Summer Dorama Watch: Coming from America
The new summer dorama season has started in Japan and boards are buzzing over a few in particular.
Fuji is running Hanazakari no Kimitachi, a dorama adapted from a manga in which a young Japanese girl formerly living in America impersonates a boy in order to attend an all male high school where she hopes to meet her idol, a young athlete she saw and admired on television. I’m not sure if the “living in America” bit translates into Horikita Maki’s acting. Does she look like an Americanized Japanese to you? And I’m not sure if she would pass for a boy at all in the real world. But that’s probably not what’s drawing viewers to this story, which also stars Oguri Shun of Hana Yori Dango fame. Producers seem somewhat keen to repropduce elements of Hanadan (as Hana Yori Dango is affectionately called), by showcasing nasty popular girls and a plucky heroine standing up to a bunch of self-centered boys. They also seem to be attempting to recreate the success of perennial fave Gokusen, in which a bunch of good looking boys try to make it through high school.
And for old time’s sake, you might check out this drama just to see how well Matsuda Seiko has aged — as in, she doens’t seem to have aged at all.
Fuji has also nabbed Hanadan actress Inoue Mao as–you guessed it–a young Japanese girl who has been living in America and who returns home to Japan to see her brother in a dorama titled “First Kiss.” The story is billed as a romantic comedy, which is interesting considering that Inoue’s character has an incurable disease. I tend to stay away from “incurable disease” stories because I don’t want to commit 12 hours to a program just to watch a character die. But Inoue is such a good actress, I may be tempted to watch.
Here’s the preview for “First Kiss.” Like I’ve said before, I think Inoue is a uniquely gifted actress . . . but is this an Americanized Japanese girl? Not really feeling it myself, but this whole “returning from abroad” thing seems to be a fantasy that appeals to TV audiences, even if it wouldn’t be an America that Americans recognize.
I’m also curious about LIFE, another Fuji-manga-drama adaptation which tackles the subject of high school bullying in Japan (and, as far as I know, has no Americans showing up), and the continuing Taiga dorama Fuurin Kazan, in which gender bending Gackt is finally appearing (and which is finally up on Crunchyroll). Fuji really seems to have a bunch of hot dramas this summer. Last season TBS pretty much swept the ratings with Hanadan and the Kimura Takuya vehicle Karei Naru Ichizoku. I think Fuji might win this time.
What will you watch this summer, other than Harry Potter and that Transformer movie?
Marie-san, how many readers, do you think, are watching J-Dramas ? I am even not watching many of them. This week I happened to watch the first story of “Hanazakari no Kimitachi e”, though I don’t know whether I keep watching it. (This is a kind of kids Drama.) But I will watch “Life” as you let me know this tackles the subject of high school bullying in Japan (on the air on Saturdays). If I have time I’d like to watch “The Lover over your Shoulder 肩越しの恋人” (what does this mean ?) or “Yama Onna Kabe Onna 山おんな壁おんな”(Yama means big tits), but probably not “First Kiss”.
As for spring J-Dramas I watched, I can give “Seito Shokun 生徒諸君” 5 stars. It was really an encouraging and heartwarming Drama. And for “Hotelier” 3 or 4 stars. For “Mission Woo プロポーズ大作戦” and”Papa and Bride パパと花嫁” just 3 stars. I haven’t watched other Dramas.
I also watched “Karei Naru Ichizoku 華麗なる一族”. Takuya Kimura was performing very well, but it was a little disappointing ending, because the hero killed himself. (I haven’t watched neither “Hana Yori Dango” nor “Gokusen”. A pity.)
July 6th, 2007 at 8:45 pmTofunUnion-san — I don’t know how many readers watch J-dramas. But for those who have an interest, I’d like to encourage them to do so, as many, I think, are done quite well.
I skipped Karei Naru Ichizoku because I knew the ending and didn’t want to see it! That said, I understand that there were a number of very fine performers and performances. But I didn’t want to get to the end of the story just to see Kimura kill himself. There’s enough of that in Taiga dramas!
I’m going to take a look at “Life” to see how it is. It supposedly tackles bullying in a serious way, but I don’t know since I haven’t actually read the manga.
