EXILE's TAKAHIRO & Takei Emi announce their marriage; expecting their first child in spring next year

EXILE's vocalist TAKAHIRO and actress Takei Emi got married on 1 September after dating for two and a half years as announced by his agency through a fax statement sent to the media. It was also revealed that Takei is already 3 months' pregnant and expected to give birth in spring next year. There are no plans for a wedding nor press conference with regard to this.

In the joint statement from the newly-married couple, they apologised for the sudden announcement which is bound to cause inconvenience to related parties and revealed that they are also expecting a new family member next spring. The couple met through the NTV Winter 2014 drama "Senryokugai Sousakan" and were first reported to be romantically linked by magazine "FLASH" in April the following year. Although both parties denied being an item then, they had been actually dating for two and a half months then. The couple mentioned in their statement that they began their relationship as colleagues and progressed to becoming friends before becoming a couple with the intention of getting married as they were drawn to each other's personality.

With regard to their future plans, the couple pledged to treasure the feeling of gratefulness to everyone and respect each other as they grow and become better in their careers. They apologised again at the end of the statement for not being able to share the news with their fans earlier until today.

TAKAHIRO also released a message to his fans via his agency's official blog where he mentioned that although he is still far from mature, he will continue to seize every opportunity given to him and develop himself further as a performer without forgetting his core values and being grateful to the fans. He hoped that he will become an even better performer in return for the support of his fans and wished that they will continue to support him warmly.

On the other hand, Takei who is scheduled to star in NTV's Autumn 2017 drama "Ima kara anata wo kyouhaku shimasu" along with Dean Fujioka, will continue to participate in the drama's filming. According to NTV, they had been informed by Takei's agency about the news and will try their best to make accommodations for her condition during the filming.

Sources: Oricon 1 / Nikkansports 1 / Nikkansports 2 / Oricon 2

Takenaka Naoto to appear from Ep 4 of FujiTV Autumn 2016 drama "Cain to Abel" as Minami Kaho's fiance

Takenaka Naoto will be appearing from the 4th episode of FujiTV Autumn 2016 drama "Cain to Abel" to be shown on 7 November as Minami Kaho's fiance. This will be his 7th appearance as a regular cast member in a FujiTV Monday 9pm drama which places him on par with Fukuyama Masaharu and Eguchi Yosuke. The record holder is Kimura Takuya who has 11 dramas under his belt. Takenaka is also the first actor to appear in the Getsu 9 dramas for three years in a row since Winter 2014's "Shitsuren Chocolatier" and Spring 2015's "Youkoso, Wagaya e". In response, Takenaka expressed his joy at being invited so many times and hopes that this can continue in future.

This time, Takenaka will be playing Kurosawa Kousuke who is a weirdo investor active in Asia who appears the fiance of Takada Momoko (Minami Kaho), the aunt of Ryuichi (Kiritani Kenta) and Yu (Yamada Ryosuke). As Takenaka is well-known for making his co-stars burst out laughing during filming, Yamada was bracing himself for that but unexpectedly, Takenaka was acting seriously this time. However, with his bright red clothes and somewhat weird behaviour, Takenaka's character will be worth keeping a lookout for as he will definitely become a key person in the story.

Sources: Sanspo / Oricon

Takei Emi & EXILE's TAKAHIRO reportedly dating?

EXILE's vocalist TAKAHIRO and Takei Emi are said to be dating, according to the 27th April issue of "FLASH". In the article, TAKAHIRO was said to have visited Takei's apartment at least twice per week and photos of him alighting from his car and entering the apartment block as well as visiting the convenience store near her place were published.

The two of them last worked together in NTV's Winter 2014 drama "Senryokugai Sousakan" and reunited at the beginning of this year for the filming of the SP which was shown on 21 April. It was believed that they became closer while on the overseas filming trip to Macau and they were first caught to have gone on a date at a yakiniku restaurant in late February. However, TAKAHIRO was previously romantically linked to former AKB48 member Itano Tomomi and even rumoured to be close to getting married in January this year although this was denied by him later. On the other hand, Takei was said to be told not to date anyone until she turns 25 which is a rule believed to be imposed since she made her debut in 2006.

When asked about the dating rumour, Takei's agency denied it and said that they are friends. It further explained that TAKAHIRO was at Takei's place for occasions such as a group steamboat party or to pass her a present. Besides, Takei is staying with her mother so it's not as if they were alone. However, it admitted that her actions did cause some speculation and worry and claimed that they would not meet up anymore. As for TAKAHIRO, his agency said that they were not dating and denied the rumour.

Source: Nikkansports

Review of "Ashita, Mama ga inai" - Winter 2014

Amid the bad press surrounding this drama when it was airing, I didn't have time to finish watching it so I was not too sure if it was really as controversial as the critics made it out to be. However, after watching the entire drama, the feeling I got was, "what was all that hoo-ha about anyway?". I'm not trying to belittle the concerns highlighted by the parties concerned about children living in and staff working in welfare facilities but honestly, this drama had nothing really drastically different from past dramas about children in less-privileged circumstances that warranted all that negative publicity. Certainly not to the extent of having the drama shortened or the sponsors pulling out their CM deals too.

Before I begin with my review, here's the usual disclaimer. If you haven't watched this drama and do not wish for me to spoil the fun for you, please skip this.

The story begins in this welfare facility called Kogamo no Ie (Little Duck's Home) which was established and is managed by Sasaki Tomonori (Mikami Hiroshi). As he's always dressed in dark colours, walks around menacingly with his walking stick and speaks harshly to the children under his charge, he is nicknamed "Maou" (Devil King) by them. The children who come to Kogamo are those who can't be with their parents for various reasons such as death, domestic violence or child abandon. Despite his cold demeanour, Sasaki always thinks of the welfare of his charges and tries to help them find suitable foster parents so that they may begin a new life. He even goes to the extent of partnering up with child welfare officer Mizusawa Kanai (Kimura Fumino) who brings the particulars of potential foster parents to Sasaki who then passes it on to the children to choose who they are interested in to be their foster parents. This is actually not allowed but apparently, Sasaki and Mizusawa believe firmly that children should have the right to choose who they want to be with rather than be selected by foster parents. Other than Sasaki, the only employee at Kogamo is a young man nicknamed Locker (Miura Shohei) who doesn't speak at all and goes about his daily chores of cleaning and cooking for the children.

At the centre of the story are four girls who will be known by their nicknames rather than first names throughout most of this drama i.e. Post (Ashida Mana), Donki (Suzuki Rio), Piami (Sakurada Hiyori) and Bonbi (Watanabe Konomi). Their nicknames have a lot to do with their circumstances e.g. Post was nicknamed as such because she had been abandoned by her parents and left in the child post box at a hospital. Donki didn't want to accept her nickname at first because she was called as such due to her mother using a blunt object to hit her lover and was arrested by the police for assault. In Japanese, a blunt object is called donki. As for Piami, her real name is Naomi and she plays the piano well (she used to be a rich man's daughter and learned to play from young) thus she is nicknamed as such. Last but not least, Bonbi got her nickname because the people around her thought that she was admitted to the facility due to her parents being in poverty. However, the real reason was that they died due to a natural disaster and their bodies were never found but Bonbi still refused to believe that they were dead so she would rather believe that her parents would come back for her once they had money.

