Kinou Nani Tabeta/What Did You Eat Yesterday? Episode 10 (Recap)

If the last episode had us seeing how the wedding he attended made Shiro look at his relationship with Kenji in a different way, this week we get more background about Kenji and why he feels so insecure in his relationship with Shiro. We are approaching the end of this series, but it is so popular in Japan that people are talking about another season. There is plenty of material since the manga is so popular and started being published in 2007.

I was trying to think of what picture from show to use in this opening, and I thought this bag really symbolizes the struggles and different perspectives that out favorite couple has to address.

Episode 10

This episode opens with Kenji at work. It appears to be after hours, and he’s talking to his boss and a woman, Reiko, his wife. They have decided to renovate the empty rooms upstairs to do a beauty room, and Reiko is going to come back to work part time.

Hiro asks Kenji what he thinks, but Kenji doesn’t believe what anyone thinks matters since Hiro owns the place and Reiko is his wife. She seems nervous if excited and asks Kenji for his opinion about her coming back to work. He takes note of her seriousness, so he considers and tells her that he thinks it will be fine since she’s so good with customers. She’s so happy and relieved by this response that Hiro pretends to be put out that his word wasn’t good enough for her.

They smile at each other, and later Kenji tells him that he’s happy that they made up. Hiro smiles and admits he’s doing this to make up for his sins. Kenji just looks at Reiko thinking that they’re married; they are a family. There is such longing in his voice about this idea of family.

We turn to morning. Kenji is still eating breakfast while Shiro is getting ready for work. He remembers to hand Kenji a letter that came yesterday. It’s paperwork he asked his mom to send concerning his father. Apparently, his dad is living somewhere on welfare, and once a year the government collects information. His mom can’t handle the paperwork anymore, so he asked her to send everything to him. Shiro has never heard this story before. 

Kenji tells Shiro that his dad always had another woman somewhere and was never around. He only remembers that would randomly appear drunk, beat them, and take their money. He hasn’t seen him since the year 9 (2009?). That time he showed up drunk banging on the door to find a Kenji who had grown over a foot taller than the last time. We see this play out in flashback.

Young Kenji

Kenji admits that he was still a softie, but his dad didn’t know that. He tries to remember what he said to him when Shiro asks, but he can’t. He just remembers that they never saw him again and didn’t hear anything until 20 years later they got one of these letters. It’s the only notice that he is still alive somewhere. Shiro is surprised that Kenji’s mom didn’t divorce his dad. Kenji agrees but asserts that some people can’t draw a line and remarks cryptically that his boss and is wife are still together, too.

At work, a very awkward situation has developed. We see that Reiko has started working at the salon, and who is one of her first clients? Hiro’s mistress!!Kenji and Hiro look distinctly uncomfortable while Reiko and the mistress seem to be getting on famously, giving each other compliments. Reiko comments on how pretty she is. The mistress tells her that she will be Reiko’s first customer when Reiko gets her own place. Reiko promises to give her a discount.

Kenji can’t stand it anymore, and he and Hiro go stiffly up the stairs for a confab. Once upstairs, Kenji immediately turns to Hiro asking if he can stand it, whether Reiko really knows to whom she is talking, and to find out if Hiro has broken it off with his mistress. The answer to all of the above is no. . . at least Hiro thinks the answer to all is no.

All of this BEFORE the opening credits!

We next see Kenji drying dishes while Shiro is on phone with Kohinata. They are talking about them all going out to drinks together he next week, but it's obvious that Kenji doesn’t like Shiro talking to Kohinata.

When Shiro hangs up, Kenji says he’s fine meeting Kohinata but wonders why Glbert isn’t going to be there. Shiro, not picking up on Kenji's mood, jokes that Kohinata probably just wants to complain about Gilbert. Kohinata calls back, and Shiro’s response to him doesn’t make Kenji feel any better. There is something secret going on between Shiro and Kohinata; Kenji asks him if it’s more tickets (remember how Kohinata got Shiro tickets to see a show that his favorite actress is in before), but Shiro denies it.

