As for the Suzuki, that woman is just too beautiful, I watched her in Tokyo Love Story where she was fantastic but in this drama she was way too brilliant and amazing, I was hypnotized all the time when she was in the screen. Hiroshi as the main guy, I was mesmerized by him, he just know how to portray tormented, lonely, tortured soul with a serious psychological problems, I've seen him in Lipstick and there he was fantastic and I thought that he couldn't play better any role. But I was so wrong. This is for sure, 100 % his best role, the most complex one and I've never seen that kind of acting like his in some drama.
One thing is sure about this drama and that is that there isn't no darker and more depressing Japanese drama than this one. Literally. I've watched many of them, old ones, new ones but like Kono yo no Hate, never. I mean there are no happy things at all, rarely you get to see some smile, some light, well maybe only in the last episode. This is the first drama I saw that there was a drug addict as the main lead and that someone from the top, a married man with career, a famous pianist fall so deep down in a a gutter and become worthless. And that is what fascinated me and wanted to see more and more, how Hiroshi played a heroin addict, you know how Japanese are the masters in creating some drama to be so realistic one, and I really thought that he was on some drugs. He starts from the top, a man with money and power who accidentally meet Mariya and fell in love with her, then the next stage is how he leaves everything for her, they start to live a happy life but not for long because some things begin to happen and slowly everything starts to fall apart. What left me with the most impressions was that man Shido, how he became wreck of a man, you could see how heroin had an affect on him, how he destroyed everything he had and the woman he loved because of that drug. This drama showed us how no matter how much you love someone if you abandon everything, your life, your career for that person and the most important if you lose yourself, start to lose self confidence and doubt in yourself and the woman(man) you love causing to become jealous and obsessive, you'll lose everything and that's when you turn to other vices and destroy your life and all that love you had for someone. It was very difficult for me to watch this drama because I am a person who hates drug in every single way but I always want to hear the stories and to listen to people who have gone through that hell and that's why this drama had such a big effect on me.
As for the main girl Mariya, she was the most gentle, kind and selfless person in this drama, actually the most selfless character I've ever got to meet but not the stupid one. This girl should have a medal for everything she's gone through, she was not typical girl at all, dressed more like a guy with short hair, smoking cigarettes all the time and with a quick temper. But how strong she was, how smart, how she was helping selflessly her sister, her mother, Shido to the very last breath. She was also a very tormented young soul with tragic past and you could easily see through each episode how she was struggling with everything, with all the insults, offensive words, rude behavior and remained strong, positive and cold from the outside, I think she is the woman I truly admire and respect.
In this drama I liked also the side characters, especially the guy with a scar, he was such a hero and cool guy, and I liked it how you get to see their stories, not only of the main couple.
There are no perfect and happy people in this drama, everyone had their own flaws and issues in the brain, simply that is the thing with Japanese, when they make a drama they make it more realistic and more darker than anyone else. And I admire that completely.
Kono yo no Hate is a drama with tragic events, dark issues, depressed atmosphere, crazy people, many tortures souls, with music in the background which suits so good with all the non happy things and happenings, I truly think that this drama is no doubt the most complex one I've ever watched but also a drama with the biggest and strongest emotions ever.
A true love story about a man who had everything and lost everything because of his stupidity, immaturity and jealousy and a woman who didn't have anything and who fought 'till the last breath for the people she loved risking her own life and not stopped believing and trusting her man. The story that showed us how love great and strong can be that nothing couldn't stop or destroy her but that sometimes just love isn't enough.
A true masterpiece for me.
If you look for something very different than all other dramas, if you don't mind real human stories, if you don't mind dark, depressed, problematic and mind issues plot with the complex characters, if you love a full development of how and why things happen and if you love not simply, not fairytale, a very serious and complicated romance story then this drama is a must watch for you. Also what was a big plus to the drama is how at every beginning and ending of an episode, Shido narrates and telling us his own thoughts from the time he met her until the end and you could easily find yourself to understand and feel everything he tells you through those sentences.
For me it was a piece of art. And in the end left me with so many lessons, deep messages and gave me a light in that dark atmosphere.
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A Masterpiece
Admittedly, I had no idea what this was.I was simply scrolling around and saw this was new so I randomly decided to watch it with the intention of dropping it, but oh boy I was NOT ready for that. It has a scary way of sucking you in. Although I intended on dropping it, by the middle of the first episode I found my eyes glued to the screen unable to look away and it stayed that way until the very last second.
This story is harrowing, to say the least. It's definitely on the slower side, yet it's insanely addictive in its rawness. The story of love, acceptance, overcoming trauma, mending relationships. On the surface it seems like your typical romantic melodrama, but it is far far from that. This storyline doesn't hold your hand. It's rough and patchy and depressing with only the tiniest glimpses of hope sprinkled throughout. And let me just say, it turns dark REAL FAST.
The characters are all memorable. Even a week later and I can remember all of them so clearly. They aren't perfect in the slightest. They've made horrible mistakes, each and every one of them (besides Nana, bless her soul). Despite this, I feel like you can hold a level of understanding for their actions (besides a few). There's only one character that was a bit TOO much amidst the more realistic depictions of people, though I suppose they were necessary for the story.
The music was good, nothing too memorable.
The rewatch value is low because I don't think I could ever be tormented like this again lmao.
Honestly, I could rave about this drama all day. It was frustrating, depressing, and bleak, but it was truly a masterpiece. An unexpected emotional rollercoaster that constantly tugs on your heartstrings only to chop it in half in the next scene. If you're a fan of realism like I am, then I would highly recommend this one.
Happy crying!!! :'D
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"Oh my little girl..."
