#ボク、運命の人です。episode 4 analysis

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Appearing before the Dramacourt: Boku Unmei no Hito desu Ep 4

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Issues:

Whether it is reasonable for Mitsukuni to give up on Haruko

Whether Yotsuya Mitsue is a great bff

Whether it is reasonable for Haruko to be so hesitant in getting into a relationship

Whether the getting your boss to eat his most hated food via Sugimoto Tetta’s way of selling goods is how you can make someone like you

The Rule(s):

Definitely.

For sure!

It’s understandable.

Not necessarily. There’s the catch that the boss mentions.

Analysis:

Jubiemon J: I’m singing praises for this drama! There are so many parts that I adored in this episode. First, I love how there’s no dragging on of the rival aka Mitsukuni. In a lot of dramas, the second male lead often just keeps fighting on to be with the girl for N number of episodes and there’s really no movement in the plot. In this case, I’m so happy that Mitsukuni’s character wasn’t used for that purpose. I have to say that he was terribly annoying when he was being the rival, but after he gave up and realized that he actually didn’t like her that much, I think he isn’t that that bad. I still don’t like him, but I’m just happy that he won’t be disrupting Haruko and Makoto.

Mitsukuni: I’m giving up on Haruko. Makoto: Huh?!?! Me: Yes!!!!!

Second, I really like how Mitsue has proven to be a great bff for Haruko. Often in dramas, we get the “fake” bff who ends up ruining the female lead’s relationship or tries to steal the male lead from her. In this drama, there’s none of that. Mitsue may be nosy, but she always means well!

Hey guys who are chasing after ma bff, we need to talk!!!

Third, I love how this drama uses analogies to make us understand how to pursue your love interest. I’ll go into this deeper as this was listed as an issue, but overall, the carrot and making a sale saga was enjoyable and made me think too! I did expect the carrot and sales part to be an analogy and in a way, I thought sometimes it wasn’t necessary for Makoto to ask so many questions because what the stories/advice represented were clear enough. However, seeing how his character is not the fastest at reacting to situations and is a bit dense, it makes sense that he’d want to clarify things. Plus I think spelling out the analogies might be helpful for people who are not so used to spotting them.

Carrots this for the boss.

Carrots that for the boss.

Finally, I adore the comedic relief that Yamapi God brings! Whenever Makoto is upset or frustrated, Yamapi God somehow shocks him and us with some funny stuff. Who else would cosplay as a maid to make tofu for someone? Ha! Who else would also get someone to convince his/her boss to eat carrots? Lol!

The only thing that bugs me a bit is why Makoto has fallen for Haruko. I don’t really get her appeal to be honest because not that much has been revealed about her. We know that Haruko has been hurt several times by men, so she is hesitant to start a relationship. We also know that she seems to be a good employee; her boss and co-workers like her and don’t complain about her work habits. We know that she doesn’t play games because she rejected Mitsukuni immediately. She said she just couldn’t see him as a love interest. She is very stubborn as her bff says. Other than that, we don’t know much about her. I see the appeal in seeing Makoto pursue her to get to know Haruko on a deeper level, but what does bug me a bit is I really don’t get why he fell for her. Sure, people say that love can happen without some sort of reason, but besides Yamapi God saying that Makoto must marry her to save the world, we still don’t really know what exactly attracted Makoto to Haruko. At this stage, it sometimes feels like it’s the chase that Makoto is into, but knowing Makoto’s character, he isn’t the sort like that. Since this is only the fourth episode, I’ll let this small issue slide for now. I’ll probably bring it up again if there hasn’t been much development near the end.

Issue 1: Whether it is reasonable for Mitsukuni to give up on Haruko

Jubiemon J: I think it was reasonable that Mitsukuni gave on on Haruko. At first when I heard that Mitsukuni was giving up on Haruko, I was pretty stunned. In episodes two and three, Mitsukuni was super persistent and it seemed like he had always loved Haruko and was crazy about her. Then after he got rejected, he immediately told Makoto and Mitsue that he wasn’t going to pursue Haruko anymore. Huh?! I felt like his response matched what I felt from his character. He was only interested in the chase.

