Quick Review #105: Solomon no Gishou - Autumn 2021

Title: Solomon no Gishou / ソロモンの偽証

Rating: 3 / 10

Recommended for: 

Those who want to watch a not-so-challenging suspense story and/or are fans of Bandou Ryouta and Yamamoto Maika

* Disclaimer: I have not read the original novel nor watched the Japanese movie & Korean drama versions.

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- Despite not being the leads, Bandou Ryouta and Yamamoto Maika's acting here were pretty impressive and they stood out for the right reasons. While Bandou's character was largely evil, there were traces of kindness in his true nature which were handled very convincingly. On the other hand, Yamamoto's character may have seemed to be on the dark side as well at first but the twist towards the end as her true self was revealed was done very nicely.

Disliked: 

- The length of the drama could have been shorter because things were really draggy in the lead-up to the mock trial in school. Even after the trial began, the proceedings were pretty much sleep-inducing for me. Likewise, the so-called truth behind the case felt like all the hoo-ha was for nothing and if you have seen enough of similar suspense stories, it wouldn't take you a lot of effort to figure things out. Perhaps it would be good to make this into a 5-episode drama rather than 8 long episodes.

- While I do like Kamishiraishi Moka as an actress, her role here was not very interesting to watch partly because Fujino Ryoko was a goody-two-shoes model student who was somewhat going with the flow and being a passive party who reacted to developments rather than propel things forward. Although the story positioned her character as someone who took the initiative to start the mock trial and investigation, I couldn't help but feel otherwise. As such, it felt so annoying to see her getting all heated up and antagonising people along the way in the pursuit of the so-called truth.

- Miyazawa Hio's performance here was disappointing, at least to me. I get that he was at a bit of a disadvantage since he was older than those who played the students so this created a very noticeable visual age gap with them and made him look out of place. And to make things more challenging for him, the character Kanbara hardly betrayed any emotions for most of this drama so it made his acting look even more stiff and difficult to stomach. I have to admit, I found it really painful to watch his acting here and the bad memory of watching him for the first time in "Todome no Kiss" kept coming back.

Preview of "Taigan no kaji ~ Kore ga, watashi no ikirumichi! ~" - Spring 2025

Title: Taigan no kaji ~ Kore ga, watashi no ikirumichi! ~ / 対岸の家事～これが、私の生きる道！～

Official website: here

Official Instagram: here

Official TikTok: here

Official X: here

O.A. Start Date: 1 April 2025

Timeslot: Tuesdays at 10pm

Broadcast by: TBS

Original novel by: Akeno Kaeruko

Cast: Tabe Mikako, Eguchi Noriko, Dean Fujioka, Ichinose Wataru, Shimabukuro Hiroko, Tanabe Momoko, Matsumoto Leo, Kawanishi Kenshiro, Nagai Kana, Kotobuki Shouma, Yoshitama Honoka, Igarashi Mio, Nakai Tomo, Hagiwara Mamoru & Nishino Nagisa

Preview of "Douse shinu nara, Paris de shinou." (Drama SP)

Title: Douse shinu nara, Paris de shinou. / どうせ死ぬなら、パリで死のう。

Official website: here

O.A. Date: 16 March 2025 at 11pm

Broadcast by: NHK

Cast: Okayama Amane, Mori Yurito, Murakawa Eri, Nakamura Ozuno, Oideyasu Oda, Yuuchami, Watabe Junichi, Hoshi Kousuke, Seki Shuuto & Kataoka Reiko

Behind-the-scenes of TBS Winter 2025 drama "Mikami-sensei" and about its scriptwriter Shimori Roba

As "Mikami-sensei" continues to gather attention for its unconventional take on Japan's education system and various social issues, there have been a number of articles discussing its unique approach unlike other school dramas to date and its scriptwriter Shimori Roba. Read on for the behind-the-scenes trivia about this drama which will wrap up by the end of this month!

• "Mikami-sensei" is Shimori's first solo script for a private network drama. To date, most of her writing work was for stage productions. Due to the reputation of TBS' Sundays 9pm timeslot and the scale of the production, she was worried if she could do a good job as she was pretty much a newbie at everything.

• The first time she wrote a script was when she was in primary school.

• Shimori revealed that it was only until the last ten years or so that she finally earned enough to survive solely on writing. For a very long time, her main income was from non-theatre work so she had extensive working experience in various industries. As such, many of her works are related to or set in the workplace and she credits those days as pivotal to her writing.

