Luly
Argentina
The story revolves around a group of women who start a restaurant led by Tanaka Tamako (played by Maki Yoko) to fulfill the dream of a friend who suffered humiliating abuse at work, to the extent of leaving the city and her career because of it. Each woman represents a different story line centered on the struggles of women in Japanese society: Tamako is a great asset in a company but is overlooked and disrespected for being a woman, Kyoko is a divorced mother whose husband, after years of mistreat, wants to take away custody of her son, Nitta is college graduate overachiever whose qualifications never seem to be enough to get her the respect she deserves in a job, Nanami is a retired career woman (whose job I won't say because it's a surprise) lacking incentive to get back to the world, Chika is a hikikomori suffering severe social anxiety with terrible parents, Haiji is a transgender woman facing the backlash of society (note that there's still not a very clear differentiation between gay men, transgender women and crossdressing men in Japanese media but for all intents and purposes I believe Haiji's character is depicted as a transgender woman rather than a homosexual male, although lacking an explicit categorization) and Airi is a young woman facing a severely sexist environment at work and dealing with internalized misogyny.
This drama tells their perspectives while throwing at you unabashedly how much crap they have to put up with from the sexist society they live in. They encounter men who despise them, men who fear them, men whose ignorance they end up mending a bit, and men who support them (though those are rare). But the story, even though centered on this competition, is more about them and how they learn to deal with it by supporting each other. If you're looking for romance, this is probably not your drama, because couple tropes here are turned around. If you're looking for nice looking ikemen with charming personalities, this is not your drama, because men here are not the point of the story. If you're looking for female friendship, girls supporting girls and great food created as a result, this is the drama for you.
This drama has probably ruined dramas for me. In a good way, if that makes sense. I've had my fair share of dramas in which problematic tropes and social themes get discussed (Hanawake no Yon Shimai and, in a smaller degree, Five Star Tourist, are some examples), but this one did not hold back at all. It reads Japanese social standards for filth. Before this drama, I overlooked overused tropes with problematic notions because "that's how jdramas are" and "I guess that's how society is", even if I was against them and sometimes downright turned off by them so much to stop watching or avoid some dramas for it, but I somewhat expected them to be that way. I expected the toxic relationships being romanticized, I expected the submissive lead to hold her head down, I expected the good-looking-bad-tempered man to treat the lead possessively and make her swoon for that aggression, I expected the use of the "nice guy" as a way to excuse behavior and do outright stalker-ish things which were seen as "romantic", I expected the "crossdressing man trope" to be used for comic relief or fanservice rather than talk about the problems of actual transgender people in Japanese society, I expected the lead to find her place in life by either exceeding in a company and cutting all links to emotions or leaving it all for a husband, I expected all that stuff. This drama showed me they don't have to be like that. You don't have to expect that kind of stuff anywhere. There are better ways to tell a story, more empowering ways, well written and well performed ways. You should ask questions and get upset and demand more. This is the kind of drama I want to see more of and the fact that it didn't get even considered in last year's poll here makes no sense to me.
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The story is about an introverted and hardworking girl, Sugisaki Momoko (played by Renbutsu Misako) who is a new asset of the agency Little Snow, which employs what we can call"nanny-nurses", people who take care of kids when they're sick enough they have to leave school yet not enough to be in a hospital. When parents can't take care of them because of work or other issues, these people are called in to help.
As in many medical dramas, the plot relates cases of the families Momoko works in with her own life in an abusive and neglecting household (content warning there), and we unravel Momoko's past and reasons for being the way she is step by step. Connecting with families with different realities and learning from parent-child relationships in very different environments, Momoko will discover more about her true calling in life.
The plot deals with very heavy subjects such as parental abuse, child neglect, toxic living environments and violence, but it does so in a way in which it isn't for shock value, it's narrated and explained and every perspective is depicted. It's not merely about parents or kids, it's about relationships, and I found its narrative very well handled. I'm not one to feel comfortable with these kinds of narratives and I was scared I wasn't going to be able to watch it all through, but the story is so well told and it gives you enough moments of peace to catch your breath and to keep wanting to watch. Instead of using the subject like a device to put people in a "good vs bad" situation, like other more popular jdramas which came last year did, this one shows it in grayscale and attaches it to the amazing performance of Misako as the lead character.
