I AGREE WITH YOU!! There are so many metaphors and it makes the drama all the more deeper. At first, I found it…
Oh yes, very interesting! I completely agree with your interpretations!
I also noticed something during the confession scene. The statue of the Virgin Mary has her gaze directed toward the couple and her chin tilted toward them. The soft lighting, the expression on her face... It's as if she's watching the scene and approving of their love story. Everything indicates that she is protecting these lovers with her benevolent patronage.
Thank you! It's just a guess but maybe I'm totally off track lol.
I thought of something else since: in Seiji's bottles, there's plants and boats. I think the plants symbolises his wife, Sanae, and the boats symbolises his daughter, Manami.
He confines both of them to the vicinity of the home, the pretty window of his household. Due to the role he imposed on her, Sanae is restricted to the enclosed space with little natural light space of the house just like the artifical light posed on the terrarium. He imprisons his boats in spaces without water or wind. This seems to symbolize his desire to prevent Manami from following her own path. We know that Manami has a mind of her own, however: she is not as docile as her father thinks she is, and her interactions with Kaoru and the students at school, prove that she is strong-willed and craves freedom. Although she does not directly confront her father (for the moment...), she is silently rebelling...
My follow-up thesis is that his hobby symbolises his restrictiveness and the fact that he is "conservative" in every sense of the word (note the vivid play on the word with the fact that he keeps things in his bottles). This is also supported by these two things: the marriage of convenience, which favours "l'entre-soi" (I don't know the word in English but basically it means the fact that the wealthy remain among themselves, in a closed circle, and do not mix with other social classes) and his personal recommendation of his daughter to work at that private Catholic school.
I didn't hear him say it himself, but there's no doubt that he hopes his daughter, once married (with someone like him, at that), will stop working and become a "traditional" wife, like her mother.
The second visual metaphor I noticed is the very symbolic hobby of Manami's father.Seiji seems to devotes all…
I would like to add that putting something in a bottle means protecting it. Despite his faults, Seiji loves his family and tries to protect them in his own way.
The second visual metaphor I noticed is the very symbolic hobby of Manami's father.
Seiji seems to devotes all his free time to navibotellism and terrarium. More simply said : he puts boats and plants in bottles.
This hobby fits his personality perfectly. He is a strict, old-fashioned man who is obsessed with how his family is perceived.
Seiji traps his family in constraints from another era (even further back than the Showa era) just as he confines his boats and plants to the limited space of bottles and jars. He pushes his daughter to accept a marriage that will benefit him socially and financially. He prevents his wife from expressing herself, constantly belittles her, and confines her to a role of service (cleaning, cooking, raising their daughter) while blaming her for all the family's problems. He monitors his daughter's outings, acquaintances, and even the way she dresses so that her family's reputation is not tarnished. He is not interested in what they think, never asks their opinion, and does not listen to them, invalidating everything they try to tell him. Seiji seems to believe that his wife and daughter should play the same role as his bottles (the various types of beautiful bottles on display in the house are impressive): confined to staying in the window, being beautiful and quiet ornaments.
The cold and silent staging of his navibotellism sessions suggests that he behaves as if he were in a laboratory, a place devoid of tenderness and warmth, where everything is carefully positioned, meticulously dissected and monitored. In the setting of the family living room, we see that he encloses the plants and exposes them to artificial light, much like one would cage mices to conduct experiments on them. His rigidity and the control he exercises over his family are beautifully illustrated when he tries to force the sails of the boat, symbols of freedom, into the confined and suffocating space of a glass bottle.
Navibotellism therefore symbolizes the control exercised by the head of the family, his lack of tolerance, his materialism, and his superficiality.
