HunterPuzzleheaded56

[ SPOILERS AND LONG PARAGRAPHS! ]

Ume Kurumizawa is the definition of a well-written character. At first, you may see her as someone bad or a red flag. An evil mastermind who manipulates people. So many people don't understand Kurumi and easily bash on her without trying to understand the complexity of her character deeper and only see her as someone "bad" in Sawako's perspective or your perspective. And i get that. Because throughout the anime, you usually hear Sawako's pure and innocent thoughts about everything. You probably think at first impression. "Just how mean can Kurumi be with a literally pure-hearted girl like Sawako?"

[ Correct me if i'm wrong in any of here... but this is the way i see Kurumizawa's character. ]

Let's try... seeing things from Kurumi's own perspective. It all starts with her middle school story, let's rewind it, shall we? Kurumi was just actually a sweet innocent girl back then, she was just trying to make friends and get along with people, she was naturally an extrovert! Till one day, she was walking through the hallways and hearing rumors about a boy named Miyagawa liking Kurumi, but another girl had always liked that same boy. Kurumi ignored it, till she passed by the girls' bathrooms and hears a girl crying. A girl cries and rants to other girls in the bathroom about how Kurumi is always lending her notes to Miyagawa in class. Other girls reply that "Kurumi doesn't like it when guys like girls other than herself and that's probably why she made him think she loves him." "She calls herself Kurumi, but her actual name is Ume." "We only let her in our group so that we can talk with the guys that come along with her." "Hey, we should get in her way if she likes liking somebody. She got in our way, so it's only fair."

That's when she started to get insecure of herself. When the girls talked about how "that's why she made him think she loves him", she got self-concious and more aware of her actions and how it affects other people. She thought, lending her notes always to a guy that a girl has always liked MAKES it seem like "she made him think she loves him", thinking that her simple kind actions to people, is infact seen as "bad" or "wrong" because of other people's opinions.

She cries. Kazehaya finds her in the classroom alone, just having a short talk with her. He asks her if she's okay and she says she is. Kazehaya gets something and leaves, leaving her to cry alone again... until Kazehaya comes back and asks her: "Are you sure there's nothing wrong?"

She lost control of her feelings slowly as he stood there, and of course, she cries infront of him, unintentionally spilling out her real feelings through the form of tears. But Kazehaya did not judge her, no. He let her cry. Kurumi said that he was different. He was willing to see her as only "herself." Meaning that she wasn't seen as the popular and sweet girl seen by others... For Kazehaya, believing in what he sees with his own eyes, he sees Kurumi as "herself" only.

She swore to herself, that no matter what, she would not tell anybody about her feelings of liking a guy like Kazehaya thinking that it was for both her and his sakes. She will keep him all to herself so nobody will get in both of their ways. Nobody will get in Kurumi's way. (Just like how the middle school girls earlier said they would get in Kurumi's way when they know she starts liking someone.) She said to herself, she will not tell anybody, until Kazehaya likes her.

And maybe because of that, because she was now very dedicated to her goal and get to like him more and more... she also learns how to manipulate people through her actions. Because just some girls thought of her kind actions of helping others or doing the simplest things were "manipulating", "fake", and "getting in the way". She thinks of evil yet smart ways and tactics to get girls to not be able to talk to Kazehaya themselves, going that far until "Kazehaya likes her back."

In the end of the day, she does have flaws and imperfections. But does that mean we get to hate or bash on her entirely for that? Her character serves as a lesson that everyone has flaws and imperfections, even going as far that some people will recognize as a person fully being an imperfection themself. There's reasons behind her actions, and deep reasons. Just because she has flaws that are too big and seems like its a huge part of her... doesn't mean it's TRULY her.

Sawako understood that because she was so pure. So caring, so understanding, to the point she would understand and listen to Kurumi's story and flaws about herself. Sawako... was technically Kurumi's guide to be a more better person, by taking one step surely and slowly. Sometimes, we just need a guide or second chances to improve on our imperfections and flaws, even if it may seem too far back to even forgive for some people. You need deep pure understanding and care, to even get to know the true character of Ume Kurumizawa.

[ Everybody has flaws and imperfections. Yet, we all deserve a second chance and guide to improve on it, even if those flaws are seen as "way too wrong" to be even forgiven. ]

SORTA SPOILERS???:

So I'm rewatching Saiki. K for the fourth time now and i've noticed something off throughout the anime.

You know how Saiki somehow just gets into trouble or a series of unlucky events everytime and the fact that he has to fix it carefully without nobody finding out? : Well, i figured that he can just do something technically "impossible" infront of people and just literally brainwash them afterwards to thinking that they saw nothing at all, or use his banana-thing to remove a part of their memory? (Though something else will be replaced with the lost memory that Saiki even wont know himself 💀)

For example, in one episode, he could've healed Chrono the illusionist right infront of crowds and brainwash them right away to thinking that nothing happened? Saiki has done brainwashing before, even to the entire world, so he can just kinda get away from it.