#king tane-kun AS USUAL

[waitmyturtles]

I’m going to save Our Skyy 2 x The Eclipse for my watching tonight in my time zone as I’m absorbing all the chatter about the second episode (sometimes there’s a benefit to living on the far side of the international date line -- I get to take more time to process after an episode is released if I need that time before diving in).

Instead, I prioritized Our Dining Table, episode 5, and as usual, I’m so glad I did, because it continues to be the sweetest, most perfect show.

Yutaka and Minoru continue to be so sweet (I’M NOT FORGETTING ABOUT KING TANE-KUN HERE). I loved Minoru’s frustration when Ueda-san interrupted Minoru and Yutaka’s late-night conversation. But I just wanted to note one really sweet and quiet moment that moved me -- when Tane-kun spilled the juice on Yutaka after eating the ramen fried rice.

Yutaka handled the moment so kindly, wiping Tane-kun and taking Tane-kun to help change his clothes.

One thing I’m loving about the show is that very, very slowly, we continue to see Yutaka getting closer to Tane-kun and helping to take care of him. 

I love this, especially as juxtaposed with Minoru’s college classmate telling Minoru that he needs to get back to his own life. (@troubled-mind, do you know if this was in the original manga? I can’t remember this small bit, but I could just be forgetting.)

I get to be a mom in a dyad in watching this, and I think I wrote previously -- raising kids is absolutely NO. JOKE. THE EXHAUSTION. I am semi-permanently exhausted. The inability to have a full conversation, your meals getting interrupted, your sleep getting interrupted, handling emergencies, cleaning vom, making decisions every minute -- it’s wearying. Your whole body is sacrificed, from mind to skin. We do it because we love our kids, BUT IT’S WORK.

No wonder Minoru quit school -- it’s a huge weight to bear. (Single parents, STAND UP -- much respect.)

So the classmate telling Minoru to get back to his own life -- for Minoru, I get that that’s totally unrealistic.

But Yutaka is there now. In these little moments, he’s there, and he helps. Surely, Minoru is attracted to Yutaka. But Yutaka, separately, IS JUST THERE. And that “there” is so beautiful.

When Yutaka took Tane-kun to change his clothes, I sensed Minoru’s relief, even while Minoru apologized. I’ll do a deep mom extrapolation to say -- that “I’m sorry” might not just be about the spill. It might be about apologizing for the energy that Yutaka will expend in handling Tane-kun in those moments. It gives Minoru the tiniest of breaks -- and that, besides just being there, is something that I bet Minoru is so grateful for, and reflects on the kindness and generosity that Yutaka demonstrates that is so like Minoru’s mom. That compassion that’s been missing from Minoru’s life, that that classmate doesn’t represent, that Ueda-san might be missing a touch from his own personality (at least for now -- we’ll see later in the series). 

This is one of the most quietly compassionate shows I’ve ever watched, and I just can’t get enough of it. If I were Minoru, I’d be on my knee with a ring. But in their world, things don’t move as quickly, and I’m so grateful for it. 

(I said this, and I’ll say it again: this show is highlighting, more than the manga, the physical and emotional aspects of the brunt of parenting in a way that I truly appreciate, and I bet mom fujoshis in Japan are just swooning at it, like me.)