Iguana Girl โ Season 1, Episode 9: A Right to Happiness
Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Drama โข 46 min โข 1 season, 11 episodes โข โ 6.3/10
Episode synopsis
Rika is convinced Nobuko's death is her fault, and shuts herself up in her room. A worried Mami tries to get Rika to come to school, but as soon as Rika sees Nobuko's empty seat, she runs out of the school. As she listlessly walks down the street, Nobuko's boyfriend calls out to her. He hands Rika a letter Nobuko had sent him earlier. In the letter, Nobuko writes, "I want to help heal Rika's heart. She has a right to be happy." Overwhelmed by Nobuko's kindness, all Rika can do is cry...
About Iguana Girl
Iguana Girl is a manga by Moto Hagio published in Petit Flower. It was adapted into a television drama in 1996. It is about a young girl, Rika, whose mother views her as being ugly, and favours her other daughter, Mami. Rika thinks of herself as ugly and as an iguana, but after her mother's death, realises that her mother was also an ugly iguana. Iguana Girl reflects Hagio's own relationship with her mother, and it took her "years to write this story". Hagio saw an iguana in a documentary on television and identified with it, feeling it was "lamenting its failure to become a human, just like me".