[Dorama Review] Itsuka Kono Koi wo Omoidashite Kitto Naite Shimau / Love That Makes You Cry / いつかこの恋を思い出してきっと泣いてしまう

Several years ago, a friend suggested me a dorama "Itsuka Kono Koi wo Omoidashite Kitto Naite Shimau", saying that people around him said it's a good dorama. I tried downloading it, but only finished watching it just recently. 

 

The story is about a Kansai young woman who was adopted by a Hokkaido family since a kid because her mom had passed away. Her name is Sugihara Oto / Hayashida Oto (played by Arimura Kasumi)

 Not being treated well in the family, like being forced to marry an old-rich-man, Oto escaped from home and meet Soda Ren (played by Kora Kengo), who came to Hokkaido to return Oto's bag which was stolen by his friend, Nakajo Haruta (played by Sakaguchi Kentaro)

Soda Ren explaining "I'm not a theft. I'm a mover"

 

Haruta, the culprit behind the loss of Oto's bag

 

Oto rode Ren's truck to Tokyo. Ren himself was from Aizu and he moved to Tokyo due to get some money to buy a land in his hometown. But as soon as they arrived at Tokyo, they were separated, because Ren met his friend from the same hometown, Ichihara Konatsu (played by Morikawa Aoi).

Konatsu, who came to Tokyo, aiming to be a designer. 

 

Later, we know that Konatsu actually loves Ren. Wait, but Ren should be with Oto?! Well, no no, not both of them. Ren has a girlfriend already. Her name is Hinata Kihoko (played by Takahata Mitsuki)

Kiho-chan, met Ren when she was lonely and ended up being a couple.

 

What a complicated love story! Konatsu and Oto love Ren, but Ren is in a relationship with Kiho out of loneliness, when Haruta loves Konatsu and Ibuki loves Oto. Wait, who is Ibuki? Well Ibuki Asahi is the son of the chairman's mistress in the company where Konatsu works.

Ibuki Asahi, always being unfavorable due to being the son of the chairman's mistress

As the love story goes on, there are many conflicts happened which makes the dorama more dramatic but interesting...

Actually, romantic dorama is not really my thing. I usually prefer mystery, crime, or detective dorama, because even though I know it's a fiction, it's thrilling and interesting. Sometimes I thought that romantic dorama only teaches us about fake romantic love which is not going to happen in our real life anyway, but well, no, you can always get some moral lessons indeed, especially from Japanese dorama. 

This dorama becomes really interesting to me, because I can super relate to them, going to the capital city to earn some money, betting on life, and being lonely. That was exactly what I did and felt several years ago when I moved to the capital city to work. The loneliness was super real, and you ended up finding the same person/friend who is lonely as well to accompany you. Maybe that's what happened to Ren and Kihoko as well, so that they end up being in a relationship even though their heart were on someone else... Loneliness is a big problem indeed...

It's quite annoying sometimes seeing the characters in this dorama which are so passive in striving their love.. Too passive... But I also can relate to them... Something like unconditional love... You can love people, but you can't force people to love you back. That's why every time I love someone, I don't expect them to love me back...

This story is a little bit sad, but their choice on the sound track make it even more sad. Even the theme song was sung well by Teshima Aoi "Ashita e no Tegami". Absolutely become one of those J-pop song which I will listen to. 

Overall, I must admit that this dorama is quite good. The story doesn't make you curious but doesn't make you bored either...

I gave this dorama 7.5 points out of 10 point.

[Dorama Review] Toshishita no Otoko / Younger Men / 年下の男

Hello! Since it's corona and we are advised to stay at home, I've been at home all the time except for work purpose... What I do is either reading a book or watching something, and it's somehow awaken my love for Japanese dorama which once disappear...

Tonight I'd review a dorama called "Toshishita no Otoko" or you can translate it into "Younger Men". As you probably know (if you've read my blog before), Takahashi Katsunori is my favourite actor ever and I watch this dorama because of him.

This is the story of a 30-year-old-single-woman, Yamaguchi Chikako (played by Inamori Izumi) who was so desperate to get marry. She felt that she would left behind if she didn't marry soon.

 Chikako, so beautiful in her 30s. Why bother just because you're a not-yet-married?

She seemed to have a good family. Her younger brother Taku (played by Yamazaki Yuta) which was 8 years younger than her, with a lovely mom, Hanae, and dad, Mr. Yamaguchi (played by Fubuki Jun and Hirata Mitsuru, respectively)

The Yamaguchi family. The parents want their son to be a lawyer and 

want their daughter to marry someone and be happy.

