Oldie but Goodie...
So, I want to blab about an awesome jdrama I started, Aishiteiru to Itte Kure . It’s probably the oldest drama I’ve seen (being a whopping 13 years old, LOL), but despite that it’s quite lovely.
The story revolves around Hiroko (Takiwa Takako) and Kohji (Toyokawa Etsushi). She is a bouncy, cheerful aspiring actress, relatively recently moved to Tokyo. He is a tall, a little solemn, painter, who is also deaf.
Their first meeting is incredibly adorable. As she is fruitlessly jumping up and down, trying to pick an apple from a tree, Kohji, who is sitting inside, in a café, and obsrving her futile actions with growing amusement, actually walks outside and easily reaches for the apple, presenting it to her and walking away.
Needless to say, Hiroko is, if not smitten, interested. After all, it’s not every day you meet a tall, dark, and handsome guy who helps you and doesn’t stay to chat. Their paths intersect again (they like to come to the same neighborhood park), and Hiroko is alternately intrigued and annoyed by the guy who is often nice but sometimes treats her as if she isn’t there. Can’t he tell she is talking to him? Well…actually, no. Which Hiroko finds out in a rather ordinary fashion.
The first episode is utterly wonderful. I loved everything, from little things like the realistic décor of their apartments, to the scene of her in his apartment in the evening. It’s wonderful. Which makes sense, as it’s been written by Kitagawa Eriko, who wrote Tattakoi, Orange Days (what is her fascination with deafness?), Sora Kara Furu Ichioku no Hoshi, Beautiful Life, and Long Vacation
I love the way Hiroko is portrayed. She is such a wonderful heroine. Sometimes, jdrama heroines do not work for me because TPTB go for spunky, quirky or strong but somehow arrive at ‘crazy’ or ‘bitch.’ But this is not the case here at all. Hiroko is outgoing, well-adjusted (from what we’ve seen so far) and very very real. I love the way her interest in Kohji is presented: not a weird obsessive chasing of a man she barely knows, and not something to be hidden. I am sure her relative lack of friends in Tokyo plays into her interest, but still. There is something incredibly refreshing about a heroine who is not afraid to show she likes a man, but is not clingily codependent about it, nor makes it the sole purpose of her existence. Her attitude seems to say: “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we got to know each other better? But if not, hope you have the best life ever and so will I!” and mean it.
Just as her interactions with Kohji are a total delight. There is a wonderful both matter-of-factness and realness in them. I think it’s a bit symbolic, their first interaction. We see that Kohji, understandably, has a barrier with most people (they don’t speak his language, after all), but she draws him outside even before he knows her. But yes, I love that Hiroko stumbles in the conversations, blurting out an insensitive question about his hearing loss and just as straightforwadly being horrified by it a second later and apologizing. And of course I also like that Kohji seems to be a bit reserved but rather nice, and isn’t angry or freaked out by her. You get the sense he can’t really believe that Hiroko could be interested in him.
Or her awesomely matter-of-fact approach in finding out her crush is deaf: “Oh, fine, then where is the sign-language instruction manual.”
Not to mention the fact that both actors are attractive, in a very real way (even if her clothes are sometimes much too much 90s). Hiroko doesn’t look waifish and Kohji looks like a grown-up.
I could ship them a LOT.
The story revolves around Hiroko (Takiwa Takako) and Kohji (Toyokawa Etsushi). She is a bouncy, cheerful aspiring actress, relatively recently moved to Tokyo. He is a tall, a little solemn, painter, who is also deaf.
Their first meeting is incredibly adorable. As she is fruitlessly jumping up and down, trying to pick an apple from a tree, Kohji, who is sitting inside, in a café, and obsrving her futile actions with growing amusement, actually walks outside and easily reaches for the apple, presenting it to her and walking away.
Needless to say, Hiroko is, if not smitten, interested. After all, it’s not every day you meet a tall, dark, and handsome guy who helps you and doesn’t stay to chat. Their paths intersect again (they like to come to the same neighborhood park), and Hiroko is alternately intrigued and annoyed by the guy who is often nice but sometimes treats her as if she isn’t there. Can’t he tell she is talking to him? Well…actually, no. Which Hiroko finds out in a rather ordinary fashion.
The first episode is utterly wonderful. I loved everything, from little things like the realistic décor of their apartments, to the scene of her in his apartment in the evening. It’s wonderful. Which makes sense, as it’s been written by Kitagawa Eriko, who wrote Tattakoi, Orange Days (what is her fascination with deafness?), Sora Kara Furu Ichioku no Hoshi, Beautiful Life, and Long Vacation
I love the way Hiroko is portrayed. She is such a wonderful heroine. Sometimes, jdrama heroines do not work for me because TPTB go for spunky, quirky or strong but somehow arrive at ‘crazy’ or ‘bitch.’ But this is not the case here at all. Hiroko is outgoing, well-adjusted (from what we’ve seen so far) and very very real. I love the way her interest in Kohji is presented: not a weird obsessive chasing of a man she barely knows, and not something to be hidden. I am sure her relative lack of friends in Tokyo plays into her interest, but still. There is something incredibly refreshing about a heroine who is not afraid to show she likes a man, but is not clingily codependent about it, nor makes it the sole purpose of her existence. Her attitude seems to say: “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we got to know each other better? But if not, hope you have the best life ever and so will I!” and mean it.
Just as her interactions with Kohji are a total delight. There is a wonderful both matter-of-factness and realness in them. I think it’s a bit symbolic, their first interaction. We see that Kohji, understandably, has a barrier with most people (they don’t speak his language, after all), but she draws him outside even before he knows her. But yes, I love that Hiroko stumbles in the conversations, blurting out an insensitive question about his hearing loss and just as straightforwadly being horrified by it a second later and apologizing. And of course I also like that Kohji seems to be a bit reserved but rather nice, and isn’t angry or freaked out by her. You get the sense he can’t really believe that Hiroko could be interested in him.
Or her awesomely matter-of-fact approach in finding out her crush is deaf: “Oh, fine, then where is the sign-language instruction manual.”
Not to mention the fact that both actors are attractive, in a very real way (even if her clothes are sometimes much too much 90s). Hiroko doesn’t look waifish and Kohji looks like a grown-up.
I could ship them a LOT.