[Episode 1] Call Me by No Name | From Page to Screen

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9

Considering how most international Call Me by No Name fans won't be able to read the novel, as it's only available in Japanese, I decided to start a series of posts dedicated to sharing the differences between the drama and the novel. I plan on writing eight different posts, each one covering the events that happen in the episodes/nights of the drama. Before starting, let me apologize in advance. I originally thought this would be something quick, some sort of summary, but it turned out I couldn't help but write a lot. I'll rely on your feedback to see how to proceed with the other posts. Now, without further ado, let's start with the first post: Episode 1 (or First Night, if you prefer).

======

Quick note: this won't change absolutely anything for you, but I still want to mention the fact that novel Kotoha speaks in the Kansai dialect (and doesn't merely use the first-person pronoun that's common there). To be more specific, it's more of a personal dialect that reminds of the Kansai one, but this will be explained later...

Also, the novel introduces the theme of kindness for Megumi right at the beginning.
I guess it's also because she's the actual protagonist, and there are lots of descriptions about what she thinks and feels.

Now let's begin with the main differences in the garbage dump scene. We get to know that Megumi wonders whether to say something to that girl, or whether she should help her. The Megumi that once was would've probably accompanied her home, put her to sleep and go back to her own house - this is what we're explained.

But since she was trying to distance herself from Saint Megumi, she actually slowly starts to move on, as she is captured by Kotoha's beauty, fearing that she might open her eyes, knowing that if she does, she might not be able to move away anymore. But as Megumi tries to leave, Kotoha says "Hey", and all of Megumi's determination to leave fades.

Kotoha also says "You found me" and then asks Megumi to let her stay at her place, saying that "I've just been abandoned here, so don't you think the 3 seconds rule would apply"? You know, the rule by which food dropped on the floor is still safe to consume if picked up within 3 seconds...Which of course has to be taken lightheartedly! I personally interpreted the phrase as having an underlying sexual nuance. After all, that was Kotoha trying to find her partner for that night...

Anyway Megumi is still resolved in wanting to keep her kindness to a minimum, but as she tries to hand Kotoha a bottle of water, Kotoha takes her hand instead.

Megumi is moving a step further from kindness, but she just moved one step closer to this mysterious girl. She has to deal with the fact that it was her who lifted her up, and she can't blame it on anything or anyone else.

We're subtly made aware of the fact that Megumi is attracted to Kotoha, captivated by her, from the mentioning of the stomach and legs exposed when she's lying in the garbage dump, to her having to catch her breath when Kotoha gets out of the shower and her dark wet hair falls on her skin once at Megumi's home..

The names exchange at Megumi's is almost the same. When Megumi asks why she was in the garbage dump, Kotoha says she was left there because she was too drunk, but Megumi can very well see that she isn't drunk at all. So we have Kotoha avoiding speaking the truth and outright lying about what happened, for some reason. Then we find out Megumi studies (Russian) Literature, which was changed in the drama to justify her knowledge about consent and same-sex assault.

There is no scene with Megumi telling Kotoha she has no guest bed, and Kotoha asking her if she's nervous. Bless Miki Matsugasako (the scriptwriter ) for including it and let us experience nervous Megumi! Now, the night scene is quite different and more graphic compared to the drama (another thing to be grateful for, considering the nature of the scene). Let me try to describe it for you.

Megumi wakes up with Kotoha over her, running her tongue on her skin. As she starts to gain consciousness, Kotoha leaves a hickey under her breasts, then Megumi screams and things follow like in the drama for a bit. We are made aware of the fact that Megumi feels fear for a moment, feeling like she can't get away from under Kotoha. What's more unpleasant than this, is the conversation that follows. To explain that she shouldn't worry and it's not rape, Kotoha points out that they're two women, so there's nothing to put in. Now, this is not just the author being indelicate or anything. As I mentioned in the post I linked just now, until only VERY recently, in Japan, it was considered rape literally ONLY if penetration by the male organ was involved. Yeah, yeah, I know...Anyway, after this, like in the drama, Kotoha gets back trying to force herself on Megumi and starts kissing and licking her breasts. 

Megumi then takes advantage of Kotoha's hand getting stuck in the string of her underwear and flips her over, like in the drama. There was no description of any subtle expression change in Kotoha, nor in her voice. I like how the drama has these elements, because they felt very meaningful (thank you, thank you). The words afterwards are slightly different. "Are you disgusted? Are you going to kick me out? Maybe that's for the best" and then "If you don't like it, you can just kick me out. You just have to bring me back to the garbage dump". This is just my personal comment but, even though you can sort of think of this by watching the drama as well, in the novel it sounds much more like Kotoha almost wants for Megumi to kick her out.

