Mop Girl Series Thoughts
Sep. 15th, 2010 10:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaI enjoyed this series quite a bit. It hit my embarrassment squick fairly often, mostly because Momoko was often a nit wit, but I enjoyed it enough that it wasn’t that big a deal.
• I really like all the characters including Momoko, who was indeed often ridiculous, but also a wonderful person. (I do wish she would have been smarter about how to use her gift, not running off half-cocked all the time.) I’m pretty impressed with Kitagawa Keiko as an actress and I’m definitely going to watch more of her shows. Keiko continues to be as amazing at crying and completely breaking down. Seriously she needs to only do shows where she gets to cry all the time. Her breakdown in episode 4 was excellent. Even though I wasn’t really emotionally invested it still made me cry.
• Episode 4 was also when I realised how much I also really liked Otomo’s actor Shōsuke Tanihara. Otomo’s expressions every time he came across a grieving Momoko, especially on the rooftop scene, really moved me. I think that was the first episode he really saw her.
• The Momoko/Otomo relationship was one of the best parts of the series. Even his constant hitting her, which I feel should have driven me around the bend and make me dislike him, just makes me like them more. I think if I were to compare it to something it would be Gibbs head-smacks on NCIS. That’s what it feels like when he smacks her upside the head - exasperated affection more than anything abusive (or like an older sibling to an irritating younger one). So it didn’t really bother me. I hadn’t actually realised that Otomo was so much older than Momoko until we learned he was dating Ryoko. I’d just assumed at the beginning that Otomo/Momoko would get together so I was surprised that that never happened. I was even more surprised by how open their relationship is to interpretation. I mean you could ship them, and think that post-series they could get together easily enough, but you can just as easily assume that they have a brother/sister or mentor/mentored relationship. I find that unexpected but I like it.
• My second favourite relationship was the Momoko/Hina BFF one. I do wish that in the final episode Momoko had told Hina what was happening like she said she would.
• The final episode did not go as I was expecting. After Tsurara appeared I think I figured that this series was meant to only last ten episodes. I guess I went into the episode from her appearance with an expectation that what happened with Ryoko would repeat itself with Tsurara except in this case Momoko would be giving her life to save a child (or perhaps Momoko breaking the chain by saving the child and surviving). It not happening that way has left me... disappointed with the episode, I guess. I feel like all the pieces were in place and then were just randomly thrown into the episode. I mean this episode wasn’t even about saving the child which I really feel it should have been.
- The ending was such that it was clearly open for a second season or could work as a good season finale so that was good.
- I wish the whole Ryoko connection and Otomo learning the truth about Ryoko and Momoko’s gift had happened but because neither did it really felt unfinished to me. Otomo did realise the connection between Ryoko and Momoko, and I loved how that all played out, but then Momoko rewound time and it never happened. I think we do have Otomo on the verge of understanding that Momoko and Ryoko had the same ‘gift’ even without the revelation, and he clearly understood that Momoko’s ‘grandmother’ insanity was very real but I wanted Momoko and him to talk about it.
- I had two major issues with the episode.
First, the reason for Momoko’s death was her stupidity. OMG. What the hell was she thinking going after someone who had just attacked/killed someone, and with no weapon? There’s her usual ridiculousness and idiocy and then there is this. She is a nit wit but I just don’t buy her as being that stupid. Later when she went to help Yukia knowing that he was being attacked and that she could die (having in fact already died and reliving that experience for a moment) that was understandable. It’s stupid in its own way but a brave stupid that’s admirable. (Especially considering she knew exactly what she was potentially getting into and did it anyway.) That impressed me. Chasing after a killer on your own and with no weapons is just dumb. There were ways they could have done it without making her look like the moron Otomo is always calling her.
Second, Madoka’s second attempt to attack Yukia really could have been filmed better. All those police officers jumping back when Madoka pulled out the knife was ridiculous. What the hell kind of police officer reacts like that (let alone half-a-dozen of them)? It would have made far more sense for her to have pulled her knife and lunged at Yukio when she noticed the police behind her – a last ditch effort of a cornered animal – and not her waiting until she was surrounded by police and being lead away before doing so. And it would have had the bonus of not making the police look like morons. Sigh.
