SHUFFLE!/Awesome

• SHUFFLE! gives lead man Rin a really great one in flashback when it explains the basis of his relationship with his Unlucky Childhood Friend Kaede: after both of his parents and Kaede's mother were killed while returning from a holiday early, Kaede lapsed into a coma from shock. Rin snapped her out of it by telling her, while she was unconscious in hospital, that it was his fault they died, since he'd asked them to come back early because he was lonely. Kaede snapped out of it all right -- but blamed Rin and bullied and tormented him brutally for the next several years that he was living with her as revenge, including cutting his face with a boxcutter knife. Then one night after smashing a model boat Rin had been working on, Kaede found an old letter from her mother explaining that she and Rin's parents had decided to come back early because they'd heard Kaede was ill- in the way she'd been rationalizing it, the incident hadn't been Rin's fault, it was her's and Rin had let the lie stand for years. Kaede ran out into the rain in shock and shame and nearly ran in front of a truck, but Rin dragged her back and saved her life, causing her to collapse in his arms sobbing apologies to him. The best ever rationale for an "ever-loving doormat" character like Kaede and easily the best part of the entire series.

• Rin's earning of his happy ending on the Asa route should qualify. Girl you love stubbornly refuses to help herself when she's more than capable of preventing her own death? Well then, time to kill yourself in front of her to shock her into taking action. It takes a very brave person to do that sort of thing, and a lot of faith in the person they're acting to save. His faith was not misplaced.

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