Arechi no Koi

After a string of crappy jdoramas, it was time to reach back into my unsubbed jdorama backlog and watch WOWOW Arechi no Koi.

Arechi no Koi is a reflective story about life centered around this poet Kitazawa Taro played by Toyokawa Etsushi who has slaved for 20 plus years as a salaryman and begins to have an affair with Suzuki Kyoka, the wife of poet friend

Arechi no Koi is not your typical salaryman  affair jdorama.

Its a show about the meaning of life and the approach the different characters take to it and what they each hold dear.

The relationships between people who are comrades, family members, lovers and how people need each other to survive.

As it is a story about poets, there's a lot of poetry in Arechi no Koi which means a lot of freaking difficult Japanese with words no one uses in real life. :(

Aside from that the story is pretty straightforward and there are plenty of beautiful and funny lines.

One of my favourite lines is when Kawashima Umika is sitting in a tax near the end and she says (paraphrasing) I can handle the truth because I am the daughter of a poet.

Arechi no Koi looks awesome and has a movie-like soundtrack. You know someone really spent a lot of time working on the look and feel of this dorama.

Performances are good though Kawashima Umika is a bit too young for the role but since the story stretches from the 70s to the 80s it can't be helped.

Its hard to write about Arechi no Koi not just because there's a lot of poetry but its show that says a lot of things similar to Lady Joker but with a lot less suspense.

Very watchable show for me. Never once did I feel like skipping a scene and I really enjoyed watching all the characters and their complicated relationships. Arechi no Koi deserves to be subbed. If the poetry stuff ever gets subbed then I might be able to really say whether Arechi no Koi deserves to be labelled must watch.