What an emotional roller coaster this was! The actors had amazing chemistry all throughout. The story was well-paced, evocative, and gripping. Absolutely love it to pieces!
To be honest, halfway through the first episode, I didn't think I'd finish watching it because it seemed like it would be too over the top. I'm so glad that I stuck with it because it's become one of my favorites. Overall good pacing, interesting plot, gripping main characters, sagged a bit here and there, but it's top shelf. Love it to bits.
When I first saw this series many years ago, I wasn't very keen on anything Johnny's. Don't know why. Just didn't vibe with it. A friend of mine insisted I watch this, and my god, I was not prepared for how this series would draw me in, let alone make me cry as much as it did. I've got a special place in my heart for it.
[ENDING SPOILERS] . . I haven’t quite made up my mind about what to make of the ending as many things seem to be tied into it. The ineptitude of the police, Mamiya as the source of trauma in this area while also being a politician and the symbolism of that, Kai taking the lighter, the light in the dark*, the cleansing power of fire, Kiritani as a symbol. The death of the idealist who believed in the system until he didn’t. The last three minutes could very well be a metaphor for Kai stepping out of his trauma and following Kiritani into the light. Kiritani isn’t there when Kai wakes up because he’s waiting for Kai on “the other side” of trauma, on the road to healing, so he can’t be there when Kai faces what remains of Mamiya. The manga is clear cut with its ending, but I think the movie opens up for more possibilities in which death isn’t literal and Kai is given the chance to know another life.
*The first time Kiritani and Kai meet in the movie, Kiritani tries to hit Kai with the lighter. Kiritani hitting Kai and Kai not fighting back is a recurring thing---Kiritani can’t reach Kai with violence, but love does it, maybe?
So the rapping and the role of it in the story. In the opening scene, Kiritani mentions how he dislikes haiku, but one of his students loves haiku and doesn’t take kindly to him speaking ill of it. To this, Kiritani says that it shouldn’t matter what he thinks of it because if she loves it, that’s all that matters. She can’t, or shouldn’t, be ruled by what others think. In the scene where Kiritani is teaching the boys at the shelter, he keeps glaring at the stage where the others are rapping. When Shota and Kai walk up to them, he tells them that Japanese rap is embarrassing, especially since they’re singing about stuff they know nothing about. In the scene where Kiritani asks Kai why Kai fell in love with him, again it’s tied to music, art, and expressing art and how it’s not about whether it’s good or bad, it’s about what art means to the one creating it and performing it. As you can see, there’s an ongoing theme tied to the rapping, the fear of embarrassment and shame, and how that can quiet people because they fear what others will think of them.
The rapping plays another, even more personal, role as well. The ongoing mystery is whether Kai was the rapist or not and why he’s so insistent about Kiritani putting his experience into lyrics. We find out, toward the end, what an impact the music exercise had on Kai when he first met Kiritani in school. We also get a scene with the therapist where it’s explicitly stated that rapping, writing about your experience, sharing your story, can have a healing effect on a traumatized person. Kai took to music, to rapping, to cope with what was happening in his life. Kiritani realizes that Kai led him to the things that helped Kai to deal with trauma: rapping and martial arts. Most of what Kai has been doing, is to help Kiritani heal and to keep him from making the same mistakes (like finding work at the sex parlor). Once Kiritani knows for certain that they’re both the same, that Kai saw himself in Kiritani, consciously or not, he is moved into action and goes to set the parlor on fire. In short, the rapping is meant to be a helping hand, a call to create art without shame, a tie to the past, a show of how much Kiritani shaped Kai, how Kiritani inadvertently gave Kai a flickering light of hope, and how Kai tried to pass it onto Kiritani in his time of need.
