Review ... after so long~ 49
It's been bothering in my mind and I just want it out. This typically happens when my brain is full of words and I need to take them out. So here I am, in front of a blank canvas, as I like it, and in full confusion because of my work, I'm at work now and there's something wrong with my data!!! Why?!!
I haven't found the problem or the source of the problem yet, but I'll let these couple of thoughts just out of my head. Now I'm listening to the OST of this dorama, and this thing just reminds me so much of Chinen's little drama dorama lol. I did a review for him, so I just find it naturally fair to write one for Shori Shori as well. No that was not a typo, I like to call him that. LOL
So, I've watched 49 dorama and isn't it quite a long time since my last review?! I don't even know the order in which I used to do this anymore! And this has taken such a long time since my first draft... it was so over the place that I had to put a new order to many parts, I hope it makes sense!
The result is an enjoyable and fresh dorama about highschool issues with touches of fantasy. Tbh I quite enjoyed it, and cute ShoriShori did help with it, I mean, he does have a pretty handsome face after all, but aside from that and despite his obvious newbie acting he was quite acceptable. Not outstanding but well, better than I expected. Until the very end, it was pretty clear when he was each character, but to be fair by the very end, we kind of see them melting a little bit together, maybe because after all, they're related.
A little on the plot~
Now a short synopsis to make some sense~
Drama: 49 / Forty-Nine
Network: NTV
Episodes: 11
Release Date: October 5 - December 28, 2013
Dan (Shori Sato) is a first-year high school student. He isn't so good with his studies or sports.
One day, his father's spirit enters Dan's body. His father originally died in an accident. It just so happen's his father is the type that excels at everything and now Dan possesses the same gift. Because of this change in personality, the other students are surprised by him, but they become influenced by his adult-like point-of-view.
I like the fact that the father was never actually shown on camera, I guess it's hard to find a Shori-papa that looks alike, I'd love to watch the real one's face lol. Either way, on the other actors' acting, the girls were quite annoying, especially Sacchi, who's Shori's classmate, I kind of get her but annoying is annoying. The other girl was pretty meh and forgettable, to the point that when her character gets her resolution I was almost not even surprised...or interested.
The boys were much more watchable, especially Yasui and the Golden Bomber guy, lol, I kind of recognized him at the beginning. Actually both, I did say this guy just has to be Yasui, lol, even though I've never watched him acting before and didn't quite recognize him from anywhere else, but yeah, he was him. I think he was a pretty popular junior if even I was able to recognize him...right? lol. You'll also find here KP's Jinguji, actually, I don't know how to write his name so I had to look it up, lol, he was not bad, actually quite engaging as a sidekick. But if I have to be honest, I was so much more impressed by Kaito in Black School rules that this goes unnoticed. I loved Kaito's character there, so well-written, so nicely performed. But! I'm not talking about that dorama here~
About impressions and acting~ I guess
I liked a lot how Shori Shori was full of confidence and spoke really fast when he was his dad lol. I had this idea in my mind that he's a weird mixture between Ko-chan and Neen, can't you see that? He definitely gives off Koichi's vibes when dancing, also, a little just a little bit when singing, I don't know why but I love to compare things and this was the result. And I think it's the eyes that remind me a little of Nino. Not Matsujun, not at all lol.
The mom-son issue was quite disturbing to be honest, although they always called it properly, it didn't stop the weird feeling.
About the ending ~ Around episode 4 or 5, I don't remember, I really felt so sorry about Dan's character, it almost made me cry. And they practically erased that at the end, or contradicted that, Why? Why were they (the writers I assume) trying to make me like Dan's character just within the last 5 seconds, when you've been literally just focusing on the father for the WHOLE last episode and most of the previous. Why do you even care about the son now? I didn't get it... I mean I get it, the guy was just lacking confidence, but it's not like we got to witness any of that magical growth. I think the thing that was lacking here was character development for Dan, or for the amount of growth they tried so hard to show in the end. I'd have been more than happy to see a change of attitude that would have lead to a more proactive way of behavior even if that didn't mean he'd be able to do a dunk. Come on! I think if they'd been subtler with the change or progression, the ending would have been better.
On the other hand, the father's character was well-developed and his story was nicely closed. After all, if you think about it, all his behavior is pretty selfish and those cheering for him getting his son's body are just as disrespectful of Dan as the characters that didn't know him coughSacchicough and I blame it all on character development, it just wasn't there and the bits of hints left behind just wasn't enough to convince the audience.
So, in the end, my sympathy goes to Dan, Not the father, I mean, he had the time to change his life, more than his son at least, and he didn't. Yeah, it's his journey that we get to see closer and to feel connected with, but that didn't bring me to tears. It was more like, well, it's easier for you to get it right now that you're an adult, and that's it. At least, he gets a chance to understand and amend his errors, that's a lot to do by taking advantage of your own son, isn't it?! Am I giving away spoilers?, well, I'm not saying how this ends, just my own emotions towards the characters, what I was way more interested in seeing was how Dan's characters would be able to grow or understand better his dad. I think that's the real charm of a story in which a pair of emotionally distant relatives get to connect with each other, be it mom and daughter, father and son, or whatever, each one learns from the other, right? Well, maybe this time it was a bit short in one direction tbh. Or better said, they failed to show that, the growth, 'cause it's not the same if you just say so, you need to show the growth, not just do a sort of short amend by the end!
