auntiedragon

What enchants me in Japanese series if how language reflects the social distance, and how it shifts. Especially clear the shift is when people move from public spaces to private spaces ( physically or emotionally).

In this we have perfect setup for multiple layers of formality - an office which is a place of its own strict social rules and expectations. And on the other end of the spectrum Ueno's home, where his carefully built personal boundaries are slowly gnawed into pieces by a gremlin colleague, who has made his emotional home onto Ueno's sofa.

Ueno and Kanda display a perfect little dance around public and private state and the roles they have in these states. And then there is classic tug-o-war of what you want, what (is all) you think you can get, what you think you are not allowed to want. Adding the complexity by trying to guess what the other person thinks of these things without directly asking them and risking losing face. Fun times.

In this dance someone needs to take the first step into unknown, risk the things they have now, for the things they could have.

I've enjoyed this so far enormously. Writers have skilfully built really compelling, multidimensional characters, and Suzuki and Oshida are doing stellar job in portraying them. Thanks to them I'm so invested in fictional people's happiness it is a bit embarrassing.

Language is reflecting the emotional ordeals so beautifully, which is a treat but especially Kanda's ultra-relaxed and Ueno's clipped colloquial ways of speaking are absolute delight for a language learner who wishes to study the way Japanese speak in real life.

Looking forward to next episode.