We’re at the halfway point of Yakuza Fiancé, and that’s always a pretty serious fish or cut bait marker. It’s interesting, even compelling at times in a dark way. I’m somewhat taken by the strangely detached tone it takes towards what’s often pretty intense material. But there’s a circuit that just isn’t closing there for me. I never feel any reason why I should be truly invested. Certainly the minimalist (to say the least) adaptation isn’t papering over any cracks in the writing, but that’s not the biggest hurdle for me. I’m just not feeling the connection.
So am I dropping it? Not officially, not yet. But it depends on next week’s episode and how I feel afterwards. I mean, I know we’re looking at a read the manga ending anyway so that’s also a disincentive. But if I feel compelled to, sticking with it for six more weeks isn’t an impossible ask. It does fall in a slower part of the week at least. Probably what I’m most curious about is whether we’re supposed to find Kirishima as disturbing as I do. Yoshino certainly doesn’t but that doesn’t mean we’re not supposed to.But I’m just not sure.
That disconnect with Yoshino is the most intriguing part of the show for me. Despite everyone from her home team gently trying to steer her towards caution, she’s just incredibly blasé towards Kirishima. She overlooks his stalker tendencies, she brushes off his homicidal temper. She tells Tsubaki she doesn’t even think he likes her, he’s just obsessed (and she might be right), as if that justifies her lack of self-preservation. She thinks she’s totally in control, that she can handle anything. And she’s not and can’t.
In that context Kirishima sleeping with his glamorous ex Shiota Nao isn’t really that big a deal. Yoshino certainly knows he sleeps around, and she’s explicitly given him her blessing to keep doing it. But doing it on a trip together to visit her home? I don’t know, that just sits wrong with me. Shouma knows the score but Yoshino is always going to write off what he says about Kirishima as the product of jealousy (and he certainly is jealous). I also have bad vibes about Shiota-san – there’s something that seems off there. I look at this situation and I don’t know who I’d worry for most, but it seems like a general powderkeg.
But then, Raise wa Tanin is nothing if not unsettling and I think it’s supposed to be. And it has its moments. That sequence with the Osaka okans squeeing over Kirishima – culminating in their giving him their pocket change – was pretty hilarious. On some level this Osaka-Tokyo culture clash is at the heart of the premise – I think it’s just a question of exactly how that clash is going to manifest itself. That too is an interesting question, but we’ll have to see if these interesting questions are collectively enough to keep me writing.
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