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Faarian
Canada, Vancouver
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'Asuko March!' is the story of Nao: Because of a silly mistake, she has to enrol in an almost all-boy technical school. First, she is unhappy with both her classmates and technical training she gets there. However, she gradually changes.Overall, it's a light, and heartwarming drama. To me, the best thing is its main theme: Problems a girl might experience in such an unfamiliar territory. And surely, it's nice to see Nao overcome them one by one with the support of her male classmates. But I have a 'problem' kind of related to character development:
As far as school and friends is concerned, we witness Nao's process of maturation, such that her final choices are massively different from the initial ones (kind of revolution!). However, regarding her romantic life, she shows no important change. In the beginning, she immediately chooses a guy for all the superficial reasons, and then, while, during her time in the school, many things happen that suggest that she should go for another guy, she sticks to her first choice to the very end. And it's not clear why and for what reason. In reality, this kind of things (bad and unreasonable decisions) can happen, but the least the drama could've done was to make it clear why Nao chooses that guy. Regarding her other decisions (turning down the offer by the other school and making friends with the her classmate) the drama does a good job in showing Nao's motivations and reasons, but about her romantic decision, the drama falls short. And in any case, Nao's romantic decision is disappointing: We want to see Nao learn and choose all good things.
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The Relationship Dynamics: Peace-> Tension -> Peace
I think the relationship can be divided into 3 phases: the Cute phase, the Ugly phase and the 'Cute' phase:1. Initial Cute-Peaceful Phase. Cute high-school romance, or it's what the girl thinks until she finds out the extreme masochistic tendency of the guy. The phase is about 2 persons.
2. Intermediate Tension-Anger-Revenge Phase: The girl is appalled by her 'pervert' boyfriend, so she left him, but deep inside she can't leave the relationship. She decides to take revenge by torturing the guy with a new guy. The thing is that no one forces her to do so. She could simply leave the guy or force him to go to a doctor or so. But she uses her power to create all kinds of extreme sadistic situations because deep inside she enjoys it. She says to herself that a new guy and a new love can solve the problem, but it doesn't work. She gradually notices the horrifying truth: she is sadistic. As the last resort, she thinks of the death of herself and then of the guy. But when the guy follows her order, she realizes that it's not what she wants. In this phase, 3 persons are involved.
3. Final 'Cute'-Peaceful Phase: Finally, the girl comes to peace with her sadistic tendency, and with that, also comes to peace with her boyfriend. Therefore, we have a cute-peaceful atmosphere again. The difference is that the relationship is sadistic but without any feeling of anger or revenge. Now we see them sitting beside each other and the sadistic behaviour is reduced to asking to get a drink or caressing the arm, so from a distance, they look like normal lovers. They might introduce some guy into their relationship, but just occasionally and for fun.
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So many Half-baked Stories!
I didn't like 'Yakuza and The Family'. Maybe because it tries to cover too much, there are lots of half-baked stories that don't make sense. For example, both the guy's best friend and his woman_adults with decades of life experience_show extreme behaviours: one moment totally rejecting him and then immediately helping and accepting him into their lives; and then when things go wrong, leaving him alone and putting all the blame on him. What exactly did they expect?In any case, I wish he would talk to me after his prison time: I have a simple suggestion for him: Don't show up for 1 or 2 years, maybe travel to some distant city, but keep connection with friends and family. And then gradually coming back to normal and family life. I swear to God that I could guarantee a happy family life for the father, mother and the kid.
Last but not least, it was nice to see that Japan slowly but surely has reduced the Yakuza problem. This slow disappearance is the best!
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Last Friends (2008): 'Failed' Friendship, To Some Degree!
When I first watched Last Friends, I didn't feel great at the end. I wasn't sure why, but now after rewatching, I know why!It's all about friendship, friends who are ready to do everything for their friends. As a 'friendship guy', I was supposed to enjoy it, however, I ended up with a bitter feeling. The reason is that despite all efforts and sacrifices, they can't really come closer emotionally to each other, so in the end, they still live their own distinct lives. And this is more obvious in the relationship between Michiru (Nagasawa Masami) & Ruka (Ueno Juri). They're supposed to be best friends, even more than that, but from the beginning to the end, they are clueless about each other feelings.
