Talk:Tooru Mutsuki/@comment-142.105.20.200-20150124050012/@comment-10733658-20150124051848

Well, honestly it seems like things are very much up in the air. From discussions further down about the original Japanese (Old McDonald is awesome for offering insight) it seems there is some nuance in the phrasing/wording that doesn't come across easily in translation. Basically, it seems to be a sort of open-ended statement that involves multiple possibilities -- the examples McDonald used were how if your boyfriend didn't return your text yet, that doesn't mean you've been dumped. (But it could also mean exactly that.) Or how being released from the hospital could mean you're fully healed, but doesn't necessarily mean you are. It's an interesting choice Ishida made, since he's very prone to very purposeful choices in language.

I admit, I'm really not fond of the idea of "Mutsuki got abused/raped so pretends to be a dude" because I've never seen that cliche handled or written in a way that wasn't a complete trainwreck. If Mutsuki is just pretending, and that's the motivation as opposed to some actual goal (think Mulan or Utena, a++ crossdressing ladies) then I'd be very disappointed.