Princess Hours Thai Remake (2017)

Princess Hours (Goong) (2008) is one of my most favorite drama of all times. So when I learned that there was going to be a Korean remake, I googled all the news about this. In the process, I found out that there is actually a Thai version of this Korean drama. I was curious about this so I searched YouTube for a version with an English subtitle (mit was not available on Netflix). Luckily, I found one. The translation is quite bad but since I know the story already, I was able to understand and get the drift.

Synopsis

This Thai adaptation takes place in an imaginary country called Bhutin, which is governed by a King as constitutional monarch. Since the King has an ailment and for the dynasty’s stability, he married off his son, the Crown Prince Inn to Khaning, the grandaughter of the King’s father’s aide, in keeping with the promise of the late King to his aide and best friend. The marraige didn’t begin smoothly, as the two did not really know each other, complicated by a relationship of the Prince Inn to another girl, Minnie. Through time and through the web of intrigues and scandals manipulated by a former Royal Consort, Prince Inn and Khaning fall in love with each other and live happily ever after.

My review

I found the actors very good looking and Khaning is really very pretty and cute. Their acting though were so-so and the chemistry between the characters were lacking, especially between the two leads, Prince Inn and Khaning. The plot was poorly developed as well as the characters. I felt excited during the first four or five episodes, in anticipation of a reprise of the thrill I felt while watching the original Korean Princess Hours back in 2008. But after a few more episodes of trying to navigate through the bad translation, so-so acting, medicocre OST, and “fake” kissing scenes, I got bored.

But I did I not stop watching. I wanted to give the Thai drama a chance to redeem itself and satisfy my yearning for a Princess Hours Part 2 after all these years. Alas, my patience wore off and I fast forwarded the episodes and skipped scenes that featured two characters that I couldn’t stand. One is the ultra agressive and bitchy ex-girlfriend Minnie. (I miss Hyo Rin, her Korean counterpart who had more class and got my sympathy for her unrequited love for her Prince). She actually had more “real” kissing scenes than between the two lead actors. Another one is the ultra evil ex Royal Consort and mother of Prince Nakhun, who cooked up all the intrigue and scandals against Prince Inn.

https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/1128362881608886656/visual-search/?x=0&y=0&h=1&w=1&tab=0

Now about the lack of chemistry between Prince Inn and Khaning. This is unfortunate because my memories of Princess Hours are the several “kilig” (a Filipino word that means “titillating”) between the beleaguered Crown Prince and his reluctant bride. The many fake kissing scenes are a factor to the lack of chemistry. It is a big question mark why the script had to show so many kissing scenes between Inn and Khaning when obviously, these were just faked ones. They should have gotten a leading lady who would agree to kissing scenes rather than getting one who specified none in her contract (as alleged by several blogposts). If the producers really like this actress, then ask the scriptwriter to replace the kissing scenes with scenes where the lead actors just embraced tightly to signify their love.

I tried my best not to compare this Thai remake with the original one and evaluate it on its own merits. I will not recommend this to fans of the original Korean Princess Hours because the latter is almost “perfect” while the Thai remake will fall short of expectations and make one frustrated. But for those who want to watch this, just treat it as another one of those fairy tale dramas.

Two Lights: Relumino (2017) A Story of Love at First “Sight”

https://mydramalist.com/26419-two-lights/photos

This is the first movie of Park Hyung-sik that I have seen since he became my new oppa. It’s other title is “Two Rays of Light.” I was able to stream it from YouTube. It is a short film, all of 30:48 minutes but it packed a very moving drama of two young visually impaired individuals. It was uploaded by Samsung Electronics on YouTube last Dec 21, 2017 and it has garnered already a huge following of TWENTY FOUR MILLION views.

I learned from one blog that this is actually a promotional movie that featured Samsung’s visual aid application for the visually impaired called “Relumino.” But I didn’t know about this before I watched the short film so while watching this film, I wondered about the unusual longer air time and fuss given to the use of a device that helped in improving visibility.

But I would have to congratulate Samsung for this soft sell marketing because I did not notice the film had a hidden commercial interest. In fact, before I did find out about Samsung, I saw it more as an advocacy for the plight of the visually impaired, in particular those with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) which according to Wikipedia is a “genetic disorder of the eyes that causes a loss of vision” for which there is no cure.

