Yeah, it’s freaky how much I identify with Makio but honestly, that’s only a small part of why I’m so positive on Ikoku Nikki. There are so many times when I say “yup, that’s exactly how I would have reacted in that situation”. That kind of personal connection certainly makes a big difference. But the overall package here is superb. It’s not like the series isn’t a slow burn (it very much is), but the fact that it doesn’t try too hard is why it works so well. It’s a trait some of the best jousei have.

It seems redundant to say that both Asa and Makio have a ton of baggage – I mean, who doesn’t? Just their Minori issues alone could fill textbooks. We’re starting to see cracks in Asa’s facade, even if sometimes only in dreams. Minori made so many decisions for her, and now she’s gone. Her death basically amounts to one big broken promise in both the literal and figurative sense, and Asa is carrying a lot of resentment about that. The fact that she’s gone from a total control freak to the most laissez-faire guardian imaginable doesn’t help. And of course, that side of Minori is a big reason for the antipathy her sister feels for her.

Did you doubt even for a moment that Makio had a complicated relationship with her mother (Asano Mayumi)? Grandma asks Asa to come for a visit, and Makio comes along – noting that she hasn’t been home in five years. This goes more or less as you’d expect. Kyoko is critical – “dull and snide”, as Makio describes her. Not the same woman who used to say Minori was “caring” and Makio was “self-sufficient” (left-handed compliments to an extent, especially the latter). Asa’s “do you hate grandma too?” was kind of heartbreaking, actually. You can totally see why she would think that – Makio brings it on herself.

The flood of memories Makio deals with as she wanders into both her old room and and her sister’s betray that while it was always seemingly testy, there certainly was a sibling relationship there. Just as the Minori Asa knew is a different person than “Makio’s” Minori, so it is with their mother. Asa sees her as the broken old woman hysterically crying at her daughter leaving this world before she did. All this seems to have some impact on Makio, as if she’s realizing that all the relationships she cuts off will someday be unsalvageable if her feelings ever change. Her outreach to Kyoko is about as vulnerable as we’ve seen her in five episodes (even if it was more or less rebuffed).

The fact is, everyone is a different person to every other person. Makio knows this, and is at least trying to prevent her subjective view of Minori from poisoning Asa’s subjective view of her. I confess, I’m very curious about Asa’s father. It seems very odd that we’ve had zero mention of him at all, and seen no evidence that Asa ever thinks of him. Then there’s the matter of the phone calls Makio is ignoring because she doesn’t recognize the number – which I totally get, but weren’t there voicemails?

The calls were from Toono-san (Kondou Takashi), the lawyer managing the family estate. There’s been a ¥300,000 withdrawal from the account, and since Makio ignored his calls Toono concludes she’s the shameless sort. Makio is already exhausted from having to talk at a meeting with her publisher and cover artist (I so feel that), and Toono – who’s pretty new at the job – comes on way too strong and almost pushes her into a panic attack. This is exactly what you would guess – Asa took the money out. To buy a Macbook in fact – to work on music. She wants to join the band club, and her scar tissue from her mom (and maybe dad too, though we can’t know) has her convinced Makio will say no.

It’s for the best that Shingo-kun was already planning to visit, because you can see that he’s one of the very few people Makio feels relaxed around. He knows how to talk her in off the ledge, clearly – and he comforts much more naturally than she does (“just pretend you’re being hugged by a big dog” he tells her). This is a fascinating relationship, for many reasons. It seems very likely that Makio feels she’s unfit to be in a long-term relationship, but Kasamichi clearly wants to have the chance to put in the hours to make it work. Makio is happiest alone, but happy in Shingo’s company too – she just knows that at some point it’ll be too much, and she’ll have to push him away. Asa totally digs him too, though, and one imagines she’s going to try and influence events on this score.

Balance is so elusive, but it’s the key to everything. Asa is at the age where she’s defining herself as a person and not an extension of her parents, but she obviously craves more direction from her new guardian. Makio will always default to being most comfortable alone, but she also needs to have connections in her life. “We’re two totally different people” literally applies to any two people, but the peculiarities of the people in focus here make bringing their lives into balance an especially challenging task.