Review of Shokuzai Ep 3

The third story focuses on Takano Akiko, the girl who went to inform Asako about Emily's death. As compared to Sae and Maki, I think Akiko was affected in a different way by the incident. Sae and Maki didn't seem like they were emotionally flawed in any way especially when Maki was potrayed to be a top performer and natural leader in a group. They only changed because of Emily's murder. However, Akiko seemed to have been belittled by her mother since young and therefore appeared to lack self confidence. What happened to Emily only served to reinforce her belief that she didn't deserve to look good and behave like a normal girl but I wouldn't say it changed her fundamentally in the same way Sae and Maki did.

Before Emily's murder, Akiko was pretty much what we would call the plain Jane. She didn't really stand out as a kid in the group of five girls and seemed to be slipping into the background most of the time. However, a turning point came when her aunt bought Akiko a branded dress which made her realise that she could be as cute as her friends and look good just like an ordinary little girl. Unfortunately, Emily's murder destroyed this little flicker of self-confidence. Akiko happened to be wearing this dress on that fateful day and as Asako rushed to the school after being informed by Akiko, the little girl was pushed aside and fell down at the garden of Asako's house. She ended up having a nose bleed which stained her dress so badly that her mother had to throw it away. After hearing her mother's remarks that she should never have worn that dress, Akiko started to have this idea that she is like a bear and should never behave like a girl anymore. I think this could be her own way of punishing herself so that she never enjoys the happiness of leading a normal life.

Something also differentiates Akiko from Sae and Maki who didn't seem particularly close to anyone in their families. Akiko has a brother Koji who dotes on her and she looks up to him. Actually, other than the fact that Akiko copes herself up in her room, is not working and never dresses like a woman in her 20s, she's pretty normal in the family side of things because she goes out to run errands for her mother and holds decent conversations with them. When Koji returns home from Tokyo after getting married to a woman named Haruka who already has a daughter (Wakaba), Akiko starts to change and suspects that something is not quite right.

Well, from this point onwards, if you are not prepared to know what happened at the end, it might be a good idea to skip the review.

Frankly speaking, it was difficult to tell if what happened was Akiko's imagination or that Koji really was up to no good. True, he was seen once in the company of a young girl and that Wakaba appeared resistant to the idea of spending time alone with her stepfather. However, that scene when Koji and Wakaba were playing together on the bed is pretty much open to everyone's interpretation. Maybe they were just having fun in a harmless manner but Akiko's suspicions about Koji had been building up and that scene sort of tipped the balance in her mind. I personally think that it probably feels a bit weird for the stepfather to play like that with his stepdaughter but then Wakaba didn't look like she was being forced or anything. That's why I get the feeling that Akiko would not have over-reacted if she didn't think badly of Koji in the first place. Coupled with her guilt towards not being able to save Emily and her promise to Asako to compensate for her inability to help with the capture of Emily's murderer prompted her to do what she did. Then again, if you think of it in another way, I don't feel that it was entirely for Emily's sake nor Asako's after all. At the very least, Asako wasn't convinced by Akiko's rationale that she killed her brother because she saw him as a threat to Wakaba's well-being. Akiko's argument was that she didn't want Wakaba to end up like Emily but this does sound a bit far-fetched to me.

I think by this point in time, Asako would have some doubts in her mind as to whether her action 15 years ago destroyed the lives of these young girls. One murdered her husband, one lost her career while another killed her own brother. It now remains to be seen how the fourth girl will turn out and it appears that she will finally provide Asako with some answers she needs before we get to the finale episode of finding who the murderer was.