#ボク、運命の人です。ep 3

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Appearing before the Dramacourt: Boku Unmei no Hito desu Ep 6

***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

Issues:

Whether Yamapi God’s suggestion for Makoto to be like 亭主関白 is right

Whether it is reasonable for Haruko to a while to accept Makoto

The Rule(s):

Nope. Feels antiquated.

Yes. (This issue was brought up before but given that we know Haruko’s full story about her painful past, I thought it’d be best to look at the issue further.)

Analysis:

Jubiemon J: As much as I really like this drama and I still enjoyed this episode, there were a few parts that didn’t make that much sense to me. I don’t agree with Yamapi God’s suggestion for Makoto to aim to be like this: 亭主関白（ていしゅかんぱく). This phrase means that the wife would have to listen to the husband and the husband is the one ruling the household. Feel free to read my side note for more explanation. I’ll explain further in the issue as to why I don’t think that’s right.

Goal is to be 亭主関白

To achieve that goal, Yamapi God suggests that Makoto must only reply to Haruko in 4 words or less. I, like Makoto, hated that challenge, but Makoto still listens.

All 4 of them are at the dinner and Haruko starts asking Makoto a question

Haruko: What kind of help was Mitsukuni providing?

Makoto counting the number of words he’d use for the reply.. lol!

Helping . . . me . . . work . . . out. Lol!

Haruko: Why’d u wanna work out?

Makoto: …. Betsuni. (Nothing in particular.)

Haruko asks what fish Makoto wants.. out of the two that were suggested

Makoto picks a random fish (not suggested by the chef) that’s 3 words long. Lmfao!

Makoto is gonna pay for them all but Haruko wants to split the pay.

Makoto: Let me pay. Haruko: But.. Makoto: My treat.

Haruko ignores and goes to get her wallet.

Makoto in a ruder way of saying things: Don’t bother.

Haruko: Eh? Makoto repeats the phrase.

Later Yamapi God says if Makoto wanted to change a challenge, he could. Then Makoto ends up doing a wooden carving of two words: Osho.

Makoto rolling around the floor saying: No, impossible, never! It’s never gonna work. (for the 4 words challenge)

Though watching him struggle to complete the challenges is hilarious, at the end of the day, I didn’t really see the point of it unlike in previous episodes where I felt the challenges led to something ingenious. In this case . . . it falls flat and the deeper message within this challenge doesn’t seem to exist unless the drama is advocating that a traditional household where the male dominates the family is ideal. I honestly hope not! (Sure I’ve heard in Japan from Japanese friends that there’s still power imbalances between males and females that exist, but to propose that there should be more power given to males . . . No.)

I guess the whole idea of Yamapi God suggesting 亭主関白 bugs me because he is supposed to be a modern type of God. Look at the way he dresses, how he acts around Makoto, and how he has made seemingly silly suggestions that end up being important to Makoto. Even if he wants to push Makoto to be more assertive in an extreme way, I still don’t like this. He could have used some sort of other way of portraying this like keep the Osho as being a winner for all of them and not relate it to 亭主関白.

I still really find it hard to believe that the writer would make him suggest this outdated form of a family situation. Heck, when I googled that phrase, other words that followed were divorce, psychology, dislike, etc. There’s even some association for this which is completely mind-boggling.

Google search results – first phrase on the first column to the left is 亭主関白 boyfriend. Below that is 亭主関白 psychology.  Second row first word is 亭主関白 divorce. First column last row is 亭主関白 dislike.

What I do like is Makoto’s response to Yamapi God’s suggestion about 亭主関白. Although Makoto did promise to be that way, we see that he isn’t comfortable being like that. He’s not that controlling, aggressive type that doesn’t think about Haruko’s thoughts. He has always treated Haruko as someone equal to him and admires her. He confesses that he doesn’t feel comfortable saying words in a harsher tone which Yamapi God suggests to do. He also gives up on the 4 word limit too because he just doesn’t like acting that way. We see him roll on the ground saying it’s impossible. Plus, if he keeps giving Haruko the cold shoulder, she’d probably end up disliking him. It’s not to say that Makoto is weak; he still shows his bravery when he confesses that he likes her in this episode and is super adamant towards proving that he isn’t living with a girl in his apartment. I’ve never seen him this determined before. I think it’s just Makoto is the peaceful, gentle type, but when he does see a need to stand his ground, he will.

Yamapi God: Thought u did good job being manly.

Makoto: No! It’s my first time saying something so harsh and rude like don’t bother…

Yamapi God: And you said the phrase twice! Thought you liked that feeling..

Makoto: No! It’s all your fault that people think something’s wrong with me in the head!

Makoto: Stop making me do missions!

Yamapi God: Go make a wooden carving.

What I also enjoy in this episode is the emphasis on fate. During one of the dinner parties between the two companies, we see fate being played out as other co-workers find out that they have similar interests or one even follows another’s cooking blog. Contrast that with the female boss who thinks that there’s fate because the male boss and she keep having many coincidences (ie eating lunch at the same place and ordering the same dish, meeting at the elevators often, etc). Then we learn that the male boss actually has a wife and a daughter. What a surprise! In the previous episodes we were led to believe that there could be something going on between them due to fate and then this episode that whole premise is demolished! It’s a twist to fate, I think. Sometimes you have fated moments, but it doesn’t mean that you’re fated to be with that someone. The timing might be off etc.

