It's a Dorama Speacial!
Nyahaha... I've been watching alot of Japanese drama this summer so I think it's appropiate to share the love. All thanks to my good frien Aubrey for lending me most of them!
The Japanese drama or "Dorama" unlike Western or the local drama here, have a standard number of episodes per title.I think the minimum episodes is 7 and the longest I've watched is 12 episodes. This way, they are following the plot and story without further changes. And this is what you'll love about dorama, they are short dramas but they deliver the clearest of message and every title gives us a moral lessons and values to live with.
Here are some of the dorama I've watched lately and including S.O.S although that's been a year ago. I'm sorry too for the last 3 dorama for not having a screen shot. I'll edit it next time!
1 Litre of Tears
1 Litre of Tears is an inspiring story about a young girl's struggle with her incurable disease and her strength to go on with life and accept what the future will bring her.
This is based on a true story.
Ikeuchi Aya is a kind, smart and the type that also excels in sports with friends and a good family that surrounds her. One day, her mother noticed that she has been falling too often lately and brought her to the hospital for check-up. The diagnosis showed that Aya has an incurable disease called, Spinocerebellar Atrophy. This illness is a malfunction in the central nervous system that enables the motor nerves to send messages or actions to the muscles. Gradually she will start loosing balance until she cannot walk anymore. It will be difficult for her to hold heavy things and soon her ability to write will be disabled. Slowly her speaking will also be affected until she cannot pronounce any words or produce sounds. How will Aya accept her fate?
If there is any dorama that I recommend for TV networks to show is 1 Litre of Tears. It is such an inspiring story about never giving up and doing what you can with your own ability. There are 11 episodes and only one episode didn’t make me cry. At first I really thought that the title is really bold, suggesting that it is a heavy drama, and guess what, it stands with what it wants to say. Although there were a lot of tears that I shed as I watched Aya struggle with her disease, feeling herself as a burden to her family but staying strong and determined with a beautiful smile in her face made a really really big impact on me and I would smile after crying. Because the tears showed not sadness, perhaps pity but then you’ll realize how amazing she is, making a lot of people grow stronger while she continues to get weak with her disease. Another factor that makes
Aya's situation so sad is her disease affects only her body, there is no intellectual effect, so she’s like trapped in her own body. Owning a totally normal mind but she’s deprived of doing what she wants freely for she can’t. Her body wouldn’t help her. Aya’s family played a big part as major support; they were always there for her, especially her mom who showed such a strong face despite seeing her child in pain.
The drama opened with Aya’s mother hearing the details of the disease so the impact is strong from the beginning. You’ll feel immediately the sadness that the drama will unfold and anticipate how hard it will be for the young girl who should be enjoying the most precious time of her life. More tears to come.
It is based on the true story of Kitou Aya but some of the places and people are fictional. Fictional character include Aya’s classmate, Asou Haruto. In the drama, he will play as Aya’s close friend and later on as her boyfriend. This character was created because according to Aya’s mother, it was what she dreamed of…getting married.
Aya recorded everything that she felt in numerous diaries since she was fourteen when the disease began until the time she could not write anymore. Aya died at age twenty-five. Her mother started publishing her diaries, until it became a book titled: 1 Litre of Tears, which sold 1.1 million copies and became a best seller. After 29 years, her parents continue to spread her beliefs.
Kimi wa Petto
How do you describe a perfect woman?
Beautiful? Tall? Good education? Successful career? A good cook and potential housewife?
One woman has gathered them all and her names is Iwaya Sumire.
Despite the “brain and beauty” gift, Iwaya Sumire couldn’t get lonelier. Her co-workers hate her for being too good at her job; her bosses is annoyed by the fact she is smarter than them; her ex-boyfriend left her because he feels inferior to her and ran to another woman who has his baby and a migraine that wouldn’t leave her alone. Coming home from work, one night, she found a box with an injured young man inside. Out of mercy, she aided to the boy’s need and fed him. Expecting he’d leave the next day, Iwaya was surprised to see him happy in her living room. He doesn’t want to leave and ask her to let him stay for a few days. Being a smart woman that she is, she thought of a proposal that would hurt his pride enough that would make him leave voluntarily… to be her Pet. Unexpectedly, the boy agreed and this turn of events changed Iwaya’s life forever.
Kimi wa Petto is another manga adoptation by the same title, made by Yayoi Ogawa.
