Tsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru. Episode 5 Discussion

If only the original Marika could know how much spiciness she got spared from by Takae hijacking her mind.

Not to defend Chika but I probably wouldn't act normal after finding out my daughter's been keeping a "parental" affair from me right after I was starting to recover from a "traditional" one.

She is certainly undeserving of all bad things that happened to her so far...

Yeah Chika did things wrong but no doubt she is the one that most suffers in this anime, even her mother is like that, its somewhat understandable how she acts.

@lucio54 It's no excuse for being an asshole.

We live in the age of the excuse. We live in the age of the asshole.

@Love_And_Forward I disagree, she went trough a lot and is actually working to improve herself.

Yes, lashing to her own kid is bad but look from her perspective: she has a mom who didn't care for her, husband who left her with her daughter and now the boyfriend she got turn out to be married man and a cheater.

But you can see that after Takae made her lunch she actually cleaned her room and even wanted to give her some sweets later on.

So I can understand her anger and unlike many anime mothers she is trying to change for the better.

As for episode generally it still feels rushed, this moment when she sees Marika with Nijjimas happens at ~45th chapter of the manga. And we are on 5th episode now. Even if they kept the most important parts of the manga they skipped a lot of character development parts, for anime only watches it should be fine but for us who read the manga a lot her been taken out for the sake of piling everything into 12 episodes.

Still exited to see next week episode, it has my most beloved manga moment.

@BrotherCoa If her name was Chiko then you would scream for his incarceration. You're making excuses for her because she is a woman.

@lucio54 It's no excuse for being an asshole.

We live in the age of the excuse. We live in the age of the asshole.

@Love_And_Forward What part of "Yeah she did things wrong" did you not understand?
Being understandable and right are two different things.
If someone rapes you, escapes and then you found the person and kills them, you would not be right but almost everyone would understand why you did that.
Not everyone can act as they should when their mentality is broken like that, its easy for you to say "i would be different" and maybe you would, but many people are not able to, these people need help, not someone cursing at them.

@lucio54 I a man beats up his wife, then cries and says he's so sorry in the morning, and then beats her up again the very next night, would you argue compassion or punishment? That's fairly common behavior in abusive relationships and in fact that's more or less an analog to what takes place in this episode. I'm questioning whether your sympathy in fact hinges on her claim to victimhood.

Understanding? I can understand a lot. Understanding doesn't equal forgiveness.

It's been the case since the very beginning, but this episode really serves to underscore the fact that this series in the genre section of the side panel needs a Drama tag rather than a Comedy tag. At least in addition to, but probably just in lieu of.

Like yesterday.

Beyond the genre mislabeling confusion, on some of the actual specific content of the episode itself, I can say that although I defended her in an exchange in the previous week's episode discussion thread topic (if anyone else perusing here happened to read it), I still don't really like the mother as a person (she's fine as a character though - adds more drama, more conflict, another perspective, and more depth to the series). Because it became very apparent to me through the rollercoaster of her highs and lows during this episode that even in the instances when she treats Takae/Marika kindly and even if she undergoes a seminal event in the future forcing her to turn over a new leaf in general from which she is nearly always or literally always kind and generous to her daughter thereafter, I think the current events still prove that she's at her core a person who cannot really be naturally kind and decent to others unless all of her wants (not even needs) are satisfied first and foremost, and then her generosity is like a luxury bonus she extends only in the best of times and optimal circumstances.

As soon as even a slight inconvenience or negative development rubs her the wrong way she is right back to being cold and nasty. That's one thing when it concerns strangers or customers at your shitty entry-level fast food job. But quite another when it's your own immediate family - your own daughter or your children of either sex.

That said, I can't claim that I personally am or would be all that different in the same circumstances. Maybe not different at all. I might even be worse! But that's also why I do not, never even contemplated having, and never ever will have children. You really have to know yourself before you bring another life into this world. If you know you're not cut out for it (as I know I absolutely wouldn't be), then never do it.



I've been wondering if the original Marika is basically dead then or could be considered such. Because right now the nature of the situation appears similar to some isekai I've seen in which the isekai'd person from Earth is not reincarnated from the beginning as a newborn baby but basically summoned somehow and then their consciousness takes over an already older living person. In the one I'm thinking of, it's basically all but confirmed that the original person whose body they are taking over died, but in that case there was an actual incident which is presumed to have caused their death. Here, no such thing is mentioned.

Did this guy really thought he could just two time and have two families at the same time? wtf was even going through his head?

Why do I feel like there's a chance that Chika and Keisuke could end up together?