Jdorama Thoughts: Engine (2005) [spoilers]
Engine (2005)
Cast
Takuya Kimura (木村拓哉): Kanzaki Jiro (神崎次郎): European F3000 team's second driver (heh heh you know what he looks like, go to the Good Luck website)
Koyuki (小雪): Mizukoshi Tomomi (水越朋美): Qualified child carer at Kaze-no-Oka Home
Masato Sakai: Torii Gen-ichiro: Qualified child carer at Kaze-no-Oka Home
Yoshio Harada (原田芳雄): Kanzaki Takeshi (神崎猛／): Jiro's father. Ex-schoolmaster. Head of Kaze-no-Oka Home
Yuki Matsushita (松下由樹): Kanzaki Chihiro (神崎千尋): Jiro's elder sister. Divorced. Secretary of Kaze-no-Oka Home
Izumiya Shigeru: Ichinose Shinsaku: Owner and coach of F3000 Team Ichinose and Jiro's former mentor.
Okamoto Aya / Suenaga Tamaki, assistant to Ichinose Shinsaku and former girlfriend of Jiro.
Ishigaki Yuuma / Ibuki Tetsuya, friend of Jiro
Kadono Takuzo: Haruyama Mario: Catholic priest and friend to Takeshi (you may recognise him as the boss in Hero).
Reiko Takashima: Ushikubo Eiko: Nutritionist at Kaze-no-Oka Home
Summary
From the official website:
What Japan's fastest man finds after overcoming many difficulties is love.
Jiro Kanzaki is an F3000 test driver blessed with acute sensitivity and breathtaking driving techniques. He's a daredevil who feels no fear driving at speeds that even top racers dare not attempt. But unexpected trouble forces this world-famous racer to leave his team and return to Japan for the first time in years. Until he finds a new job as a racer, Jiro decides to stay with his parents. What awaits Jiro there is his hardheaded father, his nagging sister, the 12 children of the foster home his father runs, a snobbish male nurse, and a stubborn female nurse who likes to daydream about her life.
Jiro's return home brings a breath of fresh air that influences the people around him. However, he is still unaware that he too will eventually be influenced to change the way he thinks and lives.
Kimura Takuya, the king of Japanese television drama has played a number of different roles in the past. He was a hockey player in Pride, a public prosecutor in Hero, a "glamour" hair stylist in Beautiful Life, a pianist in Long Vacation and my favourite a pilot in Good Luck. I mention the dramas I've seen, by the way, I'm well aware that he was a chef in A Million Falling Stars but for my own reasons, I choose not to watch that particular drama. Ick and squick. Yeah, A Million Falling Stars explored that icky kink before Veronica Mars and Lost did, is all I'm going to say.
This time around, he plays Kanzaki Jiro , a race car driver with an attitude problem. It's not too different a role from his previous roles. The drama commences in Europe where he is a second string driver. We discover that Jiro was previously a star driver in Japan. When he accidentally crashes into his first driver during a practice run, he loses his job and finds himself something of a pariah, with no one prepared to offer him employment. At the age of 32, he is also regarded as somewhat old for a race car driver.
As a character, Jiro loves racing with a burning passion, much as Shinkai did in Good Luck. There is nothing he wants in the world so much as to race again. He spends a lot of time talking (and sometimes crying) about how it feels to race, the sound, the energy. His former racing team has now hired a better and a younger driver, and Jiro is no longer wanted.
Jiro returns to live with his foster father and sister who run a small orphanage-like home for children whose parents are unable to take care of them. Koyuki, Kimura's love interest plays a young, somewhat inexperienced caregiver. You may recognise her as the former girlfriend in Beautiful Life and also as Tom Cruise's love interest in The Last Samurai.
Due to her immaturity, lack of experience and rather fragile personality, the children at the Kanzaki Home have not really taken to her. Her attempts to help although well-meaning ofen turn out wrong and she is awkward and lacks confidence. When Jiro returns to the home, given that he is something of a big child himself with limited sense of responsibility, he fits right in despite having a decided dislike for children, thinking them annoying and more trouble than they are worth.
Notwithstanding his professed dislike of children and the fact that his dream is still to return to the world of racing, in exchange for bed and board at the Kanzaki Home, he agrees to act as the driver of the Home's van, driving the children and staff around as required. As Jiro grows to know the children, he learns to love them and they also grow to love him and go to him for their problems. As the series unfolds, his previously strained relationships with father and sister also start to heal, a fledgling romance grows and Jiro learns that he was right not to surrender his dreams of racing.
