This review may contain spoilers
Love, revenge and instant karma in a lifetime (full of spoilers!!!)
I just finished the Japanese mini-series of four episodes Kenja no Ai.If I can find the book, I would read it. It's worth going through the emotion of every single character in this story, which is completely impossible to do in a series. The series was heavy and was a vivid illustration of how instant karma works within a lifetime. It's an interesting cycle of action/karma/action/karma. Everyone was both victim and victimized.
It all starts when a family with a 13 year old girl, Yuri, moves into the house next door to another 13 year old girl, Miyuku. Yuri is deeply unhappy because, in her family, her parents are each minding their own business and no one is paying attention to the three children. Miyuku's family, on the other hand, is happy and everyone takes care of her. Yuri becomes jealous of Miyuku and wants to live her life. She insists on toys, jewelry, and possessions from Miyuku. He also reaches out to people. When they are 16, a promising young writer, in his early twenties, lives in Miyuku's house under the tutelage of her father (publisher and editor-in-chief of a literary magazine). Miyuku's crush is on him and he reciprocates her feelings. Yuri sees them kissing in the garden and decides that the writer (Ryoichi) will be hers. She also wants Miyuku's father. One night she sits on his lap and throws herself into hugging him. For a moment he is willing to give in, but nothing happens in the end. At that moment, however, Miyuku comes in and sees them. Her father can't get over the guilt and shame and kills himself.
First Villains: Yuri /wanting to take his girlfriend's father away/ and the father /impulse to give in to the advances of his daughter's 16-year-old girlfriend/ First Victims: Yuri, though a villain, is also a victim because he ends up assaulting her, though not fully realized; the father - loses his life and Miyuku - loses her father.
Six years later, Miyuku is 22, now a redhead to Ryoichi and with hopes of a future together. Yuri seduces Ryoichi, telling him it will only be a one-off because she is betrothed at her family's expense and says she doesn't need contraceptives because she is at the part of her period when it is safe. She is doing it with the clear goal of getting pregnant. She manages to achieve her goal, sits down to talk to Miyuku and tells her "You're my best friend, give me Ryoichi, I had sex once with him and I'm carrying his child. Miyuku gives up his love in favor of his girlfriend. Second villains: Ryoichi /compromises his feelings and has sex with Yuri/, Yuri /cheats on Ryoichi and takes him away from Miyuku/. Second victims: Ryoichi and Miyuku. As Miyuku feels betrayed by both Yuri and Ryoichi.
So far we notice that the main villain is Yuri and the main victim is Miyuku.
Yuri and Ryoichi's child is born, who turns out to be a boy. Yuri, wanting to have complete control over Miyuku, asks her to give the boy a name. Miyuku names him Naomi after the story of a novel from which she gets her idea of revenge. The story in the novel goes like this: a man raises a little girl as the perfect woman to then become his emotional captive. Only he falls in love with her and ends up being the captive. Miyuku decides she will do the same with the boy. She basically raises him as a parallel parent and gives him the feeling of having both the perfect mother and the perfect lover. When he's eighteen a relationship begins that is extremely unhealthy for both of them. They're extremely intimate, she teaches him everything she thinks he needs, they bathe, they kiss, but outside of that she remains distant, he's not allowed to stay sleeping with her and they never have sex. Miyuku plans for the sex to be a one-off, on Naomi's birthday when he turns twenty, and then for her to keep him around on a short leash, for him to keep wanting to be with her without getting it. And so it goes. They have sex once and Naomi tells her that she is the perfect woman for him and he wants to marry her. Miyuku refuses. She even finds him a young woman to have sex with while she herself continues her obsessive relationship with him, with no sexual relationship and no future. The first time Miyuku brings the girl and announces it as a gift to Naomi, Naomi has a severe crisis, hurts himself, and inadvertently hurts Miyuku by leaving scars on her neck, which Yuri /his mother/ later believes are from Miyuku's new lover and hires a detective to follow her. The idea is, if the lover is her husband /as she suspects because she knows perfectly well that they were in love and sees that there are feelings between them even now, to do something/, and if it's another man, to take away her new lover as well. The villain here is one: Miyuku. The victims are: Naomi / spent his entire childhood and teenage years in emotional captivity/, Yuri and Ryoichi.
