TRIVIA:
It’s the K-drama adaptation of a well known Japanese novel (Mr. Tsubakiyama’s Seven Days ) about a deceased man who gets a second chance soul swap to finish some unfinished business.
The original novel was about a dedicated and workaholic department store longtime employee who dies suddenly on the job. He can’t let go of the things he left hanging so the death authorities give him three days back on earth to wrap up his unfinished business. He goes from being a middle aged man into the body of a beautiful twenty something woman in order to finish his tasks, and along the way meet up with other just died folks who are in the same predicament. The story is warm and comedic with the fantasy set up, and is about healing and love.
Muro Tsuyoshi as Takasugi Atsuro
A drama director of a production company. A self-centred 35-year-old who thinks his only objective in life is to make dramas and movies. He is smug and uncooperative. He clashes with his boss Nezu Kazuhisa, resigns from his company and is saddled with a debt of 10 million yen. He and his subordinate Sonobe Yuto plan to kidnap a dog but they are made kidnappers through an unexpected turn of events.
Yamazaki Ikusaburo as Sonobe Yuto
akasugi Atsuro’s subordinate. A contract employee of the production company and drama assistant director. He is a pragmatic guy of today who reads situations and lives with balance, but at home he is henpecked by his wife. Because his wife recently became pregnant with twins, he needs money and is insecure about the future. He suggests to Takasugi that they kidnap the dog.
Mitsuishi Ken as Nezu Kazuhisa
The boss of Takasugi Atsuro and Sonobe Yuto. A drama producer. He is a brazen guy who rips off Takasugi’s drama proposal, then plays dumb. He has a conflict with Takasugi and demands 10 million yen in compensation after making him resign.
Kurokawa Mei as Mikami Natsuko
A mysterious woman around 30 who enters Takasugi Atsuro’s apartment without his permission. She possesses a sensuality that tempts men. She takes an interest in the dog kidnapping plot of Takasugi and Sonobe Yuto, and joins them. Her relationship with Takasugi, her own past and such are mysteries.
Konno Mahiru as Shibui Ayako
Shibui Takumi’s mother. A former actress with good looks. Making her son Takumi a famous child star has become her purpose in life. She has meals Takasugi Atsuro behind her husband’s back.
Horibe Keisuke as Shibui Takahiro
Shibui Takumi’s father. He is the president of Shibui Group which runs mobile game companies nationwide. Although he is in a position that everyone envies, he is busy with work and has grown slightly apart from his wife Ayako. His flaw is that he is very stingy.
Onishi Riku as Shibui Takumi
The only child of the wealthy Shibuis. He belongs to a talent agency for kids and has even starred in Takasugi Atsuro’s drama. He is pampered by the people around him because of his father’s influence and feels an emptiness as well as frustrated. On the other hand, he has an excessively impertinent and arrogant attitude. While Takasugi and Sonobe Yuta are developing a plan to kidnap the dog, he suddenly visits the apartment and suggests that they kidnap him instead.
? as John Lennon
A mysterious genius criminal. He only gives instructions through phone calls and emails and does not show himself. He sets Takasugi Atsuro and Sonobe Yuto up as kidnappers.
Characters
Katori Shingo as Nagasato Daisuke
He works for ‘Penna’, a large stationery manufacturer and has now been put in charge of the Product Development Department’s Product Planning Unit. He is a precise person. Besides going to the gym six times a week, he makes an effort to check out books and movies that are hot topics and loves improving himself. In his 20s, he once considered marriage, but broke up with his girlfriend because he could not take that step. He has not thought about getting married since then. He does not find it an inconvenience to live alone and has no complaints. He instead believes it is a risk to welcome other people into his own living space and has no intention of closing the gap between other people more than necessary. By the time he realises it, he is without a girlfriend and still counting.
Ueno Juri as Kumagai Hanako
She works for the Beverage Ingredients Department’s Coffee Division of a general trading company, Teiko Trading. Although she is a capable office lady who is proficient in languages, she has a tendency of unintentionally pointing out other people’s shortcomings and bad habits. She has a routine of sending complaint e-mails about the shops and personal belongings that she regularly uses. She got married in her 20s but divorced in less than a year. She is called “woman not suited for marriage” by her colleagues. As her work obligations increase, she prepares herself to live alone despite a touch of uncertainty about the future.
Mizuhara Kiko as Tanaka Rina
A new employee at the general trading company where Kumagai Hanako works. In fact, she is a wealthy girl who got into the company using connections and has no passion and ambition in her work. Because she lived abroad during her childhood and returned to Japan, it bothers her that she is treated like she is strange at times. She is frank in her opinions about Hanako. She meets Nagasato Daisuke through Hanako and gradually starts to get attracted to him.
Tanaka Kei as Takase Kazuya
Kumagai Hanako’s ex-husband. He had continued working overseas since their divorce, but comes back to Japan after a long time.
Mizuki Arisa as Ono Mika
Nagasato Daisuke’s ex-girlfriend. They started dating during university days and even considered getting married at one point. But Daisuke decided that he liked being single too much and was not suited for marriage. They broke up after seven years of dating. After that, she got married to another man who is unappealing according to Daisuke, and now lives happily as a family of four with two sons.
Mizuno Miki as Nagasato Megumi
Nagasato Yozo’s second wife and Kota’s mother. While she is having difficulties in romance and work after breaking up with Kota’s father, she meets Yozo and they get married. However, she ends up disappearing from them.
Nishida Toshiyuki as Nagasato Yozo
Nagasato Daisuke’s father. A former fisherman. Although he had a taciturn and strait-laced character, he seems a changed man after the death of his wife and lives with abandon. One day, he remarried Megumi who has a son without even consulting with Daisuke. However, she ran away and he takes his new stepson Kota to Tokyo. They move into Daisuke’s apartment and start living under the same roof until he finds Megumi.