I like the film for the following reasons:

In the story, Insoo (Park Hyung Sik) and Sooyoung (Han Ji Min) met at a photography club for the visually impaired and through the club’s activities, fall in love with each other.

The powerful performances of the lead stars.

https://www.hellokpop.com/tv-movies/park-hyung-shik-han-ji-min-two-lights/

PHS and HJM were outstanding. Their acting were subdued but you can feel the intensity and the chemistry between the two. For a moment, I really thought that HJM is a real visually impaired person because of the way she moved her eyes to look in opposite directions, at times looking cross eyed too. PHS also had that expressionless look in his eyes, reminiscent of blind people.

Awareness of the plight and conditions of the visually-impaired.

I have a soft spot for the visually impaired especially for those with RF as I have a similar disease although mine is of a different type because it is not a genetic disorder. That’s why I found the the film uplifting, seeing how the two lead stars are engaged in “normal” jobs that are atuned to their visually challenged situation. HJM is engaged in scent testing while PSH is a piano tuner. I am happy that the visually impaired can still live independently and learn to function normally in Korea. The support group provided by the photography club and the therapy thru photography made me curious if such a therapy also exist in my country.

All in all, this is a must see film. I think I will watch it again.

Long Vacation_my 2nd Kimutaku drama

https://wiki.d-addicts.com/images/8/86/Lpster_copy_copy.jpg

It is now 1:37 AM and I had just finished my second Kimutaku (Kimura Takuya) Japanese drama-Long Vacation (1996). I watched this straight for 11 hours with just an afternoon nap and dinner break in between.  Kimutaku  was just 24 years old when he appeared in this drama. I had seen the first episode before but I didn’t continue watching because I found Kimutaku not good-looking at that time. But after watching him in Pride (2004) and seeing how uber hot he was in that drama, I was “charmed” by Kimutaku and vowed to see all his movies and dramas. 

Long Vacation is about a  24-year old part time piano teacher Hidetoshi Sena (Kimura Takuya)  who dreams of becoming a world class pianist.   While his technique and style is world class, his playing lacks the depth of “feeling” or passion since he has “never played the piano for anyone.” But all these changed when he meets 30-year old Minami (Yamaguchi Tomoko), who came knocking on his door in a traditional Japanese wedding dress in search of her groom, Hasakura, who had not appeared at her wedding.  Hasakura is Sena’s roommate, who had fell in love with a younger girl and eloped.  Since Minami’s savings had gone to her fiance, she moves to Sena’s condo;  Sena hesitatingly agrees since he felt guilty for introducing the young girl to Hasakura.  Minami is a little pushover and Sena is annoyed at her meddlesome behavior, but eventually appreciates the encouragement she gives her. Eventually, the younger Sena falls in love with the older Minami and weds her in Boston after he wins a piano competition in Japan.

The OST is very good, I like best the songs “Deeper and Deeper” by Cagnet and the Toshio Kubota’s “La La La Love Song.”  BTW, a younger Yutaka Takenouchi also played a supporting role here as Shinji, Minami’s piano-playing younger brother.  Again, I think Kimutaku played his role well to a T and liked the chemistry between him and Yamaguchi. This was supposed to be the drama that launched Kimutaku’s “idol” label and one of the hottest stars in Japan.  This is a must see for Kimutaku fans as well.

Sweet relationship–I love the ending

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Relationship

Just finished watching the last episode of  Sweet Relationship, the taiwan drama starring Vic Zhou as Fang Zhi Tian and Patricia Hsu as Bai Hui.  The happy ending really made me smile–after how many episodes of when will they ever get romantic, the last few scenese show Fang Zhi Tian finally opening up and confessing his love to Bai Hui.  He kisses  Bai Hui the whole time that the background music  I love you is playing.  It wasn’t really a hot kiss though.  And the nice thing is, Zhi Tian suddenly became very demonstrative after that, kissing Bai Hui several times until the end.  This maybe corny to some people but to me, it is a feel good ending, in stark contrast to the Japanese original on which this taiwan drama was based, that is Oishi Kankei. 

