SPOILERS FOR HAPPY SUGAR LIFE: EPISODE 10
And so the wheel of madness just keeps turning. In this episode, we finally get some insight into how Shio and Satou got lopped together. Starting with the events of the previous episode, we have Satou sulking motionlessly on the floor. Shio notices this, and initially believed that that girl Satou forced into the apartment probably had something to do with it...though she also notes that she didn’t hear the girl leave. Shio comes to the conclusion that Satou must be exhausted (I mean, yeah, holding your best friend down as you’re stabbing them to death would make you tired), so she takes it on herself to clean up the room for Satou. She cooks some curry, tries to dust off the room, and attempts to do the laundry herself. When opening the washing machine, Shio notices the bloodied pieces of clothing Satou was wearing earlier...and she then places a pile of clothes over them, not putting much thought into it.
This episode also gives more information about Shio’s home life. Her mother is simply an utter mess. She accidentally breaks something which earns her the ire of her prick of a husband; and when she fantasizes about passing her kimono down to Shio when she got engaged, her bastard husband cruelly shatters those dreams and forces her to sell the kimono so he could continue living his hedonistic lifestyle. From there, the first signs of Shio’s mother cracking are there. We have jars as metaphors for keeping people intact. Sometime after Shio left with her mother, her mother has continuous mental breakdowns, often dishing them out on her daughter. Even something as going outside to get a dandelion is enough to tip her over the edge. We get some more looks into Shio’s mannerisms such as her petting her mother’s head to make her feel better. Eventually, this culminates in Shio asking her mother to go outside. Though wary, her mother agrees, and they head out.
Along the way, Shio notices a jar in a store window and sprints out into the street to retrieve it. And she nearly gets fucking mowed down by a bus. Even in a show with insane psychopaths and a yandere as the lead, this is easily one of the scariest aspects of the episode, especially if you have little kids who are susceptible to run out into the street. So, Shio’s mother tells her that she would stay inside forever after that stunt and angrily slaps her for her insolence. Realizing that she was becoming her husband, Shio’s mother leads her outside, and abandons her. Afterward, Satou discovers Shio and ponders why Shio didn’t intend to run after her mother. So by technicality, Satou didn’t kidnap Shio at all. Which kind of lessens her scariness to a degree, at least to me.
What fascinated me about the episode are the parallels drawn between Shio’s mother and Satou. Both characters have bouts of madness in ways that involved Shio (Satou murders Shouko because she takes a picture of her and Shio; Shio’s mother gets angered that Shio would go outside without her approval). Both lie on the floor in similar fashion after their episodes; and both try to resolve their problems in methods not too dissimilar. Satou regains composure, and informs Shio that they would have to leave the apartment soon because “filth” had entered into it (wow, Satou, calling your only friend filth...seriously, fuck you). This reminds Shio of her trauma when her mother abandoned her, but it also makes her question Satou on whether or not she was just a doll to her. Satou tries to explain herself by saying that she would be unable to function properly if she wasn’t in her life; that she needs her because she serves as a source of happiness giving her life purpose. Almost got some serious Coraline vibes when I heard Satou say this for some reason.
Same pose
Same moments of anger
This of course doesn’t make the situation any better, and Shio goes into another room, and tells Satou that she hated her. We are then treated to a well-crafted animation of the floor shattering underneath Satou’s feet as if it were glass, and her mentally going through her mind, crossing figures out of her mind. Really, Satou’s breakdown is really well-animated, and it is also richly ironic for Satou that the one person she loved would say something that harsh to her. I was like “yeah, take that, you friend murdering, pedophilic sociopath!”
But of course, like in the manga, Shio apologizes to Satou for saying that she hated her, stating that she told her that because Satou would always keep her in the dark about things. And for the first time, Satou explains the situation to Shio, and Shio vows to be her “partner in crime” until the bitter end, and they would work together to fight for their love. All I could think of was “No, child, you don’t know what you’re saying...” But ultimately it kind of shows how they are similar in a way: both came from households that had some form of abuse (though Satou’s backstory is nowhere near as bad as Shio and Asahi’s was), they were both “broken” in some shape or form, and they both clearly did not have a firm grasp on what love was. I’m not saying that I automatically like the ship now; I don’t because regardless of their similar circumstances, Satou is still grooming a child, but their relationship to a degree does make some sense in the context of the show.
So, another mystery is solved for the most part, and Asahi is last seen with a metal bat, intent on explaining to his younger sister how their mother really was like. Though will he find her? Two episodes left.
Score: 8/10 stars