* tiny spoilers *
The last episode of this series set in the giddy jet-set world of furniture design and retailing ends with a double-length episode. Watching it wrap up all the loose ends with a whole bunch of happy endings was pleasant enough, though I was left wondering what the attraction to Rensuke was.
With barely any emotional display on his part, I was reminded of an experiment I read about when people were shown a photo of a baby next to a photo of someone with a blank expression. They described this person's expression as caring. Then they were shown a photo of a knife and the same photo of the person again. This time they described the person's expression as being angry.
This is kind of how I felt watching the show. Rensuke hugs a woman with the same expression as when he carves a bit of wood or looks for his keys. I felt like the show was asking me to read into those scenes whatever I wanted. I'm aware of the fondness in J-dramas (and videogames) for the hero to be a blank slate, tongue tied and distant, but it's one I'd never really liked. Give me Final Fantasy 9's wise-cracking romantic Zidane over FF8's sour-faced Squall any day. And so it was here. After Mr Brain I did hope for something more from Kimura Takuya, and reading people's reactions on various forums, he's been better in other romantic comedies, so I'll hunt around, give those a go. Perhaps.
Shinohara Ryoko, though. Aces ten.
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