Aoi Bungaku Series - Kokoro (Eps 7 & 8)

This is yet another famous classic in Japanese literature and I'm sure most people who had gone through Japanese classes would have heard of the author Natsume Souseki. In my class, what our sensei introduced us to was a light-hearted novel titled "Wagahai wa Neko de Aru". This novel, Kokoro (Heart) is also considered as one of Natsume's signature works and was said to be in a constant bestseller race with Dazai Osamu's Ningen Shikkaku which I had reviewed earlier. Although I have not read the novel yet, I did hear about the storyline previously. If you had read Wagahai and contrast it with Kokoro, you will see a vast difference between the two. Wagahai is a sarcastic look at society from the eyes of a cat but with lots of humour. However, the atmosphere in Kokoro is gloomy and grim. It is not surprising, considering that we are talking about the dark side of humans.

The novel itself is divided into three portions but the first two portions are not covered in the anime. What happened was that Natsume actually started writing the final part and it became longer than he expected. As such, Kokoro was then expanded into three parts with the order jumbled up. Actually, the crux of the story is in Part 3 so it is not surprising that the anime chose to focus on it.

What surprised me was that they finished the whole story within 1 episode and used the other episode for a fictional view of the events from another viewpoint. To put it simply, the first episode was Kokoro in its original form but the second episode was fiction. For people who have read the novel, I wonder how they would feel about this decision.

In this story, we have four main characters i.e. Sensei, K, Ojou-san and Okusan. Sensei is staying at Okusan and Ojou-san's place as he studies in an university. He has a friend K who keeps a distance from people and concentrates on studying only. K seems intent on leading a lifestyle like a Buddhist monk with no desires. Sensei invites K to stay with him in an attempt to get him to warm up to people and because he knows that K's financial situation isn't that good. However, the unexpected happens as Sensei finds out that something is going on between K and Ojou-san. In an attempt to prevent K from getting Ojou-san, Sensei leaps at the chance offered by Okusan and manages to get Ojou-san's hand in marriage. Unable to withstand Sensei's betrayal, K commits suicide. Even though Sensei manages to marry Ojou-san, he feels as if a part of him has died together with K and his marriage is destined to end in tragedy.

Despite the story being dark if not as dark as Ningen Shikkaku, I like it because it offers a very realistic look at humanity. Be it in the old days or in the modern era, something like this could happen to any one of us. It is natural for people to think of themselves. In this case, Sensei felt threatened because of K's appearance. Then again, he was the one who brought it upon himself because things might not have come to such a state if he didn't bring K back home. That is why that although he felt justified in marrying Ojou-san (he thinks that K doesn't deserve her even though it wasn't mentioned explicitly in the story), he also felt bad for betraying K and causing him to commit suicide. Although K may appear very strong and unfeeling, he's actually quite fragile emotionally. Maybe that was why he had to commit suicide after losing Ojou-san. It was probably more unbearable for him to see Sensei and Ojou-san get married as compared to death.

In the first episode, it gives the impression that K was the one who took the initiative to get close to Ojou-san and she was not keen on him initially. The scene when K stood in front of Ojou-san in his underwear gives the impression that he was trying to test if Ojou-san was still going to be friendly to him when he tried to show himself as a scary person. However, the second episode takes on a different view of the situation and depicts Ojou-san as a manipulating and pretentious woman who was leading K on all the time. That scene where Ojou-san literally crept into K's futon was probably the most extreme behaviour you would expect from her. Although the second episode offers a fresh perspective to the situation, I thought it was better if this episode could be used to explain more on Sensei's anguish after K's suicide and how his life and marriage suffered as a result. Nonetheless, K's perspective was enjoyable to watch on its own although I thought it wasn't too relevant to the main storyline because of its make-believe nature. It only complicates things as we are not exactly sure what is going on.

Sakai Masato's voice is more suited for characters with a quiet and brooding charm. The last story was a great disappointment so I'm quite happy to hear him do what he's good at. The biggest difference between Youzou and Sensei would be the development and contrast in their feelings shown through Sakai's voice. Youzou appeared dejected and depressed for most of the story. Even when he was supposedly happy, it felt so unnatural and forced as if he was just trying to show everyone how good his life had become. Youzou seemed very intent on showing his happiness. However, Sensei's feelings are shown like a slow streaming river. At first, he appears like an earnest young man who's truly concerned about his friend (although some people may also feel that he's just trying to make himself feel good and superior because he can extend aid to someone) but if you compare how his voice sounds when he feels threatened by K's presence and when K killed himself, the progression is displayed so gradually that you hardly feel the difference.

With regards to the character design, this is where I'm not too happy about. Seeing Sensei is as if I'm looking at Youzou and Yagami Light at the same time. I know that these manga artists would probably have a distinct drawing style but it tends to get repetitive over time. As for K, I was wondering if Natsume did describe him as someone like that. He looks too huge as compared to the rest of the characters and it's as if the artists are making him out to be a big boor in order to show the contrast between K and Sensei.

On the whole, I like this story pretty much but when it comes to completeness and quality of production, Ningen Shikkaku had an edge over Kokoro. I wouldn't consider Ep 8 as redundant but there is a possibility of a higher level of presentation if both episodes had been dedicated to Part 3 of the novel. Of course, considering that Ningen Shikkaku had four episodes to develop its story, it had an advantage over Kokoro which only had two. If I consider Ep 7 on its own, it is a pretty succint account of events but the ending could have been expanded to increase the viewer's satisfaction.