I'm a little late to the Learning to Love party but I binged 5 episodes last week and now I'm obsessed. For those of you who are new to the drama like me, here's some thoughts about eps 1 & 2 that show how good the writing and directing are:
This is a world where no one presents an authentic face, not even the tteokbokki seller. Soy sauce flavored tteokbokki is just wrong but people prefer it that way, they’d rather have the false thing than the real thing. Also the woman who wants real tteokboki is wearing red!
Even though they come from opposite social classes, Manami’s and Haoru’s rooms are both narrow and claustrophobic. But Haoru’s room has a ladder and light coming in through the windows, which suggests hope. (Also, Manami’s father being a compliance officer is perfect, well done writers!)
Emotionally, Manami and Taiga are both children. She's stunted by her controlling father and he's stunted because of his mother's abuse and neglect. We see this with Manami’s stuffies and in Taiga’s childlike handwriting.
Taiga can’t write his own name which means he doesn’t know himself. Manami teaching Taiga to write isn’t about literacy – it’s about him reclaiming what’s been taken from him by his dehumanizing childhood and job. Also this is Manami’s first real smile!
At the start of ep 2, Manami and her student are standing on the same side, facing the enforcers of appropriate behavior. The nun and school administrator tell them to go back to normal, to return to hiding their real feelings. But that spot of red is still in the frame.
Should a mother brag about prioritizing her daughter over her job or is this just what she's supposed to do? Also the mother brawling with the nun with Mary and baby Jesus outside the door definitely feels like some kind of judgment.
Taiga he goes out of his way to find Natsuki even though he didn’t have to. So who’s really the caring and selfless person here? People treat him as a predator but it's the respectable characters who are the most exploitative.
Manami and her student have only experienced love as transactional even though the people around them call it unconditional. When Manami says we’ll never know if bought love is more valuable, she’s saying the quiet part out loud. It’s a crack in the wall for both of them.
In ep 1 after Manami goes to the host club her father messes up his project but in ep 2 when she comes home with her fiance her father successfully stuffs the ship (a symbol of escape and freedom) into the bottle. (Also does her father look like a ghoul when he smiles or what???)
The hotel sequence is brutal. Taiga and Manami aren’t asked if they want to go, their partners buy them jewelry which is a way of buying them and then they’re both assaulted when they won’t allow themselves to be forced into sex. They are completely dehumanized by the circumstances they’re in.
After the customer assaults Taiga, she tries to buy him off with a steak dinner. But the way he reclaims his own humanity is by writing his name the way Manami taught him.
Finally, Manami goes to meet Taiga at night on the rooftop where she offers to teach him to write and he offers to teach her about love (but that flickering neon light says love won’t be easy)
