I like to use these opening paragraphs as a bit of an introduction. A chance to catch up with you guys as well as with Karandi and ease everyone into the review. It makes things a little smoother and less jarring. Anyways, This week on Jeweler Richard, we learned you shouldn’t constantly sexually harass your boss.
A fairly important lesson, though not sure why it needed to be taught. Seigi is still sitting a little odd as a character really. Anyway, glad to be back discussing Jeweler Richard with you Irina. Let’s get into it.
Ok, maybe that needs a bit more context and explanation. It isn’t exactly a lie but that’s not what Jeweler Richard was actually about. It’s simply a small aside that fit into the theme. Before I start though, speaking of themes, Jeweler Richard sure is lofty if very understated. The first episode explored strict class structure and how our societal institutions are particularly oppressive towards poorer individuals, the second looked into the pressures and difficulties of non traditional sexual orientations, the third glanced and the strains of parenthood in key moments of a child’s life and this week, we’re exploring feminist doctrine and what the institution of marriage still means in modern times.
I make it sound like some uber boring social justice course work or something. It’s not. It’s very gentle in all it’s exploration and so far has avoided most moralizing.
I really do feel like this anime is simply giving us a snap-shot view of an individual going through a particular issue before they move on. When they leave the jewellery shop they may have had some personal epiphany but the larger issue is not resolved or tied up in a neat bow. The end result is it doesn’t feel like Jeweler Richard intends to preach so much as explore various perspectives. I kind of like it but it does make each story feel a little bit incomplete.
Hmmm, I guess I should talk about the episode. The main story had us meeting a young woman supposedly picking out a garnet for her engagement ring. She’s a little off and it soon turns out that it’s no engagement ring, she was recently dumped and wants to buy herself a ring to cheer herself up but was embarrassed by it. Because being single at her age is already very embarrassing and buying yourself an expensive ring is admitting that no one else will… I’m laying it on a bit too thick. I didn’t grow up with any of these notions so it just seemed weird to me but I do understand that these ideas still exist, and are much enforced in Japan among other places.
I don’t know, I felt the episode itself laid it on a little thick. Particularly the cues that she wasn’t being entirely truthful in the first meeting. They weren’t in anyway subtle as she shifted her line of sight and avoided directly answering questions. Not to mention the lack of said boyfriend while picking out an engagement ring. I just couldn’t see her buying it alone. Anyway, this was probably my least favourite customer story so far. Not that her overall issue is insignificant, I just felt it was a little too heavy handed in how it played out.
I preferred the the B plot mostly because it was funnier. Since the beginning of the series the show has been insisting on how pretty Richard is. At least one random character points it out each week and Seigi makes a huge unnatural deal about it every chance he gets. Oh the main character this week was supposedly unattractive but as all character models look super similar in this show, I literally couldn’t tell until they literally told me and I still don’t believe them. I understand it’s always dicey to declare someone objectively unattractive in media but this girl is almost indistinguishably from previous female characters which made this whole thread super weird…
Agreed. Like, she’s your typical pretty anime girl minus super shiny hair. Not to mention, Seigi is really unnatural in the way he talks about someone, particularly when Richard is right there. It’s one of the things that makes Seigi’s character sit a bit oddly for me.
So Seigi is doing his usual fawning over his boss to the point that even I got a bit uncomfortable about it. Richard is obviously not enjoying it either and then, Seigi gets this out of the blue text from his ball calling him a ball of charm and just generally wonderful with no explanation. It was a very VERY nice text and Seigi is reasonably freaked out by it just as I would be. We forget about it for the latter half of the episode and only at the very end is it revealed that it was Richard’s weird but super effective way to make Seigi realize that his behaviour is inappropriate in general and especially for the work place. I really loved this.
Yep, the story about the customer was a bit of a misfire but Richard making a clear point to Seigi in a round about manner definitely salvaged the episode and made it pretty enjoyable. The question is, how will this impact on Seigi in future episodes. I’m kind of wondering if he’ll actually take the lesson to heart and dial it down or not.
Another week, another mild but pleasant episode. Not much to add aside that I’m both looking forward to the next one but somehow don’t mind waiting a week which is unusual for me.
Thanks for Reading From
Irina and Karandi
Actually, the supposedly not beautiful character this episode had my favourite character design so far in the show. Heh.
Seriously, I don’t get what the show wants. I’m confused. It’s as if it’s about Seigi not leaning any lessons: they talk about what makes diamonds valuable, then this geology student tells him it’s a manufactured market, and you’d expect that to tie in with that girls plot, but no, Seigi’s too dense to notice and instead says something “this lesser gem really suits you.” Well, that’s how it came across to the woman, but I think this may have been a misunderstanding. However, I don’t know what sort of misunderstanding, as the show didn’t seem to address this.
It’s the same with Richard’s lesson. Seigi realises that he’s inconvenienced the woman (the horror!), but sort of completely passes by how he inconvenienced Richard, even though Richard has actually outright said that being considered “beautiful” can be a burden (and considering Richard’s usual reticence this was tantamount ot complaining).
I really hope this isn’t the set-up phase for a later wow-I-didn’t-see-this-coming twist. I hope the show doesn’t think that the entire audience is as dense as Seigi. The show might turn into an unwitting comedy. Serial jokes played straight – because they’re not intentional jokes.
I don’t know what to make of this show. I just don’t click. Not really.
I don’t blame you. I don’t think it’s a character portrait so much as a still life