Overall, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this episode. I love the comedic scenes and the two parts I mentioned. I like how Mitsukuni and Makoto really have become friends and have no hard feelings between each other. I still enjoy the banter between Makoto and Yamapi God even though how this drama advances is getting a bit predictable in the grand scheme of things (ie. Makoto has to complete a mission, we think something will happen but it doesn’t and something else happens, we realize the whole point of his mission, and then the cycle starts again.)

Yamapi God wanting to give Makoto a “God Punch”. Lol!

Yamapi God being a prankster and saying that if she had seen the apron, things would have been even worse! Hahaha!

I also really like how the drama continues to slip in symbols throughout the drama like the blue t-shirt’s idiom and the rice that starts spilling. Throwing rice at a wedding is a tradition. This action symbolizes giving fertility (Read more here.) It’s cute how Makoto is all dreamy and sees how this is a sign for them to be fated together while Haruko is super practical and just wants to stop the rice spillage.

However, the message behind the 亭主関白 mission still bugs me. Sigh. Not going to repeat myself here…

(Side note: I’ve been on the hunt for the meaning of this Japanese phrase because I felt the translations of the episode I saw gave the wrong meaning. The translator translated that phrase to mean “to be a man of his word”. However, as I watched the drama, I just felt like . . . that wasn’t what that phrase meant. I decided to do some searching myself and came across several different translations.

This website translates the phrase as the “husband who rules the roost/domineering husband”. This one also gave a similar answer: “he rules his wife”. The translator also explained how it’s hard to translate a Japanese idiom (4 words) into an English equivalent without providing a longer explanation. English tends to be wordier. This other website translated the Japanese phrase into a Chinese one and said that it was male chauvinism. This meant that a woman must listen to the man; the man’s words are final. I actually looked into more websites, but they all came up with the exact translation/similar phrases. When you break the Japanese idiom into two parts, 亭主 and 関白 and examine their meanings, the meaning from the three translations are equivalent to what the two parts represent. 亭主 has a few meanings but here it means husband. 関白 is the chief advisor/senior regent to the Emperor and sometimes even wielded more actual power than the Emperor. A family that was famous for being kampaku was the Fujiwara clan. Now you put the two together and everything sort of falls into place: husband and chief advisor to the Emperor. The husband rules the household.

Then I skimmed some Japanese articles explaining the signs of a man who exhibits 亭主関白 and some included “being the eldest son in the family”, “refusing to do household work”, “calling the girl by ‘omae’ ie you”, “controlling guy”, “believing that women should look after the children instead of working” etc. I’ve only linked one article because other ones I’ve found list similar signs.

All of these prove to me that this phrase is all about the traditional household we’ve seen in the past where the male dominates the household and the female stays at home to work. The male makes all the decisions and the woman just listens to him.)

Issue 1: Whether Yamapi God’s suggestion for Makoto to be like 亭主関白 is right

Jubiemon J: No! Absolutely not. I don’t think Makoto should aim to be the man of the household to get Haruko to go to his place. I’m not even sure if inviting a girl over . . . is really necessary? They haven’t even had a few nice dates so potentially sleeping over at a guy’s place might not be the best…

Yamapi God sharing the plans

Although I agree with Yamapi God that Makoto sometimes lacks the initiative to ask a girl out and needs to be less shy about it, I disagree with the approach that Yamapi God advocates. I watched the scene where Yamapi God proposes to Makoto to aim to be like a 亭主関白 guy in order to get Haruko to go to his apartment. Yamapi God first says to look at Mitsukuni who got Mitsue to his apartment; the two didn’t sleep with each other and Mitsukuni brought her over because she got really drunk at the bar and was sleeping. Mitsukuni didn’t want to wake her up so he decided it’d be best for her to sleep over at his place. Yamapi God then says that what Makoto seriously lacks is the manly attitude to keep forcing her to go forward and therefore if Makoto aims to be a 亭主関白 guy then he’ll be able to advance their relationship. Yamapi God also adds that instead of using long words, it’s better to use shorter, direct words to win a girl’s heart; this advice is fine and I agree with it.

I just don’t think advocating to aim to be a 亭主関白 guy is right. That’s backwards thinking which I’ve mentioned before. I don’t think that sends out the right message to society–males should dominate females. No. I think we’re at the stage where we are still striving for gender equality. Let’s not go back to the early days. Sure, Makoto is more passive when it comes to dating and does need a push, but there’s no need for him to be forceful as Yamapi God suggests. Yamapi God says a 亭主関白 guy only uses two words to command what he wants from the girl and in this case, all Makoto needs to say is: “Come here. My place.” I admit that the way the dialogue is delivered in the drama is funny, but after learning more about what it means to really be a 亭主関白 guy, I really dislike Yamapi God’s approach in this case.

Makoto: Can you please not talk to me while I’m carving?

Yamapi God: Don’t talk to me is more like what a man of the household would say. (Ugh. No.)

Pissed Makoto shouts in a ruder tone: You! Shut your mouth! You’re so noisy!

