My 30-year-old brother thinks Shitsuren Chocolatier is a good drama
Title:「失恋ショコラティエ」
Run time: 2014.01.13 - 03.24, Monday 9pm
Wow, I didn't know Shitsuren Chocolatier was a Getsu-9 drama.
Somewhere in one of my older posts I mentioned that Hong Kong was airing Shitsuren Chocolatier on TV. And that I watched it in Cantonese dubbed. Well, I watched it with my eldest brother, and sometimes with my sister and my other brother too. My sister knows a lot about Arashi even though she's not a die-hard fan like me. But that's the perks of sharing the same room as me. XD
Anyway, I mentioned that I watched this drama when it first came out because of Mizobata Junpei, and just solely because of himthat I became a Arashi fan. Romance is not my favourite genre in the book, to be honest, so the list of romance dramas I've watched are very limited. My sister has seen Hana Yori Dango, though, so she knows who Matsumoto Jun is. But that's only because I approved the drama first. (These days it's hard when trying to impress older siblings, okay?)
So I've rewatched this drama with my siblings not long ago. Shitsuren Chocolatier is basically about this guy called Koyurugi Sota (MatsuJun) who became a chocolatier and opened a chocolate store solely because he wants the girl who dumped him back in their high school days, Takahashi Saeko (Ishihara Satomi), to fall deeply in love with him after she finds out he became a chocolatier, because she loves chocolate so much. Unfortunately, she is married. And so Sota and Saeko and all the characters on the show gets tangled in this love circlethat's basically going nowhere.
I also just mentioned that I didn't know the drama was a Getsu-9 drama. Well, of course. I didn't really watch J-dramas until this one. But seriously, despite all the pretty, beautiful, chocolatey, love romance sparkly feeling this drama gives out, for a Getsu-9 drama, it has pretty low ratings. LOL. Also, the whole drama is just about the characters chasing eachother in love, and that is all there is to it. It got to the point where I started hating every single character on the show, that by the time I've finished the drama, I didn't even know if I should be crying or laughing.
I'm not gonna go on and on and on and on about each and every character, so I'm just gonna make briefs on what I think of them. Jun as Sota. Well, it's just Jun being his usual romance self, doing his usual romance thing, and I have to comment on the hair. He looked good with the hair in the drama, but he looked horrid with the hair outside the drama. Watch Arashi shows during the first half of 2014 or look at photos taken then, geesh, he looked like a woman! Satomi as Saeko. Her character is so pretty! (Well, she's pretty) And cute! And plain annoying. Mizukawa Asami as Kaoruko. Her character is a bitch. Super annoying. Someone needs to slap her. Also, Asami is known to me as the actress who plays Sho's wife in the PIKANCHI movies. I also saw her in Yamada Taro Monogatari as the director in one of its episodes. So imagine how awkward I felt watching her love dreaming about Jun (okay, his character). Mizuhara Kiko as Erena. Kiko is half American and half Korean, but she looks Japanese and has a Japanese name. That's so weird. Anyway, her character is Sota's "sex-friend". Hah, basically friends with benefits, but I think they later fell for eachother, or was it just Sota who fell for her. I don't know. But she dumped him in the last episode. How sad. Also, do I really want to see her in the bathtub and in bed with Jun? Actually, do anyone even wanted to see that? No. Even Nino couldn't make it through, LOL.
Mizobata Junpei as Olivier. Olivier is a guy who apparently has a French father and was brought to Japan by Sota, and then ended up working in his shop and living with Sota and his sister whom he fell in love with. It's complicated. My brothers were like "Olivier??", "Is that even a Japanese name??". So I had to explain to them that the guy is from France. Don't worry, when I first found out Junpei's character is called Olivier, I was like that too, LOL. Sota's younger sister, Matsuri, played by Arimura Kasumi, was just on the show to be Olivier's girlfriend and nothing else really. But I didn't like her just because I simply do not like Arimura Kasumi. She was in Yowakutemo Katemasu with Nino, and now she's in Yokoso, wagaya e with Aiba, and her characters are pretty much the same. I don't know if that's how she plays them, or that's how her characters actually supposed to be, but her acting is just too lousy for me.
