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2014 winter j-dorama
10 Feb 2014 04:47 pmI have less and less patience these days to sit down and go through most of the season's dramas. When I saw the initial ratings for the season I was a bit shocked. Apart from S ~ Saigo no Keikan which is rating consistently well, no other drama managed a pilot rating of above 15%...a fairly dismal outing for the season. I couldn't stomach the inevitable angst of Ashita, mama ga inai (about the troubled journey of a group of young orphans trying to find a place of belonging)...so I ended up watching S ~ Saigo no keikan and Shitsuren Chocolatier.
Let's just say, the ratings are justified.
S ~ Saigo no keikan (The final police)
Every season there's 1 or 2 or 5 police/detective dramas, each with a different quirk. Affiliation with a professor in neurology (Mr Brain), or a professor in physics (Galileo), specialising in antiterrorism computer espionage (Bloody Monday), solving "psychic" cases (Kiina), solving "psychic" cases until it looks like X-men in Japan (SPEC), department headed by a strong female (Boss), department headed by strong female with tragic past (Strawberry Night). Like medical dramas, the other staple of J-dora, they guarantee ratings of above 10% and frequently above 15%.
As is usual with police dramas headed by two male characters (curious that - never happens in female-led police dramas, but this is Japan), we are given two opposing personalities standing on the same frontline. Kamikura Ichigo, the hot-blooded naive idealistic passionate policeman who, in an RPG, would be a melee fighter. He is offset against Soga Iori, an cool-headed pragmatist who is an elite sniper. They end up on two different squads with separate ideals: SAT, whose role is to dissipate an acute situation swiftly and efficiently with whatever force necessary, and NPS, which seeks to preserve the life of everyone involved in the situation, including hostages and criminals.
Call me heartless, but I find it hard to agree with NPS's noble ideals in the sort of time-critical and stressful situations they come across. Is it really worth it to put hostages or other innocent bystanders at risk to keep the criminal alive? I understand the reasoning Kamikura gives, though some of it is full of so much vengefulness you wonder if that's even what the scriptwriter intended. He says that once the criminals die, the victims' loved ones will never get an answer. Yes, an answer would be nice, but sometimes you never get an answer even if they stay alive, and is it really worth risking other lives for an answer?? The second reason he states is that once criminals die, they will never repay their crimes and repent...which just sounds full of anger and unfulfilled vengeance. I actually find this a more acceptable motivation especially given how much passion Kamikura puts behind his actions - but you would not expect such anger from someone who was just a bystander and not directly a victim.
It's nice to see Mukai Osamu in a role like this. I don't know why people say they weren't sure if he'd suit the role given that he always has colder/effeminate roles. I don't know why people say he has effeminate roles =___=;;;;;; He's one of the few popular Japanese actors/idols who looks convincing as hot-blooded and brash. I always find him less convincing in some of his more "effeminate" roles, e.g. in Mei-chan no Shitsuji. I sort of find his aura a bit similar to Tamaki Hiroshi...there's a more...hmm, "straight" feel to them than a lot of the other Japanese idols, which was why I found Tamaki so disturbing in Ooku.
Ayano Go is growing on me. I don't know why for years I thought I disliked him >___> I mean I saw him in Gantz and liked him, and the only thing earlier than that I might have seen him in was Gold, but I can't even find his character on the chart for GOLD. I managed to dislike everything in that drama, including the usually gorgeous Amami Yuki. But Masami and Takei Emi kinda killed it for me...and I must've associated Ayano Go with that >__>
Anyway, I've really diverted from topic. The point is, the drama itself is very well constructed, with some solid action interspersed with light-hearted humour. Both Mukai and Ayano are excellent in their roles, and it's nice to see Ayano get something meatier to emote with after the insipid Saikou no Rikon. Kamikura is easy to like and Mukai plays him convincingly, but I don't know how many people agree with his ideals, and so far he's been VERY lucky not to have any casualties. I mean, dude, even Kenshin fought with a reverse-blade sword! And even Kira fought with a super powerful GUNDAM that just manages to disable suits instead of blow them up! Like, I'm not against your peace-loving spiel but do you really have to charge into a gunfight with nothing but your fists?? Disbelief is getting harder to suspend, man.
Shitsuren Chocolatier (Heart-break chocolatier)
A teenage boy trips over a beautiful girl on the way to school one day and falls irresistibly in love. But she's the queen bee of the high school, and her goal is to date every hot guy in every year...and obviously our main character isn't on the list - never mind that he's played by Matsumoto Jun from the ever popular boy band Arashi. In order to get close to the goddess of his dreams, Sota sucks up to her boyfriends instead (where is the logic?), goes to domestic classes and learns to make chocolate, because that's what she likes. Finally! One week before a Christmas several years later, she agrees to going out with him. They even share a kiss! But she can't see him for Valentines...but that's okay, she'll see him the day before!
