Weaker than the previous seasons
Maybe it's due - at least in part - to the fact that I'm getting bored by the whole "food drama" concept, or maybe it depends on the fact that I honestly find Japanese cuisine to be a bit overrated (in that aspect, just as in mahjong, I'm all for China, LOL), but, whatever the reason, I must confess I found this "Wakako Zake 3" weaker than the previous seasons. Takeda Rina is always nice to watch, but let's face it, seeing her eating & drinking, drinking & eating, rinse & repeat...it's getting kinda boring in the long run.It's still an ok drama to watch, especially while having dinner, so that if what she's having is better than what you're having, you can let your imagination roam free, LOL...but also the opposite can be a nice thing, LOL - when what you're having is better than what she's having! - and that's happened to me quite often during this third season (I hope you'll forgive my food chauvinism...I am Italian, after all, it's like the national pastime! ^___^;;;;;....)
(Talking of which, a heartfelt warning to my countrymates: for your own good - and mental sanity - maybe you'll wanna skip the first half of the 4th episode, as what they do to our beloved pasta in those few minutes is bound to give you nightmares! O___o I won't go into details, but I'll tell you this: MAYONNAISE! ...'nuff said! >______<)
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Beautifully delicate movie about a sad, touching historical event
This "Seeing Nara Again" aka "Tracing Her Shadow" is based on a true, sad and very touching historical event: the "war orphans" left behind by the Japanese in formerly occupied parts of China at the end of WWII, raised by Chinese foster parents and then, from 1972 (when China and Japan re-established official relations), in part migrated to Japan in search of their biological families. That's the premise of this movie, where a Chinese granma, Chen nana (masterfully portrayed by Wu Yan Shu aka Estelle Wu, whose performance in the lovely drama "When We Were Young" had also really impressed me, BTW) flies to Japan in search of her Japanese foster daughter, who's moved back to Japan years ago and suddenly stopped writing. In her search, the granma is helped by Hatsumi / Xiao Ze, a young woman, half-Japanese and half Chinese, daughter of another war orphan, and by Yoshizawa-san, a retired Japanese policeman (and kudos to the respective actors, Ying Ze and Kunimura Jun, who were also really good).What follows is a beautifully delicate movie, filled with many meaningful scenes that illustrate both the differences between China and Japan (to name but one: when the granma sits at the kotatsu the first night, but then in following scenes we see her sitting in a plastic chair - 'cause of course she wouldn't be used to sitting on the floor!) and also the hardships and troubles these war orphans (but also Hatsumi!) had to face - all done in a very delicate way, not force-fed down the viewers' throats as is the case of many Western productions, but rather suggested in an inobtrusive manner that adds greatly to the movie's value (another example of this lovely approach could be in the few funny scenes that lighten up a bit what is of course a pretty sad story - take for example the hilarious scene at the butcher's, or when our trio trick the paramedics into leaving the ambulance unattended so that they could answer the phone).
I really would've given this movie a "perfect 10" grade, weren't it for the next-to-last scene (the one preceding the last one with the beautiful enka song).
WARNING: HUGE SPOILER AHEAD!
I really didn't understand why Hatsumi and Yoshizawa-san would give granma Chen false hope knowing that there was none...it felt cruel and really out of place to me.../.___.\
Apart from that scene, though, this is a real masterpiece and I therefore give it a well-deserved "9"!
Wholeheartedly recommended!
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Wakui Emi is absolutely PERFECT (no surprise here, LOL), but also most of the remaining supporting cast did a wonderful job, from Matsushige Yutaka to Sato Megumi, from Watase Tsunehiko to Katsura Kichiya, from the lovely Miyajima Mai to Kato Toranosuke, from Kabira Jay to Kimura Yuichi etc. etc. - seriously, it's easier to name the very few exceptions, i.e. the moronic uncle (Kyomoto Masaki is 20 years older than Hara Sachie and the layers of makeup and flashy clothes he wears are supposed to make him look younger, but he ends up giving a strong 50-something-drag-queen vibe; you'll forgive me if I don't find realistic that Natsuko-san falls for him, ne?), the clichè-but-mostly-useless-grandma (I don't like when the elderly are written in scripts as mere ornaments, really; compare this with Churasan's obaa-san and you'll see the difference: now, THAT's an obaa-san, not this ghostly presence!) and the annoying new apprentice, Kososo. Furthermore, rakugo makes for a very interesting and refreshingly original topic (though "Tiger & Dragon" wins hands down there...but that's another story) and throughout the whole dorama, music is an extremely pleasant accompaniment ("Furusato" and the opening credits music most of all!). So why "only" 7/10? Well, sorry if I'm too blunt, but I found both Kanjiya Shihori (whom I also didn't like in the otherwise great movie "Swing Girls") and Aoki Munetaka extremely annoying - and as much as it pains me to write this (me being a Hanshin-fan and whatnot), I have to admit that so was the constant use of Kansai-ben (seriously, now that I've finished watching this, I don't wanna hear another "-hen" nor "-han" for at least six months, LOL!). Anyway, Aoki's character's stage name happens to be perfect for summing up 151-episodes worth of dorama in just two syllables: So-So! :/ Was this review helpful to you?
