I also got a clue of this in the scene where she told Fumi that the reason she'd refused to return to the home of her legal guardians (an unloving aunt, uncle, and 14 year old male cousin), was that the cousin was, in fact, crawling into her bed every night to sexually molest her. So I had already deduced long before the ending that this guy was not sleeping with her and and having sex. In a 2nd scene she’s having a bad dream and, again, he enters from another room to comfort her. In one scene she wakes up alone and he comes into the room, clearly entering from another room, which means he did not sleep together in that room with her. For instance, the director showed 2 scenes of her in a twin bed at his house sleeping by herself. However, the careful viewer would’ve noticed that Fumi never touched Sarasa in the scenes of her at 9 yrs old. Ultimately, he only felt worthy of socializing with little girls. In other words, the arrested development of his sexual organ kept him in a state of social arrested development as well. It was only in the final 3 minutes that we discover, no, he was not capable of sexual arousal because he had a rare medical condition involving low testosterone, and what is vernacularly known as a “micro-penis.” His shame over this disorder prevented him from ever connecting to adult women. Because it meant we were feeling for him while still thinking he may just be a pedophile. I thought the film was daring and provocative to ask the audience to feel for this character for 2 ½ hours before telling us about his medical condition. Thus, when Fumi finally allows Sarasa to love him, wow, the tides flowed! That’s the thing about people who hate themselves – they won’t allow anyone to love them. I cared for him so deeply that I was aching for him not simply to find love (because he did find it, since the female lead, Sarasa, had been offering it to him), but to allow himself to accept her love. I was drawn in by this character because I felt for him – as in, felt for him deeply. In other words, I was staring at the character of Fumi, not the handsome actor, and there’s a difference. I was also mesmerized by the rather Zen Buddhist stillness he had, which translated his terror of opening up to the world lest his past be discovered. I kept staring at him because I was stricken by the pain he emoted as someone living with the burden of a convicted pedophile. But that’s not the reason I was riveted by his face and couldn't cease staring at him every second he was on screen. It must be said that he's a beautiful man. And one with divine performances – especially by the male lead playing Fumi. A Fiercely Original Love Story This film treats a myriad of topics and themes but I found it to be, above all, a fiercely original love story.
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