Hitotsu Yane no Shita/Under the Same Roof eps 7-12

One of the memorable lines from the show which was used a few times...

What a wonderful dorama! Now I can finally cross Hitotsu Yane no Shita from my list of jdoramas I want to watch before I die. Taking its place on the list would be the dorama special and second season. If you're furstrated like me with crap like Bloody Monday, Hitotsu Yane no Shita will show you why the 90s was known as the golden age of jdoramas. A time when the stars could actually act and the writers knew how to pace stories and write melodorama without being too cheesy.

How can someone as utsukushi was her be samishii? Yes, I've been watching too much Musashi.

I'm glad that I've finally seen a good Sakai Noriko show, especially after the overly melodramatic Hoshi no Kinka series and chemistry lacking Mukodono 2003. Seija no Koushin was ok but nothing memorable. She absolutely glows in her role as Koyuki, the mother of the group and backbone of the family. She is the embodiment of the ideal woman from the 90s.

Oviously another kawaii line which is a favourite of Koyuki.

I love how the writer, Nojima Shinji builds up all the multiple plot threads, entwines them together in a beautiful climax at the end. It is a technique that the writer would also use in Golden Bowl, where all the stories that had been building up throughout the series were linked to the final game. Looking through Nojima Shinji's list of doramas that he wrote is like going through my top 10 dorama list; 101 Proposals, Kou Kou Kyoushi, Golden Bowl and Pride. Now that's a writing resume worth dying for. Thinking about it, the above shows have some of the best and memorable lines ever.

Tatsuya trying to spice things up a bit. :)

I'm glad they didn't try to milk the Tatsuya-Koyuki-Masaya triangle. Obviously someone watched Hitotsu Yane no Shita and decided that they could do a doramabased purely on milking a similar triangle. There are times especially with Masaya where the show felt like the beginning of a JAV featuring half siblings. They're completely not related and bloody hell even if Koyuki were my real sister I would be turned on by her just like Fumiya was when she was taking his clothes off.

One of the plot threads which I'm glad that wasn't developed further.. or maybe not..

The ending might be a tad cheesy but I didn't care. It was the end of the journey for the characters that had grown on me throughout the 12 episodes. As long as the characters felt real, the audience will see it through to the end. The multiple endings was too much but I guess they were part of the deleted scenes from the laser disc rip. I think the rooftop scene was probably the best ending and hopefully the one they showed on tv.


The main reason I always wanted to watch Hitotsu Yane no Shita was to answer the question of which is the best family jdorama ever? This or Oyaji? Right now I can't even think. I am in the euphoria of having watched a jdorama worth watching again. I don't think I can even choose between the two. Both shows are perfect examples of the greatness of jdoramas and the sad thing is that I very seriously doubt we'll ever see anything as good anytime soon. This is a jdorama that any self respecting fan must have in their dvd collection.