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Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo
Gee, where might that have been?  |
Heh.
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Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo
I didn't find the interaction mechanical - rather, believably cautious and guarded.
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I didn't mean the interaction was mechanical, more like the writing - it's like they included this episode because it was in the manga so they had to include it, even though they didn't plan to do anything with it. My problem is not that they weren't 100% faithful to the manga, it's that they didn't even
try to touch on an issue that should've been very important here - the mother and the reunion was simply a plot device.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo
These are two people who've both been heavily damaged by this woman's act, and neither wants to confront it head-on in their first awkward meeting in ten years. ... That question you want Kaoru to ask is a hard question to bring yourself to say. Murakami wrote a whole novel basically about that question, and the MC can't actually bring himself to ask it for about 500 pages.
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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.)