Protocol Snow

Usually I prefer waiting for a drama series to finish airing in its entirety before starting to watch it. This way I don’t stuck halfway through the season, waiting for weeks hoping for somebody to post subtitles. However, subbing teams are so on the ball nowadays that during this summer drama season, I’ve been following two series as they air. They’re so quick and reliable that you can download both the newest episode and the accompanying subtitles within a couple days of the Japanese airing. As always, check out the community at D-Addicts for details on the hottest dramas, new and old.

Coincidentally, I caught the premiere episodes of both these series “live” on TV while I was in Japan. One show is called Papa to Musume no Nanokakan and stars Aragaki Yui. I’ll talk about that one next time.

The topic for today is the comedy Yama Onna Kabe Onna, which stars Itoh Misaki, probably best known as the elegant Hermes lady in the drama Densha Otoko. She plays a luxury bag saleswoman named Aoyagi Megumi who works in a premiere Ginza department store. Unfortunately, her work attire isn’t very flattering; for that classic Hermes / Itoh Misaki look, you’ll have to wait for the scenes when she’s not at work.

Anyway, Aoyagi is a top selling bag saleswoman, but she has one small problem: she’s quite self conscious about her chest. That “A cup complex” is compounded when a new girl, Mariya Marie (played by Fukada Kyoko), with an enormous bust is transferred into the department store. She just so happens to be an excellent saleswoman as well, which makes Aoyagi feel even worse.

If you know Japanese, the title of this show now makes perfect sense. Yama Onna = mountain woman. Kabe Onna = wall woman.

As you might expect from the premise, breast related humor is very prevalent in Yama Onna Kabe Onna. On the serious side, the focus seems to be on Aoyagi struggling with her insecurities, though there’s also a little lecturing on what it means to work in a department store and to offer premium service. If you’ve ever been to a Japanese mall (or even a Japanese-owned mall in Taiwan or other Asian countries), you should be quite familiar with that level of service.

But for the most part, the show is about:

And what the heck, for good measure:

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course. Yama Onna Kabe Onna is funny and Itoh Misaki is charming as always. However, four episodes have aired so far and it’s been pretty one-dimensional up to this point. I don’t expect that’ll change much, but stay tuned for a post-mortem when the series is finished in a couple months. I think there’s eight episodes left.

UPDATE: Post-mortem post

Other characters of note:

Ooyama Haruka (played by Koike Eiko). She is Aoyagi’s hostile rival, both professionally and romantically. She doesn’t miss an opportunity to get a jab in about Aoyagi’s chest. Quite evil looking, I must say. In real life, Koike Eiko is a gravure idol with plentiful assets.

Yoshino Kanako (played by Uehara Misa). She is a co-worker of Aoyagi and a supporting character who’s there for comic relief. You might remember Uehara Misa from the drama Nodame Cantabile, where she played Chiaki Shinichi’s ex-girlfriend.

Facts
12 episodes
Airing Summer 2007
Genre: Comedy

Links
Official site
D-Addicts Bittorrent download page
Subtitles

It’s been awhile since my last Asian drama review and I had a couple sitting on the backburners, so let’s start off with the immensely popular Nodame Cantabile!

One of the reasons I prefer Japanese dramas to Chinese or Korean ones (even though Korean dramas are all the rage in Asia) is the greater variety. Whether that’s an actual fact or simply perceived reality is unknown to me, but Nodame Cantabile, a drama about classical music and student orchestras, seems uniquely Japanese.

The drama features two main characters. Chiaki Shinichi (played by Tamaki Hiroshi) is an extremely talented pianist and the top student at Momogaoka College of Music. He was born into a musical family and was fortunate enough to receive world class instruction from renowned instructors starting at an early age. Even though he’s haughty because of his skills and perfectionist attitude, the rest of the students nevertheless admire him, particularly the girls. But Chiaki feels confined staying in Japan and longs to pursue his dream of becoming an orchestra conductor by studying abroad.

