I like Yukimura just fine from what I've seen so far, too. Basically, I have no problem with characters, male or female, who are cheerfully open about liking casual sex and don't seem to mistreat or look down on their partners; it's the ones who are deceptive and/or manipulative to prospective partners, or who treat them like things to be used for their convenience rather than fellow humans who are also out for a mutual good time, that really set my teeth on edge.
He also doesn't seem to have the "I have sex with a string of people to distract myself from my angst, but I discard and forget them right after. With Gojyo, it seems to be actively looking for a connection in the wrong way, instead of using it to avoid deeper connections.
Hmm, interesting -- see, I would have said that to my eyes, there is definitely an element of "sleep around as short-term distraction from pain" to the kappa, but he doesn't angst about it constantly and openly. That's a big plus for all the Saiyuki characters to me, honestly -- pretty much every last one of them has massive reasons for angst, but except when it's necessary to plot they mostly just do their sometimes dysfunctional best to just get on with their lives, instead of sitting around whingeing endlessly about how much their lives suck.
I would agree that he's longing for a deeper connection while going about it all wrong, but at the same time I also tend to think there's a (possibly quite unconscious) level of self-sabotaging avoidance of deeper connections going on at the same time; those same bargirls he focuses on seem like they're a lot more interested in finding Mr. Right NOW rather than Mr. Right. The "nice girls" like Shunrei, he seems wistfully interested in but always seems to have some excuse not to do more than his baseline casual flirting: the boy's got enough self-esteem Issues that I really tend to see him not feeling like he's got anything to offer a nice girl who's looking for a nice long-term prospect she can take home to meet her family, and sticking to girls who are only interested in one-night stands neatly lets him sidestep that whole issue.
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He also doesn't seem to have the "I have sex with a string of people to distract myself from my angst, but I discard and forget them right after. With Gojyo, it seems to be actively looking for a connection in the wrong way, instead of using it to avoid deeper connections.
Hmm, interesting -- see, I would have said that to my eyes, there is definitely an element of "sleep around as short-term distraction from pain" to the kappa, but he doesn't angst about it constantly and openly. That's a big plus for all the Saiyuki characters to me, honestly -- pretty much every last one of them has massive reasons for angst, but except when it's necessary to plot they mostly just do their sometimes dysfunctional best to just get on with their lives, instead of sitting around whingeing endlessly about how much their lives suck.
I would agree that he's longing for a deeper connection while going about it all wrong, but at the same time I also tend to think there's a (possibly quite unconscious) level of self-sabotaging avoidance of deeper connections going on at the same time; those same bargirls he focuses on seem like they're a lot more interested in finding Mr. Right NOW rather than Mr. Right. The "nice girls" like Shunrei, he seems wistfully interested in but always seems to have some excuse not to do more than his baseline casual flirting: the boy's got enough self-esteem Issues that I really tend to see him not feeling like he's got anything to offer a nice girl who's looking for a nice long-term prospect she can take home to meet her family, and sticking to girls who are only interested in one-night stands neatly lets him sidestep that whole issue.