Review of "Watashi ga renai dekinai riyuu" - Autumn 2011

Title: Watashi ga renai dekinai riyuu (The reason I can't find my love)
Official website: here
Broadcast by: FujiTV
O.A. Start Date: 17 Oct 2011
Timeslot: Mondays 9pm
Theme song: Love Story by Amuro Namie
Insert song: Sit! Stay! Wait! Down! by Amuro Namie
Average ratings: 16.0%

Cast
Fujii Emi - Karina
Ogura Saki - Yoshitaka Yuriko
Hanzawa Mako - Oshima Yuko (AKB48)
Shiraishi Misuzu - Inamori Izumi
Hasegawa Yu - Tanaka Kei
Takahashi Kenta - Nakao Akiyoshi
Tamura Junichi - Katsumura Masanobu
Shiraishi Takumi - Hagiwara Masato
Maeda Hikari - Kurashina Kana
Maruyama Rumi - Kagami Seira
Kizaki Junya - Nakamura Ryu
Yamamoto Tadashi - Hiraoka Yuta
Hanzawa Momoko - Gouriki Ayame
Kawabata Ryoichi - KEIJI
Takei Daisuke - Koyanagi Yu
Noguchi Susumu - Nagai Masaru
Enomoto Shinji - Aoyanagi Sho
Guest Stars: Hirai Ken, Amuro Namie

At long last, finally, a new drama review up here! I've been watching a mix of current and past season dramas so you'll be seeing a mix of reviews on new and old dramas from now on. Before I begin, the usual disclaimer - there are going to be spoilers here so if you haven't watched this drama and do not wish to find out about them, please skip this post now.

Although the opening credits seem to suggest that the lead characters are Emi (Karina), Saki (Yoshitaka Yuriko), Mako (Oshima Yuko) and Misuzu (Inamori Izumi), the story actually focuses on the trio of Emi, Saki and Mako. Misuzu doesn't appear that often thus strictly speaking, her interaction with the main trio is largely restricted. Besides, Misuzu is already married so she probably doesn't fit the theme of being unable to fall in love or find her love even though she has her fair share of problems with her husband Takumi despite looking like the picture-perfect couple.

Emi, Saki and Mako used to attend the same senior high school and were in the theatre club (even though Emi and Mako had not met before due to their age differences). As such, Mako is the link between them and the person who made it possible for the three of them to live together. Emi was nearing the end of her apartment's lease contract, Saki wanted to find another place to live in but had a limited budget since she was still looking for a permanent job while Mako who was living with her parents, wanted to move out but couldn't do it on her own. Coincidentally, Mako's aunt who went overseas left her house vacant thus Mako suggested that the three of them live together there since they can live in a bigger place while sharing the financial burden of rent and utilities.


Emi works at an event lighting company "LIGHTING WORKS" headed by Shiraishi Takumi i.e. Misuzu's husband and is the only female employee there. Her colleagues Tamura and Takahashi always tease her for behaving more like a man than a woman but Emi is not offended by this at all and seems at ease with her current situation. However, the sudden return of her ex-boyfriend Hasegawa Yu from the United States makes Emi flustered. Before Yu went to the US, they had dated briefly for two weeks but Yu suddenly asked to end the relationship and said that it was best that they remain buddies. Although Emi was dumbfounded by this development, she never really found out the real reason behind Yu's decision at that time. Just when she thinks that she can rekindle the relationship with Yu this time, she is shocked to know that he already has a fiancee Hikari who works at Misuzu's company and is the only daughter of a hospital's director.

While still nursing her wounds from knowing that she stands no chance with Yu, Emi happens to meet a police officer Takei Daisuke during a lighting event she handles. Emi is flattered by Takei's attention and that he seems genuinely interested in her. What's more, Takei treats Emi like a woman which is something the men around her haven't been doing for ages and certainly not what Yu had done before too. Although things begin a little awkwardly for them, Takei's earnestness starts to win over Emi bit by bit and she finally agrees to start dating him. Meanwhile, Yu seems a bit disturbed by Takei's presence but still wishes the best for Emi.

Unfortunately, Yu and Hikari run into problems due to objections from her father. It turns out that Hikari's father wants a doctor as his son-in-law so that the latter can take over his hospital in time to come. As such, Yu is seen as someone who doesn't fit the bill and Hikari's father makes her go for an omiai where she meets Kawabata. Emi happens to find out about the meeting and worries about whether she should tell Yu. However, Hikari's father calls Yu to meet him and tells him point blank about why he is objecting to Yu and Hikari's relationship. Crestfallen, Yu calls Takahashi to join him for drinks in the office but the latter ends up calling Emi for help because he is busy. Although Emi is busy with supporting Takei at an important kendo match, she still leaves the venue to check on Yu. Takei then realises that Yu is the most important person in Emi's heart thus he decides to end the relationship.


