Quote:
Originally Posted by musouka
[Okinu's concern for Masa] came across as rather manipulative to me. Your mileage may vary, of course.
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Perhaps Okinu is an excellent actress, but I thought she was behaving sincerely. She obviously knows what her father and the others are up to, but I think she has feelings for Masa, though whether these arise out of pity, curiosity, or romantic attraction I'm not able to say. I'm guessing that Masa may face Ume's wrath at some point down the road, even if the instigator turns out to be Okinu.
Okane-san, on the other hand, seems as manipulative as they come. I've even wondered if she is truly a member of the Five Leaves as she doesn't seem particularly central to the group's activities thus far. Nor does she seem especially knowledgeable about their activities. Either she was dissembling when she asked Matsu if he was making deliveries, or she really didn't know he was assigned to spy on the previous kidnap victim and his family.
I felt especially sad for Masa when the prostitute suddenly switches from exclaiming about how
kawaii he is to exclaiming about how much she wants to sleep with Yaichi.
I do think we're building toward a critical event where Masa will clearly be forced to take sides and perhaps even kill someone if he wishes to remain with the Leaves.
Finally, these two episodes strike me as candidates for the perennial "what is slice-of-life" debate. Overall
Five Leaves will probably best be classified as a drama, but it so far spends a lot of time showing us the daily lives of a group of kidnappers. Most of the drama so far has been internal and largely limited to Masa's personal struggles. This style of story-telling seems very uncommon in the West. I'm probably showing my lack of knowledge of literature, but the closest work I can think of in the American canon is Melville's
Moby Dick, with its many extended discussions of whaling and the whalers' craft.
Oh, and who was that samurai? Have we seen him before? Somehow I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing him again. Maybe he's with the House of Seven Leaves?