Quick Review #146: "Grand Maison Paris" (movie)

Title: Grand Maison Paris / グランメゾン　パリ　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 6.5 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who had watched the drama series and SP and wish to find out what happened next to Team Obana in Paris 

OR wants to watch a story depicting how people bounce back from setbacks and overcome the odds while featuring delicious-looking dishes 

OR are fans of the veteran actors playing key members in Team Obana

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- As usual, the story featured Team Obana overcoming the odds and managing to achieve the seemingly impossible goal of getting the elusive Michelin 3-stars honour but this time, at the homeground of French cuisine as foreigners against the incumbents. As I mentioned in my reviews of the drama series and SP before, the fixation on pursuing the glorious but elusive Michelin 3-stars title actually doesn't resonate so much with me, perhaps due to the fact that I know very little about fine dining and French cuisine as a whole although I do enjoy some dishes and their sweets. Therefore, I was a bit concerned initially that the movie would "alienate" me again in this sense because at the back of my mind, Obana's obsession with seeking the 3 stars in Paris just wouldn't resonate with me. 

However, what made the story this time more engaging and palatable was uncovering the reasons driving his behaviour. As such, it became a lot easier to make sense of his stubborn-ness and sometimes blind faith in himself. 

What also worked for me was how the central theme of how "outsiders" are perceived when they make inroads into the territory of the incumbents was depicted. While it's easy to criticize the French featured in the movie for being narrow-minded, elitist and racist due to their reluctance to accept Obana as someone good enough to work with them, there was a line said by the caviar businessman which really showed how this issue would make a lot of sense if you look at it from the other perspective. Just as the French may not welcome nor acknowledge a foreigner for being good enough in French cuisine to earn the three stars, the same kind of attitude would most likely be displayed if you have a foreigner trying to open a sushi restaurant in Japan and claiming to be as good, if not better than a native Japanese. In this current world we live in, much as we aspire for and seek fairness and equality for everyone, the truth is that protectionism for locals or the majority as well as the animosity and distrust towards foreigners are issues which are impossible to ignore and pretend that they don't exist. The drama didn't try too hard to preach but I think this message still came across in a pretty impactful way.

- Being a story about cooking, I thought that the scenes towards the end featuring the menu which Team Obana came up with to aim for the stars were done pretty well. Not only did the dishes look so delectable and pretty, I think there was ample time in these scenes for the viewers to scrutinise the dishes visually as compared to how everything flashed by in the drama series and SP.

- While I won't say that anyone stood out this time, the older members in Team Obana definitely had a stable and self-assured vibe which made them look charismatic, appealing and cool despite the challenges they faced. By this, I mean Kimura Takuya, Suzuki Kyoka, Sawamura Ikki and Oikawa Mitsuhiro. I would have loved to see more of these four in action though.

Disliked: 

- First of all, as a movie which featured cooking, there was comparatively a lot less airtime dedicated to the actual dish development and cooking processes this time. I thought that it was a pity because this was actually one of the key elements which made me like the drama series back then because there was so much effort put into these scenes and they did make the viewers feel more involved in the entire process.

- Unlike the drama series and SP, I felt that Team Obana in Paris didn't really have a stand-out younger generation representative or someone who could become a fixture in the team going forward so it felt like the "succession" element of the story was somewhat lacking. While Ok Taec-yeon's role definitely hogged the limelight for the younger camp, I don't really see him becoming a fixture in Team Obana for future editions of the Grand Maison series (if any) because his character seemed more like someone who should become a top notch patissier on his own with his own shop, not someone working with Obana for the mid or long term.

- For those who have never watched the drama series and SP, it might be challenging to make sense of the story especially the relationships between the members in Team Obana and the experiences they shared together. As such, the storyline might come across as confusing and fail to engage such viewers from the onset.

- Due to the fact that Team Obana boasted an international lineup this time and the location was in Paris, there were at least 4 different languages being spoken in the entire 2 hours. While I can't comment on the accuracy of the English subtitles for French and Korean, the Japanese ones did seem OK as in no blatant translation mismatches and errors. That being said, I think there is a need to delve into the meaning and importance of having subtitles beyond just being a translation medium across languages. 

I think that there is always this assumption that for foreign language films shown in Singapore, they tend to skip the subtitles if the dialogue is in English. Maybe it's the same elsewhere - are there Chinese subtitles for movies shown in Chinese-speaking locations? Or are there Korean subtitles for Korean dialogue in movies?

The problem is, much as English is very much used and understood in daily life and business settings here, the content of the lines may not be easily understandable if there is jargon involved or there are pronunciation, accent or even audio issues. In particular, the part where Linda (Tominaga Ai) was explaining the dishes in Grand Maison Paris' set menu - this was entirely in English with zero subtitles appearing on screen. While I did understand mostly what she said, there were some parts which I wasn't sure of because she used some terms to describe the dishes which were not so commonplace in daily life. I guess people who are gourmets or know more about fine dining may be able to understand these parts better. As such, having subtitles would be good to facilitate understanding of the lines.

