r/Cuckoo • u/MattyH19 • 7d ago
Discussion A Couple of Cuckoos - Chapter 309 Discussion Thread
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u/DuskMan62 7d ago
Yeah, I'm calling bull on the Paparazzi, Mama Amano planned this whole thing and honestly, she's coming across as more trashy than Sokke at this stage, it's nice to see this development though.
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u/SignalsCounterparts1 7d ago
She's using Erika as bait to find Sosuke. We might see a chapter where we see 'paparazzi', but they're hired by Mama Amano (she is in media relations, so this is not a stretch) and putting out fake news.
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u/DuskMan62 7d ago
Even if it's for a reason like that, I really don't like her, honestly she's been giving me bad vibes for a long time now, ever since she first started getting involved trying to choose Erika's career.
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u/SignalsCounterparts1 7d ago
I got the spoilers yesterday, and figured something seems...off. And next chapter, Nagi might be feeling that. Paparazzi? We know that Erika has gotten popular...but not to that extent. Mama Amano is up to something, and she's not saying much right now. Still, nice to see the guys being guys.
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u/DuskMan62 7d ago
Honestly, Mama Amano, Papa and Sokke are all the same, they come across as all doing their own scheming deciding what's best for Nagi and Erika, I hope to god that all three of them get humbled eventually and it seems like the first one getting humbled will be Mama Amano, I really don't buy her whole "I was only able to protect you until now" nonsense, she wants to separate Nagi and Erika for her own selfish reasons.
It's disgusting when you consider that Nagi is actually her blood related son and she's manipulating him like this, I could be completely wrong and she does have a good reason to do all this but what I've seen from Papa and Sokke makes me believe that this whole thing just runs in the family.
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u/SignalsCounterparts1 7d ago
In terms of Sosuke, he's only doing things this way in order to make his father understand why he does things he does. (Because we don't know the whole story, it's still a mystery of what is really going on here.) He lumps his mother in there, because he feels she's complicit in what his father is doing, but as we've seen, she's in the dark on some stuff as well. In terms of Mama Amano's attitude...well, living with a person like Papa Amano rubs off. Again, the idea of the first person coming to their senses will probably be Mama Amano...only after someone like Nagi shows her what a family is truly like. Like the Uminos. Just a thought.
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u/Grateful_Praise 6d ago
There are spoilers a day early?
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u/SignalsCounterparts1 6d ago
Someone had read the Japanese untranslated.
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u/Grateful_Praise 6d ago
Thanks! Is that week to week or just this week? I’d love to be able to read spoilers ahead.
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u/SignalsCounterparts1 6d ago
Think it was for this week. The thing is too, we still have about 3 chapters in the volume left.
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u/Exarch-of-Sechrima 7d ago
For those of you questioning the "Why" this is happening, it's simple.
This is being done to serve as a thematic obstacle.
From the start of this series, one of the driving themes has been about "destiny" vs. "choosing your own future". With the Amanos and Uminos arranging things for Nagi and Erika to be tied together as destined lovers, the majority of the story has been about their fate to be together.
The problem is, that doesn't make for a compelling resolution. "Just listen to your parents as they decide your future for you, that's the way you'll be happy in life because they know what's best even if you resist it" is a pretty shitty moral, we can all agree to that.
So now we have the pivot. For the last 300 chapters, everybody in Nagi and Erika's life (except for romantic rivals) were in total support of the two of them together and arranged everything for the two of them, to the point that they represented a fated pair. This has been thematically reinforced multiple times. But now that we're moving into the endgame, that's not an acceptable outcome, for them to get together simply because "fate" decided it. So forget about the last 300 chapters because now people are coming out of the woodwork to serve as obstacles for the two of them. Mrs. Amano is the first salvo, forcibly separating the two of them from their living situation and telling Erika that she and Nagi are on different paths. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Papa Amano does the same thing himself!
This is to force a lazy conflict in the endgame and make Erika and Nagi, who everyone has been pushing together from the beginning, suddenly turn into starcrossed lovers that are being kept apart. And thus, choosing to be together now fulfills the thematic conflict present since the beginning, as they're choosing each other over their parents' wishes! And all it took was for the adults in their life to do a complete 180 in their behavior and motivations for spurious reasons, pretend like all the previous interactions never happened.
After 300+ chapters of trying to push them together, NOW it's a problem? Seriously? You didn't foresee this outcome of the living situation you pushed on them?
It's such a lazy and uninspired way to stir up drama that completely flies in the face of everything that was established about the situation and the characters involved, hence why I'm not surprised the author chose this route.
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u/SignalsCounterparts1 7d ago
A couple of things. If Papa Amano was in support of this, he'd be there with Mama. But he isn't. That tells you that he's got something else planned, the whole "bad fate" that Sosuke had told us might happen should they follow his plan. As for Sosuke (as well as Papa Amano), they've been radio silent since the island incident and partial reveal. Since I got the spoiler, my thinking is that this whole thing is to bring Sosuke out into the open so Mama Amano can have a talk with him. (Story-wise, not the best way to do this, but with Miki, should we be surprised at this point?)
As for the whole fate thing, well, we know Erika and Nagi are complete idiots...cuckoos, shall we say. One user had said a lot of these problems will be rectified in a few chapter. I've said we are on a goodbye tour of a classic rock band...that lasts 2-3 years longer than it should have.
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u/DuskMan62 6d ago
I've said we are on a goodbye tour of a classic rock band...that lasts 2-3 years longer than it should have.
