Kotaki Kyoudai to Shikuhakku

 

Kotaki Kyoudai to Shikuhakku is about two brothers who are at low points in life working as rental oyaji. The oldest Ichiro is an unemployed former teacher who cannot get a job and the younger Jiro is happy go lucky house husband whose wife wants a divorce.

Kotaki Kyoudai to Shikuhakku is a laid back comedy about two down on their luck rental oyajis getting hired to help people with various things in their life and their attempts to be useful. 

When I say comedy I mean very understated and dry. Usually I like dry but I found the first half to be pretty slow and I was tempted to drop the show. I had read some good things about Kotaki Kyoudai so I pushed on and the second half started to good pretty good.

My favourite episode is the Bob story in episode 9. It was funny and an interesting commentary on society and our need for validation. The last few episodes had really good acting and writing leading to a strong finish.

I have asked this question before. Would I take a slow start along as a jdorama finished strong? Definitely. Its much more deflating when a jdorama starts strong, show so much potential and wastes it all away.

The question is the second half strong enough make up for the slowness of the first half. It was good but not good enough. Certainly a memorable second half though. I would say Kotaki Kyoudai is a watchable, laid back show that picks up in the second half.