Rich Man Poor Woman Ep 1

Can you spell foreshadowing?

Rich man poor woman is an updated version of Pretty Woman which was of course an updated version of Cinderella. Prince was changed to rich businessman and now updated to the Japanese version of Mark Zuckerberg. The poor, abused stepsister was changed to a prostitute and is now a dojikko University graduate struggling to find work. End of the day, the concept is the same; regular meets Knight in Shining Armour to rescue her from regular life and she becomes a princess.

What makes Rich Man Poor Woman different? Its got Oguri Shun as Hyuga Toru, the Japanese Mark Zuckerberg who's company looks like a copy of Google headquarters and he's a big plan about online database for Japanese citizens. The interesting about his character is that he has a disability whereby he is unable to remember names and faces. Fingers crossed in doesn't advance into a debilitating fatal disease. If this were a kdrama, its almost a guarantee and Poor Woman would end up being his sister.

Wait, we're suppose to believe Poor Woman is really poor and would cry over 3000 yen of pocket money while she has a Galaxy S III? This is where product placement is opposite of what the story needs.
Ishihara Satomi is the poor everywoman, Sawaki Chihiro. She has a photographic memory and is graduating from a top Uni but lacks confidence. Blah blah blah. You know the drill. There's of course a scene where rich man brings poor woman to buy very expensive clothes which is probably every woman's wish fulfillment.

The interesting thing for me, is the portrayal of the Japanese job hunting process. There seems to be a uniform for it including flat, rounded shoes for women. When Poor Woman goes to buy the shoes, the saleslady automatically knows it for job hunting. Who was the person who decided that everyone has to dress a certain way for interviews? Does that mean that anyone who looks different is basically out?

The main hook for me in Rich Man Poor Woman is that Poor Woman has a name that Rich Man remembers and there is a pretty good cliffhanger at the end of the episode. The writer has definitely put enough substance in the first episode to make it more than another Cinderella story. I wonder if the recent laws against pseudo gambling in online games will appear in this dorama. Pretty entertaining first episode. The main things I'm looking forward to are the business side of things and the mystery of who Poor Woman is. Arata is a good actor and I want some backstabbing! Very watchable.