Rich Man, Poor Woman (2012)

I wrote this review while watching (and immediately finishing) the series so it's a little detailed (no spoilers though, I promise) and a little lengthy, too. Plus, I seriously seriously SERIOUSLY loved the NY special so I'm overloaded with feels right now.

Just like how everybody else who have watched the series said, the title has absolutely nothing to do with the whole story, and thank God for that.

"Money is more important; we'll do any job for it... But we won't sell our soul."
To lay the plot out in a non-spoiler way, Rich Man, Poor Woman's (I am terribly uncomfortable whenever I'd mention the title) central theme is ambitions. It's what puts everything together. How, on the one hand, ambitions combined with pureness and sincerity could "change the world" and serve as an inspiration to others, while on the other hand, when combined with greed, could be self-destructive. Ambition is a seed that grows along with the intentions of the sower. It could flourish and feed the good, pure-hearted sower and propagate the dream, or it could grow into a poisonous plant and kill the evil, greedy planter. But in the end, no matter how evil, the purest heart pollenates and prevails. Story revolves around Hyuga Toru who, as the story has drawn, would somehow be an IT superstar, a little like Steve Jobs.

This drama is definitely, DEFINITELY, one of my favorites. I just love eeeeeverything about this drama. It made me feel all kinds of emotions, which is my favorite thing about dramas. The reason why I only gave it a 9.5 is that I tend to reserve the perfect 10.0 to life-changing existential dramas (which I associate highly with melodramas like Boku no Ita Jikan). But overall, Rich Man, Poor Woman is indeed a good product of its genre (career focused, romance) and it has its way of sprinkling viewers with the morals it would like to covey. It is indeed in my Top 5 all-time favorite dramas in my 9 years of being a drama fanatic. So I highly recommend this to everyone.

As I've said, I love everything about this drama but let me highlight what I loved about the series:

1. IT FELT HUMAN. This was the best and refreshing aspect of the story. Given the plot and the background of the characters, the show had an excuse to be extra flashy with a company president as the male lead and several other characters as rich and privileged people but I was absolutely pleased with how they kept everything believably modest. There was small emphasis on materialism and more on character depth so I got more interested in character development and less on the drama technicals, which was a good thing. Which leads me to the next thing I love about the drama.

2. CONSISTENCY. Dramas focused on character growth tend to have inconsistent characters, and rather than having a story about them, they become mere plot devices which makes things boringly predictable. This drama though, had well-thought of characters and their consistency made the character growth more relatable and heart-warming, and the story was a lot easier to follow. It's quite hard to explain, but the story unraveled on its own with the characters being themselves rather than the characters being merely tailored for what the writer intended the story to be. There were times where the story was a little bit predictable, but in a good way. This is because you already know the characters and not because you had the whole story figured out (I hope it makes sense).

3. ROMANCE. I don't jump into drama OTPs so easily but oddly enough and contrary to some other reviews here, the romantic storyline was definitely my most favorite part. It was what got me watching everything in one go. Probably, the fact that I loved the main leads' characters was a factor. Watching the trailer, I thought they didn't have the chemistry to keep the romantic storyline going but as I watched, I found their scenes cute and adorable. I might be a little biased, but I could say I was pleased with the romance. It is common knowledge in drama fandom that jdramas aren't the best players in the romance genre. Maybe because the romance is usually kept low-key and subtle, giving more spotlight to character growth. Personally, though, I found pleasure watching the little sweet things. I found it more realistically appealing for a company president to focus more on his work where several jobs and lives are at stake than to waste his time solving his own love life's problems. Most fangirls wouldn't agree (coz duh, love should be a man's topmost priority) and several years ago, I would have been severely pissed with a guy holding back because of his work obsession. But having watched plenty of dramas, plus aging lol, I grew out of love for the lovesick male leads and had an inclination towards practical guys who looked much more dependable. And this drama nailed it for me. Surely, Hyuga-san is a rude temperamental jerk I'd want to kick in the ass but I still understood why the heroine fell for him and why she decided to stay in love with him. And more than being a side story, work storyline had EVERYTHING to do with the romantic storyline so I believe the story was able to maintain cohesion of both sides which created the larger picture, which again proves its consistency.

5. OGURI SHUN. As if I hadn't said it enough, Shun was one of the best parts of the drama. Aside from his romantic side, I also liked how he suited his character so much. His rough untamed manly appearance went well the the eccentricity of his character. Plus, Hyuga Toru's business presentations gave the Steve Jobs feels and I find myself in awe that sometimes I have to remind myself that Hyuga Toru is a fictional character. "He's Oguri Shun, he's Oguri Shun!!"I had to remind myself several times. Plus, his teary-eyed, "I-am-deeply-touched-but-no-I'm-not-crying-I'm-a-big-boy-now" expression is just priceless. It kills me. Every. Freaking. Time. Don't get me wrong, I don't find Shun stunningly handsome (my favorite ikemen is, and will always and forever be, Miura Haruma) so I'm not one of the fangirls who follow him blindedly just because I think he looks good. But there's something about how he carries the role that I find endearing and this is where my Shun fondness roots from.

6. SATOMI ISHIHARA. I'm definitely fan now. To be honest, I thought her character was going to be annoying but I found her really cute, and Satomi Ishihara carries her role so well. She and Shun looked so natural with their roles. I haven't seen other works of Ishihara so I don't know if this is her signature image but I am extremely satisfied with her acting. Actually, everyone in the cast was a perfect fit.

7. COMPREHENSIBLE. If you're not the techie type and you dread jargons, you don't have to forego watching this drama just because it is set in an IT workplace. Although it involves a lot of workplace scenes, they focus more on the incidents that create ideas rather than the creation of the system itself so no technicality involved aside from the usual business talks we get to see in the usual dramas (stocks, shareholders, investments, etc.). If I may compare, it's like those American TV series, House or Suits for example (though a lot less complicated), where even though you don't really understand the technicalities, you still understand and have a full grasp of what's happening.

MUSIC
They had one song playing almost all the time and I barely noticed the usual instrumental sound effects but I honestly didn't care. The story was engaging by itself so the little support it got from the music department was surprisingly enough.

Having loved it this much, I'm pretty sure I'll watch it again some time in the future.

Lees verder