5-ji kara 9-ji made ep2-3 [review]

I’m not sure how I should feel about this show man. Mixed feelings all over.

The monk for one is super persistent, stubborn and borderlining between being ‘sweet’ and a potentially dangerous stalker. Okay, ‘dangerous’ is exaggerating since he didn’t actually do anything threatening to Junko’s life. But seriously, he kidnapped her and confined her at the temple!

That’s a legit kidnapping right? If I were Junko, I’d have reported him to the cops. Still, we have to constantly remind ourselves that this is a getsu9 drama based on a manga and everything should be considered ‘sweet’ even if the male lead persistently stalks the female lead everywhere, literally, EVERYWHERE she goes. I bet if he could enter the women’s washroom, he would totally do that too. Doesn’t he need to do monk duties back at his temple? Where does he find so much free time?! And no….they think giving Jimmy Choo shoes to any girl would make them forgive everything.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the comedy presented in this show for example, Junko’s experience at the temple as she trains to see whether she’s fitted for the monk. That is actually hilarious. However, again, this poses an obvious question. Junko doesn’t like him right? I thought it’s pretty clear with the way she reacts everytime he appears in front of her. So I mean, if you’re not interested in the guy, why would you even agree to a week’s training course? I’d be disgusted. But okay, perhaps she thinks if she goes through ONE hellish week, she’d be able to finally escape from the monk for FOREVER.

I don’t exactly hate the monk. Actually when I saw what people who have read the manga posted about how the monk is despicable, I thought I’d despise him a lot. At this moment, I don’t hate him yet. I just find it unsettling and disturbing how he continuously stalks her. Plus what is with the old granny at the temple? She’s the one behind Junko’s failure to be accepted for a job in NY? Why the hell would she even do that? I thought she hates Junko and wants the monk to marry the other girl of her choice. So isn’t it to her advantage if Junko leaves Japan altogether?

That aside, I like some of the side characters but some of them totally weirds me out too.

Firstly, Furukawa’s character…what is with him? So maybe he likes Junko but pulling her away in the middle of a party and forces his own mouth onto her is not the way. That’s just…not romantic. At all. Plain disgusting.

Even the monk thinks so.

This student of Junko is totally making me uncomfortable too. Look at how clingy and obsessive she is to her (at least the monk isn’t all touchy like that lol). She’s also worrying me because now that she meets Junko’s little sister, it’s as if she has something schemed up.

I’m more interested in Arthur and Momoe’s side story though. Girl’s a manga otaku and apparently she likes BL genre.

Arthur may be a bit unfair in how he’s using this disadvantage to make Momoe be her girlfriend (coz he’s the only one who knows her secret obsession, aside from Junko). But at least he doesn’t force himself to her.

Is it just me or Mokomichi’s English outshines everybody else’s? Yeah, I know he doesn’t speak long lines like Junko but I like how he pronounces every word clearly without slurring.

I’m going to see how the next episode goes. I almost dropped this after the ending of episode 2 when the monk says he wants Junko to fail the NY interview so that she’d stay behind with him. But it turns out that it’s the old granny so it’s not the monk’s fault. I don’t agree with his actions so far, stalking and whatnot, but I’m just curious where this heads to and I wanna see the development between Arthur and Momoe.

This pairing doesn’t seem so bad right?