Yeah, this show is quite good. I’m pretty close to committing but I have just the smallest nagging fear of where the Ito-Gen thread is going. There’s also the elephant in the room, the Syu situation, and how the series is going to handle that. It’s basically being ignored at the moment but that can’t go on forever, surely. None of these are traps I expect to turn into deal-breakers, but they’re just enough to make me a little hesitant.
The catalyst for events this week is again Rui, whose decision to take Gomez for a walk (without a leash) results in chaos. Rui is constantly doing stuff to remind you that he’s younger than he looks. After he jumps into the river trying to find the frog – and Ito follows – Gen injures himself in a botched rescue attempt. This results in him being mildly incapacitated with what looks to be a sprained wrist and ankle, and pretending he isn’t because he’s Gen.
The conflict here really comes down to Ito trying to coddle Gen, and Gen resisting. I can sort of see where he’s coming from here – being babied all the time is surely irritating as hell. On the other hand it’s not exactly healthy that Ito falls into this role of taking care of everybody else, whether they’re inured or not. Why is she doing all the cooking and – seemingly – most of the cleaning? I know the two oldest brothers both work but even so, that’s not right any way you slice it. I also think Gen isn’t totally wrong about Ito doing a little more to build relationships outside the house.
On the third hand, though, she’s basically being nice. And when Rui scolds Gen for how ungracious he’s being, the oldest brother can’t really deny it. This whole pissing contest with her babying him harder and harder and him trying to push her past her limit is highly childish for high schoolers. Essentially everything between the pair of them is a competition which, if we’re honest, implies a certain mutual attraction exists. And it doesn’t help then Gen is the one who’s had to make the adjustment to no longer being the oldest, even if it’s be a few weeks (and such things seem to matter more in Japanese families than elsewhere).
Then we have Outa and Megumi, Ito’s childhood friends. They remain her only close social circle, it seems. Outa in fact comes to town to check on how Ito is doing, and walks right into the middle of the whole injury-pampering skirmish. There’s definite tension between Outa and Gen, some of it down to jealousy, but almost all of it comes from Gen’s side. It’s pretty obvious that there’s nothing between Outa and Ito romantically. And whether there should be with Gen or not, Outa even seems open to the possibility.
I mean, when Ito pointedly says that Gen is a boy she cares about very specifically – as in, not in the context of being one of four – it’s hard to interpret that in any but the obvious way. And indeed Gen doesn’t. And “Even I don’t know what’ll happen when I begin to seriously want to be pampered”? This is seeming like a growing inevitability, for better or worse. Hopefully Uchi no Otouto-domo ga Sumimasen has the writing chops to survive that.
