Saikou no Rikon 最高の離婚 [drama]

Kondo wa, sunao ni nareru...

What a soul destroying drama. On a level with Sunao ni Narenakute, this one was hard to watch. Mainly because it was too close to home, but if anyone has had any sort of troubled relationship then this is going to feel familiar. Its just too real. Its not even melodrama like Sunao, its so real... Their conversations are too frank, and it burned through both my friend and I each time a new argument or new situation came up.

Don't be fooled by the blurb. This is not a comedy! And when do I ever use exclamation marks.

I wanted to watch this for the cast. Ayano Gou and Eita primarily, but also came to really love the two women... 

I'm getting ahead of myself. Have a cast list first, then we'll talk.

Cast:

Eita - Mitsuo

Ono Machiko - Yuka 

Maki Yoko - Akari

Ayano Gou - Ryo

Kubota Masataka - Junnosuke

Otani Eiko - Shiori

Serina - Nana

Ok so back to the ranting about the cast. 

Oh and side note, sorry for my awful screen shots this time. Had to use online stream because I deleted my files.

I've never seen Ayano look as cuddly as he did in this drama as Ryo. I still wanted to curl up and sleep in his hair even though its all short this time, and that dazed and bewildered look in his eyes reminded me of something very uncomfortable to remember but he made it into something much more tangible than purely just being lost and apathetic. He absolutely made this drama for me.

Eita was bumbling and cute and frustratingly annoying as his perfect portrayal of Mitsuo - no-one but Eita could have possibly made this character likable. Just no-one. He was another character far too close to home, we happen to still be living that story so its far too uncomfortable to really deal with but the whole thing was very cathartic in a way. More so that even Sunao. Mitsuo 's issues and stuborn nature make you resent him, but he is just as lost as anyone else.

The wonderfully weird Machiko chan, a complete carbon copy of Mizukawa Asami, was adorable and mixed up, free spirited but completely torn as Mitsuo's wife Yuka. She went through every emotion possible throughout this drama. She played a part my friend seems to be living right now and it was so uncomfortable... but you know, they dealt with everything so sensitively that I really think the drama and their unquestionably perfect performances helped us come to terms with a few things.

Lastly, Maki Yoko as Akari. She had and Ryo held the most pain for me personally, I internalised all their issues and lived a little vicariously through their closure. Akari was beautiful and strong but falling apart at the seams silently. Maki is so wonderful to watch. Not just her appearance but her voice, her mannerisms, everything about her was stunning. Akari was hopeless and determined, a complete contradiction throughout, a complete slave to her feelings. 

These four carried a wonderful story, woven in and out of their bickering and gossiping, complaining and ranting to all and sundry. 

There are just too many points that ring true about this drama. From start to finish it echoes real life and relationships and every episode is a fresh punch in the face to anyone who struggles to know which side of their own arguments they are on... as most of us are when we argue with the ones we love.

This is a serious drama for me. Not a comedy. I laughed a lot, Eita was comical, and Ayano was so adorable sometimes I squeaked. But on the whole, this was more tears than anything else.

We marathoned this in a night and the following afternoon. We had to stop for a while and take a walk. It wasn't the most comfortable drama we could have chosen. Correction - I could have chosen. And it was definitely my choice. But all in all I think it did us both some good, although it wasn't what I was aiming for.

This isn't full of unrequited love, suicide and domestic violence. Its very tame in comparison to some dramas I've seen. But I think this was so real, so exactly how life is, that it shocked us a little. 

Their acting is so good. Seriously so good. Unwavering, unbreakable. Completely compelling and I loved all four of them so much I was desperate for things to just work out ok in the end. Word of warning - the special is a bit of a sad addition to the show... 

Looking back now I think it was right, but I felt like it was a little too much to have it end that way after putting up with so much watching them all fight through their issues... 

I wont spoil it, you come to your own conclusions. It makes sense to me now, I think it must be the only way it could be.

All of it is a little like that actually. It all was the only way it could be for those people. For people who talk everything out, lay their cards bare on the table, things move on. It hurts, but it moves on. 

Most dramas feature too much unsaid pain, which is also true to life to a certain extent 

but in Saikou no rikon they snap, they complain to each other, and they fight, they endlessly fight. 

