Almost Great But Still Sweet
On the surface this is a sweet tale of love crossing the boundaries of class/fame with a Japanese twist.
Much of the action revolves around the workplaces of the protagonists giving it an episodic structure with an overreaching story arc. When it works this a warm and very human love story when it doesn't it becomes trite and a little problematic.
Story: The underlying tale is simple and individual episodes are used for life lessons and moving the story slowly forward. Sometimes the plot gets a little 2D to teach those lessons and sometimes some quite startling anachronisms show up. I found the chap slapping his wife (which of course brought her to her 'senses') particularly hard to stomach.
The addition of a Love Triangle and Noble Stupidity in the last episodes didn't help matters and I found myself just skipping through to finish.
There are though plenty of laughs and sweet moments.
Acting: The two leads were excellent both bringing their characters to life for me. Fujiwara Noriko's Hikaruko had a child like simplicity and honesty which I found endearing rather than irritating., which is quite a feat.
The main support characters played their parts well.
Music: Was OK
Rewatch: Maybe parts of it - or at least the first 8 maybe 9 episodes I don't think I would bother with the last two ever again.
TLDR sweet little take on Notting Hill but showing it's age.
Much of the action revolves around the workplaces of the protagonists giving it an episodic structure with an overreaching story arc. When it works this a warm and very human love story when it doesn't it becomes trite and a little problematic.
Story: The underlying tale is simple and individual episodes are used for life lessons and moving the story slowly forward. Sometimes the plot gets a little 2D to teach those lessons and sometimes some quite startling anachronisms show up. I found the chap slapping his wife (which of course brought her to her 'senses') particularly hard to stomach.
The addition of a Love Triangle and Noble Stupidity in the last episodes didn't help matters and I found myself just skipping through to finish.
There are though plenty of laughs and sweet moments.
Acting: The two leads were excellent both bringing their characters to life for me. Fujiwara Noriko's Hikaruko had a child like simplicity and honesty which I found endearing rather than irritating., which is quite a feat.
The main support characters played their parts well.
Music: Was OK
Rewatch: Maybe parts of it - or at least the first 8 maybe 9 episodes I don't think I would bother with the last two ever again.
TLDR sweet little take on Notting Hill but showing it's age.
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