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「揺蕩う」 (Tayutau)
“Waver”
Fune wo Amu’s balance of work drama and endearing romance offers something so unlike everything else currently airing. I’m loving everything this show represents and embraces in its storytelling, but I was glad to be surprised at the shift in point of view this week. Nishioka is an interesting and fun character who always seemed a little too outgoing and charismatic to be working in the dictionary department. Prior to Majime’s introduction and the major work on The Great Passage beginning, he didn’t seem to be in love with his job; he gets along well with his colleagues, but dictionary-making is not has passion. I can’t blame him for that, because other than Majime I don’t think many people would list that as their top career goal. We’ve seen him warm more to the work in recent weeks, and this episode allowed us to see things from his perspective.
It turns out he applied for a different department when he went for a job at this multi-leveled company, and he ended up in the dictionary department not by choice but necessity. His ideas to strengthen the foundation of The Great Passage last week made his presence known once again, and he’s being told that in a few months he’ll be moving over to the department he wanted to go to originally (where his girlfriend currently works). It should be the perfect scenario, but since Majime appeared, he seems to have found a passion for his work that is making this situation trickier than it should be. He doesn’t have a choice in the matter, though I expect if he was given the option he would happily stick with where he currently resides. It’s sure to send shockwaves through the dictionary department when it becomes common knowledge, but for the time being he’s dedicating himself to his work, which is admirable and makes him even more likeable than he already was.
His scenes with his girlfriend are sweet as they were last week, even if he was drunk this time around. I like that we’re seeing two sides to adult romance here: those who are already together in a “secret” relationship, who clearly have affection for each other and don’t need to prove their love to the audience; and then inexperienced Majime and his love for this girl who has wandered into his life. I’ve been in both these situations before – as part of a happy couple, and pining for someone’s attention when I didn’t have the guts to go all the way – so watching the contrast is proving amusing and has me rooting for Majime to get where he wants to be. We don’t know enough about Kaguya to say for certain, but she seems a bright woman who would make any man happy.
Majime’s letter, however, is embarrassing. It’s exactly what you’d expect from him, but thank god for Nishioka and his experienced ways being there to amend his over the top confession. It’s a shame the episode left off where it did, because now I’m going to be anxiously awaiting Kaguya’s reply to his re-worked words. I predict things will turn out swimmingly, but who knows, Fune wo Amu could take things in an unlikely direction just as the romantic endgames start looking set in stone.
Really nice post Samu. Nishioka is a nice person inside and at first I thought the consequences of his actions were unfair even though it wasn’t and yet I just hope for a miracle for him to stay in the dictionary department. He seemed to like it much more after Majime joined and asked him for help several times as if he had some enlightenment and unkown passion for making dictionaries afterall. I was so relieved when he said he would do his best as long as he can instead of giving up.
And for Majime I hope it works out well. He’s no good at expressing his feelings at all with that letter and can’t bear to see him heartbroken. majime nice drawing skills btw
Thank you!
I agree it would be nice if he can stay, but I’d also appreciate things not ending as we’d all hope, and have to swallow some bitter truths. I’d be happy either way mind you, but I like the direction this is going.
I personally felt that Nishioka in a decent, stable relationship felt a bit jarring, but maybe I just really don’t like the character design for the girlfriend haha. Nice touch though I really think.
On a different topic, Nishioka is that girl friend you shouldn’t trust to have your back and point out when your mascara has smudged or something… 😛
Nishioka does came off as a bit of a playboy, but him being in a stable relationship makes him even more likeable, I think. It’s a little unexpected and I like that we don’t need to be told too much but rather just shown their affection for each other.
“re-worked words”? … I thought Nishioka (somewhat lazily) gave Majime the green light to hand over the letter as is: My impression was even through the 15 pages of complex text, Majime’s personality shone through.
I think Samu misunderstood that situation. Sure the letter is embarrassing (even strange and Majime suspects that when he asks about advice) but it’s so true to Majime himself that any change would be pointless. And that’s the advice he gets. After all he wants to sell himself to the girl and there is enough good qualities in him to overshadow his awkwardness and luck of confidence.
Oops, that was an oversight on my part.
Lol the love letter at the end, how cute lol I would actually like if anguy was so shy to give me the letter like that and then wait for me all night LOL