Final Episode!
Oto goes back to square one but is it really all the same? Just like Ren who went back to his hometown in Episode 5 and came back being all emotionless, will Oto have the same fate?
Nope. Oto's a strong one but she'll need just a little support and Ren provides much more than that and more.
After the news of Oto’s injury, everyone frantically rushes
to the hospital. Nara was at the police station and comes back to the hospital
asking for Oto’s whereabouts. She’s worried about Oto but she also wants Oto to
prove the “thief’s” innocence because no one at the police station would
believe her. Ibuki angrily tells her Oto is still unconscious and he also won’t
hear her out on her story. But Ren does.
Ibuki finds Oto’s Mother’s letter and tears up as he reads her
mother’s wishes for Oto to be happy. Then he finds another letter which Oto had
recently written to her mother. While he’s hesitating on reading it Kihoko
walks in. He wonders what would have happened if he were the one to have found
Oto’s letter and whether he would have done the same as Ren. Kihoko assures him
a normal person wouldn’t have done what Ren had. And because Ren did that for Oto, Ren is the chosen
one. That’s my opinion though. Kihoko also assures him that whatever the
content of the letter is, Oto had chosen Ibuki. Ren overhears this. And because of this, Ren decides
to keep his distance from Oto.
Its morning and Oto finally regains her consciousness but
when everyone visits her Ren leaves before seeing her. However, he only left
after he heard she was laughing albeit it was a tough decision for him still.
In other words he made sure she was healthy and well before he left. He didn’t
leave to give Ibuki and her alone time though he’s going to settle the case for
Nara at the police station, which happens to be the exact same time Oto is
worried about the minute she wakes up. Kihoko was the first one to realize that
Ren went to settle it for her. Awwwww.
Kihoko is so smart! Meanwhile I think Ibuki’s realized he’s not the one for
Oto.
Nara and Mr. Thief relay their gratitude to Ren and tells
him when they went to visit Oto she had already left the hospital. Oddly, it
doesn’t seem like Ren had visited Oto recently because it’s news to him that
she was discharged.
Ibuki sends her home but he gets nobler than that. He’s
setting Oto free. He lies to her saying he doesn’t love her anymore and wants
to break up with her. When she tells him she’s decided to choose him, Ibuki replies, “Love isn’t something
you decide. It happens without a warning.” He apologizes for exploiting her
kindness. Oto cries knowing this is his way of loving her, to send her to Ren.
She cries at his kindness. He wants to wipe her tears with his hands but holds
himself back.
I like
that he’s walking proudly towards the sun unlike previous episodes where he’s
crumbling to his knees in the middle of the night on the exact same path.
Later Oto receives a phone call and answers as “Hayashida”
Oto.
Konatsu is all healed from her traumatic experience during
the tsunami. Happier than her about her recovery is Haruta though. I’m just glad Konatsu is no longer
Ren’s responsibility. Ren, you’re free to go too!
She’s preparing for the children’s play and Haruta helps
her. Konatsu tells him, “You don’t
need to lie to me or should I say I’ll take in all your lies and truths and
believe them…and then one day you’ll be able to be honest.“ Haruta sniffles in
a corner but he’s too embarrassed to reveal his face so he grabs a lion head
and puts it over his. He pulls her in for a hug and she rests on his shoulders.
This time Haruta
properly tells her, “I love you, Konatsu.” He uses the lion muzzle to nuzzle
her nose.
Laughing she removes his costume
and now he kisses her for real.
It’s a month later and a lot has changed. Ibuki’s brother
started to respect him again because he’s found a new way to convince his father
the benefits of keeping the companies they bought instead of firing all the
employees. His dad is also starting to recognize his abilities.
Kihoko finally got her proposal in a proposal and she
brightly accepts it on the spot. Her gulping down a drink like this reminds me of when she got her
(project) proposal accepted for the first time at her old work place. That was
also the first time I found her lovable.
Sabiki also seems to have a girlfriend. He's got a handmade bento and there's a heart shaped seaweed in there. Aw! It was cute how frantic he was to close that lid when he saw the heart.