In this j-drama, the ending was not as happy as living happily ever after.  As I said in  an earlier write-up, the chef and the lady parted ways since the chef had a two year contract in Paris and said that when he comes back, he would taste the cooking of Nakayama Miho.  Even the theme song is really bouncy, with a feel good beat. Will I watch the drama again?  Maybe not.

They Kiss Again—-And Again and Again

They Kiss Again (2007) is the sequel of It Started with a Kiss–the  2005 Taiwanese live action adaptation of the 1999 popular Japanese manga Itazura na Kiss by Kaoru Tada.  It stars Ariel Lin as Yuan Xiang Qin (袁湘琴) and Joe Cheng as Jiang Zhi Shu (江直樹).  This sequel starts with the honeymoon in Guam of couple Xiang Qin and Zhi Shu and ends with the anticipation of the pregnancy of Xiang Qin. It focuses on how the  young married couple weather the challenges in their lives while studying to become a nurse and a doctor.  Xiang Qin’s life is fully devoted to Zhi Shu, almost to the point of complete dependency on Zhi Zhu in the sense that she loses grip on her life everytime Zhi Zhu is away from her (here, Zhi Zhu goes on military service in remote Matsu Island for a year).  Zhi Zhu on the other hand, wants Xiang Qin to be independent to the point of not even answering her calls thus increasing the worries and fears  of the wife on the fate of her husband.   The drama shows a cold Zhi Zhu whose reaction to jealousy over a male nursing student, Yang Qing Tai, (played by Figaro Ceng, who I must say is a look alike of Japanese idol Kimura Takuya when he was in his 20s). was to completely ignore his miserable wife.  This was the part when I most hated Zhi Zhu when he was at the peak of his cruelty.   Not even Qiang Xin’s father could restrain himself when he hit his son-in-law to put some sense into his passive reaction or his “unhusbandly” behavior.  However, after this challenge was successfully overcome by the couple, the relationship between the two became more or less “stable.”  It was Ah Jin, former suitor of Xiang Qin (played by Jiro Wang), who made Zhi Zhu realize that what he was feeling for Xiang Qin was “jealousy” and since he didn’t understand the feeling or has never experienced such strong emotion in his whole boring and uninteresting life, he could not cope and thus the weird behavior unbecoming of an intelligent and mature husband.  As the drama progresses, Zhi Zhu develops  into a relatively kinder and more loving husband and professes his love for Xiang Qin more easily and more often.

Insterspersed with the story of Xiang Qin and Zhi Zhu are the love stories of Xiang Qin’s best friend Lin Chun Mei (played by Petty Yang) and her boyfriend, Ah Bu (Aaron Yan) , Ah Jin and  English exchange student Christine Robinson (Larisa Bakurova), and Zhi Zhu’s brother Yu Shu  and Lin Hao Mei.  Jiro Wang as Ah Jin was a bit overacting to the point of being  annoying.

As with the prequel, I like the OST.  My favorite songs were Ariel Lin’s NI (You), which was the ending theme and Joe Cheng’s Zhong Yu Yuan Wei (Loyal To The Original Taste).  The excellent music enhanced the mood of the drama.

An unexpected reaction of mine was crying at the sad ending when Xiang Qin learned about her incurable genetic condition and ran away while a frantic  Zhi Zhu looked desperately for her.  There was a scene  when  Zhi Zhu broke down  in frustration when he just missed Xiang Qin who visited the wall where he had first kissed Xiang Qin.

The last scene showed Zhi Zhu scraping the shit on Xiang Qin’s sneakers when she stepped on it  while videotaping  their walk to the OB-Gyne.   We are not sure if Xiang Qin is really pregnant or not but since it is Zhi Zhu who suspected it, being a doctor, he may be right  (if you will recall, there was a false alarm in the early episodes when a Xiang Qin had stomach ache). This kind of ending surely calls for a Part 3.  I am wishing….although it has been seven years since Part 2….

 

 

Dong yi (2010)–A beautiful historical romance

Promotional poster for Dong Yi; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dong_Yi_(TV_series)

After Jewel in the Palace sparked my interest in Korean dramas,  I was not disappointed in my next choice–Dong Yi, a Korean historical drama shown in 2010.  Dong-yi is about the love story between King Sukjong (Joseon dynasty) and Dong-yi (Choi Suk-bin) and tells it all in 60 episodes.