The contrast in personalities between Sanae, Manami's mother, and her husband immediately stands out. This contrast is evident in the different ways they use their plants. She grows aromatic plants in her kitchen. She uses them to prepare dishes—I think I spotted some basil—and as natural remedies for her stress and depression. Several times, we see her touch and breathe in her plants when her husband criticizes and belittles her, as if to help her get through these difficult moments and stay grounded. While Seiji symbolizes artificiality, Sanae represents nature, love, generosity, wisdom, and spirituality. She is able to grow plants indoors and is so perceptive to everyone needs that she seems to grasp their needs and all their secrets.
I really like the visual metaphors used in this drama! They're very rich! The first one I can think of is:
The contrast between the figures that adorn the establishments : Marie represents Pietas Private High School for Girls and the Joker represents the Host Club in Kabukicho.
Marie symbolises Manami, while the Joker symbolises Kaoru. The sacred VS the profane.
Kaoru, the host, plays the clown: he is whimsical, playful, and seductive in his devilish red suit in a place of forbidden pleasures. He seems to take nothing seriously and boasts about his freedom. Manami, the high school teacher often dressed in white, was raised in a strict family. She is modest, obedient, hard-working, and teaches diligently.
Each will bring to the other what they lack: Kaoru will introduce a breath of playful relaxation into Manami, and Manami will provide the protective and sincere love that Kaoru so desperately craves. But what connects the symbolic figures of Mary and the Joker is also that they are the appearances behind which Manami and Kaoru have been confined by other people. In fact, they are not parodies of the roles imposed on them: “the uptight girl” and “the idiot.”
Manami and Kaoru are both sincere and pure individuals. In ancient times, the king's jester (Joker/jester) was the only one allowed to reveal truths to kings through his antics. Mary is a figure of forgiveness and devotion, but also of strength and determination. However the jester is also the one who encourages the dissolution of morals, whereas Mary invites union through the bonds of marriage.
Marie. Joker. These two figures, one representing redemption and the other debauchery, act as guides at the doors of their respective establishments. One will lead them to their downfall, damnation, and depravity (will Manami fall into prostitution to pay for the services of the host she is in love with?), and the other to redemption and love (will Kaoru learn to read and write to become a train conductor?). Which of these figures will Manami and Kaoru be drawn to?
do you know if there's a good very recent adaptation of The Story of the Western Wing by Wang Shifu (apart from…
Thank you for the detailed recommendation! Let's try to not fall behind on our PTW list... That's going to be an almost impossible thing to do >_< See you!
1 
Which Japanese songs were replaced by the English ones, if any?
I also noticed something during the confession scene. The statue of the Virgin Mary has her gaze directed toward the couple and her chin tilted toward them. The soft lighting, the expression on her face... It's as if she's watching the scene and approving of their love story. Everything indicates that she is protecting these lovers with her benevolent patronage.
I thought of something else since: in Seiji's bottles, there's plants and boats. I think the plants symbolises his wife, Sanae, and the boats symbolises his daughter, Manami.
He confines both of them to the vicinity of the home, the pretty window of his household. Due to the role he imposed on her, Sanae is restricted to the enclosed space with little natural light space of the house just like the artifical light posed on the terrarium. He imprisons his boats in spaces without water or wind. This seems to symbolize his desire to prevent Manami from following her own path. We know that Manami has a mind of her own, however: she is not as docile as her father thinks she is, and her interactions with Kaoru and the students at school, prove that she is strong-willed and craves freedom. Although she does not directly confront her father (for the moment...), she is silently rebelling...
My follow-up thesis is that his hobby symbolises his restrictiveness and the fact that he is "conservative" in every sense of the word (note the vivid play on the word with the fact that he keeps things in his bottles). This is also supported by these two things: the marriage of convenience, which favours "l'entre-soi" (I don't know the word in English but basically it means the fact that the wealthy remain among themselves, in a closed circle, and do not mix with other social classes) and his personal recommendation of his daughter to work at that private Catholic school.
I didn't hear him say it himself, but there's no doubt that he hopes his daughter, once married (with someone like him, at that), will stop working and become a "traditional" wife, like her mother.
