English Title: Love That Makes You Cry
Today’s theme is Childish: from enacting make-belief scenarios, to miming (from Ren and grandma), to playing Pat-a-cake. However, there’s something melancholic about this episode.
Today’s theme is Childish: from enacting make-belief scenarios, to miming (from Ren and grandma), to playing Pat-a-cake. However, there’s something melancholic about this episode.
It’s broad daylight and Kihoko has already finished a can of
beer. Earlier that day she went shopping for kitchen utensils and curtains for Ren. Then
at night she goes to Ren’s place and changes every single thing at his place. Ren
is completely fine with that. She updates him that the commercial she made (for
her company) is about to come out soon. She’s really making Ren’s place her home, isn’t she?
Oto had the night shift and is just coming home but instead of heading home, she walks to the grandmother’s place. Seeing Ren,
she runs to him but her knees cave in from tiredness, making her fall flat on her
face. When she looks up, she sees Kihoko following close behind him. Initially,
Ren only introduces Oto to Kihoko. Then, ever so casually, Kihoko
removes an invisible speck of dust from Ren’s hair and so Ren introduces Kihoko
as his girlfriend. Flustered, Oto explains she had only wanted to walk the dog. That’s all. Really.
 |
| Opposite sides |
Their little meeting gets interrupted by a car which
separates Oto from Ren (and Kihoko), parting them to either sides of the street
and with that Ren and Oto say bye to each other.
When it’s just Kihoko and Ren, she admits she purposely (and
indirectly) cornered him into introducing her as his girlfriend when she’s
really just a girl he pities. Ren doesn’t like her self-depreciating attitude.
In fact, he even asks her to date him. NOOOOO. What are you doing! Kihoko laughs dryly and thanks him
for his kind heart but avoids directly answering him. In the end she takes the
taxi and leaves.
 |
| Oto's whiney-pout |
Instead of walking the dog, Oto is helping out the
grandmother, whose name is Shizue-san, with her chores. When Oto describes to
her Ren’s girlfriend, Oto says:
She’s human, I think. No.
Really?
Shizue-san teases
her: It’s a shame, isn’t it? But after 50 years have passed one-sided love
becomes a treasure. This
better NOT be foreshadowing anything.
Oto: Do you
really believe that?
Shizue-san: No… I
just feel bad for you.
Oto does a whiney-pout. Nice grandma, nice. I’m going to find the combo of
these two really cute.
Konatsu and Haruta are having coffee together. Why? The scarf
she’s wearing looks really suffocating, which Haruta points out, but she
explains its fashion. Then Haruta takes her to a salon and a department store
to beautify her. Supposedly being prettier now, Konatsu doesn’t want
to change even though she can’t afford the clothes. She pleads to Haruta for
help and so she gets offered a job that will give her money easily: to karaoke
with company presidents. Initially Konatsu is worried but Haruta explains that
being paid 100 000 yen over being paid 3000 yen indicates how safe the job is.
In a way, it makes sense. Sort of. But it’s still dangerous… And what is Haruta’s deal? Did he
purposely give her a complete makeover out of a good or a bad intention?
 |
| Working Hard! |
Later that night, Ren has been stood up by Kihoko. He invited her to the
planetarium but she never showed up. The lonesome Ren takes the bus, which is
actually the same bus Oto is on. Oto smiles at the unknowing Ren and giggles
when he sees him childishly drawing on the vapoured-window and that’s when Ren
notices her. Smiling, she does the same childish thing: she writes ‘Working
hard!’ on the window. Ren replies with the same message, also written on the
window.
Arriving at their stop, they say bye but neither leaves.
In the awkward parting-but-not-parting moment, Oto scratches her nose again and
again, desperately finding a topic to talk about. Finally, she asks about the
dog. He tells her he’ll be taking it for a walk and that’s the end of their
conversation. Why can’t she
say she’ll walk the dog with him too! I want moaaarr.
That is until Ren stops and calls out to Sugihara-san. Is it a coincidence that the light
happened to have turned red? Oto is very quick to turn around towards him. Very quick.
Ren shouts: I am
rooting for you. I’ve been rooting for you ever since that day because – he points to her
and then to himself – let’s do our best! Ah right, the apple miming scene.
Oto smiles sweetly at him and agrees that they should both work
hard. As they leave the
light turns green.
