Surprisingly… I found very little to rage about in this episode… Instead of that, I should congratulate Touya for finally getting himself an answering machine. Damn, if he had that thing, how different would the first season have looked?
However, the cast of characters still are a miserable bunch. The premise of it was about a new performance for Yuki, while Touya’s father collapsed again. To start with the first, Yayoi makes a bold move: for once, she invites Touya without the intention to kiss or screw him, but rather outright tells him to stop seeing Yuki for her own good. This seems to contradict her behavior up till now, in which she kept calling Touya more and more often…
Later, Eiji indeed reveals that he’s planning to star Yuki in some big event. However, the rule is that each production can only be allowed to submit one idol, so yeah: he pushes Rina aside for Yuki. In response to this, Rina declares that she’s going to start her own production, and move away from her brother. Rina indeed seems like the most stable member of the cast (okay, that’s not saying anything, really), but that also may have been because she’s the most mysterious at this point. We hardly ever know what she’s thinking, are we? Did she work with her brother for so long because it were his connections that allowed her to grow big in the first place, or is there something more to it? I mean, there has to be a reason why she’s the focus of the OP, hasn’t there?
Then there’s the matter of Touya’s father collapsed again. He seems to be fine according to Touya, but it’s gotten much harder on Misaki, who somehow ends up staying longer with him than Touya while Akira leaves prematurely. On top of that, Misaki later discovers that Touya was outright lying to her, and he’s in much worse shape than he said, even needing a pacemaker.
But yeah, one of the big complaints about the first season was simply the following: ANSWERING MACHINE! As it turns out, the creators didn’t forget this at all, Touya just didn’t have one. I wasn’t of course born in those days, but in a way I can imagine a poor student in those days, not being able to afford one. If I recall correctly, the first answering machine was marketed 3 years before. I don’t think that at that point, they were as common yet as ten years later.
And yet, even with the answering machine ready, the problems still aren’t as easily solved, like the end of this episode showed. That yelp of attention of his in the final scene can have a lot of different meanings: is he afraid that he’s going to lose Yuki? Does he finally feel remorse for his father? Or is he just lonely because he can’t see Yuki? Anyway, considering the things he’s done so far…
Rating: (Enjoyable)
having an answering machine will not solve things
it will however, make the problem more pronounced
you see, the problem is not Touya not being able to reach Yuki. The problem is is he himself does not want to talk to her
I think they could have a Star Trek’s transporter and still be unable to manage a relationship.
Touya started out fearing that Yuki would lose sight of him, and then promptly set out to do everything he could to realize those fears. Yuki allows everyone around her to treat her like a child by controlling her every movement. She’s basically Eiji’s plaything.
They’re both adults that live in the same city, and even before the show begins we’re made aware that they would see each other a few times in a year. To call their relationship uninspiring is an understatement. I haven’t cared so little about a relationship since I read the Odyssey.
I think they added an answering machine because of all the flak they must have gotten for the first season 😉
Whether you have an answering machine or an iPhone, miscommunication will occur. Lovers texting messages between one another is especially dangerous, since the words themselves carry very little in the way of context. Sincerity and Sarcasm are difficult to distinguish from one another, and even an out of place punctuation mark can spur an epic row. The same goes for email. While more time can be put into them, like letters, once they’re sent they’re sent and you can’t retrieve them if a mistake is made. Despite the advances in communications tech since 1986, there is still no safer, more reliable way of communicating than by talking in person. If anything, excessive tech has made things worse, because it’s taken for granted.
All that said, I’m really enjoying this show, its myriad characters and web of connections, and the fact that it’s the eighties is frankly quite refreshing and lends a quieter, more serene, less hustle-and-bustle atmosphere.