Sweet and bitter episode with the last bit leaving me flabbergasted. There is a five year time jump bringing us to 2016 but it's not the time jump itself that shocked me, it's the transformation of one particular person.
Ibuki calls
Oto out for stargazing. He tells her the stars we see now are actually from
centuries ago. Oto echoes him, musing that the stars have always been there. All these references to ‘time’ and
one-sided love are killing me. It’s hinting at more separation. Gaaaah. Of
course, a guy cannot call a girl out simply for stargazing. He intends to
confess but he does so indirectly.
Oto gets on her knees and formally rejects him but
does so indirectly as well: “Once I fall in love with someone I can’t stop
loving them so easily. Because it’s not like I fell in love with them by
choice. So even if it’s one-sided, I’ll still love them all the same.”
Ibuki gets
on his knees with her and tells her he’s the same as her. He’s accepted her
rejection yet at the same time, he’s also implied he’ll continue to love her all the same
even though it’s one-sided for him. He said so much with so little words. Literally he only said "I'm the same."
I don’t
know for certain whether Oto has
caught onto Ibuki’s declaration of love but she changes the topic: “Have you
been to Lake Inawashiro? That’s where the person I love was born. I wanted to
go there together at least once.”
Ibuki cutely asks: “Couldn’t you do that with me?”
But you
see, he’s born in Tokyo. Oto is already in Tokyo (with him).
At work a
tenant is reprimanding Ren for hogging the elevator. He demands a full out
apology (i.e. getting on your knees and bowing down completely). Ren hesitates
but Sabiki casually strolls in and does the apology exactly as demanded. I’m really starting to like Sabiki.
It’s not because he took the punishment on behalf of Ren but
how he did it so coolly. The tenant bitterly accepts the apology and
leaves. Immediately after, Sabiki smacks Ren hard with
his work gloves. Lol. Yeah. I'm really liking this guy.
Sabiki advises Ren: “You should just do this type of
pointless formality and think to yourself that guy’s an idiot.” Can I assume Sabiki has taken a
liking to Ren since he's advising him? :D
These two
have nothing better to do during work hours as Haruta trims Konatsu’s hair. She
tells him Ren is her first love because he was there during her toughest time
which was when her father cheated on her mother and left the house. Konatsu describes him as “pure and
honest.” Haruta promises he’ll make Ren fall in love with her but he also says
something scary e.g. he’ll make the girl he likes fall off the stairs. But
Konatsu smiling at the end to herself if scarier. Uh…these two… are they really a good combo? They're a little scary.
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| When Oto doesn't know what to say: Scratch, Scratch |
Ren,
Kihoko, and Oto happen to be on the same bus. It’s a little awkward as they ask
each other pointless questions. Oto
has this habit of touching her nose when she doesn’t know what to say. As
they leave, Kihoko hooks onto Ren’s arms which isn’t something common
for them. Kihoko knows something’s up between
him and Oto, doesn’t she? Kihoko has successfully made
Oto jealous when she sees them arm in arm.
When Ren
and Kihoko arrive home, Haruta and Konatsu are already inside. They start their
plan on stealing Ren’s heart. First, Konatsu slyly urges Ren to visit home
because his grandfather is injured (even though he’s all healed now) and life
has been difficult for the poor man (e.g. taking hours to walk to the grocery store).
Taking advantage of Konatsu’s distraction, Haruta smuggles Ren’s phone to the
balcony and reads Kihoko’s message (the one where she fesses up to all her
lies). With that, he realizes that Ren doesn’t love Kihoko.
[March 2011]
Oto and Ren
may have a bit of spare time this month as Oto’s company has decided not to
renew her contract and Ren decides to asks for days off to visit his hometown. In
Ren’s case, everyone thinks he’s given up on his Tokyo Dream and oddly it seems
like Sabiki’s the one who’s the most disappointed in Ren.
