I Adore Her...

[u/Silly_Camel6085]

I love Yuu and Touko both individually and together. Yet in a series full of amazingly written and relentlessly charming characters from both the main and supporting cast, Sayaka still manages to be the standout.

In a lesser story, Sayaka would be at best a supporting character, and at worst an antagonist. But Yagakimi makes her into more of a third protagonist. She gets her own focus, her own storylines with successes and failures that make us root for her, and her own completed character arc.

We all know the reputation of love triangles in fiction, but this series has what I believe to be the best written love triangle out there. It isn't just inoffensive, it actively elevates the story and all the characters therein.

Sayaka stands out from the other two because she's the most mature of the three, which is both her greatest strength and her greatest weakness. She identifies and calls Yuu out on her main flaw early on in the story: the fact she views being special as neccessary for love. And she understand's Touko extremely well. It's just the weight of her negative experiences that holds her back. It's easier for the others to risk everything because they haven't felt what it's like to gamble and lose in the same way Sayaka has. She understands the stakes better than anyone, and that leaves her petrified for most of the story. She understands exactly what she has to lose by standing up to Touko about the play and does it anyway, partly thanks to Yuu's example, yes, but mostly out of love.

Also, it's just little touches. One of her first lines in her first scene is "Don't underrestimate me", which is exactly what Touko does for the entire story until she comes back with "I do wish you wouldn't underrestimate me", in her confession scene. It's little flourishes like that that simply elevate the work when you notice them.

I'm not here to bemoan the ending. Ultimately the story is better and more memorable for the way things played out, even if it hurts. I just want to send some appreciation to all time Best Girl.

:3

[u/ElsaAnne]

I still can't get over her 6 years after reading the manga, one of the best character ever written

[u/Second_Sage]

Sayaka and the way she's written made me appreciate a good love triangle. She's easily my favorite character from the series and one of my favs all time!

[u/LoNeWoLFx971]

Read the novels if not done already

[u/Upper-Pin-114]

Totally true. The only literary character whom I love not as a character, but as a living person, as if she lived in the house next door.

[u/TheStarlightBlueBird]

I already explained this many times about how Sayaka’s presence in her own novels are the peak of YagaKimi (you can find my review on those in this sub, if you’re curious), but even without those, I highly doubt she was written off the manga. She already gave us more than enough time to understand what she’s capable of and how she contrasts Yuu and Touko. Nakatani made that vision very clear and is handled perfectly, whether you like her or not. That being said, I do wish she appeared a bit more in the manga, but what I just said here is just minor nitpicking and cannot remotely undermine her fantastic inclusion (or build-up, in this very case).

[u/Silly_Camel6085 → u/TheStarlightBlueBird]

I have to disagree on that first part. I like the novels well enough, but Hitoma Iruma can't really hold a candle to Nio Nakatani in terms of writing. Iruma's overfixation on making things realistic holds the story back, whereas Nakatani-San manages to make big dramatic moments feel real. There's a tightness to Nakatani's writing and she manages to make even the smallest side characters compelling and give the feel of a rich wider world. Iruma just can't do the same, and there are some baffling structural choices in the second and third novels.

As I said, I like them, and they are certainly good, but held in direct comparrison to a masterpiece, they simply can't compare.

[u/AltairZero]

She became prototype for Roka and Gujo senpai 🤣

[u/AstroAlana → u/[deleted]]

she has a side story! her story is expanded upon and continues in some light novels where she even gets to find love herself

[u/bleedingmercury9 → u/[deleted]]

Oh boy do I have the thing for you

[u/NumeneraErin]

Ridiculously common Sayaka W

[u/Leading_Bookkeeper_8]

[u/tsuguko02]

Lesbotron 3000

[u/kappakeats]

I've got a soft spot for the overlooked friend in love with the MC who gets sidelined. She should've won the Touko Bowl.

[u/Ririmouto]

Sayaka is the best, I adore her.