Kazoku Gari Ep.10 Final

Here comes the final episode.  It's a happy, sad and scary ending.  The good thing is that everyone stopped hiding/escaping from the reality.  They are facing their own difficulties, and trying to deal with them.

This drama is telling us many things which cannot be described in easy terms.  Please watch the drama to fully grasp the ideas and messages this drama is trying to convey.

(spoiler)

O'ono, the termite control guy and Yamaga, the case worker's colleague are about to "send off" Ai and her parents in front of the art teacher and the case worker.  They believe they're doing a favor to the family as they're hopeless and cannot be revived as a family.

Although even Ai agrees to be sent off, the art teacher tells Ai not to die.  He tells her death is not the answer.  Even though life is full of hardships, a person do have some good things every once in a while.  It's worth living for those good things.  He also tells that a person is not all alone, that he/she has relationships with other people such as his/her family, friends, colleague, etc.  Death brings sadness to those people.

Then Mamihara, the detective and his partner barge in.  They stop the killing, but O'ono and Yamaga start a fire and escape the scene.  They go to a dense forest in Mt. Fuji area.  Their car is found, but they are nowhere to be seen.

A week after the incident, the art teacher, the case worker and the detective meet at O'ono's house.  The detective explain the crime story of O'ono and Yamaga.  They were married with a son and lived in Kagawa Prefecture.  They both worked in the field of education, especially in counseling of troubled kids and their parents.  They worker hard, but neglected taking care of their son.

Wanting more love from his parents, the son turns violent and tries to destroy his own family.  O'ono and his wife coul do anything to solve the situation except killing their son.  They were arrested, but because of their "mitigating circumstances", they received light sentences.   They wanted the sentences to be heavy as they killed their beloved son.  Their sense of guilt was so huge, O'ono was violent in the prison and tried to kill himself many times.

After they got out of prisons, they got a divorce, but lived next to each other and hunted families together.

The case worker feels sorry for O'ono and Yamaga.  They had to carry a heavy burden after killing son, but nobody offered a helping hand to them.  The detective disagrees as he thinks family matters must be solved within the family so helping hands are not necessary.

The case worker continue her opinion that a family should not be a closed system.  A family must be open so that outsider can help them or family members can ask them for help.

The case worker and the art teacher promise that the art teacher will take her to a good ramen restaurant the next time they meet.  The art teacher says he's looking forward to having the ramen with her after he faces his problems with his own family.

As for the detective, he and his lover decide to say goodbye.  It's a sad departure.  He goes back to his wife.  He tells her he doesn't mind quitting his job as a detective.  He also tries to mend his relation with his own daughter.  He lived with her for only 15 years, but he's her father after all.

Ai and her parents are leaving for Hokkaido where Ai's grandparents live.  They are going to re-start their lives there.  Ai is planning to work there to experience what her dad experienced as a family bread-winner.

At the case worker's house, they are going to celebrate her mother's discharge from the hospital.  Her cancer surgery seems to have been a success.

While the case worker and the art teacher have ramen together as they promised, the TV in the ramen restaurant is showing a news of family murder/suicide.