July 6th, 2007 at 11:34 pmThanks for the recommendations. I watched the first 15 minutes of Ito Misaki’s new one, but I was bored out of my mind. Too bad. I’ll try some of the others mentioned here but I’ve got such a backlog of series to catch up on that I don’t have much patience for stories that are pure fluff.
As for the two spring dramas I watched, 私たちの教科書 (watashitachi no kyokasho) was good and worked well as a legal drama (which I wasn’t expecting at the outset) but Hotelier was crap. I like Ueto Aya but the story was forgettable and the lead actor didn’t strike me as a convincing (hetero) romantic lead type.
July 7th, 2007 at 1:56 amI watched Proposal Daisakusen which was, meh, okay. Could’ve been better. I wanted to see what the fuss was surrounding Yama-P and the actress whom “most men want to marry.” Some of the story was touching, but in the end . . . I justify my time watching by convincing myself it is good for my listening comprehension.
I wish I could say that I love Fuurin Kazan, but I don’t. I may do the unthinkable and skip ahead to the Gackt scenes.
I’m still looking forward to Inou Mao’s fall drama in which she stars as Mineko Iwasaki. I’m really, really curious to see if she can pull that off.
Just watched “Life.” That is the anti-Hana Yori Dango if anything is.
July 7th, 2007 at 2:39 amThere are some J-dramas I really like, but most of them have horrible acting. Nevertheless, I try and keep up on them every season.
Producers seem somewhat keen to repropduce elements of Hanadan (as Hana Yori Dango is affectionately called), by showcasing nasty popular girls and a plucky heroine standing up to a bunch of self-centered boys.
This isn’t the fault of the producers, it’s the fault of the manga-ka. All the school-based Shoujo manga I’ve read have at least one of those archetypes. Makes for a predictable yet enjoyable read. Plus, you don’t need to spend extra time trying to grasp a character because you’ve seen her a thousand times before.
Anyway, I plan on watching both Hanakimi and First Kiss, though I’m sick to death of those characters with the incurable diseases. There’s one every season, and they always die in the same fashion. Just can’t enjoy it anymore.
July 7th, 2007 at 1:03 pmI watched 2nd story of “Life”. It’s a gloomy story with unnecessary dark performances. How can Ayumu overcome the bullying ? Well, I would probably switch to “First Kiss”. That should be more enjoyable. I got to run the video tape.
“私たちの教科書 (watashitachi no kyoukasho) was good and worked well as a legal drama”. I will try to watch it, if it’s aired again. I regarded “Hotelier” as a working passion drama.(The love story part was not as much impressive.)
July 8th, 2007 at 12:34 pmthis is loosely connected to soapy dorama.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6237824.stm
Neighbours? (I shudder).
July 9th, 2007 at 9:28 am“I watched 2nd story of “Life”. It’s a gloomy story with unnecessary dark performances. How can Ayumu overcome the bullying?”
I just finished this episode. I wouldn’t say the performances are unnecessarily dark though. It’s compelling enough that I will keep watching for now. I certainly hope that we’ll be seeing a lot of poetic justice in the later episodes. (On the other hand, I wouldn’t characterize this drama as ideal summer fare given the serious topics it depicts.)
July 13th, 2007 at 3:16 pmAs for Japan’s addiction to J-Dramas relating to potential Japanese tourists in Australia: A Japanese movie “Crying Out Love In The Center Of The World 世界の中心で愛 をさけぶ” made a mega hit in 2004. The will of the heroin who died in blood cancer, was to release her ashes above the ground of Uluru in Australia. According to aborigines, Uluru was supposed to be “the center of the world”. I read the original novel for this movie, too. (Someone made fun of me about this.)
They made a TV-Drama version as well with different performers. You can see the first chapter of the Drama.
I could imagine many Japanese, who had watched this movie(and TV-Drama), would want to visit Uluru. This phenomenon was just ridiculous for who were not interested in it. Now, 3 years have passed and this movie’s “Neighbours effect” seems to be over.
