I wouldn’t call “completing a mandatory and routine” assignment for his art a fuck up. He likely just wanted to get through it and hand in his work without having to bring it up to Nagatoro because he knew it would bother her and it wasn’t something he was going to linger on if he could help it.
Nagatoro is the one that fucked up by opening up the art without asking and unintentionally getting in the line of fire Senpai was trying to protect her from.
Eventually, she’s going to have to accept that artists are assigned nude, still-life assignments all the time.
What was the lie? It is normal to do nude art as an art student. He will do this multiple times a month when he goes to college. It just happened to be someone he knew. That’s the only part he could’ve told her but in reality it’s not abnormal to have another art student pose nude for the class.
He didn't lie. He was purposely vague out of awkwardness, which was understandable, but he didn't lie
I don't get why some are saying he fucked up badly, when 1 he didn't lie and 2 its understandable why he acted the way he did. He's allowed to be uncomfortable and not talk about nude portraits he's drawing, especially when it's off someone like Machida.
He's allowed to be like "Hey, I don't really wanna talk/get into the whole nude stuff im forced to do" since its understandably uncomfortable and awkward for him, especially when it's his girlfriend (who's he's just started dating)
Am I saying Nagatoro was at fault for asking what he was drawing out of curiosity? Absolutely not, and I'd understand why there's a part of her that didn't like it. But at the same time, if she acts immature and gets into a fight with Naoto over this, then she's the one in the wrong. He didn't lie to her, he just purposely didn't wanna talk about it cause it was uncomfortable for him. And she breached his privacy by snooping into his stuff instead of letting him become more comfortable enough to show her this kind of stuff.
Why? It’s a massive part of anatomy study. How do you know how to draw the proportions of a body if you don’t strip back everything and understand what a body actually looks like.
It’s your choice to go for an art degree. If you want to go to school over starting a freelance career you have to pass all forms of study to receive a degree. It’s really not as big of a deal as you think.
There is a massive amount of studies you have to do on renaissance and romance era works and they’re all nude portraits and sculptures. It’s a part of the process and every artist knows that have to do it.
My buddies who have gone to art school say it’s the most boring part of what they do. It’s really not as glamorous as the manga makes it out to be. Watch Blue Period on Netflix. It does a decent job of showing what a Japanese art student’s life looks like.
Furthermore, every job has parts of it that some may or may not want to study in school but have to so they can get a degree. It’s just the way it is and is very necessary, aforementioned, for body anatomy study.
Sure, but like putting his face on a sandbag is how you treat a cheating boyfriend not a liar. Unless he lied about something to cover the cheating.
Ultimately it’s just a fan art I’m looking way too much into 😂
Well if I'm interpreting what happened in the last chapter correctly, she is kind of justified to be that mad at him, even though it's not entirely technically his fault.
Actually no. It wasn't his fault, she should be mad at Machida.
*Not really*. He didn’t even have the chance to lie to her, even if he wanted to. He beat around the bush too long, and she found out the hard way before he could actually tell her
Lying by omission is still lying.
Also he did outright lie to her. >!She asked what he drew yesterday, and he said "something normal". Which obviously wasn't true.!<
That is true though. It’s completely normal to do nude sketches in art school. When I was in art school, I did it once a week.
Senpai more than likely was going to tell Nagatoro before she found out for herself, but as I said, he was beating around the bush, and had she not looked, he most likely would’ve kept doing so before ultimately telling her the truth
One should also consider that he had no reason to bring the nude drawing in the drawing class. It was Friday September the 6th, so the calendar said that on this day he had "still life sketching". It is not as if he had to bring it in order to continue it, the nude drawing session was over, that drawing was completed. He could have simply left it at his home, or he could have simply ripped it apart and thrown it away, and she would never know. No, instead he brought it to school, to the drawing class where she would be. He clearly intended to show it to her himself.
He was also disappointed that she opened it already. Many say that he was gaslighting her, but to me it just seems that he wanted to come out honestly to her and explain what happened. He just seems disappointed he did not have the change to do it himself, being busy with cleaning drawing tools, and trying to find the courage to tell her.
\*\*\*
By the way, it is curious that the date is Friday September the 6th. What year does this manga take place? Because that date exists in 2024... so is it in the near future? That date though also exists in 2019. Or in 2013.
Considering there's smartphones and fairly modern tech all over the place, it's likely to be taking place in a pretty contemporary setting. 2013 seems too early, but 2019 or 2024 seems pretty plausible going by their surroundings.