Kato Shigeaki as Hiroaki, a character who works in the other chocolate store in the drama (that I can't be bothered with the name). He's this guy who was just there to support Kaoruko. And nothing else. The actor is also from the Johnny's group NEWS. Sigh, do they have to have another Johnny's somewhere in a Johnny's starring drama? Way to go to promote your talents, Johnny!
Sato Ryuta as Seinosuke, the store owner of the other chocolate shop I just mentioned. He's gay and likes Sota. His character is probably the most decent character on the show. He's funny. But not annoying at all. Probably the only character I don't hate. And then there's Takenaka Naoto playing Sota's dad. Seriously, how many times have I seen him in Arashi's dramas?
So there's the characters. Acting are all fair and decent. Not bad at all, yet nothing outstanding either. I really like the soundtrack, though. It was composed by Ken Arai, who also worked on the soundtrack for Last Hope and Kagi no Kakatta Heya, which I really liked as well. I loved the intro/opening of this drama. The whole Saeko-shooting-out-chocolate-love-into-Sota's-heart-and-then-eating-Sota-shaped-chocoate thing to introduce the title was just productive. I really liked that. I really like the whole feel of the drama too. It's just so pretty. With lots of chocolates. Mmm. Chocolates always makes anyone happy. Basically chocolate porn.
One last thing to mention: the theme song.
Yes, cannot end this post without mentioning Bittersweet. The lovely song that made me an Arashi fan. The song that just suits the drama so well. I remember Bittersweet playing as my eldest brother and I watched the final scene of Shitsuren Chocolatier together. Hearing this song and Arashi's voices loudly coming out of my TV just gives me so much feels. Kyaaa.
Anyway, despite me didn't even know what I just watched after I finished this drama, my 30-year-old brother said this a week after the drama finished airing on our Hong Kong TV:
"That chocolate drama was quite good, I liked it. But now they are airing boring dramas. Can't watch Olivier anymore." Bless him. XD
Conclusion: 6 / 10 stars, because even though I liked the story (actually, I didn't), the music and the whole feel of the drama, the characters were just... sigh. But +2 additional stars for being the drama that got me into Arashi. So now 8 / 10 stars in total review.
Run time: 2014.01.13 - 03.24, Monday 9pm
Wow, I didn't know Shitsuren Chocolatier was a Getsu-9 drama.
Somewhere in one of my older posts I mentioned that Hong Kong was airing Shitsuren Chocolatier on TV. And that I watched it in Cantonese dubbed. Well, I watched it with my eldest brother, and sometimes with my sister and my other brother too. My sister knows a lot about Arashi even though she's not a die-hard fan like me. But that's the perks of sharing the same room as me. XD
Anyway, I mentioned that I watched this drama when it first came out because of Mizobata Junpei, and just solely because of him
So I've rewatched this drama with my siblings not long ago. Shitsuren Chocolatier is basically about this guy called Koyurugi Sota (MatsuJun) who became a chocolatier and opened a chocolate store solely because he wants the girl who dumped him back in their high school days, Takahashi Saeko (Ishihara Satomi), to fall deeply in love with him after she finds out he became a chocolatier, because she loves chocolate so much. Unfortunately, she is married. And so Sota and Saeko and all the characters on the show gets tangled in this love circle
I also just mentioned that I didn't know the drama was a Getsu-9 drama. Well, of course. I didn't really watch J-dramas until this one. But seriously, despite all the pretty, beautiful, chocolatey, love romance sparkly feeling this drama gives out, for a Getsu-9 drama, it has pretty low ratings. LOL. Also, the whole drama is just about the characters chasing eachother in love, and that is all there is to it. It got to the point where I started hating every single character on the show, that by the time I've finished the drama, I didn't even know if I should be crying or laughing.
