Animal tales

[rosdrise]

Well, I'm still slugging my way through Jyuui Dolittle and I can't even tell you why. I'm not particularly enjoying it but I so desperately want to that I'm holding on for dear life. My issue is that the show isn't about the three actors that gave me reason to watch it in the first place. It's about the owners of the week and their pets that happen to have the exact same issues as their owners, or, you know, another person who happens to be appearing on the show that week. It's like being hit over the head by a giant metaphorical hammer. Repeatedly. It's painful.

Let's look at episodes 4 and 5...

Episode 4: We have an (adorable) bunny being taken care of by an over-worked mother. Both need to have the stress in their lives reduced. We ALSO have a dog owner who is horrified to learn his little show dog has been impregnated by some stray mutt. He wants the puppies aborted, because he can't have his dog tainted. Just like he was horrified to learn his daughter was having the child of some low-bred dude. He cut ties from his daughter eight years ago WHO JUST HAPPENS TO BE THE BUNNY'S CARETAKER. Turns out the mongrel dog saved his little pomeranian from a knife-wielding burglar who apparently thought the tiny dog was in the way. He realizes his mistake and reunites with his daughter in the vet office (as you do). Btw, the hero dog dies of his strangely bloodless knife wound even though the dog owner does try to save him. That was sad :(

The mom also leaves her young child in the care of random strangers on a regular basis, which is better than when she leaves her alone all the time depending on the situation. Sometimes it's to wander the streets and other times it's just at home. Which of course leads to a GIANT stovetop fire the bunny saved the little girl from by thumping on the floor to wake her up because she decided to take a nap on the ground while leaving the stove on.

I wish I hadn't watched this streaming so I could have taken caps. We're talking like five foot flames shooting out of a saucepan. It was crazy.

Episode 5: A woman Tottori knew from school (she fed him when he as a poor vet student) brings her cat in to be treated after getting hit by a car. She's in a bad way because her husband was having an affair and went through with a suicide pact with his mistress. She planned on leaving the cat with the vet and going off to probably kill herself.

LUCKILY the other owner/psych patient of the week is an elderly woman who is still waiting for a message by carrier pigeon from her reporter husband who died fifty years ago while off in the woods to report on a "disaster". Her son is convinced that his father was also having an affair because his body was found next to a woman. Anyway, the mom feeds pigeons and it's driving the neighbors crazy because there is shit everywhere. So, the son hires Tottori to exterminate them.

Of course, he finds a nest with the pigeon bones of the bird that was carrying the husband's dying words. Turns out he just came across that girl in the woods and in trying to keep her from killing herself they both fell down a cliff. So, paralyzed from the waist down he writes his farewell message and I can only assume proceeds dies a horribly painful and prolonged death at the bottom of a gorge. The mother is relieved at the news and the son feels like crap because he's hated his dad his entire life for no reason.

This gives Tottori's old friend (and crush) reason to go on. But when she's own grocery shopping she comes across a wedding and all sorts of memories of promises made by her husband crop up. She decides it's better to just jump in front of a train, but Tottori tells her that he won't take care of her cat if she's dead. So, she doesn't do it.

OH! I forgot the other symbolic animal injury. There is also a dog who goes from getting groomed one minute to having paralyzed hind legs (see what what they did there?) from a herniated disk? There is some veterinarian business that goes down at this point between rival philosophies because evil vet says that the surgery won't be successful and the dog will be in pain and incontinent for the rest of his life. This horrifies Hanabishi (Hiroki's character) and he backs out of the deal with evil vet to support is fancy new animal clinic. (so now evil vet will ruin his reputation because he can't perform surgeries because of a mental block after killing his own dog). Of course, Tottori is a miracle worker, so he makes that guy look like a huge douchebag for wanting to kill a poor puppy.

Anyway, our closing shot is of the cat owner walking away inter-cut with the scene of the dog learning to walk again. GET IT?

omg, this show. i don't even.

Totally off topic, but I'm really enjoying Pretty Little Liars. My only issue is taking Ian seriously. Because, when I look at him all I see is Young Jarod from The Pretender and can only assume this is some temporary alias.

Comments

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

the bunny saved the little girl from by thumping on the floor to wake her up

Seriously! I laughed so hard at this. The entire show sounds rediculous.

But it also sounds fairly typical - in the inspirational propaganda way many jdramas have a tendency to be - like in Good Luck & Lunch Queen. - Here's a quote from a post I made years ago after watching Good Luck that expresses what I mean: "This series has convinced me that the Japanese have a special talent for taking everyday tasks/jobs & finding (or creating) meaning in them. I first had this thought when I watched Lunch Queen but this series has solidified my position. The music especially stirs your heart & makes you want to cheer. - & it's when they "save the day" or "overcome", etc. As quoted from The Incredibles, "They keep inventing new ways to celebrate mediocrity". I wonder if it may have something to do with Japan having the highest suicide rate in the world. With a nation so full of despair & depression, films like this may hope to save a small percentage?"

[cranberrysheep.livejournal.com]

It's so ridiculous! Like the first couple episodes the animal injuries were obviously a venue for the humans to deal with their own psychological issues. But then episode 4 came and the guy literally said "This dog is now my daughter" IS CASE THE AUDIENCE DIDN'T GET IT.

I keep waiting for the love triangle I was promised in the show's initial description, but I seriously doubt that's going to come to fruition.

But yeah, everything has meaning. Like, the bunny having stress poops means you spend too much time at your job and not enough time with your daughter.

[cranberrysheep.livejournal.com]

Yes, and it is awful. Whoever styled him for this show needs to pay.

Mao's hair is pretty bad too. It's like they're doing their best to make her forehead look HUGE.

[cranberrysheep.livejournal.com]

It's not been easy, but I'm holding out for that Rui/Makino hook up. I don't think it's going to have the payoff I went in hoping for though. :/

The main issue is that the most interesting character is Narimiya Hiroki's vet, because he's actually dealing with both psychological and moral struggles. Meanwhile Shun's character just goes around overcharging people for his vet services.

The animals are cute though, so there is that?