I was glad that there was some clarification to Mitsukuni’s reason for giving up on Haruko. Mitsukuni and Haruko had a chat and he said that he realized that what shocked him more than her rejection was how her response hadn’t been what he had expected. He admitted that he didn’t really know why he was so keen on marrying her. He just felt that their meeting was somehow “fate” and he just pictured them being together. When she said she couldn’t see him as a love interest, he got really disappointed in this “ending”. She also admitted that she felt the same as him when it came to her ex-boyfriend. She had expected him propose to her, yet he had told her that he was married. She ended up being more disappointed in this ending rather than the actual fact that he was married. In her mind, she was certain that he would ask her to marry him.

Haruko: I was like huh? Did my ex-bf get the lines wrong? He should have proposed!

Given Mitsukuni’s explanation, I can understand why he’d decide not to try to be with Haruko. Mitsukuni wasn’t exactly in love with Haruko. Instead, he realized that he was in love with the idea of being in love and fulfilling some happy ending. I’m glad that he was mature enough to tell her directly and to recognize what had happened.

Issue 2: Whether Yotsuya Mitsue is a great bff

Jubiemon J: Yes! Mitsue is such a good bff although she can be kind of nosy. Mitsue keeps encouraging Haruko to give love another shot and helps Haruko screen the guys. Although Mitsue sometimes imposes her love ideology on Haruko like in ep 3, Mitsue doesn’t force Haruko to listen to her and picks up on Haruko’s feelings.

OH! There’s just a wall separating you and Makoto! Scary~~ Lol Mitsue.

Mitsue has expressed before that she preferred Mitsukuni over Makoto, but since it’s clear to Mitsue that Haruko may have some interest in Makoto, Mitsue tries to see Makoto in a different light. Mitsue admits that she thinks Mitsukuni would be better, but Makoto still has one positive point which is that he is very persistent and determined. These qualities are ones that Haruko shares.  At the end of the day, Mitsue doesn’t keep hating on a guy that Haruko might like unlike how some gfs will never ever accept their bffs’ boyfriend.

Just some daily bff chit chat about love

Mitsue also advises Haruko not to give Makoto false hope if Haruko really doesn’t like him. I’m so happy that she doesn’t tell Haruko to play games. I think this is a far more mature approach to love than what we often seen in other dramas.

  Whether it is reasonable for Haruko to be so hesitant in getting into a relationship

Call him! Tell him you’ll never contact him again.

  If you don’t tell Makoto properly then he’ll keep calling you.

Call him! Tell him you’ll never contact him again.

Issue 3: Whether it is reasonable for Haruko to be so hesitant in getting into a relationship

Jubiemon J: I think it is understandable for Haruko to be afraid of being in a relationship again. I think Haruko is around her early 30s now and so for her, the focus is more on having a relationship that could lead to marriage. She knows she isn’t super young where she can just fall in love for the sake of falling in love. She also is afraid of being hurt given her previous bad relationships. She admits that she wants to get married, yet she doesn’t know if she can do that.

Fam chat about Haruko’s view of marriage

It’s not that I don’t want to get married. It’s just that I don’t think I can get married.

Although we don’t really see her feelings or hear her inner thoughts that often in this drama, I think we can all relate to her worries. She confesses that she does think she could fall for Makoto, yet she isn’t sure whether they can be together till the end. She somehow feels insecure, so she’d rather just not be in a relationship. In some cases it’s clear that the chances of a relationship working are slim to none (ie some long-distance factor where you’re both in different countries and you both won’t eventually settle in someone else’s country). In other cases, it’s not that clear like with Haruko and Makoto. Therefore I can understand her hesitance in dating him, yet I think she should open her heart a bit more. Of course, we still don’t know just how much pain she suffered in her previous relationships or what other factors are at play, so there’s not much to say for sure whether she is being unreasonable for constantly rejecting Makoto. I am happy that she did choose to give him a chance for a date at the end of the episode.