• She founded the theatre group "Fuukin Koubou" in 1993 and began her activities with "serial number" since 2018. She admitted that as it can be difficult to survive solely on productions for her own company, she managed to grow her career by doing writing and directing for external productions.

• Shimori is known for being good at writing scripts based on actual events and historical facts through interviews and extensive research. As such, her stories tend to be a mix of real social issues and fiction. To date, she has created more than 100 works.

• The producer of "Mikami-sensei" i.e. Iida Kazutaka knew Shimori through a mutual acquaintance and had been to her stage plays from time to time. He then approached her to work on "Mikami-sensei" in spring 2020 after Shimori gained recognition and attention with her award-winning movie "Shinbun Kisha". As she believes that education is an important topic especially for the younger generation since they would be more receptive to new ideas and their thinking can be molded more easily to learn the right values and that she had never written about this genre in her plays, she told him that she was keen on this offer. 

• Through repeated discussions with Iida and Shimori's research, she found out that the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) does have a system of dispatching its bureaucrats to schools to be teachers for short stints. Since many people would have the impression that most civil servants are diligent but find it difficult to do as they wish in the public service, this conflict was seen as something which could provide interesting viewpoints in the story. Besides, bureaucrats in areas such as education and culture have been seen as somewhat "weaker" in terms of influence and power compared to those in other ministries. As such, she raised the idea of doing a story about a bureaucrat-cum-teacher sent from MEXT to a public school and Iida liked the suggestion. However, the proposal did not get approved eventually and was put on hold. 

• On hindsight, Shimori said that it was actually better that the proposal didn't go through back then because she felt that it would have flopped due to her inadequacy as a writer. She did not have a TV at home for about 15 years then and didn't even have the habit of watching dramas. After the proposal was turned down, she started to watch lots of dramas and movies in order to understand how dramas were made and what made a drama a success or a flop. That was how she finally built up her theory of what works or not through research and analysis of other people's works. She also credits her first foray into TV work such as being a co-scriptwriter for NHK's dramas "Gunjou Ryouiki" and "Kono hanasakuya" as being important in gaining actual experience.

• In 2022, Iida suddenly sent Shimori an email and said that he still hadn't given up on their project. She was happy to hear about the revival of the plan and looked forward to working with Iida. As such, they renewed discussions and decided on the story's direction to be that of solving the students' problems one by one which would eventually lead to the resolution of a big issue in the country at the end. In addition, unlike most school dramas where teachers and students were pitted against each other, they would unite to fight against the greater evil in this drama. While Iida liked the idea, Shimori started to self-doubt when she returned home after the meeting and wondered if this plan would actually work. Nonetheless, she had faith that Iida would make this drama a reality because he was extremely motivated to make a education-themed drama due to his original dream of becoming a school teacher. She also felt that she couldn't turn in a half-baked piece of work and needed to match up to his passion in the project.

• With regard to her original draft for Ep 1, Iida commented that they needed to start things off with a stronger impact. Just then, she was reminded of the stabbing incident involving entrance exam candidates outside the University of Tokyo in 2022 which was seen as a sign of societal stress surfacing in Japan. After making some adjustments to the settings, she incorporated a similar development in the first episode.

• While Shimori prides herself as someone who has read lots of good mystery stories to date, things felt different when she was the one writing it. As such, rather than focus on surprising people with revelations, she decided to focus on making her story as logical and believable as possible.

• When designing the character Mikami Takashi, Iida told Shimori that it would be good to make Mikami a dark hero. At that time, TBS was showing "Anti Hero" so she agreed that this might be a great idea. However, she didn't think that she could come up with a character like that. And besides, Mikami was not meant to be a hero but rather a new type of teacher. 

• Shimori praised Matsuzaka Toori for being a perfect hit for Mikami since the first script reading session and was very happy that he brought this character to life. Although Matsuzaka had starred in the movie "Shinbun Kisha" which was also written by Shimori, they didn't really have much direct interaction back then since the script was adjusted along the way with the producer and director. And since Matsuzaka's character in the movie did not actually achieve what he intended despite summoning his courage to do so, Shimori really wanted Mikami to be able to realise his goal this time. In addition, she has been a follower of Matsuzaka's works and watched most of them so she felt confident that no matter what she writes, he would be able to deliver. The fact that this is their second collaboration gave her the confidence that he could do it.