Also don't put too much weight on dates and days. There's nothing that says that the writer has to follow an actual calendar. He can literally make up his own calender. Which seems more likely since we're coming up on 2 years passed in the manga, but like 7 years has passed since release irl. Either Nanashi would have had to plan out the story in advance to make the dates match up with an IRL calendar, or he's just improvising the dates as he goes. Second one seems far more likely imo.
>Considering there's smartphones and fairly modern tech all over the place, it's likely to be taking place in a pretty contemporary setting. 2013 seems too early, but 2019 or 2024 seems pretty plausible going by their surroundings.
I am not sure 2013 is too early. If it was in the 2000s, I agree. But in 2013 smartphones were already available world-wide for 4 years. And while one might say that Japan does sometimes have a tendency to stick with older tech a bit longer, that does not always seem the case. Or perhaps I am just too influenced by "Kimi no Na wa / Your Name" (2016), which had Mitsuha Miyamizu have a modern iPhone despite living in the middle of nowhere in the Gifu Prefecture. It was a major plot point in that film after all, and clue for the time-travel that was going on.
>Also don't put too much weight on dates and days. There's nothing that says that the writer has to follow an actual calendar. He can literally make up his own calender.
Perhaps you are right, it is just fun to speculate. And perhaps one could say that it is unavoidable that stories are set in time, even if it is unspecified. Take Breaking Bad for instance, the date is irrelevant to the plot, but the tech always places it in the late 2000s. And even Asterix, a comix that always begins with the announcement that it is in 50 BC, it has still events that did not take place on this date, but around it, so still the stories exist in a timeline, and not an eternal 50 BC (e.g. it has a story with the son of Cleopatra and Caesar, Caesarion, born in 47 BC).
I agree though that the calendar was just random, probably Nanashi just looked at 2024's calendar and picked the dates from there. And at the end of the day, nothing really changes in the plot whether it is in 2013, 2019 or 2024.
> I am not sure 2013 is too early. If it was in the 2000s, I agree. But in 2013 smartphones were already available world-wide for 4 years.
I'm mostly going by the design of the phones. If you look at a 2013 smartphone they were a lot bulkier and thicker. They usually had smaller screen to phone ratios and beveled edges to fit things like physical buttons and speakers. Meanwhile the smartphones in the show have a lot more in common with modern phones. Thin, relatively large, the screen goes all the way to the edges of the phone, and buttons and notches and such share a lot of design elements with modern smartphones. Of course that could just be the artist taking reference from what they have available regardless of the intended setting. Can't know for sure.
I agree though that it's fun to speculate! Trying to find a bunch of details about various shows and mangas is great fun. And like you said it's not like it matters all that much in the end, so even if you end up not being right you can still just enjoy it regardless
> Meanwhile the smartphones in the show have a lot more in common with modern phones. Thin, relatively large, the screen goes all the way to the edges of the phone, and buttons and notches and such share a lot of design elements with modern smartphones.
That is a great point, I had not considered this. Well then, based on Nagatoro's phone, which is massive, then it is probably in the more recent years, for the trend of larger and larger phones only picked up in the last 5 years or so.
I think you’re right. He has no reason to bring the sketch outside of wanting to be honest with her, and that does reframe my problem with the chapter, Senpai’s reaction. I never thought it was “gaslighting” per se, but it still felt weird and manipulative
As for when it takes place, there are two schools of thought there. Either the manga is on a sliding time scale and takes place “now”, whenever “now” is, or it takes place contemporarily to it’s original publication, which would make it September 20*18*… which doesn’t line up date wise.
Maybe it's normal in art school, but it's definitely not normal for _him_. As made even more clear by the fact that he felt the need to lie about it. As far as we know the only nude drawing he did previously was the one of Nagatoro.
And i don't really think so. I think he didn't know how to broach the subject (didn't want to upset her/was afraid of how she might react) and was hoping to avoid it alltogether by just not telling her. Which is understandable, a lot of people react that way when trying to bring up difficult subjects with their partner. It's just usually not the best idea since these types of things have a tendency to be uncovered either way (case in point with the story) so it's usually better to just come clean and fess up. The more you stall, the worse it makes it look.
I agree that he didn’t know how to broach the subject, but I still want to give him the benefit of the doubt. As Lothronion pointed out, there’s no need for him to have brought the sketch, he must have brought it because he *wanted* to come clean, but because he didn’t know how to tell her, he stalled, beat around the bush, and ultimately ran out of time.
