According to WebMD, “Passive-aggressive behavior is when you express negative feelings indirectly instead of openly talking about them.” So basically, their mouth says one thing, but their action says a completely different thing. Some avid anime viewers might consider the typical “Tsundere” archetype to be within this definition, but that is absolutely incorrect. The keyword here is “negative”. For somebody to have a passive-aggressive attitude, there has to be an underlying negative intention behind their words or action.
That is the reason why the main heroine in A Couple of Cuckoos, Erika Amano, is not a passive-aggressive character. She is simply a good old tsundere. What she says and what she does may be different, but it all stems mostly from her being shy and her unwillingness to admit her shortcomings. On the other hand, Sachi and Hiro are the actual harem candidates who are often shown being passive-aggressive not only towards their love interest, but also towards their fellow harem candidates. They may look timid and passive most of the time, but when it comes to pursuing their romance, they can be super aggressive. So let’s talk about some of the events in the series that truly display this interesting side of theirs.
When Sachi Being Passive Aggressive
We’ll explore two examples from both girls, so let’s start with Sachi first. The first one happens when Sachi finds out that Nagi and Erika are living together under the same roof. Sachi can’t stand the idea of Erika living together with Nagi, and how it could possibly improve their relationship even further. At the same time, she is also afraid that Nagi will end up choosing Erika and leave her behind.
So without telling anyone, Sachi decided to come and move in with them. She says it simply because it’s easier to study there, rather than in their old, cramped house. But it’s obvious that she does it because she wants to be the third wheel and prevent Nagi and Erika’s relationship to progress any more than that. And, it also allowed her to live together with Nagi just like what they’ve been doing all this time.
The second one happened when Erika invited Nagi, Hiro, and Sachi into her beach house to spend summer vacation together. To Nagi and Erika, it is imperative that Hiro doesn’t know that they live together. Needless to say, Sachi also knows about their intention to hide it from Hiro. She also knows that Nagi has a crush on Hiro, and it looks like Hiro might also reciprocate those feelings.
So on the day before their planned summer vacation, Sachi invited Hiro to come to their house. Nagi and Hiro don't know about this, so they both casually enter Sachi’s room to show her what they’ve bought from the supermarket. Imagine their surprise when they see Hiro sitting there across Sachi. And imagine Hiro’s surprise when he finally finds out that Nagi is actually living together with Erika. When confronted by Nagi, Sachi simply says that she invited Hiro because she wants to study with her. But it’s quite obvious that this simple act has once again caused a potential crack within Hiro, Nagi, and Erika’s relationship. With one move, she managed to crippled two of her rivals.
When Hiro Being Passive Aggressive
Unlike Sachi who already shows her passive-aggressive tendency from early in the series, we only get to see this side of Hiro in the second part of the series. The first incident happens during their summer vacation, right after she finds out that Nagi and Erika are living together in the same house. She is admittedly upset over this fact, partly to Nagi because he never talks about it, and also to Erika because she clearly has an unfair advantage over Hiro because they live under the same roof.
However, although she feels upset with them both, Hiro realizes that the cause of this problematic turn of events is actually Sachi. So while talking to Nagi who is currently groveling on the floor asking for her forgiveness, Hiro offhandedly mentioned the fact that Sachi might have a crush on Nagi. Surprised by this news, Nagi confronts Sachi about it, which makes her panic and deny it profusely. And just like that, Hiro gets her revenge, and also causes a setback to Sachi’s romantic development with Nagi.
The second one happens right after their summer break. So the plan is for the group to go home together with Erika’s car. However, at the very last minute, Hiro grabs Nagi’s hand and tells Erika and Sachi that there’s something that she and Nagi have to do first, so they should go home without them. Shocked by the sudden news, Erika and Sachi have no choice but accept Hiro’s proposal and go home first.
It seems that Hiro is still somewhat upset over the whole living together with Erika situation, and she also wants to spend more time together with Nagi, alone. This is by far the most aggressive move made by Hiro, or by any other character for that matter, in the story. Because thanks to a sudden downpour, they had to spend the night together. She even goes as far as lying to the innkeeper that they are a newlywed couple so that they would get the same room.
Thankfully, or unfortunately depending on how you see it, Erika and Sachi come back to get them. Both of them have a bad feeling when they think about Nagi and Hiro together, and their intuition turns out to be true. There’s nothing inappropriate happening between Hiro and Nagi that night, but her intention is clear as day to the other girls. If they’re not careful, she will snatch Nagi away from them.
Does It Work To Their Benefit?
So, does being passive-aggressive actually work to Hiro and Sachi’s benefit? Well, yes and no. On one hand, they do what they had to do in order to not only get closer to Nagi, but also to prevent the other girls from getting closer to him. And for the most part, their plans are quite successful. On the other hand, Nagi is still as clueless as ever. Not only that, despite not using any kind of calculated strategy, Erika still ends up pulling ahead of them both.
One thing worth mentioning, however, is the fact that none of these girls hate each other. On the contrary, you can say that they are the best of friends. That being said, love and friendship are two separate things. Ideally, they’d like to get Nagi’s love, while still keeping the friendship that they currently have with each other. Whether this sort of ambition is achievable or not, only time will tell. But nevertheless, seeing the spirit of competition between the girls is certainly one of the fun things about A Couple of Cuckoos.