Fubuki Jun as Kumagai Ritsuko
Kumagai Hanako’s mother. She started to live in the countryside after her husband retired. This was their long-awaited dream, but she could not tolerate the coldness and drudgery of life. She made the decision to live apart from her husband without even discussing with Hanako and came back to Tokyo. Even though she is welcoming her 60th birthday, she thinks life is ahead of her, and ends up having confrontations with her daughter at every turn. But in truth, she is worried about Hanako’s future.
For those who think Watanabe is just a stupid horny guy having sex with a bunch of girls...
First of all you need to keep in mind the fact that our heroes are mere teenagers/young adults (they are 17 when Kizuki kills himself, 20 when Watanabe has sex with Naoko, and she is 21 when she hangs herself).
At that age, they are supposed to be horny, hormonal and always tempted to experience. Plus this is the 60-70s., everything around them is changing, there is much talk of sexual liberation, people are out in the streets protesting and so on.
The way I see it Watanabe is just your typical and normal young man for his age. He goes through the scarring experience of having his best friend commit suicide with no apparent reason and explanation. And he is only 17, an age of many questions and so few answers, an age when you can be easily traumatised for life, without proper care. Yes, being a healthy young man, he manages to cope the right way with the loss and move on to next natural stage of his life: he goes to university, moves into a dorm and starts experiencing the typical life away from home like most of us did. At first he is recluse and burried in his books, but after meeting Nagasawa (who is a womaniser, but such a seductive one) he opens up to socialising and experimenting. Yes, under his bad influence he does have several one night stands, but Watanabe is different all along, he has a conscience, he can tell right from wrong. He is admiring Nagasawa for his charming personality and ability to attract women and work towards a solid career, but in the same time he is condemning Nagasawa for playing with the heart of the woman he's dating, without commiting himself to her and giving her anything in return, but sex. You can see Watanabe doesn't see women as mere chunks of meat by the way he honestly advises nagasawa's gf to dump him and look for a man who loves and cares for her. Plus Watanabe is a hard working, responsible young man. He has several jobs, he works his way through college, he is not just fooling / fucking around on his parents'expense.
Then comes Naoko waltzing back into his life. She seems so innocent and proper, a little shy and introverted. She is the one who seeks out Watanabe, calling him, inviting him for long walks and turning their random encounter into a regular relation. And then comes her bday. He prepared her a cake, a gift, you can tell he isn't treating her like some bimbo or just a one night stand. From his point of view he is taking the right steps into the right direction and things come natural, one thing leading to the next. the sexual tension is mutual and naoko doesn't show that she is not enjoying what's about to happen. He was a witness to the relationship naoko had with Kizuki, so he is shocked to realize that she is still a virgin. It's obvious it was the last thing he expected, so the question just slips out naturally. How come you never slept with Kizuki? And that is the beginning of their end, right there. The one who shall not be named between them was named. they had acted like nothing had happened all along, like kizuki never existed and now that silent agreement was broken. but what's worse, watanabe is completely oblivious of the deeper tragedy that was part of Naoko and Kazuki's relationship (her frigidity, the fact that no matter how much they loved each other and tried, he could never turn her on, then he killed himself and left her all alone). It is not Watanabe's fault, but his question awakens all her deamons, hence the brutal reaction and her dissapearing on him the next day. If he was a horny, selfish guy with shallow emotions, he would have moved on. Instead he looks for her, he writes to apologise, he waits patiently for a reply and he continues to fight for their relation until she finally gives up and kills herself. Even when it's obvious she is seriously mentally disturbed, even when she teases him, getting him all horny then rejecting him again, several times, he is supportive, willing to wait and understand or help. he doesn't force himself on her, she is the one always initiating every game. Even more, he doesn't give into temptation and have sex with beautiful bubbly Midori, as long as he feels reponsable for Naoko. When naoko asked him what would he do if she could never again have sex, foe as long as she lives, his answer is that he wants to move in with her and that he is a very optimistic guy at heart. He doesn't cheat on her, he is honest with Midori as well, telling her that he loves someone else and he has to take responsability. even when Midori comes on strong, always talking dirty (the sexual innuendo in their conversations is no joke), he stays true to his mixof love and guilt toward Naoko. And then when she commits suicide, he goes through grief like there is no tomorrow. Actually that part of the movie was the best for me when it comes to Matsuyama Kenichi's acting, it's just awesome (of course the directing has the major role, but the scene where he is screaming and crying on those cliffs by the sea is superb, with the music and scenery and everything, visual and sound, the best way to express his unbearable grief.
And after exhausting himself, crying himself out, he comes back to find a similarly lost and empty Reiko, Naoko's friend and shepperon from teh sanatorium. Yes, they have sex, but it's like a rite of passage for both of them, like a burial for / of naoko who was so deelply rooted in their lives. they both fought so hard to keep her sane and alive, they both gave everything they had to Naoko and they both were left behind to deal with her coward suicide. They both need to move on and sex is somewhat cathartic in this case. he asks reiko several times is she is sure this is what she wants, he doesn't initiate this, nor does he jump on her. And he also knows there's a story behind reiko's need to move on. the woman was holed up in the mountains for more than 7-8 years and the first time they met naoko and reiko joke around about the dream Reiko had that she tried to have sex with a man, but couldn't because he was too big for her and she was all "stuffed in there" after having been abstinent for so long... So their having intercourse is not mere fucking for either of them, there's a lot of symbolism and meaning behind that scene. And one more thing, after they are done, he doesn't just turn his back on her. He escorts her to the bus terminal, shows concern for her future and promises to visit her one day. So no, watanabe is not an empty shell if you ask me, nor a stupid horny guy. He is a good natured boy who is caught up in a web of tragedies who tries the best he can to cope with all the loss and keep his sanity and morals.
