Mou Ichido, Kimi ni Propose eps 1-4

Wakui Emi the lead actress of a dorama alongside Takenouchi Yutaka? I had to see this for myself. At the start of the show, I thought it would be a break up and then get back together show because the husband Miyamoto Haru (Takenouchi Yutaka) stands up his wife Kanako (Wakui Emi) just to fix a kid's broken toy car. It probably never occured to Haru he could have asked the kid to leave the toy with him and he would have a look at it tomorrow.

She hasn't aged much since Love Generation.

There's a saying that all comedies end with a marriage and all tragedies start with one. Well, we quickly get to the tragedy and the premise of the series which is Kanako suffers a brain hemorrhage and loses her memory of the last years; the time whole period of meeting and marrying Haru.

Sounds very soapie to me but there are times in Mou Ichido when I feel there's something interesting to explore. Instead of going about it from the husband's point of view, it Kanako's view is interesting. Suddenly waking up and being told that a total stranger is her husband. Seeing a little kid that she used to know as a 5 year old and who is now a 10 year old brother to a younger sister.

Being afraid to go back to work because the workplace has changed. There's this untapped horror element here that I like. There are questions of identity. Kanako is not the person who lived the past 5 years. Can and should she try to become this person? Questions about causation. The fact she she fell in love and married Haru doesn't mean that it will happen again. Can Kanako be attracted to someone just because she was told she once was? It goes to show it doesn't matter how outrageous the premise, only what type of story or what themes and issues the premise can be used to explore.

How can anyone say no to that?

Yet there are times, Mou Ichido seems so generic. Non worse than the ending of episode 4. Kanako's brother goes to visit Haru and asks him, what if Kanako wasn't really happy during the marriage and says that she had someone who was a better match for her. Cue cliffhanger music with Haru's worried face.

Problem is, during the four episodes Haru has been reading excerpts from Kanako's diary and its evident she was pretty happy. Why doesn't Haru just do a Phoenix Wright objection and produce the evidence for the brother who has no interest in his girlfriend played by Ichikawa Yui? Its a lameass cliffhanger trying to tie in with Kanako meeting her ex-boyfriend.

I like the psychological elements but dislike the bits that are too soapie and generic like the ex-boyfriend or Haru's colleagues who seem to be high on something all the time. I would probably drop Mou Ichido if Kurashina Kana were not in it. She plays Haru's colleague who picks up guys by playing MMOs. Watchable.