We're then explained that the reason why Megumi didn't kick Kotoha out is that, despite everything, she found her extremely captivating. Kotoha's eyes were burning like stars in the dark. Megumi knew she should've just rejected everything about what was happening, and yet she felt like she wanted to pull this girl's hand and bring her close to her. And then...she starts playing SEKIRO! We even have her describe the game. I feel like the confused and unsatisfied look on Kotoha described in the novel is very well represented in the show. It's also pointed out that Megumi's hands were shaking and she wasn't properly able to play. Megumiiiii! We then are made to understand that Kotoha must've left very early. Not only Megumi herself didn't wake up late, but the bed was already cold.

Two days pass, and Megumi's memories of what happened and Kotoha are extremely vivid, which is why she immediately caught the sight of her, kissing Murata (Megumi is alone in the novel, at this moment. The brief interaction with Sanae and Tabane is not there). Just like in the drama, Kotoha wasn't into that kiss at all (in the novel she even spits out), and the exchange with Murata and her is very similar to that in the drama.

Here's where things get different, conversation wise. The line about Murata being unable to tolerate Kotoha going from a guy's place to another is the same, but Megumi tells Murata that Kotoha is not only staying at boys' places, so the situation goes even beyond what he's thinking. Then, like in the drama, she says she has business with Kotoha, so he should step aside. But things don't end here.
A surprised Murata asks Megumi if she's Kotoha's friend, to which Megumi lets out one of her "AHH"? (please read it in Mio's voice, it should be familiar ahah) and replies that like hell she'd let a friend lick her nipples...Then Kotoha kicks Murata, tells him what we hear in the drama, takes Megumi's hand and they're off...

...to a cafè. Yeah! Kotoha orders coffee for both of them and starts laughing. Turned out she was still amused by Megumi's comment about people not licking their friends' nipples ahah. After telling her that it's not like she can laugh about that just because she was the one doing the licking (wait, I'm thinking...do you want me to write about this sort of stuff too, or should I be more general? Let me know your feedback in the comments or on Twitter, please!), Megumi adds that she didn't know Kotoha attended the same university.

Kotoha says that it shouldn't have been hard to guess given where she found her. Apparently there's pretty much just apartments of Eichi University students in that street. And here Megumi gets to thinking that maybe Kotoha wasn't really in need to be helped, that night. 

Let me mention here that the novel very often describes Kotoha tilting her head to one side, which is something that has been wonderfully replicated by Ichika on more than an occasion! Moving on...

Kotoha introduces herself as Kotoha Furuhashi and the conversation goes on like in the drama, with Kotoha saying she felt no need to tell her name to someone she spent one night's at. At this point we get to know Megumi is starting to regret having gotten involved, but at the same time she feels like she can't help it. She can't bring herself to stand up and get out of there. That's when she tells that cute "You could've woken me up at least". She was worried, and felt lonely. But in the novel we find out that Megumi was herself surprised by those final words that she let out. Almost like "Wait, I felt lonely!?".
The sense of loss was huge, we're told. Kotoha almost makes fun of that, just laughing it off.

Then Megumi asks about what happened that night and Kotoha mentions the debt of gratitude to those who let her stay. Megumi asks for clarification, about Kotoha doing that with girls as well, and Kotoha answers almost like in the drama, that she was actually surprised Megumi reacted that way, since everyone else so far ultimately went...happily along. 

Megumi is about to express how she finds that absurd, and then she thinks back about the fact that she herself was almost emotionally overcome that night, Kotoha on top of her, with that beauty that felt so hard to escape from. So it's not like she couldn't understand how others would get...to the end of it.

Now here's something interesting!

Kotoha asks Megumi if she plans on reporting her to the cops, and Megumi thinks that Kotoha looks almost like she's hoping she would! Doesn't this make all the sense in the world after we found out about Kotoha's past?
Anyway, Megumi says she won't, well aware that there would be no point in it, also because - like Kotoha explained - it wouldn't be considered rape anyway. Then we get to Megumi's line about quitting doing that, just like in the drama.