There's a bit of romance and a love triangle of sorts, but it's not really the center of the story (to the point in which a character actually states Momoko "doesn't have time for that right now"). There's fluffy and nice situations involving very adorable kids and their relationships with their parents, but I was also moved to tears for many different reasons more then once. Contrary to some, I don't feel the ending was rushed, I feel there's a very consistent narrative pace throughout the drama, and I'm very pleased with every aspect of it, especially the acting.
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The plot is basically centered on Misako Renbutsu's character, Michiko, who is in her 20s, works in a business company as a part-timer and doesn't really know where her life is going. Her boyfriend treats her poorly, her job is on the verge of disappearing and in comes Naho Toda's character, Akko-san, to change her life. Through food. Lots and lots of food (seriously, don't watch this when you're hungry). The story goes from that starting point to a lot of different places and Michiko meets a lot of different people whose realities and lives inspire her to change her own. It's a story about finding your worth and growing through empathy. With food and children lit, which for me is a plus.
The problem for me was that the story has quite a few fast forwards and tries to cover more time spans than they actually have to develop them. For a drama with 8 episodes and 30 minutes per episode, it doesn't manage the time the best it could. On the one hand, you could say Akko-san's inconsistent contexts have a lot to do with her personality, but on the other, it can get a bit confusing.
There's consistent development throughout (mostly of Michiko) but there isn't a clear start to finish path, which may turn some people off if they're expecting a grand finale with fanfares and passionate kisses. If you're expecting chills and thrills and a lot of tension, this is not your drama, but if you're tired from a day of work and want to watch something cute, interesting, which still tells a story (and shows good food), maybe give this one a go.
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I see this drama as Hotaru no Hikari with a sprinkle of Nodame Cantabile. There's the same sort of chemistry between the leads as in both but, unlike Hotaru no Hikari, I didn't find the lead unbelieving silly but, more like Nodame, just too kind, which some people look down on or take advantage of. When you see her for the first time, you think it's probably going to be a drama going around in circles but it's actually very direct. Kyoko Fukada is so versatile you don't know what you're going to find with her; her character, though too kind for her own good, is also very honest. Let me tell you, for a drama like this, that's actually refreshing.
But what I liked the most about this drama and the main reason I'm actually writing a review is the following: this is a romantic drama with love triangles and unrequited feelings in which none of the involved ladies take it on each other. They're not resentful, not vindictive and actually talk to each other about things other than the men in question. Heck, I even liked the relationship between the lead and her co-workers, which got developed from cliches that may have been unnecessary to something more realistic and interesting. There's a lot of ladies standing up for each other in this, I don't know if that's a merit of the manga which this is based of or not but hey, I'm so grateful.
All in all, I was faced with situations in which I thought the drama was intending to go towards a cliche and there it was, doing something else (especially with Shohei Miura's character). It's not devoid of cliches, mind you, there's a stern cold-seeming male lead saving a heartwarming cutesy female lead, but there's a lot in between I found absolutely worthy of my time.
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As a high school drama with a team in it, it has a lot of the cliches of the genre: not enough members, conflicted coach, problems with the school, authority figure who somehow finds it personally offensive that these kids want to be happy, bullying, individual small arcs for each character. Yeah, you've probably seen all that before, especially if you're into sports dramas. But where this one goes really right is with the characters and performances.
These kids are, mostly, pretty darn good. Yoshine Kyoko carries the story along very well and, when she needs to convey emotion, she goes for it. All in all, the characters have interesting individual plots, some more than others (this is the third 2015/2016 drama in a row where I see an openly gay character and probably the one which handled it the best out of all three I've seen) and it all results in a very emotional and heartwarming story filled with songs, some of which you may recognize. There is good character development, limited by the amount of episodes, but there's a clear path from start to finish and the drama isn't shy to show hardships and emotion.
