Review of Nakanai to Kimeta Hi

Among the winter 2010 offerings, I must admit that I didn't have high expectations of this drama at the beginning. What drew me to watch this was the theme: workplace bullying. There have been numerous dramas on bullying in schools but I don't remember any which focuses entirely on workplace bullying. Of course, there were many dramas which touched on this issue but they were most restricted to one-time events in the stories. Unlike the rest, Nakanai to Kimeta Hi promises to offer a more "updated" version of ijime and show us an heroine who can stand up to the challenge.

However, things did not go as well as I thought.

Pre-season summaries gave me the wrong idea or I had assumed too much. I was thinking that the storyline would go like this: newbie gets bullied, she refuses to bow down and would fight back, gets everyone on her side by the end. I was under the impression that the lead character Tsunoda Miki played Eikura Nana would be another tough nut like Tsukushi (Inoue Mao) in Hana Yori Dango. However, Tsunoda was weak, in fact too weak for my liking. I'm sure everyone has had enough of stories where the ones who get bullied wallow in self-pity and keep crying. That gets on my nerves. When someone bullies you, you make yourself stronger to stop anyone from being able to hurt you. That's what I firmly believe in. I never believe that crying solves anything. It's fine to cry if you want to let off steam but tears in the workplace definitely won't help. It only gives those bullies a reason to take advantage of your weakness.

When I saw the title which literally means "the day I decided not to cry", I expected this drama to show me something different from the norm. Although Tsunoda did toughen up at the end, it was far too late. Believe it or not, I was expecting to see her not crying anymore from an early stage in the story. Alas, I was disappointed. The enjoyment in watching such good vs. evil stories is seeing how the heroine gets back at those who bully her and the evil getting their just desserts. This part about Tsunoda striking back should have started in the middle of the drama. You don't need three-quarters of the story to show the impact of the bullying. It merely reinforces the impression that those bullies are only capable of deriving strength in numbers and can do nothing on their own.

In such bullying dramas, the pepertrators are usually potrayed in a sympathetic light. Something must have happened for them to behave this way. However, I can't bring myself to pity any of them. If there was a conflict of interest, if the heroine's presence was a threat to any of them, if the heroine had intended to hurt them in any way, at least this can convince the viewer that these people have an legitimate agenda or reason to bully the heroine. At least Tachibana Marika (Anne) was threatened by Tsunoda's presence because the latter was dating a man she loved. Moreover, the initial cause of the bullying was just something really petty: covering up one's mistake. The rest of the colleagues who had nothing to do with it at that point in time automatically go into bully-mode and start picking on the heroine? That just reeks of childish behaviour shown in school bullying and seems to suggest no matter where you go, bullying always has the same distinct trait of trouble arising from something small and being blown out of proporation as people gain strength in numbers and show that they are in the majority. It pins the blame on the person who cannot fit in. Coupled with a superior who jumps into conclusions and automatically believes that the seniors can never be wrong, it means that the heroine is stuck in a neverending spiral of trouble. In the end, Tsunoda can only depend on herself to strike back, with a little encouragement from Kirino (Fujiki Naohito). I don't think that Kirino had any feelings for Tsunoda, it's more of an understanding of her circumstances because he had to leave HQ for a long time possibly due to a similar situation. That's why he had the intention to make her more independent instead of only blaming the bullies for what happened.

One particular point in the ending which I didn't like was Nakahara forgiving his wife for what she had done. I guess he did have some feelings towards her or else he wouldn't have done this. Then again, for viewers who are looking for Marika to suffer for her wrongdoings, they will be very disappointed to know that she got her man, no matter what bad things she did.

I don't see enough of Eikura Nana's works to form an opinion of her performance. I think the last time I saw her was in Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru which was quite some years back. I was expecting her to show a tougher side of her character but she's still not convincing enough to show the contrast between the weak and strong sides. Although it appears that Tsunoda has gained confidence at the end of the story, I felt that it was more of others giving her the belief to carry on rather than Tsunoda herself changing her mindset. Hopefully, with the upcoming SP, she can show that Tsunoda has really changed, for the better.

Compared to Eikura, Anne's performance was more eye-catching. At least she showed a difference between the nice rich girl and evil scheming witch sides of Tachibana. It's just that she tends to get carried away when she plays the evil side especially the sniggering so I hope that she can get better with more exposure and practice.

Fujiki Naohito and Kimura Yoshino are back again TOGETHER. I couldn't finish their last drama Yakou no Kaidan because the story wasn't that appealing and I didn't like seeing Fujiki behaving like a gigolo. This time, he gets to play the cool, serious and a tad mysterious Kirino. It does remind me a bit of his days in Love Revolution. Frankly speaking, don't fix something if it ain't spoilt. If Fujiki is good at playing a cool professional, continue refining and strengthening your position in such roles. Sometimes, his choice of roles in an attempt to seek a breakthrough backfire. Not that he's not suited for comedies or other genres, I just feel that he didn't capitalise on his fame gained through Love Revolution and simply slipped into oblivion after that. As for Kimura Yoshino, does anyone also feel that she's getting too thin for her own good? I first noticed that she had lost a lot of weight when I watched Uta no Oniisan but this time, she seemed too haggard. Since it's been said that she will get married soon, hopefully she can do something about her image because it really makes her look sickly. If you are waiting for sparks to fly between their characters, you will be very disappointed. Other than the love triangle between Tsunoda, Nakahara (Kaname Jun) and Tachibana, romance is lacking in this drama.

One particular point of interest I discovered was the presence of Hasegawa Jun in the cast. He played that geek who was spying on Tsunoda with a hidden video cam. I remember seeing him during his Johnny's Juniors days but it's been quite some time since I heard anything from him. I'm no longer an avid Johnny's fan now, in fact I was never a fanatic. Just that I feel that the current generation of Johnny's guys aren't as good as before. By that I mean those after Arashi, you should know what I mean. Coming back to Hasegawa, he wasn't particularly eye-catching (at least I didn't recognise him until I checked the cast list) but in a way, that's good because people will not be prejudiced against him because of his background and will probably look at his performance in a fairer way. A lot of people immediately strike a JE artiste off just because of his background. There are some good actors in JE but their agency label can work against them at times.

Overall, if you are looking for something which isn't adapted from manga, anime or novel, this could be a refreshing change since you don't have any original works to form an impression on. If you are also prepared to overlook some of the clique developments in the story, this drama is still worth watching. Just don't expect too much.

And my ratings for this drama...
Story: 5 out of 10 (Keep your expectations manageable and you should be able to finish this)
Acting: 6.5 out of 10 (Hits and misses)
Theme song: 7 out of 10 (Easy to remember and lyrics fit the theme of the drama)
Visual effects / Scenery: 5 out of 10 (Most of the scenes are within the company.)
Teamwork / Chemistry: 4 out of 10 (Lacking in one way or another. There wasn't any pair which really got my attention.)

Total: 27.5 out of 50