Its a direct mirror of my house lately, it hurts to see it reflected back on me, but it certainly gives me some perspective. 

Relationships are so selfish, they seem to be about what we want from them, not what we can do for the other person. They certainly end that way even if that is not how they start. The respect, the empathy, the desire to be someone better for the other person... all flies out the window and is replaced with bitterness, a sense that you are somehow owed something, and a demand for your own space, your own dreams, your own petty ideals to be met.

Its all gone a bit super serial serious face, but I got so much from this drama. I cant take on this angst in the house anymore, its petty and pathetic. Its causing a million times more damage than it is changing anything. I cant listen to it anymore. Love is complicated. Love is selfish. Love sometimes isn't even love. 

You know, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Its as simple as that. 

Once you've gone through all the complexities and learned all your lessons and it still goes wrong then cut your losses and run.

But the main point is, no one has to be the bad guy. No one has to have all the blame. There doesn't have to be any blame.  

Being too scared to look inward and question your own actions you blame everyone else. Fearful that if you don't you will only blame yourself. 

But surely its possible to move on from that? That love you had doesn't just disappear surely? If it does then what kind of a person does that make you? You need to get over yourself and be a better person for those around you, no matter how you think they wronged you. 

No-one is in the wrong, we are all just trying, failing, succeeding, all at different rates. 

But we don't communicate, we just blame. We cant do that and be happy. Especially while that usually means spending all your time blaming someone else for your unhappiness. 

Well, yeah. A lot of things got dragged in and out of the mud during this drama and its a shame the issues in my own house cant be solved in 12 episodes and a special. But if we all snap, I'm going to try and remember that it will bring change. And that is what we need here. 

Saikou no rikon reminded me that the only way to change these awful situations is to not bury them and sit with them under our feet. No-one grows that way.

In this review I hope I explained how it affected me without putting you off. 

I feel like everyone has some connection to the things in this show, and you could gain a lot by watching it. 

It is moving, superbly acted and directed, well paced and thoughtful. 

I also want to give a little squee for Kubota Masataka who turned Kamen Teacher from an awful cheapo drama into a semi believable moving story with all his acting with his eyes stuff and genuinely looking pretty hard. Impressed with him right now, and he plays a sweet character in this drama who befriends Yuka while she is going through her troubles. His character is very understanding and caring, unexpectedly so, and adds another level to the complicated friendships formed around the main four.

So to conclude, for all its cringingly honest portrayals of complicated relationships, there is much to reflect on in a positive light. 

I do think it is worth watching, and it definitely surprised me. 

...Just don't be fooled by it calling itself a comedy.

~

Mahoro Ekimae Bangaichi まほろ駅前番外地 [movie] [series]

Gintama staring Eita as Gintoki and Matsu Ryu as Kagura. I dub thee bangumi "Eitama"

Cast: 

Tada Keisuke - Eita (Last friends, Sunao ni Narenakute, Voice)

Gyoten Haruhiko - Matsuda Ryuhei (Aoi Haru)

Series also includes:

Miura Masaki (Zettai Radio)

Kora Kengo (Gokusen 2)

Yamamoto Maika (Kasuka na Kanojo)

Sakai Maki (Nekoben to Toumei Ningen sp2)

Kawamura Yukie (ROMES)

Ok first off, let me say that this site sucks. 

I cant center any of my images so the formatting issues I'm having are going to make this post completely awful. 

I have not got the energy to re do the whole thing for the forth time just to get the photos in so they are going in whichever way they will. F*ck it.

Grumpy pouting at this stupid site.

The movie comes first, showing how the two main characters meet and

become Tada Benriken - the odd jobs shop baring a striking resemblance to Gintama's yoroza ethos of taking on the most bizarre and seemingly impossible requests of its customers. 

Shall we start the petition for Eita to play Gintoki in a live action Gintama now or later?

Mahoro Ekimae Bangaichi まほろ駅前番外地 [movie]

Maybe let's just review this first. 

I just want to finish this review so I can have Eitama on the top of my front page with his beautiful face, 

but I cant rush this review as I have just realised I took over 30 screen shots - from the movie alone. 

I need to somehow write so much that I can fit all of those pictures here. Never going to happen. 