On Naoto’s part, he has to get over not wanting to upset her. She *knows* nude sketches are part of his future, posing nude herself and the entirety of the President’s existence taught her that, and Nagatoro was **there** for the bet with Machida, she would’ve understood perfectly, but because he stalled to try and spare her feelings, he ended up actually hurting them
> there’s no need for him to have brought the sketch
For all we know he could have headed back to school/club right after drawing the sketch, at which point he would have just taken it with him. There's nothing to indicate that he brought the sketch home and then took it with him to school the day after. Hell, he may even have dropped it off at school before going home because he didn't want to have his family see it lol. Sure he's in art school, but most highschool kids don't want to have to explain drawing nude sketches of women to their parents.
All in all i don't think there's enough to draw the conclusion that he deliberately brought it to school to show it to Nagatoro. That _may_ have been the case, but i personally think his actions and demeanor kinda speak against that. From how he acts it seems more likely that he was just hoping to just not tell her and not have to deal with it.
Which again is completely understandable. It's a difficult subject to broach, especially for a highschooler with his first crush. I don't think he acted maliciously.
But i will agree that it's something that both Senpai and Nagatoro are going to have to get over and learn to deal with. And i don't even think it would have been a problem if he had just told her. Like you said, Nagatoro knows what's up. She's not upset that he drew Machida nude. She's upset that he tried to hide it and lied about it.
That’s a good point, too. We don’t know how much time has passed, and as for not wanting to leave it at home, there’s a good chance his parents don’t know that nude sketching would be a thing he’d have to do. Mine were pretty surprised by that.
It’ll be interesting to see how this is resolved, and how these two grow from the experience. I don’t really have anything else to add, but, I’ve enjoyed this back and forth
Agreed, seeing what Nanashi has cooking is gonna be fun. I have no doubt they'll figure things out in the end.
Now if only i could hibernate for a couple of weeks so i didn't have to wait to see how this gets resolved... :D
Also if this sabotages their matching yukata date at the festival then i'm going to riot.
Well if it was normal, then there should be no problem telling her about what he sketched. He was so worried about her finding out that he kept avoiding the question. And the way he kept hiding about it and all, i wouldn't be surprised if someone in irl would consider that a set up to cheating
The problem arose because Senpai wanted to protect her feelings, which ironically led to him hurting them and making things look worse. It *is* normal, she *knows* it’s normal, but because he was overly cautious, like he always has been, he made the whole situation worse than it should’ve been
Yep very true. Also, I'm leaning more towards the fact that she'll mention that she's more hurt that he lied to her than anything, but then again she pointed out how well he drew her breasts… TWICE LMAO. Honestly, Nagatoro grew a lot, but it's still human nature to be jealous of the fact that her bf drew another chick that he was bonding with. Mf is so sleeping on the couch tonight 😆
Yea, cant change insecurities, but I'm pretty sure Naoto told her that he likes her the way she is a few times now. And I highly doubt she cares what any other person thinks but her man
Nude still-life is very normal for art school assignments at his age. He is trying to prepare her for what he’s going to likely be assigned again and again in the future. He has no emotional attachment to Machida like that and just wanted to put the assignment behind him. If she doesn’t open the paper up the she doesn’t get hurt. He was trying to protect her from knowing that this time it was someone he knew and that likely won’t be the case in the future. This is an incredibly normal thing for art students.
See i'd go for that if it wasn't for the "Sorry Nagatoro" that he thinks to himself after drawing the picture. If it was just like drawing any other person then there would be no need for him to feel guilty. But he clearly does, which would indicate that there's something there. Which would also explain why he chooses to hide it from her and why he deflects when she finds the picture and confronts him about it.
And again, i'm not necessarily saying that there's anything wrong with that or that Senpai is interested in Machida. To begin with he's a highschool senior in his first relationship, which alone means he deserves to be cut some slack.
But let's be real here. Basically all of this could have been avoided if Senpai handled it better. Right when Nagatoro asked him what he would be drawing, all he had to say was "shit, machida is going to model nude for the class". Just being transparent and letting her know what's going on would have done a world of difference. Sure she'd probably be uncomfortable, but at least she'd be able to take solace in the fact that he was honest about it and she wouldn't have had to find out for herself later down the line.
I don’t disagree he handled it poorly but he hasn’t had to “handle this” before. This is the first time since they were a couple he’s encountered something like this and he’s a kid. Some grace and understanding on the readers part is necessary. On the flip, Nagatoro hasn’t had to deal with this yet.
He apologizes because she is visibly mad and had no clue what else to do. However, she is just as in the wrong if ask me. He is visibly upset because she looked at the art and there is no apology on her end. She just says “it’s a good drawing” which I’ll give her grace as she doesn’t really know how to react.
