Yan Papa (2002)

This is a Japanese drama, about a young man who marries an older woman.
The woman dies, and the young man has to choose,
will he take care of the wife's three children, who are not biologically his own children?

The acting of this drama is pretty bad, and the script was not written well either,
there are a lot of cheesy lines at which I rolled my eyes.
But for some reason I kept watching the drama,
for the underlying theme of this drama was very heartwarming: being there for your family.

The main character is gentle, respecting and very caring to others.
He is not your typical dominating male lead who is verbal abusive or/and has possesive issues.
It was nice watching him try to become a better parent to the children.
Also the other characters have their charm and a nice backstory.

The main problem I have with this drama is the ending,
without spoiling I can say that the ending really dissapointed me,
it contradicted the whole theme of the drama: caring for your family.
The end message was that to be a good parent you first have to make a career,
even if it means that you have to give up your family.
I feel a bit disgusted that the children in the drama are used to promote this message.
this is why I do not recommend this drama, or just watch not the full drama.

After the scene were the young man rejects the job offer to work abroad,
questioning the meaning of success, he says that success without being able to be there for your family is meaningless.
Stop there, this should have been the end of the drama.

Lees verder