It turns out that Ryoichi, who still has feelings for Miyuku, is aware of his son's feelings, and also, not only is he aware of Miyuku's revenge, but as a writer, someone well versed in literature, he is aware of exactly which book the idea of revenge is borrowed from. Meanwhile, Naomi, who finds it unbearable not to see Miyuku, agrees to continue his relationship with her, without sex or commitment, and to have sex with the girl Miyuki has found for him. However, this proves difficult for both him /when he has sex, all he thinks about is Miyuku/ and for Miyuku, who realizes that she can't bear it because she is also in love with Naomi. It becomes clear that she's going to give up on the revenge idea and take the risk of having a real relationship with Naomi.
Ryoichi, Naomi's father, tells him the whole story, he also tells him about revenge, but Naomi answers that he doesn't care what the reason is that brought him and Miyuku together, as long as he's with her it doesn't matter. He agrees to everything. That Miyuku is 43 doesn't matter to him, all he wants is to live with her. He and his father have a serious fight. The detective Yuri hired shows her pictures of Miyuku and Naomi while they kiss. When she finds out that Miyuku is with her son, she decides to take him away from her by killing him with an ice pick. She makes an attempt while he sleeps but fails, only slightly injuring him. Yuri invites Miyuku over for a talk and tells her that she found out that Miyuku is getting revenge. As in the conversation she had earlier with Ryoichi, Miyuki confesses that Naomi was the revenge she's been cooking up for twenty years. She also says that she never wants to see Yuri again and there's no way they can stay friends. Yuri is horrified and tells Miyuku that she gave up her son just to remain her friend. However, Miyuku refuses to be her friend, it's all over for her now.
Since she has failed to kill her son, and is left without Miyuku, Yuri decides to cause an accident in which the two die together. However, Miyuku does not die in the crash, but becomes paralyzed, killing Yuri. This is now the final fulfillment of karma. The curtain falls. Yuri dies after first seeing her son fall victim to the desire for revenge and losing Miyuku. Miyuku becomes paralyzed in the crash and receives her karma. Naomi is repaid for what Miyuki did to him by paralyzing her, and at the same time gets what she wants - the paralyzed Miyuku lives with him, he takes perfect care of her, and she depends on him.
It all starts when a family with a 13 year old girl, Yuri, moves into the house next door to another 13 year old girl, Miyuku. Yuri is deeply unhappy because, in her family, her parents are each minding their own business and no one is paying attention to the three children. Miyuku's family, on the other hand, is happy and everyone takes care of her. Yuri becomes jealous of Miyuku and wants to live her life. She insists on toys, jewelry, and possessions from Miyuku. He also reaches out to people. When they are 16, a promising young writer, in his early twenties, lives in Miyuku's house under the tutelage of her father (publisher and editor-in-chief of a literary magazine). Miyuku's crush is on him and he reciprocates her feelings. Yuri sees them kissing in the garden and decides that the writer (Ryoichi) will be hers. She also wants Miyuku's father. One night she sits on his lap and throws herself into hugging him. For a moment he is willing to give in, but nothing happens in the end. At that moment, however, Miyuku comes in and sees them. Her father can't get over the guilt and shame and kills himself.
First Villains: Yuri /wanting to take his girlfriend's father away/ and the father /impulse to give in to the advances of his daughter's 16-year-old girlfriend/ First Victims: Yuri, though a villain, is also a victim because he ends up assaulting her, though not fully realized; the father - loses his life and Miyuku - loses her father.
Six years later, Miyuku is 22, now a redhead to Ryoichi and with hopes of a future together. Yuri seduces Ryoichi, telling him it will only be a one-off because she is betrothed at her family's expense and says she doesn't need contraceptives because she is at the part of her period when it is safe. She is doing it with the clear goal of getting pregnant. She manages to achieve her goal, sits down to talk to Miyuku and tells her "You're my best friend, give me Ryoichi, I had sex once with him and I'm carrying his child. Miyuku gives up his love in favor of his girlfriend. Second villains: Ryoichi /compromises his feelings and has sex with Yuri/, Yuri /cheats on Ryoichi and takes him away from Miyuku/. Second victims: Ryoichi and Miyuku. As Miyuku feels betrayed by both Yuri and Ryoichi.