I also touched on the point regarding audio above. Sometimes, due to the surrounding noise at the filming location or the actors' diction, it can be very difficult to pick up what they are saying. Moreover, subtitles can also help those who have hearing issues to understand the movie without actually listening to the dialogue. For a large chunk of this movie to have zero subtitles, I don't think that's a good move in terms of being inclusive to the audience at large. Just don't assume that the Singapore audience does not need English subtitles for English dialogue, please? If the OTTs are even having subtitles for actions like close the door, the phone rings, surely movies can provide a similar experience without having to go through parts of the movie without understanding fully.

- I guess the movie chose to focus more on the process rather than the outcome. Getting the three stars was more or less a given since Team Obana was already at the edge of the cliff and needed this to survive. However, for the movie to end just like this without no scene at all about how Team Obana reacted to the win, this was too abrupt and felt sloppy. Perhaps there are plans to talk about this aspect in yet another sequel but it would take a lot more to wow people next time instead of just repeating the formula of win -> fall from grace or suffer setback - > overcome the odds -> all over again.

The more the merrier vs. too many cooks spoiling the broth? - Looking into the trend of multiple scriptwriters in TBS' Sundays 9pm dramas

Is it a case of the more the merrier or will too many cooks spoil the broth? 

This article from Real Sound raises the above question by looking at the dramas from TBS' Sundays 9pm timeslot which has consistently done better than its competition in terms of ratings and critical reviews despite the languishing real-time ratings in recent years amid the rise of alternative viewing channels such as TVer and a wider variety of content vying for eyeballs such as those from Netflix.

While Japanese dramas traditionally tend to be written by a single scriptwriter, there is an increasing number of dramas featuring a main writer with assistants or multiple scriptwriters to share the workload or producing a collective script in the Hollywood style of "writers' room" where the team can range from as many as 10 to 20 writers. Recent examples in Japan which adopted the Hollywood style include NHK 2024 drama "3000-man" and Amazon Prime Video 2023 drama "Angel Flight".

Given that the Sundays 9pm timeslot is TBS' crown jewel in its drama programming, it is no wonder that a lot of time and resources are put into the offerings. However, the TV station's attempts to experiment with various genres and writing styles may not always turn out to deliver desired results. For example, while "VIVANT" in 2023 may have been a hit in terms of scale, the star-studded line-up and unexpected storyline which was kept a secret until the first OA, the response to last season's "Mikami-sensei" was somewhat divided especially over the long, complicated and philosophical lines in the script which required a fair bit of brain power to process.

The article highlights this season's "Caster" as being one of the unusual examples in this timeslot for having as many as 6 scriptwriters compared to the usual 1 to 4 writers in most dramas these days. Considering that a Sundays 9pm timeslot drama these days tends to last for 10 episodes, this actually means that each scriptwriter will probably get to work on slightly less than 1.5 episode (if divided equally). However, it is not known if they will actually co-write for each episode or divide individual episodes among themselves. 

One thing to note though, the last time a Sundays 9pm timeslot drama had 6 writers was in 2023's "Get Ready!" which was criticized for the lack of consistency in its story caused by fluctuating tones, writing style and story tempo back then. While it may be good to bounce off ideas from one another with a team of writers, it can also be risky if the team fails to agree on a single approach or chooses the wrong one when faced with varying viewpoints and options or worse still, come up with a script that has developments which do not agree with one another.

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After reading this article, I wanted to investigate whether the number of scriptwriters do have a part to play in a drama's success/failure and if there are indeed trends pointing to a shift from single scriptwriters towards the multiple-writers system. As such, I obtained data for the TBS Sundays 9pm timeslot based on their offerings for the past decade and also tried to compare between figures from the pre- and post-COVID eras.

No. of dramas between Winter 2015 and Autumn 2019 = 20 (Pre-COVID)

No. of dramas between Winter 2020 and Winter 2025 = 19 (Post-COVID)

*Note that the Spring 2020 drama "Hanzawa Naoki 2020" was postponed to Summer 2020 due to the lockdown caused by the COVID pandemic. 

*I did not include "Caster" in the sample for the Post-COVID group since it is still running.

*Ratings information are based on the Kanto region thus may not reflect the true popularity and extent of viewership on both domestic and international streaming platforms.