After Yu and Hikari finally end their relationship, Yu and Emi start to get closer and find out what caused their misunderstanding and breakup. Yu thought that Emi didn't love him because she didn't seem to respond favourably to his romantic advances and even chose not to wear the necklace he gave to her. The fact was that Emi was merely shy and didn't know how to react since she was never treated like a woman in the past.

Yu's friend invites him to join in the US since he set up a new events lighting company so Yu invites Emi to go with him. However, she gets offered a position in another bigger company and is pondering over whether to jump ship before she gets Yu's invitation. Emi then decides to reject the job offer and wants to go to the US with Yu. At the very last minute, she realises that what Yu is trying to achieve is different from what she wants to do and doesn't think that it is a good idea to follow him blindly to the US just because she loves him so she tells Yu about her decision and they go their separate ways.

Saki is an university graduate who is still on the lookout for a job. However, she keeps the fact that she did not secure a job from her mother and elder sister and tells them that she's working at a publisher. In order to continue sending money back home to keep the family laundromat going and to support herself, Saki resorts to working as a bar hostess while still attempting to land a job at a publisher. As Saki's father had praised her for being able to write well when he was still alive, Saki vowed to find work in a publisher so that she can realise his dream of seeing her working in such a company.

Despite her cheerful appearance and various seemingly-sound theories about love, Saki is actually clueless about what it means by finding your true love. Her relationships with men tend to be short-lived and built largely on the premise of easy sex with no strings attached thus there is no way she can find a guy who she can love from the bottom of her heart. Saki gives a lot of advice to Emi and Mako with regard to their relationships but she can't seem to apply the same in her own life.

A chance encounter proves to be a fateful meeting for Saki and Takumi as they become drawn to each other. Takumi is feeling stressed about his marriage because he feels uncomfortable when people say that he owes his success to Misuzu (she helps his company get big event lighting jobs) and that his path in life seems to be planned by his wife. In addition, her intention to start a family now and buy a house makes Takumi feel like running away because he wanted kids long ago but Misuzu rejected the idea However, he feels obligated to grant her wish now at her convenience so the tension between them seems to be mounting. Saki proves to be a good listener to Takumi and offers some much-needed relief even though the friendship started on a platonic note.

When Saki makes it clear that she's attracted to Takumi in the romantic sense, he finally reveals that he's married which leads Saki to end their relationship and cut off all contact with each other. There is no way that she is going to be a third party and break up someone else's family. However, when Takumi finds out that he is having fertility problems and wouldn't be able to have children with Misuzu, it makes him go to look for Saki again for consolation. This reunion ignites a spark between them and despite Saki finding out that Misuzu is Takami's wife, she still goes by her heart and tries to justify her actions because they did not sleep together. Subsequently, Takumi leaves home because he doesn't think that he can bring any happiness to Misuzu due to his problem while Saki seriously considers moving out to be with Takumi even though she had detested the idea of being a third party in someone's marriage. To make things worse, Misuzu is already aware that something is not right between Saki and Takumi so she makes it known to Saki that she loves her husband too much to give him up. When Takumi stands Saki up because he went to take care of Misuzu who collapsed due to exhaustion, Saki finally decides to give up this relationship even though she regards Takumi as the first man she has ever truly loved. However, things on the career front seem to be looking up as Saki secures a part-time job at a publishing company.

Mako is a contract worker at a mail order company who is seen as a stiff and rigid person by her co-workers. No doubt Mako knows how people think of her, the thing is she has her own principles and doesn't want to change them. However, she still has doubts over whether her character is what's causing her to be unable to get into a relationship.

Mako is holding a torch for her co-worker Kizaki and is very flattered when he approaches her. However, things between them do not go well as Mako refuses to sleep with him at the very last minute. Overhearing Kizaki talk about sleeping with virgins is a huge emotional burden only serves to add on to Mako's troubles as she realises that there is little chance of developing a relationship with Kizaki. Nonetheless, Mako still tries to change her personality and way of doing things in the hope of getting Kizaki back later. Unfortunately, finding out that her younger sister Momoko had a one-night-stand with Kizaki means that her hopes are finally dashed because Kizaki is smitten with Momoko. Unknown to Kizaki and Mako (Momoko told Mako the real reason later), Momoko only slept with Kizaki on the spur of the moment and part of her motive was to snatch what Mako desires since Momoko was sick of being compared to her capable sister.

