Switched Season 1 Episode 1 Recap – Suicide

Koshiro finally tells Ayumi he’s always liked her. Because Ayumi feels the same for Koshiro, she says yes when he asks her out. Ayumi looks for her necklace. Her mother looks at her father and asks for the necklace. Ayumi’s father hands the necklace over. He complains that at 16 years old, Ayumi is too young to date. Ayumi’s mother hands her the necklace and smiles at her. Ayumi says goodbye to her parents to meet her date. News on the TV says they will be experiencing what they call the Red Moon that day. Ayumi sees Koshiro sitting on a bench. Before she walks towards him, she receives a call from her classmate, Umine. Umine tells Ayumi she’ll kill herself. Umine tells Ayumi to look behind her. When Ayumi turns around, she sees Umine sitting on the rooftop, her legs dangling on the front of the building. Ayumi tells Umine she’ll come to her. Umine stops her and says, “Stand there and watch.” Ayumi looks at Umine as she jumps to her death. When Umine hits the ground, Ayumi also collapses.

When Ayumi wakes up the next day, her body feels heavy. She asks herself what happened to her. The nurse asks her if she’s okay. They didn’t find any major injuries. The nurse helps Ayumi to sit up. As soon as she finds her voice, Ayumi asks about Umine. “What happened to Umine? Is Umine okay?” she asks. The nurse tells her, “What are you talking about? Ms. Umine is you.” When the nurse leaves the room, Ayumi looks at the mirror before her. She sees Umine’s face. She touches her face, hands, and body. The doctor walks in, and Ayumi asks for help. Because she still feels weak, she stumbles on the equipment and falls to the floor when she tries to stand up. The doctor helps her. Ayumi asks the doctor where her body is. The doctor tries to calm her down. Umine’s mother walks in and scolds her. Umine’s mother apologizes, then she grabs Ayumi’s head and makes her bow.

Ayumi follows Umine’s mother to her house. The place is a mess. There are garbages everywhere. Umine’s mother grabs a jacket and a hard hat and then walks to the door. Umine’s mother pushes her out of the way. Ayumi tries to talk to her, but Umine’s mother turns around and slaps her. Ayumi falls to the floor. “I left work for you. Do not cause me any more problems,” Umine’s mother says. The next day, when Ayumi wakes up, she runs out of her room immediately. She’s shocked to see that she’s still in Umine’s house. She changes into her uniform and runs out of the house. She sees her real mother watering the plants, so she calls out to her and tells her she’s Ayumi. She hugs her mother and asks her for help, but her mother pushes her away and apologizes. Then she enters the house and leaves Ayumi behind.

Ayumi goes to school. She looks scared, but then she hears Koshiro calling her name. Ayumi turns around and runs to Koshiro. Koshiro walks past her and walks to Umine. Ayumi looks terrified when she sees her body not far from where she is. “Who are you?” she shouts. They all turn to look at her. Ayumi runs to Umine and pushes her to the ground. Kaga, Ayumi’s friend, stops her. She wants to follow Umine, but Ritsu and Maria stop her.

She’s still not used to people calling her Umine. When the teacher calls her, it’s too late for her to respond. “You’ve got a full stomach, but an empty head,” the teacher says. Her classmates all laugh at her. No one pairs up with her during PE class, and she eats her lunch alone. She’s supposed to bring the homework to their teacher after class, but her classmates leave her behind. Koshiro comes back to help her carry the notebooks. Ayumi tries to tell him again that she‘s Ayumi. She tells him she remembers his exact words when he confessed to her. Koshiro apologizes to her and says, “If I got your hopes up, I apologize.”

Ayumi runs to the rooftop to cry. No one can ever recognize her because she’s inside someone else’s body. “It’s rough, isn’t it? Being in my body?” Umine says from behind. Ayumi tells her they will be believable if they tell their family what happened. Umine replies, “As if I’d do that.” Umine stares at her face and mentions how much she dislikes her body and face. Umine tells Ayumi, “You’ve already lived happily enough. How about you struggle for once?” When Ayumi asks Umine why she wants to be her. Umine says it’s because she wants Koshiro for herself. Umine leaves to watch Koshiro play basketball. Ritsu and Maria tease her because she is already Koshiro’s girlfriend. Umine tells them she’s happy to be in a relationship with Koshiro.

Ayumi sees a parrot on the rooftop. She thinks the parrot is lost, so she takes it home and puts the bird in a cage. The next day, she puts up a notice for the missing parrot so the owner can get it. Koshiro is good at sports and on top of the class, while Kaga struggles. When they enter the room, the students announce that Kaga will be the captain of their class for the festival. Koshiro keeps a serious expression as the class cheer for Kaga. Ritsu and Maria pick Umine to play as the ghost. They pick her as the cutest in class. They all want to see her in a Kimono. The real Ayumi watches as her friends shower Umine with compliments. Umine sees Ayumi crying while looking at her, so she smirks at her.

Ayumi writes Koshiro’s name on the board under the stage crew team so they can work together. Ayumi gets surprised when she sees Kaga helping her. Kaga says Koshiro has something else to do. While Ayumi paints, Kaga points out how bad she is at drawing. He tells her she’s as bad as the person he likes. Ayumi blurts out, “You like someone? Since when? So you’ve been hiding this from me?” Kaga looks surprised that Ayumi acts like they are close friends. Because Ayumi is inside Umine’s body, there’s no way for Kaga to know. They tease each other and laugh as they play with paint. Ayumi says she’ll get more supplies. Kaga stops her. When she turns around, Kaga thinks he’s seeing Ayumi. He brushes the image off his head and continues painting.

When Ayumi asks her classmate to buy supplies, they coldly tell her to leave the paper on the desk. Kaga sees how the class treats her, so once Ayumi leaves, he picks up the paper. Suddenly, Kaga recognizes the handwriting. He removes the things under his desk to look for his notebook. He quickly turns the pages to the one with Ayumi’s handwriting. He compares the two and realizes they’re the same. He remembers Koshiro telling him that Umine believes she’s Ayumi. Kaga asks Umine to apologize to Ayumi. It’s because Umine tells her friends that Ayumi makes her uncomfortable. Kaga whispers to Umine that he‘ll tell Koshiro who she really is, so Umine has to apologize even if she doesn’t want to. Kaga finally tells Ayumi he knows who she really is. Ayumi doesn’t feel so alone anymore.

Our Thoughts

It would be difficult for anybody to know it’s Ayumi inside Umine’s body. Unsurprisingly, Ayumi’s friends are cold toward her because she looks different. Being inside Umine’s body made her realize how invisible Umine must have felt. No one even paid attention to her. Ayumi lives a different life from Umine. She looks like her family has a lot of money, unlike Umine’s. She’s also pretty and has a lot of friends. The only reason Umine wants to be Ayumi is because of Koshiro. We get it; she likes Koshiro. But if it’s just him, we don’t think switching bodies is necessary. If she’s unhappy with how she looks, she could try to care for herself more instead of stealing someone else’s body. 

It’s also just pure luck that Kaga recognized the handwriting. But even if he knows about it already, it’s not like he can do anything about it. Maybe it has something to do with the red moon. When Umine jumps off the building, the red moon can be seen behind her. We don’t know for sure, but it‘s disappointing that Ayumi’s mom couldn’t realize that the girl she lives with is not her own daughter.