rinmei

As usual, your eyes are excellent to look at details. I really love your observation on every scene lol.

I'll get back to you in a few days after I finish understanding all the dialogues lol.

First of all, since the very beginning of the episode, we got to see how Shinobu's life had completely reversed. She was a popular mangaka, living in an apartment in Tokyo and having another apartment as her work studio also in Tokyo (my assumption because she could easily had lunch with Mari who couldn't live outside Tokyo).
After Okano was introduced to us, she was doing things, that Chiaki did to her, to Okano (getting physically close to him, somewhat being flirtatous). Though while doing those to Okano, her mind kept getting flashbacks to her memories with Chiaki. I'll get back to this topic later.
I had an assumption that she was actually like that (rather flirtatious) in the past, when she was single. Because she and Yohei met in a bar, and Yohei hit on her, although she admitted to Yuta it was gross (the conversation at the dining table in Ep1). What made her grounded 5 years ago when Chiaki seduced her was Yuta, who wasn't with her currently.
Although her life and popularity had become better, but Shinobu was still the same person as before. She still wasn't aware of time when she was doing or thinking about things (in Ep1, she wasn't aware of time when she was drawing manga which ended up Chiaki offered to cook). Well, currently she was a bit more all over the place, though. I suspected that she was losing her purpose in life when Yuta left for college.

Now, about her frequent flashbacks to her memories with Chiaki. As I suspected in Ep6 that she actually wanted to be with Chiaki, but she repressed her feelings, thus they kept coming back as flashbacks. While she was flirtatious with Okano, hiding behind "old memories", deep down inside her mind it was Chiaki that she wanted to be with. Ugh, that's sad.

About Yohei. I have to say I really enjoyed watching Yohei's situation being reversed (I know I'm such a bad person lol). Though, at times I felt sorry for him. It must be hard for a person who was arrogant and all about himself to get to that situation. His situation was so bad that Shinobu couldn't bring herself to divorce him, though she was no longer wearing her wedding ring. So in her mind, she was no longer Yohei's wife, I suppose. In the preview for Ep8, it seemed like next episode might lead to a discussion towards divorce? Hopefully #eh

About Chiaki and canned coffee. Initially I was confused why the same tingling-similar-to-game-over sound effect and uplifting music were used in this episode's canned coffee scene. But after rewatching that scene, I thought Chiaki might have been treating canned coffee as something to end his pain (in this episode's case: his tiredness from working aside from drawing manga), thus the usage of the same tingling sound. Whereas the uplifting music was accompanied with the camera shot from Chiaki to a brick wall. Initially I kept asking myself: "Why a brick wall? Not the sky anymore?" But after rewatching it, I thought the brick wall might represent the ordinary (and maybe dull?) life he had to encounter after getting home (the young lady waiting him at home).
So the canned coffee scene in this episode might be a metaphor for something (or the memory of someone, namely Shinobu who happened to have a birthday on that day?) to ease his pain from not being able to work towards his dream and to prepare himself to face the ordinary life lying ahead.

That's all for now. Thank you for anyone reading it :)

Episode 7. Usually I hold myself to write comments until I understand all the dialogues. But I'm getting impatient, though currently I only understand one-fourth of the dialogues, lol.
So far, there are a few scenes which I found interesting. I've listed them in the spoiler box below.

You mentioned that "the divorce paper was an escape for her but she had to swallow that wish down". Your interpretation makes me think of a wild interpretation: Maybe that's why she threw away her old self and she didn't want to look at her debut manga for awhile. Because irl she actually followed the rabbit (staying with Yohei), while her debut manga actually suggested that she should follow Alice and Peter Pan (divorcing Yohei), thus the divorce paper was there to "close" her desire to follow Alice and Peter Pan (aka divorcing Yohei). Her old self wouldn't follow the rabbit but would follow Alice and Peter Pan, that's why she created her new self/pen name who followed the rabbit and eventually drew manga with infidelity-related content.

If I'm not mistaken, the first time she read her debut manga from Spice magazine was in Ep6, didn't she? I remember she read her debut manga again in Ep2, but it was from the tankoubon/the comic book, not from the magazine. Maybe it was because she didn't want to look at that divorce paper.

I guess this interpretation is too wild and I actually am not sure about its validity lol. I should really rewatch all 6 episodes to make sure about this xD

It's interesting to read your interpretation. Thanks for this.