I looove Kimi wa Petto. I’ve been itching to watch it ever since I read the synopsis on the web when I was researching for some Jun infos. At first I couldn’t get used to Jun being all bouncy and glompy in this series, after adapting to his serious character in Gokusen as Shin Sawada. Sooner or later, I got used to the character of the cute yet canny Momo. Aside from the cuteness of this drama and the comic feel to it, it also has a lot of lessons to offer and topics that would make you reflect. Issues such as inferiority and superiority, socializations, importance of communications and man’s dependence to pets for happiness, are discussed one by one in each episode with a series of situation. Each character has their share of stories and ridiculous acts that adds up to the comedy of the show.
Sometimes I just can’t help but shook my head when Sumire thinks of Momo too much as a pet and disregarding the fact that he’s a “human acting as a pet”. She even seeks advice from a councilor when she has problems with Momo because he also has a pet dog! Until the end of the drama, I’m not certain whether her need for Momo is just too strong to let go, like an owner to her pet, or if she has really fallen in love with him.
Anyway, with all the ups and downs and the troubles and giggles and cuddly scenes, enjoy it!
Hana Yori Dango
Eitoku is a prestigious school, educating the richest children in Japan and training them to be leaders and inherit their families’ business. The school is mainly run by four of the richest student, notoriously known as Flower Four or F4. The whole school loves them and thinks they are the coolest, at the same time, they are all scared of them, including the teachers, for their bullying.
Makino Tsukushi is a “commoner”, a term used for poor students at Eitoku. She’s a brave and headstrong girl and most importantly, she is not ashamed of her status in life. To help her family, she works part-time at a sweets shop with her best friend, Yuki. Tsukushi is well known for being a “tough weed” (“weed” suggesting her name “Tsukushi&rdquo
yet she holds back her grudges against F4 for she doesn’t want to stand out and graduate peacefully without getting involved in any war against rich brats.
After defending a newly found friend, a mere incident at the cafeteria, Tsukushi found herself in a war against Doumyouji Tsukasa, the leader of F4, and a good punch in the face to remember.
Hana Yori Dango is based on the manga by Kamio Yoko, which literally means “Flower Over Food”, giving away the plot of the story. Mainly, the dorama or the manga and anime to say, revolves around the cat-dog relationship of Makino and Doumyouji. Because of the big difference of their family status, being together is almost impossible for them. Making them unsuited for each other. But as great romantic stories goes, these two are able to defend their love for each other.
For me, the title asks Tsukushi if she will chose to be practical and find a man within her “commoner” zone or chose being with the man she loves even if it means sacrificing a lot of things and her loved ones getting hurt in the process. Well, Doumyoji wouldn’t care less. He’s reckless and arrogant. He’ll do what he thinks is right.
Hana Yori Dango have been made into different versions including the popular Taiwanese version Meteor Garden and the equally popular F4 group. I also heard somewhere that there have been a European version, I’m just not certain if it was German or Polish or some other. In 1995 a Japanese movie was made for HYD, and after 10 years, a dorama was made. Okay, I’d be lying if I said I never watched Meteor Garden. I’m proud to say I have and I still like Meteor Garden until now. I like the story of HYD anyway, and I’m a big fan of Barbie Xu. She’s a really good actress and her drama skills are superb! Small and pretty, she pulled off the Taiwanese version of Makino (Zan Chai) pretty good. Because I was a fan of MG first, I couldn’t help but compare the events of the dorama with it. When the anime version was aired on ABS-CBN, I was never able to watch it because it’s aired Sunday morning, I think, and I’m doing house chores that time. So, generally comparing MG and HYD (Japanese drama), I’d say MG was longer and had more drama. While HYD remained on the standard number of episodes for a Japanese drama, it was still well done, showing the highlights of the story and enough to show character developments. This version offered a “feel-good” to it, meaning it was inclined more on situations a teen goes through and more comedy. There were dramatic scenes but the funny scenes dominated better.
Hehe…Jun Matsumoto as Doumjoji Tsukasa suits him. His roles are often the kind but seemingly canny ones. Though in this one, Tsukasa is really stupid. He doesn’t even know proper usage of Japanese words! The Makino Tsukishi is really cute! Hontou! There will be a HYD 2, I think it’s setting will be 3 years after Tsukasa left for New York to study. Waii! Can’t wait!
I had a lot of laughs with this one, please watch it!
Strawberry On the Shortcake
With a wary feeling of emptiness, Irie Masato cannot feel his existence. He attempted on shoplifting only to feel the thrill but his guts would not help him. Frustrated, Masato faced the river over the bridge he always visits and thought of the feeling while falling in it. He was about to jump when a cheerful girl greeted him and gave him the book he wanted to steel. Masato found the girl strange for she didn’t stop him from jumping and only greeted him casually. Later she even asked him to play a little game. A couple times they met again, and he always meet the girl coincidentally and at times he never expected for help.