To put it simply, the story focuses on how the children in Kogamo gradually get adopted one by one or return to their original families for one reason or another. No matter the outcome, Sasaki would strive to achieve the best for these kids. Throughout the process, there were times when he would reprimand the kids for being too wilful or not pandering to the foster parents. Actually, he meant well although the words he used could have been more carefully selected. Then again, if he chose to go soft on the kids, they might not listen to him. I guess it also has to do with the fact that Sasaki used to be a police detective and had limited exposure to children thus he might not have been able to talk nicely to them even though he may have wanted to.

If the kids insisted on throwing tantrums and not accepting the circumstances that they were in, chances are there won't be any foster parents who might be willing to take them in. Sasaki believed firmly that securing the best match between child and foster parent was the No.1 way of ensuring that both parties would be happy. As such, he would rather take on the role of a devil to force the children to understand the circumstances they were already in and make an effort to change their destinies. We cannot deny the fact that there is already discrimination towards children in such under-privileged conditions such as name-calling or parents telling their kids not to mix around with such children i.e. automatically assuming that the children would be bad people just because they didn't have parents or a complete family. To Sasaki and perhaps to Mizusawa too, they were probably of the opinion that by sending these children off to families which can truly care for them, that was going to be the best way out.

Of course, in Sasaki's case, the reason why he set up Kogamo was partly due to the fact that he wanted to atone for his sin of killing his own child. He didn't actually mean to do that but as his wife Kaori (Suzuki Sawa) was in critical condition while pregnant, he had to give up his child in order to save her. This led to the breakdown of their marriage thus Sasaki could only watch Kaori from afar now and did not dare to meet her for fear that she would run away again. In the end, the relationship between them is revealed and Kaori goes off again as she feels guilty towards Sasaki for being with another man to seek relief for the loss of their child.

As the children go off one by one, the only people left are Otsubone (Ogo Suzuka) who is planning to leave Kogamo as she's nearing 18 and will live at a boarding school to learn nursing and of course, Post. In fact, Post has been the longest-staying child in Kogamo since she was brought back as an infant by Sasaki. Although Post had a chance of being adopted by her teacher's family, it caused a lot of emotional pain for her. Seeing this, Sasaki decides to adopt Post as his own daughter which she gladly accepts in the end. In a way, she has also accepted her past because she's now willing to use her real name i.e. Kirara rather than be called Post.

Frankly speaking, if you have not watched this drama and simply heard about the controversy surrounding it, you might have assumed that this was some dark drama about children being bullied because they had no parents and how abusive welfare facility workers can be. This is absolutely rubbish! Especially towards the end, you can see how positive the theme has become with everyone seeking their own form of happiness. No doubt it may have to do with the fact that the direction of the story changed due to the bad press. However, even from the first few episodes, I still didn't see anything that was so controversial to warrant all those negative remarks. Sasaki may have been a bit harsh towards the children by calling them names but this is way too mild compared to some of the more controversial social-themed dramas in the 90s especially those from Nojima Shinji. And the bullying is nothing new, nothing that radically different from what I've seen in many other older dramas. As for the nicknames, they are not given out of malice (definitely not name-calling) but there is a valid reason for each of these names given. Especially in Post's case, she detested her real name Kirara given by her birth parents because it was not only very girly (unlike her strong character) and that she didn't want anything given by them. That is why she was perfectly fine with being called Post although some people may view it negatively.

Talking about Nojima's role in this drama, he was merely listed as script director while the real scriptwriter was Matsuda Saya. I think there could be a certain degree of influence from Nojima but this drama is comparatively more heartwarming and positive than many of his older works such as Koukou Kyoushi, Ningen Shikaku, Miseinen, Seija no Koshin, Sekimatsu no Uta or Lipstick. It is unfair to say that just because Nojima was involved in this project that this is definitely a dark drama. If you look at Love Shuffle, you can hardly associate the current Nojima with his style in the 90s. I don't know if there was any deviation from the original storyline as compared to the final product we saw but if there had indeed been changes made to react to the negative press surrounding the drama, I think that would have been a real pity because this drama had the potential to be great, not just average as how I feel about it. Before the season started, this drama looked too promising but I think the pressure on it somehow caused the drama to fizzle out in the end.

As for the acting, Ashida Mana felt like an adult trapped in a child's body. She was way too mature for her age which speaks volumes of her acting skills but it can be a bit too uncomfortable to see her being so much like an adult. On the other hand, Suzuki Rio reminded me a lot of the old Ashida Mana who was great in acting and yet retained that child-like charm. I wouldn't say that who is better than who because their characters are very different. It would be nice to see Ashida go back to looking and behaving more like her age in her next work rather than become a half-adult who gives a rather awkward vibe. I also like Watanabe Konomi's performance as Bonbi who really could strike a balance between providing comedic relief and being all serious when the truth about her parents were revealed.

As for the adults, Mikami Hiroshi's character was fleshed out only when his link to Kaori was exposed so for the first part of the drama, you would probably see him as a stern man who cannot bring himself to be nicer to the kids under his charge. When his vulnerabilities and his sad past were revealed, it makes him look more like a complete character and I like his subtle way of acting as well as his interaction with Ashida Mana. With regard to Kimura Fumino and Miura Shohei, they were both pretty "emotionless" throughout most of the drama so it's a bit more difficult for me to warm up to their characters or find them endearing. Nonetheless, having to maintain that cool face is already a challenge and I think they did reasonably well in that sense.

And my ratings for this drama...

Story: 7 out of 10 (I liked this drama for its positiveness that you had to take the initiative to change your circumstances rather than wallow in pity but there is this nagging thought that this drama might have done better if there was no controversy surrounding it in the first place)

Acting: 8 out of 10 (Great acting from the child actors especially but not all characters were evenly developed so some of them were less memorable)

Theme song/BGM: 5 out of 10 (The theme song did not leave much of an impression on me.)

Visual effects / Scenery: 6 out 10 (There were some nice outdoor scenes like the sunset on the bridge but other than that, there wasn't a lot to impress me visually.)

Teamwork / Chemistry: 8 out of 10 (The girls had pretty good chemistry together and I also like how Ashida Mana and Mikami Hiroshi interacted with each other.)

Total: 34 out of 50

Review of "Kami no Tsuki" (drama) - Winter 2014

To make it clear, this review is about the drama version of "Kami no Tsuki" (Paper Moon) starring Harada Tomoyo, not the movie version starring Miyazawa Rie which will be shown in cinemas from 15 November. I would assume that the storyline for both versions would be largely the same since they are based on the same novel by Kakuta Mitsuyo.

To begin with, here is a summary of the storyline. As usual, if you do not wish to know the developments nor ending of this drama, please skip this review.

Umezawa Rika (Harada Tomoyo), an ordinary housewife becomes the centre of media attention as she is the suspect in an embezzlement case involving a huge sum of JPY 100m and has skipped town before the police arrested her. The story shows Rika having escaped to a Southeast Asian country (location shooting in Chiangmai, Thailand) as details of what happened to her prior to her escape get disclosed through her reflections and the recollections of her best friends from senior high school i.e. Chujo Aki (Nishida Naomi) and Okazaki Yuko (Mizuno Maki).

