Asian Addicts Anonymous

My computer decided to bully me. Seriously. The start button stopped working, the monitor went crazy. All things that wanted to break, did. Meh. So, I was fixing my computer until 1 in the morning and then started on it again from 7-9 before I had to work and it’s still not 100%, but slowly recovering after the reset. That is why I’m only getting to this recap now instead of yesterday as planned.

I believe there’s only 10 episodes, so four left and then the movie. I bet the movie will focus more on the implosion of the Kirishima, Rei, and Kira triangle and delve more into Kira’s scarred past and Kirishima’s messed up one. We already know more or less about one of Rei’s most traumatic experiences. Yes, one. He actually had a lot of family issues in the manga that I don’t know if they’ll cover at all here. Probably not too much.

Like in episode 5, we open with some narration from Kirishima as he reads some diary. Instead of the focus being about his attraction to Rei, this time the focus is his fated meeting with Kira. Since they made Kirishima an amalgamation of himself and Rei’s best friend from the manga, it changes the dynamic a little bit.

The meeting between us might have been an unavoidable fate. I love you. That’s why right now I can’t think of anything else but you.

We then cut to where we ended episode 5 with Shiori showing up out of the blue to slap Rei and then throw herself into his arms leaving everyone in shock. Shiori does introduce herself to Kira and thanks the other girl for painting Rei so beautifully. Talk about making an awkward situation even more awkward. And if that awkwardness isn’t enough, Kira, Rei, and Shiori all end up at a café together. Shiori and Rei are busy catching up and talking about their past middle school days and Kira feels more and more like an outside wondering just why she’s there. Rei notices her discomfort and holds her hand. This makes Kira happy, but annoys Shiori who suddenly feigns illness. Kira then encourages Rei to see the unwell girl home. Rei reluctantly agrees and tells Kira to wait there for him.

As soon as Shiori is alone with Rei, she’s magically feeling better and insists they go to the seaside. Shiori was awful in the manga and awful here as well. Of course, Kira isn’t stupid. She should be more willful when it comes to Rei and her feelings and not just let Shiori get away with her antics. Even Kira wonders why she let things go. Enter Kirishima. Kira tells him that she’s waiting for Rei to return after seeing Shiori home. Kirishima then asks to wait with her. Good, this way Kira can ply him for information. Kirishima confirms that Shiori and Rei used to date, but Shiori was first Sei’s girlfriend. Rei stole her and not long after Sei committed suicide and Rei blamed himself for his little brother’s death (Rei was the older of the twins).

At the beach, Shiori is happy while Rei is ticked off at how Shiori is still as selfish and fickle and ever. But wasn’t that what Rei thought was cute about her? Rei ignores this and continues walking. Shiori yells that he said he loved her. Does he still love her because she still loves him. She’d like him even if Sei were still alive. These words startle Rei deeply. Talk about insensitive. She’s evil and really is only thinking of herself. Rei sees Shiori home and she asks when they can see each other again. Rei tries to hedge around this, but Shiori’s insistent. He tells her that he’s dating Kira, and Shiori replies she knows, but Shiori doesn’t think Kira really likes Rei since one glare from her had Kira sending Rei off with Shiori. The annoying girl says she would never do something like that to Rei. Because she’s too possessive and spoiled. Rei says nothing and turns and runs away.

It’s now dark out and Kira and Kirishima are still at the café because Kira insists on waiting for Rei. Kirishima tells Kira to be more selfish (she’s afraid of texting Rei and being and annoyance) or else she will turn into a woman of convenience. Enter the out of breath Rei who gets a stern look from Kirishima and advice to call if he’s going to be late next time.

Rei walks Kira home and apologizes for making her wait so long. Rei confesses that Shiori is his ex, but their relationship is long over. Rei then confesses Sei was Shiori’s boyfriend until Rei stole her. He’s the worst isn’t he? Kira is quick to refute this. It just shows how much he must have liked Shiori that he would not yield to Sei. Kira then says that she wants to know more and more abut Rei and wants to like him more. She tells him that he’s walked far enough with her tonight and rushes off. Well…she sort of conveyed her feelings a little bit more which is good.

The next day at school girls are gossiping about how the drab Kira already had Rei stolen from her by a girl from an elite school. Enter Sugihara to the rescue. Since she’s given up on Rei, she’s become nicer to Kira. Sugihara laughs and says girls with no men have no right to gossip. When they give her a funny look, Sugihara asks if she’s not allowed to say anything since she’s Rei’s former woman. This has the girls backing down and leaving. Kira thanks Sugihara for her support. Sugihara then says that if Kira loves Rei, she can’t give up. Kira then recalls all of her encounters with Sugihara who then says she won’t forgive Kira if she loses Rei to a woman like that. Sugihara asks about Shiori and Kira confirms Shiori is Rei’s ex. This makes Sugihara even more annoyed with Shiori. When Kira calls her Sugihara, the other girl insists Kira calls her Harumi. Yay! Besides gaining a boyfriend, Kira officially gains a girlfriend.

Kirishima meets with Rei and warns him not to get strung along by that evil woman. What is he talking about? Kirishima simply replies that Rei is wavering. Kubota does have such a mastery of complex facial expressions. Rei cannot really deny this. It doesn’t mean that he’s going to get back together with Shiori, but thanks to his past with Sei and Shiori, he’s definitely having issues.

Shiori shows up and causes a big stir. Sugihara’s friend informs her and Sugihara takes off running after a long glance at Kira who chases after her. The girl then rushes to tell Rei as well. Sugihara demands to know why Shiori has come again. To see Rei of course. Can’t she do that? Sugihara says Shiori can’t since Rei is now dating Kira. Shiori laughs and says that since Sugihara is acting like that, Rei and Kira’s relationship must be really fragile. This ticks Sugihara off more and more. What’s with Shiori? The guys try to calm Sugihara down, but to no avail. This is when Shiori catches glimpse of Rei’s bracelet on Kira’s wrist. How could Kira possibly gain something from Rei that he refused to give to her? Shiori tries to take the bracelet and struggles with Kira who pushes her to the ground.

Enter Rei. Shiori accuses Kira of maliciously pushing her and she gets a rude awakening—a hard slap from Rei who tells her to quit it. He doesn’t want to see Shiori anymore—it’s over between them for good. Shiori runs off and Kira starts worrying. She feels something is going to happen. She’s right. Shiori decides to be an idiot and walk into the path of an oncoming truck since Rei said he didn’t want to see her again. Rei dives to push her out of the way cutting open his hand in the process. Shiori cries and says she’d rather die since Sei is gone and Rei doesn’t want her. Slap the idiot again.

Really the Shiori plot from the manga was annoying and it’s annoying in the drama as well. They are advertising for the movie, so I’m interested to see how they’ll play this version of the story out until the end. The Kirishima plot from the manga, to me, had an actual horrible resolution in that there really wasn’t one and it felt rather rushed. Here’s hoping for a better one.