Review
A little bland is a good way to describe Engine. There's some flavour that's missing here. It's a good meal but after you've eaten it, you don't quite feel satisfied. You're full, but for some reason you miss the spice and saltiness of Long Vacation, Good Luck or Hero, or even the poignancy of Beautiful Life.
In my view, the primary shortcoming of this jdorama is that Kimura and Koyuki's characters were obviously meant to be in a relationship. The problem? From start to finish, the couple demonstrated almost zero chemistry. Kimura interacted beautifully with almost all other persons at the orphanage including the male helper for goodness' sake but his scenes with Koyuki were more a fizzle fizzle splat than a slow burning heat. Moreover, he displays more passion and love towards racing than he did towards the object of his affection - which is sort of sad, don't you think?
For me, a large part of Kimura's appeal is that notwithstanding his diminutive and petite stature, he can be very sexy. In 2046, there's something quite smouldering and seductive about him in a very understated fashion. He's gorgeous as hell in Good Luck - I wanted to nibble on him, especially when he was wearing that white shirt. He has a youthful if somewhat awkward attractiveness in Long Vacation, but there was definite heat between him and his leading lady which in turn made him seem much sexier than he might otherwise have appeared.
I wasn't receiving much of a sense of that in Engine. Jiro's clothing was very unflattering - overly tight, sometimes shiny, all of which only served to emphasise how incredibly slight he is. Unfortunately, he failed to strike me as being sufficiently masculine. I know I'm being harsh, but what's the point of this page if I'm not honest?
Give me the witty, obnoxious banter of Ogawa and Shinkai any day. Despite their hostility, they always looked as if they could at any moment rip each others clothes off in lust.
I don't blame Koyuki. I think she's a very pretty actress. I think it's just that the chemistry wasn't there. Furthermore, while she was going for sweet, uncertain and endearing, she often came across as just incompetent and more than a little ditzy. People make fun of the way I run, but did you see Tomomi? She ran like a spaz. I guess I'm being harsh.
I find it quite interesting though that the two dramas where Kimura had the best chemistry with his leading ladies were the ones where the women in question were not conventionally beautiful. Ogawa is spunky and "f*ck you* in her attitude. Minami had huge amounts of charm and sparkle. Riko in Love Generation is absolutely heart-breaking in her honesty and true-heartedness. Again, the actress who plays Riko while extremely attractive, is not regarded as conventionally pretty given that she has a somewhat round, childish face.
I am not a huge fan of race car driving although to my amusement as I typed that line, I was suddenly overcome with a desire to hear "Show me heaven" by Maria McKee from the Days of Thunder soundtrack. Strange. Car racing is boring. Silly boys risking their lives, endorsing carcinogenic products (yes I'm anti-smoking) as they go around and around a track. Reminds me of when my brother made me watch that godawful movie The Fast and the Furious. I summed the plot up as follows: "Bbrrrrrmm brrrrmrmmm.... brrrrmmm brrrrrmm .... and some shagging, too". Sheesh.
Fortunately for me, there was a limited amount of racing in the drama. The focus was on family and Jiro's relationship with the children which was the strongest part of the drama - relationships with the children and among the Kanzaki family. I adored his father and loved all the scenes between Jiro and his father.
Unfortunately, a number of other characters in the drama were somewhat strange. The owner of the Team Ichinose, Ichinose Shinsaku was this deeply weird wheel-chair bound man in sunglasses who spent the whole series getting angry at Jiro, trying to make him quit and then changing his mind. It was hard to determine whether the character was eccentric or bi-polar. Jiro's arch enemy was a creepy, glowering muahahaha kind of maniac who was too obnoxious and two dimensional. His friend was as two dimensional in his own way except that he was effusive and supportive.
Furthermore, Jiro's scenes with his former girlfriend just did not work for me. Although I thought she was extremely pretty, she was bland and spent most of her time staring out into space or at Jiro with a vaguely disconcerting spaced out expression in her eyes - very similar to the beautiful but annoying lead actress in Pride. I'm hard to please. I like strong female characters. They don't have to be beautiful, but they have to be intelligent, assertive and strong. When I looked at her, all that appeared to be going through her head was: "Pwitty spots, pwitty spots ... ooh and colours".
