Cat “Allergic to Coloring” McFool

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! by Oowara Sumito

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! Chapter 73 color page.

I've always loved Makio and Kasamachi's relationship. She prefers solitude too much and is afraid to hurt Kasamachi again because, even with Asa around, she still can't adjust to having people in her space.

Kasamachi offering a relationship that's pretty much a dissection of "dating" (being friends, leaning on each other, hanging out, venting, kissing, sexual desires) without the label that puts pressure and responsibility on Makio is the best option. It's the same way Makio doesn't want to be Asa's "parent" but still acting in a way a mother would. It is why she struggles with her "sister", sister only in name but not in action.

"Nothing is completely irrelevant to you."

A university disregarding female applicants that will affect you as a woman even if you're not applying to that university or even any college, just the fact that your sex is being discriminated in the society you live in, because immediately after that scene two boys don't even bother to apologize after bumping into Asa. Trivial things you say out of a whim might hurt someone; Asa indulging in light gossip about boyfriends to Emiri without really listening to what she says, words that she'll forget but brings anxiety to her friend.

Asa thinking that things don't apply to her if she's not interested mirrors how her father lived as a void thinking his opinions and his words doesn't affect his child at all. Her reaction to the word "void" is far stronger than other else she heard from Makio. Her fear of "standing out" encourages her to essentially become her father, a wallflower, a follower, a void, a child who can't make her own decisions despite her personality being the complete opposite— eating away her feelings when she's full of it. Before she knew it, she turned into her mother.

One of the striking things about Ikoku Nikki is how fundamentally different it is from other single-parent shows like Usagi Drop or Kakushigoto. Those shows played into the (very real) pro-childbearing propaganda, showing the immediate rewards of child-rearing while also glossing over the drawbacks. Ikoku Nikki flips that trend, at least four episodes in.

What’s become clear is that Makio and Asa are not a good pair. Makio gets easily overstimulated and Asa needs regular attention. Asa very clearly needs therapy but her support system is failing her. And while Makio probably doesn’t want a romantic partner right now, having a second income and pair of hands would come in really handy right now.

Basically, Makio is just not a good caregiver at this point in the story. And that makes sense! She’s never raised a child, much less a teenage one, and it appears like something she never had any intention of doing in the first place. Why would she be good at this??

But her understanding that she needs to keep trying makes her endearing. Asa doesn’t motivate her guardian instincts because she’s cute or talented or extraordinary in any way, but because she’s a child who needs a parent, and dammit, that’s reason enough. It’s admirable that a show like this is basically saying, “this is often thankless work that you may hate, but do it anyway because it’s the right thing” and not some weird right-wing, breeder bullshit. Being a parent is hard, but it’s the only way these kids survive.