Change Your Image
Reginay_404
Reviews
Anego (2005)
Japanese Women's Struggle in Workplace
Anego is a super-skilled woman who is envied and admired at the same time by other dispatched female employees so that her male boss would let her in charge of them and be that bad "person" to point out their mistakes. Female employees would like to talk to her whenever they have something to do.
But such Anego feels that she is not the real herself, but that she has set aside someone hard for her life. Her real name is not Anego at all, but Naoko. She would also feel lonely. She would also imagine one day she would find her own prince charming. She also wants to get her own happiness. At first, she looked forward to the male lead. After he expressed that he did not want to get married, she began to look forward to the man who helped her in the subway. This also led to when she and him both "feel" that they were in each other's destiny, she irrationally chose to date this guy who was cheating, and she was considered as one of the only OL in the drama that believes in fairy tales.
But unfortunately, that man is not the perfect prince charming in reality. He is a habitual offender in terms of indecent. At the same time, he basically feels like "destiny" with every girl. So after Anego soberly realized this, she also gave up on him.
The ending seem to be a happy ending, but I still can't help but worry about her future. Would Anego be happy if she lived in Mongolia? Would she earn enough salary? Would Anego really be with the male lead under the pressure of the huge gap of age between them? Probably because I see the ending from a female perspective, I tend to view it from a pessimistic but realistic way.
There are many descriptions of inequality between men and women in the Japanese workplace in this drama. For example, the company of Anego had not to recruit formal female employees for a long time; Men will be allowed to cheat, but women could not; Men has more opportunities in jobs. It's a pity, but this is the sorrow of women in the Japanese workplace. Such a true description also allows female audiences to see themselves from the female lead who was hitting walls everywhere in her life, so the ratings were also very high. Unfortunately, you can't find any J-drama like this now that talks about women's struggle in the most explicit way.
Chugakusei Nikki (2018)
The Common Pattern in Dramas About a Student-Teacher Love Relationship
In the drama about a student-teacher love relationship, female teachers are generally very weak, pitiful, and very feminine. They are the incarnation of truth, goodness, and beauty, but they are often misunderstood. As a result, in some ways, they are not happy. At the same time, they are kidnapped by society's expectations of women. Although they often choose to tolerate, in fact, deep in their hearts, they are still very rebellious. Breaking free from all shackles and falling in love with students is a very "rebellious" choice.
The audience would like to think Hijiri is so good, why should people bully her? Why is the love process of these two lovers so complicated and difficult? If you like each other, why can't you be together? Finally: what did they do wrong? Nothing wrong. But if we set aside these settings, will the audience really support them? Not necessarily. I think that it is okay to have this kind of relationship in artworks, but it is a bit difficult to do so in reality.
I don't personally like the ending. In reality, the possibility of always liking someone without contact is very low. However, this is a fairy tale anyway. The village flowers are beautiful, and Kuroiwa-Kun is handsome. The breath of youth, the perfect fairy tale accompanied with Uru's beautiful BGM, and Du Fu's Delighting in Rain on a Spring Night are a perfect match. Who has heard of fairy tales that are hurtful? Well, it's called a fable......
At least all the teacher-student relationships I know are fairy tales. But fairy tales are also good and average. At least it's worse than "High School Teacher" and "Majo no jouken". But it's definitely better than all kinds of movies adapted from other comic books.
Kazoku gêmu (2013)
Compare and Contrast "The Family Game" and "The Queen's Classroom"
"joou no kyoushitsu" is very similar to "The Family Game". They are both stories that torture the protagonists severely, tearing off all the so-called fig leaves of human beings, then letting the protagonists understand, and finally, they become much maturer. It's just that "joou no kyoushitsu" focuses more on society and humanity, while "The Family Game" is about pathological family relationships.
Both works are good. In fact, I prefer "The Family Game" because some of the plots in "joou no kyoushitsu" are too abnormal. At least the start is as depressing as "High School Teacher". I suggest if you want to watch it, please turn to playback speed to x2. The lines from "joou no kyoushitsu" are really classics. After all, the screenwriter is the great screenwriter who wrote "Majo no jouken" and "I'm Mita, Your Housekeeper". The plot, the characterization and the connotation conveyed are almost impeccable, and they are the object of worship by a person like me.