Rika came from a very wealthy family and was studying in a private girls' high school when she met Aki and Yuko. Even at this young age, Rika had a strong opinion of her own and would not hesitate to make her point known e.g. object to the school imposing a limit on how much money the students could donate to charity but not on contributing money to the school's expansion. However, Rika's family underwent an upheaval later on, causing them to sell off their assets to pay off their debts. After graduating from college, Rika worked briefly at a credit card company before she met her husband Masafumi (Mitsuishi Ken) and became a housewife. At the suggestion of Aki, Rika later began working part-time at a bank.

On the surface, all seemed fine between Rika and Masafumi. However, Masafumi would from time to time ignore or hurt Rika's feelings by putting her down and emphasizing that her part-time job was nothing compared to his career or avoiding the issue of having children. As time went by, Rika realised that Masafumi would never change his ways and gave up on having children. She also decided to switch to full-time work at the bank since Masafumi had no objections nor supported her decision.

One day, while at a house visit to one of the bank's important customers named Hirabayashi Kozo, Rika meets his grandson Kota. The relationship between Kozo and Kota is far from rosy as Kozo thinks that his family members are just eyeing his fortune. This encounter turns out to be the turning point in Rika's life as she and Kota start to meet up and later develops a relationship. Kota misunderstands that Rika is a rich man's wife and starts to depend on her financially as well. In a bid to keep up appearances and continue supporting Kota's needs, Rika starts to embezzle money from her clients' accounts by forging deposit receipts and tricking them into buying fictitious financial investment products.

When Masafumi gets transferred to Shanghai for work, he automatically assumes that Rika will follow him there. However, Rika's reluctance to give up her job as well as her relationship with Kota makes her say no. By the time Masafumi returns to Japan after his Shanghai stint, he seems to have undergone a change and has become more understanding towards Rika. However, Rika's relationship with Kota has hit the rocks and she has sunk too deep into the financial trap she created for herself that the only way out for her is to go on the run. In a bid to spend time with Masafumi before she does that, Rika agrees to going on a short trip with him and later disappears under the pretext of heading overseas for a friend's wedding.

After Rika's escape, the media goes wild about her case especially how she embezzled money seemingly for the sake of Kota. Surprisingly, Masafumi expresses faith in his wife and even apologises to those affected by what Rika did. Meanwhile, Rika's buddies Aki and Yuko who are concerned about Rika's case and her whereabouts, have their own issues to contend with as well. Aki who appears to be a successful career woman on the surface, suffers from a shopping addiction which led to near bankruptcy for her ex-husband, the breakdown of their marriage and the loss of her daughter's custody to her ex-husband. Years later, Aki tries to reach out to her daughter again but ends up using money to buy the latter whatever she wants in a bid to compensate for the years of neglect and inability to stay with her daughter. However, Aki realises that she is merely repeating the same mistake as she did in the past by spending beyond her means to buy her daughter's love and decides to stop doing it which makes her daughter very angry. On the other hand, Yuko appears to be a happily-married housewife but her obsession with saving money for the family's future, alienates her from her husband and daughter who think that she is going overboard. This makes Yuko feel indignant that her efforts are not appreciated by the people who she is doing all these things for.

Rika is faced with the dilemma of having to extend her visa by crossing over to another country but she is scared of being nabbed if she is flagged as a wanted person at the customs. On the other hand, the toll of being on the run makes Rika toy with the idea of going to the customs anyway since she should be repatriated. At the end of the drama, Rika is shown walking towards the customs checkpoint but it is not stated specifically if she's caught by the authorities or allowed to cross the border without any problems.

Technically, this drama is all about Rika's downward spiral in life. Much of what we know about Rika actually comes from her own narrative and the missing bits and pieces are filled in by those who know her i.e. her husband, close friends and colleagues. To everyone who knows Rika, they cannot understand why she would embezzle so much money and what she had used it on. It may be easy to blame Kota entirely for what happened to Rika but the very first time that Rika used a client's money for her own benefit (although she did put the money back later) was when she bought a range of skincare products for herself. All along, Rika probably wasn't too concerned with her appearance and seemed to be content with being a good wife to Masafumi and wishing to be a mother one day. However, Masafumi's attitude towards her especially when he kept undermining her importance and value in life made her give up in the end and that's when Rika started to do things for her own sake. It's true that Rika subsequently had the need to keep up pretenses to play a rich man's wife in front of Kota and continue earning his respect and admiration and she needed to help him financially as well but I think the awakening of Rika's self-awareness thanks to Masafumi and the subsequent desire to be needed by someone i.e. Kota were the two key factors that led to Rika going out of control. Back then in school, Aki and Yuko already revealed the fact that Rika had the desire to be needed and be important to someone. That trait has never changed over the years thus Kota's appearance was the catalyst that led to this trait being resurrected.

Honestly speaking, I do not think that Rika really loves Kota. She probably wasn't attracted to his looks nor personality in the first place. However, Kota's need for her and her money was what Rika was drawn to. Since Masafumi didn't seem to think of her as being important to him, Rika found her desire to be needed in Kota. That's why she didn't seem overly upset when Kota was seeing another woman later. If she had been truly in love with him, she would have reacted more strongly instead of letting him go so easily.

What I found really surprising was Masafumi's attitude towards Rika after the case came to light and she had skipped town. Going by his obnoxious attitude towards her in the past, I would have expected him to express rage at his wife's affair with Kota and draw a clear line between him and her actions. However, seeing him apologise in public for what she did and him obviously being willing to wait for Rika to come back just seems to suggest that he still had some feelings for her and was ready to reconcile with her if she did come back. Perhaps the time they spent apart did good after all as it made Masafumi see how Rika mattered to him?

Harada Tomoyo who has this air of elegance and pure image all along, was clearly suited for the role of Rika. Just like Rika who was seen to be someone who would stand up for noble causes and didn't look like she had a lot of material desires, Harada had the same type of image. That is why when the case came out into the open, it took many people by surprise because they wouldn't have associated Rika as someone who could commit such an embezzlement case and used that money to support the guy she was having an affair with. She managed to show the fact that Rika probably was more obsessed with being needed rather than having a need for all that money so it did help to push up the sympathy factor for Rika's circumstances. Then again, Rika also needed to be blamed for her obsession in giving to others what they may or may not have wanted. Kota probably didn't expect right from the start that Rika would give him money or meet his needs. However, when that started, Kota got too used to taking while Rika was too hung up over giving until it reached the point of no return. On the other hand, I thought that her chemistry with Mitsushima Shinosuke was a bit lacking which I attributed partly due to the fact that she had to show that love was probably not a key factor in what led to Rika's actions. There was something obviously missing especially in the scene where they slept together for the first time which I think Miyazawa Rie and Ikematsu Sousuke might be able to do better in the movie version.

As for the supporting cast, due to the limited airtime given to them, it was hard for them to make a deep impression since the story is all about Rika. Nonetheless, I thought Aki's story was more interesting compared to Yuko's which was a bit too cliche.