(& Drama, why do you have to make her so pitiful and
only feed her water and rice for dinner?)
Ibuki started working at the nursery home because he’s been
transferred from the main branch. A demotion? This guy is quite sincere abouthis work: he’s caring
towards Sonoda-san, the senior with dementia, and he’s capable of recognizing
which dentures belonged to which seniors. Even Oto can’t do that. That day,
Ibuki’s father (the president) visits the nursery solely for promotional
purposes. Ibuki’s brother is also there and compliments the compatibility
between Ibuki and his uniform. That’s definitely meant to be offensive but
Ibuki brushes it off easily, admitting it’s cute on him.
Ibuki even casually
updates Oto that his brother is the true heir and he’s just a mistress’s son.
Although Ibuki seems pretty chill, he’s visibly upset when his father zooms
right by him without batting him an eye.
Later that day the Manager updates them that Sonoda-san will
be evicted from the residence because she hasn’t paid. The Manager also cancels
the upcoming children’s visit that the seniors were really looking forward to.
They even made presents for the children. Having no power to dispute the
decisions, Ibuki angrily leaves the meeting. The Manager doesn’t care and calls
him an “incompetent fool” because he claims that Ibuki had failed at being a
journalist, which is why he’s here at the nursery home.
Ren has been waiting for Kihoko to contact him the entire
day. Curious, his co-workers steal his phone to see who his girlfriend is. When
Sabiki realizes it’s “Kiho-chan” he recalls she was their client who had
attempted to commit suicide and it was Ren who had saved her and took her to
the hospital. Sabiki also knows that Kihoko was in an affair and calls her “a
damaged thing.” Out of anger, Ren almost hits him but the boss stops him just
in time. Thank you, Boss. I
don’t want a violent Ren.
As Ren leaves Sabiki, who’s still sprawled on the ground,
the Boss mutters: So pitiful.
Sabiki agrees but Boss was directing that comment at Sabiki,
not Ren. Thank you, Boss!
Ren and Oto bump into each other on
the bus again. Does the bus
not run very often? Oto has her hands full of bags and Ren helps her. She
explains the bags were holding presents the seniors had made for the children.
She wanted to personally deliver the presents otherwise the presents would be
thrown away. Without any hesitation, Ren offers to borrow his company’s truck
to help her deliver the presents right now. Oto gladly takes up his offer.
The two have so much fun delivering
the presents and playing with the children that Ren even dismisses a text
message despite having been waiting from a reply from Kihoko for the entire
day. I guess Caller ID
wasn’t common in 2011.
They’re on their way to another delivery
and Ren is distracted by his GPS that he doesn’t see (a very plain looking) Kihoko
being chummy with another man in the taxi in front of him, but Oto does. To
divert his gaze elsewhere, Oto points to a Ferris wheel. Thinking she wanted to
ride it, Ren offers to take her to the Ferris wheel and Oto absentmindedly nods
until his words finally sink in. Hope fills her eyes as she confirms again that
she actually does want to go.
The two get really excited to go on a date but unfortunately
the signboard in front of entrance notifies them that it’s closed. It’s funny
how Oto’s eyes literally sparkled when she had the idea of sneaking the signboard
away. But Ren, the goody-two-shoes, stops her.
Disappointed, they walk back to
the truck but Ren’s planetarium tickets gets taken by the wind. Oto chases it
down for him which leads them to a building where a piano concert was taking
place. They play make-belief as Ren guides her to a seat (that’s not even a
seat) and calls it A15 and A16 and they both pretend they’re actually attending
the concert. Today’s theme
must be being childish. Which I’m totally okay with. Whispering (loudly)
to him, she confesses she’s never been to a concert. Shocked, Ren also
confesses he’s never been to one too. Neither have they danced, ever. The
closest thing to dancing Oto has tried is Yankee Doodle. It’s really just a
clapping game (i.e. Pat-a-cake).
 |
| Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake, Baker's man... |
Channeling the same (childish)
wavelength, they play the clapping game. Both of them were so shocked to have
done it perfectly, they do it again. They are a match made in heaven.
Ren: This is the
most fun (I’ve had) since I came to Tokyo. Wow. That’s sort of sad?
Oto: Is your work
hard? ‘Cause otherwise he’d
have better nights than this.
Ren: No – well...
