Drama Thoughts: Tatakau! Shoten Girl
Title:「戦う！書店ガール」
Run time: 2015.04.14 - 06.09, Tuesday 10pm
I seriously do not understand why this drama had such low viewership ratings. I mean, I know people don't really watch that much television anymore, but for a drama this good, it was a bit of a shame. But since this drama is mostly about books, I guess it's not many people's kind of shit. The thing is, I love books. Books is my life. I have lost count of how many books I've read in my life. I have worked in a library before, and currently I, too, work in a bookstore (yeah, I finally told you where I work, sigh). Which was why when this drama was first announced, I couldn't wait to see it.
The title is Tatakau! Shoten Girl, which literally translates to "Fight! Bookstore Girl". And since I can relate to the drama with my real personal life, it makes it that much more good. Except the fact that my colleagues are all older men and women, and none my age, I envy the fact that in the drama they do have younger workers.
Since it's set in Japan, the process of a bookstore is, of course, vastly different in my city. Also I want to say one big point. It's the fact that "loving the content you work for, so much that it becomes part of you both personal and work" does not work in real life. That's why when I watched this drama it frustrates me, like people are not that passionate in real life. Shit does not work that way. These days people work is for the money money money. And not that they actually has the heart to do it. Of course, it all depends on what/where you're working, but most of the jobs out there are only there for the living and not that because the workers loves it so much, it becomes their life. I hope you know what I mean. In the drama, the characters are all like "I love books..." and "I want books to give people hope..." and "I want to see the customers smile...", "they are our strength...", are all total bullshit. I love books, yeah. But to make it so deep is totally unrealistic. I go into shops and the workers there doesn't give a crap about the damn customers, or what the content is they are working for. Again, it all depends. But I really don't see people being passionate and actually use their heart to do what they do. Another example is celebrities. Most of them out there only does what they do for themselves and not that they actually want to give anything good to society. If you see celebrity scandals or any other unnecessary shit about them, that's solid proof of what their heart is. So that's the thing I disliked the most about this drama, is that the character's passion are so fake. Fake to the point I want to strangle myself. In real life, people are not that passionate. Ha, you wish!
But, it's just a drama, so I will give it credit for being what it is. Sigh. Though there was something else that pissed me off. It is the exaggeratedly emotional scenes that are so obviously just there to provoke the main characters' storylines. Like how the store manager suddenly turned into a jerk when he was kind before, and the supporting employees turned against the assistant manager, like you don't even, actually, you should not even, talk to your senior that way! Where was the respect and manners?! I know in their situations sometimes they had to believe in their own feelings but it was put out in the wrong way, and I'm just like, it's so fake, darn it!
I wasn't sure why but this drama got me very emotional. Well, a lot of other J-dramas has gotten me emotional, but damn, I basically cried in every episode! I was like "Nande? Wakanai". Anyway, overall the drama is touching and worthwhile, though some scenes were sort of fake, but I will give it some credit. And it's based from novels, so. The emotional punch was deep, though. It's like, once I finished the drama, I was just like "wow, that was good.", like, it's satisfying in a way. Okay, I'm repeating myself. I like how it's a double lead, and it's not just all about Mayu's character, Aki, but there's also Riko and other characters.
The acting were all fair as well, though some performances can obviously tell which were good, which were meh. Throughout the whole drama, I just can't stop looking at Mayuyu. She's just too attractive, it's distracting. I think her performance was fine, there really wasn't anything wrong with it. Or am I just being biased? Inamori Izumi as Riko, she was great. Nice to see more mature main characters in a Japanese drama that also stars a younger cast. Just saying. Chiba Yudai as Mita, for the first few episodes I found his character an absolute creep, but later on in the drama, he settled on me and I was fine with him after that. I don't know, at first he was just this innocent looking boy but seems like a pervert deep down. To me that was what I thought! This was just my opinions, okay? But he's all fine later on in the drama, so he's alright afterall. Daito Shunsuke as Obata, his character didn't really get that much attention until Obata went out with Aki. But damn, I fell in love with his character later on, and I was just like, "can you be my husband?", Obata is totally my husband material. Yeah, move aside Nino, cause there's someone else more husband material than you! Just kidding, he's a damn character, geez. Suzuki Chinami as Mami. She's that short haired girl who was a bitch at first but she was fine later on. @_@ Inoo Kei from Hey! Say! JUMP as Kusaka Keiichiro, well, there really isn't anything to say about him except the fact that he was cute. Well... uhum... of course. Kizaki Yuria from AKB48 as Yuka, again nothing to say much except the fact that Yuria is the same age as me. Just saying. Since in the year I've been back in Hong Kong, I have only encountered this one person who's the same age as me. Like, it is so rare for me to encounter people who's the same age as me to the point where I have started to think all of them has vanished and I'm the only 19-year-old left in Hong Kong. Which is why her being born the same year is a thing to me. Okay, I'm weird, moving on. Who else was there? Oh, Kinoshita Hoka as Nojima-manager. Well, it's funny, because he was fine at first but then he suddenly turned into a jerk, and I was just like "WTF?", I still don't know what happened to his character even to the end. Sigh. Hama Mari as Shiho, again it's nice to have a mix of age groups in the drama. There's also Tanabe Seiichi as Tashiro, that guy from Unicorn Hall, and Inoue Jun as Riko's father, both pretty decent.