He is given a chance to normalcy when Midori comes into his life, but it is his choice to grab that oportunity or not. So in the end nothing comes easy for him and none of the women he encounters is just a stepping stone for watanabe.
CHARACTERS:
Watabe Atsuro as Hanazawa Kiichiro
An elite salaryman who works for a large general trading company Teiyo Corporation and is its youngest director. He developed businesses domestically and abroad and created the ideal family with his wife Shizuka and their three children. He is “perfect” enough that he has even been mentioned in magazines as a “capable man”. But he does not realise that he has actually been living complacently as a husband and father. One day, his eldest daughter Miran suddenly brings Daidoji Tamotsu home as her future husband and a series of festering problems erupt one after another.
Endo Kenichi as Daidoji Tamotsu
A department manager of a mid-sized specialised trading company, Yamabiko Trading. While he aspired for a general trading company, he is proud of his current job. He is a traditional salesman who is proud that “a specialised trading company is a salesperson that visits customers to take orders and connect clients and manufacturers” and is willing to put in hard work. He was given the nickname “Dogeza Daidoji” because of his sincerity. He was so immersed in his work that he never had luck with marriage. But system engineer Hanazawa Miran, who is 28 years his junior, came to his company one day and he was attracted to her innocence. They decide to get married after dating.
Renbutsu Misako as Hanazawa Miran
The eldest daughter of the Hanazawa family. A science girl who will not be satisfied unless everything is followed to its logical conclusion, she holed up in the laboratory during university days. She is compared to a boar because she is unstoppable once she has made up her mind. She now works at the IT company Ocean Solutions as a system engineer. She met Daidoji Tamotsu at Yamabiko Trading because of work and was drawn to his sincerity. They become romantically involved. Although she accepts Tamotsu’s proposal, she only reveals the existence of a boyfriend to her mother and the family does not know Tamotsu’s details including his age.
Shinkawa Yua as Hanazawa Marino
The second daughter of the Hanazawa family. A university student and a model. Candid and realistic about love, she finds her sister Miran’s boyfriend surprising but amusing. She has the elements of the family’s troublemaker.
Nakamura Tomoya as Hanazawa Hario
The eldest son of the Hanazawa family. A salaryman who works for a top electric appliance manufacturer. He dispassionately watches over the clash between Daidoji Tamotsu and his father over the marriage of his younger sister Miran. He has a youthful matter-of-fact side and a secret that he has not told anyone.
Wakui Emi as Hanazawa Shizuka
Hanazawa Kiichiro’s wife. She has constantly put up her husband of many years and brought up their three children as a housewife. However, she has a secret that she has not even told anyone in the family. She knows that their daughter Miran has a boyfriend. But she is not aware that he is 28 years her senior.
Yamazaki Ikusaburo as Sunashimizu Makoto
An employee of Teiyo Corporation like Hanazawa Kiichiro. A handsome man who is in love with Hanazawa Miran. Despite his ardent profession that he will die for her, he is sadly dumped. However, his unrequited feelings is still alive.
Death - winter ---> Frigidity - winter of pleasure
Murakami.
Death. Loss. Grief. Love. Obsession. Sex. Suicide. Broken. Coming of age. Rite of passage. Season. Life.
"Nothing can heal the loss of a beloved. No truth, no sincerity, no strenght, no kindness can heal that sorrow. All we can do is live through the sorrow and learn something from it. But whatever we learn will be of no help in facing the next sorrow to come along."
For me this is an exquisite analysis of loss and grief. People who don't grieve properly get sucked into and stuck in this perpetuum of emptiness and depression. it's not always manifest, but it corrodes all their relationships and interactions.And then there's the confusion between emotional dependance and love, between lust and love... and much more.
Characters
Arimura Kasumi as Sugihara Oto
Her mother who raised her single-handedly died young and she was brought up by adoptive parents Hayashida Masahiko and Chie in Hokkaido. She accepts her current circumstances and lives cheerfully. Because her adoptive parents are poor, she is being forced to marry a wealthy man who is 20 years her senior and it distresses her.
Kora Kengo as Soda Ren
His parents passed away early and he was brought up by his grandfather Soda Kenji in Fukushima. He has a kind heart. He dreams of getting back the farmland that his grandfather lost and goes to Tokyo. He gets a job at Kakitani Transportation, a courier company.
Takahata Mitsuki as Hinata Kihoko
Soda Ren’s girlfriend who works for an advertising agency. She has cast off her past and lives it up in Tokyo constantly surrounded by luxury goods. She lends money to Ren who gets cheated and chalks up debt every so often.
Morikawa Aoi as Ichimura Konatsu
Soda Ren’s junior from his hometown. She has had feelings for Ren from way back. She goes to Tokyo with the aim of being a designer. She overstretches herself in her attempt to take on the style of the metropolis and descends into its dark side.
Sakaguchi Kentaro as Nakajo Haruta
Soda Ren’s friend who is bad company. He is detached, lives as he pleases and has never been serious about anything. He frequents Ren’s home.
Nishijima Takahiro as Ibuki Asahi
The son of Ibuki Seijiro, the president of a large nursing care facility. A guy with a shallow character who hits on employees. He loves and hates his great father. He meets Sugihara Oto and develops feelings for her.
Emoto Akira as Hayashida Masahiko
Sugihara Oto’s adoptive father. He will not give Oto and luxuries and enforces a strict life.
Otani Naoko as Hayashida Chie
Sugihara Oto’s adoptive mother. She is now bedridden and Oto takes care of her.
Tanaka Min as Soda Kenji
Soda Ren’s grandfather. He brought up Ren who lost his parents early.
Kohinata Fumiyo as Ibuki Seijiro
He made enormous wealth through his work in nursing care. He looks down on his son Asahi.
