Yes, once again it’s my not-so-secret obsession… my addiction to soap operas. According to the girl next door, watching dramas has been very unhealthy for my psychological well-being, and I’m inclined to agree. So you may have noticed that my drama consumption has been somewhat reduced of late. Pity I just can’t give them up for good. Here is what I’ve been watching:
Ryusei no Kizuna 流星の絆 Meteor’s bond
I’m liking this short drama a lot. It’s about 60% comedy, 20% drama, 20% mystery, which makes for wonderful pacing, and doesn’t get as heavy as some j-dramas can be. It stars Ms. Death Note, Toda Erika, who is omg just so beautiful. But she’s not why I watch this, I couldn’t keep up with her previous one ‘Code Blue‘ even though it had the pocky idol Aragaki Yui in it as well. Yes, it’s that bad. Anyway. It also has *bleah* boyband star Ninomiya Kazunari, so Arashi playing the OP is par for the course as per all Johnny-associated dramas, and *double bleah* Nishikido Ryo. But they don’t matter. It’s about three siblings that team up to take revenge for their parents’ murder, while also swindling bad people. I guess you could think of it as a winning combination of Kurosagi and Nobuta wo Produce.
Maou 魔王 Devil
Despite being another ‘ikemen paradise’ type drama, I actually liked this one a lot. Stars Ikuta Toma, who performed amazingly in HachiKuro and HanaKimi, and yet another Johnny’s boybander *bleah* Ohno Satoshi. His Arashi compatriot Ninomiya Kazunari had one teeny cameo in the first episode, then disappeared. Though I must admit Arashi did a good job with the OP.
So the drama is supposedly a remake of a k-drama which I never heard of, but it was surprisingly engaging. It is basically a count of monte cristo story (my favorite novel), where the protagonist (?) exacts his revenge on everyone who wronged him in very complicated ways, which is really suspenseful to see play out. I don’t think a Johnny’s boyband kid can really be an Edmond Dantes, but he did well enough. The drama is 50% psychological thriller and 50% Shakespearean tragedy, so it isn’t the most lighthearted thing to watch – it does not have gags interspersed here and there like Kurosagi and Liar Game did, so it has more in common with Byakuyako.
Seigi no Mikata 正義の味方 Ally of Justice
I really liked this one too. It’s about a high schooler and her evil older sister, who forces her to do all kinds of odd things like spy on potential boyfriends. The plot is about how the high schooler tries to get rid of her evil older sister by marrying her off, so she has to fool her sister’s dream guy into thinking she’s wonderful. It’s 100% comedy gold.
Change
Political drama about an unlikely second-generation, popular young politician who somehow becomes prime minister and makes reforms that challenge his party bosses. Basically, its a dramatization of Koizumi’s rise to power. Taking Curtis’s Japanese Politics class this semester made me appreciate this drama a lot more than if I had seen it without learning more about the political institutions and practices it satirizes (like the LDP faction system, bubble-era corruption, hereditary politics…). 75% comedy, 25% West Wing drama, its kind of like Mr Smith Goes to Washington set in Nagatacho.
This drama was amazingly popular this summer, far more than any other drama named above, which suggests that something in it resonates with the Japanese public. I keep wanting to write about this in one of my class papers, but the opportunity just never comes up.
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So it appears there is something of a k-drama dry spell. It’s been a long while since I’ve seen anything good since Coffee Prince, and even that got old fast. For whatever reason, Korean television dramas aren’t keeping up, which is sad since I am running out of good ones to watch. This isn’t just my opinion. Daily NK reports:
In North Korea, the fervor of the South Korean Waves is on the wane; Korean dramas, which have spearheaded the spread of South Korean culture and progress since 2000, are no longer generating huge interest among North Korean citizens. The prevailing response of the citizens has been “I have seen enough” and “I have had my fill.”
H/T Curtis from NKeconwatch.
Soft power is a strategic priority, so I hope the k-drama dry spell ends soon.
Interesting social science research question: If I am right that J-dramas are more popular, and more successful as cultural exports, Why are tv dramas from Japan better than Korea, Taiwan or Hong Kong? (Singapore isn’t even in the picture… sad) Something to do with market conditions? Structure of the industries? Creative talent? Speech regulations? Culture? I would be interested in pursuing this as a project if it wasn’t so interdisciplinary.
