Zettai Kareshi ep.04

May 7, 2008 | 12 Comments

The lack of chemistry between the three leads is starting to wear me down. I think there's something wrong when I don't really care that Night is off with another girl instead of staying with Riiko. I am starting to agree with some posters who suggested that the guy who plays Soushi's older brother would have been a better candidate to play Soushi. At least he looks a bit closer to Soushi in the manga. This reminds me of that new remake of King Kong where Peter Jackson for some reason think it's a good idea to cast Adrien Brody against Naomi Watts when the two have zero chemistry with one another. Meanwhile, Thomas Kretschmann, who plays the captain of the ship, actually looks a lot more similar to the original Jack Driscoll in both attitude and looks. Anyway, this episode also suffers from a mid-episode problem where the story feels stretched out longer than necessary. This would have been fine if some development comes out of it but at the end of the episode, everything just returned to the way they were.

Episode 4

Continuing from the previous episode, Mika asks Riiko not to misunderstand what happened. Riiko scolds Night for kissing Mika but it's obvious that Night has no idea of Riiko. To make things worse, Night is suddenly out of power when he's walking in the hallway. Because of this, Riiko has to drag him aside so that others would not suspect that he's actually a robot. When she gets back into her room, Mika asks her if she's angry but Riiko assures her that she's not. Unknown to Riiko, Mika has the look of satisfaction on her face when she turns around. The next morning, Night immediately takes a seat next to Mika and ignores Riiko. He doesn't even remember that his name is Tenjou Night and he works for Asamoto. Despite this, Night seems to be happy with Mika to the point that he sends pink signal to Kronos Heaven. Gaku is happy about this until his assistant informs him that the first loan payment has not been made.

When Gaku makes a phone call to Riiko, she angrily tells him that she's not going to pay for something like Night. Eventually, Gaku finds out that Night has been kissed by another woman so he explains to Riiko that this effectively reset Night into Mika's boyfriend. However, the solution is simple: Riiko simply has to kiss him back. Riiko tries to cancel her contract but Gaku denies the request so she has no choice but to find a way to kiss Night. The next day, Riiko asks Mika if Night was at her place but Mika tells her that he wasn't and besides she's not going to betray her friend. Yeah, right. Meanwhile, as a punishment for trying to sell the choux cream at the Ginza store, Soushi is given a one week punishment. This means he's been demoted from his position as section leader and the position is given to Masahito. Back to Night, he continues to stay next to Mika like a stalker even when she tries to do her work. His reason is because he wants to be her ideal boyfriend.

Soushi then enters the area only to exit immediately. Masahito informs them that he'll conduct the meeting since section leader will be away for one week. Riiko tries to apologize because this is happened thanks to her choux cream but Soushi tells her to worry more about her boyfriend than him, pointing at Night who is now delivering bentou to Mika. That night, Riiko returns home only to find a fridge containing nothing but mustard. She then starts talking to the mustard, asking it if it's all alone. Scary. Meanwhile, Night has brought Mika a bentou box but Mika refuses because she has other appointment. Night suggests that they "ecchi-shiyou" after she finished her appointment. Mika laughs it off by saying that's too sudden since they haven't even gone on a date. Because of this Night suggests that they go on a date since he likes Mika. This prompts Mika to ask him if Night likes her better than Riiko so Night asks her who's Riiko. Mika looks satisfied upon hearing this.

Back at home, Riiko finally realizes that mustard on its own is not an edible substance. Much to her delight, her landlady barged into her apartment, bringing pork dish. However, when she realizes that Night is not staying at the apartment that night, she decides to take the pork dish back with her. XD The next day at the office, Riiko is surprised when she finds Gaku in the kitchen. He has come to warn her if someone else finds out about the fact that Night is a robot lover, she'd be penalized with 50 million Yen fine. Because of this, he suggests that she finds a way to kiss Night soon. Riiko tries to do just that but failing big time with every tries. At one point, Night tells her that he and Mika will have a date tomorrow and then after that, they'll ecchi-shiyou. Riiko is disturbed to hear this so much so that she has to ask advice from Fujiko-san. Riiko believes that one must not leave a friend who's in love with an electrical equipment alone. XD

