If you think Singaporean parents are horrible, Japanese parents are way worse if this drama is to be taken as an accurate portrayal. I was half the time omgwth while watching episode 1.

Takamura Itsuki (Yonekura Ryoko) is a successful and amibitious coporate lawyer who has never lost. Her mentor ask her to accept a quest from the Board of Education, where the head of the board was an ex-classmate of her mentor. She gladly accepts, without an inkling how, erm, horrible the job turned out.

Her first on-site observation was Ridiculous Parent #1 who insists the primary school changes this Japanese language teacher who has Kansai accent. This parent believes that the kansai ben has made her daughter violent. It’s actually a gesture common in the kansai culture (tsutomi) that someone use to wave across another person’s face, dimissing the person’s comments as silly or impossible. So this parent #1 is more of unknowledgable and ridiculous than parent #2.

Ridiculous Parent #2 (Kimura Yoshino) I think, is a serious nutcase. She harrasses her daughter’s form teacher with at least 20 phone calls a day, sneak into the school gym to take video of her daughter’s class having PE lessons with the form teacher, just to backup her belief that the teacher is a *gasp* paedophile who likes lolicon. This case stems from one fateful outing in which the teacher happened to take a few lesser photos of parent #2’s daughter, compared to another female classmate. Parent #2 insists that the teacher practises favouritism, by giving more assignments to students with better results (in reality it was because these students finished their class assignments faster than others, so in order not to let them waste their time waiting for other classmates to finish, the teacher gave these students some more questions to practise), as well as being a paedophile (wth?!). At this point, I was seriously wondering why did the school not just sue her for harrassment, like what Takamura suggested.

My question was answered by a very obstinate member of the Board of Education, Miura Keigo (Sasaki Kuranosuke), who thinks that hauling parent #2 to court will disrupt the harmony between the students, as well as further endangering the school-parent relationship. Hello? The parents don’t give a damn for the amount of unnecessary stress they give for the school and the teacher in question. In the end, this poor teacher attempted suicide, but was saved, and decided to quit being a teacher.

Ridiculous parent #2 (or rather, nutcase parent), was rather elated when the teacher quitted, and thanked Takamura for her “help” in making the teacher quit. Instead of thinking it was her ridiculous harrassment, parent #2 thinks it was the weak character of the teacher that prompted her to quit. Seriously, someone should just sue this nutcase for harrassment, illegal trespassing (to take secret video of the PE class) and get her to pay the psychological damage she caused the teacher.

On a sidenote, Hiraoka Yuta looks baaaad with his hair. And so far he’s been pretty redundant. Oh man, when can he get a meatier role. Overall an interesting drama so far, but I just can’t believe such parents exist.

*The disclaimer at the end of the drama says that its a fiction based on real scenarios in Japanese primary schools. Hmm.

I was struck by episode 1 where Osen (Aoi Yu) just took her own time and creativity, as well as thoroughly understanding people’s stomachs, at the competition between her and this fugly speed-cooking teacher. Truely, good food comes only when it was prepared with love and care, not just anyhow chop and fry (or use microwave).

Osen at the first glance may be about Japanese food, but it is more than that. It is lamenting the loss of traditions, loss of the ability to appreciate heritage, the over-emphasis of modern. I was appalled at the last episode where the little kid just drop dollops of ketchup on everything Osen and her crew prepared painstakingly. Whoever eats sashimi and daikon with ketchup! This kid represents how most kids are in this present day. They’ve lost the ability to appreciate good food; fast food and artificial flavourings had masked their taste buds. In fact, it is not just about food and kids; adults too have lost the ability to slow down and take a look at their environment, to just breathe and relax.

The other thing I like about Osen is the visible lack of the romantic department. It can get pretty tiring to watch endless hints of romance. The good food, colourful kimonos, various hairstyles of Osen the okami, the underlying tones of lost culture made Osen an interesting drama to watch. Too bad it had low viewership. The irony of the loss of ability of appreciate good dramas (non-ikemen, non-romance, non-melodrama) is reflected at the subpar viewership ratings here.

