Iki mo Dekinai Natsu eps 3-7

Yes, I was still watching this. More like half watching, half skimming. Its kind of like Tokkan in the sense I like the subject matter but there are superfluous elements that I just skip. What is wrong with Iki mo Dekinai Natsu is that it tries to do too much. There's this family history of violence thing which started off with a young girl finding out that she's not in her family register.

There is of course my favourite bit which is the exploration of people who do not belong in any family register. Let's not forget abusive dad who is dying and seeking redemption. Boohoo. Let's not forget the dad looks 30 which means he did the mom when he was 13. Who the fuck was in charge of casting the dad? Last of all is the Kiyama - Rei relationship whic is a complete fail.

Even though I'm 31 and you're 19!

Why even bother trying to turn it into a love story? Eguchi basically plays the vice president of common sense in Iki mo Dekinai Natsu. Rei gets all emotional about have the her name moved to mom's ex-husband's family register and Eguchi basically asks her if that really actually matters?  She gets all panicking about who her real dad and Kiyama tells her to stop worrying about what she can't find out and asks her if it really matters who her dad is.

He will always be Manpyo Daisuke to me.

Kiyama is more Yoda to our young heroine is having all sorts of problems thrown at her. The writer tries to convince us there's something more going on by turning the wife into a yandere, claiming that she notices Kiyama has changed and is more lively which break the very important rule of show, don't tell. If they wanted to make this work, episode 1 should have sold us more on Kiyama's habits before meeting Rei. They tried but I don't see it. Takei Emi just does not have the ability to elevate the material.

Iki mo Dekinai Natsu is not a disaster but I don't see any hope. Episode 8 will be the family history being revealed to the media and only in Japan can news about unfortunate people actually cause them hardship instead of sympathy. Its watchable but there's no chance of it turning the corner.