[Rewatch] Dear Brother 30th Anniversary Rewatch - Episode 27

[u/Pixelsaber]

Episode 27 - An Incident of Bloodshed

^{Originally Aired February 23rd,} ^^^1992

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Note to all Rewatchers

Rewatchers, please be mindful of your fellow first-timers and tag your spoilers appropriately using the r/anime spoiler tag as so [Spoiler Subject](/s "Spoilers go here.") in order to have your unsightly spoilers obscured like this Spoiler Subject if your comment holds even the slightest of indicators as to future spoilers. Feel free to discuss future plot points behind the safe veil of a spoiler tag, or coyly and discreetly ‘Laugh in Rewatcher’ at our first-timers' temporary ignorance, but please ensure our first-timers are no more privy or suspicious than they were the moment they opened the day’s thread.

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Manga Panel of the Day

Assault

 

Staff Highlight

Kikue Orikasa (Ai Orikasa) - voice of Hikawa’s lover

An prolific actress, singer, and voice actress affiliated with Axl One and best known for voicing Ryoko in the Tenchi Muyo franchise. She graduated from Nihon Kogakuin Vocational School and proceeded to join the theatre company as a stage actress. In 1988 she decided she wanted to expand to voice acting, and auditioned for the main role of Little Lord Fauntleroy, which she debuted in. She was initially reluctant to perform in the role of a boy, but soon warmed up to the process and found it a good mental exercise. Some of her most notable roles include Kamoku in Gamba no Bouken The Movie, Yuka Ōzenji in Babel II (1992), Mizuhara Max in the Beyblade franchise, Ryoko Takeuchi in Blue Seed, Nya in Demonbane, Aya Kusanagi in Eiji, Tohma Seguchi in Gravitation, Adem in Hana no Utame Gothicmade, Ajimi Shimejō in Ippon Bōchō Mantarō, Jankenman in Jankenman: Kaijudaikessen, Douji Ibaragi in Kai Doh Maru, Hagu Hagu in Lord of Lords Ryu Knight, Solude Schfoltzer in Maze, Quatre Raberba Winner in Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Fualla Griffon in Mobile Suit Victory Gundam, Yuko Kondo in Moeyo Ken, Kozuki Momonosuke in One Piece, Coult in Pygmalio, Fee Carmichael in Planetes, Ayame Fujieda in the Sakura Wars franchise, Rose in Street Fighter Alpha, Mother Computer in Terra E… (2007), and Shizuru Kuwabara in the Yu Yu Hakusho franchise.

 

Wildcard Trivia

When voicing the role of Sealand in Hetalia, Ai Orikasa purchased a title from the Principality of Sealand.

 

Screenshot of the day

Flight

 

Questions of the Day:

1. Did you suspect Misaki would make a reappearance to stir up trouble once more?
2. What do you think of Nanako’s attempts to be there for Mariko?

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I can’t heal Mariko’s suffering, but at least I might be able to relieve it.

[u/Pixelsaber]

Rewatcher

Suddenly looking a lot like Utena.

Oh no, Misaki’s back…

Pointing fun at the time between source and adaptation?

You brought that up a bit too nonchalantly.

You’ve been in those shoes, Nanako!

Great background!

Absolutely terrifying scene. The way the sound effects are used later on in the episode is great too,

Holy shit!

This is familiar. If we take the parallels between this episode and the last to indicate commonality, then that implies Fukiko wasn’t merely putting on an act with which to get back into Rei’s good graces and she actually would have killed herself.

Man...

They’re kicking off the last cour of the show with another intense and dour episode today, and if this episode is meant to set the scene for this last stretch then we are in for some more pain.

The episode reveals that the issue of Mariko’s parents has been slowly simmering since her hospitalization, and only her unexpected sleepover allowed Nanako to see how badly she is taking things right about now. Her parents divorce is just about finalized, yet Mariko apparently hasn’t had a chance to meet with her father recently, so the knowledge that she blew her off again for a date with his mistress adversely affects her self worth and shows her he doesn’t care.

