Magerarenai Onna Reviews

[iaria]

Episodes 6 & 7

Episode 6

• I liked Kouki agreeing happily that he would be there for the girls if they needed him.

• Masato representing Riko’s husband in the divorce proceedings made me go ‘oh, Masato, why so dumb’ but it does fit with what we’ve seen before with how he bows down to what his boss wants so it was understandable. But then he actually whines to Saki “I thought I was doing right by her.” Um, what?! He is completely incomprehensible. He was there during the entire drama in the last episode with Riko and her children. He knows that she loves her children, how much pain she is in, and what her relationship is like with her mother-in-law and husband. Hell, he was there when she stated she was going to fight and he got the entire story when she turned to him for help when she first left home. Why the hell would he think ‘a visit a month’ with her children would be ‘doing right by her’? Oh, Masato, so dumb. And then he whines and is jealous over Saki being friends with Kouki and Riko. That’s clearly what it was – he basically says that he’s been there for her for ten years so why is she so quickly friends with these two and not him?

• On the other hand, Masato giving Saki a folder with information on a clerk job at a different but good law firm (that pays well) and an implied recommendation to them was really sweet, IMO. Kouki calls is ‘more bad vibes’ but then he would call anything Masato did ‘bad vibes’ and I just don’t see it. He did some research and found Saki a well-paying part time job doing basically exactly what she was doing at the start of the series. She needs the money and it was thoughtful in my mind. Plus it’s not like he was telling her to do that job permanently; he specifically states it’s for her to do part time while working to be a lawyer. I’m not seeing anything bad in that.

• I really do love these three as friends. Saki smilingly adding the picture of the three of them to her journal, Riko smiling at the picture of Saki and Kouki as she sends it to her children as ‘her friends’, and then Kouki erasing the names of all the women in his phone book and smiling at their numbers listed under friends. They're kind of adorable.

Episode 7

Ack, this was an unhappy and upsetting episode.

• The breakdown of the trio’s friendship made me really sad. I just wanted to hug them all and say ‘don’t fight’. Especially since it really was like the worst time for it. That said the breakdown did make sense or at least the Saki/Riko part did. I suppose Saki/Kouki as well though that puts him in a bad light – since he’s basically abandoning her when she needs him most because he wants to be with her and her having Masato’s child makes him upset. Riko/Kouki didn’t make much sense to me – yeah, Saki brought them together but they had their own relationship – and it put Kouki in an even worse light. Actually poor Kouki just didn’t end the episode in a good light at all this episode. He abandons Saki, even though they didn’t fight, when she’s alone, pregnant and needs helps. Then he abandons Riko, even though they didn’t fight, knowing she’s also alone, pregnant and homeless.

• I was really surprised that this series not only mentioned abortion but actually dealt with it in a very serious way and gave various viewpoints attention. It was a little more ‘have the baby’ but it didn’t vilify having an abortion like I would have expected it to. I quite liked how it was dealt with. What was up with Saki needing someone to sign a consent form for her to get an abortion about though?

• Masato drove me crazy this episode. Him disavowing his relationship with his co-worker irritated me (so childish and defensive and he should have just told her he was trying to make her jealous/get over her which is clearly what was going on.) The proposal itself wasn’t bad – asking if she couldn’t skip the exam this year and do it next year (still supporting her dream) and that he would help with the baby, and finally an ‘I love you’ though I was annoyed by his high handed assumption that they should get married and raise the child together like it was really the only viable option.

But that was pretty much only thing that could be considered good about his behaviour because then you get his freak out about her having an abortion and him saying something to her I found pretty unforgivable: “You shouldn’t be having such big dreams.” That goes over a line for me. ‘Shouldn’t’? Shut up, Masato. Yes he regretted it immediately but he still said it. And then the next time they meet he’s cold and an ass and then he proposes marriage to Satomi. Arggg, Masato, you are such a freaking idiot I CAN'T EVEN.

• Riko also drove me a little crazy this episode.

First, when she didn’t just tell Masato that she was pregnant (that would certainly get her family’s attention) and instead tried to use Saki’s pregnancy as leverage.

Second, that she was seriously considering returning to her home and husband. I just find that so incomprehensible. They treated her horribly and she was dying there! Why the hell would she ever return?!

Third, that she told Masato about Saki's pregnancy.

Fourth, that she lit into Saki for deciding to pursue her dream, have the child and not get married (and thus showing far more courage and determination then Riko ever has.)

Still I found her returning to her ‘home’ and getting to her knees and begging her mother-in-law to allow her to return home physically painful to watch. I just wanted to scream at her ‘no!’

• The obvious solution here was for Saki and Riko to move in together, perhaps find a new and bigger place, and to raise their kids together and be each other’s support and family. I really wish this was an option and that it happened more often (both in media and real life). Neither woman has a romantic relationship they want to really be in so why can’t they raise their children and depend on a girlfriend for support? And I really don’t mean this in a femslashy way, because I don’t ship them at all, but mainly because why shouldn’t two women alone have that as a viable option? It doesn’t make sense to me. And it would have made this a far happier episode and left both of them a lot happier and less stressed.

• I loved that Saki's main worry about being pregnant when she first learned about it was that her due date will fall around when her exams would be. It amused me.

• “You asked me ‘If your husband and child were about to drown in the river which would you help?’ ...I would pull both of them into the boat and then swim to get help myself.” I ♥ Saki.

• So wait, Saki and Masato seriously only slept together for the first time nine years into their relationship? Uh huh. I’m afraid I’m going to have to not buy it just because it hits my suspension of disbelief too hard.

• “In this world it’s the woman who loses out in the end, isn’t it?” Sadly, the answer to this is all too often yes. Sigh.

• I figured something out – Kouki’s attitude towards Masato really bugs me and that’s why I haven’t liked Kouki/Saki... which is kind of weird actually. But he dislikes Masato so much and pretty much from that first day, and every time he’s around Masato or talking about him he is so unreasonable and it irritates me. It’s largely jealousy and that might be a part of it. I feel like he gets angry at Masato and puts him down to Saki about ridiculous things (the non-flirting at the funeral) which overshadows the things he’s right about (Masato not being there for Saki before the funeral) and sometimes he does it in really wrong ways (getting in Masato’s face at the funeral).