I mentioned that I liked the interactions with the children, there was one 'child' whom I found a little bit off. There was almost a strange over-emphasis on one the oldest child in the Home - the seventeen year old sulky and wilful Hoshino Misae. She was a scowly, sultry young miss who like the rest of the cast had more chemistry with Jiro than the lead actress, but there was just something odd about the attention focussed on her. I suspect she might be there Next Big Thing which is why they were trying to promote her. She certainly seemed to receive more screen-time and storyline than the other children. I guess we should keep an eye out for the next big drama starring this pouty little miss.
Another problem I had wth the drama was the need during significant moments (eg Jiro says/does something which makes everyone happy or sad) for the camera to separately pan in on and focus on the face of every single one of the children. There were 12 children in the cast. I felt really sorry for the actors because you could feel that the children having the camera shift onto them towards the end, particularly the 12th, had been forced to sit there for about 10minutes with a fixed smile or expression of sadness on his/her face which was no longer very natural and looked very strained. I think even an adult would have had difficulty holding an expression that long.
One thing that didn't work for me either was the fact that Jiro's passion for driving never worked for me. Maybe it's because I don't like race car driving, but in Good Luck, I really believed that Shinkai loved flying. He loved flying so much, it made me want to be a pilot, it made me wish I could have a job I loved so much. I was never convinced by his passion. I can't blame Kimura because I know he's a good actor. I don't know what the reason was.
I sound like I didn't like the series. I did - very much so but it was too flawed for me to love. To make it perfect, I would have:
The Children
HoshinoMisae
Misae is the eldest of the children and was abandoned by her parents as a child when they were running from loan sharks. Although I didn't like her very much as a character, I think that the actress is quite accomplished. I think 10g James thinks she's pretty.
***
Hida Harumi
Harumi has a storyline in the series, being a young girl who desperately wants to escape her life, her unloving, something youthful and kinda trampy mother. Her means of escape is to attempt to marry one of her classmates.
***
Shioya Daisuke
Daisuke is Shuhei's scowling room mate and the actor was excellent, except he was also one of those who suffered from "Hurry Up And Move The Camera Off Me"-Fixed Grin Syndrome. His parents are both doctors but quite neglectful and Daisuke is a rebellious and troubled young juvenile delinquent who is eventually reached by Jiro.
***
Taguchi Nao
Taguchi Nao does not get a separate storyline in the drama. All that we really know about her is that her ambition is to become a singer.
***
Sonobe Toru
Silent, serious and responsible, the rather adorable young Toru shows touching responsibilty for his younger sister Sonobe Aoi, always wanting to protect her from the realities of their break situation.
***
Ninomiya Yukie
Yukie does not have her own storyline. The room-mate of Hoshino Misae, her sole purpose in the drama appears to be to cry, clutch a teddybear and be pathetic so that Hoshino Misae can be shown to be caring and not quite as bitchy as she appears to the rest of the world. Yes I'm harsh. To be fair, Yukie grows something resembling a spine at the end, but she's largely there just as a foil to Hoshino Misae, for instance to enable Hoshino Misae to show emotion and sadness.
***
Hirayama Morio
Hirayama Morio is an outspoken young boy who receives quite a bit of screen time with Jiro. His father is addicted to gambling, and I think is an alcoholic.
***
Tone Akira
A little third grader who wants to be a defence lawyer when he grows up, he is a pathological liar who frequently lands himself into trouble for his little white lies ...
***
Sonobe Aoi
A cute but wise little girl with the pigtails, flyaway ears and the sense of premonition, Aoi is the younger sister of Sonobe Toru. The two are very believable as brother and sister and were both excellent actors.
***
Kanemura Shunta
Little Shunta is hands down my favourite of the children. He's absolutely adorable, cheeky and stubborn. Encouraged by Jiro to openly announce that is not pathetic or deserving of pity, he appears to have the closest bond to Jiro - much more natural than the one "forced" on us with Hoshino Misae. Can anyone ever forget Jiro coaxing little Shunta out of his cupboard where he is hiding? Soooo cute.
***
Komori Nanae
2 year old Nanae spends most of the early part of the drama parked on the back of Mr Kanzaki's back like a little koala. She is absolutely adorable. Towards the end of the drama where she is and the actress are growing up, she actually speaks and 'acts'. For the most part though, she's just there to be adorable and she does it wonderfully. I thought she was one of the cutest little things I'd seen in a while. She so cute she belongs in a Fuji film commercial!
