Hagetaka 2018 jdorama review

The 2009 NHK jdorama Hagetaka is one of my favourite jdoramas ever. Who would have thought that a story about foreign funds buying up Japanese companies after the collapse of the bubble would be so riveting to watch? I did not put Hagetaka in my top 10 jdoramas ever list but it deserves strong consideration.

Somehow I did not know or have absolutely forgotten that TV Asahi did a remake in 2018. I only realised it's existence while searching for a 1080p version of the original Hagetaka. Sadly, there is no 1080p version of the Hagetaka movie. So the question is how do you improve upon perfection?

The answer is by going for a different slant. While the 2009 NHK version of Hagetaka was more realistic and subdued, this 2018 Hagetaka follows the same story bit is infused with the Hanzawa Naoki DNA by being more flamboyant and having lots of overacting, especially from Ayano Go who plays the main character Washizu.

Besides imitating Gendo Ikari every scene he is sitting on his desk, Ayano Go goes all out in the cheesiness as if he was the main character in Salaryman Kintaro. The hairstyle just makes Washizu even more of a manga character. The funny thing is, all the bad guys don't overact much which is the opposite of Hanzawa Naoki which I appreciate. Over the top anime villains should be for comedies like Doctors and not serious shows.

Watabe Atsuro plays Shibano, the supposedly best banker in Mitsuba Bank who is somehow to stupid or is ignorant of all the corruption going on. Another difference from the NHK show is that the TV Asahi show is more direct in its criticism of post bubble Japan and I love it.

After the bubble burst in Japan, there were many zombie banks operating that should have been shut down because they had given out so many bad loans left, right and centre. Mitsuba Bank and all the failed business tried desperately to cling on and blamed everyone but themselves for their problems. Mitsuba Bank tried to hide all their bad loans with bulk sales reminded me of Olympis hiding their loses over 20 years.

They use phrases like this business has been going for how many generations or this is Japanese tradition to justify anything and vilify foreign funds like Horizon Japan lead by Hashizu for being vultures when in fact they are responsible for killing their own companies.

I enjoy this over the top Washizu because he goes around telling all these people hanging on to their bubble glories off and his best line is telling people who have lost everything that 'you are still alive'. It is not the end if you are still breathing because Washizu himself reached rock bottom when he was a kid.

Another big change is that Sawajiri Erika replaces Matsuda Ryuhei role as the daughter of a ryokan that is on the verge of bankruptcy. Her role is a more expanded and I am not complaining about more Sawajiri. I don't think she's been back in acting since she got cancelled? 

One missing character is Kuriyama Chiaki's reporter. I don't really remember that character much and I guess I will need to do a rewatch. Also Washizu's backstory is different and I won't spoil why except to say I like his endgame.

I enjoyed this version of Hagetaka tremendously. The best way to improve on perfection is to do something that has the same bones but feels so different. This is the first time I can remember where I watched a remake of a good show and thought, you are not as good as the original but you are different and interesting enough to be pretty good. 

Hiroyuki Ikeuchi plays Alan Fujita in a role that was played by a non-Japanese actor in the original. Wish they had done the same because the non-Japanese actor did pretty well from memory.

I bloody enjoyed Hagetaka 2018. Should have watched it when it came out but better late than never! Not as good as the original and not quite must watch but very, very watchable. If you have not seen the NHK Hagetaka, watch it and if you have seen the original, this TV Asahi production is worth your time. Very watchable and I would not mind rewatching it.