Cast-on

Author's Note

Cast-on is a one-shot fanfiction that applies a hurt/comfort story from the 2017 Japanese film Close-knit. The film depicts a drama unfolding an unconventional family and acceptance of LGBTQ individuals. The film centers on Tomo, an 11-year-old girl who always gets neglected by her single mother. In the movie, she gets closer to her Uncle Makio and Rinko, Makio's transgender girlfriend. Tomo grew closer to Rinko as she shows and fulfills a mother's duty by taking good care of Tomo and filled every gap in her Mother's absence. Cast on is a continuation of the movie and aims to present a twist as the story ends. In the movie, Tomo chooses her real mother over Rinko and Makio despite all of her mother's shortcomings. However, the fanfiction portrays a different ending where Tomo was happily back with Rinko and Makio, making her mother realize that she had to let Tomo go. Additionally, there were scenes that "repaired" the damage in the story. One scene was when Tomo offered to make a breast toy for Kai. The breast toy symbolizes friendship, acceptance, and true appreciation of whatever identity people choose to live. Another highlight was when Tomo gave scarves to each of her family. This represents a symbol of renewal in accepting, loving, and making the family stronger. Each strand of yarn signifies each person as the title goes Cast-on which means to begin a piece by creating the first stitch.

Cast-on is clearly being influenced by the film Close-Knit. The fanfiction highlights the theme of applying the LGBTQ community and the importance of family which gives an intertextual reference to the film Close-Knit. The story also applies pastiche because of the admiration on making it from the original movie and the scene of changing the manner of knitting, where Rinko initially advises Tomo to knit every time she gets mad however, Tomo changed that habit since her life was filled with happiness. Thus, she knits every time she feels contented, appreciated, and loved. Metafiction was also presented at the end of the story where Hiromi accepts the gender identity of Rinko and how Tomo freely chooses Rinko to be her mother which is differently presented from the original movie. With that, it is breaking the fourth wall of facing the reality of having a transgender woman resemble a mother in the family. Another evidence shown, was when Tomo addressed comforting words to Kai as if, she is also talking to the readers, that acceptance will give freedom and genuine happiness, especially to young LGBTQ individuals. Cast-on tells a story about an unconventional family where readers can freely immerse themselves through the characters' world.