The drama  traces the life of Dong-yi,  an orphaned slave who found her way into the Royal palace Bureau of Music and because of her ability to solve court cases, becomes a  palace investigator.  She later became  a royal concubine with the  rank of Suk-bin, then bears a son who, under her tutelage, later becomes the 21st king of Joseon, Yoengjo, the father of Crown prince Sado and grandfather of Yi San.  Throughout her life, she has protected  the lowborn commoners.  Dong-yi met King Sukjong, who  introduced himself as a court judge and enjoyed his treatment as an ordinary person.

I enjoyed watching Dong-yi because its plot was made interesting through a combination of  romance, comedy, history, Korean culture and court life, suspense, intrigue, magic and even sword fights.  In this sense, it is similar to Jewel in the Palace.

Han Hyo-joo won a major best actress award as the optimistic and determined Dong-yi.  I loved the way Jin Ji hee  portrayed the character of King Sukjong–especially when Dong-yi treated him as an ordinary person and even stepped on his back to climb a wall during one of her investigations.  I think Jin Ji hee looks better with a beard and in period costumes.  I saw him in Perhaps Love but I think he looks more handsome in Jewel and in Dong Yi.

The theme song  is also very memorable -“Walking on a Dreamy Road” by Jang Na-ra.  It has a simple yet sad melody.

After Dong-yi, I have not yet found another interesting historical drama that I would like to watch.  A candidate is Jumong, said to be the most popular of all.  But when i watched the trailer, I sensed a heavy kind of drama.  Any recommendations?

 

Itazura na Kiss, Love in Tokyo 2013: The Best Naoki and Kotoko

http://wiki.d-addicts.com/static/images/3/38/Tokyokiss.jpg

I have seen all the live action adaptations of this popular Japanese manga series Itazura na Kiss (イタズラなKiss, Mischievous Kiss) written by Kaoru Tada  –the 1998 first  Japanese drama version, the 2005 Taiwanese -drama version  starring  Joe Cheng and Ariel Lin,  and the 2010 Korean version starring Jung So-min  and Kim Hyun-joong.  I like all the versions, although each  have their strong and weak points, but I will save that discussion for a future review.  For now, I would say that I  found this 2013 Japanese version–Itazura na Kiss, Love in Tokyo–  the most “refreshing” and “cutest” version of all, thanks to the good performances of the actors  who portrayed their roles well,  the cinematography and good editing.

When I learned of this latest version,  I viewed the trailer and postponed watching the  drama because I thought that the actor who portrayed Naoki Irie (Yuki Furukawa) was not my ideal of a “handsome” Naoki compared to all the lead actors who portrayed him in the past versions.  On the other hand, I found the actress, Honoka Miki,  who portrayed  Kotoko Aihara, as the “cutest” and closest to my ideal of the adorable and charming Kotoko.  The latter gave me the incentive to watch the series.  But after watching the initial episodes, I was in for a pleasant surprise.

Yuki Furukawa is so far the “perfect” Naoki–the reserved, unaffected, detached and bored, all-around genius who  at first rejects the love proposal of Kotoko because he “hates dumb girls” but later falls for her because of her perseverance and determination.  Yuki’s “handsomness” grows on you as you watch him through the series.  The confidence he exudes, very well shown when Naoki introduces himself to his father’s company’s prospective investor, strengthened by his very well modulated voice, his fluency in English, his  stolen glances at Kotoko, his relaxed gait–all these won me over.  Yuki Furukawa’s profile is proof that he may have  some similarities with Naoki –he is currently  a student of the prestigious and elite  Keio University’s Faculty of Science and Technology in Tokyo, speaks fluent English and Japanese, has lived in Canada and US and was on  the basketball team of his high school.  He has even  joined breakdance competitions.  His mature aura despite his boyish looks would probably stem from the fact that he is already in his late 20s (born 1987).  

The cute Honoka Miki, was  17 years old when she starred in the series,  about the age of a senior high school student, so I should say she comes closest to being the appropriate Kotoko in terms of age (and perhaps, the characteristics of a bubbly senior high?).  She has round wide and innocent eyes, and is really pretty by any standards.

