It Takes One to Know One: Sachi Kouda's Character Development

 

Sachi Kouda is the eldest sister among the four sisters in the Japanese movie Our Little Sister (original Japanese title: Umimachi Diary – Seaside Town Diary). We spend a lot of time with her so she definitely left quite the impression on me. Her story is quite the surprising one. If I had to summarize her character and eventual development in one sentence, it would be “it takes one to know one”. I mean this in both the negative and positive sense.

Letting children be children

With both parents absent, Sachi takes on the role of the parent figure to her younger sisters. (The way Sachi scolds Chika for sleeping on the floor and eating hastily is so mom-like!) She was forced to grow up and mature earlier than other children. Her job as a nurse further underscores Sachi’s role as a caretaker. A positive result of this is that Yoshino and Chika had a chance to be children. This seems to be reflected in their personality. Yoshino and Chika, even as adults, are more playful and laid-back than Sachi. 

The Kouda sisters meet their half-sister, Suzu Asano, in their father’s funeral. Yoshino and Chika observe that Suzu is mature for her age. Suzu also has a younger stepbrother to take care of, adding on to the number of parallels with Sachi. And of course, Sachi is able to see herself in Suzu. That is why Sachi realizes that Suzu was the one who actually took care of their father. It takes one to know one. (Yoshino confirms their similarities personality-wise later on, saying that both Sachi and Suzu take everything seriously.) Sachi’s objection to having Suzu deliver the greetings shows that she is concerned with letting children be children. Adults should properly shoulder their responsibilities. This gives us a hint that Sachi probably resents her parents for failing to be responsible for their children.

Unresolved wounds and complications

Sachi is then revealed to be having an affair with a married doctor. How surprising! She resents her father for having an affair – “he was kind, but he was no good” – and yet here she is, happily emulating him. I’m sure Sachi is aware of her situation. She once said to the doctor that “marriage ties are hard to break”, but then immediately follows it up with an apology. She knows that what they are doing is breaking the doctor’s marriage ties. It’s certainly puzzling that we can be so blind to our own mistakes, but hate them so passionately when we see them in other people. It certainly takes one to know one!

How can Sachi repeat her father’s mistake? I think this has something to do with how she thinks of herself. Sachi probably thinks that she is different from her parents; that she is better than them. This makes her blind to her own mistakes. Let’s explore this and her development by looking at four important events: (1) the visit from Sachi’s mother, (2) Yoshino’s conversation with Sachi, (3) Sachi’s conversation with Suzu in the kitchen, and (4) Yoshino’s second conversation with Sachi.

"It's just your spite."

During the visit from Sachi’s mother, Sachi gets angry at her mom. The mother suggests selling the house, to which Sachi objects, saying that the mother has no right to decide how things are run. Sachi is saying that her mother has no part in the family. The ultimate root of this anger is her childhood: Sachi is still angry at her mother for leaving them. Sachi saying “Act like your age and stop whining like a child!” again shows that she feels very strongly about how adults should properly shoulder their responsibilities.

Yoshino then confronts Sachi. She tells her older sister that deep down, the motivation behind many of her actions is mostly to spite her mother. I think we can include the father too, but because it’s implied that the mom sometimes visits them (unlike the father who didn't), Sachi takes it out on her mom. Sachi doesn’t want to be like her mom, so she thought she should do everything her mom didn’t. Her mom avoided responsibility for taking care of their children, so Sachi took the responsibility. She then takes Suzu in as if to show that she’s being the bigger person. This may also be why Sachi says that it’s her responsibility to stay and take care of the house. Sachi’s mom left the house, so aside from fulfilling Sachi’s own credo of “adults should take their responsibility seriously”, not leaving the house would be another act of spite. All these is Sachi’s own way of getting “revenge”. They convince Sachi that she is better than her parents.

"Falling in love with a married man...is a bad thing, right?"

Feeling guilty, Sachi seeks out Suzu. Perhaps she plans on spending more time with Suzu as a real big sister whose motivation is not to spite anyone. The two, however, then share a conversation in which Suzu says (about her mom), “Falling in love with a married man…is a bad thing, right?”. That must have dealt a blow to Sachi. Sachi is involved with a married man, and that makes her bad.

