While Tenma is still very clueless, she has made some important changes. She’s mellowed out considerably from the start of the series, for one. There’s a rather significant scene around Ch.196 or so where she advises Eri to go after Harima, so that she doesn’t have to live with regrets. If you look back to the start of the series, that was exactly the sort of advice that Eri and the others had to push Tenma to follow to progress with Karasuma.

Harima is actively trying to resist change, but it’s become somewhat of a downhill battle for him over the more recent chapters. His reactions to Eri in Ch.197, 210, 216, and the start of Ch.217 suggest that his tunnel vision is starting to crack. Of course, the manner of Harima’s reappearance will be important in deciding which way the story progresses. There’s tricky balance here between developing his character and running the risk of making him act out of character.

Eri may have dropped most of her tsun side, but she never really had all that much tsun to begin with – she simply reciprocates Harima’s attitude towards her, throughout the series. She’s not after just any man (her encounter with Harima in the temple establishes that her interest in him is linked to his particular personality), and to have her play along with the tsundere archetype even after she decides that she likes him is very limiting on her character.

When you look at it, Eri has shown more strength of character and maturity in the past few chapters than any other character in the series. She completely sets aside Yakumo’s outrageously immature behavior regarding the slap (which was quite a surprising role reversal), she shows a lot of compassion for her friends, and her clever test to gauge Harima’s feelings in Ch.214 was on the level of something that Akira might cook up. In most series, the hero has to learn to understand the weaknesses of the tsundere and like her in spite of them. In this series, Eri overcomes her own weaknesses and becomes a more likable person through her own efforts. The glowing commentary given in Ch.185 and 216 is just the byproduct of that.

As for Yakumo, up until recently, she’s mainly been used as just a foil to explore Eri’s weaknesses and character development. The recent role reversal has made her much more human, and has allowed her to become more of a character in her own right. By changing her conflict with Eri from a one-sided one to a two-sided one, Yakumo’s character is more open for further character development.

Incidentally, Sara didn’t convince Yakumo not to give up on Harima. Sara originally thought that Yakumo was giving up on him out of guilt, when the expression on Yakumo’s face convinced her that this was something that Yakumo genuinely wanted to do. I’d be extremely surprised if Yakumo suddenly takes back what she said in Ch.116 and 117 and starts going after Harima.

As for reading SR – we can’t gauge if this is a reset or not until the next time Harima makes his appearance. If you still find yourself frustrated, try reading on a biweekly or monthly basis. I’m guessing that SR will be a much enjoyable read once it’s finished and people can marathon the entire series from start to finish without waiting on the next development.

The distinction that I’m making is between plot development and character development. In a slice of life, for example, while there need not be any “end goal”, the characters’ personalities and ideas can still be affected by their experiences (that’s not to suggest that SR necessarily is a slice of life, of course). Eri in volume 16 is quite a changed person from Eri in volume 1.

Harima is a tricky case. If he is clearly shown to have feelings for Eri, then the plot has a definite direction and the story becomes predictable. While he retains his interest in Tenma, his views towards Eri have undergone some drastic changes as of late (to the point where it may be a source of inner conflict for him). It’s difficult to write off Ch.117 as a reset until we see the manner in which Harima comes out of his absence from school.

In SR, we don’t have set direction, nor do we know if there is one (although there are no shortage of guesses from the readers). The only thing that we really know is that the opening line “Love – what a mysterious word”, sets the story up to be a commentary on love. It doesn’t matter who ends up with whom; what matters is how the characters grow and mature as they have their first romantic experiences. Every relationship seems to try to capture the experience from a slightly different angle.

Personally, I feel that SR is at its best when it captures the silliness of adolescence – especially looking back at it in retrospect. There seems to be a lot of pressure from the reader base for SR to develop into a full fledged romance story (especially with the focus on Eri and Harima’s storyline), but I don’t see any real need for the series to stick too closely to the rules of the genre.

When Season 1 first came out, most people were too busy enjoying the interactions between the characters to care about deciphering which way the story was going. The more you sit back and let the story take its course, the more enjoyable the read.

Neriya: objectively I should have felt the same way about Claymore but there was just something about the setting and atmosphere that made me want more. Maybe it was just a fear of the fanboys coming after me if I didn’t give it a fair chance.

Wait…. so Fye is a girl now? *Hurray for flashbacks and gore!” I especially like the panel where little Fye’s fingernails are FALLING OFF.

I’d also have preferred it if Clare hadn’t decided to take Raki along.