I also don’t see 亭主関白 working out for Makoto and Haruko as a couple. Makoto has a gentle, honest personality that’s quite innocent and dreamlike. Haruko is more practical and grounded. She is also honest; we see her telling him how upset she was when her ex boyfriend told her he was married. She is more cautious because she has been hurt in the past and she just seems like the type that would not take a lot of risks. She admitted before that she can’t see herself being with Mitsukuni who we all know is someone that is more self-centered and aggressive compared to Makoto. I just can’t picture Haruko being okay with 亭主関白 and Makoto being comfortable with that either.

Yamapi God: A house with a King and a God … don’t u think miracles can happen? (King in this case refers to . . . Makoto probably.)

Makoto: Nope. Absolutely not.

Though I’m glad that the four-word replies stopped, I don’t like how Makoto still carved out the words 王将 (ōshō/winner/king general) if it’s supposed to be a replacement for how to embody 亭主関白. Oshō is the winner of a shogi tournament and also the piece that’s called king general. It feels like Makoto wants to be the King of the household, meaning the highest rank out of the other pieces. That implies that Haruko is below him if they place it in their future household which Makoto says he would do. Ugh.

However, I do see how the ōshō part also works to signify that Haruko is a winner in life. This interpretation is something that I prefer. When Haruko tells Makoto about the day where she learned that her ex-boyfriend had a wife and that he dumped her. On that day, there was also a soccer tournament (Japan vs some country). Makoto and his co-workers went out drinking to watch the game and they were interviewed by a reporter after the game ended. Japan had lost this game.

Look! Haruko is behind him in the interview!

Haruko felt like the world went crashing on her on that day and it just so happened that the drunk Makoto came up to her and mistook her as a fan that was depressed that Japan lost. Makoto told her not to be upset and to keep her head high to move on. Haruko felt offended that he mistook her as a sports fan just because she was wearing blue and white that day.

She also was kind of annoyed at his t-shirt’s text which said “When it rains, it pours.”

The English idiom has the same meaning as the Japanese one. 弱り目に祟り目 ( yowari-me ni tatari-me; よわりめにたたりめ) means misfortunes never come singly.  Another Japanese equivalent idiom would be 泣き面に蜂 = Nakitsura ni hachi. She felt like the text was mocking her situation which she found kind of pitifully hilarious and sad too. She even used that phrase as her new email address.

At the end of her story, she asks Makoto: “Will I win?” That’s a hint for Makoto to confirm that their relationship will be fine. Her asking that shows that she wants to be able to get out the negative impact that her past relationship left her with and wants to succeed in love. Of course, Makoto confirms that she’ll win. It’s fitting then for the wooden carving to have the winner phrase if that’s implying that the two will have a successful relationship and that Haruko will win. Unfortunately, if it really is the case that this is what the script writer meant, I think that message is lost due to the emphasis on 亭主関白. I wished that Makoto had more adamantly voiced that he didn’t like 亭主関白 and not perhaps shown through his personality/actions that 亭主関白 is not what’s ideal for him and Haruko. I think he only said it once or twice that he didn’t want to continue being 亭主関白, yet he still goes through with the missions.

(Side note: In case you’re wondering what the song Yamapi was talking about, it’s this one 王将 – 村田英雄 (“ōshō�� by Murata Hideo).)

Issue 2: Whether it is reasonable for Haruko to a while to accept Makoto

Jubiemon J: After hearing Haruko’s in-depth story and seeing how upset she was about her ex-boyfriend dumping her and saying that he was already married, I think it is reasonable for Haruko to take a while to accept Makoto. Plus, Makoto said that he thinks they’re going at a good speed; only a month and a half has passed before she decided to date him! Unfortunately, this is a drama where we need some conflict to speed things up, so Yamapi God states that Makoto only has one more month left to marry Haruko before the world will die.

Yamapi God: No time to waste!

We also are starting to know Haruko more as the episodes progress. She started off as a seemingly cold, nonchalant, and unfriendly female character, but slowly, we see that that’s an armour she has built up over the years due to failed relationships. We’ve seen her fan girl over a sumo wrestler, meaning that she also has a childish, cute side to her. (I think everyone has their cute moments of course. Hehe.) We’ve seen her reveal more emotions to Makoto as the episodes progress as well. In this episode, she smiles a lot more at Makoto during the dinners that involve Makoto and she also seems more curious about what Makoto’s interests. She even asks him what type of fish he wants or why he got interested in working out with Mitsukuni. Now in this episode, we see her break down in front of Makoto and explain why she has been so scared of getting into a relationship again.

Smiley Haruko!