Yamapi was so-so as Iwase Ken (Kenzou to Yoshida Rei, Nagasawa Masami). I feel he has only like, two expressions: shocked and regret. The “Hallelujah Chance!” sequence was really lame, and with every episode I keep wondering how can such a plot go on for 11 episodes. And it seemed like the producers were already planning to have an SP. Or perhaps they never expect the scriptwriter to be so long winded and the true ending for the drama would end up in the SP’S first 10 minutes or so.

I find it pretty sad for Tada sensei (Fujiki Naohito) that he has to fall for his junior who was about six years younger and taught before in high school. I like Fujiki lots, but somehow I don’t really feel the chemistry between him and Nagasawa. Pragmatically speaking, she should have just gotten married to him, since Tada sensei is loads better than Kenzou. He’s a assistant professor in university while Kenzou is just a normal salaryman. And same-age guys are always more immature than the actual age. But any hopeless romantic would be rooting for Rei and Kenzou all the way.

The whole point behind this drama is that if what you wish for and tried to do things the way you wanted it, doesn’t appear straightaway, it doesn’t mean it will never happen. You just have to wait for it. Like how Ken travelled back in time 10 times, and only changed small things each time, but the ultimate big change came only in the end. I’m reminded of a Chinese saying, “Accumulate little by little; it becomes lots.” Yep, that’s why we have 11 episodes.

The comic relief characters made this drama more bearable. One undoubtedly is Tsurumi Hiyashi (Hamada Gaku). This guy sure is funny. But he has traits Kenzou lacks, and somehow never get to learn. Tsuru doesn’t mind losing face, doesn’t mind getting laughed at, seems childish but is actually pretty mature. Others like their high school teacher (Matsushige Yutaka) who went university with his previous students to become a ceramics artist, and actually likes to cross-dress, and this classmate Socrates (Watabe Gota) who’s a drama-mama adds to the comedy aspect of this drama. Lastly, it’s disappointing to see Hiraoka Yuta in a super supporting cast, though it should be noted he’s the smarter one among the five friends, as well as looking like a player but has only one girlfriend throughout the whole series.

A light-hearted drama recommended to viewers who feel like escaping reality once in awhile.

Kato Rosa is being pretty much a vase, as Chinese reviewers would refer to those cast that only act pretty and basically contributes nothing much to the plot. She’s pretty cute as the star-struck believer of Asakura the politician, which separates her from Miyama Rika (Fukatsu Eri). Miyama is this know-it-all secretary originally from Kanbayashi sensei’s office, and often belittles Asakura. No surprise again as she gradually thinks better of Asakura as the drama goes on, and oh where does her loyalty lie? *note the tinge of boredom*

The winning supporting cast is nonetheless Abe Hiroshi. This man sure pwns each drama he’s in. Although I can’t shake away the image of Ueda Jiro in Trick whenever he points his finger at KimuTaku. But I digress. I wish he has more screentime though, in Change. Anyway, he pwns because he gives just enough comic relief, yet is equally serious whenever is required of him. Ok, maybe I’m biased. :p

Episode 7
So what’s the meaning of being a politician? Grabbing power whenever you can, or push for reforms and such for the benefit of the country and its citizens? How will Asakura fight back that wily old fox Kanbayashi? This was a 15 minutes longer episode and much as I can pretty much guess how things go, it’s still a pretty well shot episode. Fukatsu Eri did a pretty good job of being caught between two bosses, how she would have told Kanbayashi she would like to continue to be Asakura’s chief secretary if not for Asakura came barging into Kanbayashi’s office then.

Also, I’d like to think the death of Ryosuke the kid would be a pushing factor for Asakura in the remaining three episodes to push for the reforms. Indeed, when one is in the seat of power for too long, they would have forgotten their original ideologies, and could only see fame, power and money, and nothing else.

Episode 8

Anyway, from episode 1 to 10, I felt I was on a roller coaster ride, especially when Sousuke (Nishikido Ryo) appears on screen. Those domestic violence scenes took place in all episodes, which I felt was abit too much. It would have been better if the scriptwriter devoted more time to a background development of Takeru, Eri and Sousuke, instead of just them speaking of it as if it’s not exactly their business. The sharehouse scenes were beautiful though.

The last episode was pretty heartwarming though. It’s like, finally this group of unlucky people will have happier days ahead since the monster Sousuke is gone forever. Let’s hope the little daughter of Sousuke wouldn’t be like the dad. Even though, after watching Michiru’s recap on Sousuke’s past, I did felt a little sorry for him. However it didn’t mean he could do what he did to Michiru and friends.