Key observations over the past decade

• The number of dramas which were real-life adaptations from novels and manga were about the same for pre-COVID (10 out of 20) and post-COVID (9 out of 19). 
• Why I chose to make a distinction between the originals and adaptations in my analysis is that scriptwriters working on the latter need to fit their work within the parameters of the source material thus would have lesser creative freedom to do their thing. On the other hand, those doing originals have to bear the risk of their own ideas going either way - could be a success or flop.
• One other thing to note is the difference between 原作 (original work) and 原案 (original draft). In the former, the scriptwriter has an original novel/manga etc. to adapt into a drama's script but in the latter, a draft with the broad outline of the characters and story setting is written by someone else other than the scriptwriter. As such, 原案 works are somewhat in the middle of the spectrum with adaptations and original creations at both ends and can be likened to be a "template" for scriptwriters to work with. In the pre-COVID days, there were no 原案 dramas but after the pandemic, there were at least 2 in this timeslot. This might be something to look out for in future - the concept of "DCU" was from overseas producers while "Gekokujou Kyuuji" was based on a non-fiction book about a true story. 

• The number of Sundays 9pm dramas written by single scriptwriters was the same for both periods i.e. 11 out of 20 for pre-COVID and 11 out of 19 for post-COVID.
• While some may say that there seems to be more dramas with multiple scriptwriters these days, the truth is that at least for this particular timeslot, it still seems to be fairly distributed between single and multiple scriptwriter systems for now.

• However, the average number of scriptwriters for each Sundays 9pm drama has indeed increased. From an average of 1.65 writers per drama in the pre-COVID days, it does seem like there is a shift towards the multiple writers format with an average of 2.47 per drama in the post-COVID era.
• It can also be observed that in terms of the number of writers per drama, the norm before COVID was anything from 2 to 4 but 4 seems to be the ideal number as seen in the post-COVID era with some going up to as many as 6 for a 10-episode drama series. This should explain why the average jumped so much in the past 5 years.

• The length of a drama in this timeslot seems to be headed towards the sweet spot of 10 episodes per season post-COVID as compared to a variety of numbers in the pre-COVID era (ranging from 7 to 12). The average number of episodes per drama was 9.85 before 2000 but after that, the average inched up to 10.42.
• As compared to the past when there was more or less standardization in terms of start and end dates for the seasonal dramas, there is a lot more variation these days with some having start dates before the beginning of the first month in the season and some not starting until the competition is already done with 2 or 3 episodes.
• Despite so, to have the same number of episodes each season at 10 per drama since Spring 2022 (except for "Atomu no ko" which had only 9 episodes) seems to suggest the trend going forward that this is the preferred number of episodes for dramas in this timeslot.

• In terms of performance based on average ratings, while the number of dramas which got an average above 10% was about the same at 15 titles for each period, the average rating was actually higher post-COVID at 13.39% compared to 12.81% pre-COVID. 
• It is important to note that the post-COVID era included the monster hit "Hanzawa Naoki" which had a high average of 24.7% that was easily double of most offerings so this brought the average up significantly. In addition, the average ratings between 2020 and 2022 (the height of the pandemic where more people stayed home) were higher as compared to when restrictions were relaxed and people could head out more than before.

• However, if you delve deeper in the 10%-and-above "hits" for both eras, only 6 out of 15 were written by single scriptwriters in the pre-COVID era while as many as 9 out of 15 were from solo scriptwriters in the post-COVID era.
• What this probably suggests is that putting an entire drama in the hands of one scriptwriter can turn out to be a huge gamble thus resulting in the subsequent shift towards multiple scriptwriters as a form of risk mitigation by the TV station. 
• On the other hand, since dramas by multiple scriptwriters tend to be those who are relatively unknown or fresh to this industry, it also helps in giving them experience without the burden of shouldering a drama's fate single-handedly.
• In most scenarios, the staff credits list do not actually make a distinction in terms of hierarchy in the scriptwriting team. It is only when there is a main writer that the others are named as assistants e.g. "Mikami-sensei". As such, it looks from the outside that the members in such teams are on equal footing (more or less).
• The higher success rate in the post-COVID era also needs to be considered along with the pandemic's situation between 2020 and 2022 when more people stayed home to watch TV. As such, out of the 9 hits in this period, 7 of them were from these years while there was only 1 in 2023 and 1 in 2025. 
• The 3 dramas which got above 10% in 2024 were all written by teams of 4 scriptwriters while the only solo work "Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo" in the same year had a single-digit average rating.
• Interestingly, while the 6 hits in the pre-COVID era were all from different solo writers, Kuroiwa Tsutomu accounted for as many as 4 out of the 9 hits in the post-COVID era i.e. "Kiken na Venus", "TOKYO MER", "My Family" and "Last Man Zenmou no sousakan". Of these, only "Kiken na Venus" was an adaptation from a novel so the others were all original scripts. 
• On the other hand, the only other scriptwriter who had more than 1 hit in the past decade was Morishita Yoshiko but her two works were from different eras i.e. 2015's "Tennou no ryouriban" in the pre-COVID era and 2021's "Tengoku to Jigoku" from the post-COVID days. Perhaps this phenomenon seems to reflect a tendency to go back to tried-and-tested names when engaging solo writers because of the stakes involved for a golden timeslot like this?