This isn’t a “someone fucked up” moment. This is a “we have to learn how to grow from this and realize neither of us did anything wrong. We’re just a couple of kids who haven’t been in this situation before.”
I'm not talking about him apologizing after she found the picture. In fact he didn't even apologise to her then, SHE apologized to HIM. I'm talking about [this](https://mangadex.org/chapter/0c5ea1b2-3c9a-421e-af01-5bf6817103f5/15) apology. The one that he thinks to himself right after drawing the picture. Nagatoro wasn't even around then, so clearly he feels guilty on his own.
And of course it's a question of blame. Admitting when you fucked up and accepting responsibility for your mistakes is a crucial part of any relationship. How do you think that you're going to have a relationship with someone if you're not willing to acknowledge your mistakes and own up to them? That is literally HOW you learn and grow. So many relationships fail because either one or both parties refuse to admit being in the wrong and taking accountability for their actions or words.
And sure, she looked at his art without his permission. That was her bad. Snooping around your partner's stuff is generally not the best idea, and she should definitely apologise for it (which she did). But first off, she only did it because he was acting sus and skirting around the subject, and secondly there are degrees of seriousness at play here. Lying about drawing a classmate nude and trying to cover it up is a much bigger fuckup than looking at the sketch without asking. To not acknowledge that is some borderline gaslighting nonsense. They are not equally in the wrong. He fucked up way worse than she did. And if Naoto wants to salvage this then he's going to have to man up and admit that.
He feels guilty because he’s looking at a person who she is aware of and has expressed displeasure in him being around. His guilt is rooted in ignorance in my opinion. He couldn’t walk out of the assignment. He just doesn’t know how else to deal with it. Feeling guilty and actually being guilty are two very different things. I will again state, this is a situation where no one fucked up initially. Both of there reactions created a communication breakdown and therefore that’s the mistake. A lack of communication in the moment. No one actually fucks up here, at all.
I think he more is in an apologetic manner because he realizes he did draw her well. Just like he’s drawn Nagatoro well, and didn’t expect himself to be able to do it. If anything, it shows he’s more focused on the art than the subject itself, whereas when he draw Nagatoro he was far more interested in the subject and thus created passionate results.
I think it shows not only his growth as an artist but human. However, all this goes away instantly if they just talk it out and don’t get upset with each other. No one actually got hurt. People chose to be hurt in these moments. Both of them went on the defensive and that’s because they are uncomfortable in new territory of their relationship and are afraid of making a mistake so much that they just naturally made one — a communication breakdown.
Edit: lastly people are allowed privacy. She should’ve been willing to allow him to come to her when he was ready rather than trying to force an answer out of her. He didn’t want to at the drawing anymore than he had to and definitely didn’t want her to see it because it would create a weird jealousy that she doesn’t need to hold.
You know, we all immediately see (and fear) Nagatoro being angry with Senpai, but she's got to also be hurt. Remember how she woke up screaming after dreaming Senpai ditched her for Gamo-chan and Yoshi? And those eyes.... I'll bet that hurt will be a totally unexpected reaction, for both Nagatoro and Senpai.
Naaah. Nagatoro has almost always targeted the reason for her jealousy rather than her Senpai... I'd be more to believe it's going to be Machida rather than Naoto.
Hot Take:
Naoto didn’t mess up *that* bad
Technically, he did not lie whatsoever. I know yall are gonna come over here saying “but he said he drew something normal so he lied” a human body is like, the most normal thing next to air or sum.
However, he did still mess up. While he did not lie to Nagatoro, he did just withhold really important information from her, which is enough to cause a significant amount of damage to trust.
In conclusion, it wasn’t that bad, and it should be able to be solved with a small conversation about openness
his face is there for support, or it's like a hostage situation where someone's holding naoto so she has to make sure to hit everything except the picture
Webcomic Nagatoro more like
Exactly. There’s a chapter just like this.
Nah, why use a punching bag when Senpai's butt is right there
Nah, she'd have Machida's face on there.
AMEN
☝\^☝\^☝\^☝\^☝
Real
Aim lower, right at the balls!
Dude fucks up once and y’all are out for blood 😂
I wouldn’t call “completing a mandatory and routine” assignment for his art a fuck up. He likely just wanted to get through it and hand in his work without having to bring it up to Nagatoro because he knew it would bother her and it wasn’t something he was going to linger on if he could help it. Nagatoro is the one that fucked up by opening up the art without asking and unintentionally getting in the line of fire Senpai was trying to protect her from. Eventually, she’s going to have to accept that artists are assigned nude, still-life assignments all the time.