The theme song was sung by Watanabe Mayu herself. It's quite nice actually. It's called Deai no Tsuzuki. The insert song is Girlfriend by SOLIDEMO, which is also really nice. I cried everytime they play this song in the drama, don't know why. I guess it's just one of those songs where they sound sad by it's supposed to be some kind of upbeat and bright song. You know, basically one of those songs.
So yeah, that's my thoughts. I seriously really like the drama, despite how unrealistic it was, simply because I liked the deep emotional punch it gave me. And also, Watanabe Mayu.
Conclusion: 7 / 10, because the deep storyline, the very unrealistic characters and also... Watanabe Mayu... being so darn pretty.
Run time: 2015.04.14 - 06.09, Tuesday 10pm
I seriously do not understand why this drama had such low viewership ratings. I mean, I know people don't really watch that much television anymore, but for a drama this good, it was a bit of a shame. But since this drama is mostly about books, I guess it's not many people's kind of shit. The thing is, I love books. Books is my life. I have lost count of how many books I've read in my life. I have worked in a library before, and currently I, too, work in a bookstore (yeah, I finally told you where I work, sigh). Which was why when this drama was first announced, I couldn't wait to see it.
The title is Tatakau! Shoten Girl, which literally translates to "Fight! Bookstore Girl". And since I can relate to the drama with my real personal life, it makes it that much more good. Except the fact that my colleagues are all older men and women, and none my age, I envy the fact that in the drama they do have younger workers.
Since it's set in Japan, the process of a bookstore is, of course, vastly different in my city. Also I want to say one big point. It's the fact that "loving the content you work for, so much that it becomes part of you both personal and work" does not work in real life. That's why when I watched this drama it frustrates me, like people are not that passionate in real life. Shit does not work that way. These days people work is for the money money money. And not that they actually has the heart to do it. Of course, it all depends on what/where you're working, but most of the jobs out there are only there for the living and not that because the workers loves it so much, it becomes their life. I hope you know what I mean. In the drama, the characters are all like "I love books..." and "I want books to give people hope..." and "I want to see the customers smile...", "they are our strength...", are all total bullshit. I love books, yeah. But to make it so deep is totally unrealistic. I go into shops and the workers there doesn't give a crap about the damn customers, or what the content is they are working for. Again, it all depends. But I really don't see people being passionate and actually use their heart to do what they do. Another example is celebrities. Most of them out there only does what they do for themselves and not that they actually want to give anything good to society. If you see celebrity scandals or any other unnecessary shit about them, that's solid proof of what their heart is. So that's the thing I disliked the most about this drama, is that the character's passion are so fake. Fake to the point I want to strangle myself. In real life, people are not that passionate. Ha, you wish!
But, it's just a drama, so I will give it credit for being what it is. Sigh. Though there was something else that pissed me off. It is the exaggeratedly emotional scenes that are so obviously just there to provoke the main characters' storylines. Like how the store manager suddenly turned into a jerk when he was kind before, and the supporting employees turned against the assistant manager, like you don't even, actually, you should not even, talk to your senior that way! Where was the respect and manners?! I know in their situations sometimes they had to believe in their own feelings but it was put out in the wrong way, and I'm just like, it's so fake, darn it!
I wasn't sure why but this drama got me very emotional. Well, a lot of other J-dramas has gotten me emotional, but damn, I basically cried in every episode! I was like "Nande? Wakanai". Anyway, overall the drama is touching and worthwhile, though some scenes were sort of fake, but I will give it some credit. And it's based from novels, so. The emotional punch was deep, though. It's like, once I finished the drama, I was just like "wow, that was good.", like, it's satisfying in a way. Okay, I'm repeating myself. I like how it's a double lead, and it's not just all about Mayu's character, Aki, but there's also Riko and other characters.
The theme song was sung by Watanabe Mayu herself. It's quite nice actually. It's called Deai no Tsuzuki. The insert song is Girlfriend by SOLIDEMO, which is also really nice. I cried everytime they play this song in the drama, don't know why. I guess it's just one of those songs where they sound sad by it's supposed to be some kind of upbeat and bright song. You know, basically one of those songs.
So yeah, that's my thoughts. I seriously really like the drama, despite how unrealistic it was, simply because I liked the deep emotional punch it gave me. And also, Watanabe Mayu.
Conclusion: 7 / 10, because the deep storyline, the very unrealistic characters and also... Watanabe Mayu... being so darn pretty.
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