Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
In a season with big names like Frieren and Oshi no Ko, Ikoku Nikki came out of nowhere and became my favorite.
The premise is simple: a 15-year-old girl named Asa loses both parents in a car accident. Her aunt Makio, a reclusive novelist, takes her in. Two people who have nothing in common try to live in a tiny apartment together.
The title means “diary of a foreign country”. In the first episode, Asa is walking behind Makio. She thinks about the accident, and the next thing she knows, she’s walking in a desert. Later, Makio gives her a diary to write in. Asa stares at the page, and the lines on the paper slowly turn into sand. They spent a whole minute on that scene. They could’ve used that time on backstory or character introductions. Instead, they gave you a desert.
The desert keeps coming back. It’s Asa’s inner world. She’s stranded there, and everyone around her is speaking a language she can’t understand.
Makio is a social recluse who forgets to reply to messages and can’t dress herself for her own book signing. She’s an adult who can’t do any of the things adults are supposed to do. She can’t cook a proper meal. She turns a clean living room into a mess in one afternoon. A lawyer shows up at her door looking angry because she kept ignoring calls, and the paperwork makes her look like a bad guardian.
But she’s also the only adult who doesn’t tell Asa how to feel.
Asa’s mother used to say “do whatever you want” and then complain when Asa did. Asa likes a song, and her mom says she must like a certain type of guy. Asa makes a decision, and her mom tells her the decision sucks. The classic Asian parent move. Give you “freedom” and then punish you for using it.
Makio doesn’t do this. When Asa wants to join the keionbu, Makio says “go for it”. No conditions. No opinions. Asa bought a computer with her own money beforehand because she assumed any adult would say no. When Makio doesn’t object, Asa cries. It’s probably the first time an adult just let her do something without a lecture.
Makio is socially anxious, messy, cold, permissive, principled, gentle, and blunt. All at once. She’s the worst possible guardian on paper and the best possible one for Asa.
