The first episode of Last Present was subbed many years ago by Kryptolus and then dropped. Its been on my to watch list for a long, long time and now I've finally gotten around to watching it. Amami Yuki is Asuka, a divorcee who has not had contact with her daughter Ayumi (Fukuda Mayuko) for years.
Asuka is a career woman and Ayumi is being raised by her husband played by Gira gira. Gira gira is engaged to Yuri (Nagasaku Hiromi) and has a deep resentment for Asuka. However, by the first episode, Asuka finds out that she has only three months left to live.
Last Present is the type of dorama that Beautiful Rain wishes it is. Its sappy and manipulative but in a good way. The way to describe the difference is that Beautiful Rain is self aware and tries too hard. Last Present is more honest. It kind of reminds me of Shiroi Haru with the parent connecting with the child theme though of course more heavy handed in its emotions and a lot more heart wrenching moments.
The one important ingredient in Last Present is Fukuda Mayuko. She is bloody awesome and is really the best jdorama child actress I've ever seen. Non of that fake and overtly sweet Ashida Mana stuff. The rest of the cast are no slouches either. Gira gira even does the best performance I've seen from him as the angry dad or rather he gets to play a more conflicted character than his usual nice guy roles.
If you've got basic Japanese, its pretty easy to watch and Japanese subtitles help a lot. Huge thanks to Project Restoration for uploading it. I cannot recommend Last Present enough.
2 comments:
I've always wanted to finish this and break my "don't watch anything where the main character dies" rule. Fukuda Mayuko is amazing and one of the reasons that The Queen's Classroom was as awesome as it was.
If it makes you feel any better, there is no death scene in Last Present. Its more mother and daughter than a drying person woe is me dorama.
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