That
evening the two happen to be at Shizue-san’s place at the same time; she was
caring for the dog while he was buying groceries for Shizue-san. Ren tells
Shizue-san about his grandfather’s condition and grandma, our cupid, tells Oto
she ought to just accompany Ren to his hometown to visit grandpa. The two are
completely taken back by the suggestion. But you two sooooo want it. To cease the shock, Shizue-san says: “Just thinking out
loud.” And then grandma leaves the two alone in the living room. Grandma’s a pro.
Alone in
the room, Ren and Oto both sit there clueless as to how to continue the conversation
because they obviously want
to talk to each other. Not
knowing what to say, Oto plays with a ball and Ren pulls on his sweater. It’s
not until Ren is about to leave that Oto sums up her courage to speak.
Oto: If you’re worried you should go back.
Oto: Just thinking out loud.
Ren: Mind your own business.
Ren: Just thinking out loud.
Oto: Someone needs to stay with grandpa.
Oto: Thinking aloud.
Aaaand they
continue to think out loud for a
while until Ren confesses he hasn’t accomplished anything in Tokyo. He can’t go
back empty handed. But that’s not true. He saved Oto and Oto made sure to
remind him of that. It seems like her words has gotten through to him him as he nods in agreement.
 |
| Miming "that something special" |
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| Miming that "box" where "that something special" is |
Oto also
tells (and mimes) him that she won’t bring “that” up again because she’s locked
it carefully away in the far back end of the shelf (of her heart). Their love for each other? Her
love for him? Ren does the same. He mimes it and tells her he’s locked
it carefully away too. Actually
there was a scene earlier that showed Ren safely putting away the heater she
bought for Oto in a closet and shutting the door.
Their
conversation ends off on a happy note as Oto cheerily chides Ren to stop
plucking at his sweater or else he’ll damage it.
Meanwhile,
right outside Haruta overhears everything.
That night Ren has made the decision to return home in Aizu. I’m pretty sure it was
mostly because of Oto’s words, assuring him that he’s accomplished things in
Tokyo that he's set on returning to Aizu. The next day at work, Ren begs Sabiki for two days off to visit his
hometown. Sabiki orders him to get on his knees and Ren does. While Ren is still
kneeling, Sabiki initiates a conversation about katsudon (rice with pork culet)
with the other co-worker. He’s still talking about that when the
co-worker leaves and that’s when he speaks to Ren about Aizu speciality food
and restaurants. Sabiki even switches to his dialect! Omg, they're from the same town and Ren realizes it too. Ren
immediately lights up at all the Aizu references and with that Sabiki
recognizes how much Ren has yearned to return to Aizu.
Sabiki: “It’s not
fair that only you get to return.”
And that was Sabiki’s permission for Ren to go. I just like this guy more and
more.
It seems
like (almost) everyone is quite successful today. Kihoko’s new manager seemed
to have recognized her talent (from her proposal three years ago) and placed
her in charge of a project. While Oto was given a contract extension but her
success came at the expense of Ibuki’s. He’s been demoted. Now he’s cleaning
cars at his brother’s company (Well Blow Group – what a weird name).
Oto heads
to Ibuki who happily greets her. He needs to wash all the cars in the parking
lot. Without hesitation, Oto grabs a sponge and helps him clean. Initially he
was against it but she reminds him the first time they met it was at the
gasoline station, thus washing cars is her specialty. Aw.
After a
night’s work Ibuki drops off Oto at Shizue-san’s place and they awkwardly meet
Ren and Kihoko there too. There’s more to it, Haruta and Konatsu also happen to
be there witnessing the awkward group of four but they themselves are not seen.
Oto only
had the intention of visiting the dog (is anyone going to make the dog’s name formal or what? I thought it was Sasuke) but
Ibuki’s hungry so everyone is staying over for dinner. Thus, Oto has to bear
with the uncomfortableness, hiding the fact that she loves a man she can't love. She’s not very good at it though as Ibuki immediately deduces
Oto’s “one-sided” love is for Ren. Ibuki apologizes to Oto for being saying
he’s hungry. Lol.
