Red Block
I am not going to talk about the whole synopsis. I am here to just talk about episode 4 of this extremely well-written J-drama!Ep 4 has to be my favourite. There is so much going on all at once. Kazu-kun’s character development for the audience, all three characters coming together to understand each other and lastly such an important debate on life perception of romantics vs aero/aces!Firstly, let’s talk about Kazu-kun's character development. The audience gets to understand him a bit more as he adorably pesters our main lead Takahashi-san. Because of the way the writer portrayed his character in the opening, the audience initially perceived him as an annoying personality. Being nosy, rude, and violating the privacy and boundaries of others. Even when he keeps saying "I just want to understand them" the point does not come through to the audience. However! later in ep 4 we, the audience, together with Takahashi understand how the guy isn’t being rude on purpose. That he's genuinely clueless! The most beautiful thing about Kazu-kun’s character is that he really was trying his best to understand a concept that he was completely unfamiliar with. He came to them with a childlike curiosity. That boy just really really wanted to understand! It was actually Takahashi and Sakuko who weren't giving him a chance, thinking that he was being too much. This is similar to how the guy's character is being perceived by the audience. So, when Takahashi (finally annoyed by the repetitive actions of the guy) properly communicates his discomfort and sets a boundary, Kazu-kun realizes his actions, respects their emotions, and backs off!"Wanting to understand someone and asking impudent questions is not the same."After saying that Takahashi is sure that he has made Kazu upset or angry. But Kazu conveys that he really didn't see it that way before, he sees his mistake and then apologizes. Then just observes the duo for a while. And slowly by observing the "couple" and asking gentle within boundary questions he starts to understand. Which i think is really beautiful ?Basically, all three of them were having difficulties trying to understand each other but by the end they finally do. This was also, in my opinion, a very realistically written representation of what happens when an extrovert and an introvert come together. Because in real life relationships, both the extroverted and introverted side needs to make compromises. Introverts or the reserved people need be a bit more vulnerable and communicate their boundaries, while the extroverts need to realize that not everyone has the same capacity as them and the things that are natural to them might be a bit too much for someone else. This drama is so so well written and it is beautiful seeing all three of them come together like that.On the other hand, I really love how the writer pointed out social pre-conceptions of human relationships as Kazu-kun keeps pointing interaction between the aro/ace duo saying, "that was just like a couple!" while the duo is completely oblivious to the fact because they're just interacting as two humans! Takahashi also points out that the non-existent romance is just a projection of Kazu-kun's own sense of "normal". It’s funny how humans tend to correlate normalcy with whatever media feeds them and then they get stuck bouncing between those ideas forever. Whereas in reality the concept of "normal" is just a social construct. It’s always those who don’t fit the media-imposed sense of norm who are suffering.So far, I’m really enjoying this drama. The writing is literally perfect with no lose ends, the vibe is cozy and the representation is done right. On top of that, every sentence out of Takahashi’s mouth is gold and makes me want to whip out the notepad in my phone....I recently started an official blog!! Please consider supporting me there: https://fairfarrenalice.carrd.co
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This episode really was a rollercoaster of emotion, just the way some of the previous episodes have been. I loved how they showed the generational trauma loop by connecting the family problems of the sisters with what their mother (Babaa) was unable to provide them as kids. And we see how those problems ended up impacting Kahoko and Ito. I am not sure what i think about kahoko's situation. Maybe its because her ideals are very different from mine. I would never get involved in family matters, more so involving in distant family matters e.g trying to 'fix' issues of my aunt's family etc the way Kahoko does. I'd rather take care of my own life like Hajime.I also don't think that its appropriate of her to try and convince someone not to have a divorce or try to convince Ito what to do with her life. Ito's decisions are hers, we cant understand her emotions unless we have lived in her shoes. Maybe Ito needs that change to explore herself? Previously, Ito was also right about not wanting to have that birthday party too, because it ended with a messy family argument, and sometimes you just dont have the emotional capacity to face that. Sometimes you need to understand and trust the person's decisions rather then nosily asking them to change. Or maybe I say this because Kahoko's family dynamic are different from mine. Nonetheless, i loved this and it gave me a different perspective on 'how a family could be'...
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