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Old 2012-05-11, 07:23   Link #511
Arya
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Join Date: May 2004
Quote:
Originally Posted by kuromitsu View Post
Thing is, Kaoru does ask her (in the manga) and he receives a pretty thorough answer that makes the audience understand her and her situation much more. I'm sure it was omitted because of time constraints, but this way it's not only unbelievable for someone in Kaoru's situation, but it's also a bit unfair to the mother (Sayoko, I think?). I think the anime audience will walk away from this episode having a very different impression of her and the whole family issue than what is presented in the manga. For one it makes people think she was the guilty party (as you also imply) when in reality the situation was more complicated; and not mentioning certain things that explain why she's working in such a place leave rather iffy implications about her nature which are simply not true. :/ (At least the impression I got here is that she's a "loose woman" who couldn't handle the responsibility and walked out on her family.)
Don't know, as I wrote, the impression I got there was that no one was guilty for the separation, (no one means both equally). Yes, in a way it seemed a bit like they wanted to clear his issues with his mother and with Ritsuko with one stone.
But the overall feeling I got and keep getting from the show is that writers are trying to depict Kaoru like a bit of a selfish person. Ingenuously. I mean he seems to never put his issues into the right context. He could see her mother, but didn't think a bit of Sen situation. He pushed himself into Ritsuko not thinking of her feelings at all. Even that little hint Sen's sister gave him about the cram school didn't turn on any light about how lucky he is in comparison of Sentarou. In term of stability. In term of future possibilities. So in this case the episode conveyed to me that his family situation is bad, but not so bad after all. The focus was not on why the mother left, but on the fact that even if she left, regardless the reasons, she cared for him, she was happy to see him. At the same time they showed us that his father cared for him too. But surely I'm not focusing on details, the work of the mother related on that years, etc.
I don't know if I'm right, but it seems thath they are indirectly developing Sen character in a subtle/implied way using Kaoru issues. So probably that is one of the criteria they are using to choose which part of the manga to keep.
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