Seiji seems to devotes all his free time to navibotellism and terrarium. More simply said : he puts boats and plants in bottles.
This hobby fits his personality perfectly. He is a strict, old-fashioned man who is obsessed with how his family is perceived.
Seiji traps his family in constraints from another era (even further back than the Showa era) just as he confines his boats and plants to the limited space of bottles and jars. He pushes his daughter to accept a marriage that will benefit him socially and financially. He prevents his wife from expressing herself, constantly belittles her, and confines her to a role of service (cleaning, cooking, raising their daughter) while blaming her for all the family's problems. He monitors his daughter's outings, acquaintances, and even the way she dresses so that her family's reputation is not tarnished. He is not interested in what they think, never asks their opinion, and does not listen to them, invalidating everything they try to tell him. Seiji seems to believe that his wife and daughter should play the same role as his bottles (the various types of beautiful bottles on display in the house are impressive): confined to staying in the window, being beautiful and quiet ornaments.
The cold and silent staging of his navibotellism sessions suggests that he behaves as if he were in a laboratory, a place devoid of tenderness and warmth, where everything is carefully positioned, meticulously dissected and monitored. In the setting of the family living room, we see that he encloses the plants and exposes them to artificial light, much like one would cage mices to conduct experiments on them. His rigidity and the control he exercises over his family are beautifully illustrated when he tries to force the sails of the boat, symbols of freedom, into the confined and suffocating space of a glass bottle.
Navibotellism therefore symbolizes the control exercised by the head of the family, his lack of tolerance, his materialism, and his superficiality.
The contrast in personalities between Sanae, Manami's mother, and her husband immediately stands out. This contrast is evident in the different ways they use their plants. She grows aromatic plants in her kitchen. She uses them to prepare dishes—I think I spotted some basil—and as natural remedies for her stress and depression. Several times, we see her touch and breathe in her plants when her husband criticizes and belittles her, as if to help her get through these difficult moments and stay grounded. While Seiji symbolizes artificiality, Sanae represents nature, love, generosity, wisdom, and spirituality. She is able to grow plants indoors and is so perceptive to everyone needs that she seems to grasp their needs and all their secrets.
The contrast between the figures that adorn the establishments : Marie represents Pietas Private High School for Girls and the Joker represents the Host Club in Kabukicho.
Marie symbolises Manami, while the Joker symbolises Kaoru. The sacred VS the profane.
Kaoru, the host, plays the clown: he is whimsical, playful, and seductive in his devilish red suit in a place of forbidden pleasures. He seems to take nothing seriously and boasts about his freedom.
Manami, the high school teacher often dressed in white, was raised in a strict family. She is modest, obedient, hard-working, and teaches diligently.
Each will bring to the other what they lack: Kaoru will introduce a breath of playful relaxation into Manami, and Manami will provide the protective and sincere love that Kaoru so desperately craves.
But what connects the symbolic figures of Mary and the Joker is also that they are the appearances behind which Manami and Kaoru have been confined by other people. In fact, they are not parodies of the roles imposed on them: “the uptight girl” and “the idiot.”
Manami and Kaoru are both sincere and pure individuals. In ancient times, the king's jester (Joker/jester) was the only one allowed to reveal truths to kings through his antics. Mary is a figure of forgiveness and devotion, but also of strength and determination. However the jester is also the one who encourages the dissolution of morals, whereas Mary invites union through the bonds of marriage.
Marie. Joker. These two figures, one representing redemption and the other debauchery, act as guides at the doors of their respective establishments. One will lead them to their downfall, damnation, and depravity (will Manami fall into prostitution to pay for the services of the host she is in love with?), and the other to redemption and love (will Kaoru learn to read and write to become a train conductor?). Which of these figures will Manami and Kaoru be drawn to?
Let's try to not fall behind on our PTW list... That's going to be an almost impossible thing to do >_<
See you!
Wish you to continue to enjoy watching Chinese movies and to keep posting on their MDL pages for us to enjoy :)