Kenji’s state of mind isn’t helped by the next day at work. Everything seems fine and normal. He’s calmly doing paperwork and smiles when Reiko walks by him to put away some towels. She apologizes to him out of the blue, asking him is he thinks she’s too much trouble. Looking a bit befuddled at the direction of this conversation, he disagrees because he likes working with her. He goes on to say that the place is turning into a family business, so really he should be the person worried if he’s causing too much trouble. This seems like a warm conversation unit Reiko talks about how she’s going to get her confidence back then she will no longer be a pushover. She gets in his face warning him not to let anyone cheat on him because it's difficult to forgive them after. He's startled. We’re startled. What does she know?

So no wonder, Kenji is not in a good mental space when he gets home. When he walks in already looking sad and broken, he sees Shiro animatedly talking to someone on the phone thanking them for a bag that he’s looking at. Kenji looks uncommonly forlorn watching Kenji so happy. He stares with the loneliest eyes at the bag in question and only does a quiet greeting when Shiro gets off the phone. Shiro asks him to come make gyouza together, but Kenji looks so lost that Shiro becomes concerned.

Kenji tells him that he can’t go with him to meet Kohinata because they are going to be having a meeting that night at work to discuss the renovations. Shiro assures him that will be okay; he'll just go alone. However, that is not what Kenji wants at all. He looks uncomfortable; in fact, he looks like he's ready to cry, but he still asks for what he really wants—for Shiro to stay home, too. 

Initially, Shiro doesn’t take him that seriously, reminding Kenji that Kohinata most likely only invited them so he could gripe about Gilbert, so nothing will ever happen. Kenji is not in the frame of mind to believe this.

He states that things always happen when people say something will never happen. He knows that Kohinata is Shiro’s type.

But even Shiro’s anger doesn’t keep Kenji from stopping. All of his emotions and his fears come bubbling out to the surface. He knows what can happen because he did it himself. He confesses that he cheated on a boyfriend he had thoughtlessly and ruined their relationship, so he knows.

But his confession doesn’t help Kenji; it only makes him afraid. He starts to cry and scream, calling himself an idiot over and over because now he knows that Shiro will definitely hate him for being a hypocrite. He seems to believe that this is all a part of the road to Shiro growing tired of him and hating him. Poor Kenji. SO much baggage to be carrying around alone.

After Shiro calms him down and assures him that he will never hate him, Shiro calls Kohinata and cancels their plans, telling him that he and Kenji can no longer make it. He looks to Kenji asking him if they are finished because they have gyouza to make. Kenji nods and goes to wash his hands. Shiro knows that something must have caused this outburst, and finally Kenji tells Shiro about his boss and his wife and how he thinks their marriage is falling apart.

He also indicates the dreaded bag from Kohinata, and how Shiro was so happy to get a present from him. This startles Shiro because the bag isn’t from Kohinata but from their neighbor, Kayoko.

She got it for free, but she doesn’t like it because it’s too heavy and big for her. Shiro doesn’t like to have use plastic bags all the time, so she gave it to him.

The next morning, a yawning Shiro leisurely stretching walks into living room on way to kitchen. He’s startled by Kenji’s voice because Kenji is usually at work on a weekend, and it’s already past 10. Kenji, a bit sheepishly (probably thinking about his outburst the night before) reminds him that he doesn’t have to work today because of the renovations. Once this registers, Shiro lights up. He really does. He looks at Kenji as if he's a giant snack and that he's received a surprise gift of major discounts.

He’s so excited that they are both off and going to have an off weekend together that he decides he is going to make something special for brunch, so he tells Kenji to clean up.

He proceeds to make batter for crepes, and this becomes this episode's recipe, but since this is brunch, he prepares both savory and sweet fillings for the crepes. While he is doing this, Kenji comes back in with a weird look, smiling in a creepy way. Shiro doesn’t notice until he sees what’s in his hand.It’s a poster of his favorite actress from her heyday. That is what he was talking to Kohinata about, and he looks guilty.