***
Kusama Shuhei
A new child who arrived at the Home on the same day as Jiro returned. As I have indicated above, I am personally very disappointed that his storyline wasn't explored in more detail given that the actor was very good and the character was also quite interesting.
Cast
Takuya Kimura (木村拓哉): Kanzaki Jiro (神崎次郎): European F3000 team's second driver (heh heh you know what he looks like, go to the Good Luck website)
Koyuki (小雪): Mizukoshi Tomomi (水越朋美): Qualified child carer at Kaze-no-Oka Home
Masato Sakai: Torii Gen-ichiro: Qualified child carer at Kaze-no-Oka Home
Yoshio Harada (原田芳雄): Kanzaki Takeshi (神崎猛／): Jiro's father. Ex-schoolmaster. Head of Kaze-no-Oka Home
Yuki Matsushita (松下由樹): Kanzaki Chihiro (神崎千尋): Jiro's elder sister. Divorced. Secretary of Kaze-no-Oka Home
Izumiya Shigeru: Ichinose Shinsaku: Owner and coach of F3000 Team Ichinose and Jiro's former mentor.
Okamoto Aya / Suenaga Tamaki, assistant to Ichinose Shinsaku and former girlfriend of Jiro.
Ishigaki Yuuma / Ibuki Tetsuya, friend of Jiro
Kadono Takuzo: Haruyama Mario: Catholic priest and friend to Takeshi (you may recognise him as the boss in Hero).
Reiko Takashima: Ushikubo Eiko: Nutritionist at Kaze-no-Oka Home
Summary
From the official website:
What Japan's fastest man finds after overcoming many difficulties is love.
Jiro Kanzaki is an F3000 test driver blessed with acute sensitivity and breathtaking driving techniques. He's a daredevil who feels no fear driving at speeds that even top racers dare not attempt. But unexpected trouble forces this world-famous racer to leave his team and return to Japan for the first time in years. Until he finds a new job as a racer, Jiro decides to stay with his parents. What awaits Jiro there is his hardheaded father, his nagging sister, the 12 children of the foster home his father runs, a snobbish male nurse, and a stubborn female nurse who likes to daydream about her life.
Jiro's return home brings a breath of fresh air that influences the people around him. However, he is still unaware that he too will eventually be influenced to change the way he thinks and lives.
Kimura Takuya, the king of Japanese television drama has played a number of different roles in the past. He was a hockey player in Pride, a public prosecutor in Hero, a "glamour" hair stylist in Beautiful Life, a pianist in Long Vacation and my favourite a pilot in Good Luck. I mention the dramas I've seen, by the way, I'm well aware that he was a chef in A Million Falling Stars but for my own reasons, I choose not to watch that particular drama. Ick and squick. Yeah, A Million Falling Stars explored that icky kink before Veronica Mars and Lost did, is all I'm going to say.
This time around, he plays Kanzaki Jiro , a race car driver with an attitude problem. It's not too different a role from his previous roles. The drama commences in Europe where he is a second string driver. We discover that Jiro was previously a star driver in Japan. When he accidentally crashes into his first driver during a practice run, he loses his job and finds himself something of a pariah, with no one prepared to offer him employment. At the age of 32, he is also regarded as somewhat old for a race car driver.
As a character, Jiro loves racing with a burning passion, much as Shinkai did in Good Luck. There is nothing he wants in the world so much as to race again. He spends a lot of time talking (and sometimes crying) about how it feels to race, the sound, the energy. His former racing team has now hired a better and a younger driver, and Jiro is no longer wanted.
Jiro returns to live with his foster father and sister who run a small orphanage-like home for children whose parents are unable to take care of them. Koyuki, Kimura's love interest plays a young, somewhat inexperienced caregiver. You may recognise her as the former girlfriend in Beautiful Life and also as Tom Cruise's love interest in The Last Samurai.
Due to her immaturity, lack of experience and rather fragile personality, the children at the Kanzaki Home have not really taken to her. Her attempts to help although well-meaning ofen turn out wrong and she is awkward and lacks confidence. When Jiro returns to the home, given that he is something of a big child himself with limited sense of responsibility, he fits right in despite having a decided dislike for children, thinking them annoying and more trouble than they are worth.
Notwithstanding his professed dislike of children and the fact that his dream is still to return to the world of racing, in exchange for bed and board at the Kanzaki Home, he agrees to act as the driver of the Home's van, driving the children and staff around as required. As Jiro grows to know the children, he learns to love them and they also grow to love him and go to him for their problems. As the series unfolds, his previously strained relationships with father and sister also start to heal, a fledgling romance grows and Jiro learns that he was right not to surrender his dreams of racing.