With the lead stars perfect for their roles, the chemistry between Furukawa’s Naoki and Miki’s Kotoko is “enchanting”, despite the 10 year  age gap.  Even though the celebrated “kiss” is actually just a “peck”, I swooned and gasped everytime Naoki “kissed”  Kotoko.  The camera angles were done in such a  way to capture the “magic” of that “kiss.”

The rest of the cast who acted superbly  include  the father of Kotoko, Mr Aihara (Yoji Tanaka) and Kinchan Ikezawa (Yuki Yamada).

The cinematography was also fantastic, in particular the changing seasons that marked the passage of time and the third kiss rain scene–where the camera focuses on the  transparent umbrella that fell on the rain drenched pavement in slow motion  before the change in mood from a reserved Naoki to a jealous Naoki  who kissed Kotoko for the third time.  For a romance- comedy Japanese drama , this is about the longest I have encountered, that is 16 episodes, compared to the usual 10.

There is a Season 2 forthcoming in the last quarter of 2014, and I look forward to watching it.

 

 

 

Secret Garden (2010) and the Resurrection of Hyun Bin

I was so happy to see Hyun Bin’s dedimpled cheek again on Secret Garden, five years since I first saw him in Kim Sam Soon.  I thought he had gone  into hibernation because of his compulsory military training, only to find out he only went there after Secret Garden, which was shown from 13 November 2010-16 January 2011..  I watched Secret Garden because I  read that it is the best drama in 2011.  Although I wouldn’t say it is the best drama for me, I found the drama series very entertaining–it had both light and funny momentI watched Secret Garden because it was listed as the best Korean drama of 2011 (it showed from November 13, 2010 to 16 January 2011), having won several awards  for best drama and actor/actress. I was surprised to find that Hyun Bin is the lead actor, who played Kim Joo Woon, a 34 year old rich, arrogant and spoilt CEO of a huge department store and heir of a huge Korean conglomerate in property development. It was reported that his career was lackluster after Kim Sam Soon and was revived with Secret Garden). Kim Joo Won  falls in love with a poor stuntwoman, Gil Ra Im (played by Ha Ji Won), but does not know why because a woman without the “proper family background ” is not his type.  In the end, he finds admits that  Ra Im is an “amazing” woman who can ride a race car like a devil, kick the ass of sexual harrassers,  etc.  Of course, the rich and haughty mother of Kim is against the relationship. This K drama is very entertaining–it has light and funny moments, dramatic and crying moments, mysteries and intrigues, fantasy,and best of all, romance.  In fact, this is one K drama where there is quite a lot of touching and kissing scenes between the lead actors.  (In fact I read in Wikipedia that Hyun Bin and Ha Ji Won are currently dating as of 2012). There were some dragging moments in the middle of the series, but there were also surprises and twists and turns around the switiching of the two lead actors.  Most of the funny moments were during these switching times when Kim Joo Won would be in the body of Ra Im.  But the saddest moment also had to do with switching.  Kim gave up his life for the unconsious Kim by sntaching the unconsioud Ra Im from her hospital bed so that they could switch bodies when the rain comes. Thus, Kim would be in the body of the unconsious Ra Im while Ra Im will find herself alive but in the body of Kim Joo Won.  In the end, the spell that led to switching was lifted by this courageous act of Kim giving up his life for the love of Ra Im.  The two end up married to each other and blessed with three kids but until the end of the drama, the relationship of the couple was not yet recognized by the very haughty mom of Kim.  In the end, it was also revealed that the two were destined to be together since Ra Im’s father was the one who dies while saving Kim Joo Won when he was trapped in an elevator during an accident when he was 21 years old.  He forgot the events during the accident and was made to believe that he had a car accident and claustrophobia so he did not ride elevators. A cute scene is the star struck Ra Im everytime she sees her idol Oska (Choi Joo Won, cousin of Kim, played by Yoon Sang Hyun) and calls her “oppa”  and wears Oska socks, which makes Kim jealous because Ra Im does not call him “oppa.” Funny moments include the scenes when the lead actors swiched so that they would find themselves in compromising situations like when Oska and switched Kim would be in the spa and swticed Kim-Ra Im would blush when he seen the private body parts of Oska.   Also, there are some angles where Yoon Sang Hyun looked like Japanese idol Kimura Takuya, for example, his expressive eyes etc). I think the weak pint of the movie is the lack of explanation for the reason for the switching and the end of the magical spell but these seems to have been glossed over since the drama is not realistic anyway.