To top it off, she’s in a swimsuit, and even though the swimsuit looks like something you’d wear to the Olympics, Kenji is not happy. Shiro tries to convince him that it’s actually a collector’s item, but Kenji isn’t buying it.

The only way Shiro distracts him is by showing him the crepe batter. Kenji, completely excited by the idea of crepes, tosses the poster aside, forgetting all about it. Shiro winces watching the poster fall to the floor, but he's smart enough to ignore it, enlisting Kenji's help in whipping cream (which from my experience can take awhile doing it by hand).

Crepe Bribe

They are finally ready to eat with a stack of crepes on a plate and a variety of fillings from which to choose. I’ll show some of the combinations here, because there wasn’t one really good shot of all the food on the table. And what's a recap of this show without food pics!

Tuna mayo with cucumbers and tomatoes:

Ham, egg, and cheese:

Banana, whipped cream, and chocolate sauces:

Banana, yogurt, and honey:

Lemon butter and honey:

Whipped cream, ice cream, and chocolate sauce:

In between the savory and the sweet, Kenji goes to get a tissue to wipe his hands and sees the paperwork for his dad in the pile of mail under the tissue box. He stops to tell Shiro that he does remember what he said to his father. In the flashback, we see him not letting his father back into the house, telling him to go away and not be a nuisance.  His dad looks surprised by this young man where he was still expecting a boy telling him to go away.

Kenji admits that was the last time he saw him, thinking that his dad was a coward and generally only had some nerve when he was drunk. What he had said to his dad echos Reiko's comment about forgiveness. [It’s probably why the problems between her and Hiro affected him so much.] He recognizes that he couldn’t forgive his dad anymore and that you can’t live with someone you can’t forgive. He tells Shiro that he's sorry for dampening the festive mood, but Shiro suggest they start making the sweet crepes at this point, so the mood quickly recovers. They eat so many more crepes, that I even felt full!

When they finish eating, they look outside because it’s such a pretty day. Kenji wants Shiro to know how much he loves to spending such days with him. We can see on SHiro's face how much this touches him. Without turning around, Shiro tells Kenji that instead of Kenji always saying he’s sorry, he'd rather just hear Kenji say thank you.

Kenji’s face softens with relief, understanding, and love, and he thanks him again. He even suggests that on a weekend like this they go away to a hot spring or something. When Shiro shows concern about the two of them showing up and obviously looking like a gay couple, Kenji suggests going with Kohinata and Gilbert, but Shiro doesn’t want that either and teases Kenji about what would he do seeing him in a hot spring with Kohinata?! Kenji is horrified at idea. Ha! You brought it up, Kenji!

Shiro just tells him he’d rather stay here with him. Shiro looks at him fondly and thinks in voiceover that Kenji had been correct. He had been attracted to Kohinata at first. He smiles even more at Kenji and says sorry to him in his mind while looking t Kenji with much love.

Comments

Mahjong and I discussed in comments about this ep in last week's Rawr about how this episode revealed the extra depth to Kenji's distress in this relationship. I had commented that I found it interesting because I have seen many people put most of the blame for his insecurity on the actions or inactions of Shiro, especially because Shiro isn't out. Mahjong pointed out to me the differences in their circumstances, too, that would put Kenji in a less than advantageous position in this relationship--the fact that this was Shiro's apartment, Shiro has a more prestigious job, Shiro is attractive to both men and women because he a gay man who most people think is straight. He also is not as open with his affections although I think his feelings are just as deep if not more so than Kenji's. He looks so sad hearing about Kenji's dad--even worried about the fact that his mom never divorced him.

I really like the way the show embeds humor even in tense moments without diluting how awkward or painful the actual situation is. The way Kenji and Hiro sneak off upstairs when Reiko is helping the mistress was funny despite the discomfort. Or kenji's response to the swimsuit poster was still humorous even though we just witnessed how terrified he really is of Shiro falling for/leaving him for someone else.

And of course, the food. I was this close to ordering a crepe pan!