On a personal note, I do pay attention to the scriptwriter other than the cast lineup and genre when deciding what to watch. While I do have some favourites, it is not always a given that I will like everything from them. Likewise, I don't really shun works by people I am not aware of or familiar with since the cast and genre tend to play a more significant part in influencing my decision. Of course, there are some who I know I probably wouldn't like because of their style of writing or past bad experience and would approach such works with a bit more caution and apprehension. 

One other thing which I do not really like is the idea of putting big names together to work on the same story especially if their styles are totally different and very hard to integrate with each other. One recent example I can think of is Netflix's "Rikon shiyouyo" - my conclusion is that the styles of Kudo Kankuro and Ooishi Shizuka just do not match and their individual strengths do not get amplified by putting them together.

Just based on the findings above, I think what's clear is that the more established names in the industry are likely to be the ones who get sole responsibility and power to write their scripts on their own especially for a primetime slot like TBS' Sundays 9pm. On the other hand, the willingness to shift towards having multiple writers can be good for the industry as a whole to introduce fresh and varied perspectives but it does come with a risk of the story being messed up. How to strike a balance between the need for consistently high quality throughout the entire drama and risk & resource management within the confines of the harsher operating environment is going to be an important issue to consider. Otherwise, it will be even hard to get access to good scriptwriters and nurture new ones when they get wooed with more resources from companies with deeper pockets and enjoy more creative liberty beyond what's allowed on traditional TV. In the end, viewers like us would probably not get to enjoy good productions if the scriptwriter i.e. one of the three key pillars in drama production is not there to shore up the story even with the best cast and staff lineup.

Quick Review #91: Grand Maison Tokyo Special (Drama SP)

Title: Grand Maison Tokyo Special / グランメゾン東京スペシャル

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for: 

Those who are fans of the drama series and want to know what happened after the drama's ending and before the movie version starts but don't mind the lack of new and major developments / are fans of the original cast members plus new additions like Kubota Masataka and Kitamura Kazuki

Liked:

- While most drama SPs especially those meant to connect the end of the drama series with the movie version tend to be no more than a rehash of old material with minimal new scenes, it was obvious that there was still quite a fair bit of effort (and budget) put into this drama SP. In terms of set design, the cooking and food scenes, the same standard as seen in the drama series was maintained which was honestly a bit surprising because I was honestly expecting TBS to cut some corners here and there. In addition, the original cast were mostly back in force even though some only had a couple of scenes. Last but not least, there were even new additions i.e. Kubota Masataka and Kitamura Kazuki who definitely made quite a fair bit of impact here despite being late to the game. As such, for those who are in a nostalgic mood for the original series should be pretty satisfied with this SP along with some new elements to refresh the concept.

- At the beginning of the SP, there was a message dedicated to those in the dining/restaurant industry who had gone through severe challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. I thought this was a very nice gesture and encouragement for all of us even though we may not work in this industry but have similar experiences of going through those tough days. As the SP showed how the characters navigated the crisis in their own ways, it added a sense of reality to the story rather than just make it look like another feel-good fairytale where everything will go well as long as you work hard. Although the drama series had a rag-to-riches kind of vibe (creating the restaurant from scratch to getting the Michelin stars), the drama SP went down the path of showing how people rise up again after dropping from a lifetime high point (losing all the Michelin stars and suffering poor reviews from critics and customers to regaining lost ground) which I thought was comparatively more difficult to deal with in life. I kind of liked how the story was trying to say that there are more ways than one to deal with problems and that it is ok to admit defeat at times and bounce back from zero from there.

- Surprisingly or not, this drama SP was not so heavy on Kimura Takuya as the lead - I had the impression that the name Obana kept popping up but his actual airtime seemed quite limited in comparison. I think it had to do with the message that the story was trying to convey i.e. success does not lie with just one person and that at times, other people can step up to take the lead if need be. And so, it didn't feel odd that he wasn't seen as much as the lead of the story while the other characters especially Shohei (Tamamori Yuuta) showed a lot more development and growth as if to represent the fact that they are ready to take over the reins from their seniors.

Disliked: 

- Ultimately, this SP's role was still being the connector between the drama series and the movie version so other than filling in the gaps, there wasn't anything "groundbreaking" that happened. As such, it may feel a tad underwhelming especially in the first hour or so if you are looking for more excitement.

- As pointed out before in my review of the drama series, one bugbear I had with this was the fleeting scenes introducing the dishes. Before I could even read the ingredients list, the images kept moving quickly so it felt really rushed and it was hard to "savour" the aesthetics aspect of the dishes on screen. I thought that this was a huge pity because those beautifully-crafted dishes deserve to be admired a bit more.

Happy New Year 2025 + Dorama World's Recap of 2024

First of all, a very happy new year to everyone! あけましておめでとうございます！

This year marks the 19th year since I started the blog and honestly, I would never have expected to be still doing this after so many years if you had asked me back in 2006. Regardless of whether you are new here or have been longtime readers, I would like to thank you for your support and hope that this little space will continue to be of value and meaning to everyone who are fellow fans of Japanese entertainment especially dramas and movies.

