Monday 19 April 2010

Recommended: Ashita no, Kita Yoshio

It’s always a relief when a series that starts so strongly doesn’t fall to pieces by the end. In this series a man decides to kill himself in eleven days’ time and, after telling his plans to a slightly shady character, he falls into a whirlwind adventure involving TV talents, night clubs, assassins, multiple personalities and life insurance fraud.

After eleven episodes our hero has acted selflessly in front of enough people for them to beg him to not to kill himself, and the message finally gets through to him in the final scene.

It’s a heart-warming story, and nicely shot as well. The recurring theme of Andrew Wyeth’s artwork surprisingly plays a major part in the closing scene, which I didn’t see coming at all. This twist, albeit a small one, makes up in some way for the predictable (but satisfying) end of the show.

This drama has some great performances but most plaudits have to go to the directors (mostly Shimoyama Ten, but a few others too). This is perhaps the first j-drama for a long while where I’ve found myself appreciating the photography and composition of some of the shots.

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