All in all, if you're into high school team dramas and want a heartwarming one with some tears in between, give this one a chance. It might make you smile in the end.
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Now, let's move on to the specifics. As far as I'm concerned, the book this drama is based on groups 6 short stories, which are unrelated to one another. This drama uses, in one way or another, 3 of them (the protagonists of the drama being characters from the last story) and make a small reference to another story, which is not fully covered. The other two are, as far as I can tell, nowhere to be seen. So, if you read the book, don't worry, you don't yet know how this is gonna turn out because the plot twist in this drama has nothing to do with the book.
I find it strange that, being the actual writer of the book involved in the drama (and performing in it), he'd choose to make such big changes as to end with a resulting different story than any of the others, but maybe it was taken as an opportunity for people who had read the book to still be surprised and for people who haven't to still have a chance to read it and find out other perspectives. Still, I find the resulting story of this drama a bit lackluster in comparison to the ones in the book, in the sense that the plot twist of the drama is not the most unpredictable one you'd see, which contrasts with a story that was pretty heartfelt and trying to be very honest.
I enjoyed the performances, especially from Renn, and I think the drama is enjoyable as a whole, yet it may have benefited from either following the self-conclusive aspect of the short-story style the book has, picking one and going with it from start to finish or providing more episodes for this style they chose to really take flight. As it is, I like the idea of the "stories inside a story" style they pick for the first part, it's a good narrative device when used well, but being the amount of episodes so little, I found the change of perspective a bit forced and it didn't allow the self-discovery and emotional-fulfillment aspect the drama was trying to go for at the end to fully show.
There is a speck of LGBT representation in this drama, not as well handled as in other dramas of 2015 I've seen, but it is there and it's more than just a BL-ish fanservice note, it has to do with character development, so it's worthy of noting. In the book, though, the outcome of that character seems to be better.
All in all, it's an interesting format and it deserves a go. It has a bit of mystery, a bit of fantastic and a lot of emotion. To me, it was interesting in a narrative level, as to see the use of different devices and how that worked (or didn't). I'd like to see what other stories can Shige bring in the future.
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The drama has the main tropes of a sports high school drama: one team initially divided, one teacher who is there to change their fates, a girl coach with an attitude, a reporter, bonding and lots of failing.
But not all of it is exactly as it seems. The team is actually bad, really bad and, from day one, they recognize they suck. They won't try to change miraculously overnight, they won't try to out-power their more qualified competitors, they will do what they can with what they have. It's pretty much a Dragon Zakura take on sports, if you will. Which, honestly, is a welcome change in my opinion.
The teacher, who seems to be there to change their fates and lives (played by Nino), is actually kind of really done with everything. All the time. And not in a "I pretend I don't care but I'll stay up late cleaning" kind of done, he seems to genuinely not care. Which, of course, has deep roots in memories and a background story to be resolved, but it pays off because, when you get to see emotional Nino, you feel the intensity much more clearly.
In dramas like this, with so many cliches, what really makes them stand out to me are the characters and their growth. I have to say I was invested with almost all of them (with the exception of a love triangle I really didn't care about enough at all). My special mentions go to Kanata Hongo, Shotaro Mamiya and Kento Yamazaki (those last two have some really interesting story and development together I was very interested in).
All in all, yes, it's filled with cliches, but most of them have their own spin, and it's worth a try. Most of all, my favorite thing about it is that it's unapologetically honest and raw at times. There's a certain scene which is very emotional, for example, and it has absolutely no background music at all, which I thought was a great move to make it even more intense. If you like sports dramas but want something a bit different and don't mind the drama, try this one.