Well, Chikako did have someone. She went to a gym, and meet Izaki Shun (played by the one and only Takahashi Katsunori („• ֊ •„)).
In short, Chikako confessed to Shun, but Shun rejected, saying he was seeing someone else.

Izaki Shun, somehow I respect him because he doesn't play with women's heart 

and give them false hope, but he rejects them directly.

Later, it turned out that Shun was seeing Chikako's mom, Hanae. Shun was a regular in a bento shop where Hanae worked. Both Hanae and Chikako didn't know it though.

 Shun with Hanae having an affair. Hanae was trying hard to break up with Shun, but cannot.

 Mr. Yamaguchi, start to be suspicious about his wife. But he didn't really care.

Mr Yamaguchi didn't care about his wife having an affair. I wonder if it might happen 

when love turns into an obligation only. An obligation to always stick with the family.

On the other hand, Chikako started to date her brother's best friend, Kengo (played by Kashu Toshiki). At first, Kengo was chasing her only for fun because he was a playboy. But he turned up to get serious about Chikako.

Kengo, once said, "I'll make you forget Izaki"

But Taku ex-girlfriend, Asami (played by Hoshino Mari), started to fall in love with Kengo for real.

Asami always looks for Kengo due to loneliness after breaking up with Taku, at first.

It's so complicated right?
Not to mention, Azusa (played by Aso Yumi), Chikako's coworker who was super evil. She was older than Chikako, and also a not-yet-married evil woman. Afraid of being left alone, she looked for many ways to destroy Chikako's relationship, even other people's family.

Azusa, having dinner (or lunch?) with Chikako. Back then, Chikako had no idea that she was so evil.

Azusa tried to attract Izaki by getting close to Izaki's adoptive father, Jiro-san (played by Takahashi Masaya). She wanted to marry Izaki so she could feel she won the 'game'. Crazy girl indeed.

Jiro-san always follows Izaki Shun. He was so afraid of being left alone, and sometimes made Shun fed up.

A melancholic side of me always appears every time I watch a good Japanese dorama. They always wrap up some moral lessons behind all of these dramatic scenes, and it always amuses me.
A 30-year-old-beautiful-woman who desperately wants to marry a 40-something guy, but that guy wants to marry an 50-year-old-aunty... Youth and beauty are not everything for some people after all... If they are comfortable with each other, then physical attraction is not a matter anymore... Wish I can find a love that won't see a physical appearance only as a criteria, but see what's deep inside me...

A father who doesn't have jealousy over his wife and wants to 'graduate' from the family... A mother with an affair... A daughter who wants to marry a young kid... And a son who abandons his law school to pursue his dream as a gardener. Well, I don't see much mistakes from the daughter and the son, but maybe from the parents' point of view, it can kill them inside, too... But the most important is the father and the mother part. It really broke my heart to see that the parents are happier when they are not with each other... What's the meaning of their marriage then?

Actually I don't see the urgency of a marriage even for women who have reached their 30s. But loneliness is something else... It does scary to be lonely, don't you think? Jiro, Azusa, Asumi even Chikako... I think they all are afraid to be alone... That's why the girls are so desperately want to marry... And probably they won't realize that it would be even lonelier to be in a fake marriage, without love... That's usually where an affair starts... Like what Hanae did.
I wonder, would I have an affair too, if one day my husband doesn't care about me anymore, and someone like Izuki Shun chases me? Maybe I would too... But a drama is always too good to be true, right? If we assume that Shun and Hanae will marry each other and live together, there are possibilities that their marriage, too, will fall off. Then once again, what's the meaning of those kind of marriage....?
But the drama really portrays a beautiful, lovely relationship between Shun and Hanae. Just if it's not an affair, just if it's happening from the start, it would seems like a perfect love story... I almost forget if Chikako is actually the real main character here.

Azusa and Asami are so evil, they are really sick... They thought they lose to older women, and they try hard to ruin everything... But is that really the matter? It's not about young or old, it's all about their attitude, that's why the man didn't choose them...I remember Izaki Shun whispered to Azusa "A woman who talks bad about another woman only degrade herself"
I do agree with him. I don't mean every single woman are mean, but some of them might be single because they are mean. And it's super real, even in my circle. I found lots of woman who hate another woman whom their crush like. I wonder what's so wrong when that man is the one who choose, love, and want to be with that particular girl?

And I remember Taku was saying this to her Nee-chan, Chikako, "If I were to choose, I will choose Asami since she is young, but the second choice would be mom, because you're too desperate to marry". I don't agree with his choice, because he chooses only based on age, but I do agree that someone who is desperately want to marry and willing to do anything for a marriage, is super unattractive. I really hate it, to be chased by someone who desperately wants to marry, thinking anyone is fine as long as it's their opposite sex.

