In Nana, Ai Yawazawa would have eventually redeemed Takumi

Hot take on Takumi. I think Takumi was going to be redeemed if the Manga was ever finished. Unlike a lot of people in this sub I personally believe rapists can be redeemed. Especially rapists like Takumi, because many men the average person knows and love aren't that much different than Takumi. (I also just believe in Redemption and Rehabilitation in general but in sexual assault and rape there is a non-insignificant percentage that is done by men who don't know they're doing it because they are brainwashed by bad sexual culture)

I've had to teach consent to ninth graders, I even got pushback when I told them hey you need to make sure you're actually asking for consent because you don't want to accidentally rape someone because you think that they're having a good time. That is 9th graders in 2026 mind you now if we consider the culture of the early 2000s its even worse. I'll be honest most of the men in your life have likely committed rape/sexual assault, due to bad sexual culture wouldn't know or think they have committed rape. (This is why I think men are afraid fake sexual assault allegations because they know bad sexual culture may have impacted their behaviour which means they might have commited sexual assault/rape)

I don't think that Takumi even knows he raped Hachi, I think he thinks Hachi was playing hard to get and because she didn't fight him she wanted it. Why do I think this is how Takumi views it? Because that's how many men that I grew up around in North America (Japan is even more conservative) would have believed and viewed it as. I also know that most girls in the 2000s probably would have saw Takumi as a hottie and really wouldn't think that what he did to Hachi was that big a deal, because many of them lived through worse. Because of this I honestly think that if Ai ever finishes the novel Takumi will end up being Hachi's partner for real/redemption arc.

*I would have posted this in Nana Anime but they think I am trying to downplay what Takumi did and won't allow the discussion at all even though im offering my perspective as a suvivor. (They also don't believe rapists can be redeemed so perhaps thats why, that is a perspective I fundamentally disagree with because it creates more rapists.) To be clear I am not downplaying it at all, Takumi is a rapist and did a horrible thing. This post is meant to discuss the historical perspectives on rape/sexual assault and how people view a character. *