July 13th, 2007 at 5:16 pmI watched the first episode of “Jotei 女帝”. This is the most interesting TV-Drama in this summer for me. The young heroin has determined to become a hostess queen in Osaka, only using means of the womanhood. “To become a high class women you need to go with a big man”. Those are the words of the hostess mistress.
Among other forgettable dramas “Life” could be worth watching. But you need to follow whole the story arc. Especially you may not miss the ending chapter.
July 15th, 2007 at 5:45 am“To become a high class woman you need to go with a big man”, Of cource.
July 15th, 2007 at 5:51 amTU: Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll try to check out Jotei. For lighter summer fare, Yamada Taro Monogatari is actually okay and fun to watch.
July 15th, 2007 at 7:21 amCrying Out Love In The Center Of The World was a bit too melodramatic for me. Nice production values though for a Japanese television series.
Just finished watching the second episode of Jotei. It’s a fairly compelling drama so far and reminds me in some ways of “Memoirs of a Geisha” (the book - haven’t seen the movie yet nor am I particularly anxious to do so). Nice to see too that it is set primarily in Osaka, rather than in Tokyo.
July 21st, 2007 at 12:00 pmJust thought I’d update this post. I’ve recently watched the finales to Jotei and Yamada Taro Monogatari and they were both quite entertaining series. With one more episode to go, First Kiss has been so-so so far (though good enough to watch with the kids during meals). For me, LIFE was the best drama of the summer season. All too many dramas peak a bit early and run on empty as they wind down but this one was pretty intense throughout and avoided tying up loose ends in an overly tidy manner. Well cast, well written, and well acted. All in all, it was a thoroughly satisfying J-drama.
September 16th, 2007 at 1:46 pmMy summer took a strange turn and I fell behind with my TV watching. I’m glad to hear your recommendation on LIFE. I will try to make a priority of that and catch up.
Thanks for writing in.
September 16th, 2007 at 11:24 pmMarie Mockett: If you’re not too busy, I hope you will be able to post a Fall Dorama Watch in the next few weeks. It will be interesting to hear what your recommendations might be (as well as those of any commentators). (After scanning a page of upcoming dramas, the following could be entertaining (or outright bombs): Abarenbo Mama (Ueto Aya), Hataraki Man (Kanno Miho), Joshi Deka! (Nakama Yukie), and Dream Again (Sorimachi Takashi and Kato Ai).
September 17th, 2007 at 12:40 amI watched the last episode of ” Life ” and ” Jotei “. They were OK. Recently Rosa Kato who played the title role of Jotei talked about its story ark. During acting some episodes seemed hardly realistic for her. As Jotei is originated in manga, she understood the story as manga, otherwise she couldn’t interpret acting the role. I found Kato imposing in acting and very good looking.
Certainly the stories of both Life and Jotei are a little manga like. I don’t look down upon manga, but many J-Dramas nowadays are originated in manga and they sometimes fail realism to me.
” The Lover over your Shoulder ” and ” Yama Onna Kabe Onna ” were forgettable. I will watch the last episode of ” First Kiss “. So far Mao Inoue is acting well. She let us believe as if she were the role character herself. First Kiss is not that unrealistic.
September 17th, 2007 at 2:50 amTofuUnion: I agree that Kato did a good job and looked great in Jotei. The guy who played her lover didn’t seem very convincing as a tough guy (too skinny). I thought that Jotei had a lot of potential in the beginning but quickly came to realize that it was not effectively conveying the sense of the story as an epic. It might have worked better as a film with the right enka-inspired Showa-era soundtrack and grittier character depictions. But I suppose I am nitpicking here.
I assume you watched a good deal of Yama Onna Kabe Onna. If so, you are certainly more patient than I am.
September 17th, 2007 at 3:46 amBy the way, what is with characters in dramas who try to save someone else from a stabbing by shielding the intended victim with their own bodies? (Happened in Jotei - twice no less - and in LIFE as well.) I’m no expert in self-defense but I figure you should just push the perpetrator (or intended victim) out of the way from the side. Especially if the perpetrator is a girl. (No offense intended to would-be female knife assassins.)
September 17th, 2007 at 3:55 am