yasashii jikan
9 Aug 2006 11:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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aeslis: rather lengthy commentary, episode-by-episode, on
05.
except for the absence of great actual tragedy, the weird coincidences that you can kind of see coming in advance have a sort of air of tragedy about them. like realising that the lectures taku was getting would mean he couldn't let azu into his house and that she'd get madder and that eventually they'd both find out master was his dad. well, i don't know about her quitting though. i didn't foresee that. really, they're both kind of assholes at the end of episode 4. she's over-reacting, but she has every right to be offended and it's not like she knew taku would get offended on master's behalf.
i can't remember her name, but i really love that woman, the one who watches out for taku and got drunk and hit on master. wow, she loaned otonari like 30 thousand bucks? wow. well, GAVE it to him, really.
sad little angsty nino is so sweet and sad. and finally we see the accident, which is not exactly what i expected - i thought it was going to be him just driving recklessly or distracted or something but they have her actually wrestling with him and pulling on his arm which almost makes it HER fault, and also why would she be stupid enough to jerk someone around by the arm when they're driving? was he going the wrong way on the interstate or something...?
azu's talk with tomoko, and then the funeral and then taku calling her seem to make this a really good episode. and the amnesia guy was pretty awesome, too. as crack subplots go, it was aces.
he has a graceful way of cutting off the conversation at the end without seeming too cold towards her, when she tries to ask about his relationship with his dad. i guess it's in the tone of voice. and the widow scene, with her crying, and how master can't really do anything but watch... a lot of the scenes and little arcs show things like that, where it's something you can't really do anything about. it makes it kind of... aesthetically pleasing, even if it is sad. elegant, in a way. plus it's so earnest and unpretentious about it. it's a very pleasingly calm, sort of wistful show.
06.
dude, azu's brother-in-law would disappear from the world if an important politician finds out he was having an affair with his wife? no, i mean, like... really? i mean i guess maybe yakuza... but what, would a politician automatically be associated with them? and meanwhile, "nastier guys would come after you" - as if it's the responsibility of his separated wife who can't really be expected to give much of a shit about him anymore (even if she's disturbed by the whole thing) to pay off the yakuza to prevent him being murdered? why couldn't he pay them off himself? doesn't he make more money?
i guess that's the random weird plot. and the santa plot is the crack plot. and this is the Plot That Provides a Feeling of Foreboding - azu's plan to introduce taku and his father, that is. he's so happy when he thinks it's just that azu thinks of him as a father and wants to introduce him to her boyfriend - and this is nothing like so simple. her impulse might even be a good one, but it's such a big risk at this point. she's an unfortunately headstrong, whimsical and impetuous girl.
but perhaps she's worried - justly or un-? - that they'd never reconcile on their own, in which case it could be a good thing for her to take the risk, overall, but i'm not sure if it'd be exactly wise since it could potentially destroy her relationships with one or both of them. i don't think i usually feel this much suspense in thrillers or horror movies. -_- now i'm like "oh, maybe if we're lucky they'll have an accident instead!"
well, i guess i was expecting something of the sort, but still... very uncool. she screwed it up by mixing up the 'surprise them' and 'talk them into it' strategies. the latter is unlikely to make them as angry but it's also not likely to get anywhere, at least, not for a long time. i mean, taku will just keep saying no and getting pissed off when she brings it up but he'd probably forgive her quite a few times if she didn't push too hard. the surprise method would almost certainly succeed in getting them face-to-face, but it'd piss taku off a lot more.
nino is so adorable. ♥
07.
in lieu of a commentary, i will insert this chat log. it contains a long detour into the world of ohmiya AUs, but everything is better with ohmiya anyway! so everybody wins!
08.
wow, azu really is the crazy. i mean, i get that she's nice and all - and i'm glad wax didn't listen to the people who tried to tell her this about me when it was, in all fairness, completely true - but taku would probably be better off getting out now. and dude, why is it ALWAYS cutting? can't these teenies come up with anything new? (not to imply there's nothing more to her crazy than that, but still.)
i'm starting to kind of like Snake-Sensei (what's his name? matsuda?) even though he's obviously a self-centred asshole. his semi-sixth sense feelings and his dramatic manner and his prissy little clothes and his creepy waxen skeletal face. he's kind of pretty too, in an overly-cheekboned, waxy, skeletal way. (ah, plus! i saw him in an asahi commercial during mago mago arashi! not relevant but it was funny. ♥)
wow, so, takuro has a secret slashy past! a secret tragical slashy past.
i want the yasashii jikan theme song.
09.
i kind of like the nurse and the scar theme, what they're doing with it (i mean, since it already had to be cutting). but i wonder if she's right that people don't pity cutters for their scars? i'd suppose the prevalent reaction is revulsion or just being weirded out (or feeling social awkwardness). but surely there's some pity in there?
and her sister says that she was trying to kill herself. if she used to be a cutter she should know, like the nurse said, that that spot wouldn't work. but i don't know. maybe she really was trying? is she really that dumb?
master/azu forever! i mean, not to be ew. i'm a friendship shipper. uh... she gave her one of those bracelets that only goes 3/4 of the way around the wrist... to cover scars that are on the inside of the wrist.
Awesome Lady (er, tomoko i mean) reminds me strongly of my second host mother and makes me regretful. and Hot Widow (aka mikako) reminds me strongly of the really cool japanese department chair from amherst college - she was the reason i went there, because of the program she designed. and meeting her when i visited and discovering how cool she was.
did i mention that i love tomoko? i love when she kicks master's ass. he totally needs that. but he's not cool enough for her, i don't think. so it's just as well he's still conversing nightly with the ghost ofohno his dead ohno wife.
why is the nurse just like "haerou!" when she finds azu slowly freezing to death outside, instead of "hey! what the hell are you doing outside half-dressed?" uhhhm. why is she even allowed to stand outside WHILE IT'S SNOWING in pajamas and no outer garments in the first place? why does the hospital let them do that?
taku has a lot in common with his father, really - he's proud and stubborn and emotionally stunted and slightly socially awkward. azu and taku are kind of sickeningly sweet as a couple when they're not being maddeningly dysfunctional.
and okay... is there something about japan that i'm not getting here? because how is it worse to get a tattoo than to repeatedly slit your own wrists? and, what, the TATTOO is what he thinks caused his parents all that pain as opposed to the school inquest and the fact that he belonged to a biker gang of the kind that gets in gang wars that INVOLVE DEATH?
10.
i really like the pottery dude (rokosuke) in this episode. he was harsh but, again, master needed it. he's such an emotional moron that he'd probably never do anything if he wasn't forced to by other people. and i think this would've made more sense if he hadn't tried to explain it to her... it would've been okay that taku caused his mother's death if he HADN'T had "shinigami" tattooed on his skin? is he trying to say... i mean... what the fuck? no, really, what?
if mikako is an evil serial killer that would be AWESOME. i knew there was something creepy about her little song-song girly voice.
why is nino so adorable?
11.
my first reaction to nino burning himself is that he's being a dumbass, which is something a lot of these people are, if we're just considering the arena of self-injury. he WAS a moron, but by the first scene of this episode (the dialogue) it at least becomes kind of symbolic. (seriously, ouch.) now he has to do pottery with one arm, which is kind of inconvenient.
nino's sketching is kind of interesting. well, he doesn't have to be able to sketch, someone else could have drawn it. but still, he must think about ohno when he's doing it, or pretending to do it.
maybe the widow isn't really a widow and all the people who've died are actually being killed by the yakuza. maybe that's who azu's brother-in-law slept with! i wonder if the policeman's gonna get knocked off too. wow she's kind of cold for someone who was so recently sleeping with someone who's in the hospital. and she's so cheery and wide-eyed and overacting and it's... actually kind of fabulous. (i think it might make it even more fabulous that we never actually find out what happens to the policeman.)
the crack plot with the guy who was obsessed with taku's mom is hilarious.
why do ghosts ALWAYS go away with the explanation that they'll always be with you anyway, inside your heart or whatever? western ghosts and japanese ghosts do it the same way, too! is that really the only thing anybody ever thinks about dead people? if it is, that's sad, cause it's kind of lame. (although she didn't leave for good with that like i thought she might. but i think the complaint is still just.)
the crazy thing is that i think master actually is happy (even though he does feel that he's the one who should apologise) to learn taku has burnt off his tattoo.
the way taku tries to wipe away the tears when he hears the doorbell is like... somehow the cutest thing ever.
now with bonus ohmiya AU conversations! you can't go wrong with ohmiya.
aeslis: rather lengthy commentary, episode-by-episode, on 05.
except for the absence of great actual tragedy, the weird coincidences that you can kind of see coming in advance have a sort of air of tragedy about them. like realising that the lectures taku was getting would mean he couldn't let azu into his house and that she'd get madder and that eventually they'd both find out master was his dad. well, i don't know about her quitting though. i didn't foresee that. really, they're both kind of assholes at the end of episode 4. she's over-reacting, but she has every right to be offended and it's not like she knew taku would get offended on master's behalf.
i can't remember her name, but i really love that woman, the one who watches out for taku and got drunk and hit on master. wow, she loaned otonari like 30 thousand bucks? wow. well, GAVE it to him, really.
sad little angsty nino is so sweet and sad. and finally we see the accident, which is not exactly what i expected - i thought it was going to be him just driving recklessly or distracted or something but they have her actually wrestling with him and pulling on his arm which almost makes it HER fault, and also why would she be stupid enough to jerk someone around by the arm when they're driving? was he going the wrong way on the interstate or something...?
azu's talk with tomoko, and then the funeral and then taku calling her seem to make this a really good episode. and the amnesia guy was pretty awesome, too. as crack subplots go, it was aces.
he has a graceful way of cutting off the conversation at the end without seeming too cold towards her, when she tries to ask about his relationship with his dad. i guess it's in the tone of voice. and the widow scene, with her crying, and how master can't really do anything but watch... a lot of the scenes and little arcs show things like that, where it's something you can't really do anything about. it makes it kind of... aesthetically pleasing, even if it is sad. elegant, in a way. plus it's so earnest and unpretentious about it. it's a very pleasingly calm, sort of wistful show.
06.
dude, azu's brother-in-law would disappear from the world if an important politician finds out he was having an affair with his wife? no, i mean, like... really? i mean i guess maybe yakuza... but what, would a politician automatically be associated with them? and meanwhile, "nastier guys would come after you" - as if it's the responsibility of his separated wife who can't really be expected to give much of a shit about him anymore (even if she's disturbed by the whole thing) to pay off the yakuza to prevent him being murdered? why couldn't he pay them off himself? doesn't he make more money?
i guess that's the random weird plot. and the santa plot is the crack plot. and this is the Plot That Provides a Feeling of Foreboding - azu's plan to introduce taku and his father, that is. he's so happy when he thinks it's just that azu thinks of him as a father and wants to introduce him to her boyfriend - and this is nothing like so simple. her impulse might even be a good one, but it's such a big risk at this point. she's an unfortunately headstrong, whimsical and impetuous girl.
but perhaps she's worried - justly or un-? - that they'd never reconcile on their own, in which case it could be a good thing for her to take the risk, overall, but i'm not sure if it'd be exactly wise since it could potentially destroy her relationships with one or both of them. i don't think i usually feel this much suspense in thrillers or horror movies. -_- now i'm like "oh, maybe if we're lucky they'll have an accident instead!"
well, i guess i was expecting something of the sort, but still... very uncool. she screwed it up by mixing up the 'surprise them' and 'talk them into it' strategies. the latter is unlikely to make them as angry but it's also not likely to get anywhere, at least, not for a long time. i mean, taku will just keep saying no and getting pissed off when she brings it up but he'd probably forgive her quite a few times if she didn't push too hard. the surprise method would almost certainly succeed in getting them face-to-face, but it'd piss taku off a lot more.
nino is so adorable. ♥
07.
in lieu of a commentary, i will insert this chat log. it contains a long detour into the world of ohmiya AUs, but everything is better with ohmiya anyway! so everybody wins!
[17:54] cim: tomoko is kind of scary. she's like, her face is so strong and strikingly beautiful.
[17:54] elfie: yeah, totally.
[17:54] elfie: and yet her attitude is very casual.
[17:54] elfie: i usually don't like busybodies, but i love her. :x
[17:55] cim: yeah, and she looks like a ghost from japan's scary past or something. excpet the bangs.
[17:55] cim: yeah, she's not a normal busybody exactly though. she's kind of eccentric.
[17:55] elfie: yeah. <3
[17:56] cim: she reminds me of my second host mother. :(( i loved her.
[17:57] elfie: ah, cim. <3
[17:59] cim: i don't know whether to root for the pretty widow or tomoko in the War For Master.
[18:00] elfie: ahahahahahahahahaahahahahahhahaahahahahahahaha hahahahahahaahahahah
[18:00] cim: the pretty widow does that fakey sing-song little girl voice all the time and i kind of don't like it but i shouldn't hold it against her.
[18:00] cim: i mean, they're encouraged to i guess.
[18:00] elfie: she has her own stuff going on, too, though.
[18:00] cim: i haven't seen her plot yet except the jewelry making and a little hint
[18:00] elfie: i mean. wow, i--master still talks to the ghost of his dead wife.
[18:00] cim: yeah, totally.
[18:00] elfie: i don't think he's going to be ready for anyone else soon.
[18:00] cim: the ghost conversations are cute.
[18:01] elfie: omg, ohmiya thought. :|
[18:01] cim: what, a cracked angst AU where nino's dead and his ghost follows ohno around to offer advice?
[18:02] elfie: YES. :|
[18:02] elfie: but that would mean nino is dead!
[18:02] cim: bad elfie! step away from the crack!
[18:02] elfie: or possibly vice versa. hm.
[18:02] cim: no but ohno doesn't talk as much as nino.
[18:02] cim: imagine his ghost.
[18:03] cim: nino'd be all, "you haunt me and then you can't even say anything?"
[18:03] elfie: ohno'd be like, you looked busy XD
[18:03] cim: HAHAHAHAH
[18:03] elfie: but you have a point. XD
[18:03] elfie: whereas nino would be like, all the time: why aren't you taking care of yourself, go to sleep already, stop binging on energy drinks so you can make mournful paintings.
[18:04] cim: he'd follow nino as closely as ever and nino'd absently try to cuddle him, and then remember that he was insubstantial?
[18:04] elfie: aaaaaah
[18:04] elfie: that would be sweet and very sad.
[18:04] cim: awwwww angsty nino! ;.;
[18:05] cim: he'd try to fix ohno's clothes and ohno would just stand still and let him even though it didn't do anything. and it'd probably feel chillly.
[18:05] elfie: ghost!ohno would totally be, like--i can't even describe it. he would have the wee worried!ohno expression, and he would try not to get in nino's way, but~
[18:05] elfie: oh man, cim. ;;
[18:06] elfie: ohno: you're crying.
nino: *adjusting ghostohno's clothes one last time* well, you're dead. so.
[18:06] cim: he would be trapped because when he died he didn't realise that nino already knew how much he loved him!
[18:06] cim: just to go for the million dollars' worth of mushiness.
[18:06] elfie: <3 <3 <3
[18:07] elfie: and like, nino would totally keep himself super-busy, with acting and music--but when he comes home he still thinks that ohno's going to be there, so he's resolutely not thinking about what would happen if ghostohno left as well.
[18:08] cim: he'd hover around loving nino and afraid to talk about it too much because he knew if he did tell him he'd disappear and he didn't want to.
[18:08] elfie: he knew it was selfish of him, he knew that he really just wanted to nino to--to be happy, and to know that ohno loved him--but ohno can't help being selfish like this.
[18:09] cim: aww.
[18:09] cim: but i'm sure nino knew anyway.
[18:09] cim: the real problem that keeps him a ghost is that he doesn't understand that.
[18:09] elfie: yeah, exactly!
[18:10] cim: and because he thinks nino doesn't, he's kind of burning to make him understand (and not knowing how to express it) at the same time as he is afraid to tell him.
[18:11] elfie: maybe nino is worried for ohno as well, because it can't be a good sign that ohno is sticking around, right? it must mean there is something left for him to do, right?
[18:12] cim: wouldn't he be glad to have him, though? i mean, he would know there was something, and he'd probably want to find out about it because it was distressing ohno, but he wouldn't want to actually solve it, would he?
[18:13] elfie: XD are you saying that they're both, ultimately, of the mindset that they'd rather worry a little and still have the other around & continue their romance than possibly cure themselves of worry and maybe end up losing each other for real?
[18:13] elfie: (at least until nino dies. though i guess it depends on your view of the afterlife.)
[18:13] cim: isn't that an appropriately symmetrical tragic setup?
[18:14] cim: it would probably have to change though, unless it was comedy instead of angst.
[18:14] elfie: i think i could live with it as comedy. XD
[18:14] elfie: would the others know about ohno the ghost, or just nino?
[18:15] cim: i mean, if ohno was only able to stay forever because he's unhappy at heart and convinced nino doesn't know he loves him.
[18:15] cim: that's a tragedy by itself.
[18:15] cim: comedy works though! it could be presented as comedy.
[18:15] cim: the others wouldn't be able to see him of course.
[18:15] cim: maybe he could do creepy things to them though.
[18:15] elfie: XD
[18:15] elfie: not thinking about how creepy it is
[18:16] elfie: like, lean casually against them, the way he does. and they're like, ah, the chills!
[18:16] cim: ahahhahah yeah
[18:16] elfie: although! you know! it could be framed as a comedy with this idea: ohno isn't a ghost because of unfinished business, except in the sense that he'll never be finished loving nino.
[18:16] cim: that's kind of a completely different premise! but okay!
[18:17] elfie: but this wouldn't have angsty angsty undertones
[18:17] elfie: ...is it?
[18:18] cim: oh, i've read plenty of those "and they lived happily ever after, spending all day together and having magical ghost sexxors every night, until obi-wan died in the original star wars trilogy. the end."
[18:18] elfie: ahahahaahhahaahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahaaha hahah
[18:18] elfie: i think ohno would make a fabulous jedi XD
[18:18] cim: ahhahah,
[18:18] cim: you need to be stopped!
[18:18] elfie: he would be very good at sitting, meditating--and then kicking your ass with leaps and bounds! yes.
[18:18] cim: your wild and crazy au ways!
[18:18] cim: HAHHAHAHA
[18:19] cim: he's a great dancer!
[18:19] elfie: it's a real problem, cim. XD
[18:19] cim: it makes sense!
[18:19] elfie: he is! he leaps and bounds about in various stage productions, too. :D
[18:19] cim: he would be a good saber fighter obviously! he would kill with style!
[18:19] elfie: (perhaps i don't feel the urge for badfic the way you do because i do, in fact, imagine my own all the time!)
[18:19] cim: hahah. i imagine stuff all the time, just not quite as many aus as you do.
[18:22] elfie: i love tomoko.
[18:24] cim: she's awesome.
[18:25] elfie: "it's entirely my fault that my father is living alone."
[18:25] cim: taku is far more lonely than master, though.
[18:26] elfie: yeah.
[18:26] cim: not that he would have any way to know that. and master is capable of making himself lonely, of course.
[18:26] elfie: (because he doesn't have a ghost.)
[18:26] cim: more importantly, master is surrounded by people who love him and would gladly be his adoptive family. taku only has his sensei's family
[18:26] elfie: i think the difference is that master is slowly becoming able to forgive himself and taku, whereas taku is still uncertain as to how to proceed correctly.
[18:26] elfie: yeah.
[18:26] cim: and he isn't quite as close to them.
[18:27] elfie: yeah. taku has people who worry about him, but he can't quite let people close; his loneliness is kind of inherent.
[18:28] cim: he was hurt. and he feels guilty. whereas master was more angry with some guilt hidden underneath. and taku was just a kid.
[18:28] elfie: yeah.
08.
wow, azu really is the crazy. i mean, i get that she's nice and all - and i'm glad wax didn't listen to the people who tried to tell her this about me when it was, in all fairness, completely true - but taku would probably be better off getting out now. and dude, why is it ALWAYS cutting? can't these teenies come up with anything new? (not to imply there's nothing more to her crazy than that, but still.)
i'm starting to kind of like Snake-Sensei (what's his name? matsuda?) even though he's obviously a self-centred asshole. his semi-sixth sense feelings and his dramatic manner and his prissy little clothes and his creepy waxen skeletal face. he's kind of pretty too, in an overly-cheekboned, waxy, skeletal way. (ah, plus! i saw him in an asahi commercial during mago mago arashi! not relevant but it was funny. ♥)
wow, so, takuro has a secret slashy past! a secret tragical slashy past.
i want the yasashii jikan theme song.
09.
i kind of like the nurse and the scar theme, what they're doing with it (i mean, since it already had to be cutting). but i wonder if she's right that people don't pity cutters for their scars? i'd suppose the prevalent reaction is revulsion or just being weirded out (or feeling social awkwardness). but surely there's some pity in there?
and her sister says that she was trying to kill herself. if she used to be a cutter she should know, like the nurse said, that that spot wouldn't work. but i don't know. maybe she really was trying? is she really that dumb?
master/azu forever! i mean, not to be ew. i'm a friendship shipper. uh... she gave her one of those bracelets that only goes 3/4 of the way around the wrist... to cover scars that are on the inside of the wrist.
Awesome Lady (er, tomoko i mean) reminds me strongly of my second host mother and makes me regretful. and Hot Widow (aka mikako) reminds me strongly of the really cool japanese department chair from amherst college - she was the reason i went there, because of the program she designed. and meeting her when i visited and discovering how cool she was.
did i mention that i love tomoko? i love when she kicks master's ass. he totally needs that. but he's not cool enough for her, i don't think. so it's just as well he's still conversing nightly with the ghost of
why is the nurse just like "haerou!" when she finds azu slowly freezing to death outside, instead of "hey! what the hell are you doing outside half-dressed?" uhhhm. why is she even allowed to stand outside WHILE IT'S SNOWING in pajamas and no outer garments in the first place? why does the hospital let them do that?
taku has a lot in common with his father, really - he's proud and stubborn and emotionally stunted and slightly socially awkward. azu and taku are kind of sickeningly sweet as a couple when they're not being maddeningly dysfunctional.
and okay... is there something about japan that i'm not getting here? because how is it worse to get a tattoo than to repeatedly slit your own wrists? and, what, the TATTOO is what he thinks caused his parents all that pain as opposed to the school inquest and the fact that he belonged to a biker gang of the kind that gets in gang wars that INVOLVE DEATH?
10.
i really like the pottery dude (rokosuke) in this episode. he was harsh but, again, master needed it. he's such an emotional moron that he'd probably never do anything if he wasn't forced to by other people. and i think this would've made more sense if he hadn't tried to explain it to her... it would've been okay that taku caused his mother's death if he HADN'T had "shinigami" tattooed on his skin? is he trying to say... i mean... what the fuck? no, really, what?
if mikako is an evil serial killer that would be AWESOME. i knew there was something creepy about her little song-song girly voice.
why is nino so adorable?
11.
my first reaction to nino burning himself is that he's being a dumbass, which is something a lot of these people are, if we're just considering the arena of self-injury. he WAS a moron, but by the first scene of this episode (the dialogue) it at least becomes kind of symbolic. (seriously, ouch.) now he has to do pottery with one arm, which is kind of inconvenient.
nino's sketching is kind of interesting. well, he doesn't have to be able to sketch, someone else could have drawn it. but still, he must think about ohno when he's doing it, or pretending to do it.
maybe the widow isn't really a widow and all the people who've died are actually being killed by the yakuza. maybe that's who azu's brother-in-law slept with! i wonder if the policeman's gonna get knocked off too. wow she's kind of cold for someone who was so recently sleeping with someone who's in the hospital. and she's so cheery and wide-eyed and overacting and it's... actually kind of fabulous. (i think it might make it even more fabulous that we never actually find out what happens to the policeman.)
the crack plot with the guy who was obsessed with taku's mom is hilarious.
why do ghosts ALWAYS go away with the explanation that they'll always be with you anyway, inside your heart or whatever? western ghosts and japanese ghosts do it the same way, too! is that really the only thing anybody ever thinks about dead people? if it is, that's sad, cause it's kind of lame. (although she didn't leave for good with that like i thought she might. but i think the complaint is still just.)
the crazy thing is that i think master actually is happy (even though he does feel that he's the one who should apologise) to learn taku has burnt off his tattoo.
the way taku tries to wipe away the tears when he hears the doorbell is like... somehow the cutest thing ever.
now with bonus ohmiya AU conversations! you can't go wrong with ohmiya.
