Iguana Girl — Season 1, Episode 2: I Want to Die

Episode synopsis

Rika drops the form that says which college she wants to attend. Kaori picks it up by accident, and sees that Rika is applying to the same college as Noboru. Kaori gets extremely jealous, and tells everyone in class about how Rika attempted suicide in the past. On top of that, she says "The only reason you want to go to that college is because you like Noboru!" Yuriko told Rika that iguanas shouldn't fall in love because it will be troublesome to the other person, so Rika resolves to shut away the feelings she has towards Noboru deep in her heart. In shock, Rika runs from the classroom. Someone reaches out their hand toward Rika...

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".

More episodes from Season 1

• E1A Cursed Birth
• E3A Night at the High Plains, My First...
• E4Mom's Secret
• E5My Birthday... The Present Mom Threw Away
• E6Ripples - Mom Hired a Private Tutor
• E7A Mother's Confession... I Want to Kill You!
• E8A Friend for Eternity, Death, and Another Mother
• E9A Right to Happiness
• E10Sad Family Trip
• E11Mom! Mom... Mom!