When the
men leave to get cushions (seats) only the girls are left in the kitchen. It
takes a while for a normal conversation to start (most of the effort is coming
from Oto anyways) and when the atmosphere warms between the two, it suddenly chills
when Kihoko realizes Oto was the girl Ren met at Hokkaido a year ago. Oto
scrambles a bit but tries to explain as clear as possible that there’s nothing between
her and Ren. Kihoko avoids the conversation entirely by asking about the sweet
corn dogs at Hokkaido.
The rest of
the night goes by with all four of them laughing at the dumbest thing. However,
the mood soon turns sour when Haruta and Konatsu barge in at dinner. Haruta forcibly
brings up Kihoko’s affair, refusing to change the topic until there’s utter
silence in the room. When he drops the topic, Oto attempts to lighten the atmosphere but that’s when Konatsu explodes. She absolutely detests every
single person at this table for lying: she confronts Ren for loving someone
else while dating another; she confronts Kihoko for knowing Ren doesn’t love her
but pretending not to notice; she confronts Oto for knowing Ren is dating but
still secretly meeting him. Konatsu spares no one. She's so caught up in her outburst, she's speaking in her dialect (the one Ren and Sabiki were speaking in).
She demands
Oto to truthfully confess her feelings for Ren but Oto can’t answer. Tears are brimming
her eyes though. Oto looks to Ren and he holds her gaze. Witnessing their exchange,
Kihoko finally breaks down in tears. Konatsu
continues to urge Oto to follow her and say “Ren, I love you.” However, it’s Konatsu
who keeps repeating the line over and over again, tearfully revealing her true
feelings. Wow. her monologue of confronting everyone's lies leads to her own truthful confession. So beautifully done.
Dinner is
now successfully ruined. Grandma pulls Kontasu aside and Haruta leaves. I like how Ibuki confronts Haruta
for leaving since he was the one that brought about the mess but I’d like to
point out that Ibuki was the one that had unleashed this mess for being hungry. Ren tries to
comfort Kihoko but she jerks away at his touch. Meanwhile Oto is holding back
her tears.
I just realized
the only one that makes Oto cry is Ren. She’s the only one that hasn’t broken
down into tears.
The morning
when Ren leaves for Aizu he finds a notebook at his window sill. It’s a present
from Oto and it’s all her notes on therapy and exercises for seniors. Omg. So neat! So thoughtful! There’s
also a candy in the bag. Oto had actually stayed up until dawn to write the
notes for him. (Meanwhile Kihoko is still ignoring his calls)
When Ren
arrives at Aizu, the first thing he visits (isn’t grandpa) is Lake Inawashiro.
Digging in his pockets, he brings out the candy Oto gave him along with the
notebook. Omg. It’s like he
bought Oto with him! He eats the candy while staring at the beautiful
lake.
Wikipedia tells me
Lake Inawashiro is also known as “Heavenly Mirror Lake”. Just a little fyi.
Back at
Tokyo, Oto is with Shizue-san who complains that Oto and Ren are too like at
being too honest. Grandma assures Oto it’s okay to be a little sly (i.e. follow
Ren back home) if her feelings were genuine.
Oto explains to Shizue-san she’s fine with things
as is: “You see, I truly fell in love with him. It lasted a short time but I
truly did. I’m fine with just that, having loved him. I’m very happy I did.
I’ve been thinking this the whole time: that someday, when I remember this love, I will surely cry. Cue piano.
At Aizu,
Ren and Grandpa finally meet each other. Ren tells him he’s back to fix the
lightbulbs. Aw. He
also fixes the bath. When Ren prepares the tepid bath for grandpa, he’s too
busy making his lantern-like-things. Ren compliments his grandpa’s handcraft and
wishes he could make these with him. I don’t like the sound of that.