• In theatre, the playwright's writing style can be quite distinct but Shimori had to tone down a bit in this respect for the drama. As such, she didn't want to focus too much on the lines but instead tried to use other ways to convey the intended messages. For example, she quoted the scene in Ep 2 when Mikami gave Kanzaki a light push in the back and walked with him into the school which was filled with reporters at the gate rather than use words to illustrate the significance of this action.

• Since Shimori had been cooped up writing the script, she decided to attend the auditions for the student characters so that she could "get out of the house to meet people". However, she did not participate in the selection process. The experience was useful for her to see for herself who was chosen to play what character and how these actors are like because it would be impossible to watch all of their prior works. She was very impressed with the casting choices as some of the actors did not actually look or feel like the characters they were playing but after the necessary styling and make-up, they were transformed accordingly to look the part. She also expressed amazement at the pool of talent they managed to secure and looks forward to seeing how these young actors will grow in time to come. Among them, she cited Okudaira Daiken as being really impressive to manage a difficult role like Kanzaki.

• Amid her wide range of stories written to date, Shimori revealed that the common theme in them was to convey the message that people still have to live on despite what happens. As such, the importance of life and using culture and arts to protect lives are what she considers as extremely crucial themes.

• Shimori revealed that coming up with names in the story was very challenging because she had to avoid having similar-sounding names for the characters. Even the school's name Rintoku Gakuin was finally decided after a while because it would be best not to overlap with an actual school's name. While writing the script, she also had a table with the characters' names and the cast members' photos which helped her imagine who would say what line. As for other details in the character settings, those were decided together with the production team.

• As for the theme of "The personal is political" which gets repeated in the drama, Shimori revealed that this came from the feminism and student activism movements and she heard about it while doing research for another LGBTQ-themed story in the past. Although she had always thought that personal and political problems were unrelated, the idea that making it easier to live on a personal basis could change the political and social systems as well became apparent to her. As such, she really wanted to incorporate this belief in the story and was glad that through this drama, many people had become more aware about this.

• Through this drama, Shimori hopes that viewers will be able to see that there is hope in things changing in the future as long as one continues to live, no matter how unlikely it may seem right now.

Preview of "Ore no hanashi wa nagai ~ Spring 2025" (Drama SP)

Title: Ore no hanashi wa nagai ~ Spring 2025 / 俺の話は長い ～ ２０２５・春

Official website: here

O.A. Date: 30 Mar (Part 1) and 6 Apr 2025 (Part 2) at 10.30pm

Broadcast by: NTV

Theme Song: "Tomo yo" by SUPER EIGHT

Cast: Ikuta Toma, Yasuda Ken, Koike Eiko, Kiyohara Kaya, Sugino Yosuke, Imai Takafumi, Nishimura Masahiko & Harada Mieko

Preview of "Yamada Zenjidou no Fukuoka kurashi" (Drama SP)

Title: Yamada Zenjidou no Fukuoka kurashi / 山田全自動の福岡暮らし

Official website: here

O.A. Start Date: 20 March 2025 at 12 noon

Broadcast by: TV Tokyo

Original manga by: Yamada Zenjidou

Cast: Nakamura Aoi & Ohno Ito

Behind the recent trend of 25-and-above actresses jumping on the bandwagon of appearing in alcoholic drinks' CMs

Have you noticed that there has been a recent trend of young actresses in their mid 20s suddenly appearing in alcoholic drinks' CMs for the first time? If so, you may be wondering why so read on to find out more about the reasons leading to this phenomenon!

• In Japan, the legal age to consume alcoholic drinks is 20 years old. Although the age for one to be considered as an adult under civil law has been reduced to 18 years old since April 2022, the age limit of 20 still remains for alcohol and tobacco products. 

• There is actually a self-imposed rule in place since 2016 by 9 alcoholic drinks-related organisations that they would not get anyone below the age of 25 years old to appear in their CMs and that the CMs should not use any expressions that make people appear as if they are below 25 even if their actual ages are 25 and above. These moves were said to be meant to prevent underage drinking by featuring CM personalities who would actually look like "adults" rather than appearing as if they are too young to be drinking. In addition, the CMs these days tend to have self-imposed restrictions such as avoiding expressions that could lead to excessive drinking and sound effects such as the sound of alcohol going down the throat. 

