Around 40

I love the shows that focus on older women or men still looking for love. And this was another good one. So good I think that I watched the entire season over only two days.

Characters:
Ogata Sakoto: The main character is a woman who is 39, a psychiatrist and still single. It's shameful to say that it took 9 episodes for me to realize that I had seen her before -- in Queen's Classroom. She's quite head strong and enjoys doing things by herself, but realizes that she would like to have children someday and has not given up on the possibility that she will be married -- despite her dropping market value. Her declining stock was described in a funny scene when she goes to a "marriage bureau" (kind of like a dating service but with marriage being the end goal -- like a face-to-face eharmony?) There was even a graph showing how steep the drop-off is after 35 and past 40 it was almost like you should just get yourself a single apt. in an old folks home.

Okamura Keitaro: The main guy I recognized right off from his role in Proposal Daisakusen as the love rival. He looks much older and sophisticated in that show. Here he looks young and really much less cute, except for the episode when he wears a suit. :yummy: He is really strange in this show - a bit overly fixated on conservation (turns off lights, brings his own chopsticks, rides his bike even in the rain, etc.) This rigidity of his causes conflict between him and many other people in his life - including his many ex-girlfriends. He is introduced to the show b/c he joins Satoko's staff as a psychologist. While psychologists in the US are trained doctors, it seems that in Japan it's a less prestigous position, perhaps a bit more akin to a social worker.

Synopsis:
The story focuses on the budding relationship between Satoko and Keitaro (Okamura-san). It starts off purely professional with some conflict around his methods for healing -- moves into a friendship as they realize they share the same taste in comedy shows -- and then culminates with the difficulties of navigating a relationship where the woman makes more money and is more prestigious. The ending is really quite sweet and believable. They are two characters with very strong personalities and you want them to succeed without sacrificing who they are -- and that happens.

Unlike many other dramas that I've seen there are two fairly well developed sub-plots in this show.
a) The second plot surrounds Satoko's high school friend - who is the exact opposite of Satoko. Mizue was married early, has a child in his teens and her life revolves around her family and domestic duties. As the show progresses she realizes that she has lost her identity along the way and tries to figure out how to balance her family responsibilities while creating a life of her own as well.
b) The third plot is around a younger friend (unclear how they know her) who is an up and coming magazine editor. After she is passed over for a chief editor job she decides to change her anti-marriage position and marry a famous/wealthy many who has been after her. Not surprisingly this was not the best move for her to make and she spends the show pretending to be happy to others while trying to figure out how to make the best out of a bad situation. - I could actually empathize with her character. If work is all that you have and that begins to not go your way, it seems like it's natural to want to find another way to define yourself. Wife/mother is not a bad way to do that, if it that is an option.

Overall: I liked this show. I learned about male-female social dynamics in Japan - and that it's not terribly different from what happens here in the states when the woman is more successful than the man. Definitely a nice peaceful story, probably more attractive to older female viewers.

Drama Updates

I can't believe that with all of the doramas that I've watched that I only have 5 blog posts up here. You can see my growing list of watched dramas on the left with my overall ratings, but I don't know what's going on with the actual completion of posts.

I have progressed so far into my lists of j-dramas to watch that I'm thinking of switching over to Korean dramas for a bit (someone recommended them to me - although I think they're more of the romance genre).

Well, I'll keep doing what I'm doing and hopefully I'll be able to speed up my chronicling of these shows...we'll see.

Security Police - SP

I don't know why I was under the impression this show was a comedy. Because of my difficulty understanding how it could possibly be funny I put off watching this show for a while. However, after making my way through my 2007 "to see" list, I didn't have any other choices.

Synopsis: This is NOT a comedy. It's quite a serious drama about a man who is in the Security Police force (kind of like secret service, except with much less props) and who has heightened sensory awareness. He also has a tragic past that of course links to the main plot throughout the show. The series is not episodic, outside of the first episode, the arcs are each 3(-4) episodes long. The final arc is strangely delivered with a "0" episode giving a bit of back story before ?? joins the SP.

Storylines
1) One episode about protecting a female VIP - I think she's a Diet member. This episode only serves the purpose of giving the viewer a more detailed understanding of Inoue's special skills. There are also a couple of recurring bad-guy characters that make their debut in this episode.

2) The second story is about a group of ex-military "terrorists" taking control of a hospital (most important an ex-prime minster) for the purpose of conducting some sort of stock trade to make money. Some fun fighting scenes here. I guess this show could be classified in the action genre -- at least this arc is. I thought it was interesting that the last episode of this arc introduced us (albeit briefly) to the bad guys of the next arc. Interesting way to segue...

