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[banana_toffee]

Ii ne.

Kazoku Game spoilers!

Some dramas you have to wait for the pace to pick up, but I was already hooked from the first episode.

In one of the first scenes, we see the tutor and the parents in the living room just sitting there without saying anything. This lasts for two minutes. Eventually, when the student comes in and acts out, the tutor hits him. The rest of the family look on in shock, with nobody interfering or objecting. I thought it was a great introduction to the creepiness of Yoshimoto sensei. Later on I realized that what he did here was relatively tame compared to what he had in store for the family next.

More than the violence and the occasional over-the-top-ness of everything (which could be on account of the character being written like that), there were certain uncomfortable moments for me. These were the times when I related too much with the mother in that how she did not know how to talk to her sons, or the older brother feeling the pressure of his parents' expectations - though I like to think I dealt with it much better than he did.

In the end, they said they couldn't really hate sensei. I guess I couldn't either. I didn't want to watch another weird-teacher-saves-family-by-helping-them-grow-closer drama but I liked this because it wasn't as straightforward. I like the silently creepy moments with Yoshimoto while he works one of his schemes. I like how they showed the side of the story of each family member. I like how they showed how everyone was complicit in the situation they found themselves in and how they went through the literal as well as metaphorical destruction of their home and the eventual reconciliation. Of course, the sauna scenes are a bonus! Ii ne~