The other main character is Noda Megumi (Nodame for short, played by Ueno Juri). She’s the polar opposite of Chiaki: a childish slob who often forgets to take baths and lives in an atrocious mess of a room. Though she actually has hidden piano talent, she plays piano according to her heart (which is a nice way of saying sloppily) and not precisely to the sheet music. In fact, even though she is attending a music college, she desires to be a kindergarten teacher.

When the two meet one day, Nodame falls instantly in love with the popular Chiaki. He is baffled and disturbed by this wacky girl, but becomes a little intrigued when the two are paired up to practice a piano duet. And so begins their wacky relationship, with an adoring girl chasing after an aloof star.

Fundamentally, Nodame Cantabile is a romantic comedy, but major emphasis is placed upon the classical music. Early on in the series, Chiaki transfers from piano to the conducting division and has an opportunity to be the conductor for a student orchestra. The concert performances by the orchestra are not shown in their entirety, but whole minutes can pass with only footage of the students playing and not a word spoken.

Don’t let that scare you off though, even if you hate classical music. As anybody who enjoys music should know, powerful emotions can be conveyed through music and the acting doesn’t stop just because the actors are playing instruments.

Actually, you might even discover a newfound appreciation for classical music by watching this drama. I saw Nodame Cantabile soundtracks being sold everywhere I went in Tokyo, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this drama inspired many people to start listening to classical music or even to start learning an instrument. Having a story attached to “boring old nerdy music” certainly gives it more meaning. I’ve been playing piano and violin since I was five years old and even I found a new favorite in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, thanks to its role in the drama.

Accompanying the two stars of the drama is a giant group of side characters, way too many to list (there are many members in an orchestra, after all). Some have more prominent roles though, such as Mine Ryutaro (played by Eita). He’s the rock star violin player. If you’ve seen Densha Otoko before, which is my all time favorite drama, you’ll have fun identifying some of the side characters because quite a few alumni from Densha Otoko show up here.

Nodame Cantabile as a whole is an excellent drama and highly recommended. There is one thing that bothered me about the show initially though. Since the series is based off a manga, some of its cartoon influences can be seen in the show (in fact, a Nodame Cantabile anime series started airing after the drama ended). That means occasional cartoony violence, such as Chiaki delivering a solid roundhouse punch to Nodame, who flys through the air. It doesn’t happen too often and is actually kind of funny, but it can be kind of startling to see all of a sudden in a live action series.

This also means over the top wackiness. Nodame the character took a couple episodes for me to get used to, since I initially thought Ueno Juri was trying too hard and exaggerating the role of a strange, hyperactive girl. Now I just think it’s endearing and great acting on her part.

The same was true for another prominent side character: Franz Stresemann (played by Takenaka Naoto), a famous conductor who becomes a mentor for Chiaki. He has an additional dimension as the perverted old guy, which seems to be a typical archetype for Japanese media. As you might guess from the photo, he’s supposed to be a European with the stereotypical hair of classical composers. Because of that, he intentionally speaks broken Japanese with a very bad accent, which is quite grating. I hated his character and his perverted ways (which is heavily played up by the drama) until a specific episode when he gets serious and proves by example why he is such a renowned figure in the classical music world. That’s when he won my respect, and I began to appreciate the work Takenaka put into his character in order to speak so poorly.

Whew, this is a long post. Bottom line, Nodame Cantabile is a must see and has secured a place in the “Amazing” category of my Drama Rankings. One of these days, I really need to start filling in the details for that list.

Facts
11 episodes
Aired Autumn 2006
Genre: Romantic comedy

Links
Official site
D-Addicts Bittorrent download page

I’m at the Kaohsiung airport right now, flying to the Taoyuan Airport near Taipei so that I can connect to a Los Angeles flight. I thought I would check the D-Addicts forum briefly to see whether subtitles for the 2nd episode of Yama Onna Kabe Onna had been posted (they weren’t up earlier this morning). Lo and behold, the subs are up! Now the trans-Pacific flight will feel one hour shorter ;)

More on Yama Onna Kabe Onna when I get back. I also bought my first PlayStation 3 game despite having no plans to get the system anytime soon. Bet you can’t guess what it is…

I’ve received a surprisingly high number of google hits to my blog from people searching for recommended Asian dramas. To satisfy the demand, I’ve created a page ranking all the dramas I’ve seen so far. There’s barely any information on the page at this time, but I’ll flesh it out when I find the time. I’m currently swamped with projects and probably won’t have much free time until next week.

