An episode where the focus is a bit more on Maiko. There are some issues that she has, as we see her in the flashback with her sister Minori. Did she look down on Maiko because of her being a writer potentially? I wonder if this is happening at the same time when Maiko sees Asa’s journal, and that puzzles her. Perhaps she was going to judge Asa like Minori did to her once, and that stopped, I wonder. Of course everyone has different ways to express their thoughts, and drawings might seem foreign to Maiko in a journal.
I think one thing we can say for sure is that the friendship that Maiko has is clearly different from the friendship that Minori had. Though the remark about “I have never seen two grown-ups acting as friends.” is interesting. Add to the flashback where it seems Minori seemed like a good mother. Did Minori avoid getting close to others, perhaps?
Still, Nana is a good friend to Maiko by making her & Asa cook. There is some guilt from Maiko having Asa clean and cook. Which, from her point of view, you can understand, but you need to let them learn to help out. All in all, it’s good to see Asa is doing better and a bit she is opening her heart to Maiko. I think a big thing is how Maiko doesn’t seem like what a grown-up should be but what an adult actually is.
Shingo appears to be an ex of Maiko. It appears that she was the one who broke things off since she didn’t want kids. Of course that has to put him off, but obviously the circumstances regarding Asa were different. One thing that is clear is that Maiko has trouble communicating because he was surprised to learn that Maiko bought the apartment while they were still together.
He clearly cares for her, but obviously with things breaking off, he isn’t looking to get back together. Though his advice to Maiko is sound because there are things she should be looking into if she intends to be Asa’s guardian. I am curious to learn about their history because Maiko doesn’t even seem the type that would be interested in dating with what we have seen so far.
I loved the use of the book Maiko wrote and words from the book as she is going home. As Maiko is heading now, which is where she headed when she ran away from her problems. How she ran away from Minori. Now she is heading home, where Asa is waiting, and she feels powerless because how can she be Minori’s guardian? Though with friends like Shingo & Nana, it feels like Maiko can take that next step.