In the end, Chikako start to accept for what she has, her parents, her self-being, and she starts to be happy even though everything stay the same. I think it's a good moral lesson. We can't change the world, but we can change ourselves, and change how we see the world.

This dorama reminds me of a dorama called "Dosokai", where Takahashi Katsunori was also playing as someone who has an affair. I wonder why every time he plays in a dorama, it's either a manager, a policeman/detective, or an affair? Is he so suitable to be in an affair? lol ヽ(>∀<☆)ノ
You can read my review about Dosokai dorama here, it's one of my favourite.

A lot of people prefer a dorama with young-handsome-actors and pretty-sexy-actress. You absolutely won't find it here. It's more to an old man and old woman relationship, probably it can be gross for some particular people. But for me, I find it super interesting, the unique story line but also feels so real, and all the moral lesson behind this, I could say this dorama is one of my favourite.

The ending is a bit ambiguous, it's not a happy ending, not a sad one either... It's not clear but it's not hanging either... But I can say I'm super satisfied... Super worth it!

I gave this dorama 9 points out of 10 points.

[Dorama Review] Watashi Kekkon Dekinain Janakute, Shinain Desu / 私 結婚できないんじゃなくて, しないんです

Today I'm gonna review a dorama, Watashi Kekkon Dekinain Janakute, Shinain Desu, which literally means It's Not That I Can't Marry I Don't Marry.

At first I was just browsing and found out this title of dorama accidentally. Since I somehow relate to the title, I got interested in watching this dorama, and it was worth it! So much to talk about!

Well, as always, let's start with a brief synopsis first...

Tachibana Miyabi (played by Nakatani Miki) is a doctor who owns a beauty clinic. She is 39 years old, still beautiful, rich, smart, and said to have a perfect life, except... not yet married, no boyfriend. When people start to pity her, she said "It's not that I can't marry, I dont!"

 In a high school reunion, she is reminded with a man she fell in love with back then. Sakurai Yousuke (played by Tokui Yoshimi), which was absent on that day, but later they met each other. Unlike Tachibana who secretly still has feeling for him, Sakurai just wants to be friends with her, even though he is still single too.

Tachibana and Sakurai in Tokura's Restaurant

The owner of the restaurant, Tokura Seiji (played by Fujiki Naohito) criticized Tachibana because she looked like a cheap woman, and there's no way that Sakurai would fall for her. In the end, Tokura started to give Tachibana lessons how to conquer Mr. Mt. Everest - which is Sakurai.
Well, watching this, I'd think "Yappari, a dorama...". In reality, no restaurant owner will ever interfere with their customer's private life, right? <(￢0￢)>

Tokura Seiji, probably lecturing Tachibana

Tachibana learns a lot of things from Tokura, and even got into a relationship with a part-time boy from a restaurant near her clinic, Ryotaro (played by Seto Koji), who is sooo much younger than her.

Ryotaro and Tachibana on a date

This dorama is really interesting. I will absolutely bored if it's a normal romance drama, but not for this dorama. Romance comedy, made me laugh lots of time and curious in the same time. Despite the actors and the actress are not someone I know well, I really really fall in love with this dorama. I'll write a lot about this dorama, hopefully it won't make you bored reading this.

There is one scene when Tachibana on a matchmaking party, and she met a male doctor there. They got into a fight, and Tachibana was so upset, and she talked to Tokura, the restaurant owner, more or less like this:
“I went through everything to be a doctor, even opened my own clinic, but why if it’s a man, they can talk about it, and if it’s me, a woman, I have to hide it?”

Somehow sometimes I think it’s true. Women do their best with their work, but lots of times it ends up to burden them in terms of finding a boyfriend. Well, not every time of course, but you may have heard that kind of story, don’t you? For me, for example, I worked in a big 4 company before, it’s a public accounting company. Most of the woman partners (partner is the highest position in the company and there are several partners in a company) are single. Even a lot of the woman managers there who are also single. They are single not because they don't want to marry, but because they can't find someone to marry. How sad. (シ_ _)シ

There are times when Tachibana wanted to give up on marriage. “I’m okay being alone”, she said. Well I can totally relate. When people don't feel they can get married, sometimes they discouragingly said that sentence, when it’s actually only a denial.
I think for most of people, even to the ones who decided not to marry, there are times in their life too when they were thinking of marriage, they wanted a marriage, but ended up not married because of a particular reason.