While creating the page, I realized how Japanese-centric my viewing habits are. My explanation is that Korean dramas as a whole are generally epic love dramas that involve a whole lot of crying. They’re also fairly long and so involve investing quite a bit of time into them. Japanese dramas on the other hand are short (most are only around 10 episodes), and there’s a much greater variety. I would love to get some Korean drama recommendations, since pretty much everything I’ve heard about are either weepy melodramas or “My Sassy Girl” clones.

As for Chinese/Taiwanese dramas, those don’t attract as much attention as the more popular K/J dramas. However, I do have the first episode of the Taiwanese drama “It Started With a Kiss” on my hard drive that I need to watch sometime…

At first glance, Dragon Zakura seems to be the typical drama about a gangster-turned-teacher who brings an unconventional style of teaching into the classroom and changes the lives of his students. But starting from the very first episode, it’s quite evident that Dragon Zakura is anything but ordinary.

Abe Hiroshi, who starred in Kekkon Dekinai Otoko, plays a failing lawyer named Sakuragi Kenji who is hired to liquidate a bankrupt high school for creditors. The high school is called Ryuuzan and is home to left-behind students who are hopeless for the future. Upon walking onto the campus, Kenji spies an opportunity to make a name for himself by turning the school around. He brashly promises that in exchange for keeping the school open, he’ll create a special class that will successfully train 5 Ryuuzan students to pass Tokyo University’s entrance exam in one year. Tokyo University is essentially the equivalent of Harvard University in the U.S. so all the teachers are against this impossible plan, but they are forced to give in to keep the school (and their jobs).

Sure, Kenji has an unusual teaching method and makes an impact on his students, but what’s different about Dragon Zakura compared to other similar teacher dramas like Gokusen and Great Teacher Onizuka is that Kenji isn’t actually a teacher. He is a lawyer who has undertaken this project to advance his own personal career goals. Rather than being a protective teacher who looks after the best interests of his students and will go out of his way to protect them, Kenji won’t hesitate to kick students out of the class if they aren’t willing to turn their lives around. As a former hooligan who has experienced the bitter reality of the real world, he often is quite harsh with his students as he disciplines them.

Yamashita Tomohisa left, Aragaki Yui right

Dragon Zakura focuses on a small group of students who I won’t all name. The main student is Yajima Yuusuke (played by Yamashita Tomohisa). The cute Aragaki Yui, who starred in My Boss My Hero, has a supporting role as Yuusuke’s jealous girlfriend.

Aragaki Yui left, Koike Teppei center, Yamashita Tomohisa right.

There we go, now she doesn’t look as pissed off. These two guys are members of Jpop groups; Koike Teppei is from WaT, while Yamashita Tomohisa is from NEWS and actually sang the drama’s ending theme song called “Colorful”. I imagine these pretty boys were responsible for attracting a sizable female audience. Also of interest is that the opening theme song is “Realize” by melody., who I’m a fan of. This song selection was odd though since I don’t see how it’s applicable at all to the drama.

While I enjoyed Dragon Zakura from the 1st episode, it was merely in “pretty good” status until the 5th episode. That’s when it rocketed up into the “awesome” category. Once I was engrossed by the story, I couldn’t help but be inspired. And just like how this isn’t your typical gangster-turned-teacher drama, the ending might not be as predictable as you expect. Dragon Zakura is well worth watching.

Facts
11 episodes
Aired Summer 2005
Genre: School, Drama & Comedy

Links
Official site
D-Addicts Bittorrent download page

After writing my initial impressions of My Boss My Hero, I finished watching the rest of the series. And you know what? I’m glad I didn’t write off this drama and continued watching. My original complaint still stands in that the acting is overly dramatic and they over-do everything. The creators need to understand that a little subtlety goes a long way; I don’t need to be beat over the head with all the lessons being taught. But I suppose that supplements the absurdity of the whole premise behind the show in the first place.