Yachigusa Kaoru as Sendo Shizue
She understands Soda Ren well. Her house becomes a hangout for him and the others.
Characters
Saito Takumi as Himura Hideo
An associate professor in charge of criminal sociology at Eito University’s Department of Sociology. He assists in murder investigations under the guise of field work. He openly declares that his desire to kill a person led to his interest in crime. No one knows the darkness in his mind.
Kubota Masataka as Arisugawa Arisu
A mystery writer. Himura Hideo’s good friend since university days and the only one whom Himura trusts. He accompanies Himura to crime scenes as his “protector”. However, his off-the-cuff deductions are all off the mark. He may seem undependable, but he wants to help Himura and watch over him from close quarters.
Yuka as Ono Nozomi
A detective of Kyoto Prefectural Police’s First Investigation Division. Rank: Assistant Inspector. Her pet name is Komachi. Displeased with outsiders Himura Hideo and Arisugawa Arisu having access to crimes scenes, she finds fault at every opportunity and tries to drive them out. As she investigates cases with him, she is eventually forced to acknowledge his brilliance and at the same time also perceives the darkness of his mind.
Yamamoto Mizuki as Kijima Akemi
A student of Eito University’s Department of Sociology who is taking Himura Hideo’s class. She is one of the members of a group of female university students who gathers around the cool Himura. At times, the cool, listless look she shows feels at odds. She is approaching Himura for a certain objective.
Hasegawa Kyoko as Morohoshi Sanae
The leader of the Shangrila Crusaders, a radical group that is shaking society to its core. She cleverly manipulates members without getting her own hands dirty. Some incident leads to an interview with Himura Hideo and they gradually get drawn to each other.
Namase Katsuhisa as Nabeshima Hisashi
A detective of Kyoto Prefectural Police’s First Investigation Division whose thoughts of arresting criminals are suffocating. Rank: Inspector. A He has great faith in the deductions of Himura Hideo and Arisugawa Arisu. He appears to rely on the two of them a lot and have no pride, but he is aggressive and venomous with his subordinates.
Natsuki Mari as Shinomiya Tokie
The landlady of the lodgings that Himura Hideo lives at. She treats him like a son and looks after him. Himura, who detests people, is similarly attached to her like a child. She loves mystery novels and is also a fan of Arisugawa Arisu’s work.
One night, a samurai Nakano Kiyoshige (Itao Itsuji) visits Nikkei (Tanaka Yoji), the chief priest of Chisenin, in the middle of heavy snowfall. He entrusts a baby and a large sum of money to Nikkei and asks him to raise the child. 14 years later, Omiyo (Sawajiri Erika) has grown up to be an outstanding beauty. She visits the Nakano residence thinking that Kiyoshige, who secretly met Nikkei, is her father. However, she hears from him that she is the child of the 10th Tokugawa shogun Ieharu and his concubine Omino. Moreover, Ieharu was poisoned and killed by Ienari’s (Narimiya Hiroki) faction which plotted to make him the shogun. It is also a known fact that Omino died after giving birth to Omiyo. Omiyo cries as she listens to the story and asks to enter the inner palace in order to avenge her parents. She gets inside through a good word put in by Kiyoshige, who is Ienari’s close aide, and immediately catches the attention of Ienari with the help of the high-ranking Osaki no Tsubone (Asano Yuko). Looking at Omiyo, the female servants Kuzuoka (Washio Machiko), Yoshino (Yamaguchi Kaori) and Urao (Kubota Maki) feel alarm. At that moment in the inner palace, the concubine Oraku (Asai Erina) is in favour with Ienari. But after she gives birth to his heir, he completely loses interest and ignores her. Omiyo recommends that Oraku visit Chisenin and then sends in the handsome priest Nichien (Kaneko Noboru), scheming for a liaison between Oraku and him. With this weakness as her trump card, she tames Oraku. After that, Omiyo uses her natural beauty and the wiles that Kiyoshige had schooled her in to gain Ienari’s affection. Meanwhile, Chisenin has become the place of worship of the shogun’s family as a result of Omiyo’s counsel. Taking a dim view of Chisenin’s growing power and wealth, Wakisaka Yasutada (Hamada Manabu), the magistrate who is responsible for the management of temples and shrines, tries to curb the expanding influence of Kiyoshige by suggesting that Ienari make Oraku’s child his heir. However, Omiyo checks Wakisaka’s movements with certain action. She soon gives birth, but her child is a princess. She obsesses if the next one will be a boy even as she steadily cements her position in the inner palace. One day, Omiyo exchanges words with a female servant Oshima (Watanabe Mayu) in the garden of Chisenin. She is profoundly intrigued by Oshima who for some reason regards the rivalry swirling in the inner palace soberly. After that, Omiyo meets Oshima in secret over and over again. Oshima’s pure heart and the time in contact with her gives Omiyo peace. This eventually progresses to a forbidden love affair.
2 
TRAILERS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGZLrzH28DM&list=PLmnMiSXtJEB2UXkQ2aReYuIs6oiQZirXc&index=1
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emJdualSUts
It’s the K-drama adaptation of a well known Japanese novel (Mr. Tsubakiyama’s Seven Days ) about a deceased man who gets a second chance soul swap to finish some unfinished business.
The original novel was about a dedicated and workaholic department store longtime employee who dies suddenly on the job. He can’t let go of the things he left hanging so the death authorities give him three days back on earth to wrap up his unfinished business. He goes from being a middle aged man into the body of a beautiful twenty something woman in order to finish his tasks, and along the way meet up with other just died folks who are in the same predicament. The story is warm and comedic with the fantasy set up, and is about healing and love.