2046 Kimura’s cameo role

Just finished watching Wong Kar Wai’s 2046 (2004).  It has an all star Asian cast–Tony Leung, Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi, and Kimura Takuya, Faye Wong  and Maggie Cheung.  The story is set in the 1960s in Hong Kong, although the fim was actually shot in Shanghai.  A journalist and sci-fi writer, Chow Mo-wen (Tony Leung Chui-Wai), writes a novel about “2046” using the room number next to his hotel room as an apt title into the future–2046, that place in time where you can recapture lost memories and lost love.  Many people go there and never come back, except for one man, Tak, (Kimura Takuya) , who went to 2046 to look for his loved one, but failing to find her, returned from 2046. Along the time travel back to present, he falls in love with an android   attendant (Faye Wong)  and asks her to come back with him but receives no reply. At first, he thought the reason for such is the delay in android’s  reaction due to the long time journey but later, he realizes that the android never loved him; that she could be in love with someone else.  Incidentally, 2046 is also the number of the hotel room where  Chow Mo wen  made love to his one and only love Su Lizhen.  2046 is actually the continuing story of Chow’s unconsummated love.  Chow fell in love once with Su Lizhen, a married woman. (In the pre- and sequels, Days of Being Wild (1991) and In the Mood for Love (2006), the Chow-Su Lizhen romance is played up more). As a result of his frustrations, Chow has had  affairs with several women who occupied Rm 2046 in Oriental hotel,   including  Bai Ling (Zhang Ziyi)  who desperately loved him.  Just when I thought Chow was falling in love with Bai Ling, when the latter asks if   they  start their relationship all over again  (“Why can’t it be like before?”) , if she could borrow him for just that last night before she leaves for Singapore,  Chow  said ” This is simply something that I will never lend.”  In fact, while he was nursing his sad fate over his lost love by gambling in casinos in Singapore, he was rescued by Black Spider (Gong Li) , a  woman also bearing Su Lizhen’s name.  Chow asked her to  come with him but Su declined.   Chow reflects ” I know why she declined.  In love there is no substitute and she knew.”  The scene ends with Chow going into his own 2046 and returning from there.

The movie was nominated in April 2004 for the Golden Palm Award at the 2004 Cannes film Festival. I was pleasantly surprised that I liked the movie, because it isn’t anything like the super productions that leaves one in awe.  Why do I like the movie?  Of course, Kimura. my idol  is there and though his role was short, he really exuded that “X factor” that really is so appealing on cam.  I thought he was a great actor here–I love the voice;  those expressive eyes; he had kissing scenes here though shadowed by dark lighting so couldn’t really gauge  if he was a good kisser here.  Kimura plays  a Japanese businessman who  falls in love with the eldest daughter, Wnag Jing wen (Faye Wong)  of Oriental Hotel’s owner. Wang Sun, where   he stayed while on a  businesstrip  in HK.  Wang had objected to her daughter falling in love with a “Japanese” and because of anguish over the forbidden love, had to be placed in a mental institution. Wang ji wen also moved into 2046 before Bai Ling.  Jing wen  helped Chow in writing the novel 2046 which he later changed to 2047. Chow also helped in the correspondence of the two by having the mails from Japan coursed through him.  There was a hint that he also fell in love with Jing-wen although   the love never prospered because he realizedd that the girl “never loved him at all.” Jing-wen later leaves for  Japan until we hear the hotel owner happily announcing that he was going to Japan to attend his daughter’s wedding.  The daughter had asked Chow to change the ending of 2047  to a happier one.

Zhang Ziyi was really very beautiful here and her acting received raved reviews.

But I felt sympathy for Chow and I thought the development (or nondevelopment) of  Chow’s character  was great–thanks to Wong Kar Wai’s great directing. Tony Leung isn’t as handsome as Kimura, but he sure knows how to act and superbly portrayed the playboy- yet- desperately- seeking -the- love- of- his- life Su Lizhen Chow.

