Kazoku Game Ep 10 Review

So at long last we come to the final episode of Kazoku Game (家族ゲーム). In the last episode, Shinichi (Kamiki Ryunosuke) learned the substantial details of Tago Yudai (Sakurai Sho)’s past and why he took on the role of the hateful Yoshimoto Koya. In the process, we found out that the whole point was to keep Shigeyuki (Uragami Seishuu) from becoming a victim like Sanada Souta and to keep Shinichi from becoming a monster like Tago Yudai.

I’m not sure what this scene at the beginning was about . . .

. . . but soon enough we got the scene at the end of the previous episode, with Yudai walking in on the Numata family as Kayoko (Suzuki Honami) was insisting on a divorce from Kazushige (Itao Itsuji).

He claims that he came back to . . . to retrieve all the snooping devices he left behind since they were rented. He had placed around ten mini-cameras around the house!

Kazoku Game Ep 09 Review

When we last left the Numata family in Kazoku Game (家族ゲーム), they were in a pretty desperate state.

And since there’s one episode after this one, it seems unlikely that they’ll get out of their funk in this episode – not if the writers want to keep up their excellent pacing and retain audience interest in the finale.

So, what exactly are we going to get in this episode? The opening is just a montage of the depths the family has reached, and I guess the question that has to go through our minds while watching them go into complete dysfunction instead of, say, being defiant, is whether this family deserves to be saved.

Gotta laugh when Shinichi (Kamiki Ryunosuke), unable to find anything in the fridge, buys some groceries for himself, but labels them all with his name.

Kazoku Game Ep 08 Review

I’d say that this episode of Kazoku Game (家族ゲーム) is where the shit hits the fan (please forgive my language, but I can’t stand self-censorship), but honestly, it’s been hitting pretty steadily throughout the series. After all, in the previous episode we saw Kayoko (Suzuki Honami) contemplate suicide after ending up with a hefty stock market debt (presumably because she traded on margin).

But this is bound to be an even more damaging episode to the Numata family, so it’s appropriate that Kazushige (Itao Itsuji) narrates at the beginning of it. While doing the recap, we get the sense that he’s far more concerned about who Tachibana Maki (Kutsuna Shiori) is than what Yoshimoto (Sakurai Sho) is doing, even though Yoshimoto declared the demise of the family in the previous episode.

I came to the conclusion that this was going to be a dire episode pretty early on. In fact, it was right around the time I saw Kazushige embezzling the needed 10 million yen ($100,000) from the severance pay list. That is not only desperate, but also probably the stupidest way to embezzle money I’ve ever seen.

Shinichi (Kamiki Ryunosuke) has begun to doubt Maki after seeing her talking amiably with Yoshimoto, even though they’re supposed to be mortal enemies. She gives him a lame excuse but seals it with a kiss. Is he really going to fall for that ploy? Well, honestly, I can’t blame him – in fiction and usually in fact, a kiss is a surefire remedy for the faults in any excuse.

Kazoku Game Ep 07 Review

Following the pattern of recent episode, this Kazoku Game (家族ゲーム) episode began with narration from the point-of-view of Kayoko (Suzuki Honami), the mother of the Numata household. Next to Shigeyuki (Uragami Seishuu), she’s been a sympathetic character for the audience while pretty much everyone else seems reprehensible in one way or another. This intro doesn’t change that at all.

We find out a number of interesting facts. For instance, her marriage to Kazushige (Itao Itsuji) was arranged by her father because of business ties to Kazushige’s company.

But because business with Kazushige’s company went sour, Kayoko’s father ended up disliking Kazushige. So, Kayoko basically felt abandoned by the father who had led her into this marriage. On top of that, she was abandoned by Kazushige – first, because he didn’t take part in raising their kids, and then more critically, through the affair with Tachibana Maki/Asami Maika (Kutsuna Shiori). Finally, once her kids became teenagers, they abandoned her, too.

Into this lonely existence stepped Yoshimoto-sensei (Sakurai Sho), who helped Shigeyuki, showed her Kazushige’s infidelity, and helped her to cover up her stock losses.

Kazoku Game Ep 06 Review

The brilliance of Kazoku Game (家族ゲーム) at this point lies in the fact that I really don’t know whether tutor Yoshimoto Kouya (Sakurai Sho) is trying to redeem himself by helping this family or just playing a sick game that will ultimately wreck an already weak household unless he can be stopped, as Shinichi (Kamiki Ryunosuke) believes. Either way, Yoshimoto is crazy, but the entire plot hinges on whether he’s crazy good or crazy bad.

The past couple of episodes, we’ve been getting introductions from the point of view of one of the characters, and this time Shigeyuki (Uragami Seishuu) is doing the narration. He explains the inferiority complex he developed because he was overshadowed by his brilliant older brother, and how that led him to be withdrawn in school and become a target for bullying.

Then he speaks glowingly about the change that occurred thanks to Yoshimoto’s influence, but still wonders whether Yoshimoto is simply manipulating him for amusement.

It looks like he has a friend now, though.

Breaking away from Shigeyuki’s narration, we see Shinichi objecting to having Yoshimoto as a tutor while behind Kazushige (Itao Itsuji)’s back, Yoshimoto holds up the incriminating photos of Shinichi to compel him to accept the situation. No one except for Shinichi sees the photos at this point. I loved this scene because of the expressions Sakurai-san and Kamiki-kun played the parts with.