- That said I did enjoy the episode. I loved the scenes in the hospital but then I always love the whole ‘character in peril’ trope.
• I really like all the characters including Momoko, who was indeed often ridiculous, but also a wonderful person. (I do wish she would have been smarter about how to use her gift, not running off half-cocked all the time.) I’m pretty impressed with Kitagawa Keiko as an actress and I’m definitely going to watch more of her shows. Keiko continues to be as amazing at crying and completely breaking down. Seriously she needs to only do shows where she gets to cry all the time. Her breakdown in episode 4 was excellent. Even though I wasn’t really emotionally invested it still made me cry.
• Episode 4 was also when I realised how much I also really liked Otomo’s actor Shōsuke Tanihara. Otomo’s expressions every time he came across a grieving Momoko, especially on the rooftop scene, really moved me. I think that was the first episode he really saw her.
• The Momoko/Otomo relationship was one of the best parts of the series. Even his constant hitting her, which I feel should have driven me around the bend and make me dislike him, just makes me like them more. I think if I were to compare it to something it would be Gibbs head-smacks on NCIS. That’s what it feels like when he smacks her upside the head - exasperated affection more than anything abusive (or like an older sibling to an irritating younger one). So it didn’t really bother me. I hadn’t actually realised that Otomo was so much older than Momoko until we learned he was dating Ryoko. I’d just assumed at the beginning that Otomo/Momoko would get together so I was surprised that that never happened. I was even more surprised by how open their relationship is to interpretation. I mean you could ship them, and think that post-series they could get together easily enough, but you can just as easily assume that they have a brother/sister or mentor/mentored relationship. I find that unexpected but I like it.
• My second favourite relationship was the Momoko/Hina BFF one. I do wish that in the final episode Momoko had told Hina what was happening like she said she would.
• The final episode did not go as I was expecting. After Tsurara appeared I think I figured that this series was meant to only last ten episodes. I guess I went into the episode from her appearance with an expectation that what happened with Ryoko would repeat itself with Tsurara except in this case Momoko would be giving her life to save a child (or perhaps Momoko breaking the chain by saving the child and surviving). It not happening that way has left me... disappointed with the episode, I guess. I feel like all the pieces were in place and then were just randomly thrown into the episode. I mean this episode wasn’t even about saving the child which I really feel it should have been.
- The ending was such that it was clearly open for a second season or could work as a good season finale so that was good.
- I wish the whole Ryoko connection and Otomo learning the truth about Ryoko and Momoko’s gift had happened but because neither did it really felt unfinished to me. Otomo did realise the connection between Ryoko and Momoko, and I loved how that all played out, but then Momoko rewound time and it never happened. I think we do have Otomo on the verge of understanding that Momoko and Ryoko had the same ‘gift’ even without the revelation, and he clearly understood that Momoko’s ‘grandmother’ insanity was very real but I wanted Momoko and him to talk about it.
- I had two major issues with the episode.
First, the reason for Momoko’s death was her stupidity. OMG. What the hell was she thinking going after someone who had just attacked/killed someone, and with no weapon? There’s her usual ridiculousness and idiocy and then there is this. She is a nit wit but I just don’t buy her as being that stupid. Later when she went to help Yukia knowing that he was being attacked and that she could die (having in fact already died and reliving that experience for a moment) that was understandable. It’s stupid in its own way but a brave stupid that’s admirable. (Especially considering she knew exactly what she was potentially getting into and did it anyway.) That impressed me. Chasing after a killer on your own and with no weapons is just dumb. There were ways they could have done it without making her look like the moron Otomo is always calling her.
Second, Madoka’s second attempt to attack Yukia really could have been filmed better. All those police officers jumping back when Madoka pulled out the knife was ridiculous. What the hell kind of police officer reacts like that (let alone half-a-dozen of them)? It would have made far more sense for her to have pulled her knife and lunged at Yukio when she noticed the police behind her – a last ditch effort of a cornered animal – and not her waiting until she was surrounded by police and being lead away before doing so. And it would have had the bonus of not making the police look like morons. Sigh.
- That said I did enjoy the episode. I loved the scenes in the hospital but then I always love the whole ‘character in peril’ trope.
