Kanno Miho is back in another workplace 30+ woman dorama. This time she is Ogiwara Saki, a paralegal who has failed the lawyer's exam 9 times. Saki is pretty much a 32 year old Ayanami Rei with a touch of obsessive compulsive in regards to things being neatly arranged and people getting names right. After the tsundere Ohitorisama, we now have a cooldere OL dorama. For those unaware of who Ayanami Rei is, cooldere refers to silent type characters who show little emotion.
If I'm not mistaken, that's Karina's older sister. :)Thank the jdorama gods for that as we no longer have those annoying voice overs ala Ohitorisama. Kanno Miho is a good enough actress that she can convery information and emotion from her (lack of) facial expressions. Saki has been going out with Masato (Tsukamoto Takashi) for 10 years and the pressure is getting on. This is truly an odd pairing because they have absolutely no chemistry together. Yes, worse than that foreman from Hatarakiman. Kanno Miho with younger guys just doesn't work on screen because her screen presence just eclipses theirs. Tsukamoto Takashi is just too fucking bland to ever act in such a seemingly important supporting role.
You would think after paying my dues for so many years I'd get the chance to be the lead actor?One day Saki runs into Hasumi Riko (Nagasaku Hiromi), a high school classmate who tags along with her. As per all OL doramas, Riko is the opposite of Saki, talkative, married and proclaims that she has achieved happiness. We know that happiness won't last but its great to see Nagasaku Hiromi on screen. Luckily Mitsuteru (Tanihara Shosuke aka Kikuta) is here to save us from the boring Saki and Masato story. What his actual purpose in this dorama we've yet to see but hopefully it'll be funny.
A legal library, now we just need some cases.Like every other OL dorama, this show is about what is women's happiness, blah blah blah. Is it kekkon and kodomo, shigoto etc etc. I don't recall any OL dorama that has managed to explore the issues in a fun way without hammering the arguments loudly. The chances of an OL dorama equivalent to KDO are slim as long as the writing and characters are too obvious and cliched. Magerarenai onna also lacks much needed humour to speed the pacing up and there isn't even a court case in ep 1. Just introducing the characters and giving some background information.
Its too early to judge but with three main actors in this dorama that I want to watch, I'm willing to give it a few episodes. We just need some exciting court cases and hopefully Magerarenai Onna will not be 80 OL problems and 20 person law.
This doesn't sound too interesting. Why can't we have things like Shomuni anymore? Still, I'll probably watch it just for Kanno Miho
ReplyDeleteI'm willing to give it a short because the writer also wrote Queen's Classroom, one of my favorite dramas of all time. The second episode was quite entertaining.
ReplyDeleteBtw, have you watched Tokujo Kabachi? It's also legal-centered, but moves at a way faster pace than MO with entertaining legal duels. I'm quite surprised at how much I've enjoyed the first two episodes.
Ohhh.... sounds like it is going to be a slow moving drama. Anyway, I will give it a go and see how it goes.
ReplyDeleteI am currently watching this drama. I thought Saki was a very interesting character as she chooses to live without contradiction and convenience, which is very hard for any normal person to do. I loved her conviction in life and her choosing the toughest path and not giving in to convenience. She is often question for making those choices, but her conviction in them is strong.
ReplyDeleteAs oppose to her, Masoto was full of contradiction. He is often contradicting himself and always choosing the easy path (convenience).
My only problem was in portrayal of Saki as a depressed character. With her sense of conviction in her chooses, I think she should be one of the happiest person but the way she was portrayed was a contradiction in itself.