Gigi

A very unique asadora, as it is the first slice of life one I've seen. There isn't that typical goal or ambition the female lead aims to accomplish, especially in regards to a work life, since our main girl, Junko, seems to be content simply living and working in companionship with her family and friends, without carving a separate path for herself. That in itself is not a problem, of course, to quote Greta Gerwig's Little Women "just because my dreams are different than yours, it doesn't mean they're unimportant", but it does make for a less thrilling story, compared to others. Nonetheless, as it follows the regular lives of Junko and her loved ones, there's moments of happiness and sorrow that'll definitely pull on your heartstrings, which is when the story shines the most.

It's not all roses, and here comes the reason behind my disappointment: at one point in the story we see Junko and some minor characters do a play, and one of them does blackface. I want to start by saying that, of course, I understand that Japan doesn't have a history of blackface like countries such as the United States and Canada, and as this is an old production, problematic things are to be expected, however as a black woman I think black people are often being made to be forgiving, to put things into perspective, to see where people are coming from, even when it's harmful to us, and that in this particular political climate our feelings and opinions are more often than not ignored as "woke" or whatever red-herring people use to dismiss honest conversations about racism and prejudice. With all that in mind, I decided to not ignore this blatant display of racism (both because of the use of blackface and because the "black character" in the play is potrayed as a servant) and mention it on my review, because from what I've seen it hasn't been brought up at all on this page and I believe viewers should be advised on content that might be triggering.