Review of Garasu no Ie Ep 1

After the hugely successful and somewhat controversial "Second Virgin" 3 years ago, NHK is dishing out something which is again rather contrary to its prim and proper image as the national broadcaster. Actually, in recent years, it has been producing quite a number of dramas which have very controversial and/or realistic themes that have earned a fair bit of critical praise. In the past, NHK was known more for its Taiga and period dramas but it seems to have secured its position in the competitive drama landscape with offerings that are rarely found elsewhere. There have been views offered about how NHK and WOWOW are the only ones which can afford to do things their way because NHK is a national broadcaster which gets its funding from the government and subscription income while WOWOW depends more on subscribers rather than advertisers. As such, without having to cater to the whims and fancies of ad agencies, advertisers or talent agencies, NHK and WOWOW seem to have no qualms doing things which will be avoided by the private networks. The trend these days for private networks is the clear preference for sequels of their popular franchises or stick to tried-and-tested formulas e.g. medical, legal or detective dramas. Casting choices are also limited to the same group of people even though some of them are known as "ratings poison". In this sense, I really appreciate the fact that we have dramas which try to break out of these boundaries or else the J-drama scene will definitely be doomed. I

Considering the fact that "Second Virgin" and "Garasu no Ie" are both from Oishi Shizuka, there are bound to be some similarities between these two dramas which talk about forbidden love. However, there are some differences as well based on my observations from the first episode.

First of all, let me introduce the key characters in this drama. The focus of the story is on the Shibusawa family made up by the father Kazunari (Fujimoto Takahiro), who's the director of the Budget Bureau in the Ministry of Finance. He's a widow who had to raise his two young sons alone since 23 years ago after his wife died in a plane crash in France. His eldest son Hitoshi (Saito Takumi) admires his father and followed in his footsteps to join the Ministry of Finance. However, Hitoshi also strongly supports a revolutionary young politician Muraki Yosuke (Kataoka Ainosuke) and hopes to work for someone like him one day since Hitoshi's not able to realise his ideals in his current job. The baby of the family is Kenji (Nagayama Kento) who had graduated from law school but is retaking the bar exam now. In contrast with Hitoshi's serious character, Kenji is the moodmaker of the family but he too admires his father for having brought up the brothers singlehandedly. In what appears to be a close-knitted family, the arrival of a woman shows that the bonds between them aren't as strong as they seem and the family is somewhat like glass i.e. easily breakable.

One day, Kazunari announces to his sons that he plans to marry Tamaki Rei (Igawa Haruka), the daughter of the victims of the air crash which also killed the brothers' mother. Rei had lost her parents through the accident and met Kazunari by chance when she went to the crash site for the first time in 22 years to mourn. Since then, they started dating and are contemplating marriage now. The brothers are visibly surprised by this turn of events since they haven't heard anything about Kazunari seeing anyone but welcome the idea since their father has been single all this while. When the brothers meet Rei for the first time during dinner, Hitoshi's gaze is fixated on Rei but he doesn't think much of it yet.

Soon after the marriage is finalised, Rei moves into the Shibusawa family. However, the presence of a woman for the first time in 23 years makes it a bit uncomfortable for the brothers. For example, they have been used to eating breakfast which is something they can finish quickly or can pack on the go. However, when Rei sets out a full-course breakfast, this causes the brothers to panic and they try to hide their uneasiness by leaving the house without having breakfast. Meanwhile, Kazunari tries to assure Rei that the brothers are not disliking her in any way but they just need a bit of time to adjust to her presence as the stepmother.

However, things start to spiral downwards very quickly as Hitoshi's ideas at work get shot down by his superior and colleagues who prefer to stay the course rather than rock the boat. Moreover, due to his father's position, people seem to look at Hitoshi as somewhat like a young master who's not really taken seriously. To make things worse, his boss even tells tales to Kazunari about what happened and this obviously does not go down well with Kazunari.

The main reason for Kazunari and Hitoshi's relationship to deteoriate quickly looks set to be Rei rather than anything else. Kazunari notices that Hitoshi seems to be behaving awkwardly in front of Rei and has a hunch that his son may feel something for his stepmother. His jealousy streak gets the better of him and Kazunari becomes very possessive of Rei to the extent of being unreasonable at times. However, Rei doesn't think much about this situation and does Kazunari's bidding. Things are likely to blow up as time goes by if Hitoshi stands up for Rei because this will only fuel Kazunari's jealousy even more. Kenji seems rather oblivious to what's going on at the moment but there may be a stage where he's likely to take sides regarding this issue about Rei.

In contrast to "Second Virgin", the viewpoint of the story is from a man's perspective i.e. Hitoshi rather than a woman's view. As such, it is rather refreshing to hear about the feelings of attraction that Hitoshi start to feel for Rei because most love stories depict the women falling head over heels in love with men who don't seem to go gaga for the women in the same manner. Of course, at this stage, Hitoshi isn't really deeply in love with Rei so I believe there will be more descriptions on his turbulent feelings about Rei torn between love and morals in the episodes to follow.

As this is touted as an adults' love story, the sexual element is more prominent compared to other romance dramas. Hitoshi gets visibly nervous when he happens to see Rei's cleavage or her underwear being hung to dry. I've read some views online that it's a bit unrealistic for Hitoshi to react so strongly as if he never had any romantic experience (he supposedly has this irritating girlfriend who is a writer but I just don't see him loving her in any way) because the character's age is supposedly 30 years old. However, if we look at it from this viewpoint, the Shibusawa family has been without the mistress of the household for a long time and the brothers would not have been used to the idea of having a woman around. No doubt Hitoshi may have been in contact with female friends and colleagues outside, I think the initial attraction he had for Rei is the reason why he's reacting more strongly that he should or would have in normal circumstances. And that is precisely why Kazunari banned Rei from wearing anything which may show off her assets unknowingly although she wasn't wearing a revealing outfit at all.

At the moment, Rei doesn't seem to be feeling anything for Hitoshi but as Kazunari's obsessive streak gets more serious, the consolation and solace she gets from Hitoshi will probably get her started very soon. Unlike "Second Virgin" which dives into the sexual tension and attraction between the leads rather quickly, the layer of family relations bonding Rei and Hitoshi will no doubt make it a bit more difficult for them to start their romance quickly.

There has been talk about the camera angles being focused on Igawa Haruka's body so often that it may turn off female viewers but draw in the guys to tune in. Traditionally, love stories are watched by female viewers but it looks like there are some deliberate efforts made to differentiate this drama from "Second Virgin". Since the story is told from Hitoshi's viewpoint, it's not surprising that the camera angles will be from his eyes as how he sees Rei. Conversely, that was how Suzuki Kyoka was doing when she was sizing Hasegawa Hiroki in "Second Virgin" so I have no particular issues with this focus on Igawa.

Of course, it's too early to tell from just one episode if this is going to be a favourite of mine. However, the first episode looked quite engaging so I think I will stick to this a little longer just to see how this forbidden love with work out in the end. I certainly hope that it will be different from "Second Virgin" though.