But I still think "The Family Game" is more consistent in all aspects. I really don't understand why the rating difference between the two dramas is about ten percent. In fact, it is very simple to make up an outline of this kind of story. The key is how to abuse the protagonist, what connotation to insinuate when the protagonist is abused, what they have learned after being tortured, and why should the abuser abuse the protagonist? At least in my eyes, compiling a screenplay of more than a dozen episodes requires a strong foundation. Sakurai Sho's character abused the family because he had turned a blind eye to school violence and indirectly linked to his suicide. The perverted teacher in "joou no kyoushitsu" abused the students, because there was a student in her class who has no respect for life. To sum up, the reasons should be compiled, and eventually talk about how good the teacher is. This kind of contrast is very moving, probably is because of the masochistic side of human nature. "You abused me for my good, so I must be grateful to you." It's like some adults always say that people must endure hardship.
I think "joou no kyoushitsu" is slightly worse than "The Family Game" because of how it exposes the problem. Since the protagonists are people living in society, one day they would understand what the abnormal teacher wants to convey. But if the family in "The Family Game" does not have a teacher like the character Sakurai Sho played, it is estimated that until the day when the family falls apart, they would not even discover their problems, so the presence of him is very necessary. "joou no kyoushitsu" works only because the students are all elementary school students, but I think this drama is a good textbook for adults who are still in the mindset of sixth grade in elementary school. "joou " is good because of its versatility. When you're watching "The Family Game", you may find it difficult to sympathize with the story, because it focuses on a special family.
Algoissjiman (2021)
The ending destroys the drama
To be frank, I love the vibe of the drama, the newly added characters, the production, but I hate the ending. I read the entire manga over the summer. It tells the story of a girl falls in love with a playboy, soon realizes his nature, and then ends up dating with the second leading which seems to be nicer, kinder, and better, but the uncertainty still remains in their relationship. This drama however turned this story into a common, boring "bad guy gone good" story in the last episodes. It's certainly unrealistic. The screenwriter either misunderstood the core value of the manga or formulated it this way because someone as him or her to do that. I know that there are people who love this ending, but it does not please me.
Ie naki ko (1994)
"If you feel pity about me, give me money!"
The key to the success of this drama is the sense of shock created by the screenwriters. They made a seemingly innocent elementary student say the famous line: "If you feel pity about me, give me money!"
I used to wonder if a person had been facing all types of evilness in this world from birth, what kind of person he would become? The protagonist of "The Homeless Child" is a guess to answer this question. Indeed, in the first few episodes, she behaved in a terrible manner: first steals the money, then acts to deceive the teacher, lets the dog bite the teacher when exposed, and sets the house on fire in order to get his adoptive father into the jail. But behind these behaviors is just a little girl who wants to make money to pay for the surgery of her sick mother. As a primary school student, she deals with her painful life better compare to adults.
Regardless of the first or the second season, in "Homeless Children", the character's good and evil can be changed because of profits and desire. For example, the kind-hearted male teacher who was deceived by the hostess turned into a profit-seeking person in the end. He even wanted to blame the protagonist for committing a crime in order to protect himself, and eventually died for his desire.
I believe the screenwriters intentionally wrote the script from a kid's view. The drama gathers all the creepy, strange and special people you that can find: a doctor without a license who make money through doing surgeries, an artist who had a strange relationship with his daughter, a family of thieves and an uncle who would kill his sister, more like a fantasy of the dark side of the world, instead of a realistic depiction.
I love the end so much. After all the people around her leave her, she and her dog are homeless again. The crowd surrounds her because they are shocked by her action of getting food from the dustbin and starts to talk about how poor she is. She stands up and repeats that famous line again with her special strength: "If you feel pity about me, give me money!"
Hanbun, aoi. (2018)
I don't get the rating
Personally, I had a hard period of constantly struggling before, so I'm feeling extremely emotionally connected with this story and Suzume. Surely, I think this drama deserves a much better rating for its excellent plot, great characters and their developments, wonderful sense of time period, and sets. After seeing the shocking low rating of 6.8 on IMDb, so I decided to write this review.
If you didn't know, an asadora is a type of drama that updates on the morning of weekdays in Japan, with each episode about ten minutes long. The plot is always about a girl chasing her dream and finally achieve it since most of the audience is a housewife. Many protagonists in an asadora are important figures in Japanese history. For example, Hanako in Hanako and Anne was one of the first female translators in Japan, who translated Anne of Green Gables, Asa ga Kita was based on the story of the first female university in Japan's founder, and etc. However, their legendary lives are too special. I find it difficult to sympathize with their story. In contrast, Susume in this series is a way more normal girl. After watching this asadora, I started to feel much more optimistic, because this story shows that, even though you were just a normal person, you could have your own version of happiness and have a wonderful life.