So far we notice that the main villain is Yuri and the main victim is Miyuku.
Yuri and Ryoichi's child is born, who turns out to be a boy. Yuri, wanting to have complete control over Miyuku, asks her to give the boy a name. Miyuku names him Naomi after the story of a novel from which she gets her idea of revenge. The story in the novel goes like this: a man raises a little girl as the perfect woman to then become his emotional captive. Only he falls in love with her and ends up being the captive. Miyuku decides she will do the same with the boy. She basically raises him as a parallel parent and gives him the feeling of having both the perfect mother and the perfect lover. When he's eighteen a relationship begins that is extremely unhealthy for both of them. They're extremely intimate, she teaches him everything she thinks he needs, they bathe, they kiss, but outside of that she remains distant, he's not allowed to stay sleeping with her and they never have sex. Miyuku plans for the sex to be a one-off, on Naomi's birthday when he turns twenty, and then for her to keep him around on a short leash, for him to keep wanting to be with her without getting it. And so it goes. They have sex once and Naomi tells her that she is the perfect woman for him and he wants to marry her. Miyuku refuses. She even finds him a young woman to have sex with while she herself continues her obsessive relationship with him, with no sexual relationship and no future. The first time Miyuku brings the girl and announces it as a gift to Naomi, Naomi has a severe crisis, hurts himself, and inadvertently hurts Miyuku by leaving scars on her neck, which Yuri /his mother/ later believes are from Miyuku's new lover and hires a detective to follow her. The idea is, if the lover is her husband /as she suspects because she knows perfectly well that they were in love and sees that there are feelings between them even now, to do something/, and if it's another man, to take away her new lover as well. The villain here is one: Miyuku. The victims are: Naomi / spent his entire childhood and teenage years in emotional captivity/, Yuri and Ryoichi.
It turns out that Ryoichi, who still has feelings for Miyuku, is aware of his son's feelings, and also, not only is he aware of Miyuku's revenge, but as a writer, someone well versed in literature, he is aware of exactly which book the idea of revenge is borrowed from. Meanwhile, Naomi, who finds it unbearable not to see Miyuku, agrees to continue his relationship with her, without sex or commitment, and to have sex with the girl Miyuki has found for him. However, this proves difficult for both him /when he has sex, all he thinks about is Miyuku/ and for Miyuku, who realizes that she can't bear it because she is also in love with Naomi. It becomes clear that she's going to give up on the revenge idea and take the risk of having a real relationship with Naomi.
Ryoichi, Naomi's father, tells him the whole story, he also tells him about revenge, but Naomi answers that he doesn't care what the reason is that brought him and Miyuku together, as long as he's with her it doesn't matter. He agrees to everything. That Miyuku is 43 doesn't matter to him, all he wants is to live with her. He and his father have a serious fight. The detective Yuri hired shows her pictures of Miyuku and Naomi while they kiss. When she finds out that Miyuku is with her son, she decides to take him away from her by killing him with an ice pick. She makes an attempt while he sleeps but fails, only slightly injuring him. Yuri invites Miyuku over for a talk and tells her that she found out that Miyuku is getting revenge. As in the conversation she had earlier with Ryoichi, Miyuki confesses that Naomi was the revenge she's been cooking up for twenty years. She also says that she never wants to see Yuri again and there's no way they can stay friends. Yuri is horrified and tells Miyuku that she gave up her son just to remain her friend. However, Miyuku refuses to be her friend, it's all over for her now.
Since she has failed to kill her son, and is left without Miyuku, Yuri decides to cause an accident in which the two die together. However, Miyuku does not die in the crash, but becomes paralyzed, killing Yuri. This is now the final fulfillment of karma. The curtain falls. Yuri dies after first seeing her son fall victim to the desire for revenge and losing Miyuku. Miyuku becomes paralyzed in the crash and receives her karma. Naomi is repaid for what Miyuki did to him by paralyzing her, and at the same time gets what she wants - the paralyzed Miyuku lives with him, he takes perfect care of her, and she depends on him.
Was this review helpful to you?