This review may contain spoilers
Aikawa San delivers profound lessons!
My original rating was a 10.. but from episode 8 onwards, I started to see a trend which dropped my rating temporarily down to an 8.. More on that below..
I came for Takahashi. He delivered. He’s sweet, innocent, with a playful charm when he’s fascinated by all the animals, yet has a kind of confidence in his own world, while getting scared like a little school boy when he gets yelled at. So many flavors in one actor.
A very interesting dialogue: When Aikawa San says the dentist is like the rabbit, the dentist lady tries to compare herself to the turtle because she doesn’t want to be the rabbit that snoozes and loses. In other words, in trying to compare herself to the turtle she’s still trying to win. Then Aikawa San says something very interesting: “Was the turtle hard-working? That story can be interpreted anyway you like… it (the turtle) didn’t work hard at all. It did not care about winning or losing. It just enjoys whatever’s in front of him. Imagine this the world from the turtles point of view. It’s just walking and crawling on the ground. The world is only a few centimeters above the ground. The turtle only goes forward so that he can enjoy the amazing world. Rabbit don’t even exist in the turtle’s world. That’s why the turtle didn’t shout to the sleeping rabbit.” In other words, the turtle wasn’t even in the race, and yet it seemed to win it! Wow wow what a perspective, I love that so much. All this time we are taught that the turtle and the rabbit were competing evenly against each other and the turtle took advantage of the rabbit’s nap time and won the race. But the turtle wasn’t even running that race, only the rabbit was competing against the turtle.
Then the dentist lady asks, “Then what about the rabbit? How do you interpret the rabbit? It had talent but wasted it and lost. Am I wrong?”
He says “ the rabbit runs to look down on the turtle. It wanted to prove how great it is.”
This dialogue was everything. Wow just wow!!! May I live the turtle life forever and only for us on what’s in front of me and not look at or compete with rabbits!
Now why does Aikawa San say “Eeee!” Before sleeping? Is it like “Aummmm” the primordial sound of the universe? I thought I would never figure it out but.. the grandpa taught him it’s to forget about the bad memories and wake up feeling better- the grandpa forgot but he still does it. Shows his childlike innocence. Such a person is not appreciated too much in this world.
Another gem of a quote from Aikawa San: “I rarely get along with other people. But I get along with the person I wanted to the most. That’s more than enough. Long time ago, I used to load that person. I tried really hard not to get along with him but failed. I couldn’t stand it and cried every day. Our relationship is fine now. It’s me.”
Another gem of a quote: “When you focus too much on the task in front of you, your wishes will come true before you realize it.”
So.. why did my rating temporarily drop from a 10 to an 8? The first several episodes that showed Aikawa San’s unique perspective and experience of living fully in the moment, which showed a level of acceptance, that he was different from the crowd, and that he couldn’t be pushed and molded into a box. But from episode 8 onwards, there is a strong trend in the story going towards marriage, and the pressure and obsession for Aikawa San to marry is strong, with his annoying housekeeper/mother always sticking her nose into it. Basically he needs a maid for life, and that’s why she starts teaching the dentist lady and pestering her to get with him, and basically forcing romantic feelings onto them that just don’t seem to be there. The two have zero chemistry and are forced and pressured to fabricate feelings for each other out of nothing. The relationship seems strictly like acquaintances with vague reservations and awkwardness with each other, but there’s nothing in it that indicates romance. But for the director to push this romance angle so hard in the last 3 episodes is so forced and starts sounding like “The Man Who Cannot Marry”- where the agenda is to show that “Even if society said he’s weird and an outcast, Look! He can get married and start breeding too so we can keep society going! What started off as a lighthearted show about accepting this man who is different and doesn’t fit the mold, starts to push him into that same mold. There’s a scene in episode 9 where Aikawa San has been pressured so much by his mother housekeeper Yamada San to “Think about his feelings for the dentist so they can start planning their wedding!” That he tells the dentist what he thinks and the best he can come up with is “You’re interesting,” while the dentist who is destroyer for someone, anyone to love her is holding her breath hoping he says the right lines to make her happy and “complete her.” She ends up confused and disappointed with “you’re interesting..” because the romance script is demanding and tries to force feelings that just aren’t there. In the end is it all just about romance and marriage and breeding before the mother dies? The same old nonsense societal mass programming? Is this what the show what building up to since the beginning? Marriage, family, breeding? As an audience, I feel cheated.
But then there was a scene where Aikawa sensei gets told off by his uptight competitive colleague, and there are tears in his eyes. You can feel it. OMG Takahashi is so precious! I almost added a star just for that one scene. Aikawa San is so pure and genuine as a character- just keep him the way he is and stop trying to push marriage onto him! He says that when he made his light larger, unpleasant things got inside too, and caused him pain. And his grandpa says “That’s a good thing…” So Aikawa San reflects on this and decided that from now on, his light should continue to spread.
A wise thing as Aikawa San prepares to go to space, he said these wise things: “I solved the mystery. You asked me I met a lot of people, and the dentist, and Koichi, so the light within me grew larger. When I don’t try to erase all the terrible and painful things, but wrap them all with light, my own light becomes infinite. That means, even outer space will fit inside my light. That’s why I’m going to space. You invited me here for a purpose, right?”