I saw many people criticized her personality and her failure in chasing her dream. But the beauty of her and the story is that after her first love disconnected their relationship, unable to find a job, rejected by Masato, had to say goodbye to Ritsu, found him got married to someone else, failed to become a good mangaka, got married to Ryoji, who he left the family behind to chase his dream, forced to become a single mom, had to clean up the mess her business partner left after their company went bankrupt, started to sale food on the street for her kid to learn figure skating in Tokyo, she still stayed optimistic, accepted the reality after all, and worked hard for her love ones. Her story proves a conventional but true idea, don't feel over frustrated when you struggle, because, in this long journey called life, the best is yet to come.
Alien (1979)
Social Justice in The Alien-Gender Equality
The film The Alien was produced right after several key feminist successes in the United States. John F. Kennedy just praised the "new" Equal Pay Act for being a "significant step forward" in 1963. Only six years before the release of the film, The Educational Amendment of 1972 was enacted by the U. S. Congress. Thus, the call for gender equality that has been shown in this film should not be ignored.
At the very start of the movie, Ripley proves her capability of working in the spaceship. As the warrant officer on board, she successfully deciphers the signals that come from the derelict ship as a warning. Then, she rejects to let those who are out on board, because of a quarantine regulation. She is the only one so far clearly follows the rules.
However, her efforts are ignored, since Ash opened the door for Kane. He even persuades the rest of the crew not to kill the alien, when it is still in the chestburster phase. That behavior catches Ripley's attention.
Her great leadership has shown after the death of Dallas. Lambert realizes that the alien wants to kill everyone on board. He suggests the rest of the crew give up the spaceship and get on the small shuttle. Ripley rejects this idea and persuades them that the small shuttle does not have the resources to support the entire crew. She insists to get the alien out of the spaceship.
Ripley confronts Ash bravely after she finds the secret mission of Ash orders by the company, which is to bring the alien back to earth. She is luckily saved by Parker when Ash uses a book to let her get choked to murder her. Before she cuts off his electricity, and Parker burns him, she let Ash tell her the company's intention. Ash represents the company. Killing him simply means that she will stop following all the company's regulations and rules.
As the plot moves on, members of the crew are killed one by one. Eventually, Ripley is the only one alive on board. She starts the self-destruct sequence. Unfortunately, the alien blocks her way. She retreats and discovers that she cannot stop the sequence. She manages to get onto the small shuttle right before the explosion.
She makes a huge mistake for assuming that the alien is killed in the explosion. She still chooses to stay calm, as soon as she sees the alien. She quickly puts on her spacesuit and tries to flush the alien out by using gas. When the alien starts to come closer, she opens the airlock door, nearly pushes this creature out. The alien cannot hang outside of the spaceship after she fires the engine.
Before this movie, there was never a female character on the screen that could be both physically and mentally strong as Ripley can. The scene of her firing the engine represents a huge triumph of what is known as female power. Her rationality, intelligence, leadership, calmness depict in the film show that females not only have the same level of capability as males do but also can outwit them.
Django Unchained (2012)
Django Unchained
The film Django Unchained by Quentin Tarantino talks about a story of a slave called Django bought by a German bounty hunter called King Schultz, trained by him, kills the Brittle brothers and eventually saves his wife. This Western film takes the audience back to the South, to the time when bounty hunters were making money by killing criminals. As the plot combines slavery and violence, the idea of social justice is fairly unique, presents a morality that is far beyond the common sense of people in the 21st century.
From the start, King Schultz behaves differently compare to the White characters. He kills Ace. After all, he points his gun at him because he doesn't want to sell him Django. He suggests the rest of the slaves kill Ace's brother so that they can be free. Although he's a White man, he doesn't represent the benefit of the White slave owners, who have plantations. At least, from apparent, the only thing that drives him is the reward for killing criminals. In dealing with the Speck brothers, he acts like an outlaw. But interestingly, his goal of killing the Brittle brothers is within the legal boundary. It makes me start to think, King Schultz probably killed the Speck Brothers because he believes slavery is unjust.