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Great premise, ruined by an artsy approach
The true story of the "Phone of the Wind", which this movie is roughly based on, sure is a lovely, extremely moving and interesting one! And the Touhoku Tsunami and all the tragedy and loss that it caused are incredibly touching, of course. Unfortunately, the screenwriter and the director of this "Kaze no Denwa" - Nth victims of what I call "the nefarious influence of 'Cahiers du Cinéma' and Nouvelle Vague" - decided to ruin all that by having the part of the movie about Touhoku and the phonebooth (basically, the last 50', more or less) preceded by almost 90' of mostly useless and painfully boring scenes. Just one example so as not to spoil anything: at the beginning of the movie, the main character takes a ferry; ok, anybody with even just an ounce of respect for the viewers would have simply shot two/three short sequences, and with some editing the scene would have been done (and it would have lasted, like 10 seconds, tops). But here instead they went with an *interminable* sequence shot of her slowly approaching the dock, then waiting for the ferry, then the ferry slowly approaching the dock, then the few people on the dock slowly boarding the ferry, then the ferry finally (and yeah, you guessed it correctly: *SLOWLY*) leaving the dock: 180, *endless* seconds which add *nothing* to the story - quite the opposite, really! >____<Seriously, the first 80+ minutes could be reduced to 10'/15' tops, keeping only the relevant scenes and cutting all the useless, artsy cr*p...=___=
Too bad...if this story had been written and directed by a decent writer/director team, this could've been a true masterpiece!
As is, it's mostly a yawnfest; and it's such a pity, considering that this story - and all the Tsunami victims and their relatives - would've deserved much more than this, imho! /.___.\
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As far as I'm concerned, the best aspect of this "Percent" was the fact that the topic was taken seriously, not in the shallow, sugarcoated and honestly silly way that has characterized other recent dramas (to name but two, I recall Sugisaki Hana playing a blind girl working in a kitchen in "Koi Desu" - as if that would ever happen in ultra-regulated Japan! - and Emoto Tokio portraying a paraplegic character working as a cleaner in "Kinshicho Paradise" - two series I dropped precisely 'cause I felt kinda insulted by that unrealistic approach to this topic!).Another thing I appreciated here was the cast performance, pretty damn good, kudos to them, particularly to Ito Marika and Wago Yui who get a special mention!
The OST and the rest of the "packaging" (direction, photography, editing) were also totally OK.
On the other hand, I wasn't fully convinced by the script; I think they had good intentions but the terribly short length of the series (only 4 episodes!) meant they ended up cutting corners here and there and either left details hanging (like, what happened to the producer FL and her BF? Did they get back together?) or else failed at portraying a smooth character development (like, the director was portrayed as an A-hole until *bang*, complete U-turn in one single scene - that's sloppy writing, sorry...>___<).
Still, a solid 8/10.
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Still, I can say I pretty much enjoyed this drama, thanks to its relaxing, almost-iyashikei overall atmosphere, to its clean script and to the extremely beautiful setting!
As for the leads, they're both very, very young and there's still a lot of room for improvement of course (I did find the FL the better half of the pair, personally).
Looking forward to watching the sequel!!! 8/10
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First things first, what I liked: namely, the settings (that goes without saying!), the OST, the cast (both leads did a good job).
Alas, the script was the weak point of this drama, in my humble opinion.
With this kind of episodic structure, it was to be expected that some episodes were going to be better than others, but it honestly was worse than expected. I think the biggest problem lies with the FL character having been written that way (as a mostly grumpy and not-so-kind person, wary of others - particularly when they're males. I found that quite offensive, sorry).
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So, where did this series surprise me?
In all fairness, being quite the "supokon" aficionado, while at the same time not caring much (if anything at all!) for company-themed power struggles, I started watching this thinking I was gonna like the sports part and not so much the company one....instead it was basically the other way around, and I enjoyed the intrigues more than the sports.
Where it did match my expectations, instead, was for all regarding rugby. I must confess not being a fan (at all) of this sport, and this was confirmed, sorry but it's way too violent for my taste (I'm a baseball fan, 'nuff said, LOL) - although I know that there's a lot of good things in rugby: I remember they used to describe the two most popular English sports as "football is a game designed for gentlemen but played by thugs, while rugby is a sport designed for thugs but played by gentlemen". There's some truth in there, honestly...^__^
Anyway, the script is okay, the acting pretty good, and the "packaging" definitely above average. So even if you don't like rugby, this still makes for a pleasant watch! 7/10
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