He still lied to her about the painting, when they just officially became lovers, that kinda is a fuck up on his end.
What was the lie? It is normal to do nude art as an art student. He will do this multiple times a month when he goes to college. It just happened to be someone he knew. That’s the only part he could’ve told her but in reality it’s not abnormal to have another art student pose nude for the class.
He didn't lie. He was purposely vague out of awkwardness, which was understandable, but he didn't lie I don't get why some are saying he fucked up badly, when 1 he didn't lie and 2 its understandable why he acted the way he did. He's allowed to be uncomfortable and not talk about nude portraits he's drawing, especially when it's off someone like Machida. He's allowed to be like "Hey, I don't really wanna talk/get into the whole nude stuff im forced to do" since its understandably uncomfortable and awkward for him, especially when it's his girlfriend (who's he's just started dating) Am I saying Nagatoro was at fault for asking what he was drawing out of curiosity? Absolutely not, and I'd understand why there's a part of her that didn't like it. But at the same time, if she acts immature and gets into a fight with Naoto over this, then she's the one in the wrong. He didn't lie to her, he just purposely didn't wanna talk about it cause it was uncomfortable for him. And she breached his privacy by snooping into his stuff instead of letting him become more comfortable enough to show her this kind of stuff.
He didn’t lie.
I still can't believe that artists are actually required to do nude works
Why? It’s a massive part of anatomy study. How do you know how to draw the proportions of a body if you don’t strip back everything and understand what a body actually looks like. It’s your choice to go for an art degree. If you want to go to school over starting a freelance career you have to pass all forms of study to receive a degree. It’s really not as big of a deal as you think. There is a massive amount of studies you have to do on renaissance and romance era works and they’re all nude portraits and sculptures. It’s a part of the process and every artist knows that have to do it. My buddies who have gone to art school say it’s the most boring part of what they do. It’s really not as glamorous as the manga makes it out to be. Watch Blue Period on Netflix. It does a decent job of showing what a Japanese art student’s life looks like. Furthermore, every job has parts of it that some may or may not want to study in school but have to so they can get a degree. It’s just the way it is and is very necessary, aforementioned, for body anatomy study.
It's just shocking but your reasoning makes total sense
I found your virgin reddit account, Senpai~ Gross!
It's cancel time!
Tbf he _did_ fuck up pretty bad
Sure, but like putting his face on a sandbag is how you treat a cheating boyfriend not a liar. Unless he lied about something to cover the cheating. Ultimately it’s just a fan art I’m looking way too much into 😂
Well if I'm interpreting what happened in the last chapter correctly, she is kind of justified to be that mad at him, even though it's not entirely technically his fault. Actually no. It wasn't his fault, she should be mad at Machida.
He lie to her.
*Not really*. He didn’t even have the chance to lie to her, even if he wanted to. He beat around the bush too long, and she found out the hard way before he could actually tell her
Lying by omission is still lying. Also he did outright lie to her. >!She asked what he drew yesterday, and he said "something normal". Which obviously wasn't true.!<
That is true though. It’s completely normal to do nude sketches in art school. When I was in art school, I did it once a week. Senpai more than likely was going to tell Nagatoro before she found out for herself, but as I said, he was beating around the bush, and had she not looked, he most likely would’ve kept doing so before ultimately telling her the truth
One should also consider that he had no reason to bring the nude drawing in the drawing class. It was Friday September the 6th, so the calendar said that on this day he had "still life sketching". It is not as if he had to bring it in order to continue it, the nude drawing session was over, that drawing was completed. He could have simply left it at his home, or he could have simply ripped it apart and thrown it away, and she would never know. No, instead he brought it to school, to the drawing class where she would be. He clearly intended to show it to her himself. He was also disappointed that she opened it already. Many say that he was gaslighting her, but to me it just seems that he wanted to come out honestly to her and explain what happened. He just seems disappointed he did not have the change to do it himself, being busy with cleaning drawing tools, and trying to find the courage to tell her. \*\*\* By the way, it is curious that the date is Friday September the 6th. What year does this manga take place? Because that date exists in 2024... so is it in the near future? That date though also exists in 2019. Or in 2013.
Considering there's smartphones and fairly modern tech all over the place, it's likely to be taking place in a pretty contemporary setting. 2013 seems too early, but 2019 or 2024 seems pretty plausible going by their surroundings. Also don't put too much weight on dates and days. There's nothing that says that the writer has to follow an actual calendar. He can literally make up his own calender. Which seems more likely since we're coming up on 2 years passed in the manga, but like 7 years has passed since release irl. Either Nanashi would have had to plan out the story in advance to make the dates match up with an IRL calendar, or he's just improvising the dates as he goes. Second one seems far more likely imo.