As King Schultz takes Django to a town, the focus switches from slavery to racism. When Django rides a horse on the street next to King Schultz, the n-word comes out of the mouth of the White characters multiple times. One example is the innkeeper. How King Schultz scares him is not revealed in the film, but possibly through his gun. Eventually, the innkeeper runs away and screams "help." From my perspective, this scene shows the connection between social justice and power. So far in the film, King Schultz is the one with power, his gun, his skills, and confidence.
Django gradually owns the power by killing the Brittle brothers. That power grows stronger after keeps practicing his shooting skills. Soon after, they get to Candyland plantation to free Django's wife, Broomhilda. Calvin, the owner of the plantation, is furious about their lie and changes the deal at the last minute from $12,000 for one of his best fighters plus a nominal amount for Broomhilda to $12,000 for only for her with death threats. For King Schultz, Calvin's arrogant, racist and violent behavior disgusts him. To fight back, he tells Calvin that Alexandre Dumas, the author of The Three Musketeers that he often uses to name his slaves is a Black people. As a man with the desire to win, Calvin asks him to shake his hand as a type of humiliation. King Schultz kills him with a gun. Calvin's bodyguard then shoots him. Now, Django has to fight for himself. When he starts to use his talent for revenge, the power has transferred to his hand, although not entirely, since he surrenders, because Steven and Billy take Broomhilda as a hostage.
Steven, the most powerful African man in Candyland plantation, plays the role of an accomplice that kills and tortures people of the same race as him. He frequently uses the n-word to describe them and has totally no empathy. Django recognizes that. He slaughters all the White people on the plantation and lets all the Africans leave except Steven after he manages to free himself by lying to the slavers and frees his wife. For Django, Steven has no difference compared to the White slave owners. Eventually, he fires the bomb, then blows out the building. His justice has been accomplished by using his power.
To sum up, the social justice in the film is accomplished through the use of power which comes in the form of violence. The more power you have, the more justice you receive. The criminals who conduct the crime of enslaving Africans are punished through that. The film differentiates King Schultz and Steven from their race. Indeed, King Schultz is a White man, but he isn't racist and is portrayed as a righteous man. Steven, an African who never fights for his own race and chooses to become an accomplice of slavery, is depicted as an evil person. By doing this, the film implies that being good and evil has nothing to do with your race, but your mind and your view of social justice.
Oworui Cheongchun (2021)
Nice combination between a romantic love story and a historical event
This drama certainly shows how good K-dramas are today. It combines the historical event of the Gwangju Uprising with a romantic love story that K-dramas are perfectly good at. The sets, the costumes, the music really take us back to last century. I love the scene when the main leading male gets onto the bus and asks the main leading female about when's the next date. The bus seems like a vintage one.
I really like the contrast between the terror brings by Gwangju Uprising and the joy in the love story. It exaggerates both the historical value of the event and the beauty of romantic love. For me, as a foreigner who never learned about this event, this drama helps me understand more about it. I was even stimulated to search for the whole thing online. At least from this perspective, this drama is very meaningful.
However, this drama isn't perfect. For example, the father of the main leading male is portrayed as a perfect bad guy. I know that having such a character can make the love story sounds more touching and more romantic. Yes, love under the threats of a crazy villain is 100 times cooler than the rest, but I still think this should be viewed as a failure of the screenwriter crafting characters. I don't think there's that kind of people that can be so perfectly bad and evil, without any sympathy and empathy. I just watched a drama called The Greed of Man. There's an extremely villain called Ting Hai in this drama. Although he's so terrible, he can still persuade himself. I don't think a man like the father of the main leading male can persuade himself.
Infuruensu (2021)
Nice and short
It took me only one night to finish watching this short drama which only contains five episodes. According to my experience, shorter dramas are usually more compressed, so is this one. I'm glad that I didn't watch it when it was still updating. Waiting for the next episode would drive me crazy because the plot is so attractive so that I could not stop watching it and press my desire to see what would happen next. Certainly, you can never learn the whole story without finish watching the entire drama.
I'm fascinated by the twisted friendship, the turns, the murders, and the strange worldview presented in this drama. Someone on the internet comment on this drama as the Japanese version of Why Woman Kills. I disagree with that. From my perspective, it's more of a female version of Journey Under the Midnight Sun, at least from the reason behind the murders and the disconnection between the three characters after the murders. In Journey Under the Midnight Sun, the female leading seems to have strange faith in sexual assaults. She used it every time as her weapon. In this drama, the three girls have that sort of faith too. They believed that murder someone can bring a happy ending. It started when Hino Satoko asks Yuri to kill her grandfather who assaults her all the time. They believe that their life will be happy after her grandfather died. Indeed, that murder saves Satoko from further more assaults. But at the same time, it makes them believe that murder is the best solution, which caused the murder of Satoko's husband.