Without spending any money on ads to promote this blog other than posting through the official social media channels, awareness of this site was probably limited to those who had followed me from the forum days in the beginning. This also meant that people wouldn't have found out about this site that easily unless my posts were indexed on search engines or they happened to come across my PR posts on social media. As such, it was such a pleasant surprise to see that this blog finally crossed the 5 million views' milestone this year even with this lack of publicity (without me realising it). Going by how "fast" the blog is chalking up views, I think it will be another couple of years before the next million milestone is reached though. ^__^

And so, I thought about marking the entry into a new year by looking back at my highlights on this blog for the year 2024.

Compared to 2023 when I watched J-drama series largely on TVer, my source of dramas and movies significantly expanded beyond this platform as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video started adding more titles at a steady pace in 2024 other than their own productions. 

My final tally in 2024 is as such:

* 61 titles compared to 34 in 2023

* 34 dramas + 27 movies

* Watched mostly on Netflix (36 out of 61), followed by TVer (9) and Amazon Prime Video (8)

* Among the key TV networks, watched the most dramas from TBS (10) followed by 7 from Amazon Prime Video and 5 from WOWOW

* Among the titles I watched, I'm glad that most of my picks met or exceeded my expectations (about 80% rated 5 and above). However, it seems that I have a comparatively lower success rate with movies because 8 of the 12 titles I did not like were movies.

* My top 7 highest rated titles this year (ratings in brackets) are as follows:

1) Lion no kakurega (10)

2) Zenryouiki ijou kaiketsushitsu (9.5)

3) Unmet Aru nougekkai no nikki / Yoake no subete / Warau Matoryoushika / Grand Maison Tokyo / Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo (9)

Note that other than "Shin kuukou senkyo" which I did not write a review for, the other titles I watched were all covered here so you can click on the "Quick Review" tab on the right side of the blog for these entries.

The reviews for "Grand Maison Tokyo SP" and "Oshi no ko" (drama version) will be posted in due course in January 2025.

While our preferences may differ, I still hope that my reviews can serve two purposes i.e. allow people to find out more about titles which may potentially be their cup of tea and for those who had watched those titles to read about different perspectives and share their own views and observations. As such, if it just so happens that I didn't like what you thought more favourably of or vice versa, let's not get upset or worked up over this difference in opinions because even the most popular or supposedly hit drama/movie will have its detractors anyway.

With the increase in the number of titles I watched in 2024, this had also led to the number of reviews I wrote as compared to previous years. I hope to be able to stay on course with doing this in 2025 as much as time allows.

In addition, I am happy to note that I managed to write a number of special reports and analytical pieces about the J-ent industry this year. For those who have missed this, you can check out the Analysis/Special Report tab.

To be honest, I am not very happy with using X nowadays ever since how messed up it got due to its new owner but given that Dorama World has a significant following there, it's not easy to get the users to migrate to another platform. However, if there comes a time when I really have to exit that platform, I am glad to note that I expanded Dorama World's social media presence to new platforms i.e. Instagram, Threads and Bluesky. Hopefully, there's one platform which you can use as a backup for now if there ever comes a day when I have to say goodbye to X or even Facebook.

And this wraps up my recap of 2024 on Dorama World. I hope the new year brings good things for you and everyone can stay safe and happy! Take care ~

Preview of "Grand Maison Tokyo Special" (Drama SP)

Title: Grand Maison Tokyo Special / グランメゾン東京スペシャル

Official website: here

Official Instagram: here

Official TikTok: here

Official X: here

O.A. Date: 29 December 2024 at 9pm

Broadcast by: TBS

Cast: Kimura Takuya, Suzuki Kyoka, Tamamori Yuuta, Kanichiro, Asakura Aki, Yoshitani Ayako, Kubota Masataka, Kitamura Kazuki, Onoe Kikunosuke, Tominaga Ai, Nakamura An, Oikawa Mitsuhiro & Sawamura Ikki

Quick Review #68: Grand Maison Tokyo - Autumn 2019

Title: Grand Maison Tokyo / グランメゾン東京

Rating: 9 / 10

Recommended for: 

Those who like cooking-themed stories or inspirational tales of pursuing excellence and success + who are fans of the star-studded cast

Liked:

- The authenticity and high quality of the production were very evident as seen from the set design, props used, dishes presented and the cinematography. The before-and-after transformation of the main set for Grand Maison Tokyo was simply breathtaking (kudos goes to the set designer and art director) since it looked no more than a dark warehouse and looked so welcoming, bright and comfortable after the renovation. The furniture, equipment and furnishings used inside definitely looked professional and of high quality - the kitchen equipment were sponsored by Fujimak Corporation. Having location shooting done at places like the Michelin 3-star L'Ambroisie in Paris, the French embassy and Maison Paul Bocuse in Tokyo coupled with having skilful and famous chefs do the culinary design and supervision of the dishes definitely raised the overall standard of the drama. Even the cast looked very convincing in the cooking scenes, thanks to the training and practice put in for their roles. Last but not least, you might have to avoid watching this when you are hungry because the dishes looked so delicious on screen. 

