It’s not the tropes, it’s what you do with them. Did someone say that? Well, if not I just did anyway. There are series that are mold-breakers to be sure, but the truth is the overwhelming majority pretty much play the cards their demographic and genre have dealt them. As anyone who knows competitive poker will tell you, while the quality of cards you’re lucky enough to draw is important, it’s how you play them that separates the professionals from the pretenders.
When it comes to shoujo romance, that usually amounts to something like jack-ten not suited for me. There are possibilities there but history tells you you’re probably going to get burned if you stick around too long. It’s not a combo that usually works for me because of the tropes it carries with it, but so far Uchi no Otouto-domo ga Sumimasen is doing a remarkable job of playing those cards. As I said, I think one key to enjoying this show is accepting that the Ito-Gen thing was inevitable and just hoping it’s handled well.
The scenario is a cliche. Every brother neatly fits a category. So does Mafuyu, who I missed this week even though I know he’s destined to be a minor character. The series is surprising me less by what it does than by how I feel about what it does. Ito is not a doormat female lead. Gen is a lot to take, but essentially a caring person. Raku is your classical glasses bishounen, with his requisite massive brain, and I admit he doesn’t bring a whole lot to the table so far. He seems to exist more to advance the plot than to be an essential part of it (though having he and Gen be rivals for Ito would certainly have been a possible route).
Basically Raku has overheard Ito and Mafuyu talking, and knows she’s fallen for Gen. Gen later overhears Ito talking to Raku, but gets it bass ackwards and decides it’s Raku she’s fallen for. And it’s her birthday next week – which means it’s Gen’s one day later of course. Ito goes into a frenzy trying to plan a massive surprise party for Gen – even more so when she finds out she missed Raku’s birthday – and that struck me about as fair as Ito always being the one cooking and cleaning. So I was glad to see the boys take it into their own hands to plan a party for her (though it seems as if Rui was the one who took the lead on that score).
As for Ito’s party, well, she’s certainly surprised. Mom and Dad are still AWOL but send meat from Hokkaido as if that makes it all right. Rui brings out the twister board, and it seems like everyone is trying to get Ito to play it with Raku (has Rui figured it out too?) but eventually it’s Rui she winds up playing with. Raku cooks up an amusingly clever lie about her actual crush being a drama whose title is shortened to “BROTHER” and is only available on subscription, but Ito tells him to stand down and decides she’s finally going to set the record straight. But then Gen decides she has a fever and it gets pushed back yet again (talk about cliches).
But, it is what it is. Yeah it’s aggravating but there’s a certain dignity with which Uchi no Otouto goes about all this that repeatedly saves its bacon. Like, Gen’s attitude towards all this when he and Ito finally started talking about it was absolutely grounded and sensible – which, ironically, threw Ito off and caused her to fall back from telling him the truth, Yeah, if this actually happened it really would be a stressful situation – especially for her – so that aspect of the storytelling has a ring of truthiness about it.
