Go-Toubun no Hanayome S2 – 03

「七つのさよなら 第二章」 (Nanatsu no Sayonara: Dainishou)
“Seven Goodbyes: Part 2”

The second part of Go-Toubun no Hanayome’s “Seven Goodbyes” arc has Fuutarou having to pull out all the stops and get all the help he can to have Nino and Itsuki make up. But in the process, he ends up playing a dangerous game as he ends up playing into Nino’s emotional state to try to temper her undying flames.

Nino’s biggest strength as a character is that she loves as much as she hates. She knows exactly what she wants out of those around her, and fights as hard as she can for it, whether it be to be undisturbed with her sisters or for her idealized version of Fuutarou. She also has a strong sense of empathy. Moments like when she is in tears when she finds out about Fuutarou’s struggle to reconnect with Rena now that she’s resurfaced in his life or when she taped up the notes she shredded out of guilt make her out to be more complex than she seems.

Part of her charm is that underneath her brisk personality, she’s actually a hopeless romantic. The kind of person who is in love with love when they are feeling vulnerable. It came out a little with her brush-in with Kintaro on the camping trip, but when Fuutarou once again donned the Kintaro wig, it was almost as if Nino became an entirely different person. I suppose the romantic comedy films she enjoys rubs off a bit on her because of how much she relies on calling in support to help her make the next move to try to let Kintaro know that she wants him to stay for as long as he wants.

The double-edged sword of Nino’s character is that when she’s at her worst, she is absolutely abhorrent. The way she’s expressed being protective of the connection she has with her sisters has been placing obstacles in Fuutarou’s direction to sabotage his tutoring sessions, hoping to get him fired and trapped in a neverending state of poverty with no hope for upward mobility. This toxicity is out in full-force when Nino repeats her most damning act in the first season by drugging Fuutarou once again. As interesting as she can be, it’s hard to ignore the parts of Nino that would disqualify her from ever achieving a happy ending with Fuutarou.

Despite holding onto the idea that Fuutarou is to blame for their perfect family unit being disturbed, his presence only calls attention to the already crumbling infrastructure of the sisters’ relationships with each other. As much as Nino idealizes her sisterhood, her fear of change also causes her to lash out at her sisters for the differences they have and the changes they go through. Miku being shy and introverted gives Nino ammo to continue furthering her rift between her by prodding at her for her life choices. Itsuki’s slap also brought out years of resentment for the idea that she was the only one who never moved on from wanting to be a sister.

Funny enough, each of the girls has their own version of self-blame where they hold themselves accountable for not being able to move on or cope with what happened to them. This is also present in the subplot Yotsuba is involved in where she has no way of wrestling her way out of her obligations to the track team. She’s so used to running herself ragged that she holds herself accountable if she isn’t involved in bettering the lives of everyone that isn’t herself. She doesn’t want to inconvenience anyone, but because of this, she is broken by the tug-of-war she has between needing to excel more in school and being obligated towards extracurricular activities. Ichika’s role in this episode also has this in shades with how she tries her best to continue acting as a supportive big sister to Yotsuba and the other sisters. Along with the weight of having to continue furthering their roles as sisters, it makes it all the more difficult for them to see eye-to-eye when all of the sisters are tangled up in the same guilt of not easily unifying after their mother’s passing.

But this series is kind of a comedy of errors where each of the sisters will make mistakes that eventually threatens to continue widening the rift. And Fuutarou’s merely along for the ride, pitching in to both right any wrongs that occur throughout his tutoring sessions and accidentally causing even more drama with the love flags he ends up triggering along the way.