Now, let me tell you something about how the situation is described from Megumi's point of view, because I liked it!
We're told that she wanted to stop Kotoha's steps, she wanted to stop this storm in the shape of a person, she wanted her to listen to her words, and then...Then what? Megumi couldn't find an answer to that. 

This is when Kotoha asks Megumi to date her. 

What the hell, Megumi thought. But she got it, she immediately got that accepting to date her would mean to be able to stop her from continuing doing that. Still, she was confused and right then and there she asks Kotoha if maybe she liked her (Megumi, you're the cutest, I love you, marry me!). But..."No way! lol" replies Kotoha, of course. Sort of hurt by that, Megumi gets to slurp her coffee loudly to avoid Kotoha noticing.
"Then it's even more absurd!"
"Wait, could it be that you're already dating someone, Meguchi?"
"No, but first of all, we're two girls..." (the famous "but we're too girls" every Japanese lesbian content lover, be it manga, anime, games, movies or just anything, is super familiar with!).
"I mean, considering that it's not like you're dating a boy, isn't it weird to think we can't date because we're two girls?"
"Well, I mean..."
In her mind, Megumi realizes that Kotoha has a point. Still, she tells her she wants to be her friend, and Kotoha says she doesn't. Same quick and cold response, as in the drama.

Then she adds that it would indeed be a too unfortunate of a deal for Megumi, to merely get to date her, after being rejected a friendship proposal. There would be nothing for her to gain. This is when she suggests the name-guessing game, almost with the exact same words as in the drama.

The big difference is that novel Kotoha mentions when she changed her name. It happened when she was in middle school, which from episode 3 we know that it's when she moved from Tokyo to the Kansai region. More specifically, in episode 3 she tells us she moved in her second year of middle school. From this we can guess it was when she was about 14 years old. Then she adds "Even demons weaken when one guesses their real name, don't they? If you want to shut me up, first you have to weaken me". It's a reference to Japanese folklore, the idea of gaining power over demons by using their real names. We're made aware that hearing that, for some reason, Megumi experienced the similar sense of relief that she felt the night she let that unfamiliar woman into her home, and gave her the name Chiyako. 

Megumi realizes that if she doesn't accept, Kotoha will probably never speak to her ever again, that she would just ignore her even if they accidentally met on campus. She also recognizes that she apparently has nothing to gain even if she wins, aside from a sort of imitation of a friendship.
And yet she saw no other choice.
The novel says that she says "Ok, I'll go out with you", as if she was extending her hand one more time. I loved this detail.

Megumi notices Kotoha looking a bit surprised.
After Megumi confirms that from then on, they'll be lovers "Well then, I'll stop going to other people's places. My girlfriend has told me so, after all".

At this point Megumi feels relief. She obviously still hasn't digested the dating thing, nor the name-guessing part, but the fact that this means Kotoha will stop that reckless sexual life of hers makes her feel good.

 

 

What follows, after Kotoha grabs Megumi by her wrist, as she's about to leave, is a bit different from the drama.
"Don't you think there's too little risk involved on your part?"
"What do you mean? I am taking risks. I mean, I agreed to date you..."
"That's the point. The dating. That's still too ambiguous, isn't it?".
After saying the part about proof of dating, Kotoha adds "Or you don't even want to take on this much of a risk?"
The ball was completely in Megumi's court, as it's specified that Kotoha was grabbing Megumi's wrist very weakly. Though once again Megumi feels like the choice of refusing really isn't there.

The rest is pretty much like the drama, including Kotoha keeping her eyes open, then wiping Megumi's lips with her finger and the "I don't dislike this side of you".
We're also informed that, due to the presence of lipgloss, Megumi could not perceive Kotoha's taste...

After this, turns out Megumi and Kotoha are about to attend the very same lesson, and Megumi finds herself actually surprised that Kotoha really does attend Eichi University. Kotoha takes notice and asks her if she wants to see her student ID, but Megumi tells her it's not like she was doubting her. In her mind, Megumi is already wondering if they should sit together, since they're now dating, but Kotoha surprises with "I'll be going, then". Kotoha assumed Megumi would attend with friends, and after Megumi confirms, Kotoha tells her "Make sure to treasure your friendships". Re-reading it now after episode 6, with those words Sanae told Megumi, it hits pretty hard!

And this would be all for Episode 1, my CallMeNo buddies.
Feel free to tell me if you would prefer me to keep things shorter, though I'm not sure I'd be able to do it anyway...
Well then, until Episode 2!