Just then, Mako gets unexpected attention from Yamamoto, another co-worker, and ends up dating him on the spur of the moment. Mako even sleeps with Yamamoto right on the first day she agreed to be his girlfriend which stuns Emi and Saki who knows how insistent she was about giving her virginity to the man she loves. Things are relatively rosy at first between Mako and Yamamoto but the first signs of trouble appear when he gets extremely possessive and angry whenever Mako and Kizaki talk in the office even though it is for work purposes. Mako tries her best to reassure him that there is nothing going on between Kizaki and her but to no avail. In addition, Yamamoto seems to think that sleeping with Mako is a form of expressing his love and blows up when she works up the courage to tell him that she doesn't enjoy doing that and thinks that they can cut back on the frequency too. He attributes Mako's resistance as a show of her lingering affection for Kizaki and breaks up with her without hearing what she has to explain.

However, this is not the end of Mako's troubles as word gets around that she is a promiscuous woman who was involved with Kizaki, Yamamoto and other male colleagues. This causes Mako's contract to be terminated prematurely due to her "reputation". To make things worse, Yamamoto even insults her for deserving this treatment since she was two-timing him and Kizaki and stresses that he did not spread any rumours about her. Well, if he didn't do it, he probably didn't have to stress this specifically in front of Mako. It just gives the impression that he wants to push all the blame to Mako and appear as the lofty one with high moral standards.

Crestfallen, Mako is unsure about what she can do and happens to visit Enomoto's restaurant on the day she leaves the company. She is deeply consoled by his dishes and even sheds tears while eating. When Momoko reminds Mako that her greatest strength is being able to cook well, the latter gets a part-time job at Enomoto's restaurant in order to gain experience while preparing to get a chef licence.

After a potential pregnancy scare, Mako is relieved to find out that she's not pregnant and the response from Yamamoto reinforces her belief that not being pregnant is good because he had actually accused Mako of sleeping around and the child (if any) is definitely not his. Later, when Mako and Enomoto start to develop feelings for each other with the help of his young son and with some nudges from Emi and Saki, things between them get off to a good start.

Emi, Saki and Mako have their fair share of ups and downs throughout the entire drama and keep wondering what is it that makes them unable to find the love of their lives. However, this topic is something which has been used so many times in the past that novelty is clearly lacking here. If the theme is not fresh, the delivery and packaging would matter a lot more but sad to say, this drama doesn't offer any fresh perspective nor presents the material in a palatable or memorable way. Frankly speaking, the stories involving the main trio don't really interest me because it was so easy to see where the story was heading to and all the cliches that used to appear in older dramas seem to be used at one go here. In particular, Emi's flip-flop decisions seem too rushed especially when it came to deciding whether to go with Yu to the US and taking the alternative job offer. It seemed like she could be easily influenced by what others say to her and change her mind really quickly. Moreover, her relationship with Yu felt more like friends than lovers so I wasn't entirely convinced by their "love" for each other. Karina and Tanaka Kei do look quite compatible with each other but still, there is some missing chemistry or romance spark between them which I guess is in line with the nature of Yu and Emi's relationship. It would have been good if Emi ended up with Takei but I guess it was not possible because in dramaland, the male lead and female lead must get together in most situations unless one of them is dead or has gone overseas for some reason.

I can see that Karina really tried her best by toning down on her fashionable image and looking almost like she didn't wear any makeup all the time but I find it really difficult to like Emi. She was too wishy-washy and kept pining for Yu without doing anything. In addition, I think her acceptance of Takei's feelings was too rushed and she ended up hurting this guy with her indecisiveness so that didn't go down too well with me.

Likewise for Mako, her relationships with Kizaki, Yamamoto and Enomoto seem to be such a seamless progression that it felt as if she was someone who fell in and out of love too easily. Especially with regard to Yamamoto who I don't think she ever loved in the same way as Kizaki, I thought it was really annoying for her to keep lamenting on her inability to love when it was obvious that she couldn't even see that she was turning to Yamamoto on the rebound. If she can't even see that she is sleeping with a guy who she doesn't even like, I think she can't blame anyone but herself on what has happened even though I think Yamamoto is a total jerk too. In short, both of them must share the blame for how the relationship turned out. The good thing for Mako is, she managed to get a man in the end so if you consider the theme of the drama, she's the most successful among the trio.

I haven't seen much of Oshima Yuko's works (maybe this is the first one?) but I think she fitted the kawaii aspect of Mako quite well. However, she seemed to be exerting too much strength when reading her lines until every single word was pronounced so clearly that it felt like she was reading straight from the script. I would have hoped that she can soften her delivery to make it sound like things people say in real life rather than scripted lines in a drama. Of course, this drama is an old one so she could have improved in this aspect by now. I like it when actors don't mumble their way through lines but it gets jarring to the ears when the lines feel like they are reciting passages in a classroom.

