Nadia recaps: School Babysitters, episode 2
In the first episode, Ryuichi and Kotaro arrived at their new home/job. The next episode picks up right where we left off, with the two brothers waking up as dawn breaks. It’s a gentle scene as the two realize that they are no longer in their old home…until their benefactor/employer bursts in to scream at them for still being in bed. The day begins early for babysitters, apparently, and Ma’am tells Ryu that from now on, he’ll be expected to spend all his breaks in the daycare room. Kotaro calls her shaggy again. She doesn’t appreciate it, and threatens to give him the same hairstyle. The imagery is excellent:
Before Ma’am leaves, she gives Ryu the middle school uniform. He has less than a year left in middle school, so he offers to just wear his old uniform, but she insists. Ryu is MOVED TO TEARS. I don’t get it. Usaida is also amazed that the old lady sprung for a new uniform for him. Did she though? She owns the school. Presumably if she wants a uniform, they say how many.
Usaida, like many caretakers, is on the babies’ schedule. When they sleep, he sleeps. When they awake, he…continues to sleep. In fact, he falls asleep before Ryu has even left the daycare room, which is how the kids end up following Ryu out through the halls. He somehow doesn’t notice this until Hayato points it out to him, despite the fact that people have been giggling at him the entire time. The kids make a big fuss about wanting to play with him until Hayato threatens them with bodily harm. Boo! But he is not the only person lacking in empathy. Meet Inomata, a high-achieving, high-strung student who tears into Ryu about letting the kids get rowdy in the hallway. This makes them cry. As Ryu and Hayato leave with the children in tow, other students begin whispering about how mean Inomata was. One notes that Ryu has to take care of the kids because his parents died. She is unrepentant.
On her way to class, Inomata bumps into Teacher Taka’s Mom, and tells her what happened. She doesn’t care how orphaned Ryu is, rules are rules! Taka’s Mom provides us with the important information that Inomata is the top student in the gifted class, and comments that this must be hard. “It certainly isn’t,” Inomata says. “To study hard is every student’s duty.” Never mind what I just said, I love her.
In the daycare room, Hayato hits the sleeping Usaida while Ryu tries to make it up to the kiddos for being yelled at. Then Inomata appears! “You need to be more aware of what’s happening around you,” she reprimands. I agree, dude. You had five toddlers tailing you. Pay attention!
Anyway, Inomata is here to give Taka his lunch. Usaida gets a text. Then he fakes a stomachache. As he limps out the door, he asks Ryu and Inomata to watch the kids until he comes back. So I guess that means they can just take a nap, right? Inomata offers to hold baby Midori, but then starts yelling that she doesn’t really want to, she just feels she has to do something. This makes Midori cry. Well, that just about does it! The kids rally to defend baby Midori.
Unfortunately, their bravery doesn’t last very long in the face of Inomata’s wrath. Ryu tells them they should apologize because they were in the wrong. Inomata calls him “pitiable” because he has to spend time with “disobedient children.” Despite this incredibly rude and condescending remark, Ryu simply smiles and says he’s having fun. In return, she throws pillows at him and starts crying about how everyone loves him and hates her. Studying is all she’s good at! She’s so alone! Talk about issues. Jeez.
The children are a lot more sympathetic than I am and are moved to apologize so she’ll stop crying. She hugs them, and they all cry together. It turns out Taka’s Mom knows how high strung the girl is, so she texted Usaida to fake his stomachache so that Inomata could get a chance to relax. Um? First, being around small children when you don’t like or get along with small children is not conducive to relaxation. Second, the girl doesn’t need to relax, she needs therapy. A lot of it. But the closest she’s going to get to it in this episode is a nap.
The break leads us into a new storyline happening on a different day. We know this because now Kotaro is wearing a different shirt, one with a tiger on it. This is the subject of some controversy, as Taka argued earlier that it was stupid of Kotaro to wear such a thing when he’s never seen a real tiger. Now Kotaro is sad. “I didn’t do nothin’ wrong!” Taka insists. Hayato disagrees, and expresses this by hitting his tiny brother. Boo! Taka cries and accuses his brother of hating him. “I don’t particularly like you or hate you,” Hayato says. God, this dude. Why is he even in the daycare room?! Just to traumatize his brother?