Oto: Something
else?
Ren: I used to go
to work by train in the morning. Once every few days… It would happen once
every few days. There would be an announcement about an accident. It means that, doesn’t it? Suicide.
Oto: Yeah.
Ren: At that
time, I heard the person next to me, just an average person, click his tongue,
because the train might be a few minutes late. When I heard that, somehow I
can’t really understand it, but – holding his heart
– it turned into this indescribable feeling. Similar things happened
every day. Little by little, many things happened. However, I was full of my
own problems and there was nothing I could do, so I pretended not to notice.
Six years have passed since I came here and the whole time I’ve had this
indescribable feeling. Somehow… – shaking his thoughts away – I can’t
explain it. I’m sorry, for saying strange things.
Not knowing what words to say, Oto shows him a picture on
her cellphone instead.
 |
| Oto's cellphone |
Oto: Today,
during the day, I went outside to post a mail. This was next to the mailbox.
The picture was of a flower that bloomed between the pavements.
Ren is enamoured with her simple picture which confuses Oto until Ren brings
out his phone to show her a similar picture he took earlier today. Yeah, they’re totally channeling
the same wavelength.
 |
| Ren's cellphone |
Ren: I was going
to show you that.
They both stare at each other’s phone and smile in content.
Oto: Someday (Itsuka)… This reminds me of the Japanese
title of drama: Ìtsuka Kono
Koi wo Omoidashite Kitto Naite Shimau. Direct translation of the Japanese title
of drama: Someday, when I recall this love, I will surely cry.
Her words hang in the air as she looks skyward and then at
him. Tears start welling up in her eye. What did she want to say!
And the concert is over.
Both of them clap enthusiastically.
Ren sends her home but before she leaves the truck, she
returns him the planetarium ticket and uses this opportunity to tries to
casually ask about his girlfriend. The response she gets from him is
unexpected.
Ren: Can I even
say she’s my girlfriend
Oto shocked. She
asks: Isn’t she?
Ren: Yeah – well,
it doesn’t matter.
Oto: But you love
her, don’t you?
Ren: She’s kind.
She works hard and I admire her.
Oto is
disappointed and looks pointedly at him: That’s not love.
Ren doesn’t get her hostility.
Oto clarifies: What
you described isn’t love.
She attempts to leave the car but Ren blurts out: She’s in love with someone else. They were lovers
and it didn’t work out, so she’s with me. And I, well… That’s how it is.
Oto turns to stare at him.
Ren: Why (is your
expression like that)?
With an upset expression, Oto mutters: How disappointing.
Confused at her reaction, Ren asks: Why – why are you –
Oto: Idiot!
She slams the door at him and leaves but she doesn’t get
very far. Frustrated, she throws her bag down and runs toward the truck again. She
opens Ren’s door and the surprise makes Ren accidentally turn on the windshield
wipers. She swooshes in…
Closing the gap between them, she plants a kiss on his lips.
He’s flustered, but he does let her kiss him.
Oto: Because I
love you, of course – she
looks him in the eye this time and with one more shake to his shoulders – Mr.
Mover it’s because I love you, of course.
And then she slams the door at him (again).
Windshield wipers go swoosh
swoosh as Ren is frozen in place. Windshield wipers. Rain. Tears.
A sluggish Ren is walking home when he is ambushed from the
back by Konatsu with bags and bags of stuff she bought. Why are all the girls in this episode carrying
so much things when they bump into Ren? They arrive at Ren’s place and Konatsu,
who’s quite drunk, updates him what she did today. At this time, Haruta barges
in but decides to use the shower to avoid any confrontation on his part.
Staring fixatedly at her, Ren asks her earnestly whether this is the life she
wanted. Konatsu doesn’t (or can’t) answer him. Neither do we get to hear her
answer if she did have any because Ren rushes out the door when he gets a call
from the hospital notifying him of Kihoko’s situation. She was pushed by a man
and hit her head. Fortunately, she’s regained her consciousness.
While waiting for Kihoko to come out of the surgery room,
Ren reads the text message from her that he missed earlier today. In the
message she confesses that she’s nowhere near as successful as she claims, she
only does clerical work at her company. She gets called “Hikage-san” instead of
Hinata-san because she’s a shadow (=hikage) at work, lacking presence. Neither
is she that stylish, she just changes in the subway station’s washroom before
she meets Ren.