I think overall Kimura Fumino has done a good job with portraying Haruko. However, she and the drama production team didn’t really deliver the emotional crying scene that well. Sure, I know the scene was there to make us understand Haruko more, but the way Fumino was reading her lines almost felt robotic.  I understand that Haruko is more of a practical, analytical, logical type, but even with really emotional scenes, these types of people arguably would break down even more. They’re generally so used to bottling up their feelings or putting up a front to act like they’re okay because they know that they should move on. As a result, when they do end up crying, they’d probably feel confused, ashamed, silly, and perhaps foolish. They’d choke up much more and maybe even ask why they’re still crying over something that’s probably trivial in other people’s eyes. (Look at the screenshots below. She’s not even trying to wipe away her tears out of embarrassment or hide her face. I think this would have been a wonderful opportunity for her character to have kept having an overflow of tears while trying her best to restrain them. Then she’d give up and they’d all keep flowing down and down. Nope. She only lowers her head slightly and like two tears roll down…)

Even the script for that scene was too straightforward. She was narrating her story without a huge climax where she’d break down and choke on her words. Moreover, when she was saying how rude Makoto was when she met him that night, I really couldn’t feel her anger or frustration. The lines that she read to explain why she felt he had been rude wasn’t very convincing as well. The premise of him being rude that night was understandable–a drunk guy came up to her, mistook her as a soccer fan, and started lecturing at her to stop crying and to move on because the team will win next time. Yes, having a random drunk guy come up to you is freaky and annoying. I just think the script writer missed the chance to write that part in a more convincing manner and Fumino didn’t seem to voice Haruko’s frustrations that well. Haruko ended up with the line: “Will I win?” I understand that that’s supposed to tie with the soccer tournament that was going on and likely the osho wooden carving. However, that line just seemed so so . . . forced.

Will I win?

I think what also made this crying scene less emotional was that we also had an explanation from Mitsue before about Haruko being lied to by her boyfriend who was actually married. Therefore, this scene wasn’t so…touching and felt kind of repetitive. I honestly felt like I was actually more touched by Kame’s crying even though as Makoto, he has cried like N times in this drama. Makoto was crying in one of the previous episodes when the sumo wrestler was talking about his mother. I felt teary at that time too. Even when he cried this time after Haruko accepted him, I was convinced with that emotional scene. We’ve seen how hard he has tried to get Haruko to give him a shot like the scene before they got to his apartment. He was saying how he has to prove his innocence by showing his apartment to her. We’ve always seen Makoto as a sincere, honest guy, so seeing him cry out of happiness matches his character. (See below to take a look at Kame’s crying scenes. Kame goes from being surprised about her saying that she likes him too to being overwhelmed with happiness in the end. That’s convincing.)

  Shock due to hearing her say that she likes him too

Realization of what she just said so he cries

Can’t stop the crying…

Too grateful so he bows down and says thank you. (Look at how nervous he has been all this time. He hasn’t even taken off his backpack!!!)

Conclusion: Appeal Allowed. 

Rating: 3 = MM. Okay. Fine. (I still like this drama of course, but the flaws in this episode bother me.)

File No: Boku-Unmei-no-Hito-desu-Ep-6 Appearing before the Dramacourt: Boku Unmei no Hito desu Ep 6 ***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

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Appearing before the Dramacourt: Boku Unmei no Hito desu Ep 3

***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

Issues:

Whether Mitsukuni is one of the worst second lead males

Whether Yotsuya Mitsue’s love ideology (hexagon) is correct

Whether Yamapi God is the best roommate ever

Whether the co-workers give the best comedic relief

Whether it was reasonable for Makoto to take such a long time to ask for her number

The Rule(s):

No!

It depends.

Totally! He’s so fun, hilarious, and so jokes.

Definitely!

Kind of. He was lucky that fate was on his side.

Analysis:

Jubiemon J: I really enjoyed this episode as well! I loved how different aspects of fate were played again. This time, this drama mostly used classical music as a way to hint what’s to come. When the rival came, they played a classical song that resembled the Devil. When Makoto and Haruko shared a cute phone call where they both saw the moon, Claude DeBussy’s Claire de Lune played. They played the wedding song when Mitsukuni proposed to Haruko. They picked pieces that most people would be familiar with, so that made the scenes even more hilarious or relatable. Plus, we had a co-worker who talked about how she thinks she met her fated one. There were the coincidental meetings between Makoto and Haruko and the boss’s dinner party that led to Makoto bumping into Mitsukuni (the rival). Finally there was that baseball scene with the kids whose surnames were “Akai” and “Ito” and the scoreboard ended up being Makoto’s phone number.

Makoto for the top part and Akai Ito for the bottom – Scoreboard = half of his phone number

Side note: Akai Ito = Red string of fate. It’s an East Asian belief that the Gods tie a red string to two people to string them together. In Japan, they usually believe that the red string is tied to the pinky finger.

Kids looking like . . . biotch plz, we are helping u!!! We did u a favour and played baseball with u!

I also liked the contrast shown between fate and choice, which is definitely a predominant theme throughout this drama. There’s Mitsukuni who is very aggressive and a total go-getter. Then there’s Makoto who is shown again as someone who is very passive and agreeable. Makoto is the one relying mostly on fate, while Mitsukuni carves his own path. Mitsukuni finds it super easy to ask for Haruko’s number. He also proposed to her in this episode; before in high school, he confessed to her and got rejected. Meanwhile, Makoto struggles to even get her number! During a group setting where we have Mitsukuni, Haruko, Mitsue, and himself, he is very quiet and doesn’t really serve the people. Makoto also does a huge roundabout when trying to ask for Haruko’s number. He doesn’t directly tell her; instead, he tells her that he’ll prove to her that they have fate via the baseball scoreboard. If he can get his full number on the scoreboard, then they’re fated to be together. (This is the final moment when he has the courage to actually try to tell her his number. I’ll get to the details about this later.) Before this scene, Makoto definitely had so many missed opportunities. I do like those because they show that it’s not just fate that’s important. You have to make the choice to act on fate.