My Boss My Hero is far from my favorite and I feel it’s a little over-rated by the D-Addicts community, but there’s genuinely hilarious moments and it was entertaining overall. I’m going to change my initial assessment from “not recommended” to “recommended if you’ve watched Great Teacher Onizuka and Gokusen and want more gangster/school dramas”. Stick that quote on the back of the box!

That reminds me, one of these days I need to put up a post ranking all the dramas I’ve seen. Maybe I’ll do that once I get a few more dramas under my belt since I haven’t even watched more than 10 yet. Next on my list is Dragon Zakura, which coincidentally also has the very cute Aragaki Yui, who was one of the main actresses in My Boss My Hero (and who you can see in the 3rd picture posted in my initial impressions). I swear, sometimes I think the reason why I watch these shows is for the cute girls…

Whenever I watch a new TV show, I always abide by the 2 episode rule: if I’m not interested after completing two episodes, I pass. In all honesty, I can’t think of one example where I hated the premiere and had my opinion reversed after the second episode, but that’s beside the point. I believe in second chances, let’s put it that way. Am I not merciful?

Anyway, I started a new Japanese drama called My Boss My Hero, which is a gangster school drama similar to Great Teacher Onizuka or Gokusen. The difference is that while those two series star delinquents/Yakuza members as teachers, My Boss My Hero has a gangster returning to school as a student. The main character is Sakaki Makio (played by Nagase Tomoya), a high school dropout who is next in line to become head boss of the Kantou Sharp Fang. However, when he botches a deal because of his incompetence in math, his father, who is the current boss, decides to send Makio back to school because he doesn’t want an idiot to head up the organization.

The pressure is on Makio because if he doesn’t manage to graduate from high school, the position as head boss will be passed on to his intelligent younger brother. He has to figure out how to pass his tests, keep his shady background hidden from his classmates and the school administration, as well as deal with challenges from rival gangs. Is it too much for one man to handle?

This drama is a comedy so obviously much of the humor comes in seeing such a tough figure in the gang world act so awkwardly in a classroom with kids practically 10 years younger than he is. My problem is that the action is ridiculous, almost groan-inducingly so. There’s a scene where the entire school erupts in a campus-wide dash to buy pudding at lunchtime. If a trailer had been made for this drama, this would be the voiceover:

He grew up in the criminal underground, fights rival gang members for fun and is set to become the next big boss of his gang. But now he faces his toughest challenge yet: high school.

Yeah, that’s how cheesy this series is. Not the good kind either, like with Street Fighter the Movie.

I also absolutely hate the theme song, which has a pesky tendency to erupt full blast at any triumphant moment. However, My Boss My Hero passes my two episode test despite all odds, but just barely. There’s a group of wannabe tough guys in the class that bully Makio, who can’t reveal his true yakuza nature because that would mean attracting suspicion from the school. So he is forced to submit to their will. I’m going to continue watching almost purely just to see if they eventually get their comeuppance.

The good news is that the series is only 10 episodes long. I finished episode three and it looks like they have toned down the absurdity of the action somewhat. Also, it seems a love triangle is brewing between Makio and his two classmate buddies. I personally wouldn’t recommend this drama, but for some reason, a lot of people at D-Addicts are very fond of it. Maybe I’ll change my mind after a few more episodes.

UPDATE: Final thoughts.

Facts
10 episodes

Aired Summer 2006

Genre: School, Comedy

Links
Official website
D-Addicts Bittorrent download page

I’m not entirely positive what was the first Asian drama I watched (I think it was Great Teacher Onizuka), but I’ve been addicted for the past few years. My favorites are the ones with at least some comedy in them because I can’t stand the stereotypical Korean melodramas that make everybody cry five times an episode.