- While the story itself wasn't that groundbreaking in terms of its overall direction i.e. the pursuit for excellence by a group of underdogs, this drama had a number of key differentiating factors that made it more inspirational and engaging to watch.

First of all, there had been a tendency for dramas starring Kimura Takuya to be more focused on his character alone so everyone else in the supporting roles were sort of relegated to the sidelines. That was a constant complaint in the past when his dramas had a very strong supporting lineup but everyone became so "unimportant" in Kimura's presence (at least on screen). However, this drama emphasized the importance of teamwork and how everyone playing their parts helped to contribute to the success of the restaurant just like how all elements of the 10-course meal, service, deco, cutlery and overall dining experience matter as to whether a restaurant would earn a Michelin star. It was also good that the story did not try to put Kimura's character Obana as the actual/official leader of the team since it was more meaningful and memorable for Obana to be a "supporter" rather than a "leader" so that the team could shine and be able to survive on its own even without Obana around.

Secondly, I really liked how they designed Suzuki Kyoka's character Hayami Rinko as an equal to Obana Natsuki (Kimura Takuya) rather than her depending on him all the time to achieve success at the end. The growth of her character throughout the story and how she was holding up against him despite her own insecurities and his overpowering talent and obnoxious character (at times) were really gratifying to watch. It was also a great decision not to force a loveline for their characters although it was obvious they liked and respected each other as professional chefs.

Last but not least, the story didn't try too hard in making the journey to success for Grand Maison Tokyo so smooth-sailing that it looked unrealistic. While there were obvious obstacles like how a new restaurant would struggle to gain a following and critical acclaim for their food, there were hiccups like hidden adversaries, a team with members who had issues with Obana for various reasons and people changing sides which helped to add a bit of unpredictability for the story. Although achieving Michelin stars was seen as the goal for this story, I think it was good that the story also slightly touched on what happens after you reach the finish line i.e. you may lose sleep over trying to maintain the stars and/or trying to outdo yourself and the competitors OR you simply lose sight of what you should do or originally wanted to do.

Disliked: 

- As someone who has very little knowledge and experience with French fine dining, the theme of this drama can alienate those who are like me in this respect. While it was helpful for the drama to explain the key and basic facts of French fine dining and breakdown the ingredients used in the dishes, the information flashed by so quickly on screen and some explanations could be difficult to understand without some prior knowledge. Besides, I am not the type who's very adventurous with food so the thought of using exotic meats or unfamiliar ingredients in French fine dining was a bit of a turnoff for me at times. The desserts did look quite intriguing and appealing to me though.

- At the same time, the story can also be difficult to understand or identify with because of the reason or rationale for being so focused on achieving the Michelin stars. From my perspective at least, I find that so-called objective assessments of a restaurant's quality or the taste of dishes are still very much subjected to personal tastes and preferences and bias in sampling (since Michelin does not visit every restaurant in the city in the first place) so it's not as fair as it may seem. And since food is something that's very subjective to one's tastes, I don't really rely on food reviews to tell me whether I should go and try something. At most, such reviews serve as an information source for me to know what's out there for me to try. As such, whether you agree with or appreciate this pursuit of Michelin stars as something worthwhile or meaningful may affect how much you feel about this story. For me, the significance of this goal was slightly lost on me so this part of the story didn't quite resonate with me.

Winners of the Tokyo Drama Award 2020

Drama Series Category

Grand Prix: Idaten ~ Tokyo Olympic Hanashi ~ (NHK)

Excellence Awards:

- Kore wa keihi de ochimasen! (NHK)

- Anata no ban desu (NTV)

- Ore no hanashi wa nagai (NTV)

- Nagi no Oitoma (TBS)

- Koi wa tsuzukuyo dokomademo (TBS)

- Byouin no naoshikata ~ Doctor Arihara no chousen ~ (TV Tokyo)

Drama SP Category

Grand Prix: Kyoujou (FujiTV)

Excellence Awards:

- Stranger ~ Shanghai no Akutagawa Ryuunosuke ~ (NHK)

- Switch (TV Asahi)

- America ni makenakatta otoko ~ Bakayarou souri Yoshida Shigeru ~ (TV Tokyo)

- 2020 nen Gogatsu no Koi (WOWOW)

Local Drama Category

- Tonari no Masara (NHK Fukuoka)

- Himawarittsu ~ Miyazaki Legend ~ (TV Miyazaki)

Individual Awards

Best Leading Actor: Ikuta Toma (Ore no hanashi wa nagai)

Best Leading Actress: Kuroki Haru (Nagi no Oitoma)

Best Supporting Actor: Sato Takeru (Koi wa tsuzukuyo dokomademo)

Best Supporting Actress: Ito Sairi (Kore wa keihi de ochimasen!)

