Toshishita no Senpai-chan ni wa, Maketakunai. - Vol. 1 Ch. 5 - Everyone Has Their Own Standards
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You know, the girls make a compelling case that he should go for the new girl. Nicer personality, honest, "big loli boobs" -- really, what's not to like?
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@Purplelibraryguy Why nicer personality? There's nothing wrong about Kaori's personality. The problem is the flaw in Sakagami's own personality: He can't stomach a younger person being better at their work, so he's treating her coldly. For the time being the new employee obviously possesses inferior skills, so he treats her friendly. Dude's burdened by an inferiority complex.
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@Kaarme Whether Sakagami's personality has a flaw is rather a separate issue--after all, he is not in fact going for the new girl; I was just pointing out that there would be nothing wrong with doing that. Kaori is distant and formal (even when she's insisting on informality!), and it's hard to get a handle on what she's thinking. Maybe she's just shy, but in such a way that it's hard for someone outside her head to figure out. That doesn't make her personality bad, but if you're making a comparison, the new kid is cheerful and seems straightforward, easier to deal with. In any case it was just a quick throwaway line meant to amuse, I wasn't doing deep character analysis.
But I don't actually think your assessment of Sakagami is very fair. Having fun being a mentor is not a character flaw. And he doesn't treat Kaori coldly--he insists on treating her with respect because he sees her as superior. Which she is--experience aside, she's clearly smarter and more competent than he is. I'd say it's actually more plausible to say that if he insisted on talking to her like someone younger/inferior even though she's got more seniority at the job and is better at it than he is, that that would reflect inability to stomach a younger person being better at their work--it would be belittling her and ignoring her competence. So he's damned either way.
But I don't actually think your assessment of Sakagami is very fair. Having fun being a mentor is not a character flaw. And he doesn't treat Kaori coldly--he insists on treating her with respect because he sees her as superior. Which she is--experience aside, she's clearly smarter and more competent than he is. I'd say it's actually more plausible to say that if he insisted on talking to her like someone younger/inferior even though she's got more seniority at the job and is better at it than he is, that that would reflect inability to stomach a younger person being better at their work--it would be belittling her and ignoring her competence. So he's damned either way.
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@Purplelibraryguy Their status is exactly the same: part-time salesclerks. She has a year of seniority more in that lowest level job. She's not even an adult but a school kid. Of course it's Japan we are talking about, so that automatically makes my points kind of incorrect in theory, but unlike you felt like, I don't think she ever acted distantly in any way. But then again, it's been half a year for you, so this discussion is kind of unfair for you as I just read this. She has a bit stiff personality, but she was trying to help him with no reservations from the beginning and indeed insisted he doesn't treat her like a senior or anything. He treats the tomboy Kei much more casually.
All in all I couldn't avoid thinking he treated her purposefully professionally only because he was interested in her unprofessionally (which was making him shy, nervous, and cautious). I guess I said what I said in my previous comment not because I was judging him fairly but because his behavior annoyed me. It's partially cultural, but that part of the Japanese culture doesn't necessarily do any good for them.
All in all I couldn't avoid thinking he treated her purposefully professionally only because he was interested in her unprofessionally (which was making him shy, nervous, and cautious). I guess I said what I said in my previous comment not because I was judging him fairly but because his behavior annoyed me. It's partially cultural, but that part of the Japanese culture doesn't necessarily do any good for them.
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@Kaarme When you get into the Japaneseness of it, we're probably missing a fair amount. I mean, he seems to be insisting on using terms and language that are designated as formal, but more specifically terms you'd use to refer to someone older--a senpai (which in terms of job seniority, she is). She wants him to use more familiar terms, and terms you'd use towards someone younger, a kouhai (which in terms of actual age, she is). And that's the central gimmick of the manga. But we don't really at some level grok the social feel of those language distinctions because we don't have 'em.
Despite a certain stiffness in her manner, it's pretty likely the reason she wants him to talk to her like that is she's interested in him and wants to close the distance, so him resisting all this time even though he also seems interested is being a bit of a wuss. But it says something about Japanese sexism that it's basically assumed that guy-senior, girl-junior type speech must be more conducive to romance.
Despite a certain stiffness in her manner, it's pretty likely the reason she wants him to talk to her like that is she's interested in him and wants to close the distance, so him resisting all this time even though he also seems interested is being a bit of a wuss. But it says something about Japanese sexism that it's basically assumed that guy-senior, girl-junior type speech must be more conducive to romance.
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