This was a pretty frustrating episode of Kekkon suru tte, Hontou desu ka. But it must be said, that resonated with me because I got the frustration. That didn’t make it any easier to watch, but at least it was coming from a valid place. But if you’re not someone who’s been frustrated for the same reasons Rika was, I imagine this ep must have been even more of a slog. Empathy is a wonderful thing but it only goes so far. Either you get it or you don’t – not the first time I’ve made that observation with this show.
If there’s one takeaway from this episode – even if it’s more reinforcement than revelation – it’s that Rika is a mess. Like, a serious basket case. Takuya is no paragon of contentment, but he’s clearly functioning at a higher social level than she is (I think the opposite impression was suggested at first). We already had some idea of why Rika is the way she is, and that was fleshed out this week. After having left him hanging for half an hour after his confession, she’s now totally avoiding him. If nothing else, that’s a shitty thing to do. No one deserves to just be ignored in that situation. But there’s a backstory there…
To be honest, I didn’t find the sidebar with Nao and the glass-blowing especially gripping. I get where it was going, it was fine, but I wouldn’t miss it if it were gone. Things didn’t start to get interesting until Rika got another message from “Ritsu”. While 365 Days did a pretty good of selling that as potentially a toxic breakup situation, it’s more consistent with her character that it’s her mom. Ritsu (Itou Shizuka) has popped up in flashback form but this is the first we’ve seen her in the current timeline. In point of fact I wouldn’t be surprised if Rika has never been in a romantic relationship (which is not a statement I would make about Takuya).
Rika chooses to meet her Mom at the Canal Cafe, which is actually a real place. And one I know well – Canal Cafe is just across the river from Iidabashi Station, right smack in my old stomping grounds. I never went there but I passed by countless times, and it’s the sort of place one chooses if they want to make an impression. That might tell you something about my life in Tokyo, and it certainly does about Rika’s relationship with her mother. They seem total opposites, but there are definite hints that Rika was temperamentally different before her parents split.
It really should come as so surprise that Ritsu knew about the sham marriage (and that’s why she insisted on the meeting). Takuya’s father got a call, so why wouldn’t she have? But she doesn’t reveal that to her daughter. Ritsu means well but one can see what torture this is for Rika, reinforcement of all the self-loathing she feels. Plus her mother is just plain exhausting, in the way only people like her can be for people like Rika. This is a very uncomfortable meeting to watch, but again that’s by design.
Rika at least has the sense to be ashamed of how she’s treated Takuya these past few days. She has a history here, as we find out – that high school experience was a disaster and it seems to have scarred her. Having the futility of her current life reinforced so strongly pushes her to finally confront Takuya (really, it’s more confronting herself). She’s angry at him for popping the bubble of isolation she prefers to remain inside, for liking her when she’s so obviously not worth liking. So what to make of what she does when she gets to his door – demand they go on a date? Maybe she just wants to show Takuya definitely what an unworthy person she is – but she’s going to be surprised, I think, at how hard he is to shake off.
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