Best Scriptwriter: Kaneko Shigeki (Ore no hanashi wa nagai)

Best Director: Tsukahara Ayuko (Grand Maison Tokyo)

Best Theme Song: "I LOVE..." by Official Higedandism (Koi wa tsuzukuyo dokomademo)

Foreign Dramas

- Serenade of Peaceful Joy 清平乐 (China)

- Crash Landing On You 사랑의 불시착 (South Korea)

- Repercussion กรงกรรม (Thailand)

Sources: Modelpress / International Drama Festival in Tokyo

The 103rd Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2019) - Best Drama

Overall Ranking Top 3
1) Grand Maison Tokyo
2) Ore no hanashi wa nagai
3) Ossans Love - in the sky -

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Grand Maison Tokyo
2) Ossans Love - in the sky -
3) G Senjou no anata to watashi
4) Ore no hanashi wa nagai
5) Black Kousoku

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Grand Maison Tokyo
2) Ore no hanashi wa nagai
3) Idaten ~ Tokyo Olympic Banashi ~
4) G Senjou no anata to watashi
5) Ossans Love - in the sky -

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Grand Maison Tokyo
2) Ore no hanashi wa nagai
3) G Senjou no anata to watashi
4) Idaten ~ Tokyo Olympic Banashi ~
5) Miss Jikocho ~ Tensai Amano Kyouju no chousa file ~

Source: The Television

The 103rd Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2019) - Best Leading Actor

Overall Ranking Top 3
1) Kimura Takuya - Grand Maison Tokyo
2) Ikuta Toma - Ore no hanashi wa nagai
3) Tanaka Kei - Ossans Love - in the sky -

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Tanaka Kei - Ossans Love - in the sky -
2) Kimura Takuya - Grand Maison Tokyo
3) Ikuta Toma - Ore no hanashi wa nagai
4) Dean Fujioka - Sherlock Untold Stories
5) Kitayama Hiromitsu - Million Joe

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Kimura Takuya - Grand Maison Tokyo
2) Ikuta Toma - Ore no hanashi wa nagai
3) Abe Hiroshi - Mada kekkon dekinai otoko
4) Tanaka Kei - Ossans Love - in the sky -
5) Dean Fujioka - Sherlock Untold Stories

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Kimura Takuya - Grand Maison Tokyo
2) Ikuta Toma - Ore no hanashi wa nagai
3) Dean Fujioka - Sherlock Untold Stories
4) Abe Sadao - Idaten ~ Tokyo Olympic Banashi ~
5) Tanaka Kei - Ossans Love - in the sky -

Source: The Televison

The 103rd Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2019) - Best Supporting Actor

Overall Ranking Top 3
1) Tamamori Yuuta - Grand Maison Tokyo
2) Nakagawa Taishi - G Senjou no Anata to Watashi
3) Yasuda Ken - Ore no hanashi wa nagai

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Chiba Yuudai - Ossans Love - in the sky -
2) Tamamori Yuuta - Grand Maison Tokyo
3) Nakagawa Taishi - G Senjou no Anata to Watashi
4) Sawamura Ikki - Grand Maison Tokyo
5) Totsugi Shigeyuki - Ossans Love - in the sky -

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Yasuda Ken - Ore no hanashi wa nagai
2) Tamamori Yuuta - Grand Maison Tokyo
3) Chiba Yuudai - Ossans Love - in the sky -
4) Nakagawa Taishi - G Senjou no Anata to Watashi
5) Yoshida Kotaro - Ossans Love - in the sky -

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Yasuda Ken - Ore no hanashi wa nagai
2) Nakagawa Taishi - G Senjou no Anata to Watashi
3) Yoshida Kotaro - Ossans Love - in the sky -
4) Moriyama Mirai - Idaten ~ Tokyo Olympic Banashi ~
Yakusho Koji - Tokyo Olympic Banashi ~
Tamamori Yuuta - Grand Maison Tokyo

Source: The Televison

The 103rd Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2019) - Best Supporting Actress

Overall Ranking Top 3
1) Koike Eiko - Ore no hanashi wa nagai
2) Suzuki Kyoka - Grand Maison Tokyo
3) Matsushita Yuki - G Senjou no Anata to Watashi
4) Kiyohara Kaya - Ore no hanashi wa nagai
5) Tominaga Ai - Grand Maison Tokyo

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Suzuki Kyoka - Grand Maison Tokyo
2) MEGUMI - Ossans Love - in the sky -
3) Matsushita Yuki - G Senjou no Anata to Watashi
4) Koike Eiko - Ore no hanashi wa nagai
5) Kiyohara Kaya - Ore no hanashi wa nagai

