100-manen no Onna-tachi (2017)

Compelling, But Ultimately Disjointed...

’Million Yen Women” was undeniably a captivating show with an intriguing premise, characters and pacing, however, a noticeable problem with the show came within trying to piece together parts of storyline which often felt confusing and disjointed.

This drama starts off with an intriguing concept from its eponymous manga : five women are clandestinely given invitations to live at the house of Shin Michima ( Yojiro Noda) a thirty-something struggling novelist. In exchange, they are required to pay one million yen each month to cover living expenses, though this should be far more than is actually required for his apartment. The women have been instructed that they must not answer any questions about themselves, keeping Shin just as much in the dark as viewers about what is going on .

At the heart of this uncertainty lingers the ultimate questions behind the identity of its mysterious tenants - a high-school girl (Rena Takeda) with a mysterious past, a charmer who turns out to be a famous recluse (Yuko Araki) , a polite yet socially awkward young woman ( Miwako Wagatsuma), an amiable bookworm ( Rena Matsui) and a confidant exhibitionist (Rila Fukushima) as well as our main protagonist Shin; the most mysterious of them all.

When Shin is introduced, there is the typical cliche setup inferred towards the protagonist as the ‘’ mundane, yet suffering’’ writer. It would seem apparent in this stereotypical cliche of Shin and his setup of living with his fellow female tenants, to be the ‘ awkward antisocial NEET’ trope- struggling to interact with the opposite sex either due to an ‘excessive trauma’, or a ‘ bad relationship’ which is ‘’suddenly resolved’’ in the following episode.

However, Shin’s backstory provided both to defy this cliche honey trap for writers by inducing a surprisingly well-written and profound backstory .Yet whilst Shin undeniably had the most intriguing backstory of the series, his development as a character was arguably a lot less impactful. There is of course the reasonable argument appointed towards the male’s lead often dull personality being a result of severe depression from his traumatic experiences.

On the other hand, it also seems apparent that depression or trauma can often be provide an asset within characterisation or seeing a character develop over the course of a show- notably, something which Shin was never truly given the chance towards being more ‘’fleshed-out’’ as an individual, rather than just a plot device.

It is wrong, however, not to bring into the discussion the argument upon the importance of our female tenants in ‘ Million Yen Women’. Against all odds, ‘ Million Yen Women’ subverted the cliche expectations of the female characters . Each of the five female tenants in the series represents a stereotype associated with the “ modern Japanese woman”: the insecure student, the demure housewife, the bookworm, the glamorous beauty and the promiscuous young woman, however, as the mystery within the show heighten , the women begin to reveal that their true natures are nothing like their labels.

Yet whilst it is hard to truly fault the talents of our female tenants in the shoe with fairly well-scripted, nuanced and original performances, the backstories behind the characters were arguably less impactful. This is not to say that the backstories for the female characters weren’t interesting, per say, but there was little time to actual contemplate upon each character as an individual through her experiences. As a consequence, the sudden transition of backstories felt half-baked and oddly mismatched in the overarching storyline.


The additional introduction of notable characters and minor antagonists such as the Chairman of the Literary Committee and the literary critic who hated Shin’s guts, served the only purpose of being red herrings. Although they were still interesting characters in their own right , they felt a little useless in the grand scheme of the storyline with posing little actual threat or a cause of concern for the male lead. Other antagonists such as Shin’s, rival author Yuzu and his manager Ryuichi Moriguchi, were ultimately cliche and lacked great depth as worthy or intriguing villains.

Although ‘’Million Yen Women’’ undeniably has some captivating, aesthetic cinematography(like one beautiful scene where light is shown projecting beautifully through a window) and a fairly decent OST, the
was often flouted by quality and precision. This undeniably did offer the drama ‘’ grittier realism’’ ,however, ultimately in more dramatic and emphatic scenes, the tension was often taken away by the low-budget and nuanced filming techniques, making the show feel often disconnected for viewers.

So, was ‘’ Million Yen Women’’ a subtle masterpiece or a waste of time for viewers? It’s fair to say that ‘’ Million Yen Women’’ had an undeniably good cast and an intriguing concept for mystery lovers, however, the show’s ending felt both disjointed and incomplete. Although it did heighten the uncertainty and vagueness of the overarching storyline by leaving it upon a high cliffhanger, it is hard for those familiar with the genre to keep up with pacing and storyline. The show attempts to cram in a lot of storyline in a short period of time, resulting in various parts of the story feeling often lacklustre and confusing for viewers to comprehend. Ultimately, it depends what you’re looking for in this show - a quick, binge-watch to pass the time? Definitely. A memorable storyline which feels well-written and coherent ? Then, probably not.

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