What I like from this dorama is, there are some ideas that I agree with. The whole idea of this dorama for example, about an old beautiful woman who is not yet married, wants to marry, but of course not just marrying everyone. I totally agree with this. Have you ever heard people say “Ah, just don’t be picky, just marry anyone who wants with you, because you’re already this old”
I really hate that, you know? What I mean is, everyone is special, you have your own value, so you have to choose your partner. You don’t just marry anyone only because you’re old. It’s even said better not to get married rather than marrying the wrong person.
But of course, it also means you have to choose the type of person you want to marry wisely.

Tachibana and Ishida, someone she met on a climbing indoor event

Another scene I like, when Ishida was interested in Tachibana and proposed to Tachibana, but Tachibana didn’t have any feelings for him. Heard the rumour that Sakurai was getting back with his ex-gf, Tachibana mentioned Ishida was her fiance in her speech. Knowing this, Tokura acted on his own, talking to Sakurai to help Tachibana. Tachibana was like “What are you doing?”, but Tokura replied something like this: “You can get married with Ishida. No one can guarantee you’ll get something in return if you pursue your love, Sakurai. But if you marry Ishida, you may grow used to not loving him forever”
Somehow there are pros n cons in this statement, I wouldn’t say it’s 100% true, but for me, I’d think the same too. If I don’t love someone, then a marriage won’t change me to love that someone. Marrying someone we love is already a difficult thing, now, how about marrying someone we don’t love? It might be a disaster.

A quote from Tokura that I remember “Marriage is heavy, but it’s heartwarming”
I can’t relate to this since I’m not yet married, but it seems true and somehow I start to wish I’d get married one day too... (｡-人-｡)

Tachibana's mom. Worrying and comforting her daughter in the same time.

I also like it how Tachibana’s mom comforts her daughter, well she might be worried because her daughter hasn’t married yet, but she doesn’t push her daughter too hard, yet encouraging her.
She once said “Marriage is not something you work hard for. It’s something which comes naturally”. I can’t say if it’s true or false, but if it’s me, I want it to be natural too. Interested in each other, comfort each other, sharing the same values, then think “Ah, I want to be with him/her for the rest of my life” and get married.
I somehow believe love is a fate, it doesn't mean that you don't work for it and it'll come in an instant, but even if you work hard for it, if he/she doesn't mean to be the one for you, and it'll be nothing.

Now that I think about it, there are also some ideas that I don’t agree with, and usually it would lessen my interest of the dorama, but in this dorama, despite of those disagreements, it is still super interesting and funny. I gave this dorama 9 points out of 10 points. What a super worth watching dorama... Must watch!

[Anime Movie Review] Weathering with You / Tenki no Ko / 天気の子

Another animated movie review... Another popular animated movie directed by Makoto Shinkai which is said to be the next Hayao Miyazaki...

Well, I don't mean to be offensive, but in my opinion it's way too overrated. Of course this is super subjective, but for me who actually don't like animated things, Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli could make me interested with their film, while it's not happening with Makoto Shinkai. Let me explain in detail on the review below...

The story start from a high school boy named Hodaka who ran away from home to Tokyo.

 When a rainstorm struck the ferry he was riding, he is saved by Suga. Suga sensed that Hodaka was on a runaway and gave him his name card, in case Hodaka needed helps.

Searching jobs in the capital city of course without graduating from high school of course not easy. Hodaka ended up searching Suga for help. Suga lived with his niece, Natsumi, and they worked as some kind of publisher, and Suga hired Hodaka to help him with his work.

As they were working on some weather article, Hodaka met Hina, a girl who is actually a Sunshine Girl. She could make the weather sunny if she prayed.

 Hina and her little brother were orphans. As they needed money, Hodaka suggest to use Hina's power to make money. And they did it.

 But as Hina prayed and prayed, she started to lose her body... A sacrifice had to be made for the weather to be sunny again...

To tell you the truth, the animation is actually super good. It is super detailed and feels so real. I don't doubt the animation at all, it's perfect... However, the problem is the story... It is quite boring for me. I'm not sure which one making it a little boring, but maybe the pace of the story sometimes is too detailed and too slow.

While a too detailed animation makes it perfect, a too detailed story makes it boring. The big picture of the story was actually not bad, but how they wrap it into the +- 2 hours movie making it so boring.

Japanese movie, anime, film, anything, usually give us a good morale lesson, but in this movie... Of course, there are always something to learn, but just... I barely feel it. Maybe because I can't relate to it? Or maybe because they don't show it significantly? I wonder...

Well, I'd gave this anime movie thing 6 points out of 10 points.

[Dorama Review] Switched / Sora wo Kakeru Yodaka

Hello guys! I saw that my last post was on July 2019, so it's been more than a half year since my last post. Actually I watched some doramas between those days, and it's quite good too, but I'm just too lazy to write any review and comment.

