Episode 2 of A Couple of Cuckoos has aired and it showed the differences in the lives Nagi and Erika have been leading. After the whole arranged marriage plan that was set up by their parents in the previous episode, Erika pays a visit to the Umino household. From there, both she and Nagi realized that they grew up in completely different environments. Just how different are their lives?
Well, let me say that they find each other’s lifestyles very strange. For starters, Erika doesn’t know what a doorbell is because her home uses a keycard to enter. She was surprised by a lot of basic things from the small bathtub to Nagi and Sachi’s rooms are separated just by a curtain. Because of her naiveness, she even sat on the shelf because the Umino household doesn’t have any sofa or chair to sit on. After looking at her original family’s home, Erika realized something. But before we discuss that, let’s look at how Nagi’s life could’ve been.
To begin with, Nagi was very shocked as well to see how luxurious the lives of his biological parents were. The mansion, which was supposed to be his home, was enormous and even had a pool, tennis court, golf course, gazebo, and a doghouse that is almost the same size as his current home. On top of that, he could’ve also had six vacation houses. Basically, he could’ve had anything he wanted with little to no effort.
At this point, we can conclude that their lives are a far cry from each other. With Nagi knowing that his real parents lived comfortable lives, he was indifferent about whether they are living miserably. As for Erika, she wanted to give her biological parents a piece of her mind.
For the entirety of the episode, Erika was portrayed in Nagi’s imagination as this spoiled brat who could never be accustomed to the poor lifestyle. He also imagined that Erika inherited the delinquent traits of her true parents and might cause a ruckus and tantrum when she’s treated harshly. As a matter of fact, she did throw a tantrum in front of Nagi but not because of the reasons he imagined.
As I mentioned earlier, Erika wanted to give her parents a piece of her mind after seeing the situation of her original family. Deep in her heart, she wanted to know them better for the reason that she pities them. Because all this time, she was living a great life but her family wasn’t. She kept overthinking this and was unable to tell them how she truly felt. However, in the end, Nagi comforts Erika and finally opens up to her biological parents. But what about her sister Sachi you may ask?
While Erika was bonding with her bio-parents, Sachi was hiding in the background the whole time. This implies that she hasn’t accepted this whole situation just yet. I mean, it’s not that easy to accept after suddenly knowing that your sister is a famous internet celebrity and that your brother wasn’t your brother all along. She even refused to talk about it when Nagi brought it up. While cleaning the dishes, she recognizes the chopsticks that Erika used while visiting them and puts them on the container labeled family use. This small act hints to us that she’s slowly accepting her as her sister even though they haven’t met yet. Eventually, she will welcome her into the family sooner or later and that’s something looking forward to.
Episode 2 of A Couple of Cuckoos was surprisingly wholesome all throughout. The first half may have depicted Erika having this self-centered attitude but the latter half showed her true tender personality. We got to see some foreshadowing as well that will be impactful later in the season. The second episode ended with Erika’s father surprising both her and Nagi and saying that they will be living under one roof just the two of them. His father’s reasons are yet to be said but surely this sets into an exciting one worth looking forward to.
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Screenshots via Crunchyroll
© Miki Yoshikawa / Kodansha / A Couple of Cuckoos Production Committee