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I'm gonna say this straight away, I'm not a die-hard fan of Mikasa Ackerman on canon as most snk fans are, but even I can see how what this movie did to her character is a disrespect to canon as much as a missed opportunity for such a talented actress as Kiko Mizuhara. I didn't understand the full extent of the value the friendship between Eren, Armin and Mikasa has until I saw it butchered in this movie. It's not just that they replace Eren's mother deal with Mikasa, they turn Mikasa's undying loyalty to Eren for the exact opposite. Without Armin's grounding and Mikasa's strenght, Eren is half the character, because most of his development is linked to these two. Furthermore, Mikasa's choice to follow Eren in canon is bound by loyalty and emotion, something Eren wouldn't pruposefully take advantage of, and Mikasa's choice is genuine, based on what it meant to her that Eren was there when she lost everything. This Mikasa is reduced to an order-following totally-subdued henchwoman (that apple scene made me cringe) for a guy whose role in the story is not-quite-Levi and not-quite-Erwin and a-whole-lot creep.
I'm not impressed with the fact that the storyline was watered down with such a strong focus in shock value without balancing it enough with character development and plot reveals (the blood I get, I mean, this is SnK, there's gonna be a lot of blood; but I was not expecting the scene with the non-explicit but very clear sexual situations going on there, I mean, I'm not sure there was a reason for that).
Ishihara Satomi is probably the saving grace here, and I'm glad Hange is getting a drama with Satomi starring because yes please. But the rest of the actors aren't at all at fault, I feel they did what they could with what they had but the adaptation and the script didn't work at all on their side.
I really wanted to love this. What a missed opportunity.
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What really served the first season was that the plot, which was not too original (it's been done millions of times before), was interesting because the characters were good. They were likeable and relateable and you wanted to root for them. You wanted to see SHARK succeed and claim the respect they deserved. I could honestly not care less about this season 2 band.
It isn't just the acting, which yes, is lacking, but it's how they're written too. Everything is a cliche and a cardbord cut-out of the genre. They not only spend 12 episodes arguing about the same thing over and over (do we use original songs or do we settle with what the agency wants?) but there's a painful love triangle that you have to go through in between (bless SHARK 1 for not using that) and the lead character, played by Shige (I'm not even gonna comment on the crying), is uncapable of both making a good decision and accpeting when he made a mistake. I'm supposed to root for this guy? Plus, some of the characters who remain from season one seem like they don't even want to be there (Ichika was 1/3 of the character she was in season one and her growth seems to mean little to nothing with this season).
There's 3 silver linings in this drama. The first one is Genki. If this whole season would have been about Genki's character and his band instead of Cloud5 (or at least, at the very least, the story was balanced between them both), this would have been a lot better. I was rooting for his band much more than I was rooting for Cloud5 and when Yasu interacted with Genki, especially in that final scene, his character was much more interesting to me than with Shige's character and Kaede's character. The 2nd one is IVAN. I love IVAN. I love what IVAN stands for and the character of Samantha and the acting. I want to see IVAN in more stuff. The 3rd one is that SHARK shows up complete in one episode. And there's a hint for a continuation on SHARK's story, but I don't wanna get my hopes up, not after this.
All in all, I miss SHARK.
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Storytelling-wise, the construction of the episode was a bit strange to me, I felt like we had two independent episodes put together, since the first conflict had almost to no relation to the later conflict and to the resolution of the episode. Still, it does provide closure to this class and these characters.
I did really like Matsujun's performance in this one, I'll be saddened not to see his character anymore (I understand that's different in the manga) and Yukie was great once again.
All in all, it's ok, it doesn't add much more to the storyline but it's entretaining to watch.
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I always thought, from afar, that GTO and this one were the classics in the whole "unlikely teacher taking care of a complicated group of students" trope in dramas, and I can appreciate, while watching it 13 years later (wow) that a lot of today's dramas owe to Gokusen.
The story is entretaining and can, at times, be as cheesy as you'd imagine, but it has heart and it's well portrayed. It was very good (and kind of adorable) to see baby Matsujun, Oguri Shun, Matsuyama Kenichi, Narimiya Hiroki and others of their generation and realize how much they've grown as actors. But the soul of the drama is definitely Nakama Yukie and her performance as Yankumi. I loved her character and the way she was portrayed, more than I liked many other teachers in other dramas with the same trope.