Her classmates once compared her parents to mice when they
smiled and so she stopped smiling in front of people. When she started dating,
her boyfriend never introduced his close friends to her. It gets worse,
apparently after the first time they slept together, her boyfriend orders her
to buy onigiri (rice balls). Consequently, she’s become quite the pessimistic
one. Kihoko doesn’t think she can be
special to anyone, and that’s the mindset she adopts when she dates (even with
her current lover). “From the day [she] buys a new pen, [she] imagines the day
when that pen will stop writing.” From the time she wakes up in the morning,
she’s already given up that day (hence the beer scene in the beginning). However,
hope had stirred within her when Ren had saved her. With him, she could truly
smile and be the true Hinata Kihoko.
When Ren asked her to date him, her views have changed. Kihoko wants to be with Ren as her true
plain self; she wants to stop pretending. “With a brand new pen, [she] want[s]
to write how much [she] love[s] Ren.” She had intended to breakup with her
current lover and that’s how she ended up in the hospital, all bruised up.
After Ren had left her, Konatsu (still, if not more, drunk)
barges into Haruta’s bath and seats herself quite comfortably atop Haruta’s
naked body. And that is one
very small bath. She’s sad that her love is unrequited and Haruta, our
naked boy, knows who it is. It’s
Ren.
After kissing Ren, Oto visits Shizue-san to help her clear
out her old newspapers and magazines. They talk about the construction of the
Skytree and the demolishment of Tokyo Tower. They wonder how it’d be possible
to demolish something so ginormous. Oto sticks to her childish self and mimes
the smashing down of the tower and smouldering it into smithereens. Shizue-san joins in on the miming. Then they throw the smithereens at each other. Cute.
Google tells
me that Tokyo Tower used to be the tallest building in Japan until Skytree was
completely built in 2011, overtaking Tokyo Tower’s prowess. To this day though,
both towers are still present; neither was demolished.
While sorting out the magazines, Oto comes across an
article: “Did Someone Take My Husband’s Life? Irreversible Medical Error – A Chain
of Lies and Cover Up. This article was
written by Ibuki Asahi. So he's not an incompetent fool? He's trying to reveal the medical malpractice? Or improve the medical process? Hm...
Oto goes outside to throw out the magazines, except the one
containing Ibuki’s article. And then it snows for the first time that year.
Oto: I saw it
alone.
- - - Comments - - -
I like the childish theme today. They really made it obvious
with bringing in the children too. I knew Ren was pure and naïve all along but
seeing him this childish was a little unexpected. The guy is still a man, you
know? But it was cute because it matched perfectly with Oto. The grandma was
adorable too.
I love Oto’s personality. She knows what she wants and
she’ll aim for it to the best of her abilities. She knows she loves Ren and
every day and night without fail she’ll wait at the subway station hoping to
spot him. Now that she knows he takes the bus, she only takes the bus. Lol.
When a girl is determined, she’s determined. Since day one when she met him, she
already found out where he lives and then lives there herself. Okay maybe it’s practically
borderline stalking but because I’m following her on this journey, her actions
are cute to me. Double standards? Yeah. I don’t care. In Episode 1 I mentioned how someone as nice and as pure as Ren must not be
normal. Reconsidering that now, maybe it’s Oto who should be feared of. XD.
As for the other two ladies, Kihoko and Konatsu, I like
Kihoko waaaaaay more than Konatsu. Konatsu just annoys me. She’s spoiled and
insensitive. I wish something bad happens to her so she’s forced to grow up. I
say that but it better not be related to sexual harassment because of the job
Haruta introduced her to. I don’t hate her that much; I just want her to grow
up. On that topic, what is the deal with Haruta? Does he like Konatsu? I
honestly can’t see why he would. But if he does then why would he introduce her
to such a dangerous job? And I get the feeling he beautified her on
purpose to lure her into wanting the job from him.
Initially I found Kihoko’s character kind of boring but now
I kind of like her. What happens to her is like what happened to Oto. She’s
hiding her smile in her life but Ren saved her. She can smile in front of Ren
and she plans to stop pretending and live truthfully as the smiling Hinata
Kihoko and not “Hikage” Kihoko. I’m interested in how the drama will go to show
the differences between Kihoko and Oto’s love for Ren. For now, they fell in
love with Ren for the same reason: Ren saved both of them from the self they
hated. Actually – scratch that – Oto fell in love before Ren saved her. It was
that downward gaze! Nonetheless, Ren saving Oto just makes her love him more.