Final words (on ShoriShori it seems)~ since I've been complaining lol
Despite all of that and all of the hints on probably incestuous situations, at first sight, I'm glad I gave this a chance, it was really entertaining. The pace was just right and the overall plot was interesting. I really don't get why most of ShoriShori's characters that I've seen or managed to see were more inclined towards the boring but sensitive Dan when he can perfectly portray a more cheerful and cool guy. Why? When the highlight of that pretty face is just that winning smile? And that's one of the main reasons why I was so inclined to find him so meh! Now, when I watch them (SZ) interact, one of the things I enjoy the most and makes me smile the most is his weird and unique laugh, he's so cute, but he failed to show that at first glance. I mean, why are you so hard to like Shoriko! Why? I don't have the answer to that question but now I surely know why this tiny guy ... actually not that tiny ... has so many fans. He's just too cute and cool, I mean did you read?, the Koichi plus Nino comparison??, there's nothing wrong about that! I guess most of the people who didn't get to see that is just maybe because, like me, they were just not attracted at first glance.
I think the group as a whole requires more than a first glance, especially with that name, but these guys are really nice and funny. I sound as I've been wanting to convince my(past)self of that... well, maybe I'm trying to do just that. I used to find the girls on Twitter so annoying to keep on babbling about SZ as a great thing, you may think that of me right now, but you may probably thank me later. I do to them. LOL.
Other things~
Finally, I usually don't take such doramas as this so seriously, 'cause come on, this is plain fantasy in many ways, and a lot of 'what if's on the others, so I was actually surprised when reading lots of comments or reviews with people who were bothered about the opening and the sort of nudity from Shori-Shori or about how light suicide, as a theme, was taken, or the ending in regards with who gets to 'get the girl'.
First, about the opening, Shori-Shori was a kid back then, so I guess to me, it didn't strike me as anything sexy, it might be the intention, it's odd, I'm not saying it isn't... but you have to consider that he's an idol and from a group called 'Sexy Zone' ... maybe the thing was probably to call the attention to most of the fans and hook them into watching this. The reasons for that go beyond me since they were pretty much kids when debuting but either way, the dorama does focus on his body as such, a body that can contain more than one person in this particular scenario. Anyways, it's not like it discouraged me from watching this, actually, I mostly skip it from like 9 out of 10 episodes, lol.
About the suicide, yes, it's odd to have it taken so lightly as in Shori-Shori's actions at some point, but let's be real, suicide is a hot topic among teenagers, the whole talk is not odd, the actions may be odd but it was done being covered with lots of emotions, that later get contradicted, which I hated so much but, once again, this is almost a fantasy dorama, the protagonist is actually dead in someone else's body, you're not actually taking this too seriously, right?
And I've already talked about the last point, but what I've read in reviews about the ending is passionately polarized. I don't understand why.
Marks ~
All in all, a nice and entertaining dorama, if you're a Shori fan, then this is pretty much a 'must-watch', if you enjoy this sort of youthful doramas that aren't taking themselves so deeply, this is also good. But if these two points don't call your attention at all, then I wouldn't recommend this to you.
The whole crossdressing is also sort of out of the blue but works so good, lol. And now I know why he says he's Dan at Stage concert XD. So, right, the score... 3.5 stars? maybe? I don't know, the whole conclusion to this is that I enjoyed this lighter(?) take on life with a bit of fantasy and lots of pretty Shori-Shori close-ups.
I don't have the least idea of where are my stars so, here have a SZ pic instead:
And this concludes my forced review... I never thought that I would watch a Shori old dorama, it surprises even myself and on top of that to have enjoyed it! Either way, this didn't come by itself, I also watched Yankee-kun to Megane-chan, I'm back to oldies this year, and I still enjoy a lot highschool-doramas, but I can't believe how could Narimiya played a highschooler by that age! I was only able to think about his younger self back then in Gokusen when he was an actual teenager-sort of, and even though it kind of worked in YtM it was stretching it way too much. Also, I started Flowers for Algernon, from Yamapi and yes, it has Fuma as a scientific, why? he's like what? 20? a scientific? either way, he kind of looks older, at least that~ well, Fuma has mentioned that he has learned a lot from his senpai so I'm intrigued, I know Yamapi can pull off this sort of characters well, but I'm still dubious about the whole atmosphere of the dorama about wanting to make me feel a constant feeling of pity about this character to the point of making me roll my eyes more than making me teary. This sort of reminds me of Matsujun's Smile, but I liked that way more at least until ep 2, that's how far I got.
Either way, I want to include all of this in my 2019 summary, actually, I already started, after so long, to work in the one for 2018, so I think, once I'm done with school I'll be able to move on to 2019, I've watched a couple of pretty interesting oldies and now by the end of the year, I felt more like watching pretty light doramas, such as this one. (I wrote this a couple of months ago~ XD )
So, jaa ne~
I don't know how I got these pics, ... either way they're not mine!
This made me even watched HaruChika, something I've tried so many times and couldn't do it!
See you~ my cat is angry, wants to eat XD
Awww so pretty :D