Good Morning Call (2016)

I started out liking this show, really I did. Fukuhara Haruka is a gem, a beautiful, perfect acting, sweet gem. If ever I saw someone act the way I imagined a manga to be in real life, Fukuhara accomplished it in this series. It was a delight. And whenever Uehara was flustered or out of his depth, I liked watching the series as a whole. However, I literally shipped Nao with absolutely ANYONE in the show except Uehara.

I don't understand why people like these kinds of shows. Typically bubbly, happy girl with so-so or terrible grades + good at everything, rarely talks, absurdly popular guy who treats her like shit but she's 150% devoted to him anyway?

In this show, Nao will ask Uehara a question, a simple one similar to 'What would you like for dinner tonight?' and Uehara will blow up at her for being annoying or butting into his life and then someone will tell Nao about how today is some hard day in Uehara's life or something bad happened at work/school with Uehara that day and then Nao rushes to find some way to apologize to Uehara for being so stupid and not realizing that he's having a hard time, when she did nothing wrong and definitely nothing to deserve him lashing out at her.

Every time she finds joy in something, he criticizes her for it. Literally every time she's happy imagining something, typically involving her and Uehara, Uehara walks into the room and in ONE SENTENCE has her frowning and fidgeting, unsure of how to respond without making him more upset.

Nao is surrounded by people who care about her, who SHOW HER they care about her, who make her smile and laugh and feel good. The only time Uehara makes her feel good is when he's in her mind. And we're meant to believe he loves her too because every once in awhile he frowns when some other guy is being nice to her, or because, when other characters practically force him into it, he does something nice for her, because that one time they had a meal together and he didn't immediately tell her she was stupid for thinking he was enjoying himself, because they had one scene where they slept in the same room because the heating was broken.

Except 90% of the time Uehara accompanies such scenes with dialogue calling Nao an idiot or stupid for thinking it's romantic, for thinking he would ever do anything just for her, for thinking that the moment is nice, happy, or that he's kind. And not in the endearing way some characters do, where you can tell 'stupid' is a term of endearment, but as an actual insult.

That's not a loving relationship. That's abusive. That's toxic. And I put up with it for all but the last 2 episodes, waiting and hoping that Uehara was going to wake the f*ck up and stop being like that, learn from past mistakes and events, grow up and stop acting like a 4 year old who doesn't understand that other people have feelings too. But it didn't happen. And I couldn't finish the show. I couldn't stand to watch a finale where, I assume, everything is tied up with a neat little bow and we're promised that Nao and Uehara are going to have a wonderful, happy, love filled life together. Because I can't believe it. I can't watch what I know is going to be a loveless, abusive relationship. I hated every second of it.

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