Except when she gets the box of lovingly hand-made chocolates, she rejects him, because she realises he actually loved her. "But...we've been going out!" he cries, and she cocks her pretty head and says, "Going out? But we haven't even had sex."
Ummmmmmmmm..............that was about the part where the awkward long silence came between my mum and me.
Shitsuren Chocolatier's failure is that it's not really suited to be in Gekku, during the Valentine season.
The plot leaps and bounds ahead without regard to logic or reason or any sense of propriety. Sota goes to Paris on a whim and buys his way into an apprenticeship at a famous chocolatier shop with...a manga magazine. 6 years later he comes home, and Saeko, the girl he's still pining for after all these years, pays him a visit, which turns into a date at the cafe...at which she tells him she's getting married...and would like him to make her wedding cake.
He was heart-broken for all of 30 seconds, and then he decides to jump right into it. After all, what is marriage to another man but just a small obstacle on the path to true love!! Never mind that she's a taken woman now, she's always been someone else's woman but still flirted with him! He's always had a chance, and it's now closer than ever! A wedding band is nothing but a thin string of metal! Oh...but just while he's still waiting to get that dream girl, a man's gotta deal with his needs, so think nothing of having a sex-buddy on the side while pining for true love.
Can you see the WTF written all over this? As a manga, this is probably okay, to be read and seen as a joke. But as a drama, I can't see this being acceptable in a country that is still largely conservative and pro-monogamy. I'm surprised by reviews saying that people should stop complaining about Saeko because "at least she's enthusiastic in seeking love". That's not the point. The point is that she is a married woman, and she is still flirting with a guy who is still clearly hung up about her! The fault isn't her entirely, because Sota is the one who thinks "so what if she's married? We can be adulterers!" But Saeko is also the one who purposely wears a tiny dress that barely covers her legs when she turns up to his house, and is disappointed when Sota doesn't copulate with her then and there. Not that he didn't fantasise about it in detail.
My issue isn't that these things are portrayed, but that it's portrayed in such an ambiguous way as to say that adultery isn't a bad thing, that it was okay to be married and pursue an old flame.
The series is gorgeous. Ishihara Satomi is more gorgeous than she's every been. Most of the major characters are gorgeous eye candy...but watching it just gives me the greasy unclean feeling of soured mayonnaise...rather than the elegant bittersweet of dark chocolate.
Let's just say, the ratings are justified.
S ~ Saigo no keikan (The final police)
Every season there's 1 or 2 or 5 police/detective dramas, each with a different quirk. Affiliation with a professor in neurology (Mr Brain), or a professor in physics (Galileo), specialising in antiterrorism computer espionage (Bloody Monday), solving "psychic" cases (Kiina), solving "psychic" cases until it looks like X-men in Japan (SPEC), department headed by a strong female (Boss), department headed by strong female with tragic past (Strawberry Night). Like medical dramas, the other staple of J-dora, they guarantee ratings of above 10% and frequently above 15%.
As is usual with police dramas headed by two male characters (curious that - never happens in female-led police dramas, but this is Japan), we are given two opposing personalities standing on the same frontline. Kamikura Ichigo, the hot-blooded naive idealistic passionate policeman who, in an RPG, would be a melee fighter. He is offset against Soga Iori, an cool-headed pragmatist who is an elite sniper. They end up on two different squads with separate ideals: SAT, whose role is to dissipate an acute situation swiftly and efficiently with whatever force necessary, and NPS, which seeks to preserve the life of everyone involved in the situation, including hostages and criminals.
Call me heartless, but I find it hard to agree with NPS's noble ideals in the sort of time-critical and stressful situations they come across. Is it really worth it to put hostages or other innocent bystanders at risk to keep the criminal alive? I understand the reasoning Kamikura gives, though some of it is full of so much vengefulness you wonder if that's even what the scriptwriter intended. He says that once the criminals die, the victims' loved ones will never get an answer. Yes, an answer would be nice, but sometimes you never get an answer even if they stay alive, and is it really worth risking other lives for an answer?? The second reason he states is that once criminals die, they will never repay their crimes and repent...which just sounds full of anger and unfulfilled vengeance. I actually find this a more acceptable motivation especially given how much passion Kamikura puts behind his actions - but you would not expect such anger from someone who was just a bystander and not directly a victim.
