Magerarenai Onna Reviews

[iaria]

Episodes 8 - 10

Episode 8

• This episode was all about the Trio and how completely adorable they are together (okay, so the beginning was all angst and sadness but it’s the end that matters). I love them. I’ve never loved them more. They were just so completely perfect this episode. I loved that Saki created detailed reports on ‘dreams people have’ and an analysis on what would best fit Kouki and Riko. I love that Saki called Riko’s mother and told her that her daughter needed help and that Riko found and bought back the necklace that Saki’s mother gave her because despite them fighting and saying they aren’t friends anymore they still love each other.

I love Saki telling them that she needs them, needs their help and them in her life, and them saying that those were their words as well. I love their little mini-birthday party for Saki. I love Kouki’s grin when both girls moaned in simultaneous delight over his food and then him telling them “I never get tired of watching you guys eat the food I make and saying ‘it’s delicious, it’s delicious’ while you’re eating it.” I loved the three of them dancing to music just the way that Saki has always dreamed she would get to do with friends. They are all so delightful and endearing!

• I was clearly wrong in the last episode when I wanted Riko and Saki to move in together. It’s clear that it needs to be Riko, Saki and Kouki who should live together.

• Oh, Masato, Masato, Masato. I want to throw my hands up and just go ‘whatever’ at this point. How can he be 32 and so immature still? How does he manage it? I honestly believe that he does love her and wants to be with her. I’ve believed it right from the beginning so perhaps that’s why I’ve been so forgiving with him. But despite what may be sincere love and caring he acts like such a childish ass that I constantly want to smack him.

When he proposed to Saki, for the fourth time, and certainly the worst of them, he was so sanctimonious doing it I wanted to shake him. Seriously, from the very beginning the person who has most stood in the way to him having a happy relationship with Saki is himself. Then we get Riko and Kouki for the first time trying to include him and inviting him into Saki’s apartment (to be there for her while she’s sick and for her birthday) and instead of accepting (which I was expecting for a second) he leaves in a sulk. And then six months, or so, later he leaves his fiancé at the altar and runs to Saki. God. Idiot.

• Kouki and Masato chatting in a friendly and civil way at the beginning was weird and even felt a little out of character. I was left going ‘wth?’ I suppose with neither of them actually in Saki’s life, and both entering relationships with other women they didn’t want they were in the same boat. Perhaps time apart from each other, not running into each other when they didn’t want to, might have helped a little as well?

• I was a little let down on how Saki meeting the grown up child that her father died saving played out. I like him being the annoying and bratty upstairs neighbour that she’s been having confrontations with the whole series but the emotional fallout of it turning into her having a revelation about her friends didn’t work for me. If she was going to have an epiphany I wanted it to be about herself, her life and how she’s lived it, and about her feelings about her father and his death but none of that was explored at all.

• Riko’s mother-in-law keeling over dead after Riko finally effectively stands up for herself – the divorce paperwork and not letting her mother-in-laws venom get to her at all – was so satisfying.

Episode 9

• “Lying is my strong suit.” I knew that Riko would end up becoming a caregiver when she pretended to be the old man’s wife. That was so sweet of her. I really love that Riko’s happy ending involves her finding a career that makes her happy not just having her children back and making peace with her mother-in-law and having friends. She gets everything. (Well, maybe not romance.)

• When evil mother-in-law appeared to die in the previous episode I was very happy about it and thought it was an excellent end to her part of the story. I was wrong. I vastly prefer where the show went with it instead. And not even in a vindictive way that she was thinking Riko felt. Everything about their conversation at Saki’s apartment was wonderful. I loved Riko informing her mother-in-law that she had already divorced her husband but that she stayed to help because she couldn’t do anything else. I love so much Riko offering understanding and that it was returned. I love that this storyline ends with the two of them making peace and moving forward to a better future for all of them. “Let’s work hard on your rehab so you can get better sometime soon. So you can go back to being the Big Mama the children love so much.” Because children aren’t accessories and Riko loves them and wants them to be happy and she knows their Big Mama made them happy. Because Riko really is a good person. This was the perfect end.

• “Those nine years we were together are my treasure. Because you were there I could do my best! I never thought you and I shouldn’t have been together, not even once! When are you going to go back to being the old Masato?” I loved this so much. I liked Saki explaining why he is so important to her (he taught her the Michael Jackson dancing!). But, god, he has such a thick skull. I mean Masato took two Saki speeches and she had to even get physically with him which has never happened before.

• “After passing the bar exam I misunderstood and convinced myself that in having passed you by that I was superior to you.” Even Masato can learn. After a season of getting even more immature and him starting the episode running from his fiancé, being drunk and blaming Saki for all that was wrong in his life Masato finally grows up. He takes responsibility for his actions, not only with his fiancé and work but also the deeper stuff with his relationship with Saki, and he becomes the kind person that Saki was with for so long once again. Plus he joins the gang for once, letting go of his jealousy and resentment over her relationships with them, and even accepts Kouki loving Saki. It's like a miracle.

Episode 10

• This was a surprising finale in a couple ways. I was surprised when Saki failed her tenth try. The symbolism of her succeeding the same time as her father was exactly what I was expecting from the beginning. It just made sense. Instead they had her fail, give up and then had her friends convince her to keep trying because what this series is really about is friendship. I was also surprised that the series didn’t end with Saki getting together with either Kouki or Masato.

• The ending, the flash forward, was really interesting in that it doesn’t actually really address romantic relationships. Saki appears to live alone with her daughter Tomo and there is no indication that she’s dating let alone married to either Masato or Kouki or anyone else. In fact, kind of randomly, we actually get support for Riko/Kouki being together and possibly having a kid together. I actually shipped them at the beginning, or at least liked the idea of them more than Saki/Kouki but the idea of them getting together in the future makes me go ‘wait, what’ a bit. It’s clear that Saki/Kouki are still friends, as it should be, but I think it’s pretty clear, regardless of the potential Kouki/Riko relationship, Saki and Kouki never got together. Now Saki/Masato there could be an argument made that they still a couple.

Or, strangely, most likely of all is that Saki is alone and a single mother and completely happy in that. This... pleases me. How often do we get the main female character ending a series alone, by choice and happy with it?

• Saki and Tomo’s relationship was wonderful to watch. Tomo is adorable. ♥ I love how much she looks like Saki, and how similar she is to both Saki and her grandmother, and I love how cute she is. I could watch a whole other series about Saki and Tomo’s life.

• One thing I didn’t like was Saki running into Satomi the day she failed her exam and Satomi being all ‘my life is awesome’ and then in the flash forward Saki’s newest client being a crying Satomi whose husband is threatening divorce. It felt too much like the show knocking Satomi down a notch because of her attitude towards Saki. Satomi accuses Saki of feeling this but of course she never would; TPTB on the other hand... I really could have done without this scene and instead have had it end with Saki and Riko looking outside together.