However, there's some minus about this drama. First, the main leading female goes to the police and confesses that she committed all the crimes, it is weird that the author can hardly find any information about the girls and the murder. Second, I don't know why, but I don't think the ending can really satisfy me. Maybe the mysterious and oppressive vibe at the start seems so impressive so that I had an unrealistic expectation of the ending. Yuri plays the role of a perfect angel and a representation of salvation at the end, but her imperfection depicts at the start makes me think the ending doesn't really make sense. I have a strange feeling about the ending after I watched it. But I can neither really find a better ending of the story nor ideas to improve the pre-existing one. I predict it has something to do with the delivery of the story.
For performance, Kanna Hashimoto proves that she has the ability to act as a sophisticated character. It's good news for her because she can't act adaptions of Josei manga and teen drama and films all the time.
I didn't watch too many WOWOW dramas. I only watched less than five so far. All of them remain an above-average standard. I think WOWOW is very good at telling a mystery. Maybe I should watch more.
Kôkô kyôshi (1993)
The Hidden Line
Ninomiya Mayu had a long-term sexual relationship with her father started from middle school. In her house, there was a painting of her naked when she was 12 years old. Her mom hated her because of that. After her mom's death, her father became the only person she could rely on in this world. Even though she realized that this relationship was abnormal and should never happen, but she couldn't leave him. In a scene, Mr. Hamura read a quote from a book: "Human beings have three faces. One is the face that they show to themselves. One is the face that is viewed by the others. And another is their real selves." Before she met Hamura, although her real self was living in pain and feeling bad every day, in front of the others, she was always cheering, active, and happy.
She met Hamura at the train station. Although he never knew her, taught her, or talked to her before, he trusted her. She probably started to think that maybe he could be one that she could rely on. So afterward, she put letters with "help" on them every day into Hamura's mailbox. Waiting one day he could understand her signal and take her away from her hentai father.
Hamura is a new teacher was quite awkward. He didn't even know which way he should go to get into the auditorium. In the morning they met, Mayu said: "I'll protect you" to Hamura in front of everyone. But deep inside, she was the person who was seeking protection.
Gradually, their relationship became closer and closer, but Hamura kept a certain distance. Until he discovered that his fiancée was having an affair, she never loved him and only considered him as a good person for a marriage. His professor, the father of his fiancée lied to him and he couldn't get back to the lab anymore. He took Mayu to the zoo and cried in front of her. From now on, his fiancée was no longer an obstacle.
The important turning point is during episode 5. They went to the cinema. After they finished watching "The Way We Were", Mayu wanted to see the ocean. They went to Kamakura. During the journey, Hamura checked his watch multiple times, which made Mayu feel bad and she threw his watch away. I think the plot of their journey to Kamakura definitely was inspired by a song in the 80s called "Akai Sweet Pea" by Matsuda Seiko, the most popular Japanese idol during that time. There's one line in this song: "Why do I feel like crying every time you glance at the clock?" At least I think both the screenwriter and the lyricist are very good at telling girls' feelings. But interestingly, both of them are guys.
There's another reason why Mayu didn't want to go home other than her love for Hamura. She needed a reason to left her father. In the evening, Mayu missed the last train and stayed in the same hotel room because there was only one room left. She called her father and told him that she was staying with someone she loved which was Mr. Hamura. From common sense, under this situation, she shouldn't tell her dad and should make a lie about her staying with her female friends. She used it as a way to revolt against her father. Before this, their tragedy could be avoided by keeping her relationship with Hamura a secret until she turned adult. Her father's a hentai. He had a million ways of separating them.
The scene of Mayu and Hamura in the hotel room was the most delicate in the drama. She kind of alluded to her true self and her pain in their conversation. She said to Hamura: "Please don't dislike me after you know my true self." She fears seeing his reaction after one day he knows her relationship with her father. Hamura's view of her was totally changed on this night and they had sex.
In the following episodes, Hamura decided to broke up with her for many reasons. One of the most important factors was her hentai father. And then the most shocking scene came. Hamura went to her house because he realized his feelings. He saw Mayu naked in her father's room. He saw her hidden truth and finally understood why did she put those letters with "help" on them every day.
