Kahogo no Kahoko is about a child-like university student who we never see study, who was raised by an overprotective mother played by Kuroki Hitomi and she basically spends the whole movie pulling cute faces.
First off this Kahogo no Kahoko is a comedy and its more of a shoujo anime style boy meets girl story mixed in with a family dorama.
Probably my favourite part of Kahogo no Kahoko is how idiosyncratic all the characters are. For example, Kuroki Hitomi completely changes into a different person when she leaves the kindom's border and you've a sloth grandfather who keeps saying he'll do something tomorrow. What saves Kahogo no Kahoko is the chemistry between the two leads which is pretty good and the main guy starts off not as a boring nice guy but as someone who takes advantage of Kahoko's naivety. Plus I like how he always turns up doing some dodgy part time work.
Kahoko, who is basically like an anime child never really learns what hardship is as the show turns into a family drama in the second half. The family stuff can get a bit draggy.
As a shoujo manga style jdorama about a kawaii girl who never grows up with a lot of family drama elements, Yukawa Kazuhiko (GTO, Koi ga Shitai, Oyaji) does a pretty good job. He's an expert at the family drama stuff with the classic Oyaji. So if you accept the parameters or limitations of the genre, he did a pretty good job and I managed to get right to the end and the bus stop scene was moving. Surprisingly watchable.
Wow i kinda surprised you watch this. Sure this show is popular (almost like Nigehaji). The early episodes was good, but towards the end its become cliche and predictable. Still the most watchable summer drama for me though
ReplyDeleteI was also super surprised you watched this one.
ReplyDeleteI thought the two main characters had good chemistry too. Takahata Mitsuki impressed me, and so did Takeuchi Ryoma. I liked how certain characters just continued doing bad things and how many bad things characters went through with! I know Kahoko never experienced any hardship, but that didn't bother me very much-- she still has a lot to learn about the world from now on and it'll be harder for her because she was babied so much. She grew up fairly quickly too.
Interesting to see Yukawa-sensei do another family drama after doing so many "hard working woman" centred dramas like the Queen's Classroom. Kuroki Hitomi is always a hit in Yukawa-sensei dramas.
It was very watchable for me and I enjoyed it. I'd recommend it to someone -- Yukawa-sensei is still one of my fav. scenario writers and this is not a drama in my top 20, but it was still very watchable.
"Shoujo anime/manga style" does describe the drama perfectly. It really did have a good blend of comedy and serious moments.
ReplyDeleteI thought I would get frustrated with how sheltered Kahoko is, but her growth as a character progressed at a faster rate than I expected. It also helped that Takeuchi Ryoma's character provided a good contrast to her. I felt a sense of relief whenever he lectured Kahoko. I enjoyed the bus stop scene because of the (expected but still sweet) reversal.
While I didn't mind the family drama in the latter half of the series, I have to agree with you that it did drag on. I really didn't care for Ito's character arc and redemption too much. However, I do admire Kahoko's persistence in helping a cousin like her. Other than Ito, I grew to like all of the characters and their quirks. They saved the resolutions from feeling unsatisfying. I certainly enjoyed it more than Yukawa-sensei's "Hajimemashite, Aishite Imasu" from last year. Echoing all the sentiments here: not a must-watch, but a decent one.