• It is also worth noting that the TV CMs of alcoholic drinks are not shown between 5am and 6pm so these appear typically during primetime i.e. 7pm to 11pm when there are the most viewers. It is also common to see such CMs appear during the commercial slots of the dramas/shows which the actresses themselves are acting in. Getting a CM offer for a alcoholic drink is also seen as a testament to one's popularity and name awareness.

• As such, it has become more apparent that there are more young and popular actresses turning 25 and above who have started to appear in such alcoholic drinks' CMs for the first time. In February alone, Nagano Mei was unveiled to be the new CM heroine for Suntory's highball Torys while Sugisaki Hana was the new messenger for SUI, a gin product also from Suntory. Nagano herself confirmed during her CM announcement event that she finally got her first alcoholic drink CM deal now that she had turned 25.

• Looking back at recent years, Hashimoto Kanna and Fukuhara Haruka first appeared in alcohol-related CMs last year while the same applied to Hirose Suzu in the year before last. Imada Mio also took on her first alcohol CM in 2022. Nogizaka46 also started to appear in a beer CM after all of their members were 25 years old and above.

• A key reason behind getting these actresses to appear in the alcoholic drinks' CMs is said to be their cross-generational reach and name awareness. Nagano, Sugisaki, Hashimoto, Fukuhara, Hirose and Imada (the next asadora heroine) had all appeared in NHK's morning dramas thus the general public is largely aware of them. And since they do not appear so much on TV unlike talents, it would be a refreshing sight to see them in the CMs where they get to show off another side of them unlike when they act as other characters.

• Another factor is the gradual decline in the alcohol consumption of the younger generations. By getting these young actresses to promote the products and tapping on their huge social media following, it is anticipated that they would be able to achieve the best promotional impact for the products they endorse.

• It has also become more common and acceptable for young actresses at the age of 25 and above to openly talk about their love for alcohol or share episodes of their "drunken" episodes in variety shows and events. For example, Kawaguchi Haruna has a solo drinking video series on her YouTube channel which has close to 5 million views to date.

• This year, there will be a number of actresses who will turn 25 so they may be the next to appear in a new alcoholic drink CM soon e.g. Hamabe Minami, Kamishiraishi Moka, Mikami Ai, Kawai Yumi, Fukumoto Riko.

Preview of "Wagaya wa tanoshi" (Drama SP)

Title: Wagaya wa tanoshi / わが家は楽し

Official website: here

Official Instagram: here

Official X: here

O.A. Date: 13 March 2025 at 9pm

Broadcast by: TBS

Cast: Kohinata Fumiyo, Toda Keiko, Takahashi Kaito, Sakurai Yuki, Yamada Anna, Enari Kazuki, YOU, Iwasaki Kaneko, Kimura Midoriko, Kadono Takuzo, Inoue Jun, Murata Takehiro, Niwa Sadahito, Fukutome Mitsuho, Kitayama Masayasu, Ikushima Yuki, Masutome Yuria & Mita Yoshiko

Winners of the 15th Location Japan Taisho (2023/2024) and interesting trends from past years' winners

Location filming information magazine "Location Japan" announced its list of winners for the "Location Japan Taisho" on 20 Feb 2025 which highlights movies, dramas and anime works that helped in boosting awareness and popularity of their filming locations or where the stories were set in. The 15th edition of this award had 40 nominated works shown between 1 Nov 2023 and 31 Oct 2024 which featured 61 places/regions before 7 were selected as the final winners.

Judging was done by industry experts such as those from the Japan Tourism Agency and included the following 4 parameters: 

• Voting was by about 20,000 members of the public
• Level of support provided to the production teams by the local authorities
• Measures to boost the level of ease of travel to the locations
• Extent of change to the locations as a result of the exposure and increase in number of tourists

Note that some works were set/shot in multiple locations as indicated in brackets:

Grand Prix: "Meitantei Conan 100 man doru no michishirube" (Hakodate City, Hokkaido Prefecture) - Anime Movie

Runner-up: "Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo" (Nagasaki Prefecture / Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture) - Drama

Category - Voters' Choice: "Hikaru kimi e" (Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture / Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture / Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture) - Drama

Category - Filming Support: "Ano hana ga saku oka de, Kimi to mata deaetara" (Namegata City, Ibaraki Prefecture) - Movie