Since by the end there was no forced romance, contrived wedding scenes, or family breeding agendas, I reverted my rating back to a 10. Aikawa sensei went to outer space and continues to spread his light. That’s more like it.
I came for Takahashi. He delivered. He’s sweet, innocent, with a playful charm when he’s fascinated by all the animals, yet has a kind of confidence in his own world, while getting scared like a little school boy when he gets yelled at. So many flavors in one actor.
A very interesting dialogue: When Aikawa San says the dentist is like the rabbit, the dentist lady tries to compare herself to the turtle because she doesn’t want to be the rabbit that snoozes and loses. In other words, in trying to compare herself to the turtle she’s still trying to win. Then Aikawa San says something very interesting: “Was the turtle hard-working? That story can be interpreted anyway you like… it (the turtle) didn’t work hard at all. It did not care about winning or losing. It just enjoys whatever’s in front of him. Imagine this the world from the turtles point of view. It’s just walking and crawling on the ground. The world is only a few centimeters above the ground. The turtle only goes forward so that he can enjoy the amazing world. Rabbit don’t even exist in the turtle’s world. That’s why the turtle didn’t shout to the sleeping rabbit.” In other words, the turtle wasn’t even in the race, and yet it seemed to win it! Wow wow what a perspective, I love that so much. All this time we are taught that the turtle and the rabbit were competing evenly against each other and the turtle took advantage of the rabbit’s nap time and won the race. But the turtle wasn’t even running that race, only the rabbit was competing against the turtle.
Then the dentist lady asks, “Then what about the rabbit? How do you interpret the rabbit? It had talent but wasted it and lost. Am I wrong?”
He says “ the rabbit runs to look down on the turtle. It wanted to prove how great it is.”
This dialogue was everything. Wow just wow!!! May I live the turtle life forever and only for us on what’s in front of me and not look at or compete with rabbits!
Now why does Aikawa San say “Eeee!” Before sleeping? Is it like “Aummmm” the primordial sound of the universe? I thought I would never figure it out but.. the grandpa taught him it’s to forget about the bad memories and wake up feeling better- the grandpa forgot but he still does it. Shows his childlike innocence. Such a person is not appreciated too much in this world.
Another gem of a quote from Aikawa San: “I rarely get along with other people. But I get along with the person I wanted to the most. That’s more than enough. Long time ago, I used to load that person. I tried really hard not to get along with him but failed. I couldn’t stand it and cried every day. Our relationship is fine now. It’s me.”
Another gem of a quote: “When you focus too much on the task in front of you, your wishes will come true before you realize it.”
So.. why did my rating temporarily drop from a 10 to an 8? The first several episodes that showed Aikawa San’s unique perspective and experience of living fully in the moment, which showed a level of acceptance, that he was different from the crowd, and that he couldn’t be pushed and molded into a box. But from episode 8 onwards, there is a strong trend in the story going towards marriage, and the pressure and obsession for Aikawa San to marry is strong, with his annoying housekeeper/mother always sticking her nose into it. Basically he needs a maid for life, and that’s why she starts teaching the dentist lady and pestering her to get with him, and basically forcing romantic feelings onto them that just don’t seem to be there. The two have zero chemistry and are forced and pressured to fabricate feelings for each other out of nothing. The relationship seems strictly like acquaintances with vague reservations and awkwardness with each other, but there’s nothing in it that indicates romance. But for the director to push this romance angle so hard in the last 3 episodes is so forced and starts sounding like “The Man Who Cannot Marry”- where the agenda is to show that “Even if society said he’s weird and an outcast, Look! He can get married and start breeding too so we can keep society going! What started off as a lighthearted show about accepting this man who is different and doesn’t fit the mold, starts to push him into that same mold. There’s a scene in episode 9 where Aikawa San has been pressured so much by his mother housekeeper Yamada San to “Think about his feelings for the dentist so they can start planning their wedding!” That he tells the dentist what he thinks and the best he can come up with is “You’re interesting,” while the dentist who is destroyer for someone, anyone to love her is holding her breath hoping he says the right lines to make her happy and “complete her.” She ends up confused and disappointed with “you’re interesting..” because the romance script is demanding and tries to force feelings that just aren’t there. In the end is it all just about romance and marriage and breeding before the mother dies? The same old nonsense societal mass programming? Is this what the show what building up to since the beginning? Marriage, family, breeding? As an audience, I feel cheated.
But then there was a scene where Aikawa sensei gets told off by his uptight competitive colleague, and there are tears in his eyes. You can feel it. OMG Takahashi is so precious! I almost added a star just for that one scene. Aikawa San is so pure and genuine as a character- just keep him the way he is and stop trying to push marriage onto him! He says that when he made his light larger, unpleasant things got inside too, and caused him pain. And his grandpa says “That’s a good thing…” So Aikawa San reflects on this and decided that from now on, his light should continue to spread.
A wise thing as Aikawa San prepares to go to space, he said these wise things: “I solved the mystery. You asked me I met a lot of people, and the dentist, and Koichi, so the light within me grew larger. When I don’t try to erase all the terrible and painful things, but wrap them all with light, my own light becomes infinite. That means, even outer space will fit inside my light. That’s why I’m going to space. You invited me here for a purpose, right?”
Since by the end there was no forced romance, contrived wedding scenes, or family breeding agendas, I reverted my rating back to a 10. Aikawa sensei went to outer space and continues to spread his light. That’s more like it.
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