Special

I am watching the SP as I am writing this entry, and frankly, I am waiting for all the recap to be done. Only the first five minutes showed something from the future – Michiru bringing her daughter to pay respects at Sousuke’s tomb. (hmm I thought it’s damn expensive to own an area at a cemetry in Japan?) 40 minutes and counting (that’s what’s left when CMs are taken away) of recap. You’ve gotta be joking, FujiTV! Are you trying to say the whole drama actually can be condensed to just around 60 minutes only?

I think the producers secretly like the DV and rape scenes. -.-ll

FINALLY no more recaps. -phew- Oh GREAT. 8 minutes worth of the future of Michiru and gang only. What’s with Ogurin’s new hair?! I felt cheated. They should have just squeezed this 8 minutes of stuff last week.

Nonetheless, tribute screenshot to this otherwise highly rated drama:

I guess it DOES require a different sense of humour to enjoy this drama. Every episode will surely have Himawari encountering some events of persons she know, especially Tamaru Hitoshi (Harada Taizo) the ex boyfriend, dragging her into it. Himawari being super unlucky, will always have near death accidents, but she’ll always recover. And it’s not helping that Hitoshi’s wife, Ichijo Masami (Sakai Wakana) is extrememly jealous of their relationship that she always sought to harm Himawari some way or another…until episode 7 or 8 when Himawari, being also a very kind person, save Masami from rolling down the stairs.

Also, Himawari will always be talking to her younger self, Nobutomo Sachiko (Fukuda Mayuko), who will appear only when Himawari is stressed, and unseen by anyone but Himawari (touzen desho). Sachiko will do the previous episode recap at the beginning of each episode from episode 2 onwards, and reminds the viewer she’s the child version of Himawari. Other events that will surely occur in each episode were Himawari will get angry about some people who are wrongly self-justified, and she’ll imagine herself flaring up and teaching a kanji each time. Except towards the end of the drama, she DOES flare up for real and explained the kanji-of-the-episode; in the last episode, instead of Himawari, it is the creepy girl (see below) who “inherits” this imaginative scenes.

The fun thing about this drama is things that happened certainly wouldn’t happen in real life. But hey, that’s the whole point of watching dramas some times. Things like, Himawari having a 不死身(un-die-able body), a seemingly creepy girl who actually is just like Himawari, a cop who actually is an ero jiji, a hospital president who visits seedy pub and was harrassing Himawari when she was doing her singing stint at the pub, a artiste manager who always help out Himawari and always have some funny three or five words mottos, a mother who borrows money from loansharks to give male prostitutes, etc etc. The seemingly more normal person in this drama was the matriarch of the Tamaru family, who unfortunately suffers from Alzheimer. Poor old lady committed suicide to relieve her son and daughter-in-law having to take care of her.

What I like about this drama were the word plays, and the names they gave to Himawari, Sachiko, and the creepy girl. Himawari means sunflower, and it represented her character – never say die attitude, and always being cheerful and helpful to others. Sachiko means a child of happiness, and indeed, Himawari’s motto in life was to make people around her happy no matter no far she herself is from happiness. Lastly the creepy girl – Gomi Sadako (Narumi Riko). Gomi (五味) is the same pronunciation as rubbish in Japanese, and her classmates all made fun of her surname, saying she’s trash. And Sadako, I need not explain more about the ‘pun’ here. She looks almost like THAT infamous Sadako, but she’s nothing creepy like that. Her name also meant a child of virtue.

Repetitive as some scenes may be, if you have a different sense of humor from the norm (and no I don’t mean things like, sadists or masochistic), do try out this drama. Ratings aren’t always the best way to gauge a drama.

Suggested tagline for this drama: The adventures of the most unlucky but un-die-able woman in Japan

Will probably blog about Last Friends tomorrow, followed by Around 40, Change, Atsuhime and Enka no Jyoou (even though it’s not recent and most people think it’s a flop). Layout of entries will not strictly follow an episode by episode summary; each drama will have only one entry, and I’ll update them as the weeks pass by with new episodes watched.

That said, I highly recommend Last Friends, even though the domestic violence and crazy stalking scenes are disturbing.

Ciao!