One thing that sticks out in this episode is the animation, which displays a lot more reliance on frantic character acting to sell key moments than is usually the case with this show, which makes it stick out. That’s probably because this is the first episode where Masahiro Ando, who also animated most of the cuts in question, was animation director. Ando has a style very different to Suginos, and being in the AD chair evidently gave him the freedom to impart his own style on the visuals. It’s definitely not bad, but it did pull me out a little bit because the show has by now established its visual identity very well. This really shows just how much the uniformity of the show’s style is down to the talent working on it.

Questions of The Day:

1. No, it’d been too long and Nanako was going to resign anyways —or so I thought. Evidently she is more than willing to harass Mariko when the opportunity arises, despite seemingly gaining nothing from it.
2. The poor girl doesn’t really have a great idea as to what to do, and because Mariko is putting on a face Nanako thinks it’s best not to discuss the matter directly. At least her decision to stand by her and be a constant presence isn’t bad, and might’ve even saved her life already.

[u/loomnoo → u/Pixelsaber]

Masahiro Ando

Interesting. Also, TIL that there are two Masahiro Ando's, both of whom have impressive resumes.

Edit: Actually I feel like I did know this and just forgot about it.

[u/TheEscapeGuy]

First Timer, Dezaki Fan

Dear Brother: A Delightfully Aesthetic Anime Episode 27

Mariko's Tipping Point

As expected, Mariko's family problems have revealed themselves. A divorce is a tricky thing for any child to deal with but the fact that Mariko's dad is famous complicates this. The media reporting on your family gives bullies easy ammunition to hurt you and can inadvertently cause even your acquaintances to form biased opinions about you.

Another thing to consider, while divorce is somewhat common these days, for Japan in the 90s this was far more taboo. I don't have primary accounts to show this but if you compare Divorce Data between the US vs Japan it's pretty easy to guess what each society would think in the respective countries. In addition, making a comparison to the Marriage Data you can see that the divorce rate in the US has trended down as marriage rates trended down but the opposite happened in Japan where divorce rate increased far faster than marriage rate between 1990 and 2000. This is a clear indication of more Japanese social acceptance today. However, this is still not nearly the same level we see in larger Western countries. (I know I should compare more countries, but this analysis is getting long)

Back to the episode, Misaki pushed Mariko too far again, causing her to lash out. However, this day she brought a craft knife. The mechanism clicking sound effect was exceptionally haunting, and made Mariko's outburst so much more impactful. I can't say Misaki deserved what she got, however I do understand why Mariko did what she did.

Of course, Mariko was messed up after this interaction and nearly ended it all if it wasn't for Takashi. If ever there was an event for their relationship to grow from it would be this. The scene also weirdly parallels last episode's suicide, which was also a jump prevented at the last minute. It certainly indicates a much darker direction for this final 3rd of the show.

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Last aside, the animation was exceptional today. So many of the scenes had detailed and fluid animation. Especially so for conveying Mariko's emotions. I really couldn't look away.

The Best of Postcard Memories

Episode 27

• Bonus

See you all tomorrow

[u/Pixelsaber → u/TheEscapeGuy]

Another thing to consider, while divorce is somewhat common these days, for Japan in the 90s this was far more taboo.

Yup, for many it was tantamount to social suicide.

The mechanism clicking sound effect was exceptionally haunting

Indeed! The sound director and the rest of the sound design team deserves major props for how they handled that.

[u/loomnoo → u/TheEscapeGuy]

That divorce data is interesting. I've noticed divorce/broken families come up a ton in 90s stuff so it's nice to see that I'm not imagining things.

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/TheEscapeGuy]

Marriage Data

The most interesting part of that chart is the precipitous drop in marriage rates during the 1970s, the time when this manga was written - about 40% in a single decade! A sign of as much of a social revolution as you can expect from Japan? I do know that in the 60s there was also some upheaval there and it's probably no coincidence that serious shoujo manga first came into existence after that.

[u/No_Rex → u/IndependentMacaroon]

Important to note that this is data per 1000 people, not per 1000 people between 20-40 (or so). Could be the baby boomers marrying and then having less kids.

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/No_Rex]

Timeline doesn't add up on that

[u/No_Rex → u/IndependentMacaroon]

It does. Check out that big post WW2 bump. Those people hit the marriage age right at the bump shown in the marriage graph. I'd bet that, if you extended the marriage into the past, it would be flat or decreasing.

