Zettai Kareshi ep.05

May 14, 2008 | 18 Comments

Once again, sorry for the crappy screencap quality but this is the best I can do at the moment. Anyway, it looks like the decision for Night to be more robotic in this adaptation is not really the actor's choice. When Night turns his head left and right in a robotic manner at the start of this episode, I realized that this is a direction from either the script or the director. This is rather unfortunate because the interesting thing about the manga was that Night actually looks similar to human just like those Replicants in Blade Runner or those Cylons in Battlestar Galactica. In this adaptation, however, Night acts more like an old-style robot, complete with creaking noise when he turns his head around. It's not surprising that Riiko feels uncomfortable around him because no matter how human his outside appearance, he still has some robot-like elements, just like those creepy Terminators.

Episode 5

Continuing from the previous episode, Gaku and his assistant finds out that while Night's memory of Mika has disappeared, his memory of Riiko is still intact. When the assistant asks Gaku if they should tell their boss about this, Gaku tells him not to because it'll just create problem. When Night regains his consciousness, he seems to think that Riiko actually loves him. A few hours later, Gaku gets his first monthly payment from Riiko leaving her almost broke. Their conversation is interrupted when the landlady comes over to ask for the rent. Riiko tries to say that she needs more time but when Riiko doesn't notice, the landlady swipes the remaining money that Riiko still has, leaving Riiko with only 8640 Yen for one month's living. Night calculates this to be around 288 Yen per day. Gaku tells her that if she and Night are together, they can live on that amount.....before running out of the door. The next day at the office, Riiko apologizes to Soushi for not coming to lunch the day before. When Night comes over and tells Riiko that she's cute, Soushi thinks that the two have patched things up. As for Mika, she lies to Riiko, saying that she never had any interest in Night in the first place.

Later on, Riiko's co-worker tell their supervisors that Riiko's choux cream will be displayed at the next Tokyo Sweets Exhibition. At the same time, Mika tries to put the moves on Night again but this time she doesn't have much luck. In a meeting, Soushi gloats about the fact that the choux cream has been requested to appear at the next Tokyo Sweets Exhibition, humbling Masashi in the process. Masashi suggests that they use the factory to mass-produce the choux cream but Soushi thinks Riiko should hand-made all of them. The president of the company agrees, saying that if the maker is different then the taste will be different as well. Riiko at first is shocked to know that she has to make 500 pieces but when she finds out that the company will pay everything including an overtime for her, she agrees to do it. Riiko and Soushi then go off to look for a book about making sweets that used to belong to Soushi's grandfather. Night then comes and insists on helping, so Soushi agrees to the request. That night, Night and Riiko goes to a bookstore to look for a book called "Principe de la Patisserie". Thanks to Night's ability to scan and search, he manages to find the book in no time.

Unfortunately the book is too expensive (30000 Yen) for Riiko to buy so the two decide to head home. That night, Night suggests that they don't use electricity to save money. Instead, the light up candle and eat a small fish. Their dinner time is then interrupted by Gaku, who has come to do regular maintenance. Later on, while preparing for the exhibition, Night becomes jealous because Riiko and Soushi gets along well. This continues when the three goes to Fujiko's cafe/bar. Night wants to sit next to Riiko and whiel he complies when she orders him to serve the customers, Night's programming starts to become blurry when he sees Riiko gets too close to Soushi. He even drinks the beverage that he should give to the customer. The same thing happens the next day after work when Soushi and Riiko are about to make choux cream together. Night becomes jealous that he tells Soushi that he's the one who's going to help Riiko making the cake. When Soushi drops the cake packaging, Riiko decides to help him, causing Night to be even more jealous. His vision starts to become blurry and all of a sudden, he lifts a few plates then drops it like a guy who's on the verge to committing a DV.

A few seconds later, however, Night returns to his kind self, wondering who broke the plates. Because of this, Riiko asks him to go home first then tells Gaku about this latest development. Gaku claims that's just the programming that Riko had requested but after he disconnects the phone, he wonders if something went wrong. When he performs a check on Night, however, he can't find anything wrong. A few days later, the sweets exhibition starts. Unfortunately, no one seems to be interested in the choux cream because its appearance is simple. In order to cheer up Riiko, Soushi tease her by sticking a price tag on her cheek. Riiko is charmed by this and decides to keep the price tag on the back of her cellphone. When Night sees this, he becomes jealous and tries to rip the price tag away from the phone. When he drops the phone, however, he turns normal again and gives the phone back to Riiko as if nothing happened. Meanwhile, Gaku is being summoned to the office, being asked if there's been any problem with 01 so far. Because Gaku claims there's no problem, the boss reveals their intention to mass-produce unit 01. He's so screwed if the MP robots malfunction.

