u/Nervous-Tank-5917

Bruh, why do you still look annoyed? You’re a teenage boy who just found a naked girl in your shower who isn’t your mom or sister. How is this not one of the happiest moments of your youth?

You gotta feel sorry for all those girls. Barking up the wrong tree from day one.

Also, I’m surprised Mrs Kuroki didn’t warn him about Tomoko’s friends using the shower to avoid this exact scenario. Then again, she might have assumed Masaki would have enough sense to lock the door.

Unless I’m mistaken (which I don’t see how) Tomoko is directly invoking the stereotype that foreigners smell bad. Nemo corrects her on the specific character, but doesn’t bother to point out that not all hafu or gaijin have smelly armpits.

That sounds hella racist from a western perspective (especially considering that a person who is half-Japanese genetically can be fully Japanese culturally) , but to be fair, there’s actually some scientific basis for it.

When it comes to sweating and bo, east-Asian people seem to have won the genetic lottery. In Japan specifically, those with a genetic predisposition towards severe underarm odour are even considered to have a debilitating condition, and depending on the severity: may even be entitled to have their apocrine glands removed under the national health insurance scheme.

Add that to a culture obsessed with cleanliness and social etiquette- where bathing is literally seen as a recreational activity- and people with bad hygiene are going to stick out and be stigmatised even more than they are elsewhere. Granted, those of you who think you’re getting away with showering every three or four days are wrong anyway: just fyi.

Didn’t run into Nanakusa though. Maybe she only likes younger men (I’m 35) 😔

The biggest surprise was seeing the shrine and headstones at the first playground, which are visible in the anime, but I never noticed until I was there in person.

I said a little prayer at the shrine. Since this is Call of The Night, the thought of vampires lurking in the shadows didn’t freak me out in the slightest.

However, I did get a slight shock when I turned around, and saw that there was a cop car parked across the street. I had my passport on me and all, but I figured it was time to move on before they asked what a grown man was doing taking pictures of a kids’ playground at night.

Not sure how popular a take this is. I’m at least somewhat aware of cultural differences between Japan and The West, and I also realise that Mrs Kuroki’s parenting style kind of has to be formed around the needs of the plot.

That said, for a stay at home parent who is home pretty much whenever her children are: she leaves them to their own devices way too much. To the point where Tomoko has developed some pretty unhealthy habits that she’s just left to sort out on her own.

When one of her kids misbehaves, she’s quick to yell and doll out harsh criticisms, but we never see her give advice or direct encouragement. In fact, the only time she seems to take an active interest in Tomoko’s life is when it’s time to scold her for something. She’s pretty passive otherwise.

Like, why tf did she act surprised when Ogino revealed that Tomoko was a loner for most of her 2nd year? Did it seriously never occur to her that she hadn’t met any of her daughters’ friends in the last two years: other than the one from Middle School? Or was she just worried the teacher would think it was her fault that her daughter was socially maladjusted?

Also, the panel where she tells Tomoko to get off the computer and go to bed is a nice start, but she should be enforcing those limits every night: not just when her daughter is on suspension. The result of this inconsistency is a parent who is simultaneously too stern to be approachable, and too lax to whip her kids into shape.

That said, she’s not exactly what I would call a “tiger-mom”, and seems to be happy so long as her children are healthy (though I’m not sure she the most complete understanding of what “healthy” means), reasonably well behaved, and able to keep up in class.

There’s lots of little moments that show she does care about her children, and frankly: they’re some of the most touching in the entire series. Thus I’m inclined to think her general passivity comes less from indifference than a genuine lack of emotional skills in some areas.

I’d honestly be very interested to learn more about her backstory, especially since my current theory is that she’s more like Tomoko than we’ve been lead to believe. That would explain why she’s not great at addressing complicated problems; why she’s surprisingly accepting in some areas, and why she can only default to “strict parent” mode when tolerance doesn’t feel like an option.

Not one person would have thought twice about her absence in first year.

Tomoki, Mrs Kuroki, Kotomi, Yoshida, Yuri and now Nemoto: it’s all the rage.

In all seriousness, I love how Tomoko isn’t even mad despite receiving a black eye severe enough to make Katou worry. She’s developed enough self-awareness to be like “Yeah, I probably deserved that.”

Don’t try telling me that she’s just thinking from a guy’s perspective either.

Yes, I do consider both these characters autistic. I also do consider Yuri to be Tomoko’s best friend, especially from this arc onwards.

Fail 105.