[J-Drama review] Flowers for Algernon
My harddrive is clogged with jdramas which I've stopped watching in favor of movies. And? The change hasn't changed the fact that my harddrive is still clogged with jdramas. So, much to the chagrin of half my f-list, I'm going back to watching jdramas to keep my harddrive alive and unclogged, starting with one that starkodama recommended to me many, many, maaany months ago. Do you even remember it? ^_^;
Algernon ni Hanataba wo (aka Flowers for Algernon)
October - December 2002
jdorama page
Story: Haru (pb. YUSUKE SANTAMARIA) is a mentally disabled man working at a bakery ever since his mom abandoned him there as a child. In an effort to reunite with his mom, he gets a brain operation that makes him into a super genius. But oh noes, the miracle doesn't last forever! Much crying ensues.
Length: 11 episodes
Download @ d-addicts. Subtitles available here
Yusuke Santamaria is a popular and prolific Japanese star often praised for his acting; heck, he even won an award for his role as Haru in Algernon. So I'm having one of those "maybe it's just me" moments because, to me, he was the only weak actor in Odoru Daisousasen and in Algernon, he fails to impress me again.
As a handicap, Yusuke exaggerates his body movement and speech, but from my lengthy experience with the mentally disabled, there's just so much more than just voice and gestures that he doesn't capture. Then as a genius, Yusuke switches to a tone of voice which he uses to express *every* single emotion (except anger which calls for some MatsuJun-style over-the-top yelling. :P). I was to see how he would handle the challenging midpoints between handicap to genius to handicap, but he skirts around this issue by relying on the ol' "One month later . ." trick. So Yusuke is always either the awkwardly-portrayed disabled guy or the monotone smart guy.
On the plus side, he's waaaaaa-ayayayayay more convincing than the other handicapped character, Miki, who looks and talks more like a shy model (and indeed the actress is actually a bikini idol). Really miscasted -- I kept waiting for her to jump up and say, "Surprise! I'm actually a normal person in hiding. Shh!!"
Another "maybe it's just me" issue tied to my personal experience is all the hokey science. I've studied a lot of psychology for my major, and so some of the ways they test Haru had me shaking my head. For instance: the ink blot test, could they find anything more outdated and unreliable as that? The IQ test is somewhat better, at least until the scientists proclaim that Haru now had an IQ of 180 . . . isn't IQ unmeasurable past 130? Actually, I'm still not sure why they had to make him into an over-the-top super genius; I think they could've made the same point with an average intelligence.
While I might accept these things in any other drama, Algernon was the most realistic drama I've seen so far. Ok ok, miracle cure aside, check out these points . .
And if that wasn't enough, three-and-a-half things actually bugged me more than all of the above combined! . .
So yeah, I know I've kicked this drama around a lot and I'm sure starkodama is cracking her fists at this point, but I still do praise this drama a lot for being different from other shows with its added realism and its focus on an often ignored issue. And finally, FINALLY, the guy's the one with the problem for a change. ;) Sure, the drama has many flaws in its casting and story telling, but for walking on uncommon ground, it deserves some brownie points. :)
Rating: 6 out of 10
NO. WAI. I was just checking my old Yahoo account that's still linked with the FuJET newsgroup and that grammar-hating ALT that I was ranting about way back here just announced that he's getting married to a Japanese lady. o_O I hope she doesn't plan to use her husband to learn English. ;) And . . hold on, there's another ALT announcing his marriage a few posts later! o_O I mean, I know FuJETs are cool and all, but this is nuts.
Or maybe this is just me being terribly jealous. Sometimes it seems like all male JETs end up with a girlfriend in Japan except me. Unless you count work as my girlfriend. >_< *sigh* Grammar Nazis finish last.
Obscure News ticker: The new Daylight Savings Time didn't save any energy.
Quiznos ticker: The Traditional is the freshest and healthiest sub I've eaten so far. I guess nothing beats the original. :) Grade: A
Algernon ni Hanataba wo (aka Flowers for Algernon)
October - December 2002
jdorama page
Story: Haru (pb. YUSUKE SANTAMARIA) is a mentally disabled man working at a bakery ever since his mom abandoned him there as a child. In an effort to reunite with his mom, he gets a brain operation that makes him into a super genius. But oh noes, the miracle doesn't last forever! Much crying ensues.
Length: 11 episodes
Download @ d-addicts. Subtitles available here
Yusuke Santamaria is a popular and prolific Japanese star often praised for his acting; heck, he even won an award for his role as Haru in Algernon. So I'm having one of those "maybe it's just me" moments because, to me, he was the only weak actor in Odoru Daisousasen and in Algernon, he fails to impress me again.