That being said, you need to know that there's going to be clichés, there's going to be cheesy scenes and there's going to be conflicts of one episode that get resolved in the same episode, as opposed to a cointinuing storyline; so if all that's not your cup of tea, this may not be the drama for you. But if you like school dramas with a problematic group of students and an unlikely teacher (in this case, a Yakuza heir with a very fun personality), then you need to watch this one.
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The idea is pretty interesting and original, not the fact that a person in the Heisei period is transported to the Sengoku period, but the fact that it's a Chef and his creations are going to be pivotal in Nobunaga's campaign through the country. To think that some of the most important choices and relations in history have their outcome infuenced by food is an idea that I can't help but loving. If you think it's too bizarre for you, you've been warned.
As someone who knows very little of Japanese history, this drama was easier to follow for me than Nobunaga Concerto was, because of the narrator's and Ken's (Tama's character) explanations. To people who already know all this, it may be a bit outputting but I appreciated it.
I can't help but comparing it to Nobunaga Concerto in some things because I saw them both back to back and they have similar ideas. Character wise, I found that this one was a little less attractive. The performances weren't all as convincing as I would have wanted, but they're not terrible. Storytelling wise, there are plenty of things still unclear, but since there's another season, I'm giving it a pass for now.
All in all, it's a very entretaining drama, with a nice twist on history without losing its accuracy and that isn't difficult to follow. As a side note, I recommend not watching this if you're hungry, because you're gonna end up craving food almost for sure.
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Nodame Cantabile: The Final Score - Part II
4 people found this review helpful
Storytelling wise, this movie goes deeper than ever before and touches some subjects I was hoping they would discuss, such as Nodame's actual feelings for music and her initial life plans being changed, and Chiaki's constant need to have Nodame by his side while never accepting it himself or to her. The rest of the characters also get resolutions, Kiyora's and Mine's being my favorite scene out of all of them.
The music here is as amazing, as it always was, yet it was used much better than in Part I. Here it does always help move the plot along, as it did in the drama, and it does so in a way that it never feels like it drags for too long, or at least, it never did to me.
The photography is outstanding and some moments were like postcards on the screen. The use of CGI for some moments gave them a more maga-ish effect which connected the story back to its roots and lightened up the mood by offering balance.
The performances here are at their best. Kudos to Ueno Juri and Tamaki Hiroshi for being not only amazing on their own but also having such incredible chemistry together and creating a couple that you can root for yet see its issues very clearly too.
I couldn't have asked for a more deserving ending to an amazing series and I'm sure this is an undisputable classic (pun intended) among jdramas.
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Nodame Cantabile: The Final Score - Part I
2 people found this review helpful
The acting is still amazing, the music is still superb and the story is still entretaining, yet I felt not much happened plot-wise in this one compared to the specials. I felt the flashbacks dragged for too long and the performances were a bit too many; or maybe it was that, in the specials, they were more clearly used to move the plot along and here I felt they did it only in some instances. This movie is much more through Chiaki's perspective than it is in Nodame's, so I'm hoping that'll arrive in the next one.
That being said, it's still a fantastic movie and extremely entretaining and recommendable. And the music is still and will always be incredible.
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The first part focuses more on Chiaki as he faces a competition for the first time, while also figuring out what he can give to music and what makes him stand out from others like him. The second one focuses more in Nodame and how she feels falling behind in a world where music isn't just a hobby but a way of life and faces the question of why she's pursuing it. They both have to walk their paths separately to find out their own answers and, even if there's more romance here than there was in the drama, I loved that their answers are their own and not limited by others.
The music is again superb, once more the heart and soul of the story, and the performances are even better, in my opinion. Ueno Juri does an outstanding job in this and I teared up a bit in the 2nd part.
If you loved the drama, I'm pretty confident you're gonna adore this special.
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