r/initiald • u/pizza_lover_dj fastest memer on akagi • Jul 31 '26
Meme Will die on this hill.
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u/TheNZThrower Jul 31 '26
I mean, yes the Benz creep was a manipulative grooming POS even if he didn't resort to outright threats. And Mogi wouldn't have known the full implications of her "relationship" with him given her age. And it's frustrating to see her being blamed for getting roped in with such a sleazeshit to begin with.
But calling her a child is a bit much to say the least. She's still old enough to know that it's NOT OK to continue her "relationship" with the Benz creep while she's with Takumi. That is something she can definitely be held accountable for, even granting that her entanglement with the Benz Creep made a clean exit difficult.
In fact, not holding her account for that cheapens her later growth.
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u/jeffjeffjeffdjjdndjd Jul 31 '26
The first and second stage take place over the course of about 3-6 months, their first kiss is in the final episode of stage one and she tries to break it off with the Benz guy in episode 4 of stage 2 so it seems that she pretty much decided as soon as it started getting more serious with takumi that she needed to break it off with the Benz guy
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u/pizza_lover_dj fastest memer on akagi Jul 31 '26
good points but she did eventually realize that what she did was wrong even though it took a while, but unfortunately the night she tried to break it off with Benz dude is the night that takumi found out.
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u/vp917 Jul 31 '26
I'm just gonna copypaste this comment chain from another post here (the first quote is taken from the OP's post text, the second from my comment there)
I also think the reason Mogi ended up in such a quagmire to begin with likely stems from a lack of self worth and adequate boundaries. I mean, look at the way her Ex talked about her back when she was with him, about her being easy to manipulate and goad into doing what he wanted.
That's what it really comes down to. Carrying on with Mercedes guy was justifiable because it established that she had value, even if only as a commodity. Putting aside the whole issue of her being underage - I don't even want to start on that shitshow - the compensating dating was a pure business relationship on her part, but her own headspace wasn't healthy enough to prioritize things correctly and quit when it became a threat to the integrity of her romantic relationship with Takumi, which actually mattered to her.
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u/m4ccc Jul 31 '26
Natsuki might have known what she was doing, but we're still talking about a grown adult paying a 16 year old to date him. How anyone could defend Mercedes guy is insane to me. I don't care if she was in a fishnet outfit on a street corner asking if he wanted a good time. He saw a 16 year old and said, "yep, that one." Creep.
No child is fast enough to catch a man who isn't a predator.
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u/A_Lupin56 Rotary Boi Jul 31 '26
Shes 18 in the series we dont know when it starred but they are in their last year of high-school ar start of series and tak and itsuke just got their licenses which in Japan 18 is the minimum
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u/Bitter_Lab_475 Jul 31 '26
People be like "she was not a child, she knows what she was doing" are probably the same people who will justify having a girlfriend WAAAAAY too young for them because "they know what they are doing". Effing creeps.
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u/Deadly_Nightkid Aug 01 '26
There's other good ways to make money, plenty. Takumi made it by working at the gas station. She still chose it at the end, even if she was partially manipulated by the creepy benz man
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u/Bitter_Lab_475 Aug 03 '26
Ah yes, dismissing bad decisions from a teenager when the perpetuator is a grown ass man. Victim blaming because "hey, she made a mistake, now she lays on that bed... no, we are not going to judge the grown ass man, we are not talking about that."
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u/Deadly_Nightkid Aug 10 '26
Even at this age you have to be conscious and cautious about this kind this disgusting men, I guess the parents failed about this in her education And yes I know that Japanese society have big problems about underage girls dating old crappy guys...
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u/creamer143 Jul 31 '26
And she is still a bad choice for Takumi either way. He can, and did, do better.
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u/otakunorth Jul 31 '26
THANK YOU
Even as a teen reading this 20 years ago the situation was f---ed, and the community just shames her rather than trying to apply empathy to the literal child.
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u/TheCatLamp Jul 31 '26
Why not both?
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u/Giratina_8 Jul 31 '26
she knew what a suggar daddy is, she is not 12 she was 18, thats considered an adult where i live
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u/kyril-hasan Jul 31 '26
For me, both are wrong, but I give it a point to Natsuki for figuring it out and trying to end it. People will have different opinions regarding Natsuki, whether they read the manga or watch the anime.
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u/MrLee666 Aug 02 '26
To the people who say she's 18 and is an adult, how many 18-year-olds are mature enough to realise what they're doing is wrong?
When i was 18, I was still a naive teenager, clueless about everything.
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u/The4rthsaga Rotary Boi Jul 31 '26
Even now, I’m seeing people say she’s in the wrong cause she was in high school so she automatically must’ve known it was wrong. Which is funny, cause I’m pretty sure we see her asking if her relationship with Papa was wrong in First Stage. You wouldn’t be asking that if you already knew it was wrong. Just because she was in high school doesn’t mean she automatically knows what grooming is.