Mitsukune telling Makoto he’s gonna propose to Haruko. Makoto: P-P-Propose?!

Makoto finally getting the guts to ask Haruko out ~

Other highlights of this episode would be Yamapi God love advice as well as the minor characters’ comedic relief. The co-workers are hilarious! I laughed a lot when they showed up. Yamapi God’s love advice was great too.

Yamapi God: Crisis! Crisis!

Yamapi God: Crisis! Crisis! Crisis! What are you gonna do? Crisis!

Yamapi God: It’s your own fault. You didn’t even get her number nor did you give her yours. Someone like you has no right to be with her!

Issue 1: Whether Mitsukuni is one of the worst second lead males

Jubiemon J: Yes! I really, really disliked how Mitsukuni was such a jerk and kept trying to make Makoto look terrible in front of the girls. Okay, I get he is the rival, but he totally doesn’t play fair at all. I haven’t met such an annoying second lead male till now. I usually root for the second lead male; I tend to suffer from the second lead male syndrome. However, this time I’m totally for Makoto. Mitsukuni definitely reminded me of those stereotypical sly Wall Street bankers or those stereotypical sleazy car sales people. Ugh! He purposely suggested that Makoto and Mitsue should date because they shared similar tastes in food. There were just two similarities: they preferred not to dip some meat in sauce and they liked dipping French fries in ketchup. Okay, just because they liked to do that doesn’t mean that they should date! Of course Makoto was completely shocked and said no way. Then Mitsue got all annoyed because she believed he was rude for rejecting her like that. (To be honest, I’m like Makoto, so I get his frustration. He’s a very straightforward guy and isn’t super sensitive to how his reactions would affect other people’s feelings.)

I totally blame Mitsukuni for making the whole atmosphere awkward. If he hadn’t made that “joke”, Makoto wouldn’t have been put in a tough spot. If he said yes or hinted that, then he’d be making a go at Mitsue. However, if he outright denied that, she’d get hurt. There was just no good way to save himself. Mitsukuni . . . sly guy. -0-

I also really didn’t like how Mitsukuni was super aggressive. He only had like one or two outings with Haruko and then he wanted to propose to her. Like what? Sure they’ve known each other since high school, but I really think he was forcing her to accepting him far too quickly. Plus I really hated how Mitsukuni thinks way too much/tries way too hard to get Haruko. That scene where he came out in cosplay as a singer and played a song with his guitar was so cringey and cheesy! Yuck!

The F is this?!?!?! Who does that a restaurant?!?!?! How’d he get his wig too? -0-

Makoto: … (Me too. Me too.)

Okay, so Makoto does try to ask her out too and seems to pop here really often, but I find Makoto’s actions to be reasonable. He hasn’t forced marriage on her. He only wanted to ask her out to dinner.

Even worse, Mitsukuni was a total jerk towards Makoto’s co-workers. They asked Makoto if he wanted to join their dinner party. Sure, they were interested in chilling with some hot co-workers that Mitsukuni was with, but Mitsukuni denied them. Okay, he had like 6-7 girls chilling with him and he seemed very happy about it. How is that being dedicated to Haruko? -0-”

Sleaze ball with his gals =___= . . . loyal my ass.

Makoto’s co-workers: If you want us to kill him, we will gladly do so. LOL!

 Issue 2: Whether Yotsuya Mitsue’s love ideology (hexagon) is correct

Jubiemon J: Mitsue and Haruko started off the episode with a presentation she did for her company. They were researching on what women consider the ideal marriage partner. The two presented this hexagon that showed the six points that are the most important for women when finding the ideal guy: (1) personality; (2) appearance; (3) income; (4) outlook on life; (5) humour; and (6) dependability. Mitsue stressed that because Mitsukuni is above average in all six aspects, he would be the ideal guy for Haruko. Of course, these points seem to be quite reasonable for a marriage partner, but I think Mitsue’s love ideology (hexagon) is flawed in a few ways.

Not everyone would weight each point equally, so even though Mitsukuni would average out to be above average in all areas, there could be a few points where he scores very low. Those low points could be what Haruko really values. Moreover, not everyone would have all of those six points down as what makes their ideal marriage partner. Another point of consideration is as Haruko subtly mentioned: sometimes the points could be too sharp and cause pain. Let’s take “appearance”. Scoring high in appearance could result in the guy having more female pursuers or potentially being too narcissistic.

Although this love hexagon might be kind of flawed, I did like how the writer decided to throw in this other POV towards finding the right marriage partner. I think this balances out the heavy emphasis on “fated love” and also hints that love sometimes might not be as “logical” as some people might make it out to be.

Side note: The kanji for marriage is 結婚. This is the same in Mandarin as well. In Mandarin, when you take the second character, 婚, you will notice that it’s made up of two other words which are woman  (女) and dizziness (昏). To get married, your mind must have been “dizzy” (ie you weren’t thinking that clearly). Love blinds you. If you wanted to take it a step further by combining the woman and dizziness together, you could potentially say that the woman needs to have been blinded by love. I prefer thinking that both partners need to have some sort of irrationality to choose marriage. 