If I am to judge this story solely as a narrative about Rika's downward spiral in life, I think it is quite complete and offers you slightly different perspectives about Rika. However, being too intensive on one person's development gives the impression that the rest of the characters are simply not important and it sort of upsets the balance in the story. For example, Masafumi's change of mind after returning from Shanghai may seem a bit abrupt while Aki and Yuko don't seem too emotionally involved in what happened to Rika and seem to be talking about it as if it was about someone unrelated to them. Before the drama started, it was said that what Rika did was supposed to affect them or change their mindset in a way or another but this was somewhat not so obvious. In this sense, I didn't enjoy this drama too much because it was too heavily skewed towards one person and neglected the developments of the supporting characters too much.

And my ratings for this drama...

Story: 6 out of 10 (There were times when I wished that the pacing would pick up and more attention given to Aki's and Yuko's character developments which would make the story more interesting.)

Acting: 6.5 out of 10 (Harada Tomoyo does a credible job as Rika but too bad the story didn't allow the other actors to have a chance to shine.)

Theme song/BGM: 5 out of 10 (The ending theme did not leave much of an impression on me.)

Visual effects / Scenery: 5 out 10 (Other than the scenes shot in Thailand, and some random outdoor scenes in Japan, there really wasn't much scenery to talk about.)

Teamwork / Chemistry: 5 out of 10 (I don't know if the lack of chemistry between Harada and Mitsushima was on purpose. In addition, due to Rika not having met her friends for most of this drama, there really wasn't much chemistry to speak of.)

Total: 27.5 out of 50

Review of "Lost Days" (ロスト・デイズ) - Winter 2014

At first sight, "Lost Days" reminded me a little of "Limit" which I reviewed some time earlier. Both dramas had a similar setting where a group of friends was stuck somewhere and the so-called friendships began to unravel with each exposed truth. There was also a murder involved so there would be a witch hunt to find the killer. The key difference between these two dramas were that the characters in "Lost Days" never really got into a life-and-death situation (except for the one who was killed) while those in "Limit" were the survivors of a traffic accident and had to survive before they were found by the rescuers.

Nonetheless, what got me started to watch this drama was the lure of a murder mystery and how the relationships of this group of buddies would change due to the truths they were hiding from one another. However, the level of suspense never met my expectations and it was quite easy to guess the progression of the story where even the identity of the killer was a giveaway. To put it simply, the suspense element of this story was a disappointment. The character development and acting were also pretty uneven thus making it even more difficult for me to like this drama.

Before I begin sharing my views, please be warned that there will be spoilers in this review so please skip this review if you haven't watched the drama.

A group of six friends from an university's tennis club decide to go on a 10-day skiing trip to mark their graduation. Shino Yuta (Seto Koji) is the chairman of this club and has already secured a job before his graduation. Vice-chairman Sakurada Miki (Ishibashi Anna) is from a rich family and is currently dating fellow member Takano Natsu (Yoshizawa Ryo) who will be repeating a year and had been romantically-linked to many other women before he began dating Miki. Sasaki Rika (Triendl Reina) is known for being stylish and smart but had previously been rejected by Shino when she confessed her feelings for him. Fueki Mana (Kojima Fujiko) is Miki's childhood friend while Tachibana Satsuki (Miyoshi Ayaka) is a second-year student who likes to tag along with her seniors.

When the group heads to the bungalow owned by Miki's family which is near the ski resort, they are surprised to see Miki's elder brother Wataru (Kiriyama Ren) there. Miki is unhappy to see him as she doesn't want her friends to feel uncomfortable around him and not enjoy their holiday but the rest reassure her that they are OK with Wataru's presence. Although it appears on the surface that the group are good friends with one another, they actually have secrets which they are hiding from one another.

Rika is envious of Miki who has everything in life and tries her best to keep up with the latter's lifestyle so as to be "accepted" into the circle of friends. However, Rika is not as financially well-off and resorts to working part-time as a hostess but lies to her friends that she is working as a tutor at a cram school. At the same time, she seems envious that Miki is dating Natsu and even seduces him with a kiss which sort of sets things spiralling out of control later. It is later revealed in the story that Rika doesn't have any interest in Natsu although he seems a bit besotted with her compared to how he feels towards Miki. Rika had previously confessed her feelings to Shino but since he's been holding a torch for Miki, he rejected Rika and assumed that she had gotten over this.

On the other hand, Miki has never looked down on Rika and instead holds her in high regard because Rika is always sure of what she wants to do in future and takes concrete steps to realise her dreams. As such, she doesn't have the intention of befriending Rika just because she is stylish or pretty. However, Miki's goody-two-shoes nature does get on the nerves of her friends especially Mana who reveals her true feelings about Miki later and how much she detests Miki for trying to be nice all the time which ends up hurting those around her even more. Miki never realises that by hiding her true self behind that nice facade makes her appear as a fake hypocrite and is truly shocked by how others really view her.

At the same time, all is not well between Shino and Natsu too. Shino is unhappy about Natsu getting romantically involved with Rika despite already dating Miki. Especially since Shino likes Miki and can't even bring himself to say it, the frustration of having to keep the situation under wraps to protect Miki and wanting to get his friend back on the right track makes Shino a bit jumpy at times. On the other hand, Shino is like a replica of Miki in the sense that he appears to be so good and perfect with no temper that Natsu may have felt inferior to him at one point or another especially when he has to repeat a year in university but Shino is already assured of a place in the corporate world. Moreover, Rika is still in love with Shino and just uses Natsu as a tool to get back at Miki. As such, besides the messy state of relationships between these four people, Shino and Natsu too have problems with each other which are sort of hidden until this trip and it forces them to be frank with one another about their true thoughts.

Mana may seem like the cool outsider while these conflicts are going on between her friends but her mysterious relationship with Wataru causes her to be his accomplice in spoiling the relationships of her friends. Although she knows very well that Wataru is not mentally sound, she doesn't really stop him and lets him do what he wants. Maybe Mana may not mean to spoil the relationships between her friends but the mounting resentment towards her friends probably made her do what she did. In actual fact, Mana has been hiding her true self all this while so when she finally explodes and shows how she truly feels, it comes as a total surprise to her friends who feel as if they are looking at a different person. Much as Mana appears to be a cool and collected person in the beginning, her feelings for Wataru makes her lose control to a certain extent as she tries her best to defend him even when all odds are against him.

If Wataru is the mastermind behind what happens to this group of friends, Satsuki must be the unwitting assistant who makes things worse. Although it is depicted in the end that Satsuki never meant any ill will with what she did, her actions were precisely what drove some of her seniors to breaking point and what led to her own death. I won't say that she deserves to die but Satsuki can't wriggle her way out of things by saying that she wants things to be fair and square and that nobody should be kept in the dark and deceived by others. Her obsession with Wataru was also a key catalyst in leading to Mana's outburst so it is difficult for most, if not all viewers to sympathise with what happened to Satsuki in the end.