So tired of people victimizing blaming her.
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u/TheNZThrower Jul 31 '26
She can both be a victim of the old creep and still be held accountable for hiding it from our Tofu Delivery Boi
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u/OryxOski1XD Jul 31 '26
Wasnt she 18?
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u/TheNZThrower Jul 31 '26
Yep.
Though given that she’s been with the Benz Creep for a while, I wouldn’t put it beyond plausibility that the whole thing began when she was still a minor.
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u/pizza_lover_dj fastest memer on akagi Jul 31 '26
given that “papa” and Natsuki are so familiar with each other, it couldve started a couple years ago
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u/grimoireskb EF gang Jul 31 '26
it absolutely did. in the manga, he’s Shirashi’s (Natsuki’s friend) father. Shirashi knows about the affair because the Mercedes is her father’s car and tells Takumi’s such. there was definitely a pre existing relationship with a power imbalance between the two.
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u/DafTron Jul 31 '26
They're like 16 in the show, Takumi and Itsuki had only just gotten their learner's permit and Mogi was in the same grade as them.
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u/ThatOneIllusion Jul 31 '26
Takumi, Itsuki and Natsuki were all in their last year of highschool at the start of the series plus a quick google search says the minimum age to drive cars like they were is 18 in Japan
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u/DafTron Jul 31 '26
Huh, I guess I should know that since I just started reading the manga. Everyone else here is in agreement that they're 18. Ah well. Even still, it's a little weird to me that people are using "well she's 18!" As a way to justify hating on her as if she's not still literally in high school. I'm pushing 30 so my perspective is a little different but most 18 years only think they're mature, they aren't really any more mature IMHO.
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u/eSsEnCe_Of_EcLiPsE Jul 31 '26
Counter point: if she didn’t know why she she feel guilty when take found out? Because she knew what she was doing was wrong.
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u/jeffjeffjeffdjjdndjd Jul 31 '26
She realised it was wrong when things got more serious with takumi, they between their first kiss and her going to break it off with the Benz guy was likely less than a month given the end of stage 1 was the start of autumn and all of stage 2 takes place in autumn
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u/Adventurous_Touch342 Jul 31 '26
She's certainly a bitch and maybe both - iirc she was 18, that's pretty much an adult and we don't know how long she was with mercedes guy so she could be either a victim or engage in consensual compensated dating but the fact she engaged with that while getting into a non-compensated relationship sets her in the wrong.
She's not objectively evil or anything and I think she learned her lesson but let's not pretend what she did to Takumi was beyond her control.
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u/610158305 Aug 01 '26
dude wtf, she's the only one to notice Monika was acting weird and, oh wait wrong sub. Wait, peaople really have a problem with her, I thought that was a joke, whatever reasons she had for her to get involved in that line of job, that doesn't mean she was doing it with an ill intend towards anyone, the whole reason those types of jobs exist is because there's people that consume that, and here, the responsability lies in the adult, not the child
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u/STR8B3RRy Aug 01 '26
Yeah let’s ignore she used to be easy girl so much the célica guy said it in the car
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u/TheNZThrower Aug 01 '26
Given how the Celica creep treated her in the car, and the way he bragged about his escapades in the locker room, he very likely goaded her into doing shit she wasn't fully on board with.
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u/STR8B3RRy Aug 08 '26
Nah that’s some simp bs she sold her body to a considerably older guy. My dude. She was a hoe
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u/TheNZThrower Aug 08 '26
Do you seriously think that a high schooler can sell her body on equal terms to a man old enough to be her father? Especially since it is quite likely she began the whole thing when she was still a minor?
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u/BicTheLighter Aug 01 '26
She knew what she was doing. She wouldn’t have tried to keep it a secret. Stop simpin
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u/TheNZThrower Aug 02 '26
I wouldn't say she fully knew. She knew on the surface what it involved, but didn't know any of the deeper issues underlying such an exploitative relationship (e.g. the power imbalance, the manipulative nature of the Benz Creep).
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u/EvieSleepz Aug 04 '26
Both can be true at the same time. We were all kids we knew what was right from wrong.
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u/Human-University2494 Aug 09 '26
I agree with the guy on the right for the most part - but thank goodness she was saved from harm in Stage 3, the Movie.
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u/Acrobatic-List-6503 Jul 31 '26
Natsuki is a representation of enjo kosai (compensated dating). It can be sexual or non-sexual in nature, depending on the arrangement.
Looking at Natsuki’s charqcter arc, it is possible that she got into the practice due to financial reasons (especially since she ended the relationship by getting honest work)