Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
not the best asadora, but it's still worth watching because I liked it!
Churasan tells the story of destiny, how a childhood promise came true with various unexpected encounters.THINGS I DON'T LIKE:
1. At first the father and older brother were very useless, not even the characters I liked.
2. How the heroine and male lead start their relationship, in my opinion, its not written well.
3. Because this is an old production drama, the conflict is still cliche which is a bit annoying.
THINGS I LIKE:
1. The heroine is like a ball full of energy and always full of smiles, and she loved by everyone.
2. The relationship between heroin and her little brother really makes people envious.
3. How the character that I didn't like at first became better in the end.
4. How over time the male lead becomes more and more similar to heroine and the Kohagura family haha
5. In this drama the comedy is very funny, I laughed out loud MANY times.
6. And what I like the MOST is that heroine's relationship with the residents of the apartment complex, very unique and they become friends for life.
Overall I like this asadora! Even though it starts with a sad story, along the way there will be stories that will make your stomach hurt from laughing, and there will be a main story that is a little heavy, but will end with a quite satisfying and warm story.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Life is the most precious thing
"Churasan" is the 34th asadora that I've finished. I confess that I was bit disappointed in this one, though I would still say that it's good. I just expected more from an asadora that was at one time extremely popular in Japan and also online among asadora fans. Anyway, expect big spoilers in this review!Kuninaka Ryoko plays the heroine, Kohagura Eri. Even though I find Eri frustrating at times, Ryoko really plays her perfectly. There's not a second I wasn't convinced by her performance. My main issue with Eri is her excessive airheadness (or what that call her a "fool"). By the end, we're supposed to believe that she's competent nurse but she somehow thinks a pain in her stomach was a "premonition" of her father's accident? I would've fell to the floor if I hadn't been sitting. On top of that, Eri never really struggles. Don't get me wrong, she has problems but she doesn't struggle. She's just always smiling like an idiot and there's like a million people there for her fall back on when something does happen. It's not that I want the asadora heroines to struggle, but without that it feels like this series has no stakes.
Now on to the romance, which I actually really liked in the latter half but the first half... Eri and Fumiya (Kohashi Kenji) first meet when his family comes to the island she lives on in Okinawa. Before his brother Kazuya (Endo Yuya) dies, he has the pair promise to marry in the future. Eri holds on this promise tightly, eventually deciding to go Tokyo. [Btw, it takes entirely too long for her to decide to become a nurse.] They meet again, but Fumiya appears to have forgotten the promise. Eri reveals her feelings after they work at the same hospital for some time. Out of the blue, Fumiya decides later that they should get married after all. In my opinion, this is too much. This asadora is always talking about "destiny" or whatever, so why make us wait so long for something inevitable? It takes too long while also being rushed at the same time. And don't get me started with Fumiya's ambiguous relationship with fellow doctor Nishinomiya Haruka (Konishi Manami). Were they dating? Were they not? If they were, why wasn't she more angry about this situation?
"Churasan" does have some really solid supporting characters, which is a hallmark of asadoras and makes or breaks it in my opinion. Eri's grandmother Hana (Taira Tomi; also narrator) and mother Katsuko (Tanaka Yoshiko; who was great in "Oshin" too) are both outstanding. Her father Keibun (Sakai Masaaki) and older brother Keisho (Gori) have some great comedic moments, but are also really annoying. Keisho, at least, redeems himself. Her younger brother Keitatsu (Yamada Takayuki) feels like a missed opportunity to me. His journey to becoming a rock star could've been a really good story, but ended up being so surface level. His relationship with Eri's friend Shoko (Yamaguchi Ayumi) is cute though. Then there's all the people who live at the boardinghouse in Tokyo, which are like family to Eri. Of these, I think Mariya (Kanno Miho) is the obvious stand-out. Her personality, comedy, and backstory are perfectly crafted. Yoko-san (Yo Kimiko) is also a solid comedic force.
Speaking of the boardinghouse... What I really disliked is that Eri didn't leave the boardinghouse after marriage or having her son Kazuya (Suzuki Shogo). I think it's really unrealistic that she wouldn't leave in either case, considering that she and Fumiya were just renting a small room... Over time, I also started to get tired of the residents there, especially Shibata (Murata Takehiro). I thought it was weird that this grown man had a crush on eighteen/nineteen-year-old Eri anyway, but then he starts to live vicariously through her son. And THEN the asadora randomly pairs Shibata with Yoko-san, which might've not been so random but I didn't care for it anyway. Finally, in the final episode, Eri and Fumiya move to Okinawa. This is another gripe of mine as I've seen people say it's the best Okinawa asadora [There's only two others, Jun to Ai and Chimudondon, which isn't really much of a contest...], but I'd say only 40% of it takes place in Okinawa. And those are mostly scenes of Eri's parents and grandmother sitting around at home, which was probably filmed on a sound stage. This is, in actuality, a Tokyo asadora, and I just wanted more Okinawa!
These are my complicated thoughts on "Churasan." I think it's a good asadora, but focuses on comedy too much. It particularly shines in the emotional, heavy moments. Fumiya's mother Shizuko (Maya Kyoko) has some really poignant scenes from start to finish. I also love the storyline with Eri's and Fumiya's son Kazuya and the final callback to Fumiya's brother. I cried, of course. I would've preferred the asadora focus on emotion instead of the overuse of comedy. The comedy really wasn't to my taste either. I laughed at maybe half of the jokes. Anyway, I struggled with my final rating and finally decided on 8.5. It's a good score, but I can't make it any higher because of all my complaints. I will be watching the sequels because I'm too curious, but wish me luck.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
What an interesting asadora. It was popular to the point where it got multiple sequels and it's adored to the point its FL is considered one of the best asadora heroines by Oricon, and don't get me wrong, it was definitely heartwarming: it had a hardworking FL, a lovely couple (though I think they missed some development beyond the "childhood soulmates" aspect to the love story) and sweet supporting characters, but none of that is particularly unique. I can think of other FL's who are just as hardworking, other couples who are just as lovely (and are better developed), and other supporting characters who are just as sweet. So even though it is a good drama, I was disappointed because the fanfare around it made me expect something greater.The one thing that I thought was going to set it apart was the discussion of mental health near the end, but instead we get a very odd conclusion that not only didn't include anything resembling therapy, but in fact would've probably left the lead couple's child more traumatized than he was before, and made me feel that the FL was not as smart and as thoughtful as I thought she was. I guess, considering the time period, they get a point for trying, but I hope no parent saw this while airing and thought the best way to deal with a mentally hurt child was to take them on vacation and traumatize them with a near death experience.
Was this review helpful to you?