Although I am not intending to reveal the identity of the killer (quite evident from this picture though), my biggest grouse about this story was how they handled the developments after Satsuki's death. After finding her body, Shino and Miki simply left it in the valley which would be tantamount to deserting a corpse in Japanese law. And to make things worse, after the group gathers to pay respects to Satsuki and puts on her jacket for her, they leave her body there again without calling for the authorities to deliver her corpse for an autopsy or send back to her parents and to arrest the killer. No doubt this is a fictional work, I think this deviates too much from reality and is simply illogical. As such, besides the fact that the identity of the killer being a giveaway, I thought this was the worst part of the story.

Towards the end of the drama, I'm not sure if this was a bid to try to turn the tables around because of the potentially anti-climatic ending but the appearance of someone with blood-stained gloves attempting to hitch a ride from the group of friends seemed to hint at two things. It could have been Wataru who supposedly left the bungalow before them but he was seen with these gloves earlier in the drama. Did he come back to take revenge against the group of friends for exposing his secret and making it impossible for Miki to accept his presence? Or was this hitch-rider the serial killer constantly mentioned during the course of the entire drama? If the identity of this person was Wataru, chances are, the group might not stop for him. However, if it was the killer who the group have not seen before, they might stop to help him. Of course, we'll never know the answer to this unless there's a SP or sequel but honestly speaking, I don't think this development alone would warrant a sequel. That's stretching things a bit too thin.

As for the acting of the cast, I thought Seto Koji and Ishibashi Anna were at a huge disadvantage because their roles were so boring and predictable. Yoshizawa Ryo was OK but his character wasn't that exciting to make me remember him. Comparatively, Triendl Reina's portrayal of Rika was rather good because she managed to show different sides to her character eg. when she was worried about blowing her cover as a hostess and how she would try to taunt Miki by seducing Natsu and yet worry about hurting her friend's feelings. Same goes for Kojima Fujiko who left a huge impression on me when Mana showed her true colours and later on when she got deeply affected by Wataru's change of heart. No doubt Miyoshi Ayaka's role of Satsuki was the most obnoxious of the lot, her ability to make the character as detestable as possible is a testimony of her acting potential. Too bad the drama didn't give her enough time to redeem her character and earn the sympathy of the viewers. As for Kiriyama Ren, he looks too much like Saito Takumi from certain angles that I have to keep reminding myself that they are not the same person. Kiriyama did quite well in portraying the creepy side of Wataru but I thought it was a pity that he made a rather wimpy exit in the end which contributed to the anti-climatic ending.

And my ratings for this drama...

Story: 3 out of 10 (Predictable and not very exciting. Seemed like the scriptwriter was holding back and preventing it from being too dark.)

Acting: 7 out of 10 (The female supporting cast performed much better than the leads.)

Theme song/BGM: 1 out of 10 (That theme song must be one of the most jarring ones I've encountered in recent years. Sorry but that's really not my cup of tea)

Visual effects / Scenery: 4 out 10 (I thought these people were supposed to be at a ski resort but there were limited shots of the resort. Instead, most of the action took place inside the bungalow or the woods around it which was a tad boring.)

Teamwork / Chemistry: 4 out of 10 (To be honest, although the actions of the characters are supposed to be interlinked i.e. one leads to another, the issue is that the cast seemed to be doing their own thing and it didn't look like they had much chemistry with one another. Even the confrontation scenes fizzled out quickly.)

Total: 19 out of 50

Review of "Team Batista 4 - Raden Meikyuu" (チーム・バチスタ4 螺鈿迷宮)

By right, this drama should come before the final movie in the Batista series but as I did not have time to finish the drama before I headed to Japan, I ended up watching the movie first. If you've already read my review of the movie, I made the observation that not watching the earlier installments of the Batista series could have been a major reason why I did not enjoy the movie. After finishing the drama, it gives me a new perspective on some of the settings and background in the movie especially why Sumire hated Shiratori that much and what exactly happened in the Hekisui Hospital. However, I still do not think that the drama could have done anything to make me like the movie more since I thought the biggest reason for the movie's lacklustre performance was the flimsy story.

As a disclaimer, I did not read the original novel of Raden Meikyuu prior to watching the drama so my views are entirely based on the drama. I do note that there are some differences between both versions e.g. Aoi was the eldest daughter in the Sakuranomiya family according to the novel but was the youngest son in the drama version but I won't be able to comment much unless I've finished the novel.

Before sharing my views on this drama, here's a summary of the story. In case you haven't watched this drama and do not want to read the spoilers, please skip this section of the review.

The Batista duo reunites in unexpected circumstances this time with Taguchi Kohei (Ito Atsushi) being assigned to work at Hekisui Hospital which is located in the suburbs and well-known in the area for its palliative care services and Shiratori Keisuke (Nakamura Toru) infiltrating the same hospital as a bogus doctor due to an anonymous note sent to him about patients never making it out of Hekisui alive. Of course, it doesn't take long before Shiratori's real identity is exposed but the director of the hospital Sakuranomiya Iwao (Yanagiba Toshiro) doesn't chase Shiratori away or rather can't do it and leaves Shiratori to do his own prying around. This irritates the people working and staying in Hekisui because to them, Shiratori is bent on proving that their haven is nothing but a scam so they are not very willing to cooperate or say anything bad about Hekisui or the Sakuranomiya family who manages the hospital.

The disappearance of Tachibana, a doctor who used to work at Hekisui and had been to see Iwao on the first day when Taguchi and Shiratori arrived, leads Shiratori to believe that this is related to the mysterious note he received. Subsequently, when Shiratori receives CT images of a dead person, it makes him realise that there is something dark going on within Hekisui. Meanwhile, Taguchi gets a feel of how important Hekisui is to the locals as he sees first-hand how the patients are full of gratitude for Iwao and his daughters Sayuri (Mizuno Miki) and Sumire (Kuriyama Chiaki). At the back of his mind, he does wonder if Shiratori's investigation will actually bring about tragedy to the locals if Hekisui is really found to be guilty of any wrongdoing and ceases to exist.

As the investigation deepens, they find that the Sakuranomiya family has been hiding the existence of their youngest son, Aoi who supposedly died during a freak accident. What happened 8 years ago was that Sayuri had been raped by a stranger on one summer night which led to Aoi going to confront the culprit and accidentally killing him. While running away from the crime scene, he fell from a cliff and was on the verge of death. However, as a result of his head injury, Aoi went through a temperament change and would flare up for no reason once his splitting headache strikes. In order to protect Aoi from being held responsible for the death of the rapist, the Sakuranomiya family had no choice but to conceal Aoi's existence from the world. Being unable to live in the open anymore and frustrated with his inability to control his emotions, Aoi sent the message to Shiratori in a bid to cause problems for his family who he somehow feels is partly responsible for his current situation.