Category - Ease of Travel: "Sukidemo kirai na ama no jaku" (Yonezawa City, Yamagata Prefecture) - Anime Movie

Category - Regional Change: "Karakai jouzu no Takagi-san" (Kagawa Prefecture / Tonosho-cho, Kagawa Prefecture / Shodoshima-cho, Kagawa Prefecture) - Drama & Movie

Judges' Special Award: "Tomochika Suspense Gekijou [Sotoyumeguri Mystery Dogo sutorippujou renzoku satsujin]" - YouTube

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Looking at past years' winners, here are some interesting trends which I found with regard to the non-anime movies & dramas that were selected over the past 15 years:

• Movies seem to have a slight edge over dramas when it comes to the proportion of winners over the past 15 years - 58% vs. 42%. It could be that most movies tend to be shown to a nationwide audience as compared to TV series which may not be shown at the same time due to regional schedules and differences. For example, dramas shown in the Tokyo metropolitan area or the Kanto region may be broadcast at a slightly later date in other prefectures or not be shown there at all. As such, the limit in terms of reach may result in a difference in terms of the influence which the work has in terms of boosting awareness and popularity of its filming location(s).

• NHK's Taiga dramas and asadoras seem to be dominating this award as seen from 60% of the drama winners being from the national broadcaster. Coming in at a distant second is TBS with about 19%, FujiTV at almost 7%, NTV and TV Tokyo tied at close to 5% and TV Asahi at 2%. One possible reason is that the broadcast period for the Taigas (1 year) and asadoras (6 months) are at least double of the seasonal dramas (mostly ranging from 6 to 11 weeks). With a longer exposure period, it will no doubt enhance the impression that viewers have of the filming locations. 

• Netflix broke the monopoly by the TV stations for the first time last year with "First Love Hatsukoi" which was shot in Hokkaido. Considering the fact that the title can only be watched by Netflix's subscribers as compared to dramas on free-to-air TV stations, this also signals the possibility of OTT content having a wider reach and stronger influence on viewers compared to the past.

• While the format of this award has evolved over the years e.g. from having grand prix awards for both dramas and movies to a single grand prix award, the winners for the top title are spread evenly across both categories - 7 each. It is worth noting that although the Taigas and asadoras hogged the top spot in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 9th and 14th editions ("Ryomaden" won the Location Japan Grand Prix and Drama Category - Grand Prix), movies took the title for 4 years straight until "Dousuru Ieyasu" broke the spell last year. If you consider this year's winner which is an anime movie, it does seem like movies have a growing influence on the public in terms of "promoting its shooting locations" as compared to TV dramas.

• Looking at the list of winners in terms of prefectures, the top spot is actually not Tokyo but neighbouring Kanagawa! Perhaps due to its proximity to the capital where many TV stations and production companies are based at and the fact that it has a variety of landscapes from mountains, the sea, beaches, islands and suburbs to offer as well as the prefecture's strong support for entertainment productions, this could be why works shot in Kanagawa seem to be recognised more for their influence and popularity on the public. As for the other top contenders, Hokkaido, Nagasaki and Shizuoka come in at a close second with 7 awards each while Nagano and Tokyo are tied at 6.

• On the other hand, some prefectures have not appeared on this award before. Surprisingly or not, they tend to be rather far from Tokyo or somewhat inaccessible due to reasons such as mountains or forests: Gunma, Nara, Wakayama, Tottori, Tokushima, Ehime, Kumamoto, Miyazaki and Okinawa. I'm a bit surprised by Gunma's omission though because the recent interview with the directing team of "Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo" did mention that their Hashima set was built in Gunma but I guess that was sort of concealed till the end of the drama and that the story was still largely based in Nagasaki. As for Okinawa, I'm quite certain that some dramas/movies would have been shot there especially those with a summer theme but it could be that the link between those works and the filming locations did not translate into strong benefits for the locality in terms of awareness or popularity through tourism income.

While I do not actively seek out filming locations of my favourite dramas and movies when I visit Japan, it can be fun to check out such places if I happen to be in the area. In addition, the impact of boosting a place's awareness and popularity through these entertainment works especially in the economic sense is definitely something which shouldn't be taken lightly. Sites like Location Japan offer a lot of information on these places so you can refer to such sites when planning your trips.