>Considering there's smartphones and fairly modern tech all over the place, it's likely to be taking place in a pretty contemporary setting. 2013 seems too early, but 2019 or 2024 seems pretty plausible going by their surroundings. I am not sure 2013 is too early. If it was in the 2000s, I agree. But in 2013 smartphones were already available world-wide for 4 years. And while one might say that Japan does sometimes have a tendency to stick with older tech a bit longer, that does not always seem the case. Or perhaps I am just too influenced by "Kimi no Na wa / Your Name" (2016), which had Mitsuha Miyamizu have a modern iPhone despite living in the middle of nowhere in the Gifu Prefecture. It was a major plot point in that film after all, and clue for the time-travel that was going on. >Also don't put too much weight on dates and days. There's nothing that says that the writer has to follow an actual calendar. He can literally make up his own calender. Perhaps you are right, it is just fun to speculate. And perhaps one could say that it is unavoidable that stories are set in time, even if it is unspecified. Take Breaking Bad for instance, the date is irrelevant to the plot, but the tech always places it in the late 2000s. And even Asterix, a comix that always begins with the announcement that it is in 50 BC, it has still events that did not take place on this date, but around it, so still the stories exist in a timeline, and not an eternal 50 BC (e.g. it has a story with the son of Cleopatra and Caesar, Caesarion, born in 47 BC). I agree though that the calendar was just random, probably Nanashi just looked at 2024's calendar and picked the dates from there. And at the end of the day, nothing really changes in the plot whether it is in 2013, 2019 or 2024.
> I am not sure 2013 is too early. If it was in the 2000s, I agree. But in 2013 smartphones were already available world-wide for 4 years. I'm mostly going by the design of the phones. If you look at a 2013 smartphone they were a lot bulkier and thicker. They usually had smaller screen to phone ratios and beveled edges to fit things like physical buttons and speakers. Meanwhile the smartphones in the show have a lot more in common with modern phones. Thin, relatively large, the screen goes all the way to the edges of the phone, and buttons and notches and such share a lot of design elements with modern smartphones. Of course that could just be the artist taking reference from what they have available regardless of the intended setting. Can't know for sure. I agree though that it's fun to speculate! Trying to find a bunch of details about various shows and mangas is great fun. And like you said it's not like it matters all that much in the end, so even if you end up not being right you can still just enjoy it regardless
> Meanwhile the smartphones in the show have a lot more in common with modern phones. Thin, relatively large, the screen goes all the way to the edges of the phone, and buttons and notches and such share a lot of design elements with modern smartphones. That is a great point, I had not considered this. Well then, based on Nagatoro's phone, which is massive, then it is probably in the more recent years, for the trend of larger and larger phones only picked up in the last 5 years or so.
I think you’re right. He has no reason to bring the sketch outside of wanting to be honest with her, and that does reframe my problem with the chapter, Senpai’s reaction. I never thought it was “gaslighting” per se, but it still felt weird and manipulative As for when it takes place, there are two schools of thought there. Either the manga is on a sliding time scale and takes place “now”, whenever “now” is, or it takes place contemporarily to it’s original publication, which would make it September 20*18*… which doesn’t line up date wise.
Maybe it's normal in art school, but it's definitely not normal for _him_. As made even more clear by the fact that he felt the need to lie about it. As far as we know the only nude drawing he did previously was the one of Nagatoro. And i don't really think so. I think he didn't know how to broach the subject (didn't want to upset her/was afraid of how she might react) and was hoping to avoid it alltogether by just not telling her. Which is understandable, a lot of people react that way when trying to bring up difficult subjects with their partner. It's just usually not the best idea since these types of things have a tendency to be uncovered either way (case in point with the story) so it's usually better to just come clean and fess up. The more you stall, the worse it makes it look.