Although I agree with you that Shinobu decided not to divorce because of baby Yuta, but I don't think that was the sole reason. At that time, she and Yohei were just married for maybe around a year. And looking at her flashback when Yohei proposed to her and when they moved to their new house in Ep1, it seemed to me that she was very much in love with Yohei. Thus, I think, there were many reasons that made her keep that divorce paper hidden instead of going through with a divorce, those might include she thought she and Yohei were in love. Though, she did throw her old self (who loved Yohei) with that pen name change. Sadly, along the way, her love for Yohei deteriorated more and more, since Yohei never appreciated her and kept on giving her condescending attitude and remarks. So, at the current state (when she met and had feelings for Chiaki), what was left in her marriage was just her love for Yuta and a wish that Yuta could have a good life (could choose a good school, live in a good environment, etc.). I don't think that she kept her marriage because she wanted Yuta not to be fatherless, since she was pretty much alone in maintaining the family - Yohei was only useful for his income. But this is mainly a difference in our interpretation, which make this drama more interesting because we can come up with different interpretations.

I have a different opinion too regarding why she left Chiaki and sacrified her feelings for him. I don't think Chiaki's past convinced her to leave him, instead, I think, it actually made her wanted to stay with him to be able to protect him. However, she left him considering their situations: their age-gap, his closeness to Yuta, her current state of still being a wife of Yohei (she said, "I'm 40, a mother, and a wife"); thus at that state, she couldn't protect him yet, so it'd be better for them to separate and for him to find a more suitable partner. It might be a different case if Chiaki was older. Again, this is a difference in our interpretation, and it's always nice to hear/read others' interpretations :)

I, too, wish Yohei would realize his mistakes, if he survived that heart attack or whatever made him collapsed. But maybe next episodes won't tell us about Yohei anymore. Who knows, lol. I can't wait for Ep7!

Has there always been a paper inside that Spice magazine since Ep1? Somehow I can't remember. All the more reasons for rewatching from Ep1, yaay! xD

I like your interpretation about how that "Tadaima" meant to be a metaphor for the divorce intention to be returning "home" to Shinobu's mind. I didn't think of it that way, and now that you mentioned it, yes maybe that was the case. I agree with you that the contrast between The Watanuki's happy beginning vs The Watanuki's current (almost ending) situation was well put together. I thought she was reminiscing baby Yuta since she and Yuta had a conversation earlier that day, and reminiscing Yohei when he was still "sane" (lol) and seemed like he loved her and baby Yuta. I also thought that the conversation with Yuta that afternoon triggered her to open the divorce paper again, since he told her that he wanted her to do what she liked. That's also why she reminisced baby Yuta. (But wait, did I understand the conversation between Yuta and Shinobu right? If yes, this is why I love Yuta!).

Yes, I agree that Shinobu and Chiaki already have a strong bond. They are important for each other.

That canned coffee scene was my most favorite scene from Ep6 (aside from the first 8 seconds xD)

Oh, I missed the off-centered position of the leads in the big aquarium scene. I'll watch it again to look for it. I guess I was too concentrated on how massive the aquarium was and looking at the fishes lol.

And it's already Friday! I'm so looking forward to watching Ep7.

The tingling sound effect in the coffee scene to me was similar to game-over sound effects. I think it was a metaphor of the coffee stop tasting bitter for Chiaki as well as the coffee ending his pain from the past.

I've written some of the metaphors I liked in the spoiler box below, if you're interested in reading them :)

I think the shoes are a confirmation to what Yuta said about Yohei had never been interested in his activities before, especially soccer. Because the only sneakers there were Shinobu's. There weren't any Yohei's sneakers.

I love Ep6 because it showed so many metaphors. I love metaphors! Lol. I hope you (or anybody) wouldn't mind if I write the metaphors I found interesting in this episode. Warning: there are plenty! Lol. Please only continue to read if you don't mind heavy spoilers 😅

To me, I love how Ep6 showed both Shinobu and Chiaki's growth and willpower to properly face their issues. For Shinobu, she decided to open her hidden divorce paper. You go, girl! (Though I hate the part when Yohei collapsed at the end of the episode - why did he get an easy way out of his mess?!) I can imagine what was going on inside Shinobu's head regarding her relationship with Yohei. Shinobu might have been thinking of divorcing him when she found out about the affair. But she might have thought about the "investment" she had made to her marriage (the sunk cost effect) such as how she initially might really love Yohei and they just had Yuta, thus she eventually kept going with the marriage and kept the divorce paper hidden. For Chiaki, he decided to properly open his wound by drawing his past in his manga, in order to move on with his life. This growth from both leads somewhat is a nice way to end the first arc (the past arc).