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Koike Eiko - Ore no hanashi wa nagai
2) Kiyohara Kaya - Ore no hanashi wa nagai
3) Suzuki Kyoka - Grand Maison Tokyo
4) Motola Serina - Black Kousoku
5) Nanao - 4 Punkan no Marigold

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Koike Eiko - Ore no hanashi wa nagai
2) Suzuki Kyoka - Grand Maison Tokyo
3) Matsushita Yuki - G Senjou no Anata to Watashi
4) Tominaga Ai - Grand Maison Tokyo
5) Nanao - 4 Punkan no Marigold

Source: The Television

The 103rd Drama Academy Awards (Autumn 2019) - Best Theme Song

Overall Ranking Top 3
1) RECIPE by Yamashita Tatsuro (Grand Maison Tokyo)
2) Negai by sumika (Ossans Love - in the sky -)
3) Tomoyo by Kanjani 8 (Ore no hanashi wa nagai)

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) Negai by sumika (Ossans Love - in the sky -)
2) RECIPE by Yamashita Tatsuro (Grand Maison Tokyo)
3) Tomoyo by Kanjani 8 (Ore no hanashi wa nagai)
4) sabotage by Ryokuoushoku Shakai (G Senjou no Anata to Watashi)
5) Edge of Days by Kis-My-Ft2 (Million Joe)

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) RECIPE by Yamashita Tatsuro (Grand Maison Tokyo)
2) Tomoyo by Kanjani 8 (Ore no hanashi wa nagai)
3) Mada Swimmy by Mochida Kaori (Mada kekkon dekinai otoko)
4) Sakura 2019 by Moriyama Naotaro (Douki no Sakura)
5) Edge of Days by Kis-My-Ft2 (Million Joe)

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) RECIPE by Yamashita Tatsuro (Grand Maison Tokyo)
2) sabotage by Ryokuoushoku Shakai (G Senjou no Anata to Watashi)  / Searching For The Ghost by Dean Fujioka (Sherlock) / Mada Swimmy by Mochida Kaori (Mada kekkon dekinai otoko)
5) Sakura 2019 by Moriyama Naotaro (Douki no Sakura) / Tomoyo by Kanjani 8 (Ore no hanashi wa nagai) / Negai by sumika (Ossans Love - in the sky -) / Itadakimasu by Koresawa (Shinmai Shimai no Futarigohan) / Shelly by Dean Fujioka (Sherlock)

Source: The Televison

Winners of Nikkansports Dorama Grand Prix (Autumn 2019)

There were 463 valid votes for this round of voting between 12 Dec and 19 Dec where the top 5 for each category in each season would then be eligible as nominees for the annual awards.The numbers in brackets indicate the number of votes received for the drama and/or actor/actress.

Best Drama
1) Ossans Love - in the sky - (260)
2) Douki no Sakura (20)
3) Ore no hanashi wa nagai (19)
4) Grand Maison Tokyo / Sherlock (18)

Best Leading Actor
1) Tanaka Kei - Ossans Love - in the sky - (271)
2) Kimura Takuya - Grand Maison Tokyo (31)
3) Dean Fujioka - Sherlock (27)
4) Abe Hiroshi - Mada kekkon dekinai otoko (25)
5) Ikuta Toma - Ore no hanashi wa nagai (22)

Best Leading Actress
1) Toda Erika - Scarlet (113)
2) Takahata Mitsuki - Douki no Sakura (85)
3) Haru - G Senjou no Anata to Watashi (41)
4) Inoue Mao - Shounen Torajiro / Takaoka Saki - Rika  (15)

Best Supporting Actor
1) Chiba Yuudai - Ossans Love - in the sky - (116)
2) Totsugi Shigeyuki - Ossans Love - in the sky - (67)
3) Yoshida Kotaro - Ossans Love - in the sky - (44)
4) Hayashi Kento - Scarlet (33)
5) Iwata Takanori - Sherlock (20)

Best Supporting Actress
1) MEGUMI - Ossans Love - in the sky - (93)
2) Satsukawa Aimi - Ossans Love - in the sky - (85)
3) Koike Eiko - Ore no hanashi wa nagai (38)
4) Suzuki Kyoka - Grand Maison Tokyo (23)
5) Matsushita Yuki - G Senjoy no Anata to Watashi (21)

Source: Nikkansports

Preview of "Grand Maison Tokyo" - Autumn 2019

Title: Grand Maison Tokyo グランメゾン東京
Official website: here
Official Twitter: here
O.A. Start Date: 20 Oct 2019
Timeslot: Sundays 9pm
Broadcast by: TBS
Theme Song: "RECIPE" by Yamashita Tatsuro
Cast: Kimura Takuya, Suzuki Kyoka, Tamamori Yuta, Kanichiro, Asakura Aki, Yoshitani Ayako, Onoe Kikunosuke, Nakamura An, Tezuka Tooru, Oikawa Mitsuhiro & Sawamura Ikki