As a handicap, Yusuke exaggerates his body movement and speech, but from my lengthy experience with the mentally disabled, there's just so much more than just voice and gestures that he doesn't capture. Then as a genius, Yusuke switches to a tone of voice which he uses to express *every* single emotion (except anger which calls for some MatsuJun-style over-the-top yelling. :P). I was to see how he would handle the challenging midpoints between handicap to genius to handicap, but he skirts around this issue by relying on the ol' "One month later . ." trick. So Yusuke is always either the awkwardly-portrayed disabled guy or the monotone smart guy.
On the plus side, he's waaaaaa-ayayayayay more convincing than the other handicapped character, Miki, who looks and talks more like a shy model (and indeed the actress is actually a bikini idol). Really miscasted -- I kept waiting for her to jump up and say, "Surprise! I'm actually a normal person in hiding. Shh!!"
Another "maybe it's just me" issue tied to my personal experience is all the hokey science. I've studied a lot of psychology for my major, and so some of the ways they test Haru had me shaking my head. For instance: the ink blot test, could they find anything more outdated and unreliable as that? The IQ test is somewhat better, at least until the scientists proclaim that Haru now had an IQ of 180 . . . isn't IQ unmeasurable past 130? Actually, I'm still not sure why they had to make him into an over-the-top super genius; I think they could've made the same point with an average intelligence.
While I might accept these things in any other drama, Algernon was the most realistic drama I've seen so far. Ok ok, miracle cure aside, check out these points . .
- - The cast actually looks like everyday people . . no one's incredibly good-looking, minus bikini model Miki.
- This drama is the first one I've seen without a single comedy relief! Even the super gritty crime drama, Rondo, had that wacky afro gansta.
- There aren't any bad guys and no one's truly evil. Heck, even the rival is an incredibly nice guy for a change.
- Even the miracle cure is not some witchcraft-inspired magic potion I had expected, but an operation with gradual, not immediate, results.
And if that wasn't enough, three-and-a-half things actually bugged me more than all of the above combined! . .
- The insert song. Just when a scene starts getting emotional, this song kicks in and screws up the mood. While not as bad as hearing, "DAIte! DAIte! DAIte! SenoRIta!", it's still a really weird song, completely English but sung by a Japanese person. The pronunciation is not bad, but not great either, and the end result "feels so unnatural" to quote the lyrics. Kinda like Oda Yuji's "Wake Me Up" cover. ;) Anyway, have a listen, see if you agree: http://h1.ripway.com/ushimon/strange.mp3 I dunno, why couldn't they just make it a Japanese song or hire an English singer? Otherwise, the background music is quite good, though there's a couple xylophone-heavy scores that made me cringe. :P
- EVERYONE keeps crying! And not just your regular tears, but I'm talkin' falling-down-into-a-heap sobbing!
And when things get REALLY bad, there's the running -> falling -> crying sequence . .
The teacher above is particularly annoying because not only does she cry, not only does she run and fall, but she apologizes for EVERYTHING. Even at times when she clearly had nothing to do with the problem, she goes, "I'm so sorry, it's all my fault" and cries. Never have I wanted to strangle a fictional character so much. ^_^;
- The story draaaags after Episode 5, to the point that I kept checking the time every few minutes and developed a strong urge to hit fast-forward. But I didn't, and so while Eps 1-5 took me a week to finish, Eps 6-11 took me 2 months. :P If only they cut down on all the crying, blank stares and filler moments, the story would've moved along quicker. Or maybe this is just another drama that would've been much better as a movie.
So yeah, I know I've kicked this drama around a lot and I'm sure starkodama is cracking her fists at this point, but I still do praise this drama a lot for being different from other shows with its added realism and its focus on an often ignored issue. And finally, FINALLY, the guy's the one with the problem for a change. ;) Sure, the drama has many flaws in its casting and story telling, but for walking on uncommon ground, it deserves some brownie points. :)
Rating: 6 out of 10
NO. WAI. I was just checking my old Yahoo account that's still linked with the FuJET newsgroup and that grammar-hating ALT that I was ranting about way back here just announced that he's getting married to a Japanese lady. o_O I hope she doesn't plan to use her husband to learn English. ;) And . . hold on, there's another ALT announcing his marriage a few posts later! o_O I mean, I know FuJETs are cool and all, but this is nuts.
Or maybe this is just me being terribly jealous. Sometimes it seems like all male JETs end up with a girlfriend in Japan except me. Unless you count work as my girlfriend. >_< *sigh* Grammar Nazis finish last.
Obscure News ticker: The new Daylight Savings Time didn't save any energy.
Quiznos ticker: The Traditional is the freshest and healthiest sub I've eaten so far. I guess nothing beats the original. :) Grade: A