r/TooManyLosingHeroines

Best Friends?

What am I talking about? Hamlet, the melancholy Dane, decided to pretend to be a madman as a gambit to throw off his enemies. But thanks to his antics, his former fiance Ophelia literally became insane, and ended her life.

"The plays the thing, wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King". Hamlet pretended in order to make the current king feel guilty. But abandoning Ophelia as he did was too cruel.

Obviously it matters a lot if Anna is actually insane (Ophelia), or if she is just pretending to be insane (Hamlet). There is evidence to support both sides. And it also matters whether Nukkun thinks Anna is just pretending or really needs help.

This question arose thanks to Ecstatic_Barracuda's recent "Oh My..." post, and Yanami's closing story in in volume 8.5, "Leave being photogenic to me".

A related question, if Yanami is actually Hamlet, and is pretending, then who would her pretense be aimed at? If she is faking it, then the likely target is the Hakamada - Himemaya couple.

There is no doubt that Anna's gluttony and her crazy diets are actually harming her. Kaju has offered in the past to provide Anna with a better diet. But for some reason Nukkun told her not to do it. Lemon has also offered to take Anna along for running, but Anna herself rejected this, saying her knees were hurting. Actually Kaju and Lemon are both correct. The best way for Anna to get herself under control is real diet and exercise.

So consider the Hamlet option. In volume 3 Anna chose the costume of a ghost for halloween, and even acted as a ghost in a play. This could be considered a dig at Sosuke and Karen, Anna is hanging around like Banguo's ghost, a reminder of a past "crime" that they committed. But if this was Anna's intent, the hint was too subtle, I doubt that Sosuke and Karen even noticed.

But in volume 8.5 there is a change in tactics. In "Stuffing secrets into pockets" Lemon threw a direct challenge at Anna's face, she's going to have to fight if she wants to take Nukkun away. Anna is obviously starved for affection, it made her mistake the gift of a snack for attempted hand-holding. Anna thinks "what am I even doing?"

In Anna's closing story there may be evidence that Anna still hasn't completely given up on Sosuke after all. It's been over a year since their breakup, and Anna is still the only girl from the popular crowd without a boyfriend. Posting her solo selfie in among a group of couples pictures isn't subtle like before, its a shot across the bow, a real dig at Sosuke's conscience. Nukkun tried to persuade Anna not to send it, but he was ignored, because Anna is doing this deliberately. She forced a copy of her selfie onto Nukkun's phone, but don't forget the reason she created that selfie in the first place. She intends for it to guilt trip Sosuke and Karen. And she wouldn't bother doing this if she no longer cared about him.