“Life is hard when people try to look out for your best interests…”
I feel like this mostly sums up Perfect World volume 3. To be fair, volume 2 also establishes this, but volume 3 takes it to new level. From start to finish, each character wants others to be happy, and that’s normally never a bad thing. But sometimes, however, this ultimately becomes a bad thing. That’s because in trying to look out for others, two things happen:
- Your intentions negatively affect the person you want to help.
- It all comes down to some selfishness within you.
For Itsuki and Kawana, they are a small part of everyone’s desires, and ultimately face a decision they may not come back from.
After Kawana’s head and leg injury, everyone has (mostly) changed for the worse. Koreda, at least, announced he would have a “temporary truce” with Itsuki, but he still likes Kawana and still wants her to be with him. Nagasawa, however, wants Itsuki enough to continue to shrug off Kawana’s attempts to be with him, to the point where she becomes unbelievably cold. Kawana’s parents, especially her dad, want Kawana to break up with him even moreso than ever before. All of these things, including all of the backtalk these characters have around the two, mentally strain them in ways they can’t handle right now. And as more of Itsuki’s physical problems surface, Kawana’s in a position where it’s hard to be happy.
And yes, it’s heartbreaking.
I think the only person where I’m honestly struggling to understand her perspective is Nagasawa. This doesn’t exempt everyone else, but every single time she shows up, she flaunts her position of power — she’s a former nurse, she’s nursed Itsuki before, etc — and there’s absolutely nothing Kawana can do about that. But it also feels like Nagasawa won’t realize Itsuki won’t ever see her like she wants, and because of that, she takes it out on Kawana. It’s clear Kawana has nowhere near the experience to handle Itsuki’s health at this time, but if she shows that she wants to learn, then let her learn. Because Nagasawa’s fallen for Itsuki, she’s denying her that chance. While she may believe this pair is doomed to fail, it’s not because of genuine concern of the person; it’s for herself.
That’s why Nagasawa’s probably the character I can’t stand the most, but Kawana’s parents are just around there. That said, their perspective brings more food for thought — her dad’s illness is deteriorating. Her mom is concerned that Kawana’s taking on additional pressure she doesn’t need. It unfortunately stems from thinking someone that can’t walk can’t do anything. Now, you can think it’s bad for them to believe that, but when even a disabled person acknowledges the troubles for someone able to be with them, it’s realistic for someone’s parents to question them. The big problem, however, is that they can’t even imagine Kawana having this relationship, as if she can’t choose for herself. It again circles back to selfishness. There’s a mix of concern for Kawana, but for Kawana’s parents, their needs are plain to see, and it sucks.
Koreda’s the one character that somehow escapes most of this, but his selfishness is there too. For now though, he’s been able to help Kawana when she’s needed help the most, which makes his character hard to dislike. It does make me wish he was an ally instead. That’s kind of what these two both need — probably Itsuki more than Kawana, since she does have Maika and Ishibashi, though they both can only help so much. But so far, Itsuki and Kawana just manage to accidentally hurt each other, and they have little support from the people they need it from, unintentionally to intentionally. Though as Itsuki’s parents support him, Kawana doesn’t have the support from her family, which is probably the difference.
Perfect World volume 3 is yet another volume that’s again going to break your heart. At this point, outside of some biased thinking (why can’t someone Kawana just get out of character and tell Nagasawa off? Koreda to actually think Itsuki and Kawana can be together?), the only issues I have is the drawings. I might have commented on it before, but it feels like in volume 3 the art’s pretty inconsistent. Like eyes look super weird, or proportions are all off, etc. There’s even a moment where Itsuki should seem like he’s giving good advice, but he looks kinda apathetic. The good news is there are moments that are drawn well (the ending is one of them), but yeah, a bit inconsistent.
…That’s about all the bad I have to say about this one. Well, outside of saying Perfect World’s bad to read if you don’t want to tear yourself up.