February 26, 2015
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Massan Plot Summary - Week 22
#127 Kazuma has gotten his draft notice, and is roundly congratulated that he can serve his country. He begins to prepare for his departure and hears Ellie and Emma singing Auld Lang Syne with their organ. Massan tells them that it's dangerous to be singing in English. Ema says that she is not going to Kazuma's send-off party. How can she feel happy knowing that he may die? Plans procede for the party, and his sister Hana asks all or the women present to help her make a "thousand stitch belt" for Kazuma to take to war with him. His father Morino seems to be deliriously happy, but is he really just joyful mask? Kazuma has written his will, something many did before going to war. Massan calls Kazuma to the lab, and begins to teach him the prerequisites for blending whiskey, sampling the aroma and holding it up to the light to check the color. He will need to know these things when he comes back.
More about thousand stitch belts here.
# 128 Everyone deals with difficult situations in their own ways. Massan takes Kazuma to the lab to teach him some skills that he will need to become the master blender after he comes back from the war. Each barrel of whiskey has its own personality and its own fruity aroma. Kazuma has a good nose. One of the lady brewery employees brings Kazuma a protective amulet, like the one she gave to her own husband before he went to war, but a soldier delivers a letter that tells of her husband's death, and she breaks into sobs. Is this a foretaste of Kazuma's fate? That night there is a party to celebrate Kazuma's draft notice, and Ellie drags Ema to the party. Morino gets out a projector and shows a movie of when Kazuma was small. He was afraid of the waves and quite the crybaby. Morino tells him not to cry like that when he goes to war. This is a fight that Japan can't loose, and he should do anything he can to win. Ema protests that no one seems to care that Kazuma could die. She is escorted out of the party, but the atmosphere has been ruined all the same, and everyone goes home. Kazuma continues writing his will.
#129 Kazuma will be leaving for the war in two days. Massan is training him in whiskey tasting. Morino has a last picture taken with everyone, but Ema can't smile. She calls Kazuma out to a storeroom in the brewery and suggests that they run away together to somewhere there is no war. Kazuma says that there is no such place. He won't run away and even if he were to, one cannot run away from public opinion. Ema still wants to know if he loves her, but his only answer is that he is going to war. He goes back to the lab to continue the tasting lesson. Ema goes back home to her organ and plays her little heart out. Auld Lang Syne is heard all over the brewery, a song that looks forward to happy reunion. The ladies are still working on Kazuma's senninbari belt. Women born in the year of the tiger are allowed to do more stitches, because tigers are strong, and no matter where they go they always come back. The senninbari will block the enemy's bullets. Ema still crying and playing. Hana asks Ellie to do a few stitches. This may be a project against her own country, but she will do it for Kazuma. Morino goes to the barbershop to borrow a buzz cutter. He will shave Kazuma's head himself. The barbershop crew looks at the newspaper and wonders if Japan can really win this war. Ellie is stitching, Ema is crying at the organ and Kazuma is still trying to write his will.
#130 Kazuma is STILL poising his pen over the paper to write his will. Ema's question, "Do you love me?" echos in his mind. Morino spends time sitting outside alone putting up a strong front, but on the inside he is torn up over Kazuma's leaving for the war. Toshio comes into comes into Kazuma's room with cups and a flask of sake. They are brothers in law, but have never even had a chance to share a drink. Kazuma says that he still has things to do. Kazuma thanks Toshio for all that he has done for him, his family and the brewery and asks him to continue taking care of things in his temporary or permanant absence. Toshio promises to defend the brewery until he comes back. Everyone will be waiting for you. Come back alive. (The usual sendoff phase was "come back dead.") Toshio fights back tears as he leaves the room, and tells Hana that he is going to bed early so no one will see his tears. Morino tells Ellie that it is more important for Japan to win than it is for Kazuma to come back alive. We have to support what he is doing or we don't know what he is going for. Ellie hands the senninbari belt to Ema, who says that it will not protect Kazuma from anything. Ema is going to go and ask Kazuma again if he loves her, but Ellie forbids it and tells her to be an adult, because she is not the only one whose heart is breaking. The day before Kazuma's departure, he is still struggling over the will. He leaves a flask of something on Massan's desk. Ema has done her part on the senninbari belt and says she will take it to Kazuma.
#131 Ellie tries to get Morino to sing Auld Lang Syne to send Kazuma off, but Morino won't sing any English songs and singing of reunion would do nothing but dampen Kazuma's reserve. Massan and Kazuma have the last whiskey blending lessons continue. M tells K not to forget whiskey on the battlefield and that they will continue when K gets back. K has been breeding wheat on his own and leaves the flask of seeds with Massan. M: You must plant these seeds! K: That's impossibie. Massan knocks him down. K: I am so afraid that I wish I could just disappear. I don't want to die! Massan hugs him and they cry together. Everyone gathers to send Kazuma off to war. He has the senninbari belt and will fight for home and country. After the Banzai cheers, Morino starts to sing Hotaru no Hikari (ALS) from the crumpled paper. It's in Japanese, so it's ok. Then he starts singing Auld Lang Syne in English. The doors are hurriedly shut so he won't be heard. A sheet appears with the English lyrics in katakana script and everyone sings in hopes of Kazuma's safe return. Everybody is crying including me.
#132 Kasuma hands over an envelope containing his will to be read after he leaves for the war, but Morino can't wait and cries as he reads a letter addressed to him. Kazuma expresses his thanks for the 31 years that he has spent with his father and sister Hana. Sometimes he didn't like the herring fishermen, but in his heart respected his father for the way he managed them. When he returns he wants to hear all about his father's memories. On the morning of Kasuma's departure, Hana shines his shoes and Morino shaves Kazuma's head. The family sees him off. Ellie gives him a hug, and Ema gives him a protective amulet containing the words to Auld Lang Syne. Kazuma says that there is something that he wants to tell Ema when he returns. Massan says that he will keep the wheat seeds for Kazuma. Morino embraces his son, telling him to do whatever he has to come back alive. Escape, hide and be called a coward, but come back alive.