Every single one is too gorgeous not to include but I will have to ramble on about pointless sh*t for a while to get everything in. No change there then.

I watched the movie after the series because I'm an idiot and didn't realise until I was half way through that the movie came first. 

To be fair, the series has that old style look to it and the movie looked new and shiny so what was I supposed to think. 

It worked that way though. I enjoyed the flash back to how they met up and became who they are now in the recent series.

~ Sneezing fit. 

Anyway, we see Eita's character Tada on his missions looking kind of alone but complacent, bump into Gyōten who he knew from school. He picks him up like a stray cat and they begin to embark on their odd road to friendship and contentment through the trials thrown in their way.

~ Seriously stop f*cking sneezing.

This movie sets the scene for the coming ridiculousness of the series. But honestly either one without the other is fine, any which way round is also fine. 

I think the series stands alone just as much as the movie. Both together is a bonus of fully textured lovable characters. 

These guys both have charm leaking out of every word and glance. As they fall for each other's charm, we completely fall for theirs.

I skate between wanting to be Eita with his amazing hair, then wanting to have an adorable stray like Gyōten to knock around with, then daydream about that awesome pile of sh*t place they live in, and then get fixated on Matsu Ryu's warm presence and fantastic acting skill which brings me back into the movie I'm watching.

Leaping away from Aoi Haru and the cold bizarre harshities of that situation, Matsu Ryu has another character who's everything is hiding behind seemingly dead eyes. But charm is the first, last and every other middling word I would use to describe his essence. 

Natural and subtle. Also a bit slap stick and silly. 

The way he runs with his hands flapping by his sides and always in is sandals and pajamas is so cute. 

As I've said, Tada is basically Gintoki from Gintama. 

He is so thoughtful and awesome but also pretty damn useless and buckles to his surrounding loved ones - running to the rescue of everyone he has a fleeting feeling for. Not a negative trait, but a one which conflicts with his personality of wanting to stay out of trouble and keep himself to himself.

In the movie we get the back story to both Tada and Gyōten's previous troubles in life and find out how they wound up where they are. 

We meet quite a few people from the series like the policemen and Hoshi the gangster with the most fetching white waist coat I ever saw not on a boyband member from the 90's.

Gyōten's wife was f*cking hot.

So you might have noticed by now that I've basically got screen shots of nothing but their faces pretty close up. 

This is not just because they are so photogenic and I'm completely happy to smother my front page with them. 

It is mainly because... 

well no it is mainly the reason I just said, 

but it is  because the movie is just lots of quiet scenes with not much talking, looking at their close up faces while they look at stuff or think about stuff. All fine with me. As explained. 

My shots are pretty much all from the movie. The picture quality of my movie file is better than that of the drama so I took a battered old windscreenless truck load of them.

But the series is so good, I will run through a few examples of the stupid sh*t they get up to.

Mahoro Ekimae Bangaichi まほろ駅前番外地 [series]

In the first episode they become Mexican wrestlers - as a requested odd job, not as a hobby. Which is genius. 

Other jobs included disposal of a life size wax woman 

(fully detailed and... less clothed), 

finding a teenage fugitive on the run from the police after killing her abusive father, helping a man track down a woman from a karaoke video, stealing a ring from a girl who stole a boyfriend, and normal sh*t like walking a dog. 

Each job came with a tattered truck load of other problems to fix, usually a drastic measure previously uncalled for of a handyman. And his stray cat. 

But their sense of justice, or inability to refuse seems to always land them in it somehow. Deep in the midst of everyone else's problems and conflicts.

Watching them ironing out Mahoro's idiocy one person at a time is nice. But watching them come to terms with their own is even nicer. It is quite serious at times, almost dark in places, but moving and lovely as a whole. 

I'm feeling pretty fuzzy right now as I have a ranging cold and bit of a fever - I want to stop it here so I guess cramming all these shots in is going to be a tight squeeze. 

Reading that when the pictures are all in and the post is finished is pretty weird. Damn I didn't feed the dog. I don't want to get up again. 

The formatting keeps messing up tonight and I don't have the energy to fight against this crappy site and the lack of sense it makes. Damn it I'm going to bed.

~