I Wanna Talk About Anzai

I wanna talk about Anzai

I love him and i think he's an amazing and Extremely Overlooked character so im gonna ramble. sorry.

like i get it, he kind of has Chronic Background Character Syndrome (fortunately for him i have a Thing for characters like that) and he's not all that strong of a fighter. But he played a HUGE role in helping sakura grow and open up.

He was one of the first bofurin students to be casually friendly with Sakura and make him feel welcome after the fight with Sugishita

And he's the one who gets Sakura really thinking about what he can do for his class, and how to put Umemiya's words into action. Up till chapter 38 Sakura would just swing at whatever problem was directly in front of him, but Anzai changes that

It's clear that Sakura and Anzai have some traits in common too. Anzai tries to deal with Keel on his own, without asking for help or bothering anyone else. Sakura clearly respects that and sees something of himself in Anzai. He doesn't commit to getting involved in his business until he sees that Tsuchiya and Nagato are also hurt and that Anzai definitely Can't deal with it on his own

In the fight against Keel, even though he's grandstanding and being way too self-focused, Sakura still prioritizes clearing the way for Anzai to get to Nagato before anything else. It doesn't work out but i think this was the first step Sakura took in learning to work as a team and protecting someone's back (think later when he and Sugishita team up on the bridge)

and anzai is, of course, the first one to go down in that fight too. Nirei is the more important one but Anzai going down is the start of Sakura freezing up and losing control

And then the kicker for me is Anzai's forgiveness. First of Nagato, and then of Sakura. He prioritizes open communication and lets both of them get out all of their fears and insecurities and vent about how unforgivable and unlovable they think they are. And then he calls them dumbasses and reminds them that there's nothing that needs forgiving. That conversation with Nagato is one of the reasons Sakura even works up the courage to admit his fears to everyone.

And of course in That Scene(TM) in chapter 60 everyone pitches in on the conversation. But out of everyone in the class, all the people that Sakura had been building friendships with this whole time. The one who says it directly to his face is Anzai. Someone he identified with, someone he wanted to help, someone he failed to protect, someone he was terrified of being rejected by. Anzai is the one who grabs him by the neck and says Who gives a shit? We care about you, and nothing you do or say will change that.

and THAT LINE is what gets us this

anyway in conclusion i need more love and appreciation for anzai, he's such a good and kind person and the story uses him SO well. Solidly a top-5 character to me, maybe even a top 3