Issue 3: Whether Yamapi God is the best roommate ever

Jubiemon J: Yes! Yamapi God is perfect as a roommate. He gives the best love advice and shows up in the funniest ways like appearing in Makoto’s closet. Yamapi God constantly bitched at Makoto for being too passive, yet when Makoto finally had the courage to ask Haruko out, Yamapi God celebrated the win by drinking beer with Makoto.

Yamapi God: Yellow Card! Why’d you creep her office huh? If you had asked her number, you wouldn’t have need to have done that.

Cheers to asking her out! (So cute these two!)

Yamapi God doesn’t baby Makoto and pushes him to go for love. I think Yamapi God is really motivating Makoto to be less passive in life. Makoto is too easygoing and sort of lets things slide by, so Yamapi God often has to lecture him to “Yolo”. I seriously love how “God” here doesn’t just reward you for nothing. You actually have to work for something to get some reward. He made Makoto memorize 100 classical pieces which would allow Makoto to share a similar hobby as Haruko and to know what was to come. (I’ve talked before about how music was a foreshadowing of what would happen.)

Yamapi God: Happiness isn’t gonna come to someone who doesn’t love music. (Word.)

In addition, Yamapi God also didn’t constantly interfere with Makoto’s actions and wasn’t always all forgiving. Yamapi God would remind Makoto of his last chance to ask Haruko out since Mitsukune was going to propose to Haruko the next day. After Makoto still failed to ask her out the Nth time, Yamapi God got disappointed in him and disappeared for a while. Some tough love here . . . but it was necessary to push Makoto to do something!

Yamapi God: It’s your own fault. You didn’t even get her number nor did you give her yours. Someone like you has no right to be with her!

Yamapi God: Stop giving me this ugly face! You were looking for me all this time. Makoto: Do you even know how I feel right now?!?!? He’s gonna propose to her..

Yamapi God: This is your last chance! Go!

Issue 4: Whether the co-workers give the best comedic relief

Jubiemon J: Gosh the duo can be so annoying, yet so hilarious at the same time! They bothered Makoto about his love life. They bitched at Makoto for not letting them crash at some drinking party when Makoto went out with the “Goddess” ie Mitsue. According to the co-workers, if they were able to ride the elevator with Mitsue then they’d get the best luck for the day. Lol!

Not to mention, I laughed pretty hard when the co-workers were so excited to be able to drink with the other company since Mitsue worked there. The next scene then showed them drinking with the 1 older female boss and their faces were hilarious! Honestly without these two, the humour for this drama wouldn’t be complete, so I’m totally looking forward to what more they have to offer!

Issue 5: Whether it was reasonable for Makoto to take such a long time to ask for her number

Jubiemon J: Kind of. I get that Makoto is a shy type of guy and Haruko has a colder type of personality, the sort that’d outright say “No” to someone. Therefore it does make sense that Makoto would be more hesitant to ask her out. No one wants to be rejected. However, I think I got a bit impatient waiting for him to make a move. I was totally on Yamapi God’s side when he lectured Makoto. Makoto is super lucky that he has fate on his side to remind him to do this or that. If there wasn’t that scoreboard or the kids to ask him to play baseball, I doubt Makoto would have had the courage to ask Haruko out in the end. Plus, the part where he was trying to interrupt Mitsukune asking Makoto to marry him was so pitiful. Makoto was telling her he needed her opinion as to where the water fountain could be installed at this spot at her family’s house!

Even though what he did was cringing, I still liked how he tried his best. I also did like how when Makoto did tell her his number or at least half of it, he did that directly! That was good because he finally was putting in 100% of his efforts.

Conclusion: Appeal Allowed.

Rating: 4. I’ll give you a cookie! (I was getting impatient waiting for Makoto to ask for her number . . . > _ <)

File No: Boku-Unmei-no-Hito-desu-Ep-3 Appearing before the Dramacourt: Boku Unmei no Hito desu Ep 3 ***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

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Appearing before the Dramacourt: Boku Unmei no Hito desu Ep 3

***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

Issues:

Whether Mitsukuni is one of the worst second lead males

Whether Yotsuya Mitsue’s love ideology (hexagon) is correct

Whether Yamapi God is the best roommate ever

Whether the co-workers give the best comedic relief

Whether it was reasonable for Makoto to take such a long time to ask for her number

The Rule(s):

No!

It depends.

Totally! He’s so fun, hilarious, and so jokes.

Definitely!

Kind of. He was lucky that fate was on his side.

Analysis:

Jubiemon J: I really enjoyed this episode as well! I loved how different aspects of fate were played again. This time, this drama mostly used classical music as a way to hint what’s to come. When the rival came, they played a classical song that resembled the Devil. When Makoto and Haruko shared a cute phone call where they both saw the moon, Claude DeBussy’s Claire de Lune played. They played the wedding song when Mitsukuni proposed to Haruko. They picked pieces that most people would be familiar with, so that made the scenes even more hilarious or relatable. Plus, we had a co-worker who talked about how she thinks she met her fated one. There were the coincidental meetings between Makoto and Haruko and the boss’s dinner party that led to Makoto bumping into Mitsukuni (the rival). Finally there was that baseball scene with the kids whose surnames were “Akai” and “Ito” and the scoreboard ended up being Makoto’s phone number.