The second arc of the drama focuses on the issue of palliative care and euthanasia. Taguchi and Shiratori come to realise that some of the patients who had been critically ill and hospitalised in Hekisui died under sudden circumstances and always at the "right" time which leads them to suspect Iwao, his wife Hanao and Sayuri are committing euthanasia albeit with the consent of the patients. Sumire cannot believe this as she had not been fully informed nor allowed to participate in this all this while. Shiratori is especially against euthanasia which is still illegal in Japan and people who commit this, no matter what reason they may be doing this for. With Shiratori getting closer to the truth and on the verge of stopping the Sakuranomiyas from helping one last patient to die under painless conditions, the patient changes her mind thus leading Iwao to know that all is lost. In order to prevent his daughters from being implicated, he decides to commit suicide with Hanao. Just when they are about to set fire to the Raden room which is where the euthanasia incidents took place, Aoi begs his parents to take him with them. Before Taguchi and Shiratori can stop them, the trio are engulfed in flames thus bringing with them the existence of Hekisui. Sayuri is arrested for her involvement in the euthanasia cases while Sumire suffers injuries and becomes the sole survivor in her family. At the end, even though Shiratori managed to stop Iwao and his family from continuing with the euthanasia killings, the outcome turns out to be beyond what he imagined as he never thought that Iwao would have chosen suicide so as to absolve his daughters of the responsibility.

What I liked about the storyline was that it did a good job of teasing the viewers with sequential mysteries along the way but did not let the suspense become too stale or overused by waiting till the last few episodes to reveal the truth. Instead, by solving each mystery with a new fact or piece of information or clue within a short period of time, this was helpful in maintaining viewer interest for a season drama like this. Frankly speaking, this drama had the benefit of having more time to develop its storyline to its fullest compared to the movie which needed to wrap up everything in just two hours. It is thus not fair to say that the handling of the drama's storyline is definitely more superior than the movie. I think the issue lies more with the fact that expectations are better managed in the drama's case because it did not promise to be the most complicated mystery of all time. Rather than being a pure medical mystery, the selling point of the drama was more about the thought-provoking issue of euthanasia. As such, I did not expect too much from the mystery part of the story and in turn, was not disappointed to find that the suspense part was simpler than I thought. The movie, on the other hand, promised too much and delivered too little.

Another key factor which made the story more engaging was the cast. It was such a thrill to see the constant confrontations by Shiratori to Iwao where the latter remained unruffled no matter what Shiratori accused him of and he always had a ready answer to counterattack. Sayuri's response to Shiratori's incessant and somewhat overboard investigation was between that of her father's and younger sister's responses because she could be cold and displayed no reaction at times but would get worked up in some instances. Sumire, in contrast, was the hot-headed one who displayed her dislike for Shiratori very openly. This would have meant that Shiratori's relationships with the Sakuranomiya family in general was not favourable terms.

On the other hand, you have Shiratori and Taguchi's interactions like best friends who are so different from each other yet complement each other so well. This actually helped to soothe the tension in the story from time to time and offered some comic relief when things were getting too heated up. Despite the slightly weaker mystery aspect of the story, the chemistry exhibited between the characters make the story even more engaging and it's not often that you have a cast of capable actors who can work well with one another regardless of which combination you are looking at.

As for the key theme of euthanasia which the drama was heavily focused on, I think there is no attempt to show a more "dominant" or "supported" view with regard to this issue. It was more like both sides of the argument were laid bare for all to see and it was up to the viewers to decide which stand they support. I liked the fact that the drama did not try too hard to preach that one view was better or more correct than the other. Ultimately, it has to do with the individual and circumstances which he or she is in before we can say whether this action is in his or her interests. Iwao probably didn't set himself out to be God i.e. dictating who dies and when it happens but he was concerned about the emotional and financial burden on the families and the physical suffering by the patients. However, that still doesn't justify what he did because it was illegal. On the other hand, Shiratori is right in his own way because there is a potential for the system to be abused if doctors are allowed to induce death in their patients especially if the latter do not want to die prematurely. However, the way he went about investigating the case and how far he went to push the Sakuranomiya family to resort to suicide to solve the problem was probably what led to Sumire being so bitter about the loss of her family even though they did wrong in the first place.

Last but not least, talking about the theme song, I have to admit that I didn't think much of it nor feel that it suits the theme of this drama. Maybe it's just me but whenever I hear Korean artistes sing in Japanese, I find it difficult to like those songs for whatever reason. In most, if not all situations where they have a song in both Korean and Japanese, I always tend to like the former more even though the melody is exactly the same. It's probably due to the fact that they still sound best in their native languages so in Tohoshinki's case, I've found it very difficult to warm up to their Japanese songs, at least based on the few titles I've come across so far.

And my ratings for this drama...

Story: 8 out of 10 (It would have gotten a higher score if the suspense aspect was tweaked to make it a bit more challenging and exciting)

Acting: 8.5 out of 10 (The main cast members did well in their own ways and helped to make the story more engaging)

Theme song/BGM: 3 out of 10 (The BGM was fine but the theme song was too forgettable and not very impressive)

Visual effects / Scenery: 7 out 10 (This drama looked like it was completed in summer or early autumn instead of winter when it was shown. As such, there were lots of greenery and nice scenes looking out to the sea since Hekisui was located in the suburbs of a seaside town. Within the hospital, there wasn't much to speak of except that spiral staircase leading up to the Raden room which was more noteworthy.)

Teamwork / Chemistry: 8.5 out of 10 (Great chemistry between the Batista duo and I liked the confrontational scenes between Nakamura Toru and Yanagiba Toshiro a lot. Not to forget, Yanagiba and Mizuno Miki actually looked convincing as father and daughter even though they are just 13 years apart in their real ages.)

Total: 35 out of 50

BPO decides not to launch inquiry into "Ashita Mama ga inai"

The Broadcasting Ethics and Program Improvement Organisation (BPO) decided on 23 May that it was not going to launch an inquiry into the NTV Winter 2014 drama "Ashita Mama ga inai" and commented that the broadcaster had the responsibility to be more mindful of the impact on society when producing dramas of this nature. BPO also said that although the broadcaster had the freedom to produce meaningful programmes which talk about the problems happening in modern society, they should have taken extra care at the preparation stage to prevent any possible violation against human rights. However, there was no evidence to prove that the drama had hurt the reputation of those related to children's welfare facilities as claimed by Jikei Hospital thus BPO decided against launching an inquiry.

Source: Sanspo

Review of Shitsuren Chocolatier 失恋ショコラティエ- Winter 2014

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't too keen on watching this in the first place. Much as I really do like Arashi as a whole (but favour some members over the rest), I've not been so impressed or captivated by Matsumoto Jun's acting. My impression of him was that he could do OK for exaggerated and "out-of-the-ordinary" roles such as Domyouji Tsukasa in "Hana Yori Dango" but when he has to play an "ordinary" guy, his appearance, dressing and mannerisms seem to work otherwise for some reason. Maybe it's the strong image of a fashionista he has which I sometimes fail to identify with but after watching "Hidamari no Kanojo", I thought that I should give this a shot even though I knew jolly well that I would be really fed up with this story about a guy hankering after a woman that he has no choice of snagging at all. It's like those typical dramas where a woman goes all out to win over a guy who snubs her, just that this time, the gender roles are switched.

To begin with, let me explain the story and relationships between the main characters. The protagonist Koyurugi Souta (Matsumoto) fell in love at first sight with Saeko (Ishihara Satomi), his senior by one year when he just entered high school. However, Saeko was so popular with guys and kept dating different people that Souta never really got a chance to confess his feelings to her. Just before Christmas, Souta and Saeko shared a kiss which led him to misunderstand that Saeko liked him and had accepted him as her boyfriend. However, in actual fact, Saeko merely saw Souta as a stand-in for her boyfriend who she was having problems with at that time.

