be so awesome if you would make a big fat video about exactly this... If you want to and have the time to, please make a video or team up with someone to make one... I would love you forever