While stalking Night and Mika who are on their way to a restaurant, Riiko notices that Soushi has been trying to sell the choux cream to other department stores without much success. Despite feeling sorry for him, Riiko is forced by Gaku, who suddenly appears out of nowhere, to get on with the business of resetting Night. Because of this, the two goes to the same restaurant that Night and Mika visit. In the middle of the date, Mika gets a phone call from Akira, her other boyfriend. So she goes out to talk to the guy after telling Night to wait for her. After Mika left, Gaku comes over and asks Night to close his eyes since there are dirts on his face. Night agrees to do so so Gaku asks Riiko to come over and kiss him. Riiko refuses and suggests that Gaku kiss the robot himself but Gaku tells her that it's a system designed for women. Because Riiko is being wishy-washy, Night already opens his eyes and use the towel to clean his face.

Riiko suggests that they go out but Night insists that he waits inside for Mika. Because of this, Riiko lies to the robot, telling it that Mika has gone back to the office. Upon hearing this, Night decides to wait at the office. When they reach the patio deck, however, Riiko asks Night to site down and close his eyes. Before she can kiss him, however, Night already stands up because he senses Mika. Mika immediately goes into a 'good friend' mode, telling Night not to make Riiko sad. She then orders Night to stop following her around. Night becomes angry at Riiko after Mika left because Riiko lied to him (about Mika being at the office). Night asks her why she keeps interfering between him and Mika, asking her if she actually likes him. Because of this, Night calls him an awful woman. He thinks someone like her lacks the ability to love. In response, Riiko tells Night, that she'll never be in love with him. On her way back home, Riiko encounters Soushi, who's been sitting near a fountain all by himself.

Riiko tells him that she knows his attempt to put the choux cream in department store. Soushi at first denies this but after Riiko tells him that she saw him, he admits that he hasn't had any luck with depato, supermarket, combini, etc. Meanwhile, Night is busy banging on Mika's door. When she eventually opens the door, he suggests to her that they go on a date tomorrow going to planetarium, seeing fireworks, etc. She becomes angry upon hearing this, telling him that those are all the things that Riiko likes to do. Back at Kronos Heaven, Gaku's boss tells him that unless Riiko can reboot Night in 3 days, he has no choice but to force terminate Night. Meanwhile, Riiko has been given permission by Fujiko to use her bar to make choux cream. All of a sudden, Night appears there, telling Riiko that it's her fault that Mika becomes unhappy. Because of this he wants her to tell him the kind of things that Mika likes. WTH? Stupid robot. Riiko tells him to think about it himself besides, she already sever ties with him.

The next day, Soushi goes to department stores, supermarket, combini, etc to try his luck one more time. This time, however, Riiko insists on accompanying him. She actually takes a day off to do this. They get rejection after rejection, causing Soushi to lose his spirit. He wonders if his brother was right after all. After hearing his story about his grandfather's store, however, Riiko suggests that they try it for one more day. And if that doesn't work, they try it again for 10 more days. At the same time, Night confronts Mika, who's just come home with her other boyfriend. Night tells her straight out that she should break up with this guy since he can't make her happy. Night accuses the guy of just playing with Mika's feeling. Night tells the guy that the thing that can make Mika happy is an earnest feelings. At the same time, Soushi gets a phone call from Hokuto depato that they will take the choux cream starting next week. Back to Mika, she realizes that Night has been waiting for her outside.

Because she feels sorry for him, she brings a blanket and tells him to wait for her at the cafe tomorrow. As for Riiko, Soushi promises to treat her tomorrow after work so Riiko suggests that they go to a restaurant up on a hill. Meanwhile, Mika calls Riiko telling her that she might be falling for Night for real. The next day, Gaku and his assistant asks Riiko to reset Night but she wonders if this is not okay after all, Mika really is in love with Night. She tells the two that as far as partner goes, whether human or robot, they can love and hurt equally. Riiko then tells them that she's going back to her life and entrust everything else on them. Because of this Gaku and his assistant have no choice but to approach Night at the cafe, asking him to go back to Kronos Heaven. Night, however, refuses, because he already promised to wait for Mika there. Because of this, the assistant, Tanaka, pulls out a device which presumably can be used to deactivate Night. Gaku, however, asks him to wait for a while.