Makoto for the top part and Akai Ito for the bottom – Scoreboard = half of his phone number

Side note: Akai Ito = Red string of fate. It’s an East Asian belief that the Gods tie a red string to two people to string them together. In Japan, they usually believe that the red string is tied to the pinky finger.

Kids looking like . . . biotch plz, we are helping u!!! We did u a favour and played baseball with u!

I also liked the contrast shown between fate and choice, which is definitely a predominant theme throughout this drama. There’s Mitsukuni who is very aggressive and a total go-getter. Then there’s Makoto who is shown again as someone who is very passive and agreeable. Makoto is the one relying mostly on fate, while Mitsukuni carves his own path. Mitsukuni finds it super easy to ask for Haruko’s number. He also proposed to her in this episode; before in high school, he confessed to her and got rejected. Meanwhile, Makoto struggles to even get her number! During a group setting where we have Mitsukuni, Haruko, Mitsue, and himself, he is very quiet and doesn’t really serve the people. Makoto also does a huge roundabout when trying to ask for Haruko’s number. He doesn’t directly tell her; instead, he tells her that he’ll prove to her that they have fate via the baseball scoreboard. If he can get his full number on the scoreboard, then they’re fated to be together. (This is the final moment when he has the courage to actually try to tell her his number. I’ll get to the details about this later.) Before this scene, Makoto definitely had so many missed opportunities. I do like those because they show that it’s not just fate that’s important. You have to make the choice to act on fate.

Mitsukune telling Makoto he’s gonna propose to Haruko. Makoto: P-P-Propose?!

Makoto finally getting the guts to ask Haruko out ~

Other highlights of this episode would be Yamapi God love advice as well as the minor characters’ comedic relief. The co-workers are hilarious! I laughed a lot when they showed up. Yamapi God’s love advice was great too.

Yamapi God: Crisis! Crisis!

Yamapi God: Crisis! Crisis! Crisis! What are you gonna do? Crisis!

Yamapi God: It’s your own fault. You didn’t even get her number nor did you give her yours. Someone like you has no right to be with her!

Issue 1: Whether Mitsukuni is one of the worst second lead males

Jubiemon J: Yes! I really, really disliked how Mitsukuni was such a jerk and kept trying to make Makoto look terrible in front of the girls. Okay, I get he is the rival, but he totally doesn’t play fair at all. I haven’t met such an annoying second lead male till now. I usually root for the second lead male; I tend to suffer from the second lead male syndrome. However, this time I’m totally for Makoto. Mitsukuni definitely reminded me of those stereotypical sly Wall Street bankers or those stereotypical sleazy car sales people. Ugh! He purposely suggested that Makoto and Mitsue should date because they shared similar tastes in food. There were just two similarities: they preferred not to dip some meat in sauce and they liked dipping French fries in ketchup. Okay, just because they liked to do that doesn’t mean that they should date! Of course Makoto was completely shocked and said no way. Then Mitsue got all annoyed because she believed he was rude for rejecting her like that. (To be honest, I’m like Makoto, so I get his frustration. He’s a very straightforward guy and isn’t super sensitive to how his reactions would affect other people’s feelings.)

I totally blame Mitsukuni for making the whole atmosphere awkward. If he hadn’t made that “joke”, Makoto wouldn’t have been put in a tough spot. If he said yes or hinted that, then he’d be making a go at Mitsue. However, if he outright denied that, she’d get hurt. There was just no good way to save himself. Mitsukuni . . . sly guy. -0-

I also really didn’t like how Mitsukuni was super aggressive. He only had like one or two outings with Haruko and then he wanted to propose to her. Like what? Sure they’ve known each other since high school, but I really think he was forcing her to accepting him far too quickly. Plus I really hated how Mitsukuni thinks way too much/tries way too hard to get Haruko. That scene where he came out in cosplay as a singer and played a song with his guitar was so cringey and cheesy! Yuck!

The F is this?!?!?! Who does that a restaurant?!?!?! How’d he get his wig too? -0-

Makoto: … (Me too. Me too.)

Okay, so Makoto does try to ask her out too and seems to pop here really often, but I find Makoto’s actions to be reasonable. He hasn’t forced marriage on her. He only wanted to ask her out to dinner.

Even worse, Mitsukuni was a total jerk towards Makoto’s co-workers. They asked Makoto if he wanted to join their dinner party. Sure, they were interested in chilling with some hot co-workers that Mitsukuni was with, but Mitsukuni denied them. Okay, he had like 6-7 girls chilling with him and he seemed very happy about it. How is that being dedicated to Haruko? -0-”

Sleaze ball with his gals =___= . . . loyal my ass.

Makoto’s co-workers: If you want us to kill him, we will gladly do so. LOL!

 Issue 2: Whether Yotsuya Mitsue’s love ideology (hexagon) is correct

Jubiemon J: Mitsue and Haruko started off the episode with a presentation she did for her company. They were researching on what women consider the ideal marriage partner. The two presented this hexagon that showed the six points that are the most important for women when finding the ideal guy: (1) personality; (2) appearance; (3) income; (4) outlook on life; (5) humour; and (6) dependability. Mitsue stressed that because Mitsukuni is above average in all six aspects, he would be the ideal guy for Haruko. Of course, these points seem to be quite reasonable for a marriage partner, but I think Mitsue’s love ideology (hexagon) is flawed in a few ways.