Days after, he took Mayu away from her father. Mayu chose to go with him in front of her father. She had been waiting for this for a long time so that she didn't even hesitate. But this time, he tried hard to keep a distance from her. Her father called her and knocked on her door every day. In some ways, her dad made her feel that he was caring for her. Hamura's behavior probably made her feel more alone. That was the reason why she left Hamura's house and went to the airport with her father. She left a letter telling all the truth.
Hamura went to the airport after he read her letter. He hurt her father with a knife. To destroy their relationship, her father burned the house and killed himself so that Hamura became a suspect. Eventually, Mayu decided to die with Hamura on the train.
Puratonikku (2014)
244+Shinji Nojima=perfect match
Platonic love is simply a relationship without sex. But this drama has a different meaning because the relationship between the young man and the mom had sex. The definition of the word "platonic" in their relationship was more about selfless love.
The mom seemed to be selfless. She would have sex with the doctor is that he could stay in Japan and cure her daughter. She even convinced herself that she had abandoned her identity of being a woman. She chose to only a mom.
The Young Man seemed to be selfless. After he knew that he got brain cancer, he stopped contacting his family and quit his job. To donate his heart to the mom's daughter, he got married to her so that there could be no risk of being viewed as an organ trade.
But at least from my perspective, both of them were selfish in some ways. The mom might fell in love with the role of being a mother. As the Young Man commented, she never really abandoned her identity of being a woman. She knows well that she's attractive. She used it as a tool of manipulation. Her ex-husband paid for those medical treatments. The doctor chose to stay in Japan and cure her daughter. Although the fact that the Young Man's plan of donating his heart sounds unrealistic, those men still chose to believe her, because if they didn't, they couldn't stand beside her anymore. She actually crafted the character of a tragic mom and she loved to play this role. Young Man just wanted to give his death meaning. He knew that he would eventually die, so why not be a savior of a young girl and her mother?
And then, they fell in love. I read a review about this drama before. The person who wrote thinks both of them couldn't find their meaning in life. He thinks their similarities might be the reason that they were in love. I kinda agree with it. In the drama, there was a scene of her and him in the maze and finally found each other.
Their love went to the level of extreme. For example, Young Man started to believe everything Sara said was correct and Sara took Young Man to see his ex-girlfriend so that he could abandon his unrealistic fantasy of her.
Usually, if someone who had a disease was mystically gone better in some ways, there should be a happy ending. But this story is a special case. It marked the start of the tragedy of their relationship. Young Man could stay beside Sara because he was dying. But after his tumor got smaller, he could do the surgery and possibly save his life and get back to his life before he realized that he had brain cancer.
Young Man however decided not to do the surgery. I think that was the sign that he chose death. As I said, their love was extreme. He didn't want to leave her. I remember an old lady in this drama said to him: "Ladies are forgetful." If he chose to do the surgery, she would probably forget their relationship and continue to worry about finding a person to donate a heart to her daughter. Isn't that scary?
Eventually, when the robber came, he could survive by not seizing the knife from him and not pulling out the knife. But he chose death so that he could live in her heart forever.
I really love this drama, probably because Shinji Nojima is my favorite screenwriter and I'm huge fan of 244. The role Young Man he played didn't seem like a human being. He was like an altruistic angel, a perfect savior and even a Christ figure. Personally, I think it's really hard to not to fall in love with such an amazing character. As a fan of Johnny's, I think Shinji Nojima made this character for 244. I don't think any other actors can play this role.
Tôkyô Tarareba Musume (2017)
Above Average
This drama intended to talk about the road of three immature ladies in their 30s becomes mature. They always gather in a pub and daydream about guys and their future marriage. The screenwriter delivered the three ladies' considerations, feelings, and thoughts about guys, relationships, and marriage in the most realistic way. They are not "perfect" in terms of fitting the strict moral standards of society, but they have their charm.
And then suddenly, Key came into their life. I have to say I have dual feelings for him. He's cool, handsome, looks like a typical prince charming in josei manga. I definitely cannot reject such a character. On the other hand, he's too mean. Some of his lines are really realistic and useful, but the others are made just to sound mean and to hurt those three ladies, especially Rinko. It's fine for me if the screenwriter provides me with enough reasoning for that. She did included the sad marriage between Key and his high school teacher. However, I don't think it's convincing enough for me. I cannot even get the point of this relationship. That's certainly a minus.
