u/Suz9295

It seems the fans are evenly split on this whether Kibe is a genuinely good friend or an awful menace, and I’m curious to know how many of us would be friends with Kibe if he beat you up in public twice?

I’m someone who rolled my eyes when Kibe punched Kazuya at the beach over the latter’s willingness to get back with Mami. I know the argument in favor of Kibe’s actions is that he was trying to prevent Kazuya from going back to a super toxic relationship that destroyed him the first time around. I know many will also say that the young people in this series are mostly in their earliest 20s and this is normal behavior for young men this age. We’ve been saying, “boys will be boys” for how many generations now? I do not agree or disagree with this as I believe boys will do whatever we as a society will let them get away with and this type of behavior is something we don’t just let them get away with but often encourage. 🤷🏽‍♀️ This is also a silly series that’s all about the drama and this scene certainly brought the drama.

But then you get to the Paradise Arc! >!Mami finally brings everything crashing down in front of everyone IN PUBLIC and rather than wait for an answer and using words, Kibe completely decks Kazuya just like when they were at the beach all those many moons ago!<

Maybe it’s because I’m in my 30s and/or maybe it’s because I’m a girly-girl, but there’s no way my best friend is going to punch me for all their worth twice and our friendship is remaining in tact. I fully understand that the ongoing lie regarding the relationship is truly terrible on many levels, but a physical reaction was still not necessary. From my point of view, Kibe’s inability to respond and his violent, physical reaction shows that he’s incredibly immature, even for a 21-year-old. I don’t think there’s anything noble about this. I do realize this is a fictional pierce of work, but my goodness.

I will say this, though - he is an amazing friend to Nagomi-san. I think I started forming this opinion in seasons 3 of the anime (I’m currently only watching the anime). Kibe clearly loves Nagomi-san, and I think he’s much more attached to her than he is to Kazuya. I don’t know if he’s subconsciously adopted her as his grandmother or what, but I believe if this was a series where the character actually reflect on themselves and make efforts to grow/mature, Kibe would eventually have to admit that he’s not actually Kazuya’s friend, he’s just there out of an obligation/seeing the relationship through after years of commitment.

Would you honestly remain friends with Kibe if he punched you seriously not once but twice? Please answer for yourself - either your present self or a younger version of you.