Damn this drama was a gut-wrenching rollercoaster. It tugs at your heart and won't let go! I cried so many times throughout, and I normally don't get that emotional. I guarantee you will shed a tear whenever Yutaka Ozaki's song "Oh my little girl" plays. The characters are so well written that you feel they are real. The two main leads played by Suzuki Honami and Mikami Hiroshi acted the hell out of their parts. Their transition and degradation of character is shown perfectly.I had never seen a female lead quite like Mariya before. She was a chain-smoking leather jacket wearing tom boy bad a** by day and a beautiful hostess by night. Tough but with a heart of gold. It wasn't easy to pull one over on her because she was also street smart. Multi-faceted like people are in real life. Shiro was a male lead I had not seen before. He was everything Mariya wasn't, weak, prideful, and easily lead by others. A self described "Robot" until he met Mariya. They were the most unlikely pair coming from different worlds joined together by fate. Two lonely, tortured souls colliding into one another like a car crash. The side characters Nana, Jun, and Kamiya are just as well written as the leads. They are all flawed. In need of love like us all. Scarred literally and figuratively by this cruel world. I won't give any of the story's plot away since there are so many twists and turns. This drama is an experience that shouldn't be told but viewed.
Symbolism throughout including Christian imagery and a bird adequately named Blue. Everything has a purpose in this layered complex masterpiece. Haunting, dark, and raw similar to the 1993 drama Kou Kou Kyoushi (written by the same screenwriter),
Kono no Hate will leave you wrecked and thinking about it long after the final credits roll. I understand what people mean when they say the 90s produced the best Japanese dramas and they don't make em' like they used to.
Rating:
10/10
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Irritating start, great rest of story
Just wanna say that I am probably more emotionless than most people who’ve watched (or plan to watch) this but I’ll just say that if you’ve watched other tragedy drama from the time (ex. Koukou Kyoushi 1993) then you probably won’t find it all that sad like what currently every other commend and review is hyping it up to be, still depressing don’t get me wrong, but it’s not crying gut wrenching sad, or to me at least, probably because of things I will discuss but I digress.This was a very good watch, definitely in the current top 5 most tragic dramas I’ve watched (currently I haven’t seen many but if I include anime then still in the top 10 at least). Pretty much every single episode had some tragic happening whether that be as small as someone failing at regaining their footing in life or as big as someone dying, this drama had it all, but the way it originally set things up for the main couple (Maria and Shiro) was kinda forced in my opinion, like what person on earth would purposely take the unnecessarily hard route to leaving his old life behind instead of the simple option? I guess Shiro would. But after that arc (which was the first two episodes if memory serves me right) the happenings regarding their relationship more or less feel believable including the more irrational decisions taken by the two (don’t want to spoil it so I used a very vague word). The story had me rather invested the entire time, something that I certainly wasn’t expecting to happen in the first two episodes plus the fact that it’s very dramatic (a theme I ironically don’t enjoy much). The reason why this gets only an 8.0 though is partially related to the first two episode problem and partially related to that last point: It at times felt dramatic for the sake of being dramatic. Every last character in the story managed to at one point or another get the short end of the stick, and literally only two characters after 12 episodes managed to seem happy (Jun and Nana, will speak more later) this was a trope I identified pretty much in the first episode, so it did kinda take the joy out of watching some of the scenes because I just expected that to happen, I knew it wouldn’t turn out well.
Between the two main relationships in the show, Maria-Shido and Nana-Jun, the latter of the two I found a lot more enjoyable to watch; Nana being blind and Jun having his own legal and mental troubles somehow made their side relationship a lot more engaging than Maria-Shido’s but knowing me. This almost certainly stems from the fact that I could sense a happier ending with them but it is also probably because Nana was a lot brighter of a character (because of her disability) who never really dwelled on issues of the past and Jun just wanted happiness for her, so you could see it would be either a satisfying or happy ending. Not saying Maria-Shido’s was bad no, just it was obviously made out to be more depressing and also used more plot devices to achieve that goal (the last episode).
Technical things in the show were at the standard of 90s J-Drama: terrible lighting, decent cinematography, great music (the main theme song is up there with “Bokutachi no Shippai”), good acting and effects, etc. Only complaint isn’t related to the official production but the subs; they’re from a group that I’ve seen before, they are very lazy when it comes to timing lines and tend to drop words that they should have kept, but it didn’t really take away from the story.
Overall a good watch, I recommend this to any J-Drama enjoyer
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This review may contain spoilers
Just a SUPER TOXIC love story.
#Spoiler#The moment Shiro decided to cut his hands, I realized there couldn't be a happy ending. Destroying yourself for someone you love isn't love, and both leads literally did nothing else but destroy themselves afterwards. Maria thought she could sacrifice herself to save him, she didn't value herself or her life, she just miraculously endured mistreatment and humiliation, she even had a miscarriage, but was still very tolerant and forgiving of Shiro. I tried to ignore it since she eventually chose to part from him and marry Kamiya (not the love of her life, yes but at least someone who will respect and value her), but WTF did she suddenly decide to jump off the helicopter?? that was the most stupid decision ever, and I guess her punishment was to stay stuck with Shiro forever. I absolutely feel sorry ONLY for Kamiya!!
After having high hopes for this drama, I think the plot is just a bummer! Sure, I'm all for dark and melodramatic romance and heartbreaking endings, and I know that was the era of exaggerated tragedy, but in the end, I couldn't sympathize with the characters or feel the romance anymore. I wish the writer would have at least handled the ending better. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the mood, the actors, and their performances, especially Maria. I was honestly surprised at how raw and natural their acting seemed compared to contemporary J-drama. I also appreciate that many side stories and characters were equally, if not more, interesting, like that of Nana and Jun. I'd still recommend it if you're into watching classic melodrama.
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