Alright, let’s talk about this “shi no niwa” thing, whatever that means. Sounds fancy, but it’s just a story, you know? Like them stories they used to tell on the radio, only now they got pictures and stuff.
This Takao fella, he’s just a young’un, still wet behind the ears. Wants to make shoes, can you believe it? Not like fixin’ shoes, which is honest work, mind you. No, he wants to make fancy lady shoes! And this Yukari woman, she’s older, way older. Twenty-seven, they say. That’s practically an old maid in my book, but I guess city folks are different.
So, these two, they keep meetin’ up in this garden. A garden, in the middle of the city! Can you imagine? Waste of good land, if you ask me. But they like it there, I guess. It’s always rainin’, seems like. Maybe that’s why they ain’t got nothin’ better to do than hang out with each other. Takao, he’s supposed to be in school, but he skips out to draw them shoes. And Yukari, she’s supposed to be workin’, but she’s drinkin’ beer and eatin’ chocolate. In the mornin’, no less! Kids these days, I tell ya.
- Takao wants to be a shoemaker.
- Yukari is older than Takao.
- They meet in a garden when it’s raining.
Now, their relationship, it ain’t like what you see on them soap operas. No kissin’ and huggin’ and all that mushy stuff. Not at first, anyways. They just talk, mostly. About shoes, mostly. And rain, I guess. And whatever else pops into their heads. It’s kinda strange, if you ask me. But then again, city folks are strange.
Turns out, this Yukari, she used to be a teacher. At Takao’s school, no less! Can you believe that? And Takao, he didn’t even know it. Or maybe he did, and he was just playin’ dumb. Hard to say with these youngsters. They’re always up to somethin’.
Then things get a little… dramatic. Takao, he tells Yukari he likes her. Like, likes her, you know? And Yukari, she gets all flustered, tells him to call her “sensei,” which means teacher, I think. And then she says she’s gotta go away for a while, learn to walk on her own, even without shoes. Whatever that means.
But then she hugs him, and they both cry. See? Dramatic! And then she goes away, and Takao, he barely passes his exams, but he keeps workin’ on them shoes. And Yukari, she goes back to teachin’. In a different place, though. And that’s pretty much it. The end.
It’s a weird story, like I said. But it’s got pretty pictures, and the rain looks real nice. And I guess it’s about learnin’ to stand on your own two feet, even when things are tough. Or maybe it’s just about a boy who likes to make shoes and a woman who likes to drink beer in the rain. Who knows? These city folks, they’re hard to figure out.
But hey, at least it ain’t one of them noisy action movies. Those things give me a headache. This “shi no niwa,” whatever it is, at least it’s quiet. And sometimes, quiet is good.
Tags: The Garden of Words, Takao Akizuki, Yukari Yukino, anime, romance, rain, shoes, slice of life