Not everyone would weight each point equally, so even though Mitsukuni would average out to be above average in all areas, there could be a few points where he scores very low. Those low points could be what Haruko really values. Moreover, not everyone would have all of those six points down as what makes their ideal marriage partner. Another point of consideration is as Haruko subtly mentioned: sometimes the points could be too sharp and cause pain. Let’s take “appearance”. Scoring high in appearance could result in the guy having more female pursuers or potentially being too narcissistic.

Although this love hexagon might be kind of flawed, I did like how the writer decided to throw in this other POV towards finding the right marriage partner. I think this balances out the heavy emphasis on “fated love” and also hints that love sometimes might not be as “logical” as some people might make it out to be.

Side note: The kanji for marriage is 結婚. This is the same in Mandarin as well. In Mandarin, when you take the second character, 婚, you will notice that it’s made up of two other words which are woman  (女) and dizziness (昏). To get married, your mind must have been “dizzy” (ie you weren’t thinking that clearly). Love blinds you. If you wanted to take it a step further by combining the woman and dizziness together, you could potentially say that the woman needs to have been blinded by love. I prefer thinking that both partners need to have some sort of irrationality to choose marriage. 

Issue 3: Whether Yamapi God is the best roommate ever

Jubiemon J: Yes! Yamapi God is perfect as a roommate. He gives the best love advice and shows up in the funniest ways like appearing in Makoto’s closet. Yamapi God constantly bitched at Makoto for being too passive, yet when Makoto finally had the courage to ask Haruko out, Yamapi God celebrated the win by drinking beer with Makoto.

Yamapi God: Yellow Card! Why’d you creep her office huh? If you had asked her number, you wouldn’t have need to have done that.

Cheers to asking her out! (So cute these two!)

Yamapi God doesn’t baby Makoto and pushes him to go for love. I think Yamapi God is really motivating Makoto to be less passive in life. Makoto is too easygoing and sort of lets things slide by, so Yamapi God often has to lecture him to “Yolo”. I seriously love how “God” here doesn’t just reward you for nothing. You actually have to work for something to get some reward. He made Makoto memorize 100 classical pieces which would allow Makoto to share a similar hobby as Haruko and to know what was to come. (I’ve talked before about how music was a foreshadowing of what would happen.)

Yamapi God: Happiness isn’t gonna come to someone who doesn’t love music. (Word.)

In addition, Yamapi God also didn’t constantly interfere with Makoto’s actions and wasn’t always all forgiving. Yamapi God would remind Makoto of his last chance to ask Haruko out since Mitsukune was going to propose to Haruko the next day. After Makoto still failed to ask her out the Nth time, Yamapi God got disappointed in him and disappeared for a while. Some tough love here . . . but it was necessary to push Makoto to do something!

Yamapi God: It’s your own fault. You didn’t even get her number nor did you give her yours. Someone like you has no right to be with her!

Yamapi God: Stop giving me this ugly face! You were looking for me all this time. Makoto: Do you even know how I feel right now?!?!? He’s gonna propose to her..

Yamapi God: This is your last chance! Go!

Issue 4: Whether the co-workers give the best comedic relief

Jubiemon J: Gosh the duo can be so annoying, yet so hilarious at the same time! They bothered Makoto about his love life. They bitched at Makoto for not letting them crash at some drinking party when Makoto went out with the “Goddess” ie Mitsue. According to the co-workers, if they were able to ride the elevator with Mitsue then they’d get the best luck for the day. Lol!

Not to mention, I laughed pretty hard when the co-workers were so excited to be able to drink with the other company since Mitsue worked there. The next scene then showed them drinking with the 1 older female boss and their faces were hilarious! Honestly without these two, the humour for this drama wouldn’t be complete, so I’m totally looking forward to what more they have to offer!

Issue 5: Whether it was reasonable for Makoto to take such a long time to ask for her number

Jubiemon J: Kind of. I get that Makoto is a shy type of guy and Haruko has a colder type of personality, the sort that’d outright say “No” to someone. Therefore it does make sense that Makoto would be more hesitant to ask her out. No one wants to be rejected. However, I think I got a bit impatient waiting for him to make a move. I was totally on Yamapi God’s side when he lectured Makoto. Makoto is super lucky that he has fate on his side to remind him to do this or that. If there wasn’t that scoreboard or the kids to ask him to play baseball, I doubt Makoto would have had the courage to ask Haruko out in the end. Plus, the part where he was trying to interrupt Mitsukune asking Makoto to marry him was so pitiful. Makoto was telling her he needed her opinion as to where the water fountain could be installed at this spot at her family’s house!

Even though what he did was cringing, I still liked how he tried his best. I also did like how when Makoto did tell her his number or at least half of it, he did that directly! That was good because he finally was putting in 100% of his efforts.

Conclusion: Appeal Allowed.

Rating: 4. I’ll give you a cookie! (I was getting impatient waiting for Makoto to ask for her number . . . > _ <)

File No: Boku-Unmei-no-Hito-desu-Ep-3 Appearing before the Dramacourt: Boku Unmei no Hito desu Ep 3 ***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***