Review of Seinaru Kaibutsutachi Ep 2

With more and more people jumping into this scam, will it lead to a situation at the end where Shiba finds himself to be the only one clueless about the entire fiasco? I'm starting to think that this might be very likely especially as more and more people get pulled in partly out of pity for Keiko's inability to bear her own child but also for their personal agendas.

Again, spoiler alert here! Please do not read the following if you wish to watch this episode first and do not want to know what has happened.

Frankly speaking, episode 2 wasn't as exciting as I would have liked it because the side story about Shiba taking pains to treat a potential appendix cancer patient was kinda longwinded. I could see where it was going especially since the only purpose it served seemed to be emphasizing how devoted he was to making sure every patient gets the best treatment from him. However, the lofty aspirations Shiba has might make it even more difficult to accept the web of deceit around him since he trusts everyone so much. In his monologue at the end of the episode, he keeps repeating the line that a woman has many faces. The biggest surprise for him would definitely be knowing how much Kasugai did in order to make it possible for Keiko to have a child born by a surrogate mother.

As for the main story, the new "participants" to the scam are Toshio and Mie. They are two key players in the whole scam because without the sperm from Toshio and Mie's uterus, Keiko can't do anything. Even though Toshio was reluctant to agree to this idea from the start, Kasugai knew very well that he was scared to fall from grace in case this surrogate pregnancy became known to the public. As a result, Kasugai promised to take the blame if things go wrong and even stressed that she found the perfect "environment" for everything to go smoothly without any detection. This could have meant Mie because she is someone without kin in this world (no one would question why she suddenly became pregnant or even stand up for her if things go wrong) and her deep admiration for Keiko makes it almost impossible for her to betray the latter. However, it looks likely that Mie might not really react as per what these people are thinking. As Mie grows more attached to the baby she's carrying and there are some hints that she has something going on for Toshio, she will be a potential cause of trouble if she doesn't follow what they want her to do. From the next episode's trailer, we can already see that Mie seems kinda reluctant to sign the papers asking her to give up parentage rights to the baby. It will only be a matter of time before she starts to show some signs of defiance or straying from the arranged path.

Frankly speaking, I was wondering why Kasugai wouldn't be able or wouldn't want to bear Keiko's child personally before I watched this episode. Now it all makes sense because Kasugai herself had an abortion so she had her uterus removed. And she knows the pain of not being able to have your own child so she was spurred to help Keiko. The next questions are, who was the father of that child, why did she give up that child and what reason made her steer clear of relationships after that? We'll probably know the answer at a later stage and I hope that the scriptwriter doesn't forget about answering them.

As things progress, you can get the obsession levels going up for some people. Keiko seems to have lost it at times when you see her fussing over Mie and asking to hear her tummy even though the pregnancy hasn't been certified. Wait till she gets more crazy when the pregnancy progresses to a later stage. Kasugai's constant goading of Toshio to get involved also shows how invested she is in the entire thing. It isn't about Keiko anymore, it also has to do her personal goal of having someone related by blood to herself.

On Shiba's side, his budding relationship with Hirai looks set to be another source of disappointment for him in time to come. Hirai's attempts at seducing him seem as if she was ordered to do so for the sake of something but I don't think Shiba did sleep with her YET. Maybe later or maybe not after all. And Hirai's act of receiving money from patients seem to be driven by her boyfriend or someone who is romantically linked to her extorting money from her so it remains to be seen if this lack of money will drive her to desperation and join Keiko & Co.

On the whole, episode 2's main purpose is to set the key players into position so the next episode looks set to be one which pulls in more bit players, throws up more questions into the air about the integrity of some characters or even shows a couple of conflicts here and there for people who are already involved.

Just to digress a bit, doesn't Okada Masaki look a bit like the younger version of Kashiwabara Takashi from certain angles? I didn't use to think of him this way but this episode made me draw the link for the first time. Not that it matters or affects me in any way though but just amused at how people who didn't look alike in the same now seem similar in one way or another.

Till the next episode then!