Characters:
Muro Tsuyoshi as Takasugi Atsuro
A drama director of a production company. A self-centred 35-year-old who thinks his only objective in life is to make dramas and movies. He is smug and uncooperative. He clashes with his boss Nezu Kazuhisa, resigns from his company and is saddled with a debt of 10 million yen. He and his subordinate Sonobe Yuto plan to kidnap a dog but they are made kidnappers through an unexpected turn of events.
Yamazaki Ikusaburo as Sonobe Yuto
akasugi Atsuro’s subordinate. A contract employee of the production company and drama assistant director. He is a pragmatic guy of today who reads situations and lives with balance, but at home he is henpecked by his wife. Because his wife recently became pregnant with twins, he needs money and is insecure about the future. He suggests to Takasugi that they kidnap the dog.
Mitsuishi Ken as Nezu Kazuhisa
The boss of Takasugi Atsuro and Sonobe Yuto. A drama producer. He is a brazen guy who rips off Takasugi’s drama proposal, then plays dumb. He has a conflict with Takasugi and demands 10 million yen in compensation after making him resign.
Kurokawa Mei as Mikami Natsuko
A mysterious woman around 30 who enters Takasugi Atsuro’s apartment without his permission. She possesses a sensuality that tempts men. She takes an interest in the dog kidnapping plot of Takasugi and Sonobe Yuto, and joins them. Her relationship with Takasugi, her own past and such are mysteries.
Konno Mahiru as Shibui Ayako
Shibui Takumi’s mother. A former actress with good looks. Making her son Takumi a famous child star has become her purpose in life. She has meals Takasugi Atsuro behind her husband’s back.
Horibe Keisuke as Shibui Takahiro
Shibui Takumi’s father. He is the president of Shibui Group which runs mobile game companies nationwide. Although he is in a position that everyone envies, he is busy with work and has grown slightly apart from his wife Ayako. His flaw is that he is very stingy.
Onishi Riku as Shibui Takumi
The only child of the wealthy Shibuis. He belongs to a talent agency for kids and has even starred in Takasugi Atsuro’s drama. He is pampered by the people around him because of his father’s influence and feels an emptiness as well as frustrated. On the other hand, he has an excessively impertinent and arrogant attitude. While Takasugi and Sonobe Yuta are developing a plan to kidnap the dog, he suddenly visits the apartment and suggests that they kidnap him instead.
? as John Lennon
A mysterious genius criminal. He only gives instructions through phone calls and emails and does not show himself. He sets Takasugi Atsuro and Sonobe Yuto up as kidnappers.
INTRO: http://bit.ly/1WhtghI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I-IPUmBe_k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlVNCxE2QRE
Characters
Katori Shingo as Nagasato Daisuke
He works for ‘Penna’, a large stationery manufacturer and has now been put in charge of the Product Development Department’s Product Planning Unit. He is a precise person. Besides going to the gym six times a week, he makes an effort to check out books and movies that are hot topics and loves improving himself. In his 20s, he once considered marriage, but broke up with his girlfriend because he could not take that step. He has not thought about getting married since then. He does not find it an inconvenience to live alone and has no complaints. He instead believes it is a risk to welcome other people into his own living space and has no intention of closing the gap between other people more than necessary. By the time he realises it, he is without a girlfriend and still counting.
Ueno Juri as Kumagai Hanako
She works for the Beverage Ingredients Department’s Coffee Division of a general trading company, Teiko Trading. Although she is a capable office lady who is proficient in languages, she has a tendency of unintentionally pointing out other people’s shortcomings and bad habits. She has a routine of sending complaint e-mails about the shops and personal belongings that she regularly uses. She got married in her 20s but divorced in less than a year. She is called “woman not suited for marriage” by her colleagues. As her work obligations increase, she prepares herself to live alone despite a touch of uncertainty about the future.
Mizuhara Kiko as Tanaka Rina
A new employee at the general trading company where Kumagai Hanako works. In fact, she is a wealthy girl who got into the company using connections and has no passion and ambition in her work. Because she lived abroad during her childhood and returned to Japan, it bothers her that she is treated like she is strange at times. She is frank in her opinions about Hanako. She meets Nagasato Daisuke through Hanako and gradually starts to get attracted to him.
Tanaka Kei as Takase Kazuya
Kumagai Hanako’s ex-husband. He had continued working overseas since their divorce, but comes back to Japan after a long time.
Mizuki Arisa as Ono Mika
Nagasato Daisuke’s ex-girlfriend. They started dating during university days and even considered getting married at one point. But Daisuke decided that he liked being single too much and was not suited for marriage. They broke up after seven years of dating. After that, she got married to another man who is unappealing according to Daisuke, and now lives happily as a family of four with two sons.
Mizuno Miki as Nagasato Megumi
Nagasato Yozo’s second wife and Kota’s mother. While she is having difficulties in romance and work after breaking up with Kota’s father, she meets Yozo and they get married. However, she ends up disappearing from them.
Nishida Toshiyuki as Nagasato Yozo
Nagasato Daisuke’s father. A former fisherman. Although he had a taciturn and strait-laced character, he seems a changed man after the death of his wife and lives with abandon. One day, he remarried Megumi who has a son without even consulting with Daisuke. However, she ran away and he takes his new stepson Kota to Tokyo. They move into Daisuke’s apartment and start living under the same roof until he finds Megumi.
Fubuki Jun as Kumagai Ritsuko
Kumagai Hanako’s mother. She started to live in the countryside after her husband retired. This was their long-awaited dream, but she could not tolerate the coldness and drudgery of life. She made the decision to live apart from her husband without even discussing with Hanako and came back to Tokyo. Even though she is welcoming her 60th birthday, she thinks life is ahead of her, and ends up having confrontations with her daughter at every turn. But in truth, she is worried about Hanako’s future.
