This remains the weirdest show of the season, in a way I find very appealing. I will say, though, that this episode pushed the needle pretty far into the red in that respect, getting into almost David Lynch territory. As an American I certainly appreciate the idea of deconstructing the perverse and twisted underbelly of suburbia – it’s a flat-out genre all to itself. What I’m not sure of is whether in transplanting a facsimile of Americana into Kobe, Sano Nami is satirizing American suburban perversity, or some side of Japan’s that I’m not really aware of.
The epicentre of depravity in Origon Village is definitely the Ichijou house, where the Sonoyamas have been invited for dinner. The matriarch Reiko is played by Paku Romi, and she’s a twisted one – but no more so than Eiji. As we saw at the end of Episode 4, Eiji had an unhealthy interest in that snowflake button. And he accuses Migi (buying time at the dinner table for Dari to search the house) of stealing it, forcing him to strip in front of everyone. Dari institutes a last-ditch save to keep the truth from being discovered, but an even bigger secret is almost revealed when Eiji brings his dog in to sniff out the truth. Migi really takes one for the team here – though if he’d known where it would lead, he might have acted differently.
The revelation that the button came off of Eiji’s pajamas is an interesting one. Why would the boys’ mother (it’s later confirmed that she was indeed a maid in that house) have taken that button? At this point things take a pretty sick turn, as Reiko strongarms Yochan and Papa into leaving Hitori in the Ichijou house to “reeducate” him. This involves some fetishistic stuff like bondage and age regression, pretty heavy humiliation stuff that Eiji obviously intends to use to find out the truth about the button. But it’s not clear what Reiko wants out of this, and I suspect she may just be doing it because she enjoys it.
Migi again sticks his neck out, telling Dari that he’ll remain a captive if it means Dari has a free hand to search the house. Eventually he runs across Micchan doing so, as she cleans there every Wednesday. The two of them turn into a sort of de facto detective squad, each of them obsessed with snooping though for very different reasons. In the father’s study Dari finds a photograph with a reflection of his mother taking it, and Micchan notes that this is odd because “the Ichhijous don’t want anyone under 50”. Again, it very much looks as if Migi and Dari’s mother had an affair with someone in the house (presumably the father) but there are still many pieces of the puzzle remaining to be fitted.
Migi’s prison, as it turns out, is a secret room that’s one and the same as the one where they hid under the bed waiting for their mother. But another secret is discovered – a secret attic room where a diorama of Origon is kept, complete with miniature figures in the houses. The Ichijous are obviously spying on everyone in town and compiling a database on them but again – why? My suspicion that the joke here was that most of the sinister stuff was just boyish fantasy is starting to look a little shaky – the weird shit going on in this small town looks like more than just the usual small town weird shit.
Nicc
November 1, 2023 at 7:38 amFirst, Happy Halloween to all fellow Lostinanimers! Whether y’all are out trick-or-treating or chilling at home, do have a good night. It seems that Halloween is nowadays mainstream in Japan. I remember that old anime didn’t have Halloween episodes, but they’re common now.
This particular episode wasn’t a Halloween-themed one, but it’s right up there when it comes to the creepiness factor. I certainly got more questions than answers after the end of the episode. The Ichijou’s invite the Sonoyama’s to lunch to celebrate “Hitori’s” (Played by Migi) accomplishment for having the best grades in the exams. It turned out that was just a cover. In the meantime, Dali sneaks around the home to find that paisley wallpaper, but to no avail. He still gets the sense that something is up, though.
We’ve gotten used to the earlier fake outs, but that snowflake button is serious business for the Ichijou’s. Migi is stripped searched and Dali’s cover is nearly blown by the family doberman while trying to help Migi, but Migi took one for the team, as you said. There’s got to be something about that button to create such a scene. Migi finds himself imprisoned as Eiji tries to get “Hitori” to talk and feeding him dog food. Dali is hiding out and get any closer because of the guard dog, but befriending him works. Right now, Migi is being subjected to baby play, which is part of the reason why he doesn’t want to escape at this time.
There’s a huge reveal when it turns out that room that Migi is being held at is the room from their memories, paisley wallpaper, drawings and all. The “Clair de lune” played another role here to clue in the boys. So, the boys know that they and their mother were here, but why? While Dali continues to sneak around, she bumps into Micchan, who is working at the Ichijou home on that day. It seems that she’s aware that they’re holding a lot of secrets too. Right, he eventually finds a photo which has a reflection of his mom taking it. We can put together that she was live-in maid, but would have been too young for the Ichijou’s to hire, according to Micchan. I too am guessing that was an affair between their mother and Akira and maybe Eiji was the result?
But wait, there’s more! There’s a secret room in the attic where there’s a miniature Origon Village and with figurines of all of its inhabitants. There are also files on everybody. Before they can poke around some more, it looks like they may have been discovered. Dali hides in a box until the coast is clear and as for Micchan… She’s gone after some time has passed and with her broken figurine on the floor. Next, I’m expecting that Dali will find a copy of “Handbook for the Recently Deceased” and learn that the Ichijou’s are trying to summon Betelgeuse. Yep, things are definitely getting really strange in this neighborhood.
Guardian Enzo
November 1, 2023 at 8:20 amEiji being their half-brother certainly occurred to me. Maybe that’s why she wanted the button, either as a “part” of him, or to give the twins a hint about the truth.
Then again – what about their father? On that score we’ve seen pretty much zero.
Nicc
November 2, 2023 at 5:21 amRight, the dad was a no-show in this episode. He wasn’t there during that meal and we’re left in the dark in whether or not he’s aware that Migi is being held captive in their home. We’ve only seen Eiji and Reiko interacting with Migi. That leaves a lot of questions regarding dad and then there’s the youngest daughter as well. Just how many skeletons are they hiding in their home? At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were hiding actual skeletons.