Bhavna

I should have written this review right after watching the series instead of moving on to the special. The special single-handedly wiped out any of the good feelings I had at the end of the 10 episodes season. But I do remember tearing up at the wedding scene at the very end. Yes the show is unrealistic and naive, but showing someone as incompetent as Kahoko as capable of going to college and graduating and even finding a super hot guy like Hajime is just too much. The woman can barely tie her own shoes and falls asleep mid-conversation after dinner, like what?! At first I found it cute, but like I said, because I watched the Special and am scarred by the effects of it, my impression of the entire series has gone down. But I did enjoy the series. I thought it was endearing. The only trouble is that Kahoko has no chemistry with Hajime whatsoever and Hajime does an amazing job of acting like he’s attracted to her but it’s just an impossible scenario, because it just looks like a boy who feels sorry for a toddler who has lost its toy and is crying while wagging her hands up and down. His “love” is more like sympathy. Then Kahoko tries to get married or have babies just for the sake of making her grandma happy, or intervenes in her cousin Ito’s life even though Ito wants nothing to do with her and she basically forces her aunt and uncle not to get a divorce and get back together because “Kahoko sad!” What on earth.. I’m wondering if a baby actually directed this show? And what’s the deal with ”Kahoko always tried harder than anyone else but sucked at everything anyway!” I don’t get it. As someone with a helicopter mom myself with a very similar situation, I could relate to many of the things, but a lot of it was irritating too. Realistically, Kahoko would not be getting married to this handsome young man- realistically she would be in an adult diaper still unable to tie her shoes and falling asleep drooling in her mom’s lap while watching baby videos of herself. She’s unable to take care of anyone including herself, so unless she’s mentally or physically handicapped, artificially handicapping someone like that is basically abuse.

I wish they had explored more of the dynamic between Hajime and Kahoko and how it changed her at a much deeper level. Instead it focused on Kahoko’s annoying family and it just made it more boring. I didn’t care about Ito or her parents or the other two aunt and uncle and the aunt’s shoplifting tendencies. I didn’t care about the grandma dying or the grandpa. The parents’ dynamic with Kahoko was interesting enough, but what needed to be explored in more detail was how such a sheltered child developed a romantic relationship- kind of like Tangled. They needed to show more about Hajime, because this actor did such a great job acting like he was in love with Kahoko, but it still felt unrealistic because Kahoko was always running away and answering phone calls from her parents. Such a strong relationship cannot develop on such a thin foundation. They needed to build their relationship up a LOT more, because to deal with such an annoying extended family and overbearing mother/parents is not worth it unless the relationship is truly something deep. And they missed the opportunity to showcase that, so their relationship looked more surface level. If it wasn’t for the intensity of Hajime’s character and his acting, I wouldn’t have believed in their relationship at all, based on Kahoko’s stupid facial expressions and falling asleep mid-conversation. To me she seemed like an extremely self centered big baby.

I don’t like the message that “Family is the best and you must stick with them no matter what! Do not get a divorce no matter what! Stay together to live up to Kahoko’s ideal family fantasy!” I find it highly toxic. Family = dysfunction. The best part of the series is the “Family Song” that plays at the end of each episode.