The Banana Guide to Asian Entertainment: It’s All About Japan: Part II
The Odd Ones Out
Because jdrama is such a short format sometimes, some broadcast companies get to experiment a little bit. The one company that does this often is WOWOW. The first experimental drama that I ever watched was Yu Aoi’s Camouflage, also known as the Aoi Yu x 4 Lies project.
The 12-episode show was divided into four chapters of three episodes each, that revolved around the theme of lies told by four different directors. In it, Yu Aoi had the chance to work with Takuma Takasaki (Honokaa Boy), Nobuhiro Yamashita (Linda, Linda, Linda), and Yuki Tanada in the segment that would eventually become a prelude for her film, One Million Yen Girl.
WOWOW did it againwith Juri Ueno when they released Juri Ueno and the Five Bags, a five-episode experimental drama revolving around Juri Ueno and five different bags, having five different directors at the helm of each episode.
Directors Nobuhiro Yamashita and Takuma Takasaki were back for more experimentation, joined by Hideta Takahata, Michael Arias (Tekkonkinkreet), and Koji Hagiuda (Kodomo no Kodomo). The results were almost as accomplishing. WOWOW had already become my favorite broadcast company, even though it was such a difficult task to catch their projects.
This past winter season, they dazzled us with the amazing Shokuzai. Adapted from another Minato Kanae (Kokuhaku) revenge story and directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Tokyo Sonata). Things really couldn’t have gotten much better, until… they announced the cast, which included Kyoko Koizumi, Yu Aoi, Eiko Koike, Sakura Ando (Love Exposure) and Chizuru Ikewaki (Josee, the Tiger and the Fish) alongside guest actors of the caliber of Mirai Moriyama, Ryo Kase (Letters from Iwo Jima, Restless), Ayumi Ito (Swallowtail Butterfly), and Hirofumi Arai.
A dream cast in a dream production. It was too good for it to be just the beginning of 2012.
Later on, WOWOW would go on to produce Tsumi to Batsu: A Falsified Romance (罪と罰: A Falsified Romance), an adaptation of the manga by Naoyuki Ochiai and based on the themes of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, starring Kengo Kora, Asami Mizukawa and… once again, Ayumi Ito.
I want to recommend My Little Chef. It is cute, features food, and passes the Bechdel Test (in which two females talk about something other than a guy) with flying colors.
@Diandra Rodriguez, looks like there’s another one on the list! LOL Other than Keizoku, I haven’t watched many “old” shows. They’re harder to come by now!
@amy, I watched it at Mysoju. It’s probably still up there