9 reasons to watch Unmei ni, Nita Koi

I haven't enjoyed a Kitagawa Eriko dorama since One Million Stars. For those who don't know, she's the writer responsible for many of the shows during the so called golden era of jdoramas such as Long Vacation and Beautiful Life. Then she did crap like Tatta Hitotsu no Koi and the overrated Orange Days I thought she was a one trick pony.

Recently she did Tsuki ni Inoru Pierrot which I liked and we have Unmei ni Nita Koi, which is definitely one of her best works in terms of writing. I can now say, Kitagawa Eriko is not a one trick pony and she can do good shit when not burderned with idorus and talentos.

Unimei ni, Nita Koi starts off like your typical middle age woman wish fulfillment dorama, especially the first episode and gets more interesting in the second episode when Kasumi starts to talk about her past. There are so many things I like about Unmei ni , Nita Koi that its easier to do it in point form so I present to you 10 reasons you should watch it:

1) It is very pretty.

NHK and WOWOW shows usually look prettier than the rest but Unmei ni, Nita Koi also uses some nice camera movements cause most of the time, jdoramas are limited to static shots. There's a scene where the main guy, Yuri is walking out the door. The camera follows him and he says something at the doorway and then it moves back to the main girl, Kasumi's face to show her reaction.

There's also a scene when Kasumi is running up some stairs and the camera tracks her movement from outside to building up to up the stairs from a side viewpoint. Its small things like this where the director is more about shooting talking heads that I appreciate.

2) Kasumi is not a woe is me heroine and doesn't feel like your typical generic character for women to project themselves onto. 

This ties into point 3 which is:

3) Yamaguchi Sakura's Maho is a great villain.

Firstly its because she's not a 'how can you know what I feel?' villain. Secondly its that her hate towards Kasumi feels like a commentary on so many woe is me heroines of this genre and Kasumi gives her a great answer.

I just enjoy watching Yamaguchi Sakura chewing the scenary.

4) The humour is very effective.

There's not a lot of humour but when its there is funny including some puns. I thought the stalker girl subplot would be annoying but it was a good comedy respite from the serious story.

5) Ohgo Suzuka as Riri.

6) You can see the twists coming a mile away but what makes them work is that the reasons are interesting.

7) Dialogue does not feel cliched.

This is hard to explain but one of my most hated phrases is 'to face yourself or the problem'. (Jibun wo mukiau) Its been used in way too many things and there are plenty of cliched phrases when that just get used all the time. Those Dr Phil moments when a character somehow has to spell out the obvious thing.

There are quite a few Dr Phil moments when I think to myself, 'I've never heard it delivered that way before' or that it felt like the character talking. There are so many lines that I liked like the one above about artists and bosoms. :)

8) 8 episodes means that the pacing is perfect. 

None of that 10-12 episode trendy dorama format. 

9) Acting is good.

There is scene from the above screencap when Yamaguchi Sakura realises something and her face goes from sneering smile to horror.

While Unmei ni, Nita Koi does everything right, I just can't give it a must watch because the chemistry just isn't at that level. I am not saying there is none but it just needed a bit more magic in the casting.

I enjoyed the hell out of Unmei ni, Nita Koi and watched the 8 episode in one shot. Unmei ni , nita Koi is almost a must watch and its rare to find such a well done older woman romance jdorama.