But anyway, I also like him sometimes: I like that he brought the three ladies beers when they were playing baseball and negatively talking about him; I like how he took Rinko back to her home when she was drunk and what happened after Rinko woke up; I like how sad he was when he saw Rinko was kissing with another guy. At least from the perspective of business, I think some of Key's traits are so attractive to the female audience. I don't think his "the other side" can really cancel out with his mean lines, but after all, this difference between his words and what he really thinks inside is interesting.
I read reviews of the others before. Many audiences of this drama couldn't understand why didn't Rinko choose to marry the producer and why did she choose Key instead. I don't think it's strange, probably because I read too much josei manga. The producer is nice.
Remember, Rinko did want to marry him at the start of this drama. She didn't make this decision for love. She just wanted to get married to have a happy family and have kids go with her during Tokyo Olympics. She felt Doki-Doki in that dinner but she didn't love him.
Key is different from the producer for Rinko. Key is the prince charming. Rinko never expected him to make her happy, because he's just not that type of person. All she did was to follow her heart. If she married that producer, she would still think of Key in her heart. I think she absolutely made the right decision.
Majo no jouken (1999)
One of My Favourite Japanese Drama
Majo No Jouken is one of my favourite Japanese drama. I don't wanna interpret what Kazuhiko Yukawa wanted to show in his script. I just want to talk about what I felt when I was watching this drama.
For me, Majo no jouken is like a story of getting out of the Garden of Eden. I never read Bible before and I'm not a Christian, so you can definitely say my point is wrong. Michi Hirose was a teacher of a private high school. She had a very good boyfriend who just proposed. She had a very good family background. Her dad was an important figure among headmasters in Tokyo. Her life seems perfect at that time. That's why her best friend was jealous.
However, deep insider her mind, she wasn't happy at all. Her dad still strictly controlled her life, monitored her after she became an adult. As a teacher, she wasn't successful at all. The students in her class didn't listen to her class, and even "bullied" her in various ways. She worked hard and she really wanted her students to get better, but she didn't receive any positive feedback. That's why she wanted to get married as soon as possible so that she could quit her job. She lost all her enthusiasm for being a teacher.
Then, that morning, she met Hikaru Kurosawa. The beauty of his smile shocked her. He was like the snake who seduced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. She probably fell for him after he passed her her ring. So after she came back home when her mom told her dad that she's gonna get married, she wanted to say something, but she pressed it down. Fortunately, Hikaru Kurosawa transferred to her school. I really like the scene when he was sitting under the cherry blossom tree. It was amazingly beautiful.
The first turning point of their relationship was when they skipped the class after Michi Hirose was bullied. They went to the beach, lied under the sunshine. He told her about his friend who blackmailed him. He threw his phone into the water, but she got it back and told him that she would call him. It was the first secret they shared.
As the result of the first turning point, Michi left the restaurant where her family and her fiancé's family were meeting for the first time and Hikaru told his previous classmate who blackmailed him that he was not going to give him money anymore. It was a huge step for both of them. One important detail was that Michi made her decision after she called Hikaru. He told her he was not gonna escape anymore. She asked him where he was, and he replied he was in the land of freedom. She said could she go there too, and he said she could go there if she wanted to go. A few meters away, her parents were talking with her fiancee and his parents. She chose to leave and to be free.
She went to the beach and Hikaru went there too. When she was trying to get her ring back, her body went on top of him and she realizes there's a line that she couldn't cross between him and her.
Hikaru was jealous about her relationship with her fiancé, unhappy about how she treated him like a teacher to a student. He went to somewhere like a club. Michi found him. I really like the lines after they went out of the club. Hikaru said something bad about her fiancé. She praised her fiancé by saying he's kind, mature and her parents like him a lot instead of saying that she loved her fiancé. Hikaru said something like: "Which character are you playing now? A good teacher? A happy fiancée?
Or a good daughter who can please her dad?" From this line, we can see the only person who understood her pain was Hikaru. Only he knew that she wasn't happy at all.
Keizoku (1999)
Plenty of Reasons to Watch This Drama
If you expected intricate detective cases, the drama might not be your best choice. If you watched the entire drama, you could easily find that the people who went to the police officers are more likely to become the murderer. On the other hand, it did include supernatural elements. But if you were not a big fan of detective fiction, but rather prefer a mixture of detective elements and something else, this drama would not let you down. It will intoxicate you with its unique creepy vibe, its cute but mysterious characters and the beauty of their craziness.