Finally, we know from her inner dialogue that she does want to be in a relationship. She prayed at a temple for a relationship that could lead to marriage. She just needs some push; luckily there’s Mitsue to do that. She also has her family who always supports her. Then there’s Makoto with his persistence!

Asks God for love

Gets the high school classmate chasing after her

Nope. Can’t see you as a love interest. Sorry not sorry.

Issue 4: Whether the getting your boss to eat his most hated food via Sugimoto Tetta’s way of selling goods is how you can make someone like you

Jubiemon J: Sugimoto Tetta’s way of selling goods is not necessarily how you can make someone like you. Sugimoto Tetta tells us how he is able to convince a client who hates sales people to buy a product. He explains that for day one, you have to make the client remember your face. Day two is where you make the client remember your voice. Day three is when you make the client remember your name. Then the client will put you in the “don’t-hate-don’t-like” zone. At this point, you don’t ever mention your product or that you’re making a sale. You’re supposed to be like a plant and just exist there. It’s ony when the client asks you why you’re here do you start trying to get them to buy the product.

Tetta gives his sale strategy to Makoto

Day 1 shenanigans

  Days 2 and 3: voice recall and name recall

Whatcha doing here mm?

Although I think Tetta’s sales strategy is interesting and could work, it doesn’t necessarily translate for love. We see Makoto fail many, many times to convince his boss, Torita Shokichi, to eat carrots, the vegetable that he absolutely despises.

When someone asks u to eat what u hate . . . and u’re like HUH?!

Makoto: Can you please eat these carrots?

Makoto: Just pretend you’re doing an employee a favour and just eat these carrots.

Boss: u think I’d do that?!

Although Makoto succeeds in getting Shokichi to eat carrots mixed in a cake and in cookies, Shokichi still can’t eat carrots as a main dish.

Fighting for that last carrot cake to buy for the boss

Aw shit. It’s the other office’s boss! @_@!

Shokichi explains why he hates carrots to Makoto at the beginning of the carrot saga: “When you hate something, you just hate it.” Sometimes you just won’t like someone no matter what he/she does. You’ll just feel annoyed. Then, Shokichi asks Makoto at the end of the carrot saga, “Aren’t you just trying to force me to like carrots? Isn’t this like a strong, forced sale?��� Recall that Tetta has advised that you cannot force a sale on a client. That will never work. Shokichi adds that you need to know when to stop trying to sell something to someone. When you’re at 0, no matter how much you multiply or add, that’ll always lead to 0.

Likewise, in love, you cannot force someone to fall for you. You can’t keep forcing yourself on someone because that’d be extremely uncomfortable for both parties. (If you go too far, you could be like a stalker.) I think the sales strategy can work as a way to approach someone or gage if he/she is or will be interested in you. It’s a potential to see whether you can even think about pursuing someone. Once someone is interested in why you’re always behaving a certain way (ie maybe doing them favours or asking them out to chill) and you are clear that you are romantically interested in him/her, it’s not always certain that the person will reciprocate your feelings or in the case of a sale, it’s not 100% that you’ll make the sale.

I do agree with what Makoto realises at the end of this episode after he speaks to the carrot farmer. The carrot farmer lets Makoto know that he was never interested in harvesting carrots in the first place. It was only because of the family business did he ever become a carrot farmer. However, he has never hated carrots and slowly over time, he is starting to like them. Therefore, Makoto tells Haruko over the phone that if she doesn’t hate him, then that means he still has a chance. He also apologizes that he shouldn’t have said that he’s sure that over time, she will fall for him. (I liked that!) Makoto notes that if Haruko does hate him, then he would try to get her not to hate him and just stay by her side, meaning that he wouldn’t relentlessly pursue her and hound her down. He’d just be like a friend. I also agree that he has a chance because she doesn’t hate him. Haruko confesses that she doesn’t hate him and she’ll agree to have dinner with him!

Conclusion: Appeal Allowed.

Rating: 5. Kyah! (Can’t wait for more!!!)

File No: Boku-Unmei-no-Hito-desu-Ep-4 Appearing before the Dramacourt: Boku Unmei no Hito desu Ep 4 ***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***