I'm not sure how I will feel about Kihoko next week though since she'll be a huge obstacle for Oto♥Ren. At least I'm certain that Ren doesn't love her. If anything, it really is just pity.
The bags and bags of stuff:
All three ladies today were
carrying bags and bags of stuff when they met Ren: Kihoko had her clothes and
home décor stuff; Konatsu had her clothes; and Oto had the presents for the
children.
The major theme of this drama is loneliness, but Ren, despite being the loneliest of them
all, tries to rescue these lonely people. In that sense, only Oto is the most
similar to him. Using the bags as an example, only Oto was helping out the lonely out of all the ladies. Oto helped the seniors, who are
all alone, to deliver the presents. Meanwhile Konatsu bought stuff for herself
and Kihoko, although she bought it for Ren, she revamped his place to her own liking, which isn’t exactly helping
out a lonely soul.
Overthinking? Yeah I might be.
However, there’s definitely more similarities between Ren and Oto compared with
the other ladies.
Similarities between Ren and Oto:
Their picture
of the flower growing between the pavements: it nicely incorporates the flower and earth theme too; the
strength of the flower supported by the earth to be able to grow alone despite all the odds.
Their childish
nature.
They even have
the same view about the subway (the suicides).
Opposite sides of the
street:
Every time they’re on the
opposite side, the nerves in my brain start firing. It’s happening too often
and I can’t put my finger to it. I get reminded of the family restaurant scene
where Oto asked Ren if he ever stood on opposite sides of the subway station.
It’s supposed to be romantic. However, in today’s episode, it was a little sad:
the car separated her and Ren and then they were forced to say an awkward bye to each other, each heading
to an opposite direction. (Last week’s episode was romantic though: he was
across the street when the dog that Oto saved barked for help, reuniting them after an entire
year’s worth of separation.)
Since this ‘opposite side of the
subway/street’ thing sort of happened, I’m thinking the festival date might
happen too (the other thing she asked at the family restaurant). In fact, that
wish might have already been fulfilled with the Ferris wheel "date" or that might
just have been a prelude.
Transportation:
Then there’s all these cars,
taxis, buses and subways the drama focuses on.
Neither Ren nor Oto takes the subway anymore – they are bus fanatics. And then stupid cars keep on separating them. Meanwhile Kihoko likes the taxi. So, that means something, right? Kihoko has zero chance because she’s not a buser. Right? Right.
Neither Ren nor Oto takes the subway anymore – they are bus fanatics. And then stupid cars keep on separating them. Meanwhile Kihoko likes the taxi. So, that means something, right? Kihoko has zero chance because she’s not a buser. Right? Right.
Windshield Wiper:
Show, why did you focus on that? Why did you have to pan in on Red accidentally turning on the wipers when Oto kissed Ren? Why..?
…Windshield wipers are for rain.
Rain saved Oto. Ren saved Oto. Therefore Ren is Rain. My perfect logic.
(Yes. I am getting very paranoid.)
(Yes. I am getting very paranoid.)
The title and its
ominous vibes:
This entire episode gave me bad vibes.
First it’s the foreshadowing the
grandma makes when she comments that Oto’s love will be unrequited. Then, later
in the episode, Oto says “Itsuka” and lets the word hang in solitude (while staring
at Ren with tears forming in her eyes), which makes me think of the title that translates to: “Someday when I recall this love, I will surely
cry.” At the final seconds of this episode, Oto had to mention that she saw the
first snow of the year all alone. Emphasis
on the alone. Ugh.
Even the reference to Tokyo Tower
and Skytree felt ominous to me. Is the drama telling me that Oto’s current love
(Ren) will be overtaken by a new love?
I shall quote
myself from above: “Their picture of the flower
growing between the pavement nicely incorporates the strength of the flower
supported by the earth to be able to grow (albeit alone) despite all the odds.”
What if Ren makes Oto so strong that she can survive without him? :( If
this is the type of ending the drama is aiming for, I will surely weep.
Credits to
Sanashi and Cubical Noses for the subbing and timing respectively!
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