However, the downside of such heightened interest in a place is potential over-tourism which can have an undesirable impact on the local residents and spoil your experience at the same time. I'm sure we have read about the influx of tourists to places like the famous train intersection featured in "Slam Dunk", the "Kimi no na" fever to places in Gifu Prefecture or the endless queue at the cafe featured in "silent" when the drama was such a hit as well as complaints of unruly visitors and how they affected the residents around such locations. As such, while it's a good thing for local authorities and businesses to benefit from this trend of shooting location tourism, there is also a need to think about how to manage the crowds and ensure that everyone will have a pleasant experience visiting these places featured in your favourite works. On our part, we will also need to consider and ensure that we do not cause unnecessary disturbances to others while enjoying our time at these filming locations.

Quick Review #104: Demon City Onigoroshi (movie)

Title: Demon City Onigoroshi / Demon City 鬼ゴロシ

Rating: 2 / 10

Recommended for: 

Those who like action flicks featuring close contact combat and don't mind the lack of a robust storyline

* Disclaimer: I have not read the original manga

Liked:

- For those who like action films which focus more on close contact combat rather than gun action, you would probably enjoy this movie. There were quite a lot of such action sequences which allowed the lead Ikuta Toma to shine in this aspect.

- Just when the story hinted at a possible sequel with some remnants of evil, I was glad to see that there was a proper and complete ending. It would have been quite annoying to see signs of this story possibly continuing given the lackluster plot. And considering how the bulk of the action scenes were close contact combat, the way it ended was a good contrast with the general direction thus far.

Disliked: 

- While I cannot comment on whether the real life adaptation did justice to the original manga, the lack of a proper storyline in this movie version was hugely disappointing. The focus was entirely on taking revenge but there were some loopholes and things which were not properly explained. First of all, from a state of being paralyzed to killing tons of people with the logic-defying movements - there was no justification for the lead character being "resurrected" in this manner other than the possible reason of the mysterious substance injected into his drip while at the hospital. Even so, that substance should have been meant to kill, not make him "mutate" into someone who could use his body at will. 

In addition, given that there were so many people he killed along the way, it was odd that he resorted to a method which was not "effort-effective" because it required so much strength and movements yet exposed himself to the risk of sustaining injuries as well. And not to mention, he had to kill out in the open, not in a sly and undetectable manner. Not so smart if you are considering the setting that he was supposed to be a top-notch assassin. Keeping gun action and explosives to a minimum may be good from an action movie point of view but it just didn't make much sense.

Last but not least, while the concept of using Japanese demon masks was probably meant to conceal the identity of the baddies, I thought that it might be better to attach some meaning to why these particular masks were used and to explain how these people fitted into the grand scheme of things. And the lack of a strong ideology banding these people together other than for financial gains wasn't convincing. As such, all the characters came across as largely flat and their motivations difficult to understand. Even for the lead character, due to the lack of lines and minimal facial expressions, he also became someone who the audience would have difficulty empathizing with despite the great wrong he had suffered. 

- Much as I thought that this movie allowed Ikuta to show off his skills as an action actor, it certainly doesn't showcase him as one who's capable of more delicate and emotional acting because his character was largely emotionless except when faced with his wife and daughter. As such, I think this will be quite disappointing even for big fans of Ikuta.

Highlights from the interview of the directing team for "Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo" - Best Directing in the 122nd Drama Academy Awards

Here are some highlights from The Television's interview with the directing team i.e. Tsukahara Ayuko, Fukuda Ryosuke, Hayashi Satoshi & Fukawa Ryosuke for "Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo" which won the Best Directing category in the 122nd Drama Academy Awards:

• The filming of the drama took as long as six months. Prior to that, another month was spent on sourcing for a suitably-sized location and building the open set of Hashima Ginza somewhere in Gunma Prefecture. As such, it was challenging and time-consuming to keep shuttling between Tokyo and Gunma during the filming period.

• Due to the dangers of filming in the Hashima of today due to the poor condition of its buildings and structures, they could only film in specific areas that were open to the public tours. As such, they approached the ex-residents for input on how to design the interior parts of the buildings and rebuilt these in the Midoriyama Studio.

• As there are many ex-Hashima residents who are still living, they had to make sure that the scenes set in Hashima were as accurate as possible. It was a relief for them to get feedback from these ex-residents who were impressed with how the staff managed to replicate the scenes from back then.

