Tightrope no Onna

Was looking through the 2012 fansub map when Tightrope no Onna caught my eye. Name sounded familiar and then I realised that I had bought it along with Toranaide Kudasai!! Seeing as the first two episodes have been English subbed, might as well give it a go. Tightrope no Onna is a daughter v former mistress/second wife business dorama. Tokura Yuri (Ikewaki Chizuru) is the naive ojousan of a wire manufacturer and Takaoka Saki is his second wife Tokura Kyoko.

Mr Tokura passes away leaving his company to both his daughter and wife and of course the daughter Yuri hates the 2nd wife, blaming her for the family's breakup and Yuri's mother's death. Kyoko, however needs Yuri's help in order to save Mr Tokura's company which is in dire financial trouble.

First of, I've got two main problems with this dorama. Number 1 is that Yuri is such a slow and naive character that its hard to root for her. Being the focus of the dorama, it takes her too damn long to grow brain cells and even then the master plan to save the company.

Well that brings me to me second dislike, its not an exciting business dorama. It reminds me of Magma, I expected exciting business twists and turns and all I want to shout at the screen is kirei koto iu na! (Stop saying beautiful words). It wants to be a touchy feely dorama but at the expense of business logic. For example, why wasn't the guy who has been cooking the books canned in the first episode? So it can lead to this idealistic, forgiving moment at the end.

This brings me to why I finished the 6 episodes. I like the daughter who hates the 2nd wife story. Lots of complicated stuff amidst some soapy plot lines but it is kept afloat immensely by the acting ability of Ikewaki Chizuru and Takaoka Saki. I like how the 2nd wife manipulates the naive daughter to do certain things and pushes her buttons. Doesn't happen successfully and there are deep emotions involved but it certainly reminds me of Doctors. Smart characters are always a happy thing for me. Speaking of Doctors, why hasn't anyone uploaded the special yet?

You could say the acting from the two actresses has lead me to see it as a half full dorama instead of a half empty one. Good acting does make generic doramas tolerable. Plus when was the last time Japan produced a good business dorama since Hagetaka? Watching jdoramas can certainly mess with your expectations. I certainly do not regret watching it but it may also have to do with the story's simplicity making watching with Japanese subs easier. If you want something to watch, no harm giving it a try, I guess.