sspit said:kidlat020 said:
Relationships require hard and correct efforts to maintain, and yet the rewards are so little. Despite not having confidence, 8man still does his best in dealing relationships (to the point of self-suicide). This may come as a surprise, but it is precisely because he understands relationships are hard to maintain that he decides the "I don't wanna work" because, well, the rewards are so little. And because he understands perfectly, he's the best... mentor... when it comes to relationships.
It's probably just me, but the real reason he mostly decides to self-suicide is to see for himself how pathetic humans truly are. If he weren't there to solve those problems, everyone is in shatters right now. He probably wants them to know that relationships require sacrifice and yet nobody is willing to be the lone sheep in the wolf's den. He's in a completely different level that commoners couldn't possibly reach. And yet he's doing this for mere entertainment value for himself. That entertainment value is definitely priceless in his eyes, more than the "rewards" that comes from maintaining relationships.
I wouldnt be so quick to dismiss relationships. Take Hachiman for example, he takes his relationship with his sister for granted, but i bet he couldnt even imagine not having that... I think the rewards are worth it, even for someone like him, it simply takes the right approach.
Also, if i may...
Id say he takes antagonistic view on work not because he sees it as something that takes a lot of effort (actually Hikkigaya puts a lot of effort without realizing, for example during the summer festival), but because work for him means affirming society and the superficial values he rejects.
As for the reason behind his self-deprecating acts, that is perhaps the most important point of this whole work, but also one that never has been and probably never will be stated clearly. Im sure its okey if everyone has his own interpretation, that is actually true for themseves, rather than Hikkigaya...
Personally, id say he does that because it affirms his position of being outside. To explain, you cant judge system from the inside. Not thinking himself as part of the society and part of the system allows Hikkigaya to judge it and maintain his superiority. Rather than this being simply the case of narcissism, i believe its about maintaining his values. There are people out there who are not able to compromise their values (Yukinoshita is great example of such character), because for them their values and the filters they perceive the world through are their very identity.
Consequentially, Hikkigaya's social suicides do not hurt him, they strenghten his position, he feeds upon them. Its what keeps him going, its his drug, his worth.
Consider:
1 Hayama - Hikkigaya in ep 4 where Hayama (most likely) projects his own feelings on Hikkigaya and asks him to stop hurting himself
Hikkigaya says: "Its normal for me..." i bit later: "... I wont let anyone call that self-sacrifice. I have my convictions"
2 Hayama - Hikkigaya in the S1 ep3 tennis match
Hikkigaya says: "Hayama how many people did you play baseball with? I played alone. While you guys were being nice to each other for one reason or another, i faced all of it by myself"
3 Hikkigaya - Sagami in S1 on the roof (also beginning of S2 ep1)
Hikkigaya says: "Sagami, we are both similar, we both feed from the darkest depths of society"
4 Hiratsuka sensei afterwards
sensei: "Hikkigaya, helping someone isnt reason to hurt yourself, even if you are used to the pain"
5 Hikkigaya random monologues in S1
Hikkigaya: "Loners pride themselves on being alone. Dont understimate loners."
6 S2 ep4
Yukinoshita to Hikkigaya: "You greatly overestimate yourself if you think you can influence the whole student body alone" and "If you think everybody cares about you enough to hate you, you think far too much of yourself"
Particularly the last case subtly hints at Hikkigaya's tendency to make everyone hate him. I think he said before that hate is just as much of an acknowledgement as like. By making people hate him, he sees the society acknowledge his presence and by walking off into the distance, without anyone noticing, after another one of his despicable acts, he puts his worth against that of the whole society.
In my opinion the thing thats twisted about Hikkigaya is not that he rejects societal norms or his cynism or whatever, but the fact that he finds going against the whole world admirable, subconsciously and acts on this instinct. I dont think its ever about his methods being right or wrong, or working or not, or whose methods are better, i think its simply about his perspective and finding that small thing that can subtly change it so he can accept the world as it is and the world can accept him as he is, without any of the two changing. I dont know what that small thing is, but i feel like im this close to being able to formulate it. Lets call it something genuine for now.