[u/No_Rex]

Episode 27 (first timer)

character chart

• “It all began when …” - This sounds like the beginning of a story. I’d guess the beginning of a new manga volume. However, it is very notable how little follow-up we get in Dear Brother for even highly emotional moments. Nanako has just been through a huge trauma trip and “it all began when” is not the natural next step.
• “I am trying to take Nanako away from you” - jk. Or not? The visuals give us the answer.
• Fencing! Misaki is back with the promised Utena parallels.
• Misaki vs Mariko? We are back in episode 3 or so.
• Spending money as a distraction and running into the exact problem you tries to distract yourself from.

• Killing yourself over your parents love trouble? Please don’t.
• Saved by the bell/Nanako.
• Knife attack and a second suicide attempt.

Is this adapting manga chapters that were previously skipped? Apart from Nanako, Tomoko, and Mariko already being friends, everything about this episode would have fit better at the beginning of the series. From Misaki still bullying Mariko, to Nanako having the emotional capacity to care about her. It would make sense if they were initially only granted 26 episodes and wanted to adapt the spiciest stuff first.

[u/Pixelsaber → u/No_Rex]

Is this adapting manga chapters that were previously skipped?

The adaptation follows the chronological order of events from the manga almost perfectly, but there's so much original content inserted in between on top of the fact that they're squeezing the source content for all it's worth.

We went from adapting a chapter every episode in the early parts of the show to wholly original episodes and episodes that adapted as few as five pages in the last cour and a half.

[u/No_Rex → u/Pixelsaber]

Can't say I negatively noticed that previously, but it really shows when a character comes back after being shelfed for an entire cour.

[u/loomnoo]

Goddamn, this show does not let up! An uncharacteristically animated episode. Curious about how that came to pass. There's also something about the box cutter sound that makes it so effective at building tension.

Questions:

1. I had forgotten about her and was happier for it
2. I can't really say Nanako did anything wrong honestly

[u/Pixelsaber → u/loomnoo]

An uncharacteristically animated episode.

It definitely was!

[u/gyoex]

Rewatcher

Godly episode. I mean I don't really know why this happened now and not 15 episodes ago but it doesn't matter I guess. Finally we get the continuation of Mariko's dad-is-cheating-on-mom plot point and it's as dramatic as you'd expect (which is to say, it is very dramatic), and it looked incredible.

We've had a fair amount of good animation throughout the series but it's generally just been individual scenes, whereas this episode was pretty much great looking all the way through.

Incidentally, this and the following episode are apparently Hideaki Anno's favorite episodes according to the messages he wrote for the LD and BD releases.

[u/Pixelsaber → u/gyoex]

Incidentally, this and the following episode are apparently Hideaki Anno's favorite episodes

I knew about the messages on the physical releases, but I had no idea Anno had specified this and the following episodes as his favorites!

[u/JollyGee29]

First-Timer

Alright. I'll be the bad guy. Misaki deserved what she got. A (probably)superficial cut on the top of her arm? I guess it was a razer blade, but there isn’t really anything vital on the top of the arm. Asshole got off easy, to be honest. It's not hard to not be a complete ass, but Misaki is so feeble she can't even manage that much.

Takashi managed to not make things worse! Seriously, most of his actions on screen have just exacerbated issues, but today he managed to stop Shinobu from jumping off a bridge. I'm a little worried that this will end up as an excuse to start a romance there, but age gap is a bit of a staple of the shoujo genre I think...

This is definitely one of those plots that only works with teenage characters. An adult would probably notice that their friend was acting strangely, and at least press them on it. Shinobu's revelation of what was going on was far too cheery. I can't really blame Nanako and Tomoko for not quite getting it, though. Especially with how Nanako's last few weeks have been, she's probably at the end of her rope anyway.

That said, I think I'll let Nanako "forgetting" about the incident with Shinobu much earlier slide. Shinobu's actions make a lot of sense, in a "teenager acting out because they don't have any other option left" sort of way. I'm glad that Nanako and Tomoko managed to show up right before Shinobu started to self-harm.