Only Ren
and Oto are left. But Ren still hasn’t seen Oto and when he does go
looking for her, she’s already gone. Oto’s Foster Dad passed away and she had
decided to quit her job to move back to Hokkaido to care for her aunt. While
she’s packing she shreds her letter she had written to her mom. In the letter
she tells her mom her life in Tokyo: it’s hard work and she doesn’t earn much
but she’s grateful for the simple things she has and the simple thankyou’s she
gets.
Oto is sufficient
with just the memories of her love, like this one: “On a bus running through
the city late at night, sitting on the third seat from the back are a mover and
a care worker. ‘You’re working hard.’ ‘You are too.’”
Oto’s letter
continued: “Sometimes I wonder is this world something beautiful or something
frightening. Maybe it’s all mixed together. That’s why you won’t find nice
things unless you look for them. Switch scenes to Ren looking at the box of white
peaches**. There was a person who taught me that. The view I saw alone
and the view we saw together were completely different. Mom, I have a favour to
ask you, please lock away my love. You know, just like you said I would, I met
a person I fell in love with. Oto opens her canned peaches. I fell fully in love.”
She finishes the peaches and even drinks the sugary water to
the very last drip. I hope
it’s not expired. And is this her way of ending her love?
She wants to tell her six-year-old self she won’t be alone
when she grows up because a truck driver will appear before her, bringing her
lots of canned peaches and when he’s given a candy, he’ll crunch it down. Sort of like telling a child a
Cinderella story but instead of having Prince Charming, it’s Mr. Mover.
Hey isn't this the picture Ren took when he was waiting for Oto at the end of the last episode? Does that mean she heard his voice message?
Ren runs through the rain and is all drenched when she
arrives at Oto’s apartment but everything has already been emptied out. Ren
calls Oto and I’m so glad
she picks up. She tells him she’s just going back to where she started
and nothing has changed. She’s quite curt to him. When she wants to hand up,
Ren blurts out he’ll meet her at that family restaurant on Monday at 6 because
there’s something she hasn’t responded yet. Clack. Oto hangs up.
Hey it’s snowing at her end. Notice the coat she’s wearing though because she changes it in the next scene to the coat she wore in Episode 1. She still has that coat?
Monday at 6pm at the family restaurant. The moment she sits down, she calls over the waitress and
only orders coffee for herself with no intention of eating with Ren or even bothering to
ask him if he’s ready to order. Oto remains mostly emotionless when she
answers Ren’s questions about her auntie. Oto also mundanely complains about
her apartment, her job, and Tokyo in general.
Ren tries to change the topic by ordering food and he orders
the exact same thing again from their first dinner – or that’s what he thought
he did. Oto peevishly reminds him it was with tomato sauce instead of demi-glace
but when Ren wants to change the order, Oto finally cracks a smile and tells him to forget it. She’s
slowly returning to the Oto we’re all familiar with as she admits she got lost
at Roppongi Hills. Ren advises her not to look up there otherwise people would
know she’s non-native. Oto’s arguments goes like so: Sasuke always looks up
when he’s hungry but he’s also a Tokyo-ian. And then they argue who Sasuke
resembles, Oto or Ren. These
two are good at talking about anything. When she catches herself from
laughing too much, she tries to stop herself by lying that it’s not funny.
On the topic of Sasuke, he promises to bring him to her but
she makes up all sorts of excuses highlighting the inconveniences but Ren
doesn’t care; he only worries that he’s bothering her. But nope. Oto confesses
she’s touched by his gestures.
Oto: I’m happy.
Of course I’m happy. I’m extremely happy right now that you came. You know
Auntie told me to stay in Tokyo but I couldn’t. She can’t live alone. And there’s
also Ibuki. Because he’s so kind I can’t return to Tokyo. I will live here. Mr.
Mover, I love you. I love you. I really do. Did she switch to her dialect? (It's interesting when they switch to their dialect because it means their emotional)
Oto then asks him to send her pictures of Sasuke so she can stare
at them and sleep well. I think she'd be better of with Ren's selfies. Ahem.