BTW, in the first part, there was reference to a certain bar girl Lu-LU who fell in love with a “Chinese-Filipino” from a rich family but who died young so left Lulu broken hearted…

Wish a greater role for Takuya Kimura in another Wong Kai War film.

Kimura T as hairdresser

Just finished watching the 12 episode J-drama  “Beautiful Life” (TBS,2000) starring Kimura Takuya as Okishima Shuji, a 27-year old talented and popular hairdresser and  Tokiwa Takako as Machida Kyoko, a 27-year old physically handicapped wheelchair bound librarian with an incurable  disease.  Both met “on the road” under not so friendly circumstances in the beginning, but later the animosity gave way to a stormy love relationship.  This was the focus of the “love story”–the development of the relationship between a supposedly “normal” person in the character  of Shuji and a not normal (?) person in the character of Kyoko as they struggled with so many personal issues related to their “circumstances.”  Kyoko fell in love with Shuji because of Shuji’s being a person with a “barrier free” heart, a pun on a “barrier free” environment  where physically challenged people can move freely around.  Shuji was a guy who have never said the cliche “I will protect you”  to Kyoko; instead he said the unusual “We will face the challenge together” .  Neither did Shuji display any pity but rather had a unique way of  viewing Kyoko’s  physically challenged circunstances by saying “I wonder how the world looks like from a 100 cm height.”   Kyoko says she finds strength in Shuji; after all Shuji never gave up their relationship when he found out that Kyoko had a terminal illness; instead he even pursued her  (I thought I would hear the following line from Shuji when he learned that the Kyoko he loves will soon die:  “I would rather die having loved you even for a minute, than not having a chance to love you at all.”)

Takuya was very convincing as a  hairstylist (it was said that Takuya became a licensed hairstylist after that drama) but I really was so amazed at the last episode when he was shown for the first time putting on make-up for the dead Tokiwa.  Having seen Takuya play “macho” roles, I felt quite uneasy seeing  Takuya weild his cutting scissors through a woman’s hair; but all the more when he put make up on a woman  (in my country, the best hairstylists are mostly gays, you know….), but sasuga Takuya, he was able to get away with it.

The other actors were good as well.  I liked Kyoko’s brother, Masao (Watabe Atsuro)’s acting the best–he was cute as the bumbling and clumsy brother of the smart Kyoko.   Both Kimura and Tokiwa won Best Actor and Actress in the 24th Television Drama Awards, as well as  Atsuro and Mizuno Miki (role as Sachi, Kyoko’s best friend) for best supporting actor and actress.  In fact, according to drama-wiki, this drama holds the record for the most awards won from the television Drama Academy awards. Other awards went to: Best Newcomer: Nishikawa Takanori (satoru, the rival hairdresser); Screenwriter: Kitagawa Eriko; Best Director: Shono Jiro; Best Theme Song (Konya tsuki no mieru oka ni” by B’z) and Best Opening.

According to several drama database sites, as of March 2000, it was the second most watched drama ever in Japan with a 41.3 % rating with the no 1 drama being way back in 1983 with a 45.1% rating. I wouldn’t say this was my personal best drama starring Kimura Takuya  (I like Long vacation better and loved Takuya’s acting  in Pride and Miliion Stars Falling from the Sky).  However, I liked my learnings from the relationship bet the two characters–consider the feelings of both parties in a relationship (Kyoko would always say that she didn’t want Shuji to be disadvanatged with the relationship  so she would break their relationship without considering how Shuji feels ; that is Shuji on the other hand feels “disadvanatged” by not continuing the relationship with Kyoko).

Beautiful Life is the 12th J drama of Kimura Takuya that I have seen so far, and judging from the character that he played here and interviews I read about him, Shuji’s character seem to echo the real Takuya–straightforward, candid, rather than saying that he doesn’t really care about what people will say ; I may be wrong but he may be  a person who doesn’t get affected or mind what people thinks of him or his actions (although being in showbiz and being looked upon as an “idol” I don’t know how he practices this because he has a great responsibility as a “role model’ ).

Just as aside.  Kimura smoked a lot here and this reminded me of one side of Kimura that I do not appreciate–he IS a smoker in real life. I wish he would soon realize that smoking is not healthy not only for the smoker himself but to non-smokers as well.