All of a sudden, there is a fire alarm ringing all over the cafe. Everyone starts to panic and runs out of the cafe. Night, being the dumb robot that he is, refuses to leave. In a panic, Gaku goes out and asks everyone out there if they can kiss Night. XD When that fails, he begs Riiko to help him. When Riiko gets there, however, Night refuses to kiss her and even throw her and Gaku away. Thanks to his system being weakened by the fire, however, Night closes his eyes. Riiko uses the opportunity to kiss the robot, resetting him back to the way he was. Because she inhales too much smoke, however, Riiko falls unconscious. Night, who is now reprogrammed to be Riiko's boyfriend, however, picks her up and takes her out. Outside, Mika, who's just arrived looks disappointed upon seeing the two. Ditto with Soushi who's been waiting for Riiko at the restaurant. The episode ends with Gaku being surprised because despite having been reset twice, Night still retains his memory with Riiko.

Impression:

I didn't enjoy this as much as last week. The humor is not as good and after a while, seeing Riiko trying to sneak a kiss on Night gets a bit tiring. The only character who gets some kind of development here is Mika. Unfortunately she's been written as unsympathetic from the beginning that it's hard to feel sorry for her when she really fell hard for Night and was disappointed by him towards the end. I just hope that this does not lead to some insane Watase Yuu's style plot where she tries everything in her power to ruin Riiko and Night's relationship. Sorry, but I still have the Miaka/Tamahome/Yui nightmare every now and then. It makes one wonders what kind of trauma Watase Yuu has had with her friends. As for Riiko's relationship with Soushi, I'm surprised to see it evolving faster than I thought it would. I supposed it makes sense considering Night's nature as a robot. However, the point of the original series was the unlikely romance between a human and a robot. If Riiko was already attracted to Soushi in the first place, the whole man/robot romance becomes a moot point. In other words, Night simply serves as a catalyst for Riiko to be in a relationship with Soushi and nothing more.

Miscellaneous thoughts

While this is supposed to be a light romance story, it's interesting to note that Night practically violates all of Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics. Rule number one states that: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Night clearly has no concept of this because he has repeatedly threatened another human being (ie. Soushi) while in other instance, possibly injured them (ie. the thief who stole Riiko's wallet). Rule number two states that: A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. Night definitely does not follow this rule either because there are times when Riiko told him to stop hassling her but he didn't follow her order. As a result, Riiko has to pull herself away from him. Rule number three states that: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.. Given that Night violates the first and second law, there's no reason for him to adhere to this rule either.

Bear in mind that Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics are actually fictional rules that Asimov designed for robots that appear in his story. Having said that, it's obvious that Asimov designed the rule so that he can have a clear ground on how robots must be designed and how sometimes these robots don't follow the rules, indicating their growth/artificial intelligence. Therefore, while Night violates every single one of the rules, he does appear more human-like because of it. He exhibits jealousy, tendency to get angry, etc. The problem with this is that, when a human is jealous, get angry, etc. Their capacity to harm someone is not as great as a robot that goes berserk. Let's pretend that we're not talking about abusive douchebags like Sousuke in Last Friends (or some serial killer for that matter). When a human gets angry at someone else, the chances of them hurting another person is quite minimal (again, unless they are abusive in the first place). However, how does a robot control their action when a restraint is not even invoked in the first place? And since they are a lot more powerful than a human, the chances of them hurting someone is higher.

Question of the week: if robots were to be used in our daily life, would you rather that they are designed with Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics just to be safe, or would you rather see a human-like ones like Night? Would there ever be a need for a human-like robots in the future?

© memento 2005