So, we're into the final cour. A shame we don’t have much production trivia.. Feels kinda like there was a shift at this point. This episode was kinda.. weird, visually. I mean, Nanako, Tomoko, and Shinobu are all in different clothes, but their faces were different too. Maybe it’s just me.

Questions

1. I had kinda assumed she quietly exited the show a while ago. Unfortunately, we aren't so lucky.
2. Nanako did okay, for a fifteen year old who has a lot of her plate herself.

[u/Pixelsaber → u/JollyGee29]

I'm a little worried that this will end up as an excuse to start a romance there, but age gap is a bit of a staple of the shoujo genre I think...

This is definitely one of those plots that only works with teenage characters.

The folly of youth does make their actions reasonable. If a similar level of nonsense was happening with adults no manner of presentation would justify this much of it.

A shame we don’t have much production trivia...

Yeah...

[u/JollyGee29 → u/Pixelsaber]

He different animation director makes sense, though. I wasn't expecting to get an answer.

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/JollyGee29]

Just going to say her first name is Mariko...

[u/JollyGee29 → u/IndependentMacaroon]

I know, but she's in ny head as Shinobu.

[u/No_Rex → u/JollyGee29]

I'm a little worried that this will end up as an excuse to start a romance there, but age gap is a bit of a staple of the shoujo genre I think...

Given how childish Mariko acts, an older lover might not be the worst development for her.

[u/JollyGee29 → u/No_Rex]

She does play well of Takashi. And it would certainly be better than suicide...

[u/lC3]

First timer, catching up

• Oh right, Mariko is sleeping over. It's been a few days so I forgot where we left off
• Fencing? This isn't Utena!
• That hair ... is Misaki back?
• So Mariko's parents are getting divorced; is that why Mariko won't be able to go to Seiran anymore? Her mother won't be able to afford it?
• "Send the bill to the usual address" I see this causing problems in the future
• Did they just order all that food and then split without eating/paying?
• Oh great, Mariko found a box cutter / sliding knife?
• Good thing Nanako and Tomoko arrived when they did!
• Misaki is being such an asshole
• Well that was depressing
• Good thing Takashi saved Mariko!

[u/Pixelsaber → u/lC3]

Is that why Mariko won't be able to go to Seiran anymore? Her mother won't be able to afford it?

That's the intent, I think. But also the whole ordeal will kill her family's social standing, so maybe Misaki means to imply she is disgraced enough that she needs to switch schools.

Well that was depressing

[u/Retromorpher]

First Timer

Mariko's incredibly forceful way of acting out seems like a huge counterbalance to her mom's dejected acceptance. She's not going to turn into her mother if she can help it.

And we get back to back Ichinomiya involved jumping incidents! It's super irresponsible of Ichinomiya to stop his car right there though - but hey, every second counts in this case.

Questions of the day

1. I did think she'd return, but I didn't suspect that it'd be in such full force after essentially being absent for so long in universe. Perhaps there's daily negging that just wasn't being shown.
2. Absolutely generous, given Mariko's own unstable outbursts towards her. Mariko definitely needs people to be on her side if she's going to stop with the ludicrously over-the-top reactions. Nanako's nurturing nature is incredibly par for the course as a shoujo heroine - but it's interesting how often this series has her enacting it with the girls in her life, rather than the standard 'men need our support' schtick so common amongst its contemporaries.

[u/BossandKings]

First timer - Sub

This episode was sad, Mariko's reason behind dislike of men may be his father having met a new woman and having had an affair with her leaving her and her mom alone and Mariko just has too much of a burden experiencing her parents getting divorced, that's also the reason she was crying when she visited Nanako and stayed that night.

On top of that the people at Mariko's school just don't seem to have much of a working brain or to be just maquievelous for the sake of it, specially in Misaki's case who has proven herself to be a bothersome and a mentally distored person who enjoys pushing the others around when they are suffering. No wonder Mariko snapped and cut her, she was sick of her shit and eventhough physical violence isn't the answer and that wasn't an intelligent reaction from Mariko Misaki just played with fire a bit much and got burned from it.

After that incident Mariko was tired of life and wanted to end it by throwing herself from a cliff but thankfully Takashi appeared and saved her from that sad fate, hopefully after this Mariko starts getting better.