My latest is a Japanese drama called 結婚できない男 or Kekkon Dekinai Otoko in Romanji (which translates into “The man who can’t get married”). It’s a 12 episode long series that aired in the summer of 2006 and is a favorite of both fans and critics alike.

The story centers around a successful architect named Kuwano Shinsuke (played by Abe Hiroshi), who designs beautiful houses but isn’t exactly a people person. He prefers to keep to himself and has an eccentric personality that makes it difficult for him to deal with others. He enjoys his freedom as a bachelor and scoffs at the idea of getting tied down by a woman and getting married (hence the title of the drama). Additionally, he isn’t afraid to speak his mind, which frequently rubs his customers the wrong way, much to the chagrin of his business partner and apprentice. He’s not a dislikable person but he does have some quirky traits which make him difficult to sympathize with initially.

That Shinsuke is such a believable character is testament to the acting abilities of Abe Hiroshi. In fact, this is the drama that introduced me to him, so I have a difficult time imagining him in any other role. He really does a perfect job in this series and was awarded a Best Actor award by the Television Drama Academy Awards (the series as a whole was heavily celebrated).

The action of the drama revolves around funny predicaments that Shinsuke finds himself getting stuck in, often as a result of careless speech and disregard for the feelings of other people. He manages to resolve these situations with the help of people who couldn’t bear calling Shinsuke their friend, yet who nevertheless find themselves intrigued by him in one way or another and are there to help him. As you might expect, Shinsuke finds himself getting somewhat softer as the series progresses and gradually becomes slightly more human. I added all those qualifiers because he does so very begrudgingly and is still cranky to the end, which just adds to the charm and the humor.

Shinsuke’s counterpart is a doctor named Hayasaka Natsumi (played by Natsukawa Yui), who is unlucky in love and often eats dinner alone at a ramen shop. She is Shinsuke’s doctor and has to deal often with his temperamental disposition. They get into frequent arguments (Natsumi is amazing in these by the way, she has a great deadpan delivery of verbal stingers), but as time progresses, these two start finding redeeming qualities in each other and fall in love.

Or do they? Wouldn’t that be completely obvious? I’m not going to spoil anything since that would just ruin everything. Let’s just say that there’s a few twists and turns.

Rounding out the cast of main characters is Tamura Michiru (played by Kuninaka Ryoko), who is Shinsuke’s neighbor and frequently finds herself reluctantly helping out Shinsuke. She is absolutely adorable and lights up every scene she’s in. I can’t get enough of her, she’s just too cute.

There’s one thing I didn’t like about this drama, and that’s the ending. By the way, I think it’s worth taking a digression for newcomers and explaining that the term “drama” is used as a general catch-all word to describe these shows. The genre of Kekkon Dekinai Otoko is very much comedy with a hint of romantic comedy. I just wanted to make that clear since I’ve been using the word “drama” frequently; you’re not going to be crying very much while watching this.

But anyway, the ending felt quite rushed to me. It was as if the producers happened to catch a glimpse of a calendar one day and gasped, “Oh christ, we only have two episodes left in the contract? How in the world are we going to end this?” Although there’s build-up all throughout the series so the ending isn’t unjustified, lots of events happen in the last 1.5 episodes and the pace was a little too fast. It could have used an extra episode for sure.

Still, even though the ending left a faint bitter aftertaste, the series as a whole is packed with comedic value, not only from the characters and the situations, but from completely random things like the 25 DVDs. The characters all become very endearing and as with many good shows, I hated to see it end. Kekkon Dekinai Otoko won’t change your life, but it’s great entertainment and I highly recommend watching it.

Facts
12 episodes
Aired Summer 2006
Genre: Comedy

Links
Official Japanese site
Drama Wiki page
D-Addicts Bittorrent download page

If you’re interested in trying out an episode or two, check the D-Addicts link above. D-Addicts is by far the best drama community on the internet. You’ll be able to see what new dramas have people buzzing, get some recommendations, and find English subtitles. If you have any questions about getting started watching this show or any drama, feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me: andy (at) protocolsnow (dot) com