The following year on Valentine Day's eve, Souta who had been attending confectionery school after high school graduation, prepared some chocolates for Saeko. This led Saeko to realise that Souta had misunderstood the nature of their relationship and she blatantly told him that as long as they did not sleep together, she didn't see them as an item. The blow from this revelation led Souta to head to France for the sake of learning the art of making chocolates in a bid to win Saeko back.

Six years later, Souta returns to Japan to open his own chocolate specialty shop "choc la vie" which was remodelled from his father Makoto's (Takenaka Naoto) cake shop. Helping him out are Inoue Kaoruko (Mizukawa Asami) who had been working at Makoto's cake shop since Souta was a student, Souta's younger sister Matsuri (Arimura Kasumi) who is an university student and Souta's friend Olivier (Mizobata Junpei) who is the son of a famous and rich patissier in France and has a Japanese mother. However, much as Souta thinks that he's finally in a position to attract Saeko with his career and newfound celebrity chocolatier status, he is aghast to find that she is going to marry Yoshioka, a magazine editor who is older than her. On top of that, Saeko even asks Souta to make her wedding cake which he agrees to readily. Kaoruko cannot understand why Saeko would do that to a man who used to love her but finds it even harder to comprehend Souta's thinking as to why he agreed to make the wedding cake. Souta goes to the extent of forgoing sleep just to make the perfect wedding cake for Saeko and deems it as a closure to his longtime pining for Saeko. However, with Saeko's appearance at "choc la vie" on a regular basis to buy his chocolates, Souta finds it difficult to bid farewell to his one-sided love for Saeko as she continues to send him mixed signals despite her status as a newly-married woman.

As Souta grapples with guessing how Saeko really feels about him, he comes to befriend Kato Erena (Mizuhara Kiko), a beautiful model at a party hosted by celebrity chocolatier Rikudo Seinosuke (Sato Ryuta) who is impressed with Souta's talent. By a strange stroke of fate, Souta and Erena come to realise that they are both lonely souls being trapped in a one-sided love and become close friends very quickly. Erena suddenly suggests that they become sex friends (friends who sleep together for the sake of sexual satisfaction but with no emotional attachment) which Souta is not keen on at first but later accepts because he wants to show Saeko that he won't be emotionally manipulated by her anymore. However, as the two start to develop feelings for each other and when Souta finally resolves to let go of Saeko once and for all, he gets distracted by Saeko again which causes Erena to be hurt by his indecisiveness.

At the same time, Olivier finds himself being increasingly attracted to Matsuri who is stuck in a love triangle with her friend and her friend's boyfriend. Although she feels guilty about dating her friend's boyfriend, she can't seem to break it off. When they subsequently break up, Olivier confesses to Matsuri about how he feels and tries to build up confidence in her to start a new relationship. Meanwhile, Kaoruko becomes acquaintances with Sekiya (Kato Shigeaki) where she easily pours out her dissatisfaction with Souta's indecisiveness, Saeko's manipulative ways and Erena being a loose woman (because she slept with Souta despite not being in a relationship with him). Sekiya points out point blank that Kaoruko is so upset because she likes Souta but she stresses that she doesn't want to date him or anything but just finds it annoying to see what's going on. Although Kaoruko tries to think of Sekiya as a romantic interest, she realises that things aren't going to work out and gives up the idea in the end.

First of all, I have to admit that I was really frustrated while watching this drama. It's not just Souta or Saeko who gets to me althought these two are the worst of the lot. That's not to say that the others are flawless but comparatively, they are easier to relate to. Rikudo, Makoto and Sekiya don't have a lot of airtime so it's kind hard to put a finger on what kind of people they actually are.

Much as I get why Souta is besotted with Saeko (first loves have a special space in men's hearts), what I don't understand and cannot accept is his stubborn thinking that Saeko can still be his if he works hard enough at creating chocolates that she likes. The biggest issue is, she's already a married woman. Is he trying to be the third party or wants to make her get a divorce just to be with him? In addition, his wishy-washy attitude towards whether to give up or continue his pining for her is simply irritating. At one point, he decides that enough is enough and he should forget about Saeko. The next moment, he decides to be a "bad guy" in order to gain the upperhand because Saeko is usually the one who leads him on. And that's precisely what prompted him to start his sexual relationship with Erena because he thinks that he shouldn't remain chaste for someone who's leading him on. As a result of his flip-flops, what used to be an issue affecting himself along ends up affecting those around him. Kaoruko cannot accept that Souta's efforts in making new products are primarily motivated by his intention to impress Saeko, not because he had the interests of his shop in mind. That in turn makes his staff Kaoruko and Olivier look like they are working for the sake of his romantic pursuits even Kaoruko clearly enjoys her work and takes pride in it. Likewise, Souta also gave Erena false hope by asking her to be ready to date him after he settles things with Saeko (so whether Erena becomes his girlfriend hinges on the outcome of something else which she has no control over). I think that's very selfish of him so that's why I didn't sympathise with Souta at all when he finally knew that Saeko doesn't love him and was just using him as a refuge from her shaky marriage. Actually, he should have known it when Saeko did not answer him every time when he said he loves her. She never said "suki da" or "aishiteiru" once. Truth be said, I think he had it coming that he ended with nobody. It got me even more irritated to see how he just dumped his work aside because Saeko went home to her husband and was moping around like it's the end of the world. Being unable to make chocolates just because the woman you wanted to impress most isn't around to taste it anymore? That makes it even more unlikely to view a character like Souta favourably.

On the other hand, Saeko appears at first glance to be a dimwit who's oblivious to others' feelings and simply does what she likes. Her antics in leading Souta on were indeed not acceptable for a married woman and you really wonder if she just enjoys the attention Souta showers on her or she felt something for him. I tend to believe the former because when Saeko's husband questioned her why she still cared so much about how she looks and if she still wants to attract men despite being married, Saeko was stumped for a moment. No doubt her husband was a bit too much in saying that (people still can look great even if they are married), I believe it hit the jackpot too because Saeko has enjoyed the attention from the opposite sex all along and being married probably wasn't going to change how she felt about this issue. Nonetheless, it took the last few episodes for the viewers to finally see how Saeko is. No doubt she may appear like a thoughtless person most of the time, the insights she gave Matsuri and Kaoruko about love and dating were indeed spot-on. She's not as stupid as she seems but underneath that ditzy appearance, she does use her brain, just that it's not apparent to those around her. That's why her husband took for granted that she will be OK with staying at home as a housewife and he doesn't need to pay too much attention to her now that they are married. And that's also why Saeko's mother seemed to think that her daughter has no future and cannot survive on her own if she leaves her husband. I still think Saeko was being really cruel to Souta for leading him on all this while but then again, you feel a little sorry for her because she's accepting reality because of her circumstances, not because she wants to return to her husband out of her own will.