• The scenes on Hashima during the Showa era were created through CG. 

• The team praised the lead actor Kamiki Ryuunosuke for being a very cheerful person who could slip into his two characters Teppei and Reo with ease as soon as filming began. He also contributed ideas and exchanged views with the staff for various scenes such as when Teppei confessed his feelings to Asako. Even when the team had some challenging requirements, Kamiki was also able to meet these without difficulty. From the beginning, he could already understand what the script wanted and obviously put in a lot of effort to build his characters before the filming began.

• With regard to viewers' feedback that Teppei's life after leaving Hashima was so sad, the team explained that this had to do with the time setting of the story i.e. soon after the end of World War II. As depicted in Ep 4, the sins of the adults i.e. the generation of Teppei's parents were passed on to their children i.e. Teppei's generation in various ways. In order to break this cycle of tragedy, Teppei's position in the story was meant to be the person who took on the sins when he left Hashima so that the children of future generations could lead peaceful and happy lives. As to whether Teppei was happy with his life or not, that would be something which only he could have an answer to despite how others may feel sad for his fate. Especially as shown in the final moments of the last episode, Teppei had lived in a house facing the sea and Hashima so this could be interpreted as having some moments of happiness despite his harsh fate.

• While this drama was ultimately entertainment, the team also saw that it provided a starting point for conversations and thinking about history, be it about the war or the coal mining industry or Hashima based on their recent thanksgiving trip to Nagasaki after filming ended. There were also other important messages in the story such as the value of family relationships, the passion of the older generations passing on to the current generations and taking conscious steps to change our lives for the better.

• With regard to the scene when Shinpei (Saito Takumi) shot a gangster to save Rina (Ikeda Elaiza) in Ep 5, they didn't want to show him as a hero who saved a damsel in distress. This was because the sin of his action ended up being borne by Teppei who had to leave Hashima as a fugitive and also led to other people's lives being affected as a result. In addition, considering that Shinpei had participated in the war as a soldier and had experience shooting people to defend himself, his action could also be considered as a natural reaction rather than a calculated move to save Rina. There was also a message to be conveyed that using violence to counter violence would just result in an endless loop and downward spiral as seen by what the Araki family had to shoulder after Shinpei's death.

Quick Review #103: Nodame Cantabile - Autumn 2006

Title: Nodame Cantabile / のだめカンタービレ

Rating: 9 / 10

Recommended for: 

Those who are fans of the original manga series and the cast members especially Ueno Juri and Tamaki Hiroshi and/or like school dramas with a classical music/musicians theme

* Disclaimer: I had read the original manga.

Liked:

- I can't remember how many times I've watched this drama since its first OA almost 20 years ago but with its release on Netflix recently, I found it hard to resist taking another look at this again. Especially considering the fact that I had read the original manga first before watching this drama, I was still entertained enough to watch this without having the need to press fast-forward or watch this at 1.5X playback speed.

- If you had read the post I wrote in August 2006 prior to the OA of this drama, I was pretty doubtful about whether this real-life drama adaptation would be good. Since I am a big fan of the manga, I didn't like the prospect of the drama ruining it for me. What's more, considering that I wasn't too familiar with Ueno Juri and Tamaki Hiroshi back then, I didn't have much confidence in them playing Nodame and Chiaki. However, all that turned out to be worry for nothing because they turned out to be so good at playing their respective roles so much that I became convinced they were the best choices after all.

Back then, I had also mentioned that Mizukawa Asami, Nagayama Eita and Uehara Misa would be good for their roles because they matched the images in the manga (at least from my perspective). Once I got to watch the drama, there were quite a number of others who also managed to bring their characters to life in a good way e.g. Koide Keisuke, Fukushi Seiji, Mukai Osamu and Takenaka Naoto. It will be a good walk down memory lane for those who want to see these actors back in their younger days.

- One key element of this drama's success was the classical music scenes. Be it the practice sessions or the actual performances, they were a joy to sit through even for those who are unfamiliar with this genre. My personal favourites are S Orchestra's performance of "Rhapsody In Blue" and the Rising Star Orchestra's performances at Suntory Hall in the final episode.

Disliked: 

- The only downside to being so familiar with the storyline and characters was the lack of surprise. As such, watching this felt a bit different from approaching a brand new story and could feel a tad boring for those like me because you would know what was going to come.