Review of Ruri no Shima Ep 3

Ep 3 O.A. 30 Apr 05
Ratings: 13.2%

An emotionally heavy episode, I would say.

From the last episode, we know that Ruri's mother, Nao comes to Hatomijima to look for Ruri. However, her appearance is not a simple visit after all as Yuzo realizes it after knowing what's she's like when he saw her in Tokyo. There's no way she could have come all the way to Hatomijima just to see Ruri. That is why he is wary about letting Ruri hear what they have to say and sends her off to school. Ruri has a lot of questions to ask Nao as to why she appeared and becomes very lethargic in class. Sanae-sensei doesn't understand why Ruri is behaving like that and even asks her to write a composition on her mother.

Nao tells Yuzo that she's pregnant and will be getting married soon. As such, she would like to remove Ruri's records from hers as Nao's future husband does not know about Ruri. Yuzo is quite upset with Nao who sees Ruri as just a name which she can remove anytime even though Ruri is her own flesh and blood. Nao says that she will break the news to Ruri directly and asks Yuzo to take in Ruri officially as his daughter by putting her name in their family register.

Sanae finally realizes Ruri's complicated feelings towards Nao and sees her in a different light. She seems to be genuinely concerned about Ruri's plight and tries to help if there is an opportunity. Seems like Nao's visit does have a good effect afterall since it helps Sanae to see Ruri differently and bridges the differences between them.

When Nao finally breaks the news to Ruri, she fights back her tears and wishes Nao happiness. It is heartbreaking to see a kid like her going through such an ordeal and you would really sympathise with her. Ruri is so upset that she skips school after Nao leaves but when Kawashima and Shoumei (the guy who is a bit bonkers after alcohol poisoning when his wife and daughter left him) brings her to the beach to watch the birth of the turtles, Ruri manages to pick herself up and go on with life although she is still hurting from her mother abandoning her again.

In my opinion, Nao is really a terrible mother. No doubt she has the right to pursue her happiness. However, by saying that she wants to remove Ruri's name from her own register, it's like treating Ruri as a blemish in her life where she can just erase off at her own will. Ruri is a human being who has feelings. No wonder she feels betrayed and abandoned at the thought of this. Yuzo also has a legitimate reason for being angry at Nao for treating Ruri like some rubbish to be dumped and I think he's really a kind fatherly figure who loves Ruri like his own daughter.

And by watching how the turtles struggle to crawl to the sea soon after being born, Ruri seems to draw strength from this and realises that she has to move on with life even though Nao is gone from her life. I think the staff of this drama really put in a lot of effort in this particular scene because they showed in detail how the turtles climb out from the sand to the beach in fumbling steps. God knows how long they waited to capture this heartwarming scene on film?

It's getting better by each episode but the only grouse I have is that Takenouchi Yutaka appears so little in each episode... I would love to see more of him... Oh, before I forget, there is another revelation about his character and the supposedly real Kawashima where he actually was with the real one sitting in a wheelchair at the harbour. So something did happen between them which led to him falling into the sea and the real Kawashima dying....