Shoushimin Series, episode 4
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| Episode | Link |
|---|---|
| 1 | Link |
| 2 | Link |
| 3 | Link |
| 4 | Link |
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*This is about episode 3 and before I’ve seen episode 4, but I’ve been super late to the party and figured I’d get more responses in the new thread. Hope no one minds. Also, repost from the [subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/Shoushimin/comments/1eeywy6/episode_3_osanai_and_possible_shoushimin_wordplay/), which is unfortunately pretty barren.*
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As an intermediate Japanese learner, I stumbled over the title of the show and had to look it up. The first results I got were *petite bourgeoisie*, which seemed odd as it didn’t relate to anything I’d seen in the show so far. The translation I watched also only ever translated it as an ordinary person. I then looked the word up in a [Japanese dictionary, and indeed, coloquially the word appears to be used to refer to ordinary people.](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E5%B0%8F%E5%B8%82%E6%B0%91/) 一般人, or 普通の人, are listed as synonyms. Case solved, I figured, though it struck me as odd that the story would go with this word over the more common and less easily misunderstood choices. Or, perhaps, they would end up drawing some parallels eventually that would justify the choice.
Well, I rewatched [this scene](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1edphrh/shoshimin_how_to_become_ordinary_john_wick/) from episode 3 a few times and started paying attention to the Japanese. And I realized that while the translation goes with “making sure we continue to have what we have”, the Japanese is a bit more oddly specific in its word choice. “小市民にとって一番大切なのは 私有財産の保全ってことしたら” translates more literally to something like “What if we put it like this: For Shoushimin, the most important thing is to **protect their (private) property**”. I could be wrong about this, I’m no expert in Japanese, but this leads me to the following reading of the scene.
Throughout the episodes, it’s become clear that Osanai and Kobato have some kind of agreement going on to help each other become ordinary people (“Shoushimin”). For Osanai, this appears to include, possibly among other things, controlling her overly strong sense of justice and self-righteousness and desire to act on it (revenge, in other words). If so, then I think she’s trying to circumvent their agreement without violating it through use of wordplay. She refers back to the other definition of 小市民, petite bourgeoisie, and argues that to people like that, protecting their property (referencing Osanai’s cake and bike) are the most important things. From that point of view, she would be justified in enacting revenge in order to prevent further harm to her property, while maintaining the letter of the agreement, if not the spirit.
If I’m not making any mistakes here, that’s some pretty awesome subtext to the scene! But I’m specifically posting because I’m unsure and am looking for other folks’ opinion. Maybe there are are some people more fluent in Japanese than me that can shed some light on things. Perhaps I’m reading too much into things, or perhaps there are even more clever reasons for choosing the word 小市民 over other simpler terms. Happy for any insight people can provide!
The Sakagami mystery deepens. Kind of interesting seeing Kobato deduce from just what little they know that Sakagami’s involved in some fraud ring. If he hadn’t stolen Osanai’s bike and ruined her tart, maybe him and his buddies wouldn’t be facing prison time.
I think Osanai and Kobato should keep playing detective. Our little Watson and Holmes are pretty good at it.
You would have thought 2 weeks was enough for Osanai to not attract new trouble
He wants the license so he can drive a car?
It always boggles my mind that there are countries where you don’t get some form of ID without needing a driving license or something similar.
I’m sure he can think of some reasons why they would need him to have a license.
I doubt he’s part of a criminal organisation.
And who’s name would he be using?
How’d he come to that conclusion?
Seems like they’re not the only ones looking into this.
So she sent something?
Or maybe she just sent the wrong thing. That happens sometimes too you know?
And so off they go to the driving school.
Seems she’s fine and right here.
Yup, she just sent the wrong thing and resent it.
Seems their hunch was right.
Well that was quick.
Also, all that for ticket scalpers?
Oof she got caught in the splash.
And so that’s what they’re going to do next.
Oh wow, so while Jogoro used to be a amateur detective, Osanai was worse. Turns out she used to be a vindictive psychopath. She wanted to forget all that and just live a normal life, but Sakagami getting her limited cake trashed and bike stolen has caused her to relapse. lol
She sure totally destroyed Sakagami, as well as his entire gang, alright.
Her trying to pretend to be a non-existent twin-sister when Kengo discovered her true nature was funny and cute.
And it does look as though she’s planning to do the same to that quarreling couple who got water splashed on her head. lol
BTW, was it ever mentioned that Chisato is a cop or civil servant or something? Kengo simply called her and immediately got info about Sakagmi’s age.