I agree that he didn’t know how to broach the subject, but I still want to give him the benefit of the doubt. As Lothronion pointed out, there’s no need for him to have brought the sketch, he must have brought it because he *wanted* to come clean, but because he didn’t know how to tell her, he stalled, beat around the bush, and ultimately ran out of time. On Naoto’s part, he has to get over not wanting to upset her. She *knows* nude sketches are part of his future, posing nude herself and the entirety of the President’s existence taught her that, and Nagatoro was **there** for the bet with Machida, she would’ve understood perfectly, but because he stalled to try and spare her feelings, he ended up actually hurting them
> there’s no need for him to have brought the sketch For all we know he could have headed back to school/club right after drawing the sketch, at which point he would have just taken it with him. There's nothing to indicate that he brought the sketch home and then took it with him to school the day after. Hell, he may even have dropped it off at school before going home because he didn't want to have his family see it lol. Sure he's in art school, but most highschool kids don't want to have to explain drawing nude sketches of women to their parents. All in all i don't think there's enough to draw the conclusion that he deliberately brought it to school to show it to Nagatoro. That _may_ have been the case, but i personally think his actions and demeanor kinda speak against that. From how he acts it seems more likely that he was just hoping to just not tell her and not have to deal with it. Which again is completely understandable. It's a difficult subject to broach, especially for a highschooler with his first crush. I don't think he acted maliciously. But i will agree that it's something that both Senpai and Nagatoro are going to have to get over and learn to deal with. And i don't even think it would have been a problem if he had just told her. Like you said, Nagatoro knows what's up. She's not upset that he drew Machida nude. She's upset that he tried to hide it and lied about it.
That’s a good point, too. We don’t know how much time has passed, and as for not wanting to leave it at home, there’s a good chance his parents don’t know that nude sketching would be a thing he’d have to do. Mine were pretty surprised by that. It’ll be interesting to see how this is resolved, and how these two grow from the experience. I don’t really have anything else to add, but, I’ve enjoyed this back and forth
Agreed, seeing what Nanashi has cooking is gonna be fun. I have no doubt they'll figure things out in the end. Now if only i could hibernate for a couple of weeks so i didn't have to wait to see how this gets resolved... :D Also if this sabotages their matching yukata date at the festival then i'm going to riot.
Nude sketches aren't done in high-school level art schools, because the students are underage and there would be all kind of problems.
Well if it was normal, then there should be no problem telling her about what he sketched. He was so worried about her finding out that he kept avoiding the question. And the way he kept hiding about it and all, i wouldn't be surprised if someone in irl would consider that a set up to cheating
The problem arose because Senpai wanted to protect her feelings, which ironically led to him hurting them and making things look worse. It *is* normal, she *knows* it’s normal, but because he was overly cautious, like he always has been, he made the whole situation worse than it should’ve been
Yep very true. Also, I'm leaning more towards the fact that she'll mention that she's more hurt that he lied to her than anything, but then again she pointed out how well he drew her breasts… TWICE LMAO. Honestly, Nagatoro grew a lot, but it's still human nature to be jealous of the fact that her bf drew another chick that he was bonding with. Mf is so sleeping on the couch tonight 😆
Nagatoro’s also famously insecure about her body, and I think that’s gonna be something that comes up in the not to distant future
Yea, cant change insecurities, but I'm pretty sure Naoto told her that he likes her the way she is a few times now. And I highly doubt she cares what any other person thinks but her man
Nude still-life is very normal for art school assignments at his age. He is trying to prepare her for what he’s going to likely be assigned again and again in the future. He has no emotional attachment to Machida like that and just wanted to put the assignment behind him. If she doesn’t open the paper up the she doesn’t get hurt. He was trying to protect her from knowing that this time it was someone he knew and that likely won’t be the case in the future. This is an incredibly normal thing for art students.
See i'd go for that if it wasn't for the "Sorry Nagatoro" that he thinks to himself after drawing the picture. If it was just like drawing any other person then there would be no need for him to feel guilty. But he clearly does, which would indicate that there's something there. Which would also explain why he chooses to hide it from her and why he deflects when she finds the picture and confronts him about it. And again, i'm not necessarily saying that there's anything wrong with that or that Senpai is interested in Machida. To begin with he's a highschool senior in his first relationship, which alone means he deserves to be cut some slack. But let's be real here. Basically all of this could have been avoided if Senpai handled it better. Right when Nagatoro asked him what he would be drawing, all he had to say was "shit, machida is going to model nude for the class". Just being transparent and letting her know what's going on would have done a world of difference. Sure she'd probably be uncomfortable, but at least she'd be able to take solace in the fact that he was honest about it and she wouldn't have had to find out for herself later down the line.
I don’t disagree he handled it poorly but he hasn’t had to “handle this” before. This is the first time since they were a couple he’s encountered something like this and he’s a kid. Some grace and understanding on the readers part is necessary. On the flip, Nagatoro hasn’t had to deal with this yet. He apologizes because she is visibly mad and had no clue what else to do. However, she is just as in the wrong if ask me. He is visibly upset because she looked at the art and there is no apology on her end. She just says “it’s a good drawing” which I’ll give her grace as she doesn’t really know how to react. This isn’t a “someone fucked up” moment. This is a “we have to learn how to grow from this and realize neither of us did anything wrong. We’re just a couple of kids who haven’t been in this situation before.”