Soon after, Masato knew her name and they became friends. Yui can read what’s on Masato’s mind and seem to understand the complexity that he’s struggling with. She encourages him to be true to himself and remove the glasses that he wears as a mask from his true self. Masato’s father soon announced that he’s going to remarry. His new wife has a daughter his age and her name is…Yui.
Masato has fallen in love with Yui. Yui is his new sister. Will he let his feelings aside or go for it?
Strawberry On the Shortcake for me is a well-written drama. I have to say that this drama is for mature audiences and those that have an open mind. The issue of teen suicide, pre-marital sex, May-December love affair and incest may be too disturbing for others. But for those who can appreciate the complications of life and the reality that it boldly illustrate, then this is a must watch.
Each character carries a burden and each is affected by the other. They have different characters but they are connected some way or the other, and played the game of love with a flavor of deceit.
One of the major questions here involves the title: Strawberry on the Shortcake. If you slice a piece of this cake, it has strawberry on top. If you were the one eating, will you eat the strawberry first because you like it, or will you save it for last because of the same reason? This is the very question the drama revolved around. With Masato and his unrequited love for his sister, he is caught up in his feelings or doing the right thing, considering that Yui likes another man. This also applies to the situations the other characters are in.
Although the ending is a happy one, the mood that the dorama gave me is sad. One must sacrifice a lot for his love and the pain of letting go are necessary feelings for one to be happy.
I'm sorry if my review for this drama is a little stiff. I watched this over a year ago.
Great Teacher Onizuka
To be a teacher is Eikichi Onizuka’s greatest dream. When his friend informed him of a job opening for teachers in a near by school, he dashed to the place and presented himself for an interview. As a former ex-biker gang leader, Eikichi’s impression on people is biased towards the negative. He looks rough, vulgar and unrespectable. The head-teacher of the school rejected his application, telling him the school doesn’t need a trash to teach students.
When the interview finished, two expelled students confronted the head-teacher and wanted to attack, but Onizuka got in the way. The head-teacher kept calling the students “Trash” and eventually got into Eikichi’s nerves. He high-kicked the head-teacher in front of the crowd, telling him that his treatment towards the students is wrong. The director witnessed the whole thing and gave Onizuka the chance for one last interview the following night.
Guess what, he got the job. Soon he was introduced to the faculty members with the same negative impression on him. More over, the class given to him is home of the most notorious students when it comes to bashing teachers. They hold the record for making teachers quit their job due to their pranks and threats. Will Onizuka be able to handle them with his unique way of discipline or will they get the better of him?
Waah…sorry if that synopsis is crappy. That covers about the first episode of the drama.
You have to love Great Teacher Onizuka, whether if it’s the manga, anime or the drama. They all have the same values and presents the same impact on audiences. Some may say that GTO is a lot like Gokusen, but guess what, GTO was made first. I’m not saying that Gokusen now was the one that copied the story. Each have their own share of fun and values, ne?
However, if compared to Gokusen, GTO has a more serious note to it. Yes, there are times of fun, let alone Onizuka do the job with the comedy, yet the dark side of the story comes from the characters themselves. The students are serious in terms that they all have their scheming plots against Onizuka or the school and faculty. They have a deep grudge against teachers that make them do those nasty things against them. Either way, Onizuka has a way of settling things and earning their respect. He may look like a bad guy with only sex and woman in his mind, but no. He is more than the average teacher and he has a lot of wisdom to spare to those hardheaded students of his.
GTO tackles a lot of teen issues from family to friendship, love and school life. I’m not sure if schools in Japan are really like that in GTO, but if it is, then I can see a lot of reasons why there are so many rebel students in Japan. The school isn’t a perfect institution but they should at least set a standard image. In GTO, foreign viewers will see how superiority and seniority is so important in the Japanese culture and how the image of oneself is so important to survive in a society of criticizing eyes. A lot of students are unheard of their demands and opinions because adults think they are thinking irrationally and are stains in the school’s clean image, so they are expelled immediately. I hope it’s not really that harsh in Japan. Because if it is, no matter how good the standard of academic teaching is, if the students wouldn’t be involved in school matters, then there is no point to it.
If you’re going to watch this drama, be prepared to laugh, cry, sympathize, get angry or simply be inspired by the characters. After watching the drama, watch the Special and Movie too! Do a marathon! It’s all worth-it!
