I'm still waiting for Iki to make his move Satoi. Talk about false and misleading advertising at the end of ep 10. Iki's still passive as always. I know he's from the army where chain of command is important and so he must follow orders from his superiors but he knows that Satoi is freaking idiot who's hatred of Iki has blinded him to the obvious. To be fair, it was going to be hard for Fork and Chiyoda to come into an agreement with the merger and Satoi's suggestion of a joint company seemed like a better idea. Maybe that's why Iki didn't make any moves. I wish there were some hint of that to prevent Iki from looking like a passive observer.
Fork's positive response to Satoi's plan made him too confident and non receptive Iki's pleas. You could say Satoi has been the main character for the last few episodes. Except it isn't a downfall story and more of an idiot letting his hatred rob him of any common sense. It makes the whole Iki getting promoted thing seem lame. To be honest it is getting boring because in the conflict between Iki and Satoi, there has not really been a battle. There is the battle between Samejima and Satoi but they are not enemies and Satoi has been blind to Samejima's moves.
Storyline wise, Iki does not deserve to face his original nemesis Samejima because he has yet to vanquish Satoi. You can't face the last boss because defeating the sub boss. Its like a mid carder getting a title shot without beating the no.1 contender. Or is the final boss going to be Daimon? Iki needs to fight so we can cheer him on. Iki really needs a supporting character he can confide in so that he can explain his inaction when he knew that Satoi was going to screw up the deal with Fork. Iki's no idiot. He knew exactly why the Prime Minister to be guy wanted to talk with Daimon. The fact that nothing came of that meeting seems like hanging plot line.
Koyuki just freaking sucks in her acting. I don't care about her character or Iki's son storming out when he saw the glass. Thank the jdorama gods Beniko will be back next episode. Here's hoping that the Iran oil story will be much more exciting as the Fork one. I've bought the book that Fumo Chitai is based on. Its called The Barren Zone and it is English but I'll wait for the series to end before I start reading it. Hopefully it will make more sense of Iki's inactions.
If I am not mistaken, think Iki did speak to Daimon about his disagreement to Satoi's proposal, that is, a j.v. between Chiyoda and Fork. But Diamon eventually was won over by Satoi for two reasons. Firstly, due to buddy connections between Daimon/Satoi as they were old comrades at the corporation, so Daimon took a step back for Satoi; secondly, Daimon and even Iki realised that a j.v. would be a better option in view of the financial state of Chiyoda, plus the government's policy of foreign ownership of businesses in Japan.
ReplyDeleteThe above is just my perspective of the story. I may be wrong.
As for Chisato... don't know what effective part does she play in Iki's life. Maybe she's in this drama 'cos in the real-life story, there was such a character in Iki's life, so her character could not be left out here.
Somehow, do you notice that her relationship with Iki has an unseen kind of blockage between them? Even her brother the monk, had subtly advised her not to "disturb" Iki, when she went to visit the brother after her return from NY. I wonder why.
I like Beniko's character better. She is a "with it" girl. She's in tune with the wheeling and dealings going on around her, and make herself an effective and helpful conduit for her friends and country. These are the subtle little "touches" that can mean a lot in business negotiations. This is still an effective tool in today's business dealings, though, it is more of a man's job
now.
Now, the next project is Hyodo/Iki and the oil deal in Iran(?). Here again, it is going to be a "cloak and dagger" operation to get just a foot into the oil producer's door for a start.
Would be interesting to see how the Japanese do it, and whether they will succeed or not.
I find the story is getting more and more exciting. Unfortunately,I have to wait for episodes with English subs.
Yeah, its not obvious whether Iki thought the jv idea was better or whether he deferred to Satoi because of rank. Hopefully I'll find out from the book.
ReplyDeleteMore Beniko and less Chisato!