== An unconventional reading of a bit of *Sakurasou* episode 4

(There are some small spoilers here for bits of episode 4.)

For context, we'll start with [[my tweet
https://twitter.com/cks_anime/status/277169358986420224]] to [[@vuc_
https://twitter.com/vuc_]]: Speaking of *Sakurasou*, I think there's an
interesting unconventional reading of Mashiro's tanabata wish that plays
to her theme.

(By Mashiro's theme I meant her empowerment. See the sidebar for
more background.)

In episode 4, the group has a little [[Tanabata festival
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata]] of their own and everyone
writes up their wishes. The next day, Sorata discovers that Mashiro
has not wished for anything involving herself (such as for the success
of the manga she's working on) but instead that he succeed at what
he's doing. In a conventional show, such a non-self-focused wish would
be a sign that Mashiro had fairly strong feelings for Sorata, enough
so that she'd use her wish for his happiness instead of her own. The
unconventional reading is that Mashiro doesn't wish for herself because
it's unnecessary; she knows that she doesn't need the help of a wish to
get what she wants or for her manga work to be a success. Instead she
wishes for Sorata's success *because she thinks he needs the help* and
she cares enough to give him some. She's not being selfless, she's
merely being casually generous.

(All the other people's Tanabata wishes were self-focused ones.)

PS: Mashiro is right; Sorata needs all the help he can get. There are
even some signs that the show agrees with this.

([[The usual cautions InterpretationProblem]] about reading things
into shows definitely apply to *Sakurasou*, especially since it's
based on a light novel series. On the other hand the director could
have decided to do something interesting with the raw materials to
hand.)

=== Sidebar: two readings of *Sakurasou*

There's two ways to look at *Sakurasou*. You can read it as a
conventional LN based anime with an otaku-bait premise, or you can read
it as a disguised, sharp-edged story about things like the true nature
of apparent 'genius talent' (ie that it actually involves a huge amount
of work). In the second reading, Mashiro is not a cute helpless idiot
savant space case but instead a very focused young woman who knows
exactly what she wants and works extremely hard for it.

(Naturally the second reading is popular with much of the section of the
anisphere that I follow because it makes the show much more interesting
and worthwhile. If you follow the first reading, the show is pretty much
exploitative cynicism.)