Yumi didn’t deserve what she got in “Matador” and “Things That Hurt”. But at the same time, Futaba didn’t deserve to be bullied by Yumi for so many years. Yumi was really awful towards her and was likely the sole reason for her bulimia problem to start with.
That said, Nodoka went way too far. That’s not just revenge, it
is a series of crimes. And despite Yumi being able to walk away from it in one of the paths, that’s entirely dependent on if she knows about Sensei’s relationship with Chika or not.
Obviously the Yumi on the other path is gonna give in to the blackmail, because she’s afraid of hurting her best friend who likes the same guy she does and she’s the only family she has.
I don’t blame Yumi for screaming “I’ll kill you” to Nodoka when beating the shit out of her either. The fuck else was she meant to say after being mentally scarred?
You know what they say: “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” Yumi was wrong for bullying Futaba and Nodoka was wrong for sexually assaulting her and roping Sensei into the mix too.
To play devil’s advocate for Nodoka for a moment, though, I think she’s way too overhated. Like okay sure, the Yumi thing didn’t earn her any points, but as we’ve learned… most of what she does, she does not out of malice, but as a way to shape the world herself.
Just look at what happened after she outed Io’s backstory in front of everyone. It made Io
uncomfortable, but will ultimately over time be able to
move her forward. You can even compare this to Tsuneyo’s standup routine in Dorm Wars 2. It served the exact same purpose.
Even last update, where Nodoka caught on to a lot of aspects about their world, including the time loops and gateways between existential planes.
Nodoka’s fucking weird and polarizing, but also interesting.
Imo Otoha is a way more hatable character. Her betrayal of Rin multiple times and her annoyingly aloof demeanor never fails to get a lip smack out of me.
Chika’s the one who summed it up best:
There are way too many replies so I'll just sum it up without linking a specific one:
