Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Deaimon: Recipe for Happiness
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Thesarum
Posts: 423 |
|
|||
|
Am I in a minority of roughly 1 in kinda liking Kanoko then? Sure, the breakup was a mess (though that scene still feels weird and off to me), and she's got some complicated unresolved feelings towards Nagomu (and to be honest, I get that.. he's a child). She's a messy, flawed, human adult. And I like her.
|
||||
|
||||
|
Regalli
Posts: 109 |
|
|||
|
Nah, I don’t mind Kanoko either. We still don’t know just how long they’d been dating (I can’t even remember offhand if they were living together,) but even for a married couple, unilaterally announcing you need to move to another city out of commuter distance very suddenly is… a lot. I think part of the reason both Kanoko and Nagomu’s parents are frustrated by his moves is that he goes IMMEDIATELY (seemingly, to them at least) from Point A to Point B. His dad’s in the hospital, and he doesn’t just drop everything to visit but decides ‘I’m leaving music, going back to Kyoto and taking over the sweet shop.’ Despite not having visited in a decade, and expressing no apparent desire to take over the family business to Kanoko before that moment. Which isn’t a criticism of Nagomu, really - he’s an endearing goofball with a heart of gold who just feels things SO MUCH he will in fact change his life goals on a whim, and I love him and his incredible sentimentality. But I can see it being exhausting at the same time, because that’s not just Nagomu wearing a goofy costume head and making a show to sell Itsuka’s manju or pleading Mitsuru’s case to her parents - sometimes it’s Nagomu inviting himself to a water park, inviting someone else so it won’t be him, his ex, and his surrogate daughter for maximum awkwardness, and then realizing he can’t swim. Funny, but maybe a lot to live with.
Kanoko’s still messy, and as far as we can tell she definitely initiated the breakup, but I can see a reasonable person hearing that and going ‘that’s a lot, what the heck, please calm down before we make major life-changing decisions.’ |
||||
|
||||
wolf10
 Posts: 907 |
|
|||
|
I can dunk on characters mercilessly without disliking them. I acknowledge Kanoko's value as a character, but she's also the MOST EX-GIRLFRIEND EVER. Seriously. Dumps Nagomu on the spot rather than discuss his move to Kyoto. Goes to Kyoto anyway and decides to stay, proving that it actually wouldn't have taken much to begin with. And she likes wagashi after all. She feels like a deconstruction of the tsundere archetype, where instead of having some super endearing quality that makes her worth it, she's just kind of exasperating. Nagomu, for all his seinen-manga-protag flaws, gets points in my book for realizing just how over it is between them.
Mostly, though, I want Nagomu and Itsuka to spend more time together because that's the show I thought I was signing up for. At least Saki's cute, when he gets lines. |
||||
|
||||
|
Electric Wooloo
Posts: 311 |
|
|||
Considering they appear to be massive boxers my thought is it's from "Dekai" or huge and "Pantsu" or underwear The "Big Boxers Race" might be a localization |
||||
|
||||
|
Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2619 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
|
|||
That's what I was forgetting! I had a total brain freeze on the whole pantsu thing; I was thinking of "decatora" with "decorated," but I agree that "dekai" makes much more sense, although it does away with calling it the "fancy pants race," which makes me sad. |
||||
|
||||
|
wolf10
Posts: 907 |
|
|||
|
This week was quite a return to form, huh? (Also, not coincidentally, Reiko Yoshida's return to the writer's chair.) Even the moon-shaped sweet introduced in the opening worked its way into the second half, not just with the "look what I made, ma" moment, but the really, truly manipulative Kaguya-hime name drop. It's an effective way to make us contemplate the meaning of "real family" as well as the real meaning of family, even just for the few minutes we have to contemplate Itsuka's future. Obviously we wouldn't lose our deuteragonist halfway through the cours, but this is probably the point where the source manga crossed the "early cancellation ending" threshold.
Also, I totally missed when the title card changed from green to blue, but it was really obvious this week, showing up in orange to usher in the Fall. With how the series is paced, we'll probably loop through Fall and Winter before ending with an episode set in Spring. |
||||
|
||||
|
Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11429 |
|
|||
 Dekapan, from Osomatsu-san. Wiki sez, "His name was decided by a Shonen Sunday reader column, and means 'large pants.'" 
I'm glad to see I was wrong in my expectations about Itsuka's mother. She came off much better than I had feared. |
||||
|
||||
|
Aerdra
Posts: 343 |
|
|||
|
After seeing Itsuka's mother in the episode preview, I was holding my breath the whole episode expecting drama and possibly a cliffhanger, but it looks like everything has been resolved amicably.
Major difference: joint custody after divorce is virtually non-existent in Japan; the child ends up living with only one parent almost all the time. Parents usually try to work it out between themselves, but if the case ends up in court, custody is usually decided based on minimal disruption to the child's current environment.
I don't think you're wrong in liking her. Agree with you, the breakup feels like a big misunderstanding, with both of them thinking they were dumped by the other. I wonder if the story will address this in the future. |
||||
|
||||
|
Thesarum
Posts: 423 |
|
|||
If nothing else, those two need to have a proper conversation about what happened. Neither can move on as it is. This episode, I feel a little like Nagomu's distress over Itsuka leaving wasn't entirely earned by the show. We've seen so little of them actually building a relationship. The timeline tells us a reasonable amount of time has passed with them living in the same house, so it's reasonable... We've just not really seen it. Itsuka's mother threatened to be all the dodgy stereotypes of career women, foreigners and absentee parents. All of these things are often not looked on favourably. We got a reasonably sensitive portrayal instead. She and Itsuka's father is an obvious parallel to Kanoko and Nagomu, and it'll be interesting to see if he learns anything through that. We also got another near miss in terms of Nagomu putting together the pieces that would confirm Itsuka's father and his Senpai as being the same person. There was almost enough information in his conversation with Shinri where he asked about him, but it just stopped just short. Last edited by Thesarum on Fri May 13, 2022 11:56 am; edited 1 time in total |
||||
|
||||
|
Regalli
Posts: 109 |
|
|||
|
Itsuka’s dad really just keeps coming off worse and worse every time we hear more, huh. There’s a definite implication this episode that they were living in town (at least primarily) even before he dropped Itsuka off at Ryokushou, so in that respect ‘let Itsuka stay here’ makes a lot of sense. And Itsuka’s mom not contacting her directly for four years doesn’t reflect well on her either. But at the same time, dropping off the face of the map and not telling her other parent you’re leaving your daughter with a family you know is… well, it’s a choice. It sure is a choice.
I think the two halves of the episode also feel way more connected to each other because the transition point seems to be Itsuka’s mom showing up while they’re still at the sports festival. With the last two episodes, the first half stories felt completely wrapped before the second one started. Much smoother. |
||||
|
||||
Saeryen
 Posts: 914 |
|
|||
|
I think people are giving Itsuka's mom too much of a hard time. spoiler[She asked Itsuka to come with her (to which she said "no"), and left her with someone she thought was trustworthy, and then when she stopped hearing from her daughter she gave her all to find her].
|
||||
|
||||
|
wolf10
Posts: 907 |
|
|||
|
My heart kinda broke for Shinri when Itsuka sent her off with a smile. I think parents want their kids to understand the importance of work obligations and not throw a fuss, but the flip-side is seeing your kid not caring about your absence at all.
The communication breakdown is probably the dad's fault. Landlines and cell phones only work if you pay for them, after all. I doubt Shinri expected going abroad came with the possibility of having no point of contact whatsoever, but if he's really that much of a deadbeat, he probably wasn't going to keep up with the bills. (Also, what a name: "Shinri," written with the kanji for "Truth." Ouch. What is this "subtle tea" you speak of, and does it pair well with anko?) |
||||
|
||||
|
Regalli
Posts: 109 |
|
|||
spoiler[The year after she realized Itsuka’s dad was no longer contacting her is totally reasonably explained, I agree. But it at least seemed to me (especially given how Shinri admits she was afraid to make contact again because of that previous ‘no’) like there wasn’t any direct speaking to Itsuka herself during the four years between Shinri going back to France and Itsuka being left at Ryokushou. Which is troubling, especially since it seemed to be framed more about Shinri being afraid of further rejection than ‘my ex is not good at paying phone bills, though at least he kept in reasonably regular contact over email until a year ago.’ Feeling saddened by the way baby Itsuka said it? Reasonable, especially because as an adult Shinri knows her ex gets to be the fun one who’s always around BECAUSE she was supporting the family financially. But if she actually did take it to heart so much she only kept contact via her ex, then that is… not great. From what little I know about Japanese custody arrangements, maybe not necessarily unusual, but still not great in my eyes. Itsuka was five years old at most, and the comment about work clearly wasn’t intended maliciously. She would still have been happy to talk to her mom even if she didn’t want to move halfway across the world.] I’m guessing the decision from the writers’ perspective was spoiler[‘it’s easier to forgive her mom for being afraid, taking steps to do better once her ex dropped off the face of the planet, and then actively rebuilding the relationship with Itsuka than it would be to forgive her dad if he was either pushing for them not to stay in contact or terrible about paying phone bills, and then he dropped off the face of the planet and didn’t tell anyone before he left his young daughter at an unrelated sweet shop.’ At the moment, it certainly seems like we’re meant to find his decisions questionable but not irredeemable, so I do get that. And I do think him being an ACTIVE impediment to his ex staying in contact with their daughter even before he vanished on everyone would be a way harder sell than just the vanishing act. But while I am more willing to forgive Shinri, it’s definitely a questionable-but-not-irredeemably-awful decision of her own.] |
||||
|
||||
NeedMoreCats
 Subscriber Posts: 322 Location: Westchester, NY |
|
|||
|
In some ways, this might be my favorite episode, so far. It was like, seeing things thru Hiiro’s eyes as her eyes finally opened made me appreciate Nagomu and everyone else so much more. Miya’s issues with her mother echoed aspects of my childhood. So it was especially moving to watch Nagomu champion her in front of everyone.
|
||||
|
||||
|
Thesarum
Posts: 423 |
|
|||
I agree, this episode did a good job of showing his strengths as a character and a person. He's still a hopeless doof, but he's undeniably got a big heart and a very open personality. He has a wierd sort of empathy, where he feels strongly for others without always actually understanding. But he has his moments. Itsuka defending him to this effect in the argument in the store was nice. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group