Also, recently I started to watch netflix, and I found a lot of good doramas there, even though I couldn't finish some of them because it is so boring in the first 2-3 episodes and I decided not to continue watching it.

Well, tonight I want to write a little bit review and comment about the dorama I watched on netflix: Switched. This is a super good dorama for me, even it made the-lazy-me to wake up and write on this blog after ignoring it for more than half a year, lol.

This dorama is about a beautiful-famous-girl named Kohinata Ayumi (played by Kiyohara Kaya), who was super friendly and smart, and also kind-hearted. If you ever imagine a perfect girl ever, then maybe she is the one.

 She had two bestfriends, bestfriends since childhood to be exact, and they were boys. Kaga Shunpei (played by Shigeoka Daiki of Johnny's WEST) and Mizumoto Koshiro (played by Kamiyama Tomohiro of Johnny's WEST). Beautiful girl who has two handsome close boyfriends, what else can you expect? It's just a perfect world for people who see them, isn't it?

Then it turned out that Koshino confessed his feeling to Ayumi, and they were dating. Umine Zenko (played by Tomita Miu) who was believed to be an ugly and fat girl, loved Koshino because Koshino had helped her before and she started to get jealous. Umine found a way to switch body with Ayumi.

Umine which was in Ayumi's body was super satisfied. She would never go back to her old body. On the contrary, Ayumi who was trapped inside Umine's body started to cry. Ayumi experienced being Umine, who was bullied, a broken home kid, and all alone.

But their bestfriends found out about the body's switchover. They were bestfriends after all. Kaga was the one who was beside Ayumi when she was trapped inside Umine's body. On the other hand, Koshino was always beside Umine who was in Ayumi's body.

So many things happened in the search of finding a way to switch the body back. But let me write only some important things that I learn from this dorama.

- Ayumi who was inside Umine's body started to live her life with all her might. She started to shine inside the class, being liked by her classmates and of course by his bestfriend Kaga, despite having an ugly appearance. She was struggling at first, of course, having people bullying her and even her mother was body-shaming her, but in the end, inner-beauty shined the most.

- On the contrary, Umine who was inside Ayumi's body was falling apart. She didn't like the fact that the new-Umine could gain attention from many people. She was even being asked:
"Cute appearance, wonderful friends, kind and caring family, but despite all of that, you don't seem very happy, do you?"
Despite having all of the perfect things in life, she was not satisfied. It's because all were in her own mind, always felt lacking of something.

From those two perspective, I can say that indeed a beautiful girl has advantages at first. I wouldn't deny that we live in this world full of sin where most of the people would judge on the appearance first. And maybe you and I unconsciously do that too, but we just don't spit it out. But believe me, beauty on the appearance only wouldn't last long. Body can rot as we grow old. But a good character only knows how to get better.

It was shown in Ayumi, despite of her appearance which turns ugly, she was still being liked by her friends. Of course, not instantly, need more works than when she was having a beautiful appearance, but she can do that. Showing her good attitude make her more charming, make an ugly one turned to be a cute one in people eyes because of her attitudes.

Umine, despite having a wonderful body, people started to look at her in a suspicious way, probably thinking "What happened with her?" Her beautiful appearance can't cover her bad attitudes of being egoistic. "Looking different on the outside won't change what's inside", that's the remarkable sentence that touched me from this dorama.

To conclude, there are four types of people. Beautiful ones with good attitudes, beautiful ones with bad attitudes, ugly ones with good attitudes, and ugly ones with bad attitudes. It's good if you're blessed with beautiful appearance, but don't be satisfied only with it. Shape your characters that people may say "Wow, she is beautiful outside and inside". Ayumi, Kaga, and Koshino were the three examples for this, actually. They are beautiful and handsome, they don't bully Umine, and they help Umine actually, but because Umine was so deep down in her negative thoughts, she can only think the ones who bullied her.

Well, if you feel so beautiful but having bad attitudes (which I believe a few people - or maybe no people? - would admit it), just be careful. People stay with you maybe only because you have something, and eventually they will leave you when those beauty fades. Start to learn to be better.

If you ever feel ugly, don't worry. First, maybe actually you're not that bad. As how Umine was, she just need a single hairpin, and she looks cuter. Not bad at all. Maybe you just need that 'single hairpin' to make you looks cuter. But second, that's not the most important things. Having good characters will make even a super ugly ones turn into the most beautiful person ever, in other people eyes. That's why people say "Beauty is subjective".

In the end, I would give this dorama 8.5 points out of 10 points. I'd give 10 points for their morale lessons though.