You can't find a character that seems not to have any mental health issue in this drama. But definitely, this special setting really made Keizoku stand out from other 90s Japanese drama. Deep inside our hearts, we all have some gene of craziness. This drama extracted it and showed it in the most delicate way.
When I first watched this drama, I found the vibe quite similar to Trick, another Japanese drama. I checked the director of Trick and I discovered a familiar name, which was Yukihiko Tsutsumi. He co-directed both of the two drama and also The Kindaichi Case Files, another detective drama. If you like this drama, you definitely should check other drama and films he directed.
If you didn't care about all the things that I mentioned about this drama, just took a look at all the list of actors of it. At least from my perspective, no one can reject the cute character Miki Nakatani performed and the charm of Atsuro Watabe, who looked so freaking sexy in this drama.
Hana yori dango (2005)
The Best East Asian Fairy Tale Ever!!!
Nearly all girls like the fairy tale of Cinderella and her prince. An interesting fact is East Asian girls don't like the prince who is amazingly nice throughout the story. Instead, they want the prince to change for them. They would be really happy if the prince became maturer because of them. If you didn't understand this, the change of Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin was a perfect example.
You can find those traits in so many East Asian drama, movies and manga, for example, Princess Hour, Itazura Na Kiss, A Love So Beautiful and etc. Be careful, those princes don't have to be rich to be considered as a prince. A "prince" is just a representation of a guy that made girls feel he is superior in some perspectives to them.
The mange Hana Yori Dango is a perfect example of an East Asian fairy tale. That's why you can so many drama, film versions of this story. In my opinion, this Japanese version is the best of all, after watching other versions. Other versions all had some weakness, either lack of money to show luxury or the screenwriter didn't understand the essence of the manga, so he or she turned the story into a boring love story.
This drama is a perfect example of turning a manga into a drama. I never realized how good this drama was when I watched it more than 40 times in one summer until I read the manga a few weeks before. This drama followed the story of the manga, but the screenwriter slightly changed the timeline. It worked so well in this drama.
The screenwriter of this drama was definitely a genius at crafting the characters, especially in terms of Makino's family. When I was reading the manga, I felt Makino's dad and mom was terrible. But the screenwriter turned them into two cute, lovely parents.
Another character modified so well in this drama was Hanazawa Rui. The screenwriter smartly deleted the basketball race, which really changed the impression of him being a manipulative playboy.
Strawberry on the Shortcake (2001)
The Wonderful Journey of Teenagers
Chinese novels about teenagers are either about their painful experience of abortion or a sweet love relationship. They never include how teenagers grow through a meaningful journey that aims to search for their real self and finally achieve maturity. This drama is clearly one of the best in describing that process, since the script was written by one of my favourite screenwriter, Shinji Nojima. In the 90s, he wrote so many scripts talking about teenagers. Therefore, when he was writing this script, he was already skilled.
Takki was one of the most popular Johnny's idol at that time. I'm a huge fan of Majo No Jouken, both in terms of how delicate the script is and how amazingly handsome Takki was in it. He successfully played that role of seducing the main leading female to get out of her normal life, comfort zone. Not all male actors could achieve that.
But this drama is few years after that one. His appearance kind of changed compares to how he was in Majo No Jouken. It either had to do with his makeup or his natural growth. Anyway, it fits into this drama so well.
Manato wasn't that kind of crazily handsome character. He was just a normal high schoolboy. He felt insecure, which represented by his non-prescription glasses. That insecurity might turn into an inferiority complex. That inferiority complex could turn into anger or a "violence". For example, he took out a knife in front of the people who bullied him and shocked everyone.
He wasn't confident at all in terms of love relationships. That's why he at the start, he didn't inform Yui about his feeling towards her, and he wouldn't worry about being a "cherry".
If Manato was performed by that crazily handsome Takki in Majo no jouken, I don't think it would be convincing. It was how sensitive, insecure, not confident he was shaped this character. And I think Takki did a perfect job in this drama.
I like Yui so much. I like her personality, her courage and her confidence. At least from the outside, she was completely different from Manato. In this drama, she was described as the girl who would eat the strawberry directly if she ate the shortcake. That's why she and Manato could cure each other.
I will always remember his speech at his's graduation. He said something like "We were born for love, not for feeling pain".