Kobato and Kengo are trying to wrap their head around the Sakagami case. Is he going to a drivers’ school? Why? What does he need a license for? What can he even use a license for? Is he even really using his own identity to get a license?
Oh NOW Kobato is bringing our percentages of suspicion, the dude really is a cocky little %#$& when it comes to solving these cases and showing his thought process. I now totally understand where Kengo was coming from.
So shy, meek, little Osanai…is actually just a wolf who pretends to be a sheep, at least if you take Kobato’s word for it. The only thing that pleases her more than sheep is beating up anybody who gets on the wrong side of her. Which, yeah, is hard to believe, but there’s something about it that feels true nevertheless.
Is Chisato like Kengo’s source for everything because she’s so quick to make friends? She even gives her new gal pal Osanai the deets she needs?
So what was Sakagami even doing? Posing as an 18-year old and trying to get a license so he and his crew could commit fraud. And thanks to the efforts of Kobato and Osania’s totally real twin sister Maki, they’re able to expose them and get them arrested.
Not that Osanai is all that happy about it. I mean, yeah, she got screwed over by them, but they also probably just ruined a bunch of kids’ lives, even if their crimes were their own. I get the sense that this is probably how Osanai dealt with a lot of people in the past because she’s so…persistent, something she can’t escape any more than Kobato can his drive to solve cases. But they’re trying.
Did that mistress just splash water on Osanai’s head because she totally missed the married man she was aiming at? And not even bother to apologize? Was Osanai really going to follow the two of them and get payback? But hey, Kobato seems to have discovered yet another possible crime they can use as a means of revenge anyways, though I kind of want to see if Osanai would’ve really beat them up.
Osanai can’t catch a break lol, girl just wants to eat sweet thing in peace, poor girl
I think I get it now. The thing that made this series less intriguing as Hyouka, apart from the less rowdy cast, that it uses much fewer visuals when describing the cases at hand. In Hyouka, during the Hyouka mystery, there was a lot of imagery going on when each of the four main characters hypothesised what was going on. I haven’t gone back to watch Hyouka for a very long time, but I think they used a lot of clever ways to make the explanations funner, such as using upper and lower-cased alphabet cookies to tell (and misdirect) a certain mystery. There was always visuals that accompanied their hypotheses and explanations, while Shoushimin is a lot more straightforward, holding long shots on Kengo and Kobato as they brainstormed and discussed the case, which makes for a lot more realistic yet “boring” scenes. I prefer Hyouka’s storytelling quite a bit more, but I find this interesting as well.
The woman at the end didn’t even apologize and just left as if nothing had happened. You’d think the guy would say something, but nope, he left too.
What is wrong with these people?
In this week’s episode of *Law and Order: Minakami High*… A criminal enterprise is deduced, and the MC’s partner is about to go delinquent-student-rogue all over someone’s ass. All this ep needed was Osanai slamming her badge on a school desk and quitting the force.
Edit: *dun dun*
Wow that was rude as fuck splashing water on a complete stranger and not bothering to apologize. Side note those pancakes looked really delicious.
I’m glad that Jougorou made sure to let Kengo know that Sakagami’s worst crime besides stealing Yuki’s bike is [ruining her strawberry tarts.](https://i.imgur.com/5a0d2C0.jpeg)
When Jougorou said that [Yuki would tear out Sakagami’s windpipe if given a chance](https://i.imgur.com/1kix4TT.jpeg), I thought he was just being hyperbolic but now I’m not so sure. I would absolutely love to see what Yuki was like in the past especially since [Jougorou says she used to be a wolf.](https://i.imgur.com/gaNM0x5.jpeg) I really hope our shy and sweets-loving [Yuki could beat people up to a pulp.](https://i.imgur.com/GXMg3mS.jpeg)
So Yuki didn’t really have to beat anyone up. All she needed [was photo evidence of Sakagami taking a driver’s license exam under someone else’s name](https://i.imgur.com/GgajNYN.jpeg), send an anonymous tip that includes that photo, [and the rest is history.](https://i.imgur.com/7vka1ko.jpeg) The dude deserved what he got for destroying Yuki’s strawberry tarts.
[Oh, come on!](https://i.imgur.com/052R7hZ.jpeg) Our two leads can’t even catch a break without getting caught into some kind of trouble. I hope we get to see what happens here next episode!