Ryu is (rightly) horrified. Hayato says, “Little brothers go beyond like or hate.” Taka’s not going to grasp that kind of nuance, Ryu and I both say at the same time. Seriously, what is wrong with this guy? He leaves, and Usaida suggests a field trip to the zoo over the weekend. Later, at the mansion, Ryu informs Ma’am of their plans and asks if Usaida can get paid for the trip. Um, why? Ryu just said the Teacher Moms would be coming. Why is Usaida going at all? Ma’am points this out, but she still gives him a bunch of money for undefined expenses. Ryu uses it to pay Usaida, because he’s a sucker. Usaida has his own plans, anyway. He’s brought a camera along and is planning to take pictures to sell to the dads later. This makes even less sense. If the moms are there, why can’t they take their own pictures and show them to their husbands for free? Come to think of it, why didn’t the dads come along?
Hayato shows up to drop Taka off, but not before re-traumatizing him by repeating that he doesn’t like him. Taka runs off. Hayato leaves. Good riddance. The group makes its way through the exhibits. When they finally get to the tiger exhibit, the specimen is not happy to see them. It roars menacingly at the kiddos, who all run except Kotaro. He just stands there, turning blue and trembling with terror. “He’d be the first one eaten, I bet,” Ryu says to himself, smiling. I don’t know why that’s funny. If he were my kid, I’d be upset to think he had no survival instincts.
Usaida locates the baby tigers, which makes for a more enjoyable viewing experience for the kids. This is the only useful thing he will do on this trip.
As Ryu goes to get the giant lunch Saikawa had prepared for the group, he and Kotaro catch sight of a family walking together, with their toddler perched on dad’s shoulders. Ryu is reminded of his own family. Aw.
More cute zoo montage. Kotaro finds some sheep. “Shaggy,” he says, and everyone agrees that they do look like Ma’am. Her name, we learn, is Yoko, which happens to mean little sheep. Taka means eagle or falcon, and so does Hayato. Taka doesn’t want to talk about his stupid brother, and neither do I. We move on to the gift shop, which Teacher Takuma and Kazuma’s Mom hilariously describes as “the true battlefield.” “Don’t let it break you,” she says. Ryu suggests they buy a sheep keychain as a souvenir for Ma’am. What a great idea, Ryu! Sure, she’s deeply offended by the “shaggy” description now, but I’m sure once she realizes you’re just comparing her to sheep she’ll be totally on board. Yeesh, this kid.
Usaida offers to buy something for Taka to give to his brother. Boo! Taka is not interested, but Usaida still looks around. This allows Taka to run off after someone who looks vaguely like his brother when seen from behind and through a crowd. Seriously Usaida, you had one job! Predictably, the person is not Hayato, and as the crowd thins Taka finds himself alone just as it starts to get dark. He runs, trips over, and cries. The scene actually does a really good job of showing how small Taka is in his surroundings.
Then Hayato appears! He shames his brother for crying. Then he hits him. Boo! BOO! Why is he even here?
Zoo trip is over. The group parts ways, and Ryu and Hayato walk together for a bit, each carrying his sleeping brother. It turns out that Teacher Taka’s Mom was livid when she found out Hayato had left his brother alone, and ordered him to go back. She also hit him, so we see now how the cycle of abuse perpetuates itself. Taka mumbles in his sleep that he loves his brother, which embarrasses Hayato. Don’t worry, big bro. After a couple more years of beatings, he’ll stop expressing honest emotion all on his own. Seriously, I get that Hayato is a teenager, but he’s old enough to show some empathy to his toddler brother. There are only 11 more episodes in this series and it looks like he’s going to be a staple, so let’s hope the show redeems him eftsoons or right speedily, in the classic words of Bertie Wooster.
Frankly, all the teens on this show could use help. I’m very worried about Inomata. I, too, was once an overly emotional teen, but the realization that someone else is liked by others should not cause her to sob hysterically like that. Girl needs help. Further, Ryu is obviously a doormat who will smile at anything, including insults. I worry that being surrounded by kids like Hayato and Inomata will only enhance his people-pleasing instincts. The good news, though, is that none of them are real people, so my emotional investment can remain superficial. Also, the kids are super cute, so I’m willing to put up with all the teen angst in exchange for more baby time. Let’s hope that’s what we get!