The waitress brings their food but she brings them the wrong
dishes which happens to exchange out the demi-glace with tomato. They both
laugh at how lucky they.
While he’s cutting the meat for her, Ren tells her, “You’re not back to where you started. The you I met
back then and the current you are completely different. As someone who did
their best who lived by doing their best it may not be visible to the naked eye
but such things leave a mark on the heart. On your heart, on the hearts of
those you’ve met, on my heart. Hokkaido isn’t far. I’ll come many times. There
are roads after all. And I’ll take them by car or by train and we’ve yet to
follow through with our plan to go to Aizu. I want to show you Lake Inawashiro.
I want you to try my grandpa’s daikon. As long as there are roads and plans
with a little luck we’ll meet again.”
Oto smiles, cries, and nods, agreeing to his plans.
Ren: Me too. I
love you too. Their third
confession. Third time’s the charm?
It’s snowing again (while it was raining in Episode 1). This time he takes her
hand in his and they run to the truck. There’s a pause as they hold each
other’s gazes and so Ren decisively moves in for a kiss. Hey, their first kiss (that Oto forced on him) happened in this truck too.
Now they’re shy. Later when she tells him to take her back
home she points him to a different route and he thinks it’s a shortcut but nope
it’s the longcut. Heh.
The last scene of the drama:
♦ ♦ ♦ Comments ♦ ♦ ♦
A beautiful ending to the drama but it’s not an amazing ending.
(Honestly I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied with any ending to a drama I
love.) It delivered what I expected but it’s also that lack of surprise that
made the ending slightly lacking for me but after understanding the grander
themes of this drama I’ve realized this ending was the perfect fit for Ren and
Oto.
Before I get on with my essays (^^) I do like the happy
endings for all the other characters. I never realized how they paired off
Konatsu and Haruta under the theme of Truth and Lies. Kihoko gulping down that
drink reminded me of when I started loving her. And thank you show for not
forgetting to give Sabiki some love.
Mom and Oto’s Letter
Oto’s letter to her mom was a reply to her mother’s: she
remains the girl that has the strength to push through life; she’s met many
people and lived the way she wanted (for most part); she was lonely but then
she met Ren; she’s properly fallen in love; she’s left a mark on his heart and
he to hers as well. But Oto rips up her letter because she thought she had to
give up the life her mother had wanted for her. Even so Oto was grateful she had
the memories of her love. (But obviously we know Oto has more than just
memories for her ending with Ren.)
When Oto mentions “something
beautiful or something frightening” she’s referring to that sky she saw when
she was six. That "someone" who taught her to find nice things she needed to
look for it was Ren. I'd reckon Ren didn’t exactly teach her, Ren was the “nice
thing” Oto was looking for. From Episode 2 onwards it was always Oto looking
for Ren: she would wait for him every day and night at the subway exit.
Since Oto went through all that to find Ren, I think Ren deserves to go through curves and bumps just to find
Oto this time. At 24:40 while Oto was narrating, “You won’t find nice things,
unless you look for them” the scene switches to Ren looking at the boxes of
canned peaches. That's the moment Ren decides to look for
Oto, his “nice thing”. However, Ren still has it waaaaay easier finding her compared to Oto finding him. If Oto’s cold attitude was to get back at Ren for what she's been through, I think Ren deserves it.
As for more proof of whether Oto heard Ren’s voice message I
think it’s in the line “The view I saw alone and the view we saw together were
completely different.” I think the latter view she was referring to was that
sunrise Ren had mentioned in the voice message.
Transportation and Hope
I think I’ve finally got a
hold of why there was so much focus on transportation in this drama.
There’s a saying, “If there’s a will, there’s a way.” Ren’s
last blurb captured this saying perfectly. There are plenty of ways to a
destination, it’s just whether one has the will or the hope. This drama is all
about finding that hope and persevering until the very end. For Ren, Oto symbolized that hope and he’ll chase after her using whatever
means he can, whether it be cars, trains, buses, or trucks. This gives
an added importance to why this drama was set in Tokyo because it's a city where you can
easily walk past three subway stations; there are ample of ways to
arrive at the same destination as long as there's a will. Tokyo is a place of opportunities, there isn't just one way to achieve your dream and that's the theme of this drama: finding hope
in a seemingly hopeless city.