I'm not gonna go on and on and on and on about each and every character, so I'm just gonna make briefs on what I think of them. Jun as Sota. Well, it's just Jun being his usual romance self, doing his usual romance thing, and I have to comment on the hair. He looked good with the hair in the drama, but he looked horrid with the hair outside the drama. Watch Arashi shows during the first half of 2014 or look at photos taken then, geesh, he looked like a woman! Satomi as Saeko. Her character is so pretty! (Well, she's pretty) And cute! And plain annoying. Mizukawa Asami as Kaoruko. Her character is a bitch. Super annoying. Someone needs to slap her. Also, Asami is known to me as the actress who plays Sho's wife in the PIKANCHI movies. I also saw her in Yamada Taro Monogatari as the director in one of its episodes. So imagine how awkward I felt watching her love dreaming about Jun (okay, his character). Mizuhara Kiko as Erena. Kiko is half American and half Korean, but she looks Japanese and has a Japanese name. That's so weird. Anyway, her character is Sota's "sex-friend". Hah, basically friends with benefits, but I think they later fell for eachother, or was it just Sota who fell for her. I don't know. But she dumped him in the last episode. How sad. Also, do I really want to see her in the bathtub and in bed with Jun? Actually, do anyone even wanted to see that? No. Even Nino couldn't make it through, LOL.
Mizobata Junpei as Olivier. Olivier is a guy who apparently has a French father and was brought to Japan by Sota, and then ended up working in his shop and living with Sota and his sister whom he fell in love with. It's complicated. My brothers were like "Olivier??", "Is that even a Japanese name??". So I had to explain to them that the guy is from France. Don't worry, when I first found out Junpei's character is called Olivier, I was like that too, LOL. Sota's younger sister, Matsuri, played by Arimura Kasumi, was just on the show to be Olivier's girlfriend and nothing else really. But I didn't like her just because I simply do not like Arimura Kasumi. She was in Yowakutemo Katemasu with Nino, and now she's in Yokoso, wagaya e with Aiba, and her characters are pretty much the same. I don't know if that's how she plays them, or that's how her characters actually supposed to be, but her acting is just too lousy for me.
Kato Shigeaki as Hiroaki, a character who works in the other chocolate store in the drama (that I can't be bothered with the name). He's this guy who was just there to support Kaoruko. And nothing else. The actor is also from the Johnny's group NEWS. Sigh, do they have to have another Johnny's somewhere in a Johnny's starring drama? Way to go to promote your talents, Johnny!
Sato Ryuta as Seinosuke, the store owner of the other chocolate shop I just mentioned. He's gay and likes Sota. His character is probably the most decent character on the show. He's funny. But not annoying at all. Probably the only character I don't hate. And then there's Takenaka Naoto playing Sota's dad. Seriously, how many times have I seen him in Arashi's dramas?
So there's the characters. Acting are all fair and decent. Not bad at all, yet nothing outstanding either. I really like the soundtrack, though. It was composed by Ken Arai, who also worked on the soundtrack for Last Hope and Kagi no Kakatta Heya, which I really liked as well. I loved the intro/opening of this drama. The whole Saeko-shooting-out-chocolate-love-into-Sota's-heart-and-then-eating-Sota-shaped-chocoate thing to introduce the title was just productive. I really liked that. I really like the whole feel of the drama too. It's just so pretty. With lots of chocolates. Mmm. Chocolates always makes anyone happy. Basically chocolate porn.
One last thing to mention: the theme song.
Yes, cannot end this post without mentioning Bittersweet. The lovely song that made me an Arashi fan. The song that just suits the drama so well. I remember Bittersweet playing as my eldest brother and I watched the final scene of Shitsuren Chocolatier together. Hearing this song and Arashi's voices loudly coming out of my TV just gives me so much feels. Kyaaa.
Anyway, despite me didn't even know what I just watched after I finished this drama, my 30-year-old brother said this a week after the drama finished airing on our Hong Kong TV:
"That chocolate drama was quite good, I liked it. But now they are airing boring dramas. Can't watch Olivier anymore." Bless him. XD
Conclusion: 6 / 10 stars, because even though I liked the story (actually, I didn't), the music and the whole feel of the drama, the characters were just... sigh. But +2 additional stars for being the drama that got me into Arashi. So now 8 / 10 stars in total review.
Comments
Post a Comment