Gouriki Ayame didn't have a lot of scenes but I think she did quite well here and did steal some of the attention from Oshima initially. That's why Momoko could attract Kizaki so easily since Mako was so rigid and Momoko was a free spirit who literally sparkled compared to Mako's plain-ness. There's been talk in recent years about Gouriki being too heavily promoted by her agency until she is suffering from over-exposure and getting some less-than-favourable reviews about her acting. I've not seen many of Gouriki's dramas or movies but I think she reminds me a lot of Ueto Aya in the past (not just in terms of looks). Ueto Aya didn't score with every single drama she did too and was suffering from the over-exposure controversy too but she has managed to come out of it relatively unscathed. I can't say that Gouriki's good at acting nor can I write her off easily as bad but with enough experience, she can slowly grow into a better actress in future. The thing is, supporting roles like Momoko may be good for her (at least she makes an impression here) but if her agency insists on pushing Gouriki into leading roles which she may not be fully prepared for, this strategy can actually backfire.

No doubt Saki may seem rather obnoxious for her frank words and trying to snatch Takumi from Misuzu, I think her character is more interesting compared to her housemates. Her "words of wisdom" are quite thought-invoking and the fact that she can't practice what she preaches makes the character more realistic because most people can't do it as well. I don't want to see everyone behaving like a saint in a drama so Saki's weaknesses make me relate to her a little easier. Her struggle at deciding whether to stick with Takumi was depicted in such a way that you really see that Saki is more vulnerable than she looks. Her insistence at keeping up the perfect facade in front of her family is also what makes her more lovable than the other two characters who seem to be too weighed down by the romance issues in their lives. I like the fact that Saki is a multi-dimensional character and Yoshitaka Yuriko really nailed down the role with precision. It also helps that she's usually the most well-dressed among the trio so it's a visual feast to see her in all those beautiful clothes.

As for the men in these ladies' lives, there is no lack of good-looking eye candy around for the female viewers. It was kinda surprising to see Tanaka Kei in such a meaty role because he's usually a supporting actor. Strictly speaking, the lead is Karina but because he is her romantic interest. his weighting in the drama also goes up correspondingly. He's a credible actor but somehow, the romance factor between him and Karina seemed really lacking even when they finally made their feelings known to each other and kissed. They felt too much like buddies that I can see why the relationship didn't work out the first time. In that sense, the decision to choose Tanaka for the role of Yu is understandable.

On Mako's side, it was great to see Nakamura Ryu back again since it's been years I saw him in "Hakusen Nagashi". It seems that he appeared in other dramas in recent years but they turn out to be those which I've not watched. Unfortunately, his role is kinda small to make an impression. On the other hand, Hiraoka Yuta's character was a total jerk and I think his goody-two-shoes looks helped to create the contrast that Yamamoto may look like a good guy on the surface but his thinking and way of doing things are totally unacceptable. I did have the impression that Yamamoto approached Mako, thinking that he had a chance with her because she was spurned by Kizaki, not because he had been interested in her right from the start. Although Mako thought she had a part to play in how Yamamoto reacted, I think that's not correct because his possessiveness and suspicious nature caused the breakdown of their relationship rather than her not staying away from Kizaki.

Saki and Takumi are the ones to look out for since their relationship started on  such an innocent note and ended up being something so big that it could engulf them and destroy whatever they have achieved so far. They did try to end contact once but a few more bumps along life's journey brought them together again. Much as they think they are soulmates, the problem is that they met too late. If Takumi isn't married to Misuzu, he might have been with Saki. If Saki had no qualms about breaking up Takumi's marriage, she might get her man. The thing is, I don't think they love each other to that extent. They are indeed attracted to each other and can understand each other. However, to stay together requires sacrifices which they probably aren't willing to make so it was best to part ways. Hagiwara and Yoshitaka did rather well in that farewell scene which was rather sad and helpless because there was no way Takumi and Saki could have stayed together.

And my reviews for this drama:

Story: 6 out of 10 (Too predictable and cliche)

Acting: 7 out of 10 (Occasionally good in some scenes for most of the cast but Yoshitaka Yuriko was eye-catching in many ways)

Theme song: 8 out of 10 (I really like Amuro Namie's theme song but not so much of the insert song)

Visual effects / Scenery: 7 out 10 (I like the house where the main trio was living in which looked very comfortable and homey. Scenery-wise, there were a few outdoor scenes which looked nice too. In the final episode, there is a part which was supposedly filmed live at a place where the trio could see Tokyo Tower and there were some lights show in conjunction with the drama's finale so that was quite nice to see.)

Teamwork / Chemistry: 6.5 out of 10 (Karina and Tanaka Kei as buddies and Yoshitaka Yuriko and Hagiwara Masato as soulmates who cannot be together)

Total: 34.5 out of 50