First of all you need to keep in mind the fact that our heroes are mere teenagers/young adults (they are 17 when Kizuki kills himself, 20 when Watanabe has sex with Naoko, and she is 21 when she hangs herself).
At that age, they are supposed to be horny, hormonal and always tempted to experience. Plus this is the 60-70s., everything around them is changing, there is much talk of sexual liberation, people are out in the streets protesting and so on.
The way I see it Watanabe is just your typical and normal young man for his age. He goes through the scarring experience of having his best friend commit suicide with no apparent reason and explanation. And he is only 17, an age of many questions and so few answers, an age when you can be easily traumatised for life, without proper care. Yes, being a healthy young man, he manages to cope the right way with the loss and move on to next natural stage of his life: he goes to university, moves into a dorm and starts experiencing the typical life away from home like most of us did. At first he is recluse and burried in his books, but after meeting Nagasawa (who is a womaniser, but such a seductive one) he opens up to socialising and experimenting. Yes, under his bad influence he does have several one night stands, but Watanabe is different all along, he has a conscience, he can tell right from wrong. He is admiring Nagasawa for his charming personality and ability to attract women and work towards a solid career, but in the same time he is condemning Nagasawa for playing with the heart of the woman he's dating, without commiting himself to her and giving her anything in return, but sex. You can see Watanabe doesn't see women as mere chunks of meat by the way he honestly advises nagasawa's gf to dump him and look for a man who loves and cares for her. Plus Watanabe is a hard working, responsible young man. He has several jobs, he works his way through college, he is not just fooling / fucking around on his parents'expense.
Then comes Naoko waltzing back into his life. She seems so innocent and proper, a little shy and introverted. She is the one who seeks out Watanabe, calling him, inviting him for long walks and turning their random encounter into a regular relation. And then comes her bday. He prepared her a cake, a gift, you can tell he isn't treating her like some bimbo or just a one night stand. From his point of view he is taking the right steps into the right direction and things come natural, one thing leading to the next. the sexual tension is mutual and naoko doesn't show that she is not enjoying what's about to happen. He was a witness to the relationship naoko had with Kizuki, so he is shocked to realize that she is still a virgin. It's obvious it was the last thing he expected, so the question just slips out naturally. How come you never slept with Kizuki? And that is the beginning of their end, right there. The one who shall not be named between them was named. they had acted like nothing had happened all along, like kizuki never existed and now that silent agreement was broken. but what's worse, watanabe is completely oblivious of the deeper tragedy that was part of Naoko and Kazuki's relationship (her frigidity, the fact that no matter how much they loved each other and tried, he could never turn her on, then he killed himself and left her all alone). It is not Watanabe's fault, but his question awakens all her deamons, hence the brutal reaction and her dissapearing on him the next day. If he was a horny, selfish guy with shallow emotions, he would have moved on. Instead he looks for her, he writes to apologise, he waits patiently for a reply and he continues to fight for their relation until she finally gives up and kills herself. Even when it's obvious she is seriously mentally disturbed, even when she teases him, getting him all horny then rejecting him again, several times, he is supportive, willing to wait and understand or help. he doesn't force himself on her, she is the one always initiating every game. Even more, he doesn't give into temptation and have sex with beautiful bubbly Midori, as long as he feels reponsable for Naoko. When naoko asked him what would he do if she could never again have sex, foe as long as she lives, his answer is that he wants to move in with her and that he is a very optimistic guy at heart. He doesn't cheat on her, he is honest with Midori as well, telling her that he loves someone else and he has to take responsability. even when Midori comes on strong, always talking dirty (the sexual innuendo in their conversations is no joke), he stays true to his mixof love and guilt toward Naoko. And then when she commits suicide, he goes through grief like there is no tomorrow. Actually that part of the movie was the best for me when it comes to Matsuyama Kenichi's acting, it's just awesome (of course the directing has the major role, but the scene where he is screaming and crying on those cliffs by the sea is superb, with the music and scenery and everything, visual and sound, the best way to express his unbearable grief.
And after exhausting himself, crying himself out, he comes back to find a similarly lost and empty Reiko, Naoko's friend and shepperon from teh sanatorium. Yes, they have sex, but it's like a rite of passage for both of them, like a burial for / of naoko who was so deelply rooted in their lives. they both fought so hard to keep her sane and alive, they both gave everything they had to Naoko and they both were left behind to deal with her coward suicide. They both need to move on and sex is somewhat cathartic in this case. he asks reiko several times is she is sure this is what she wants, he doesn't initiate this, nor does he jump on her. And he also knows there's a story behind reiko's need to move on. the woman was holed up in the mountains for more than 7-8 years and the first time they met naoko and reiko joke around about the dream Reiko had that she tried to have sex with a man, but couldn't because he was too big for her and she was all "stuffed in there" after having been abstinent for so long... So their having intercourse is not mere fucking for either of them, there's a lot of symbolism and meaning behind that scene. And one more thing, after they are done, he doesn't just turn his back on her. He escorts her to the bus terminal, shows concern for her future and promises to visit her one day. So no, watanabe is not an empty shell if you ask me, nor a stupid horny guy. He is a good natured boy who is caught up in a web of tragedies who tries the best he can to cope with all the loss and keep his sanity and morals.
He is given a chance to normalcy when Midori comes into his life, but it is his choice to grab that oportunity or not. So in the end nothing comes easy for him and none of the women he encounters is just a stepping stone for watanabe.
http://movie.daum.net/moviedetail/moviedetailMain.do?movieId=94795
CHARACTERS:
Watabe Atsuro as Hanazawa Kiichiro
An elite salaryman who works for a large general trading company Teiyo Corporation and is its youngest director. He developed businesses domestically and abroad and created the ideal family with his wife Shizuka and their three children. He is “perfect” enough that he has even been mentioned in magazines as a “capable man”. But he does not realise that he has actually been living complacently as a husband and father. One day, his eldest daughter Miran suddenly brings Daidoji Tamotsu home as her future husband and a series of festering problems erupt one after another.