3) The next story (episodes 5-7) is about protecting a potential witness from being killed. He's a participant in some sort of financial/securities fraud. He's not a terribly sympathetic character, despite the fact that he spends much of the time crying. -- I think this might be becuase he's so unattractive. But we do get to "see" the 2 most attractive characters in the show -- his wife and daughter are constantly shown close up in a picture that he keeps near his bed. They are both really cute! I guess we are to assume the wife is with him b/c of his money. And the daughter reminds me of the cutest child actress I've seen in j-doramas, Mukaichi Mion. I was actually thinking about her before this storyline -- I wonder what she looks like now. I want to see her in more stuff! She's so kawaii!!! The story actually has an unresolved ending, which caused it to be the most interesting. Knowing that the hit men are still after the witness, the team is forced to abandon him b/c he's no longer being protected by the DA (equivalent) office.

4) The final story pulls it all together, this time the team is to protect the Prime Minister. We see a reappearance of the knife-wielding bad guy from the first episode and much more "action". *eh* The getting shot scenes were funny mainly b/c of how badly the scene was acted. At least we get some understanding of who is behind all of the plots...it is a nice lead-in to the special (which I haven't yet watched but will add when I do)

Overall: I was surprised that there were no attractive people in this series. I think this is the first dorama that I've watched in which none of the characters were much above average. However, this did not stop me from watching the entire series in one day. I clearly have too much time on my hands! This feat was made easier by the fact that each episode is shorter than a traditional drama. The first 4 minutes of each episode consists of a recap and the intro. And then the episode ends after 36minutes (instead of the normal 42). I don't know why I watched it all other than a curiosity around such a highly praised drama. I was under-whelmed.


Bonus Episode: Argh! It had so much recap that I just couldn't get through it. It went through every single story line in an attempt to find out whether or not Inoue was involved in the plot to assassinate the Prime Minister. I thought it was going to be a continuation from the last episode of the season when we find out who is really behind the coup -- and maybe they did discuss that somewhere in the special, but I just couldn't justify sitting through 1.5 hours for 1 hour of stuff that I had already seen. Maybe I'll get back to it later -- but that's doubtful.

Monster Parent

I am very behind in my blogging of dramas. I will start with the most recent I've watched and work my way backwards.

"Monstah Parent-to"

That's the approximate pronunciation of the phrase mentioned over and over again in this drama about a pretty and successful civil attorney who does consulting work for the Board of Education - helping them solve disputes between schools&teachers and the parents.

The premise is actually not terribly interesting. What grabbed me about this drama was a description of the attorney that I read... she was described as being very well dressed. I love seeing Japanese fashion so I started watching this drama.

Characters
I was surprised to see a familiar face, Yonekura Ryoko, in the main role - Takamura Itsuki. I had just seen her in Koshonin. She looks really different in Monster Parent. Her hair has been lightened, I think, and she dresses in much more brightly colored clothing. Because of these things she's really pretty in this drama - where she's just good looking (in my opinion) in The Negotiator.

Another familiar face to me was Hiraoka Yuta. He was also in the drama 'Proposal Daisakusen'. His character in MP is much different. He was a bit of a playboy in PD. Here, he's quite a pathetic figure. He's young and quite insecure about his professional abilities. Addtionally, he has an unstated crush on Takamura-san.

The third familiar face, is the man of many supporting roles, Sasaki Kuranosuke. Bambino, Saitou-san, Iryu (see previous posting).... He again is in a pretty lame supporting role. I wonder what makes him not likeable enough of an actor for him to get a starring role. Perhaps it's his relatively plain looks. Unlike - Kusakari Masao - what an attractive older man. He looks somehow ethnically ambiguous, and his looks are made even more attractive by his sexy Japanese.


Overall
This show was pretty episodic in nature and some of the conflicts between the parents and the schools were pretty idiotic --- or maybe it was just the over-acting of some of the parents. In any case, this show was watchable entirely due to Ryoko. Her clothes really were fabulous and I watched each episode just to see what she would wear next. If someone is not really drawn in by pretty clothes, I'm not sure that this drama would be of much interest in either the comedy or drama elements. Oh - there was one more upside. I learned a bit more about Japanese culture. 'monster parent' really is a term used for overly demanding parents and there are several articles out there about this growing phenomenon. Also, I learned a bit more about what is expected of Japanese elementary school students. Another example of the struggle between traditional values (i.e. teachers being in charge of the development of children in an out of class) and more Western values (i.e. individuality, parental responsibility, etc.)

Last Friends

I've moved and started a new job and so I have less time than I would like to watch doramas. I knew that I missed out on 2 seasons and so had to quickly get back into the game.

