Freeter Ie wo Kau

So I finished FIwK the other day. I actually don't know how I feel about the ending. I mean, I enjoyed it, but it didn't really do what it said on the box, did it? I was sort of expecting for him to buy a house, and that's... not really what happened.

I came around on Dad after all, though I still think he deserved a good punch in the teeth in the early episodes for how dismissively he treated Sumiko and his children. Nevertheless he turned out to be an OK guy by the end. I didn't find the resolution with Nishimoto as satisfying. It was good that Seiji took the high road with her, but I don't really think she deserved his pity. She was deliberately and systematically ruining a woman's life, including attempting to drive her to bankruptcy, because she was jealous that she didn't have as good a relationship with her own son? INVEST SOME OF THAT DAMNED ENERGY IN WORKING ON YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR SON. GEEEEEEEZ. Deliberately sending the scammer over to the Take house was a really low blow and I think she deserved a lot worse than she got. As for the meddlesome Nagata MIL... that plotline was sort of lame and ended in a fizzle. "I agree we should talk." SWEET BRO. RIVETING TELEVISION.

I sound really bitter about this haha. Truth be told I really liked it, despite these elements. I was really happy that Seiji chose the Oetsu job in the end, and that he became friends with the job search guy. Aw.

Related - I don't see a lot of kissing in dramas. Is it a J TV taboo, or more just a general cultural aversion to public displays of affection...? (I know there's SOME kissing in some dramas, that fairly epic scene in Kimi wa Petto comes to mind.)

Here abruptly endeth the post.