Good Luck!!
Even though the last of his batch to get a license, Shinkai Hajime is more than ready to fly. Working as a co-pilot for the mean time, an emergency situation gave Shinkai a chance to take over the landing of the plane. When the captain, his former mentor, suddenly felt a jolt of pain at his back, Shinkai ‘have it’. Unfortunately, it was too early for him to be captain and made the cabin shake while setting on ground. A straightforward mechanic even said he sucks. The event was reported to their strict auditor, Captain Koda, and told him that he’s not suited to be a pilot. Koda also commented that the captain should retire for a pilot doesn’t get sick, especially in the middle of a flight. The harsh words made Shinkai irritated and stood up for himself and the pilot. This put him in uneasy disposition and now, Koda’s eyes is on him.
With more unfortunate happenings inside the plane that should be mended, will Shinkai be the able to control himself and be the calm pilot or be the hero to the rescue? Will he ever earn the respect of Koda and be allowed to fly with the control in his very hands?
Good Luck stars the super famous Takuya Kimura. Hehe…so, he’s a SMAP member? Is SMAP a Johhny Jimusho group too? Anyway! This dorama didn’t appeal to me first. I just wanted to know why Takuya Kimura is so popular and see for myself why he’s so good, as they said. At the beginning of the dorama, non-fans of flying or planes would find it a little lame. Because most of the time they were on the cockpit and saying commands that are anonymous to most viewers. Later on, you’ll appreciate the sense of humor and the characters. We are also given a chance to know more about planes, machines and how things run in an airline.
Of course Pilots, stewardesses and mechanics are in the spotlight in this drama. We witness how hard these jobs are and varying to situations, values, discipline and dedication to your job should always be present. I realized from the characters how important it is for a person to love what you do and not for the sake of money. In us, there is a motive and sense of service behind your work.
I also love the characters of Good Luck. Of course the cool and sometimes temperamental, Shinkai; the stiff and strict Koda; the passionate, patient and beautiful Togashi Noriko; and Naito Jane, the ladies man captain. I don’t know if all Takuya characters are that relax, but well, Shinkai is like that. And his love for the sky and feeling the sun in his hands above the clouds is admirable. Togashi Noriko , one of the top stewardesses, is simply amazing. She loves her job because she knows that serving the passengers and making them feel at ease is her personal way of helping them. I think the actress as well as the character is already around her mid-30 but she’s still pretty. Okay, a little spoiler here: she and Koda was an item 12 years ago. Because of an incident in the past, Koda change drastically and caused their break-up. At the end of the drama, she admitted that she still loves him, and well, the couple have a happily ever after. But that’s 12 years! Can a person really love that long? Without the mutual feeling? That’s really amazing! And now “Jane”. His name is actually Naito something, but he prefers to be called like that and he’s known for that name. He’s the funniest of the pilot, the comic relief, to say. He speaks different dialects the most in the drama.
Oh yeah, because this drama is about planes and traveling at different places, different dialects have been spoken too! Those includes, Korean (with Shinkai’s weird neighbor who calls him “Shou-chan&rdquo, Thai (when Shinkai talked to the front desk of a Thai hotel), Cantonese (usually Jane speaks it to annoy Shinkai), French (I’m not sure, by Jane again), Tagalog (yes! There was! Sad to say it’s an OFW in Thai, cleaning the plane, which Shinkai bumped to and yelled: “Aray ku! An sakit-sakit!” I’m not saying that it’s shameful to be an OFW, it’s just that whenever a Filipino character is involved in a foreign drama, they’re either a maid or a terrorist. Hmp!) And of course, English which is spoken mostly inside the cockpit or when they contact the control tower or speak commands. I have to say, Takuya Kimura’s English is good. Okay, please don’t let me include Nihonggo, that’s just stupid.
What’s a story without the romance? I’ve spoiled the story of Koda and Noriko, now it’s Shinkai Hajime and Ogawa Ayumi’s turn. Of course the hero will always have her lady. Ogawa is the mechanic that told him: “You suck!” at the beginning. Bewildered by her unusual behavior, the pilot developed an attraction to her. Serious as she may be, Shinkai found a way to her heart and please watch the drama to know where these two will lead. Haha!
I hope I didn’t spoil too much of the show in this show. When will GMA air this anyway? Until then, enjoy!
Currently listening to: Remioromen - "Konayuki"
Currently reading: "The Concubine's Tatoo" by Laura John Rowland (w/ yaoi content!)
