I will say, as much I despise Karin and as sickening as it was to watch, this was a really good episode.
They did a great job of showing the process of how Karin became the monster she is today. It’s been obvious from the start that the main antagonist in this whole shit-storm are the biological parents. Even before Karin had been declared as Youta’s bride, the parents were hot garbage— in-fact, I don’t even want to call them such. They are just that bad, the kind that really shouldn’t be allowed to have kids, period. Pretty much the moment Karin was born, Yuzu became an afterthought. Money was always tight for them back then, but apparently spoiling Karin was okay! They’d always brush Yuzu off, using excuses like because she’s the “big sister” she had to suck it up. So Karin gets a giant dolphin plushie, and Yuzu can’t even get a freaking keychain. Or Karin can get whatever she likes at the diner when they eat out, but Yuzu who feels there’s no longer a point of even asking for anything, will only get a beverage. They buy cake to celebrate for Karin, no slice for Yuzu! Don’t even get me started on the lack of clothes! Unbelievable. It was as though Yuzu didn’t even exist! Frankly given how long this whole child abuse been going on, the Grandparents should have just taken her as soon as the parents refused to care for her when she was running a high fever! What if she had to be hospitalized?! You can’t leave a kid with a fever unattended!
Karin had noticed these things, and brought them up, but being as young as she was, she didn’t understand it enough to challenge it more, nor did she and Yuzu ever talk about it, nor did Karin herself seem to do anything to try to help or offer Yuzu anything when she noticed something was amiss.
We also got to see the exact moment the parents came up with the scheme to invest in Karin. It came about when they were at a restaurant nd Karin noticed a Kakuriyo Academy student (a highly competitive school where Humans and Demons attend together). She didn’t understand what Demons were at the time, she just was told they were powerful and thought their school uniform was super cute. So she pleaded her parents to enrol.
And that’s when things went from bad to worse.The mother’s additude shifted from scolding her husband for never saying no to Karin, to being the very person to suggest that they invest in Karin and if successfully, they’ll reap profits in return. The father was immediately on board with that. It was a huge gamble given that they didn’t and probably still don’t know that the special brides are chosen by Demon’s instincts. Not because they are pretty, have a nice personality or has talent. But they were never punished for their gamble because instead, they scored the jackpot– on Karin’s first day at Kakuriyo Academy no less. And that was the problem. since they faced no consequences for their selfishness, the parents became greedier, they’d ask Karin constantly to ask Youta for more money. They were and still are absolutely shameless delusional parasites!
Another problem is that despite being the “favourite child”, she became insecure for affection. She knew that she was missing something profound in her life. While Youta gave her the warmth she longed for, she sought warmth from family. She never got that genuine warmth from her parents (except for maybe before they came up with the scheme to turn her into an investment), so she envied Yuzu’s bond with their grandparents. That’s why she wanted her dress. It was a gift that was given to Yuzu with no strings-attached. The moment she became Youta’s bride, everything that her parents had given to her had strings-attached. It’s also worth pointing out that Karin was deeply uncomfortable with the fact members of Kogetsu clan refused to call her by her name. She disliked that she was only regarded as “a bride”, because you could say she was being treated like an object instead of a person.
While all of this was sickening to watch, I still find it difficult to feel bad for Karin when she has turned a blind eye to the signs of Yuzu’s neglect, and even eventually joined the party of ensuring she suffers. I understand as a child, she couldn’t do much because she didn’t fully understand things (which is also why the whole thing of becoming Youta’s promised betrothed at that age is even more unnerving). Not to mention, her parents essentially conditioning her to believe things to be accepted as they are. In this case, they always made excuses why it was okay to neglect Yuzu and not care for her.
But she starts to run out of excuses once she’s older. The questions she once asked about why Yuzu wasn’t getting her share of gifts and food, and holes in her socks disappeared altogether, and instead she felt Yuzu was not grateful for Karin financially supporting the family by being Youta’s bride. But how could Yuzu when she never benefited from it? That was something Karin should have been able to see plain as day. But she didn’t because she turned into a narcissist monster instead, and decidedly joins the abuser bandwagon because she’s the “chosen one”. Since then, she has both verbally and physically abused Yuzu relentlessly, all because she blame her instead of her parents, who are the main culprit for her insecurity in the first place. This is not Yuzu’s fault. She’s the victim, the child who was neglected and completely abandoned in Karin’s favour.
On top of that, it’s worth pointing out that Karin probably wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place if she herself grew a spine and pushed back against the parents, or had chosen to ignore her parents when she had realized they were asking for too much, and seek Youta’s support to get away from them. Unfortunately, she kept giving into them because she had been essentially conditioned to do so.
It also doesn’t help that for pretty much her entire life, everyone always said “yes” to her. So she truly believed whatever she asked for and whatever she does, because Youta always said “yes”, and thought because she was his bride, he’d forgive her. But while Youta might, she failed to account that his clan, namely the head of the family Nadeshiko, wouldn’t let such actions slide– especially if it puts them at risk by angering another clan such as the Kiryuuin. So it’s no wonder that the clan’s views on her has turned into contempt. Everyone but Youta understood what was going on when Karin would ask for more and more money on her greedy parents behalf. And now, Karin really thought she could just get away with anything, was too blinded by her own ego to heed Youta’s pleas and warning to stay away from Yuzu.
But no, Karin has to be the center of the universe, she had to be number one. Yuzu’s not allowed to have anything better than her. This is class case of narcissism. Instead of protecting her relationship with Youta, she prioritized her ego and now it’s all royally blowing up in her face for all to see. And sure enough, Nadeshiko has just annulled their engagement. The consequences of Karin’s actions is entirely self-inflicted on her inability to stop antagonizing Yuzu the way she has. Hell, she didn’t even acknowledge her wrongdoing after shoving Yuzu down the stairs. She didn’t bat an eye that everyone had witnessed what had just unfolded, she didn’t understand the severity of the situation. She was completely in her own world.
That’s why in this moment, I genuinely feel sad for Youta because while he has hurt Yuzu terribly (and yet to apologize to her directly for it), it’s Karin’s selfish actions that going to make him suffer the most. He truly loved her, we’ve seen that much (though we can all agree it was definitely not a healthy one for him.) Karin won’t suffer the same way as he will, as a demon being forcibly separated from their destined bride is probably going to be the most agonizing thing. A Human has a better chance of moving on with their lives.
With all that said and done, I half wonder if Karin’s truly going to reap the full consequences of her actions. I half worry Yuzu is going to step in and try to save their relationship since she knows how special a bond is between a demon and their destined bride. But frankly Karin needs to be away from both her parents and Youta, and undergo counselling before she should have any hopes of reuniting with Youta. As she is right now, he would be better off without her.
