21 November 2012

Piece Ep. 7 first impressions

Found this episode a bit easier to follow, it probably helps that it is rather straight forward with what is covered in this episode that ends up clearing more up than adding much more to the mystery.

Instead of a straight recap of Mizuho's conversation with Sugawara we get part of it being from the scene of last episode with some added parts. One such part is that flashback to a gym class we saw in last week's preview that has Sugawara watching Origuchi stand up for Miyamoto-sensei when some male classmates were badmouthing him.

After the opening we skip to Mizuho telling Yanai and Madoka what she learned from Sugawara and Yanai is shocked and refuses to believe that Origuchi would have a relationship with a teacher. They decide to go visit Miyamoto-sensei even though Yanai does not want to, if mainly because he does not want to believe the lead to be true.

When they get to Miyamoto-sensei's apartment he is not there but then a young boy shows up and is surprised to see them there. Miyamoto then shows up and they end up being invited in. They learn the boy is Miyamoto's son, Akito, and that he is a single father. Akito did not know that Origuchi died so when the topic comes up he is quite upset and it is then they learn that Origuchi came by to look after Akito as a babysitter.

We do not get the full story until things fast forward to everyone gathering at the Origuchi household to clear things up. Akito and Miyamoto explain that Origuchi was earning some extra money by looking after Akito for Miyamoto. (Or at least that is what I got out of it.)

We do learn some key information, like clearing up the person Origuchi was talking to on her cell that Yanai assumed was a boyfriend was just Akito. But the topic of a painting come up and Miyamoto has brought it with him to show everyone. It was something special to Origuchi but I was not able to catch what she said about it in the flashback where she talked to Miyamoto about it.

Spotting the initials on the painting, H. N, Mizuho comes to the same conclusion as I am sure most viewers will as well, this was Narumi Hikaru's painting. She is shocked visibly but shakes off the concern Madoka and Yanai show her when they notice that she is shaken by the painting.

While walking with the painting later Mizuho gets lost in her thoughts were she sees visions of high school and the people she has come in contact with as she has searched to solve the mystery. After seeing them as she saw them when in high school she then sees them as she has come to know them and sees what she had missed about them.

Mizuho ends up showing up at Narumi's house with the painting, most likely to confront him about it. She does not seem exactly up to it from her reaction to him but decides to enter the house when he invites her in.

The preview is pretty vague, so I think it is safe to say that they are making sure the viewers do not get enough to be able to guess what exactly will be covered in the next episode. That said, those waiting for the episode where members of Junior group Snow Man will be in will only have to wait until the next episode, as one of the members is shown in the preview.


We have gone down the list of suspects that we were introduced to in the first episode so there really is no other possibility to explore than Narumi not being completely truthful about his relationship to Origuchi when Mizuho asked him about it. But we should have more than one episode left so I feel like I cannot really speculate how things are going to go. I think it is safe to say though we will get the resolution of Origuchi's mystery with Narumi's now.

I am glad there was a way to make this progression feel natural and even though everything feels like it just circled around everything Mizuho has learned and gone through so far has done so much with investing care towards having this mystery solved with making Origuchi a much more complex character that could be cared for.

And I am so glad that Matsumura Hokuto has his role in this drama. I have been hoping for him to get a role that has him get away from the "cool" type character and surprisingly Yanai is that role. At first glance it did not seem that way but once we got past the surface of his character he has shown quite a bit of emotion and it is roles like this that I think will really help Hokuto grow as an actor at this stage in his career.

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