Now here comes the metaphors:
-Shinobu reached out her hands to hug the chair she was sitting on (which was the chair that Chiaki used to sit on) was a metaphor of hugging Chiaki. At nearly the same time, Chiaki held the canned coffee in his hands and slowly drank the coffee, which, I think, was a metaphor of him hugging Shinobu and being supported by her inside out. So at nearly the same time, Shinobu and Chiaki were "hugging" each other. I love how they were supporting each other without realizing (only us the viewers knew).

-The canned coffee scene: after Chiaki gulping the coffee, there was a sound of wind and a tingling sound effect (I imagine it similar to the game-over sound effects), and shortly after, the background music sounded more uplifting and the camera shot moved from Chiaki to the sky. I think the scene was a metaphor of Shinobu (the coffee) was enough to blow/end Chiaki's pain from his past (the wind and the tingling sound), thus he was hopeful of the future (the uplifting music and the sky).
EDITED: After this scene, the next scene was Chiaki waiting for Shinobu to go to the aquarium. When she arrived, Chiaki waved at her and gave her the brightest smile I'd seen in 6 episodes. I don't remember ever seeing Chiaki's smile as bright as this one before. I think that bright smile was also a metaphor of how he had fallen in love with Shinobu. Though, this was a heartbreaking scene because Shinobu was not smiling back at him, instead she cried seeing him pulling his brightest smile. The scene broke my heart.

-The aquarium scene when Shinobu said "I can't see you anymore", the camera changed angle to a long shot showing the big aquarium behind them. I think this was a metaphor of how bigger/complicated things were behind Shinobu's reason for not wanting to see Chiaki again (she said "I'm 40 years old, a mother, and a wife" just before that scene).

Oh, other than the metaphors, I really loooooveeee Yuta! I love Shinobu and Yuta's relationship. He was really close with his mother. She had raised him well.

Or is his father similar to Hakase (Shinobu's high-school friend)'s ex husband? We just have to wait to see if that rare character will get any explanations, lol.

When I first watched it, I thought the hand stroking was Rihito's improvisation. It felt somewhat unscripted. Of course, I don't know that for sure, lol.

Btw, I'm also curious about his father being a 'rare character'. Similar to you, I did think that it meant being rarely home.

I finished understanding Ep 5 yesterday. Now trying to understand Ep 6. Wait for me, okay? xD

The scene when Shinobu and Chiaki talked in Chiaki's house made my heart warm. Shinobu is definitely a good adult to bring such a painful topic to a clear understanding for Chiaki. And also, Shinobu might be the first adult or person who understands and accepts him, not only demanding things from him. At the same time, it pained me a lot to imagine how Chiaki had repressed all those feelings since middle school.

Onto the last scene. I have a slightly different perspective. When he said "It's okay if your suitcase is empty, don't go home", IMO, he was trying to say that it's okay if you won't be with me in the future, but for now just use me as comfort. He knew that whatever feeling Shinobu had for him, she wouldn't leave her family, so it was okay for him even if Shinobu was with him for awhile.

And that hand stroking, I also noticed it! I think Chiaki is really a compassionate person despite having to experience all those things (his mother having an affair, his father being absent, having mamakatsu). I assume that he learned giving comfort to women by hugging because his mother kind of craved for skinship (I suspect this because in Ep3 she held his arm and pulled his arm when walking on the slope on their way home and in Ep2 when she was cold and wanted to be pulled to the living room). But now that you mentioned the possibility that he learned giving hugs to comfort women from his customers, I do think that that might also be the case.

Oh, I mention his father because I wonder where he was. Will we get to hear the story about his father, I wonder....

Because I was 2 episodes behind xD But now I'm proud to say that I'm on episode 6! Still trying to understand things, don't spoil me yet, though, lol

I have to hold myself from opening the spoiler boxes from you, lol. At least until I watch the episode with a good understanding xD
But I agree, your comments are really in-depth and interesting.

I love your attention to details since I suck at details, lol.
I remember hearing the dog barking sound when the childhood friend was around, but only that. Lol. I'll look more into the details when I rewatch Ep4 with the sub. Now I can't wait for the sub, lol.

Actually there are many major spoilers here already in the reveal-spoiler boxes. Are you sure you still need more? :)

How did you find out about the director change? You really surprise me, lol. In a good way. Anyway, does this drama have a Twitter or Instagram account?

I think this is definitely the darkest slice-of-life drama I've ever watched so far. The attempted rape scenes in Ep4 were also disturbing to me, though I haven't fully understood the dialogues.

Same here. I paused the video for a few times to take a deep breath.