It's nice to see Mukai Osamu in a role like this. I don't know why people say they weren't sure if he'd suit the role given that he always has colder/effeminate roles. I don't know why people say he has effeminate roles =___=;;;;;; He's one of the few popular Japanese actors/idols who looks convincing as hot-blooded and brash. I always find him less convincing in some of his more "effeminate" roles, e.g. in Mei-chan no Shitsuji. I sort of find his aura a bit similar to Tamaki Hiroshi...there's a more...hmm, "straight" feel to them than a lot of the other Japanese idols, which was why I found Tamaki so disturbing in Ooku.
Ayano Go is growing on me. I don't know why for years I thought I disliked him >___> I mean I saw him in Gantz and liked him, and the only thing earlier than that I might have seen him in was Gold, but I can't even find his character on the chart for GOLD. I managed to dislike everything in that drama, including the usually gorgeous Amami Yuki. But Masami and Takei Emi kinda killed it for me...and I must've associated Ayano Go with that >__>
Anyway, I've really diverted from topic. The point is, the drama itself is very well constructed, with some solid action interspersed with light-hearted humour. Both Mukai and Ayano are excellent in their roles, and it's nice to see Ayano get something meatier to emote with after the insipid Saikou no Rikon. Kamikura is easy to like and Mukai plays him convincingly, but I don't know how many people agree with his ideals, and so far he's been VERY lucky not to have any casualties. I mean, dude, even Kenshin fought with a reverse-blade sword! And even Kira fought with a super powerful GUNDAM that just manages to disable suits instead of blow them up! Like, I'm not against your peace-loving spiel but do you really have to charge into a gunfight with nothing but your fists?? Disbelief is getting harder to suspend, man.
Shitsuren Chocolatier (Heart-break chocolatier)
A teenage boy trips over a beautiful girl on the way to school one day and falls irresistibly in love. But she's the queen bee of the high school, and her goal is to date every hot guy in every year...and obviously our main character isn't on the list - never mind that he's played by Matsumoto Jun from the ever popular boy band Arashi. In order to get close to the goddess of his dreams, Sota sucks up to her boyfriends instead (where is the logic?), goes to domestic classes and learns to make chocolate, because that's what she likes. Finally! One week before a Christmas several years later, she agrees to going out with him. They even share a kiss! But she can't see him for Valentines...but that's okay, she'll see him the day before!
Except when she gets the box of lovingly hand-made chocolates, she rejects him, because she realises he actually loved her. "But...we've been going out!" he cries, and she cocks her pretty head and says, "Going out? But we haven't even had sex."
Ummmmmmmmm..............that was about the part where the awkward long silence came between my mum and me.
Shitsuren Chocolatier's failure is that it's not really suited to be in Gekku, during the Valentine season.
The plot leaps and bounds ahead without regard to logic or reason or any sense of propriety. Sota goes to Paris on a whim and buys his way into an apprenticeship at a famous chocolatier shop with...a manga magazine. 6 years later he comes home, and Saeko, the girl he's still pining for after all these years, pays him a visit, which turns into a date at the cafe...at which she tells him she's getting married...and would like him to make her wedding cake.
He was heart-broken for all of 30 seconds, and then he decides to jump right into it. After all, what is marriage to another man but just a small obstacle on the path to true love!! Never mind that she's a taken woman now, she's always been someone else's woman but still flirted with him! He's always had a chance, and it's now closer than ever! A wedding band is nothing but a thin string of metal! Oh...but just while he's still waiting to get that dream girl, a man's gotta deal with his needs, so think nothing of having a sex-buddy on the side while pining for true love.
Can you see the WTF written all over this? As a manga, this is probably okay, to be read and seen as a joke. But as a drama, I can't see this being acceptable in a country that is still largely conservative and pro-monogamy. I'm surprised by reviews saying that people should stop complaining about Saeko because "at least she's enthusiastic in seeking love". That's not the point. The point is that she is a married woman, and she is still flirting with a guy who is still clearly hung up about her! The fault isn't her entirely, because Sota is the one who thinks "so what if she's married? We can be adulterers!" But Saeko is also the one who purposely wears a tiny dress that barely covers her legs when she turns up to his house, and is disappointed when Sota doesn't copulate with her then and there. Not that he didn't fantasise about it in detail.
My issue isn't that these things are portrayed, but that it's portrayed in such an ambiguous way as to say that adultery isn't a bad thing, that it was okay to be married and pursue an old flame.
The series is gorgeous. Ishihara Satomi is more gorgeous than she's every been. Most of the major characters are gorgeous eye candy...but watching it just gives me the greasy unclean feeling of soured mayonnaise...rather than the elegant bittersweet of dark chocolate.
