I am very, very happy to say that Hatsukoi has managed to stay good for seven episodes so far. Everything is consistently excellent. The direction, camera shots, music and acting all are to use to words of a commenter, cinematic quality. The flashbacks keeps the story intriguing as we slowly get the whole picture. What is good is that we don't just get flashbacks for Mishima and Midori but also Jun and Midori.
You know how fling doramas always start off hot and cools at the middle after the affair happens? Hotsukoi does something different in the second half which I should have seen coming that keeps the story from getting stale. Usually the couple will run off and come return to their homes later for a boring ending. Hatsukoi does something that keeps the tension going but in a different way.
The interesting thing for me in Hatsukoi is exploration of how what happened in the past influenced the characters' lives. Why Mishima and Midori chose their respective professions. Midori's painful secret that only her father knows. Why Mishima broke up with her.
Ever wondered how blind people could watch movies/dramas? Well, the vid for episode 7 actually has audio description. The narrator will say out the setting of the scene, ie Murakami house and describe important actions such as a character avoiding eye contact with another. It was kind of unsettling at first I like it now because I have trouble studying Japanese verbs especially descriptive ones.
Two more episode two go. At this point, I don't really care how it ends because I feel like I know the characters pretty well now. I love taking screencaps of Hatsukoi because there are so many beautiful images. I probably should do a write up of every single episode so I can take more but couldn't resist watching the rest. If only most jdoramas can look like Hatsukoi.
FAV SCENES. !!SPOILERS!
- All the flashback scenes cause they are so elegently crafted
- Jun dealing with all the obasans at work which is the source of comedy for Hatsukoi.
- Scenes with Midori being too cheerful and you can see the unease in Jun's eyes.
- Any scene with Midori's old dude patient. He is such a useful supporting character who can say so much with so little. Like him holding Midori's hand in ep 1 when she tells him she has cancer or talking to her about secrets.
- Mishima says Dori's name in ep 6.
- Midori's dad offering the piggy back scene. I love how we don't see his face and just see his shaking back.
- And of course, when he finally finds out the source of his anger after so many years. Look at the screencap below. Such a short but so powerful scene.
Just watched eps 5+6. Was much impressed as well. I love the many expressions of Kimura Yoshino! She's a much better actress than I first thought. I loved how she tried to keep a distance as his therapist. I think this series is well directed. That brings out the best in the cast and That's why it's shot really beautiful and stil feels very credible.
ReplyDeleteJCS, she's basically his sounding board and is there for plot device purposes.
ReplyDeleteAntspace, I think this is probably Kimura Yoshino's only dorama where I'm impressed by her acting.