Yoshino and Sachi then have another difficult conversation in which Sachi tells them of the doctor’s invitation to go to America. This time Yoshino explicitly makes the connection between the doctor and their father. Sachi tries to give justifications. I like to think that Sachi realizes she’s giving the same excuses like her father. Judging from Yoshino’s line, one of the excuses was about kindness. Yoshino said, “But the two of you got involved. That’s not kindness.” There is a link between Yoshino’s line and Sachi’s remarks about their father – he was kind, but he was no good. He sympathized with women, but eventually started affairs with them. If Sachi claimed she was showing kindness to the doctor, then Sachi is in the same spot as her father. And that makes her no good.

These events are wake-up calls for Sachi. Maybe she wasn’t as good as she thought after all. Maybe she wasn’t any different from her parents after all. It takes one to know one.

Reconciliation and understanding

"Forgive me...for being a bad daughter."

With her newfound realization, Sachi is able to sympathize with both of her parents. First, Sachi shows a lot more kindness and understanding toward her mother. (“If I’m not any better than her, then is it really proper for me to continue spiting her?” perhaps Sachi had that kind of thought.) She invites her mother to come in, goes to visit grandmother’s grave with her, and even gives her the remaining plum wine from grandma’s batch. I love that the mother even prepared two gifts for Suzu!

During the visit to the grave, the theme of being a bad person is brought up again. The mother is aware that she hasn’t been the best, telling the grandmother (the mom’s mother) to forgive her for being a bad daughter. I love the way Sachi looks at her mother here. She is now able to look at her mother without that veil of spite. The mother was and is trying, just like how Sachi is trying to be better toward her mother. The mother was stuck in a complicated situation, just like Sachi. This time, Sachi sees herself in her mother.

It stops raining after this, symbolizing the end of Sachi’s conflict with her mother.

Sachi then gives her mother several bottles of plum wine. Making plum wine is a family tradition, so Sachi giving her mother plum wine can be taken to mean that she is letting her mother be part of the family again. Giving grandmother’s batch of plum wine to the mom also has a nice meaning. Previously the mom talked to the grandmother. The plum wine can be seen as a sort of reply from the grandmother, saying that despite all that, she’s still family. This reminds me of what the doctor said to Sachi: mother-daughter ties are hard to break.

"He was no good, but maybe he was a kind man."

Sachi also makes peace with her deceased father. We know of her resentment, but there is one thing I’d like to mention here. In the beginning of the movie, we find out that Sachi renounced their father’s inheritance. That is all we know about the inheritance. But maybe it’s not too far-fetched to think that Sachi didn’t want anything to do with their father, which is why she renounced the inheritance. But then Sachi re-allows her father to enter her life. In the seaside conversation with the doctor, Sachi strongly implies that her decision to work in terminal care is motivated by her father and Suzu. She wishes she had been able to help them back then. (This reminds me of this.)

And finally, at the end of the movie, we see a reversal of what Sachi said about her father in the beginning. She initially said, “He was a kind man, but he was no good.” Here, she says, “He was no good, but maybe he was a kind man.” Her perspective of him changes – she now has a more positive view and a more positive memory about her father. Sachi is overcoming one of her weakness: focusing too much on people’s negative traits.

Conclusion

During their talk near the sea, the doctor states that Sachi, just like Suzu, had her childhood stolen from her. He tells her to gradually take it back.

In a way, taking Suzu in has allowed Sachi to slowly do so. Sachi made peace with her mother and father. Going through the same thing as her parents allowed her to understand them better. (Maybe we can say that this is another way of interpreting "it takes one to know one?") She now should be able to think of her parents, and by extension her childhood, with a more positive attitude. Moreover, the presence of a younger sister in the house allows Sachi (and Yoshino and Chika) to recall childhood memories, retell them, and participate in activities that they have probably stopped doing after becoming an adult. I believe the fireworks scene is a beautiful example of that. 

Well then! That was a very lengthy post. I hope it was coherent and understandable enough. I sure hope anyone reading this, if any, appreciated this movie and Sachi’s character as much as I did :)