Endo Kenichi as Daidoji Tamotsu
A department manager of a mid-sized specialised trading company, Yamabiko Trading. While he aspired for a general trading company, he is proud of his current job. He is a traditional salesman who is proud that “a specialised trading company is a salesperson that visits customers to take orders and connect clients and manufacturers” and is willing to put in hard work. He was given the nickname “Dogeza Daidoji” because of his sincerity. He was so immersed in his work that he never had luck with marriage. But system engineer Hanazawa Miran, who is 28 years his junior, came to his company one day and he was attracted to her innocence. They decide to get married after dating.
Renbutsu Misako as Hanazawa Miran
The eldest daughter of the Hanazawa family. A science girl who will not be satisfied unless everything is followed to its logical conclusion, she holed up in the laboratory during university days. She is compared to a boar because she is unstoppable once she has made up her mind. She now works at the IT company Ocean Solutions as a system engineer. She met Daidoji Tamotsu at Yamabiko Trading because of work and was drawn to his sincerity. They become romantically involved. Although she accepts Tamotsu’s proposal, she only reveals the existence of a boyfriend to her mother and the family does not know Tamotsu’s details including his age.
Shinkawa Yua as Hanazawa Marino
The second daughter of the Hanazawa family. A university student and a model. Candid and realistic about love, she finds her sister Miran’s boyfriend surprising but amusing. She has the elements of the family’s troublemaker.
Nakamura Tomoya as Hanazawa Hario
The eldest son of the Hanazawa family. A salaryman who works for a top electric appliance manufacturer. He dispassionately watches over the clash between Daidoji Tamotsu and his father over the marriage of his younger sister Miran. He has a youthful matter-of-fact side and a secret that he has not told anyone.
Wakui Emi as Hanazawa Shizuka
Hanazawa Kiichiro’s wife. She has constantly put up her husband of many years and brought up their three children as a housewife. However, she has a secret that she has not even told anyone in the family. She knows that their daughter Miran has a boyfriend. But she is not aware that he is 28 years her senior.
Yamazaki Ikusaburo as Sunashimizu Makoto
An employee of Teiyo Corporation like Hanazawa Kiichiro. A handsome man who is in love with Hanazawa Miran. Despite his ardent profession that he will die for her, he is sadly dumped. However, his unrequited feelings is still alive.
Death - winter ---> Frigidity - winter of pleasure
Murakami.
Death. Loss. Grief. Love. Obsession. Sex. Suicide. Broken. Coming of age. Rite of passage. Season. Life.
"Nothing can heal the loss of a beloved. No truth, no sincerity, no strenght, no kindness can heal that sorrow. All we can do is live through the sorrow and learn something from it. But whatever we learn will be of no help in facing the next sorrow to come along."
For me this is an exquisite analysis of loss and grief. People who don't grieve properly get sucked into and stuck in this perpetuum of emptiness and depression. it's not always manifest, but it corrodes all their relationships and interactions.And then there's the confusion between emotional dependance and love, between lust and love... and much more.
Arimura Kasumi as Sugihara Oto
Her mother who raised her single-handedly died young and she was brought up by adoptive parents Hayashida Masahiko and Chie in Hokkaido. She accepts her current circumstances and lives cheerfully. Because her adoptive parents are poor, she is being forced to marry a wealthy man who is 20 years her senior and it distresses her.
Kora Kengo as Soda Ren
His parents passed away early and he was brought up by his grandfather Soda Kenji in Fukushima. He has a kind heart. He dreams of getting back the farmland that his grandfather lost and goes to Tokyo. He gets a job at Kakitani Transportation, a courier company.
Takahata Mitsuki as Hinata Kihoko
Soda Ren’s girlfriend who works for an advertising agency. She has cast off her past and lives it up in Tokyo constantly surrounded by luxury goods. She lends money to Ren who gets cheated and chalks up debt every so often.
Morikawa Aoi as Ichimura Konatsu
Soda Ren’s junior from his hometown. She has had feelings for Ren from way back. She goes to Tokyo with the aim of being a designer. She overstretches herself in her attempt to take on the style of the metropolis and descends into its dark side.
Sakaguchi Kentaro as Nakajo Haruta
Soda Ren’s friend who is bad company. He is detached, lives as he pleases and has never been serious about anything. He frequents Ren’s home.
Nishijima Takahiro as Ibuki Asahi
The son of Ibuki Seijiro, the president of a large nursing care facility. A guy with a shallow character who hits on employees. He loves and hates his great father. He meets Sugihara Oto and develops feelings for her.
Emoto Akira as Hayashida Masahiko
Sugihara Oto’s adoptive father. He will not give Oto and luxuries and enforces a strict life.
Otani Naoko as Hayashida Chie
Sugihara Oto’s adoptive mother. She is now bedridden and Oto takes care of her.
Tanaka Min as Soda Kenji
Soda Ren’s grandfather. He brought up Ren who lost his parents early.
Kohinata Fumiyo as Ibuki Seijiro
He made enormous wealth through his work in nursing care. He looks down on his son Asahi.
Yachigusa Kaoru as Sendo Shizue
She understands Soda Ren well. Her house becomes a hangout for him and the others.
Opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxtVWHJV1i8
FULL: http://dramacool.cc/shiratori-reiko-de-gozaimasu-episode-1.html
Cast: Kawakita Mayuko, Mizuno Masaru, Tamura Yukihisa, Tsujimoto Tatsunori, Tanaka Shunsuke, Yoshihara Masato, Onishi Ayaka, Odaka Anna, Ueno Yuka, Naito Risa, Sato Tamao, Sakata Masahiko, Harumi Shiho, Matsukane Yoneko
Characters
Saito Takumi as Himura Hideo
An associate professor in charge of criminal sociology at Eito University’s Department of Sociology. He assists in murder investigations under the guise of field work. He openly declares that his desire to kill a person led to his interest in crime. No one knows the darkness in his mind.
