WHAT'S IT ABOUT?
40ish year old Nakamura Rui (Suzuki Kyoka) who is a successful publisher meets Suzuki Kou, an up and coming hotshot at the Financial Securities Agency who is in his late 20s. There is some attraction between the ice cold, business-like Rui and the hot headed Kou but Rui is married to her job and Kou is married to Marie (Fukada Kyoko) who is desperate to have his babies. Rui and Kou start getting involved professionally and tensions start mounting before the inevitable sparks start flying.
THE GOOD
1. Second Virgin takes its time with the build up because you can never get chemistry with older woman-younger man doramas and the story takes place over several years.
2. Kou doesn't look like a girl and Second Virgin doesn't feel like a housewife/OL fantasy. Its a more grounded show.
3. Their respective jobs of publishing and stock trading play an important role in the story and contribute to the tension besides the usual plot devices for affair doramas.
4. Suzuki Kyoka is a MILF.
THE BAD
1. Fukada Kyoko's horrible acting actually suits her character because Marie is basically and yandere. Yandere is the opposite of tsundere, a girl who acts all nice and cute but actually is crazy and spiteful. My hate for Fukada Kyoko's lack of acting ability made it easier to despise Marie.
2. You get a glimpse of the ending at the start of the series and it feels like all that tension from Kou's legal problems and difficulties facing Rui's publishing company are not going to feature much in the ending.
THE UGLY
Marie lying upside down against the wall after sex so that the sperm will travel better.
VERDICT
As far as the older woman genre, Second Virgin is probably the best one I've seen, which isn't saying much. I find the pacing really fast and just when you think a plot device is too cliched, it quickly moves on. I like the tension from the professional problems but Second Virgin might fizzle out at the end. Worth checking out.
On a side note, I'm nearly finished copying my doramas to my HD, with lots of doramas being casualties due to dvd errors but the worst thing is finding out that I'm missing the last five episodes of Oishii Kankei. How could I have forgotten to burn such a good show??!!!! Gaaaaaahh.
See, this show ain't so bad. ;-D
ReplyDeleteYou should watch the other Kyoko Fukada show too. I think it's on Wowow.
i'll give this a try because Chuks subbed it. if im not mistaken i think Suzuki Kyoka was the hot chick detective on Pandora 2.
ReplyDeleteJung, has Kyoko finally learned to act on Wowow?
ReplyDeleteShe's terrible on Wowow show, Genya.
ReplyDeleteI was reluctant to watch Second Virgin at first because of Fukada Kyoko, but surprisingly she fit well in this role.
Made me think maybe she's like that in a real life and that's how she's getting leads despite her lack of talent. :P
The first scene where Ko get shot was a turn-off. I guess that was to draw viewers, but I thought it was unnecessary.
Suzuki Kyoka was gorgeous in the drama. She was a miscast on Pandora 2, but this role fits her well in my opinion.