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Yeah, I’m thinking there might be some fire with that smoke.
A couple of my suspicions about Ore Monogatari! got some fuel this week. As far as the whole disaster/rescue thing goes, with three in four weeks now in the books (and it’s four in five if you count the groper) I’m about ready to go with “running gag”. I hope so, because if there’s no way to take a string of coincidences like this seriously. And the classroom scene at the beginning of the episode seems to strongly bolster the sense of misogyny in the way female and male perceptions of Takeo are depicted here – with this being the view of girls that Suna sees, it’s easy to see why he chooses not to mingle. I can definitely see guys having a less judgmental take on Takeo (no pun intended) based on his fearsome appearance, but the series seems to be going out of its way to magnify the difference between the boys’ glowing admiration and the girls’ grotesque derision.
It’s an odd thing, because there’s so much happening everywhere in this week’s episode – boys falling in rivers, trains screeching to stops, new characters, exaggerated reactions – but what I found most interesting was the guy saying or doing almost nothing. I kept looking at Suna with “I wonder what he’s thinking right now?” running through my mind. He continues to be an oddly compelling character, I think because most of the rest of the cast is pretty much in heart-on-sleeve territory – Suna is really the only mystery here (with apologies to Rinko’s secret, which I doubt is anything too shocking).
Adding an intriguing element to this mix is the arrival of Suna’s older sister Ai, not least because she’s played by the living legend Inoue Kikuko. Predictably she’s quite the opposite of Makoto in terms of personalty – brash, outgoing and guileless. Less predictably it turns out she’s got a crush on Takeo, which given their history and age difference (and his present appearance) I can’t quite decide whether is creepy or kind of cute. Her reaction to the news that Takeo has a girlfriend is pretty over the top, but certainly she’s the first female apart from Rinko (Takeo’s ex-wrestler Mom doesn’t count – she’s just being a mom) from whom we’ve seen anything other than a one-dimensional and superficial view about Takeo, and that alone would make her a welcome addition to the cast.
This week’s deus ex Takeo is a little boy falling into the river, which gives our hero a chance not just to dive in and save him (as always, losing credit to Suna), but to prove his GAR by refusing to be late for his meeting with Rinko by going home to change into dry clothes. Silly? Yeah, but there’s some hilarious stuff here, like Takeo and Rinko’s “You’re a genius!” reaction when Suna suggests he could have just called or texted (especially Rinko, who also thought of it but still somehow concludes this makes Suna brilliant). And Takeo blithely disrobing to change into Suna’s normal high-schooler sized – and thus tiny – gym clothes right in front of Rinko.
The MacGuffin of the moment is the secret Rinko is hiding from Takeo, one which she comes close to telling him a few times in the ep but never does. While Ai is on the prowl for some dark shadow underlying Rinko’s feelings and thus seizes on this straw to clutch at, Rinko is such a feckless lump of sugar and purity that I can’t imagine this is anything really off-putting (“I’m actually a boy!”). What’s interesting here is that while Ai is obviously fond of Takeo, even she finds it hard to justify why a cute girl like Rinko would like him. She does seem somewhat mollified by Rinko’s inability to articulate why she loves him apart from “There’s just something about him”, because that clearly resonates with her, but it seems to me that it shouldn’t be that hard – especially for Rinko – to come up with an answer. Because he’s humble, and honest, consistently performs superhuman acts on her behalf and always puts her feelings above his – is that so preposterous a cause?
If there’s a definition of true love, I think eating cookies made with salt instead of sugar and saying with seemingly complete sincerity that it doesn’t matter is probably it. Ai isn’t going to be a real obstacle to this relationship, because like the others in the main cast I just don’t think there’s anything truly malicious in her – just eccentricity. Rather I suspect she’s going to be a facilitator, and indeed she volunteers – after witnessing the creepy spectacle of Takeo reading a teen beat magazine to try and understand girls – to talk to Rinko and find out what’s really going on. I am curious, but I still kind of find myself more interested in what role Suna is going to play in all this going forward. Will he continue to be a Greek chorus, or will the layers of secrecy around him be peeled back in the weeks ahead?