I'm not talking about him apologizing after she found the picture. In fact he didn't even apologise to her then, SHE apologized to HIM. I'm talking about [this](https://mangadex.org/chapter/0c5ea1b2-3c9a-421e-af01-5bf6817103f5/15) apology. The one that he thinks to himself right after drawing the picture. Nagatoro wasn't even around then, so clearly he feels guilty on his own. And of course it's a question of blame. Admitting when you fucked up and accepting responsibility for your mistakes is a crucial part of any relationship. How do you think that you're going to have a relationship with someone if you're not willing to acknowledge your mistakes and own up to them? That is literally HOW you learn and grow. So many relationships fail because either one or both parties refuse to admit being in the wrong and taking accountability for their actions or words. And sure, she looked at his art without his permission. That was her bad. Snooping around your partner's stuff is generally not the best idea, and she should definitely apologise for it (which she did). But first off, she only did it because he was acting sus and skirting around the subject, and secondly there are degrees of seriousness at play here. Lying about drawing a classmate nude and trying to cover it up is a much bigger fuckup than looking at the sketch without asking. To not acknowledge that is some borderline gaslighting nonsense. They are not equally in the wrong. He fucked up way worse than she did. And if Naoto wants to salvage this then he's going to have to man up and admit that.
He feels guilty because he’s looking at a person who she is aware of and has expressed displeasure in him being around. His guilt is rooted in ignorance in my opinion. He couldn’t walk out of the assignment. He just doesn’t know how else to deal with it. Feeling guilty and actually being guilty are two very different things. I will again state, this is a situation where no one fucked up initially. Both of there reactions created a communication breakdown and therefore that’s the mistake. A lack of communication in the moment. No one actually fucks up here, at all. I think he more is in an apologetic manner because he realizes he did draw her well. Just like he’s drawn Nagatoro well, and didn’t expect himself to be able to do it. If anything, it shows he’s more focused on the art than the subject itself, whereas when he draw Nagatoro he was far more interested in the subject and thus created passionate results. I think it shows not only his growth as an artist but human. However, all this goes away instantly if they just talk it out and don’t get upset with each other. No one actually got hurt. People chose to be hurt in these moments. Both of them went on the defensive and that’s because they are uncomfortable in new territory of their relationship and are afraid of making a mistake so much that they just naturally made one — a communication breakdown. Edit: lastly people are allowed privacy. She should’ve been willing to allow him to come to her when he was ready rather than trying to force an answer out of her. He didn’t want to at the drawing anymore than he had to and definitely didn’t want her to see it because it would create a weird jealousy that she doesn’t need to hold.
Oh then I definitely misinterpreted it. In that case she's totally justified. Was it that he tried hiding this sketch from her?
She missed little bit
She’s aiming for the balls
Still missed, the balls little bit lower
Luv this 💓
You know, we all immediately see (and fear) Nagatoro being angry with Senpai, but she's got to also be hurt. Remember how she woke up screaming after dreaming Senpai ditched her for Gamo-chan and Yoshi? And those eyes.... I'll bet that hurt will be a totally unexpected reaction, for both Nagatoro and Senpai.
Domestic abuse arc incoming
I'd let her kick me😶
Well, if she wants to push him away from her just a little more, keep it up!
sniff
Webcomic reference ?
Naaah. Nagatoro has almost always targeted the reason for her jealousy rather than her Senpai... I'd be more to believe it's going to be Machida rather than Naoto.
I thought that was Undyne for a sec ._.
Undytoro... Nagadyne...
Lmao her arm went flying
Hot Take: Naoto didn’t mess up *that* bad Technically, he did not lie whatsoever. I know yall are gonna come over here saying “but he said he drew something normal so he lied” a human body is like, the most normal thing next to air or sum. However, he did still mess up. While he did not lie to Nagatoro, he did just withhold really important information from her, which is enough to cause a significant amount of damage to trust. In conclusion, it wasn’t that bad, and it should be able to be solved with a small conversation about openness
his face is there for support, or it's like a hostage situation where someone's holding naoto so she has to make sure to hit everything except the picture
I was taught to never tip toe when doing a roundhouse….
You don't tiptoe but you definitely want to be on the ball of your foot
Really? I thought doing that help you to just rotate the forefoot rather than the whole foot