marked as spoiler but contains no story spoiler. it's just my analysis and critiques of the show after 22 eps.
personally, i prefer "The Bond" (2021) as my goto heartfelt, close family, relationship drama. This one, ALJ, is too much of a romanticized portrayal of 60's-80's China, minimizes the impact of its political unrests, and affirms its socio-political structure.
marked as spoiler but contains no story spoiler. it's just my analysis and critiques of the show after 22 eps.
watched 22 eps of "A lifelong journey", another "Life, Drama, Family" genre drama. however, instead of limiting the story to the perspective of a few main characters, it branches out quite a bit & includes a lot of screen time for spouses, in laws, friends, co-workers, and even some close managers/officers. This is because ALJ is more of a chronicle of society back then, complete with the changing political climate, work & social reforms, as well as just life in general for the average person.
With such a diverse range of characters and topics, we don't get to stay with any character for long before cutting to a different scene or issue. Even if we consider ALJ to have only 1 main protagonist, I still wasn't able to relate to him as much or care about his character as I sometimes have been for other exceptional dramas.
I think of ALJ as watching a play or movie in a theatre. The story might be well written and actors talented, but there is distance from your seat in the audience to where the stage or screen is. It's this distance that's preventing me from completely immersing myself in the characters, their relationships, and the story.
i still don't understand why he made that choice. =/ perhaps he felt overwhelmed with guilt, so much that he thought he wouldn't be able to support Matsuno even if he survived the war? Kageura said Miyabe was not the same person after sending so many students to death. That's the only logical way I can accept him saving Ooishi instead of surviving... him not able to face Matsuno anymore.
Otherwise if you say, because of heroism, or to save 1 life, etc. I don't think that's it. He did everything except risk his life excessively. Till the end he didn't do stupid things such as shield suicide pilots because they wouldn't have made it to target even if he shielded them. Ooishi surviving wouldn't help the war, so it must be either a) thought someone else deserved to live on or b) as i said, he felt inadequate living on. His goal since the start was for safety of Matsuno and Kyoko, not his own life. He bet Ooishi would be able to help his family more than his destroyed self could.
With such a diverse range of characters and topics, we don't get to stay with any character for long before cutting to a different scene or issue. Even if we consider ALJ to have only 1 main protagonist, I still wasn't able to relate to him as much or care about his character as I sometimes have been for other exceptional dramas.
I think of ALJ as watching a play or movie in a theatre. The story might be well written and actors talented, but there is distance from your seat in the audience to where the stage or screen is. It's this distance that's preventing me from completely immersing myself in the characters, their relationships, and the story.
Otherwise if you say, because of heroism, or to save 1 life, etc. I don't think that's it. He did everything except risk his life excessively. Till the end he didn't do stupid things such as shield suicide pilots because they wouldn't have made it to target even if he shielded them. Ooishi surviving wouldn't help the war, so it must be either a) thought someone else deserved to live on or b) as i said, he felt inadequate living on. His goal since the start was for safety of Matsuno and Kyoko, not his own life. He bet Ooishi would be able to help his family more than his destroyed self could.