2 people's extramarital affair impacts their own marriages and children. They don't impact the general public. If they commit murder, rape, financial fraud etc., those are public hazards. Actors play scripted roles, they're not "role models of morality" unless they were packaged as such branding by their agencies/management as a moral authority to sell misc. products or cultural campaigns (in which case their roles as influencers should be scrutinized, because monied interests like to propagandize the public for their own gains/power.)
Wow, I didn't know that Japan ever had (and still maintained, probably) the lowest caste in their society. I mean,…
The novel was first adapted in 1962 by Kon Ichikawa. Japan had a very vibrant documentary scene, where most of the marginalized people and subjects can be found.
In EPS 5, how did Tsugumi/Rena have Nao's phone number in Tokyo in her notebook of favorite things? Was she already given the home number of Nao's mom in Tokyo, while they were still in Hokkaido?
Had to drop it halfway. I don't like the story. This drama seems to "push" the idea of "false memories"…
Do you remember the book title and author? It would be an uncommon point of view, since for decades the McMartin Preschool trials were considered (by "cultural writers") ~false memories borne out of hysteria and fearmongering about LGBT that a school became scapegoat. "Save the children" was often seen as a sanctimonious cover to persecute sexual minorities, according to pundits.
The final shot of Beat Takeshi cutting down the cherry tree was enigmatic.
Imagine if a yakuza group dissolved because almost everyone was fighting dirty, over one hot piece of ass among them. And the leader is disgusted at a specific idea of the country as held together by his mancrazy men.
When have workplace affairs ever turned out well, especially when mixed with office politics? Better yet, Oshima was playing the devil's advocate that what if it all brought down bloodthirsty men as a group -- whose state-sanctioned violence he really abhorred (same as his queering of Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence)?
The battle of wits between Atsuro Watabe & Jiro Sato (superstar!) The meta joke (?) of casting a nepo in a desk job, and Ryota Bando on the beat trying to move up the ladder. Much better constructed than Ngai's last thriller, Character (2021). It's so rare to see a thriller entirely driven by the central acting performance.
A must-see if you like the comedies by the "Fukuda group". Especially EPS 6 - the shoe is on the other foot of Jiro Sato for once, and Tsuyoshi Muro opens with an incredible, sweetest skit. The recurring themes of night shift at convenience store, a lovelorn woman for a handsome lead, etc. in Fukuda comedies have never been done better. And it says much more about Japan's "lost generation" than serious movies by Kyoshi Kurosawa or the festival traveling arthouse movies. It is so grounded in issues of Japanese economy, I do not think it compares to Seinfeld at all. More like Tortilla Flat meets Napoleon Dynamite (Kenji Urai!), but completely its own thing.
By the last episode, the web of conflicts set up in the first 9 feels like an epic on par with Fukusaku's 70s cops VS. yakuza movies. No wonder the mangaka had a 10 year break between this and his loan shark series! The bromance doesn't kick in until EPS 10, which has interesting work from Hakuto Matsumura. Supporting roles are almost more important than the leads. Ishikawa Ruka and Kurosaki Kodai do such realistic work I expect them to be future heavyweights, as Ryota Bando will be from Light of My Lion. This matches Yagira's comment about awareness of social issues; his role is not the typical unsung hero/heroic savior holding anyone's hand. Everyone has to make their own choices in life.
Yoshizawa really comes into his own in this meaty role. At 1 point he goes crazy in EPS 5, his face recalls Kazuo Hasegawa (who also played an onnagata in An Actor's Revenge!)
https://archive.org/details/1_20260430_20260430_2040
https://archive.org/details/15_20260430_20260430
The bromance doesn't kick in until EPS 10, which has interesting work from Hakuto Matsumura. Supporting roles are almost more important than the leads. Ishikawa Ruka and Kurosaki Kodai do such realistic work I expect them to be future heavyweights, as Ryota Bando will be from Light of My Lion. This matches Yagira's comment about awareness of social issues; his role is not the typical unsung hero/heroic savior holding anyone's hand. Everyone has to make their own choices in life.