Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Review of Ruri no Shima Ep 9

Ep 9 O.A. 11 June 05
Ratings: 12.3%

The police comes to take Kawashima away for an interrogation because someone had raised the alarm when he fought with Nonomura earlier on. When asked about his name, Kawashima admits that he's Takahara Makoto in front of everyone who is shocked as to why he wants to hide his identity.

At the same time, Mihoko, who is the younger sister of the real Kawashima Tatsuya comes to Hatomijima to look for Kawashima but he is away at the police station. Mihoko tells Jie and Yuzo that she is here just to find out what happened to her late brother and doesn't believe that Kawashima killed her brother. However, the rest of the villagers seem to have doubts about Kawashima and keeps making guesses since the time of his arrival at Hatomijima coincides with the period when the real Kawashima was discovered dead.

Ruri is upset over this and runs to Mihoko to find out about Kawashima's past.

The real Kawashima and Takahara were good friends who worked together to open a hair salon. However, they met with an accident one night and Kawahara's right hand was disabled as a result. Thus, he could no longer be a hairstylist and vented his frustration at Takahara since he felt that Takahara was responsible for the accident. In one of his suicide attempts, Kawashima became wheelchair-bound and kept asking Takahara to end his life.

Upon hearing this, Ruri snaps at Mihoko and accuses her of suspecting Kawashima (Takahara) of being the murderer since the real Kawashima couldn't walk. She also scolds her for being the culprit if Kawashima does not return to Hatomijima.

Mihoko decides to go to the police station to look for Kawashima but misses him since he goes back to Hatomijima with Yuzo. Although Ruri wants to believe Kawashima, she finds it hard to face him and tries to avoid him.

Out of fear that Kawashima may disappear from her sight, Ruri goes to find out the truth with Yuzo. Kawashima admits that he did bring his friend to the harbour since he wanted to look at the sea. However, the real Kawashima jumped into the sea and Kawashima (Takahara) tried to save him. He let go of Kawashima's hand because he wanted to free his friend of the misery he experienced. Kawashima mentions that he came to Hatomijima and used his friend's name because this was his hometown and he wants to live his life for the real Kawashima. Kawashima tells Ruri that he plans to go back to Tokyo and assume his real identity again before confessing what happened to the police. Ruri refuses to accept this and runs away crying...

Finally, we get to find out what has been bothering Kawashima (Takenouchi) so much... I can imagine how sad he must be when he let go of his friend's hand as he jumped into the sea to save him. The real Kawashima had asked Takahara, "Can you tell me what are the good things awaiting if I continue to live in this stage?" And he had asked point blank whether Takahara was willing to support him for the rest of his life which the latter was unable to answer. Besides that, he said that being forced to live on and having to depend on Mihoko and Takahara made him felt useless. Faced with such questions, Takahara decided to free his friend from the misery but ends up forcing himself to bear the burden. It's almost certain that he will leave Hatomijima by the next episode or else he would not be able to break free from this psychological barrier if he continues to be Kawashima Tatsuya.

There are a number of issues to be resolved e.g. whether the secondary school can be opened for Ruri and Izumi, Sanae-sensei's impending departure from Hatomijima and how Ruri will handle the departure of her best friend, Kawashima.

In the next episode's trailer, we see Ruri's mother, Nao coming to Yuzo and asking to take back Ruri and Ruri walking around in an uniform i.e. she's in junior high school. More twists in the plot right till the end?

By the way, I find that this is the only episode which Takenouchi Yutaka's character speaks the most. He's been so quiet throughout the drama that I really miss his voice...

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