Ren assures
him that he’s doing well in Tokyo. He brags that people would remember him as
the man who lived in Aizu (despite not knowing where Aizu is). Ren confesses
that when he hated Tokyo he couldn’t return home but not that he loves Tokyo, he can
return. Ren promises his grandpa that no matter how many years it’ll take,
he’ll work with grandpa on the field. What? He’s not going back to Tokyo? So Sabiki was right ):
When
grandpa heads in for his tepid bath, Konatsu is at Ren’s door but Ren coldly
shuts it on her. Well, she deserved
it.
[January 2016]
Oto hasn’t
seen Ren since. ARE YOU
KIDDING ME. She’s still in Tokyo and she still works at the same place
but she’s been promoted. Even their washroom at the nursing home looks promoted.
Seriously. So much high tech
stuff.
Even though
it’s been FIVE YEARS Oto still thinks about Mr. Mover.
Just a little note here: Oto is taking the subway
again now that Ren isn’t here.
Switch
scenes to a man (whose face is hidden) feeding a random dog some food. It’s
Ren. In a fine looking suit. Looking horrible. Sorry.
Haruta,
also in a suit, comes telling him that the subway is delayed (because of
someone committing suicide). Irritated, Ren clicks his tongue and opts for a
taxi. HE CLICKED HIS TONGUE?
YO. NOT COOL. And why you take taxi. You take buses!
Okay. What
the heck happened?! I did not expect to be this shocked. There better be a darn
good reason as to why Ren changed to this. It may have something to do with the
deadly earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan in March of 2011. The drama was
hinting it a lot with the March 2011 reference and also Sakagami Jirou’s death being
just one day shy of the deadly earthquake. Correct me if I’m wrong but after a
few minutes of googling, I think Lake Inawashiro was also affected by the
radiation (the aftermath of the tsunami). I have no idea how any of this will
come into play for the next episode but the natural disaster must have been the
catalyst to Ren’s current “successful-looking” state. And then there’s also
that lantern thing.
I mentioned
a Cinderella trope in this drama when she first lost her shoe but left Prince
Charming and then when she fastened her shoe she found her charioteer (Ren) but
I might need to back track a little. With Ren being successful, has he taken on
the role as Prince Charming? Although Ren may have achieved his American Tokyo Dream, I know for certain that’s not the Ren Oto
loves. Especially not the Ren that clicks his tongue at subway delays. Man that
was disappointing.
Either way
whether Oto will love the current Ren or not, she will always love Mr. Mover. She
said so herself when she was stargazing with Ibuki: “I’ll still love them all
the same.” Even though they’re not taking the bus anymore, they’ll find each
other again. Siiiigh~~ We're back to subways again now.
Konatsu was
disappointing too. I just can’t like her even though she pointed out the truth
about everyone being liars. I was surprised at how much truth there was in her confrontation
to Oto about secretly meeting Ren despite knowing he’s dating. I was always on
Oto’s side so I was blinded by that truth. But oh well. I’d support her over
and over again. I’m no justice-holder.
Back to
Konatsu, as much as I don’t like the actress behind her character, there was a
lot of detail about her character I liked. When she described the Ren she loved
she called him “pure and honest.” When she realized how dishonest Ren had been
to Kihoko for not loving her entirely while dating her and to Oto for loving her
but being unable to date her, she was utterly disappointed in Ren so much that
she’d given up completely on making Ren fall in love with her. It’s only
because Konatsu is so naïve and pure (and so insensitive) that she can be so
brutally honest about everyone and herself while all the others were hiding
their own feelings. With that I can sloooooooooooowly understand why Haruta is
in love with her.
And yikes. Here I
thought one year was too long but five years and Oto is still thinking about
her Mr. Mover. That’s some dedication. Technically they’ve only known each other
for roughly three months but he’s been in her heart for more than six years.
Just a wee
bit more about the romance in this episode. I love that Ren brought the candy
to eat after he’s arrived at Lake Inawashiro. It’s like he purposely bought Oto
with him to the lake. So sweet.
Credits to Sanashi (for subbing) and Cubical Noses (for timing). So thankful for all the side notes they add as well!! (:
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