Kubota Masataka as Arisugawa Arisu
A mystery writer. Himura Hideo’s good friend since university days and the only one whom Himura trusts. He accompanies Himura to crime scenes as his “protector”. However, his off-the-cuff deductions are all off the mark. He may seem undependable, but he wants to help Himura and watch over him from close quarters.
Yuka as Ono Nozomi
A detective of Kyoto Prefectural Police’s First Investigation Division. Rank: Assistant Inspector. Her pet name is Komachi. Displeased with outsiders Himura Hideo and Arisugawa Arisu having access to crimes scenes, she finds fault at every opportunity and tries to drive them out. As she investigates cases with him, she is eventually forced to acknowledge his brilliance and at the same time also perceives the darkness of his mind.
Yamamoto Mizuki as Kijima Akemi
A student of Eito University’s Department of Sociology who is taking Himura Hideo’s class. She is one of the members of a group of female university students who gathers around the cool Himura. At times, the cool, listless look she shows feels at odds. She is approaching Himura for a certain objective.
Hasegawa Kyoko as Morohoshi Sanae
The leader of the Shangrila Crusaders, a radical group that is shaking society to its core. She cleverly manipulates members without getting her own hands dirty. Some incident leads to an interview with Himura Hideo and they gradually get drawn to each other.
Namase Katsuhisa as Nabeshima Hisashi
A detective of Kyoto Prefectural Police’s First Investigation Division whose thoughts of arresting criminals are suffocating. Rank: Inspector. A He has great faith in the deductions of Himura Hideo and Arisugawa Arisu. He appears to rely on the two of them a lot and have no pride, but he is aggressive and venomous with his subordinates.
Natsuki Mari as Shinomiya Tokie
The landlady of the lodgings that Himura Hideo lives at. She treats him like a son and looks after him. Himura, who detests people, is similarly attached to her like a child. She loves mystery novels and is also a fan of Arisugawa Arisu’s work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7Vzl2BOGhE&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qdX8mq1D60
http://mydramalist.com/15986-one-more-happy-ending/trailers/5015
http://mydramalist.com/15986-one-more-happy-ending/trailers/5041
ANGELS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1gQn63qDmY ; https://www.facebook.com/yooinnaVN/videos/737943019674067
INTERVIEW: https://www.facebook.com/yooinnaVN/videos/735377599930609
BTS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTfEDTqy8c4
PHOTOS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsI2nFZdxYI
NA RA greeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8uhXfbNP1E
1. http://dramacool.es/ooku-saikyou-no-onna-episode-1.html
2. https://dramacool.es/drama-detail/ooku-higeki-no-shimai
TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/1PG2hae ; http://bit.ly/1KrF4qE
One night, a samurai Nakano Kiyoshige (Itao Itsuji) visits Nikkei (Tanaka Yoji), the chief priest of Chisenin, in the middle of heavy snowfall. He entrusts a baby and a large sum of money to Nikkei and asks him to raise the child. 14 years later, Omiyo (Sawajiri Erika) has grown up to be an outstanding beauty. She visits the Nakano residence thinking that Kiyoshige, who secretly met Nikkei, is her father. However, she hears from him that she is the child of the 10th Tokugawa shogun Ieharu and his concubine Omino. Moreover, Ieharu was poisoned and killed by Ienari’s (Narimiya Hiroki) faction which plotted to make him the shogun. It is also a known fact that Omino died after giving birth to Omiyo. Omiyo cries as she listens to the story and asks to enter the inner palace in order to avenge her parents. She gets inside through a good word put in by Kiyoshige, who is Ienari’s close aide, and immediately catches the attention of Ienari with the help of the high-ranking Osaki no Tsubone (Asano Yuko). Looking at Omiyo, the female servants Kuzuoka (Washio Machiko), Yoshino (Yamaguchi Kaori) and Urao (Kubota Maki) feel alarm. At that moment in the inner palace, the concubine Oraku (Asai Erina) is in favour with Ienari. But after she gives birth to his heir, he completely loses interest and ignores her. Omiyo recommends that Oraku visit Chisenin and then sends in the handsome priest Nichien (Kaneko Noboru), scheming for a liaison between Oraku and him. With this weakness as her trump card, she tames Oraku. After that, Omiyo uses her natural beauty and the wiles that Kiyoshige had schooled her in to gain Ienari’s affection. Meanwhile, Chisenin has become the place of worship of the shogun’s family as a result of Omiyo’s counsel. Taking a dim view of Chisenin’s growing power and wealth, Wakisaka Yasutada (Hamada Manabu), the magistrate who is responsible for the management of temples and shrines, tries to curb the expanding influence of Kiyoshige by suggesting that Ienari make Oraku’s child his heir. However, Omiyo checks Wakisaka’s movements with certain action. She soon gives birth, but her child is a princess. She obsesses if the next one will be a boy even as she steadily cements her position in the inner palace. One day, Omiyo exchanges words with a female servant Oshima (Watanabe Mayu) in the garden of Chisenin. She is profoundly intrigued by Oshima who for some reason regards the rivalry swirling in the inner palace soberly. After that, Omiyo meets Oshima in secret over and over again. Oshima’s pure heart and the time in contact with her gives Omiyo peace. This eventually progresses to a forbidden love affair.
http://aramajapan.com/news/tvmovie/dramas/erika-sawajiri-and-mayu-watanabe-to-play-lovers-in-new-drama-special/53436/
http://movie.daum.net/moviedetail/moviedetailMain.do?movieId=94207