It was not hard for me to choose Last Friends - a gay/lesbian themed drama. I had not seen any doramas that seriously addressed this issue (women dressing up like men to go to an all boys' school or the silly fan boys that are a staple in every comedy don't count).

--- A pleasant surprise. As with most doramas I switch back and forth between shows as I get bored of most doramas after episode 7 or so. Watching something else and then coming back to it is a way to pique my interest again. While watching LF - I watched the first Nodame Cantabile special. And as with Bambino! I was smiled to see that the LF cast had many of the same faces as the NC cast. Nodame = Ruka, Mine = Takeru, and Kiyora=Eri. And like in NC the last 2 are supporting characters (in fact I don't think I've seen a drama with Asami Mizukawa in a leading role)--

Last Friends did not disappoint. While the gay/lesbian theme was the supporting story, a look into domestic violence as it effects non-married 20-somethings was quite interesting too. I will admit I thought that some of the scenes between Michiru and Sousuke were a bit crazy. For example when he is kicking her in the ribcage as she's lying on the floor -- and she doesn't see this as abuse! :-0. But, overall I think the psychology behind why a person stays with a partner who is physically abusive was very believable.

It was also interesting to see them tackle gender identity 'disorder'. I don't believe there has been a mainstream American tv show that has portrayed a transgendered person at all. Just another moment when my stereotype about Japanese culture being much more conservative than American culture has been shattered. It was a bit disappointing that Ruka did not go through with the operation during the show, but I think that the point was made well.

What was also disappointing was how neatly they tied everything up at the end. *SPOILER ALERT*
The main villain commits suicide, the on again off again lovers get married, and the three friends (one mother, one gay, one transgendered) live happily ever after in a house built for 4. Too happy of an ending for me. But all in all definitely a good watch. Will add pictures and character summaries later.

LIFE

This was a difficult drama to watch. Not because I was un-interested but because the first few episodes showed just how cruel teenagers can be to one another. The level of bullying (which is what the show is about) was extreme. It became easier to watch about mid-way through the season because the "bullying" became so extreme it was comical.

I guess I can kind of see it as bullying to conspire to have someone jumped by a gang, but to have someone kidnapped and raped??!? That's not bullying. That's some sort of felony.

The main 'villainess' goes from someone you could maybe sympathize with (compulsive need to be loved b/c of wealthy family background) to someone who seems to have some sort of psychotic inability to feel guilt or remorse. But surprisingly she won a best actress award for her portrayal of this charcter

And speaking of psychotic, the male 'villain' is utterly ridiculous. It took 8 episodes for the heroine to exclaim "you're nuts!" and that he was. His sexual oddity for non-consensual bondage was strange - and the fact that he convinced a teacher that she should fall in love with him is even stranger.

I understand that this drama was supposed to bring light to a prevalent problem in Japanese high schools (and in the U.S. as well), but it took the bulying situations to an extreme that became comical and hard to identify with. And all of this started b/c the main character (the protagonist I guess) outscored her friend on the entrance exam and as a result the friend attempted to commit suicide.

The only bright spot in this dark show is the relationship that develops between Ayumu (main character) and Hatori-san: a pretty loner who is often picked on, but doesn't really seem to be phased by it and often is successful in defending herself. Not surprising Ayumu like a lost puppy gravitates to Hatori Miki. And like a mother hen Hatori-san protects Ayumu at all costs - often telling her she does not need to pretend to be happy in front of her. it's all the classic elements of a good friendship - feeling like you can be yourself around the person. It really is quite sweet, despite the fact that much of the relationship is shown as Hatori-san rescuing Ayumu from ridiculously dangerous situations.

Overall:
Too many ludicrous situations piled on top of one another made this really an unbelievable series (although it started off strong). It's not even entertaining b/c the subject matter is so dark. I watched it b/c it had received high ratings, but I'm not sure that I would recommend it to anyone else except perhaps if you're purely interested in good acting b/c I thought the main character did a pretty good job.

Only Doramas

I think that I will give up blogging about current anime. There are many bloggers out there now who write about the same topic. And while no one blog covers the wide array of interesting anime that's out, all together they do a pretty good job of tackling the topic.

That doesn't mean that I will give up blogging all together. I still have not found blog sites that talk about Japanese Dramas with any depth. Since there are so many good ones out there, I think that I will focus my blog abilities on this topic alone.

I wish I would have come to this decision earlier because I would have made sure to save some screen shots from the most recent drama that I finished, Hana Yori Dango (season 1). But, I think I will blog about it without photos and hope the pictures from season 2 are sufficient.