Ningen Shikkaku (1994)

When the story has such a grip on you that you are willing to watch the last three episodes without subs just to get the closure.

Honestly? Even with the obvious blank spaces, that maybe will never be filled in, I think it’s one of the strongest scripts written by Nojima Shinji. Hell, I'd even go furhter and say it's my favorite alongside Kou kou kyoshi. It’s very dark, heavy and a little overdramatic, but I feel like it doesn’t capitalize on trauma that much, at least in comparison to Nojima's other works. It approaches the difficult topics with a decent level of sensitivity and leaves you with much to ponder about. The characters are complex and sometimes it really feels like you are watching a vivisection of someone’s twisted psyche. And it all just works together really well, creating really intense and compelling viewing experience.

I didn’t know that it is about bullying, so I also didn’t know what I got myself into when I started watching this drama. As much as I like to avoid this topic, I have to say that it was presented very well. The vicious circle of bullying, how formerly bullied became bully themselves, the power dynamics that mirror society’s structure, how it psychologically affects even the strongest, how the adults/authorities try to turn a blind eye to the uncomfortable truth. It’s scary how it still relevant even 30 years later.

I liked how Makoto's story was written. He was strong and feisty, not a saint himself since he often resorted to violence because that’s how a lot of problems were settled in his home. He stood up for a kid who was bullied and later fought back for himself, but was eventually broken by the lack of moral and emotional support from the people who were supposed to get his back. Teachers, parents, friends. The walls of his defense was being broken one by one leaving him lost, lonely and hopeless. It was heartbreaking to watch and I kept thinking that it shouldn’t have happened. The society as a whole failed to protect this kid.

I think the same thing about Ruka, even though I firmy believe that he was a serial killer (or a dangerous incel) in the making, he was clearly mentally unwell and no one gave two shits about it. Ruka was the opposite of Makoto, he was weak and lost from the beginning. Once again, someone could have saved him but he fell into the trap of a predator instead.

I really like the development of Makoto's father. He was not a bad parent but he was too short sighted and like many other people he focused too much on making a good impression and not sticking out. He thought that beating his son would solve a problem of him acting rebelious or being ungrateful for a great opportunity to studying at prestigous school but he refused to ask himself WHY his son was making problems. He wasn’t even interested in reasons, he was looking for quick resolutions that wouldn’t escalate the problem. I think he was one of the few characters that indirectly contributed to Makoto's death and took the whole responsibility for it. Even if his vendetta wasn’t the best way to bring justice.

Nimi, the teacher, is honestly one of the nost despicable antagonists I've seen. The prototype of self-loathing incel who is so focused on creating a whole ideology out of his own victimhood that it makes him project every misfortune on other people and some universal cruelity of this world. Honestly, I'd be „better" if was just seething creep on his own, but no, he decided to gaslight and manipulate other people, leading them into their own destruction. Very good villain because I hated his guts. He deserved worse ending though because I’m not sure if the cause of his dead was symbolic (as if it was guilty conscience that manifested itself as Makoto or Ruka) or if the writer just had no idea how to kill him.

And speaking of antagonists – I don’t like what was done with PE teacher. Because what exactly was the deal with him being a crossdresser? Was it his hobby, like he liked to deceive people? Was it drag? Was it a fetish? I'm sure it wasn’t any form of gender dysphoria. Kind of ironic that it was the main thing the escalated Makoto's bullying but in the end it was such a non event and no one talked about it? So does it really had to be cross dressing? Because it felt like the show was stereotype some harmful stereotypes but refused to elaborate further. It rubbed me the wrong way but I guess it's something I can call „a product of its time".

The other thing that didn’t do it for me was Ruka's alleged love for Makoto. I don’t doubt that he had strong feelings for him but was it really love? I saw it more as still developing friendship with a dash of obsession (another parallel between Ruka and Nimi) but I wouldn’t go so far to say that there was something romantic going on between the boys. And same goes for Nimi's obsession towards Ruka, it wasn’t romantic or sexual, he just wanted to mold Ruka into himself. The lgbtq+ tag may or may be not misleading, depending on what you expect.

So with all that said, I obviously LOVED this show and I'd love to give it a solid rate, but I can’t knowing that I didn’t fully get everything and a lot of dialogues got lost in (the lack of)translation. To be fair, I'm surprised how much I understood just from the context and with a help of @savethedata's (thank you♡♡♡) synopsis, but yeah, I don’t think I can rate it with a clear conscience, so it’s going to be the only unrated drama on my list. For the sake of this review I will give it a 9.

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