View topic - Heaven's Coins 1

I could not understand for the life of me why Shoko loved Shuichi. At all. It made absolutely no sense to me. She pushed him down the stairs. She injured him greatly, and I can understand why she felt obligated to take care of him. But during that time when she took care of him, he gave her no reason whatsoever to fall in love with him. He may have acted nice to her and relied on her for healing, but love doesn't come from sheer pity (to their credit, they mention this in season 2).

Anyway, her character grew more and more in love with him. He did nothing but slowly recall unconsciously his love for Aya. He did nothing for Shoko. The way she behaved became unbelievable. She started basing all her decisions she made, began doing bad things to other people, and grew a massive hatred towards Aya based on this love which to me seemed entirely one-sided and came out of nowhere. To me, she was freakin' nuts... but they made no indication of that in the show. I can understand jealousy if it had a reasonable basis. If you truly cared for somebody and somebody took that person away from you, I'd be pissed, too. That's why I understand Takumi's character -- he was pissed and acted crazy, but it made complete sense!

In any case, I quickly became uninterested in Shoko. I didn't care if her character died or whatever -- I just wanted her out of the show. But they kept her in... as one of the biggest plot points. Now in the middle of the drama Shuichi comes to depend on Shoko to the point where he's confused. I can dig that. Shoko's messed up character manipulates him so he can fall in love with her. Now here's where Shuichi's character gets messed up because of another flawed character. Shuichi doesn't love her and still thinks about another woman, but sleeps with Shoko anyway.

What the hell? I mean, I could see that happening with someone else, but the way they've been developing Shuichi's character gave me no indication that he was that type of person. I would let this go if it wasn't for Shoko being in the series. So at the end of the season, he has to make a difficult decision between Aya and being a father. This makes sense and in most cases would make for a great plot point. I'm lucky I finished the season.

Now I'm on season 2. Heaven's Coins 2 has the unfortunate burden of relying on the first season which I thought was incredibly flawed. But my stupid ass can't stand not completing something that I started (Japan seems to be good at making people like that), so I have this need to finish the series. It's not because I want to see what happens, mind you. And here's why.

Aya, the character I thought was well-written, becomes awkward. Suddenly she's wishy-washy and can't make a decision, whereas before she was strong in her belief in Shuichi. Now, I can somewhat understand this as she's been away for a year with Takumi after leaving Shuichi with his decision of fathering his child (which Aya seemed to make for him).

Shoko passes (thank the Lord) while still having the same baseless feelings towards Aya and Shuichi. Her mother takes the baby from Shuichi and takes care of it herself. What the hell!? Are you serious? And he lets her. Out of guilt!? Guilty of what? Loving somebody he's loved since the beginning and being true to his feelings? Shoko knew he still loved her! That doesn't make him any less of a father! How is this even legal!? I mean, even if her company is funding his, since when does Shuichi's character even think it's a choice? Who the hell pauses between a choice between their newborn son and work? Maybe in some other drama where the character is like that, but Shuichi?

Also, on episode 4 (which I just finished), Takumi in one scene is all emotional and asks Aya for the 20th time to stay with her instead of going to Hokkaido with Shuichi. She accepts. Fine. Two or three scenes later, he's all "Go to Hokkaido, I'm cool now." Wait, wth? Still, he cries after, so that kinda gives him his credibility back.