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Gary Cochran
May 7, 2015 at 1:53 amI'm wondering if she has to move, has an illness or someone put her up to hitting on Takeo?
Takeo saves the day and Suna gets the credit. Of course he is a good guy and tells the truth but no one seems to listen. Suna is very handsome and people naturally will show kindness to someone that's good looking. In real life it happens all the time. Girls choose the good looking guy that treats them like shit (or is a serial killer) instead of choosing the Takeo type that would treat them like a Queen.
Kamui
May 7, 2015 at 3:29 amI think the secret is about the "purity" that Takeo seems to associate with Rinko. She seems put off when he said that what he liked the most about her was her "purity". I've found that some girls despise that association, so I'm betting that Rinko, being one of them, wouldn't like it even more now that she is Takeo's girlfriend.
Jeb Nemo
May 7, 2015 at 4:03 amAi has more depth than has been shown so far. There's wry humor in Ore Monogatari, but it is at heart pretty humane.
Zoro50
May 7, 2015 at 4:17 amI'm going to go with the purity thing as well. Rinko seemed pretty happy that she got to touch Takeo in the train and seemed equally pleased (though a bit embarrassed) when Takeo touched her hair. I think her secret is that she wants to interact physically with her boyfriend even if that only means holding hands. She's just embarrassed to say so
Sauce
May 7, 2015 at 6:21 amYeah, I'm gonna have to go with the secret being about "purity". I pray that it's just her wanting to not be seen as some pure little thing that shouldn't be touched, because if they take a route where she's had a boyfriend before or done something with someone else previously and therefore is no longer "pure" I will throw up. As much as I'm liking this show, this episode gave me a horrible taste in my mouth regarding Takeo's treatment of her saying that he wouldn't touch her till she's grown up and that she's such a pure thing. I just really hope that the issue that the series is trying to bring up is this and not her.
Yapo ru
May 7, 2015 at 9:52 ami remember that scene where they were walking at the park one night to see the stars. Rinko then says "Oh there's just the two of us here, we're alone" something to that line..
ok that's like a HUGE way of saying "This is the perfect moment to give me a kiss!" so yeah. Takeo being dense, misinterprets it to something "Please don't take advantage of me! Onegai!"
If anything, Takeo has truly low self esteem and naive to be making up those thoughts. but idk can't be helped tbh. Rinko is his first gf and Takeo's been around handsome-to-the-bone bestfriend since he was three. I can perfectly see why he is flawed like that.
whemleh
May 7, 2015 at 1:30 pmOre Monogatari will end with Takeo saving the planet from a meteor, thus proving to everyone that he's actually a pretty cool guy. 😛
Jokes aside, I feel like them relying on Takeos superhuman feats is annoying me a lot less than it should. It certainly helps that everything else is just so adorable!
Simone
May 7, 2015 at 7:32 pmI third the "purity" hypothesis. The elements are all there – Takeo takes pride in Rinko's so called "purity" and she feels ashamed to tell him that she'd actually like to get on with slightly less "pure" things, and is afraid he'd stop liking her for that. There were multiple hints after all – the first time she blushed after seeing him half naked, then when he touched her to take away the ladybug, then the time under the stars… she probably would like to kiss or something, but of course Takeo is Takeo. "I think I'm dense" may be the understatement of the century.
Simone
May 7, 2015 at 7:33 pm(then again, who am I to talk? In middle school I got dumped by my "first girlfriend" for EXACTLY THE SAME REASON XD)
Roger
May 8, 2015 at 1:38 amMy only issue with the ep is that the plot of Rinko's secret kinda pops out from nowhere.
But I definitely like Ai's introduction here (her character design made her look more like Rinko's sister than Suna's, with that cherry pink hair). Looks like this is the part where we get to see Rinko grow from moe to a more interesting character, what with that little "love rivalry" that Ai is shoving onto her.
Man, that "purity" hypothesis is driving my imagination a bit too far >:D