Solo Katsu Joshi no Susume (2021)

I Already Love This!

Even from the first scene in episode, one where Megumi Saotome goes to the Yakiniku restaurant, and explains how being with the food solo allows, you to concentrate on the flavor of the food and the meat, and how her soul is soaking up the broth of the soup, I already knew that I love this series to bits. The way she describes Solo Katsu is exactly my experience as a proud Ohitorisama myself. I love her already. She talks about how when you go out to eat with other people, you remember the conversation and the atmosphere, but not necessarily the taste of the food, but the experience solo is a whole different intensity because it requires full concentration on one thing rather than the attention being fractured and distracted into multiple things. She is so cool!

I love how she narrates her feelings, and she doesn’t always feel confident in doing different things solo, but she faces those fears head on and I love the internal monologue that wonders about what other people are thinking of her and so on, but with her more experienced solo activities such as the Yakiniku restaurant, it shows her own inner evolution and she still feels nervous in other activities, such as the solo birthday bash in the limousine ride around Tokyo. It is so entertaining and relatable and I love it. At first, I thought I could watch this show without subtitles and just get the gist of it but now that I found a few subbed episodes I realized how important it was to hear the narration and internal dialogue which is the soul of the show.

Her inner monologue breaks down the typical dialogues that you hear, friends or couples or families, speaking together, as if they’re all reading from the same script, and simply to fit into the “norm” by saying all the “right things.” and rightfully so she has a smirk on her face as she listens to those typical dialogues. She sees how people do the “popular thing” by taking a round at the zoo or aquarium so they don’t miss anything, or seeing the “popular animals “ or ordering the conventional things at a restaurant, but while that’s what the groupthink wants, what about what you truly want? When you’re in a group, you feel pressured to follow the crowd or be considerate of others, losing yourself in the process. What do you really like to do? What is your real personality? You will lose yourself if you’re always with others. While perceiving the NPCs around her the odd looks and subtle judgments, she has learned to brush them off and enjoy her own time in her own way, seeing and enjoying and coming to understand what she likes, by being alone with her thoughts and commentary. She goes deep into her solo experiences, as opposed to skimming the superficial surface the way other people do when they engage with the same activities in groups. And through introspection and solo focus, she enjoys a very rich life.

Read More