At the same time, Soushi and Riiko are not having a great time either because their choux cream are not selling at all. Masashi who finds out about it, orders them to dispose the cakes. Riiko becomes a bit depressed about this so Soushi cheers her up by eating one of the choux cream and tells her that it's delicious. Riiko, however, points out that there's no point to it if they can't sell it. Soushi disagrees, telling her that to him there's a point to it. He also points out that she's the one who usually always tries to do her best, mimicking her voice. Riiko can't help but cracking a smile upon seeing his attempt. Meanwhile, Night asks Fujiko for a suggestion on what he should do to make Riiko happy. Fujiko tells him what's important is that he thinks about it with Riiko in mind. At home, Night puts a blanket over a sleepy Riiko and eats some of the choux cream she brings back home. When Riiko wakes up, Night tells her that her choux cream is the best in the world. Riiko reminds him that he can't taste anything but Night tells him it doesn't matter because for him, Riiko is his world.

The next day, Soushi is shocked when Masashi informs him that the choux cream has been slandered at the message board belonging to Tokyo Sweets Expo. Masashi claims that this ruins the reputation of Asamoto brand. To rectify the problem, Masashi thinks they should fire Riiko but Soushi refused the idea, claiming that she's an important and talented employee. Because of this, Soushi decides to take over the responsibility. He's being demoted from being a section leader to section leader assistant. Hirata is now the one who gets to be section leader. Riiko feels guilty about this that she ends up spacing out throughout the whole day. She doesn't even pay attention when Night tells her that he has a present for her. The present that Night talks about turns out to be the book that Riiko was going to buy. After purchasing the book, however, Night overhears Mika talking about how she's the one who's been writing the bad reviews about the choux cream. When Night follows her, he finds Mika in the middle of writing another bad review. He stops her and asks her why she did this so Mika blames him for telling her that he loves her and then pretends that he doesn't remember.

When Mika walks away from Night, however, a billboard is about to fall on her. Thankfully for her, Night manages to catch the billboard so she doesn't get gruesomely killed by the billboard. This, however, causes Night's right hand to be destroyed. When Mika asks the guy why he saved her, Night tells her that if something bad happened to her, Riiko would be sad. Because of this, he also asks her not to make Riiko sad anymore. Meanwhile, Hirata has taken the other staff for a party. Because he's drunk, he inadvertently informs them that the reason Soushi was demoted is because someone wrote slander messages about the choux cream on a message board. He also reveals that Soushi was the one who asked to be demoted in exchange of Riiko not getting fired. At the same time, Gaku fails to stop Night to repair his arm even after telling Night that he is Night's creator. A few minutes later, Night tries to give the book to Riiko but she ignores him so she can find Soushi. She asks Soushi why he took the blame for her. He claims that it's because he likes....her choux cream. Outside, Gaku and his assistant approach Night, who's sitting all alone. Night sadly tells them that Riiko has someone else who's more important than him. Outside, Gaku concludes that Night has started to have its own will.

Impression

Congratulations to Mika, for finally claiming her rightful place as one of those Watase Yuu's best friend/villain characters. It really reminds me of Fushigi Yuugi, especially when Yui's bitchy, scheming face appears just as the ED theme, Tokimeki no Doukasen starts to play at the end of the episode. The kind of stunt that she pulls in this episode is kind of pathetic but it shows that these days, the power of internet buzzwords is pretty strong. It's pretty easy for anyone to create a rumor online and surprisingly, some people would actually believe it. Unfortunately for those who hate her, she didn't actually get flattened by the billboard ads ala Wil E. Coyote. That would be too messy and bloody for a show that's airing on prime time spot. Anyway, I'm not sure if she's over her hate for Riiko but with only 5 more episodes to go, I assume the writers would have to wrap up this nasty best friends sub-plot soon if they want to focus on a possible Riiko/Night romance and the aftermath. That is, of course, assuming that we'll see that plot as well. Judging from last week's and this week's episode, I'm not sure if that would ever happen.

The thing is, Night's role as the main lead character has been shockingly reduced in both episodes. It seems the writers want us to root for Soushi/Riiko's relationship and Night is simply an amusing block on their way. This will be problematic towards the end if the story follows the manga ending. It'd be hard to believe what Riiko feels if she actually sees Night as nothing more than a nuisance at this point in the story. In addition to this, Night really is now showing signs of the problem with robots that do not follow Asimov's 3 laws of robotic. He kinda looks scary when he dropped that plate. He could be Sousuke's (of Last Friend) long lost twin. Props to Mokomichi Hayami for being able to alternate between the nice Night and psychotic Night quite easily but I don't think this is how Night character is supposed to be in the original story. In the end, it's up to the viewers to decide whether they can accept this alteration or not. Personally, I'm a bit disappointed. But since I don't see much chemistry between Riiko/Night or Riiko/Soushi, I don't really care either way. I am even more convinced after watching this episode that Riiko would have more chemistry with the guy who plays Masashi. YMMV.

© memento 2003