As for Olivier and Matsuri, I found their relationship's development a bit bland and uneventful (it was almost a given that they would be paired up together) except for the part when he confronted her about her intention to visit her ex's place to collect her belongings. Olivier was right about it when he said that Matsuri was opening herself to potentially retracting her steps to that painful relationship if she met the ex alone at his apartment. No matter how hard she tried to convince him, I'm glad Olivier put his foot down and threatened to break up if she went ahead without him tagging along. Matsuri knew jolly well what might happen and yet still tried to convince herself that it won't head that way but thankfully, Olivier knocked some sense into her. This development was a bit different from the norm when usually the new boyfriend would get jittery over his girlfriend meeting the ex and yet does not do anything to stop it.

Erena probably didn't expect that she would fall for Souta when she raised the suggestion of them developing a sexual relationship just to satisfy each other's needs. No doubt Souta's concern and gentleness in helping her get over her heartbreak was a factor in making Erena fall for him, I think his devotion towards Saeko was also what swayed her heart. In a way, Erena is somewhat like Saeko in the sense that she may appear to be bold, open and a bit loose when dealing with men but deep down, she's a frank girl who thinks the best of others. Actually. Souta was at fault for giving his friends that impression because he had talked about Erena as a mere sex partner. He could have positioned Erena as a close friend which would have prompted his friends to view her with more respect. Kaoruko met Erena on the same night as Souta and was disgusted at how they could have slept together on that very night without knowing much about each other. Souta didn't help things by lying to Kaoruko that he did nothing with Erena. Of course, this would have made Kaoruko misunderstand that Erena is a loose woman who sleeps around. At the same time, Olivier heard a lot about Erena from Souta but he had always been led to believe that Souta thinks of her as someone no more than a sex partner. In such circumstances, what kind of impression do you think he would have about her if he never knew her personally? And because of this type of mentality, Souta didn't think that he owed Erena an explanation when Saeko turned up at his doorstep and he had to stand Erena up. He just dragged things on until Erena decided to show up and find out what was going on but was dealt with the truth in a harsh manner through Kaoruko. Then again, she would be better off without a guy like Souta because he clearly doesn't deserve her. Not having the courage to face Erena is not an excuse for this type of behaviour.

As for Kaoruko, I really felt sorry for her when Souta had the cheek to scold her for speaking ill of Erena. Of course, her view of Erena was flawed but who was the one who had contributed to that impression? If Souta had treated Erena seriously and respectfully like a friend, I'm sure Kaoruko wouldn't view Erena with so much ill will even though she is in love with Souta. No doubt Erena is her rival in love, what irks Kaoruko is probably the fact that Erena and Souta's relationship is a warped one (according to her values) and she cannot understand why they would still sleep together even though Erena knows jolly well that Souta loves Saeko. That was why she didn't see the logic in Souta skipping such an important function to celebrate their business taking off and going to Erena who had just fallen out of love. To her, Erena should be nothing more than a sex friend so why would he care for her feelings? However, to Souta, Erena had become more than a sex partner and was his close friend. The gap in their perceptions led to Souta saying such harsh words to Kaoruko which I thought was really uncalled for. You can be unhappy about how she talks about your friend but you don't have to be so nasty about it. At the same time, Kaoruko is a character which people can relate to easily. Other than the part where she said that she loves Souta but doesn't want to be in a relationship with him, I think that's something which is a bit hard to understand. Maybe she wants to be with him but knows that chances are so slim that it's better to be beside him as a working partner. As for her interaction with Sekiya, I thought it offered some comic relief and the advice given by Saeko e.g. making yourself available in the dating market and taking the effort to promote yourself was really hilarious but also spot-on. In the end, Kaoruko may not have ended up with any guy but at least she got a new friend i.e. Saeko and managed to learn to come to terms with her weak points when it comes to romance.

With regard to the acting, I thought there were some very memorable performances from Matsumoto Jun, Ishihara Satomi, Mizukawa Asami and Mizuhara Kiko. Like what I mentioned before, I have never been convinced that Matsujun can act because I've found his body language a bit exaggerated at times and he tends to exert too much force when conveying certain emotions. However, when he does his monologues for Souta and puts on a more serious face when pondering about his relationships, I think he has showed that he can manage a more subtle style of acting which can grow on people. And his image this time looks quite good because there are times when his hairstyles and clothes worn in dramas are too similar with his usual styles which don't go down well with me. On the other hand, I don't really like the day-dreaming scenes which called for more exaggerated acting.

Ishihara Satomi did well in making Saeko a detestable character right from the start. I don't know how guys actually view a woman like Saeko but from a woman's point of view, someone like Saeko is a common enemy among her peers, just like how Kaoruko views her. Manipulative, act-cute, pretentious, the negative descriptions keep coming out. However, you can't deny too that she looked so cute and appealing as Saeko so it's not difficult to imagine why Souta is besotted with her. I liked her scenes towards the end of the drama where she enjoyed the short-lived and fantasy-like happiness with Souta and yet was fully aware that she had to return to reality one day. In the past, I never paid that much attention to Ishihara but I think she's showing that she can manage a variety of roles and can look plain and pretty at the same time. That is an advantage she is clearly making full use of these days.

Mizukawa Asami was great in showing the insecurities of Kaoruko who wants to be more experienced in dating but is clueless about it. I thought her scenes with Ishihara Satomi were quite interesting but it sure took them a long time to bond. At the same time, it was a pity that things didn't work out with Sekiya which would have been a fun couple where one talks all the time and the other just listens. Of course, I didn't like it when Kaoruko was moping around for Souta but I think she still had one foot in reality to keep her grounded so that aspect didn't get on my nerves as much as Souta chanting "Saeko-san" all the time.

Last but not least, I've seen Mizuhara Kiko in relatively small roles in various movies but she's left quite a deep impression on me with her unique screen presence. This time, it was good that Erena wasn't some haughty model who thought the world of herself and I liked that she was a down-to-earth and frank girl who had emotions just like everyone else. It will be worth anticipating what Mizuhara can come up with next time especially if she gets a meatier role.

And my ratings for this drama...

Story: 6 out of 10 (It took too long for Souta to finally come to terms with the truth but I like the ending in a sense since Kaoruko and Saeko became friends. Brings across the message that you really need to interact with a person rather than let skewed perceptions get the better of you)

Acting: 7.5 out of 10 (Although Matsujun and his leading ladies did fairly well, I think there was severe under-usage of the supporting case. Mizobata Junpei and Arimura Kasumi were pretty forgettable because their characters had a relatively not-so-exciting love story while Takenaka Naoto only popped up once in a while. Sato Ryuta looked charismatic for the first time as Rikudo but there was really nothing much about him in the drama which was a pity.)

Theme song: 7 out of 10 (Arashi's theme song was catchy but didn't really appeal to me. I thought the BGM used was quite good though.)

Visual effects / Scenery: 6.5 out 10 (Pretty nice sets but a lot of the filming was done indoors apparently so it would have been nice for them to venture out of the shop more often)

Teamwork / Chemistry: 7 out of 10 (Considering that Souta was in a one-way relationship with Saeko while he hit it off really well with Erena, it wasn't surprising that Matsujun and Mizuhara Kiko had more chemistry.)

Total: 34 out of 50