Migi to Dali Episode 12 Discussion

just thinking about how useless the husband has been this whole show

so in the end they were saved by what, the ghost of Micchan? this is so stupid, why did they have to include a supernatural bit almost at the end of the show..

Akiyama went from being a weird dork to actually being badass in this episode.

At least Eiji took the heat off so one of the twins doesnt get arrested but now who's going to save Eiji?


What Karen said to him at first made me think Reiko was a patient of his but what if she meant he is a patient? He might have neurological problems so he forgets important things.

@traed
No, Eiji's dad is a real psychiatrist; the manga even showed his home office but the anime took another route and skipped that part.
That man is just an idiot and a doormat.

@Avvenirista
I didnt mean he wasnt a real psychologist, i meant maybe he developed dementia or something

@traed
Personally I don't think so.
I understand why some could interpret his stupidity that way but I believe he's just a really dumb man (Reiko probably chose him as a partner for that reason).

@Avvenirista
In some way that could make sense but doesnt that contradict her desire for perfection? Or maybe she never cared for real perfection just appearances.

@traed
I think Reiko did strive for perfection but she probably prioritized stuff like Eiji's and Karen's education, the public image of the Ichijou family and the shadow management of the Oregon village over trivial problems like her husband's airheadedness.

@Avvenirista
I think her husband being like this only helps with perfection - he doesn't need to be perfect by himself, it's enough (and arguably better) that he is a perfect puppet. Which he basically was to Reiko.

I don't think it's the case either that he is a patient nor that she is or was his patient (they could have met that way or through something related to his job, but that's unrelated/incidental). I think Karen meant to say that he is technically a medical professional seeing patients and presumably treating people every day as part of his job, yet ironically he didn't notice someone right under his nose in his immediate family in the same household was someone with potentially some form of mental illness/neurological disorder in need of his care (or the care of some doctor in general). She meant that his wife/her pretend mother should have been a patient because of her state of mind and actions but he was too blind and oblivious to realize it.

It seems to me he's just supposed to be the embodiment of the stereotypical trope of the workaholic husband who is always away or busy with work, but is completely mentally and emotionally absent from involvement in the day-to-day affairs of his own house and family. Which is the way Japanese corporate businessmen are sometimes portrayed, but it's also a trope you see in portrayal of Western husbands too, sometimes in shows like sitcoms and played for comedy.

Sometimes it's plot relevant and used for dramatic purposes, sometimes it's comedic, sometimes some mixture of the two (I would argue that's the case here as this series has elements of both drama and comedy), and sometimes it's just a simple plot convenience to get the husband/father out of the picture of interfering with the main characters' actions, like those of the kids of the family, with no deeper purpose apart from that. Sometimes both parents are portrayed that way just so that narratively there's an excuse for the children to have free rein to do what they want.