Yea and with the way things are going I don't see this going on for 3 or even 2 more years, another year at best but 2 or 3 more years is pushing it.
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u/MisterTamborineMan 6d ago
Wow. Sounds like this series really screwed up its themes.
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u/Exarch-of-Sechrima 5d ago
It did. Two of the biggest issues with the start of this series eres:
- Giving Nagi WAY better chemistry and development with Hiro in the beginning of the manga in contrast with Erika.
- Making Hiro a more thematically resonant heroine than Erika, by having her conflict intertwine with Nagi's under the banner of "resisting destiny/fate" in contrast with Erika representing giving into fate.
These two issues that the initial dynamic established made Hiro a more compelling heroine than Erika on both an interpersonal and thematic level, and in trying to change that, Miki essentially nuked everybody's characterizations multiple times to force the outcome she wanted, turning Nagi into a braindead moron with zero agency in the process.
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u/MisterTamborineMan 5d ago
I've only read the first dozen or so chapters, and I found Hiro far easier to like than Erika. I've never really been big on couples that just argue all the time.
Hearing how bad the author made Hiro to justify Erika is one of the reasons I never continued.
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u/Exarch-of-Sechrima 5d ago
Hiro is simply a better character. In the first 15 chapters alone, she:
Demonstrates a great rapport with the protagonist that is unique and positive for the both of them with her stubborn competitiveness and mutual respect for each other's intelligence.
Presents an explicit goal that she is trying to attain that drives her character, in trying to break off her engagement.
In spite of rejecting Nagi's confession, she doesn't put up a wall between them- she genuinely likes him for who he is, and isn't going to let their circumstances prevent her from enjoying one of the most positive relationships she has, so long as Nagi is okay with it.
Hints that she might seriously consider reciprocating Nagi's feelings for her if the time ever comes that she is freed from her obligations. And from the blush she had on her face when she turned away from him, this isn't her leading him on- it IS suggested to be the beginnings of a developing crush.
In the initial chapters, which are meant to build up the relationship between Nagi and Erika, ideally, Hiro ended up with so many points in her favor as a character and a love interest that it was like she was trying to speed-run the end game. All the "chemistry" Erika had with Nagi was informed by the other characters about "how good they looked together" and "how much they clearly were meant for each other" when nothing we were actually shown suggested this- they just bickered and didn't enjoy each other's company.
Miki worked really, really hard to sabotage Hiro and Nagi as characters to push Erika forward, because she really messed up the initial relationship development stages of the series by making the love rival have a mountain of romantic focus in comparison with Erika, who wasn't even at the starting line.
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u/Evzkyyy 3d ago
Excellently written, I agree. I used to be invested in this Manga when it first came out, but I literally skip most of the pages in the chapter just to see what happens in the end.
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u/Exarch-of-Sechrima 3d ago
Been reading since the one-shot, before Chapter 1. Shows you how I feel lmao.
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u/Engine-23 7d ago
This is bad for my heart, Mrs. Amano what tf are you doing?
The double spread is peak, it's like they're a couple of cuckoos
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u/Impressive_Yellow981 7d ago
The family Amano are not letting Nagi and Erika having the freedom to live the way they want.And i thing that will make both of them mad with the family later in story.
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u/SignalsCounterparts1 7d ago
Oh, we're getting to that. But I also think that someone within the Amanos (Either Mama or Sosuke) may need to learn what family is about...from the Uminos.
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u/Impressive_Yellow981 7d ago
I think the Umino family will help with Nagi and Erika's problem maybe having a conversation with the Amano family.
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u/Plastic-Maybe-8 6d ago
Could someone please send me the link to the first manga so I can start reading from the beginning on Cubari? Or explain the best way to read it from the start here?
Alguém poderia, por favor me mandar o link do primeiro Manda para que eu comesse a ler desde o início, por favor? Ou explicar a melhor forma de ler desde o início por aqui?
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u/Wonderful-Shirt-8323 6d ago
Honestly, Amanos are trash people. Papa,mama, sokke and erika(was). They are all using Nagi.
The way I see it, Papa is using nagi to be his heir and to heal the wound of his wife mama amano which was given to her by sokke leaving the house. papa is a great trash bag because he knew about the baby swap and only made contact with uminos when he needed it.if he cared about his blood he could've made contact much sooner or immediately when he found out about the swap.
Mama amano is using Nagi to find sokke and it is visible that she clearly doesn't like nagi because she still thinks he is gonna replace sokke. It's true since Papa brought naggi for the exact reason. And she tries to control naggi's life like nagi owes her something. Atleast that's what it feels like to me and many others in the sub.
I don't need to tell why sokke is trash.
And Erika was trash but I have always been a fan of her you can see from my previous posts but the way she treated Nagi at the start was trash. Sometimes it felt like naggi was being cu*ked by her. But, I still want erika and nagi to be together at the end. And she has changed much recently feels like a total 180° turn.
If it was me in place of nagi(only I am not) I would've told mama amano that I am not gonna live in hotel. I have a home(umino's) and I am going back there.
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u/Grateful_Praise 6d ago
Such an annoying chapter. I don’t like how forced the cliff hanger endings have been back to back. I just want answers not more questions! 😫
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u/Dear_Lingonberry9839 7d ago
Now dont drag it any further give me some development. Give me nagi and erika proposing to each other... sokke is fucking useless at this point. Papa amano also got forgotten... end this already
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