With that said, however, the characters are complex, and while a part of Kai’s intentions might have been good, he also has dark sides, which are made evident in how he makes Kiritani cut ties with the life he had before the assault. Kai wants Kiritani to himself, and while he wants Kiritani to heal, he doesn’t want him to go beyond his reach. In the manga, Kai states that he wants Kiritani to be stuck in hell with him, which I think the movie does a great work of showing. Kiritani is forced to leave his place of work that he’s fought so hard to get into, he separates from his wife to protect her from Kai and Shota, he is completely engulfed by the life at the shelter. In this regard, Kai wins. He drags Kiritani to hell because he thinks he'll never be worthy of heaven. Which might tie into the ending...?
.
.
I haven’t quite made up my mind about what to make of the ending as many things seem to be tied into it. The ineptitude of the police, Mamiya as the source of trauma in this area while also being a politician and the symbolism of that, Kai taking the lighter, the light in the dark*, the cleansing power of fire, Kiritani as a symbol. The death of the idealist who believed in the system until he didn’t. The last three minutes could very well be a metaphor for Kai stepping out of his trauma and following Kiritani into the light. Kiritani isn’t there when Kai wakes up because he’s waiting for Kai on “the other side” of trauma, on the road to healing, so he can’t be there when Kai faces what remains of Mamiya. The manga is clear cut with its ending, but I think the movie opens up for more possibilities in which death isn’t literal and Kai is given the chance to know another life.
*The first time Kiritani and Kai meet in the movie, Kiritani tries to hit Kai with the lighter. Kiritani hitting Kai and Kai not fighting back is a recurring thing---Kiritani can’t reach Kai with violence, but love does it, maybe?
.
.
.
.
So the rapping and the role of it in the story. In the opening scene, Kiritani mentions how he dislikes haiku, but one of his students loves haiku and doesn’t take kindly to him speaking ill of it. To this, Kiritani says that it shouldn’t matter what he thinks of it because if she loves it, that’s all that matters. She can’t, or shouldn’t, be ruled by what others think.
In the scene where Kiritani is teaching the boys at the shelter, he keeps glaring at the stage where the others are rapping. When Shota and Kai walk up to them, he tells them that Japanese rap is embarrassing, especially since they’re singing about stuff they know nothing about.
In the scene where Kiritani asks Kai why Kai fell in love with him, again it’s tied to music, art, and expressing art and how it’s not about whether it’s good or bad, it’s about what art means to the one creating it and performing it. As you can see, there’s an ongoing theme tied to the rapping, the fear of embarrassment and shame, and how that can quiet people because they fear what others will think of them.
The rapping plays another, even more personal, role as well. The ongoing mystery is whether Kai was the rapist or not and why he’s so insistent about Kiritani putting his experience into lyrics. We find out, toward the end, what an impact the music exercise had on Kai when he first met Kiritani in school. We also get a scene with the therapist where it’s explicitly stated that rapping, writing about your experience, sharing your story, can have a healing effect on a traumatized person. Kai took to music, to rapping, to cope with what was happening in his life. Kiritani realizes that Kai led him to the things that helped Kai to deal with trauma: rapping and martial arts. Most of what Kai has been doing, is to help Kiritani heal and to keep him from making the same mistakes (like finding work at the sex parlor). Once Kiritani knows for certain that they’re both the same, that Kai saw himself in Kiritani, consciously or not, he is moved into action and goes to set the parlor on fire. In short, the rapping is meant to be a helping hand, a call to create art without shame, a tie to the past, a show of how much Kiritani shaped Kai, how Kiritani inadvertently gave Kai a flickering light of hope, and how Kai tried to pass it onto Kiritani in his time of need.
With that said, however, the characters are complex, and while a part of Kai’s intentions might have been good, he also has dark sides, which are made evident in how he makes Kiritani cut ties with the life he had before the assault. Kai wants Kiritani to himself, and while he wants Kiritani to heal, he doesn’t want him to go beyond his reach. In the manga, Kai states that he wants Kiritani to be stuck in hell with him, which I think the movie does a great work of showing. Kiritani is forced to leave his place of work that he’s fought so hard to get into, he separates from his wife to protect her from Kai and Shota, he is completely engulfed by the life at the shelter. In this regard, Kai wins. He drags Kiritani to hell because he thinks he'll never be worthy of heaven. Which might tie into the ending...?