With that analogy, I really like the last bit Oto added in the drama where she told
Ren to take the detour over the shortcut. I thought it was just a cute scene but it meant to highlight the long way isn't always a setback, it can actually bring more joy. The stipulation though, is you’ve gotta have a will, which is why the final
scene of the drama is that purple flower growing in the pavement, a symbol of
will (and hope).
[Extra thought] Actually all the characters in this drama took the
long way to happiness. But then again is there a shortcut to happiness? When it comes to ourselves, we'll always think we have the harder road, while for others we'll think they have the easier route. It’s all psychological; every path has its
thorns. Even if a shortcut does exist, will a shortcut to happiness make us
appreciate the happiness more? I think not. Here 's another question: is it the goal that matters to you or the process?
So instead of thinking whether you’ve taken the long way, short way, tall way, fat way, skinny way, it just happens to be your road to happiness. Embrace it.
So instead of thinking whether you’ve taken the long way, short way, tall way, fat way, skinny way, it just happens to be your road to happiness. Embrace it.
Cinderella and Oto
The Cinderella theme is obvious especially with the pumpkin chariot
peach truck and Prince Charming, it’s just the drama reversed its story. Oto doesn’t want a Prince Charming, she wants
her simple guy. Oto lost her shoe when she ran away from home, well forget that
shoe, she doesn't want to use it to find Prince Charming, she’ll just wear Ren’s slippers. Clearly then, the ending is also
reversed. For Oto, instead of living happily-ever-after in her palace with her
Prince Charming, she’s not living in her palace anymore (i.e. Tokyo), she’s
going back to her not-so-evil-stepmom. And finally, it’s obvious she didn’t choose the Prince
Charming(s), she chose Ren, the charioteer.
It did keep one part of the
ending though: it’s a happily-ever-after. It definitely is. There’s no way
they’d break up. These two have loved each other with barely anything to hang
on to. She can love him just by staring at her peach can and he can love her
just by staring at the sunrise. Their first phone call and text message
happened nearly after seven years of knowing each other. They don’t even have proper
pictures of each other, they only have flower pictures. There’s nothing they
can’t talk about – actually they can talk about nothing. Finally, they've already confessed for the third time! Third time's the charm, right?
Home and Love
A home is made of love and the drama emphasizes the reverse
being true as well: love can make one feel at home. The Boss had said
something along the lines of a home isn’t a physical place but a place of
memories. It’s the emotional attachment to the place that makes it a home; it’s
the existence of love that makes one place home. Then there’s Kihoko’s philosophy
about love being made up of clothing, food and home. And finally Oto’s Mom had defined
love as a place to return to no matter how lonely that person is. Love is home
and home is love.
Oto and Ren, in a sense, are homeless, but the drama begs to
differ. They do have a home and it’s made of the love they share. Despite their long distance relationship, their love
for each other provides them with comfort and safety and that’s really what a
home simply is. So I guess they do "live happily ever after" in their home sweet home.
Last Comments
If I hadn’t decide to recap this, I’m not sure I’d catch
half the stuff I did. Maybe I over-analyzed but the drama did nothing randomly. If this was any other
drama I would have rolled my eyes at another typical romance tagged drama that
gets our OTP falling in love at first sight with very superficial reasoning but this drama made me believe in their love even though the probability of
this couple existing in real life is next to zero .
This is the first drama that
made me love its parts more than its whole (and I do love its whole by the way). I love picking at its parts. I’ll admit though that sometimes my brain is
so obsessed with the details I’ve felt emotionally detached from the drama as a
whole at times. It’s certainly not that my heart doesn’t love this drama (it does!) but my brain just
loves it a whole lot more.
Credits to Sanashi (for subbing) and Cubical Noses (for timing).
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