So, a very good drama in depicting that friendship can fail big time sometimes, even if friends do their best. And this is not what we can often see in J-dorama, tending to show the magical side of friendship.
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Warriors Against Society
Mitsu no Aji (2011): Warriors Against SocietyHowever you look at siblings' love, it's a war against society, so one better be prepared for that, if they choose this route.
The romance between Masato (uncle/brother) and Naoko (niece/sister) starts very early, in a showery road of the beginning scene where they hug each other momentarily. However, a long road still remains for them to travel through. And this is their 10-year journey in which they separately grow . It's like they join one military camp after another and face one personal fight after another in order to get ready for the biggest war of all time: War against Society!
My Rating: 9/10
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Why Is Minori So Angry?
Minori is pretty and popular, lives in a beautiful wealthy country, earns enough money with a relaxed job, has good friends, gets supported by her family, and so forth but she is so angry, having ugly fights with assholes, even with family & friends. Why?Ok, she was abused by her father, but it was a long time ago, so why doesn't she makes her own family and find peace, like Sachi in 'Our Little Sisters' (2015), like many other characters in J-doramas and movies?
The thing is this: She has a social awareness, so it's not only about her father's abuse, it's about everyday abuse and discrimination. She's well aware of the dark side of her beautiful country:
https://www.indiewire.com/2022/04/sion-sono-accused-sexual-assaults-1234714367/
https://www.indiewire.com/2022/06/naomi-kawase-accused-violence-on-set-1234731431/
https://www.republicworld.com/entertainment-news/rest-of-the-world/japanese-filmmaker-actor-caught-in-number-metoo-allegations-film-release-put-on-hold-articleshow.html
I just hope instead of ugly useless personal fights, she'll find angry women and men like herself, so collectively fight for social change.
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17 year-old 'Akira' and her 45-year old Saviour
Here, I'm writing something like an extended synopsis to set out the scenery, the rest is on yours:The 17 year-old runner 'Akira' has the future in her hands. But all the dreams get shattered by an injury. As a 'strong' girl, she doesn't show any weakness, no crying! But deep inside: a different story, a story of desperation and anger. She shows her anger toward classmates and friends by avoiding them. More importantly, there is an anger against herself and her situation: she spends all her free time by working her 'part-time job'. This is her addiction and self-destruction. On the other hand, we have 'Masami Kondo', Akira's manager and a divorced 45-year-old man. Story short, his life seems to be a total failure to the point that even his employees look at him pitifully.
However, Akira sees something different in her manager: A kind, attentive, mature and reliable man, some oxygen in her suffocating situation. She fells in love.
Now, it seems that everything is ready for an 'unpleasant', but fiery relationship between 17 and 45, as each side has something to gain. We already know what Akira needs, and it's not hard to see that Masami facing all kinds of life crises, can kind of experience a new youth and life in Akira.
You can watch the movie yourself, just let me say that I think this Masami Kondo guy is an angel sent to save Akira. Or better to say, Akira's eyes are strong enough to see and find her saviour, when no one else could see her real 'tomodachi'.
Maybe the movie has nothing sparkling to absorb widespread attention, but I think it's about a very real and serious problem: Many young girls in our world face similar situation, as the world is too cruel and unfair to let them follow their dreams. And I guess many times, in their desperation, like 'Akira', they start to look for some saviors. Sadly though, there are not many people and men like 'Masami Kondo'.
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I watched the series, "Our House (2016)" mainly for Mana Ashida; to see how the 12-year-old Mana-chan plays.And I got shocked by how cold and un-Japanese the series is. After all, it's about a Japanese family, a unit supposedly with strong bonds.
Basically, the family replace each other more easily than one might change clothes. Only six months after the death of the mother, the father re-marries; in the meantime, the kids' big worry is to decide who can be their new mother. And then when they make a wrong choice, they are quick to go back to the alternative option. And despite all this, the series insists on convincing us that they love each other, WTF!
IMO, Mana does an excellent job to save the series, but the story is too ridiculous to be saved even by the greatest acting. Instead it's Mana's reputation that is damaged.
I hope in the future, Mana will play somewhere she deserves, so can show her amazing skills once more.
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