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Dee

Georgia, USA

Dee

Georgia, USA
Anego japanese drama review
Completed
Anego
3 people found this review helpful
by Dee
Sep 13, 2015
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 7.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 4.0
This review may contain spoilers
I think this one is seriously underrated by a lot of people - probably because they went into it with expectations. I went into it with low expectations and I was actually pleasantly surprised. First off, I think this is miscategorized as romance. There is some romantic content - but the focus of this drama really isn't romance, and I think the summary and the title both illustrate that. Instead it is more of an office-drama and focuses on the different interpersonal relationships among the employees - many of a romantic nature, but it also focuses very heavily on Noda Naoko's relationships with the women she works with, just as the summary says - she has become their big sister and spends a lot of her time at work advising and guiding her juniors both in their careers and in their love lives. The series also provides a glimpse of a number of different types of romantic relationships - a long-term affair between a female employee and her boss, two people just beginning a flirtation/dating relationship, newlyweds, unrequited one-way attraction, younger woman/older man, attraction to a friend's husband, arranged dating, relationship between a man and a divorced woman, unhappily married couple...they're all in here. So to call this drama a romance is really doing it a disservice. Anyone going into this drama with the expectation of grand, sweeping romance will be highly disappointed. Thirdly, if you're going into this with expectations of this being a noona romance and seeing Akanishi Jin playing the younger, romantic swain who sweeps the cute but older woman off her feet - you're setting yourself up for disappointment. Noda Naoko's love-life is a tangled mess. Her parents are desperate for her to get married and have begun the process of arranging blind dates with potential marriage candidates for her. Unfortunately, she has an encounter with a Knight in Shining Armor on the train one evening - but he's wearing a ring, and turns out to be the husband of a woman she once worked with and later develops a friendship with. Finally, there's this cute younger new guy at work who slowly develops a crush on her that she can't help responding to, so she's being pulled in several different directions and makes missteps along the way - and some of them wind up being very painful and embarrassing for her. Vague spoilers below - because one of the things people seem to take issue with in this drama is the ending, so if you don't want any info about the ending at all, don't read any further. This is really more a story of how Naoko comes to the realization that her life isn't over just because she's over 30 and not yet married - and that marriage isn't the ultimate goal of her life or something that will give her life meaning, but merely one of the many events along the journey. And with that in mind - seeing her walk down the aisle with someone at the end of the drama, or even cementing a relationship with any of these guys would have been a disingenuous ending and would have undermined the foundation laid in the 9 prior episodes. The entire point of the drama is that "A MAN" isn't going to make Naoko happy - she must learn to find happiness herself. Story - 9, because I think it's a lot deeper than people give it credit for. Music - 6. Not sure why they went with We Will Rock You - that was a little weird, and other than that, it's a little off in some places and clashes with what's going on (deeply romantic classical music in some places that just didn't fit). Cast is 9 because I love Shinohara Ryoko - she's awesome. Akinishi is pretty to look at - but I don't consider him a stellar actor. I liked him better in the movie Bandage, probably because that character was less of a stretch. However, he does give the awkward junior with an undesirable crush on his senpai (?) some believability so I'll give him a pass for that. Rewatch value: 4. To be honest, the things I like to rewatch usually are the heart-fluttering romantic moments. There are scenes in my favorites that I rewatch over and over. I didn't really come up with many of those moments in this one. Enjoyed it a lot the first time through, though. So. If you're looking for a heart-warming noona-romance, this isn't it. But that doesn't mean you should automatically skip it, either.
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