Review
A little bland is a good way to describe Engine. There's some flavour that's missing here. It's a good meal but after you've eaten it, you don't quite feel satisfied. You're full, but for some reason you miss the spice and saltiness of Long Vacation, Good Luck or Hero, or even the poignancy of Beautiful Life.
In my view, the primary shortcoming of this jdorama is that Kimura and Koyuki's characters were obviously meant to be in a relationship. The problem? From start to finish, the couple demonstrated almost zero chemistry. Kimura interacted beautifully with almost all other persons at the orphanage including the male helper for goodness' sake but his scenes with Koyuki were more a fizzle fizzle splat than a slow burning heat. Moreover, he displays more passion and love towards racing than he did towards the object of his affection - which is sort of sad, don't you think?
For me, a large part of Kimura's appeal is that notwithstanding his diminutive and petite stature, he can be very sexy. In 2046, there's something quite smouldering and seductive about him in a very understated fashion. He's gorgeous as hell in Good Luck - I wanted to nibble on him, especially when he was wearing that white shirt. He has a youthful if somewhat awkward attractiveness in Long Vacation, but there was definite heat between him and his leading lady which in turn made him seem much sexier than he might otherwise have appeared.
I wasn't receiving much of a sense of that in Engine. Jiro's clothing was very unflattering - overly tight, sometimes shiny, all of which only served to emphasise how incredibly slight he is. Unfortunately, he failed to strike me as being sufficiently masculine. I know I'm being harsh, but what's the point of this page if I'm not honest?
Give me the witty, obnoxious banter of Ogawa and Shinkai any day. Despite their hostility, they always looked as if they could at any moment rip each others clothes off in lust.
I don't blame Koyuki. I think she's a very pretty actress. I think it's just that the chemistry wasn't there. Furthermore, while she was going for sweet, uncertain and endearing, she often came across as just incompetent and more than a little ditzy. People make fun of the way I run, but did you see Tomomi? She ran like a spaz. I guess I'm being harsh.
I find it quite interesting though that the two dramas where Kimura had the best chemistry with his leading ladies were the ones where the women in question were not conventionally beautiful. Ogawa is spunky and "f*ck you* in her attitude. Minami had huge amounts of charm and sparkle. Riko in Love Generation is absolutely heart-breaking in her honesty and true-heartedness. Again, the actress who plays Riko while extremely attractive, is not regarded as conventionally pretty given that she has a somewhat round, childish face.
I am not a huge fan of race car driving although to my amusement as I typed that line, I was suddenly overcome with a desire to hear "Show me heaven" by Maria McKee from the Days of Thunder soundtrack. Strange. Car racing is boring. Silly boys risking their lives, endorsing carcinogenic products (yes I'm anti-smoking) as they go around and around a track. Reminds me of when my brother made me watch that godawful movie The Fast and the Furious. I summed the plot up as follows: "Bbrrrrrmm brrrrmrmmm.... brrrrmmm brrrrrmm .... and some shagging, too". Sheesh.
Fortunately for me, there was a limited amount of racing in the drama. The focus was on family and Jiro's relationship with the children which was the strongest part of the drama - relationships with the children and among the Kanzaki family. I adored his father and loved all the scenes between Jiro and his father.
Unfortunately, a number of other characters in the drama were somewhat strange. The owner of the Team Ichinose, Ichinose Shinsaku was this deeply weird wheel-chair bound man in sunglasses who spent the whole series getting angry at Jiro, trying to make him quit and then changing his mind. It was hard to determine whether the character was eccentric or bi-polar. Jiro's arch enemy was a creepy, glowering muahahaha kind of maniac who was too obnoxious and two dimensional. His friend was as two dimensional in his own way except that he was effusive and supportive.
Furthermore, Jiro's scenes with his former girlfriend just did not work for me. Although I thought she was extremely pretty, she was bland and spent most of her time staring out into space or at Jiro with a vaguely disconcerting spaced out expression in her eyes - very similar to the beautiful but annoying lead actress in Pride. I'm hard to please. I like strong female characters. They don't have to be beautiful, but they have to be intelligent, assertive and strong. When I looked at her, all that appeared to be going through her head was: "Pwitty spots, pwitty spots ... ooh and colours".
I mentioned that I liked the interactions with the children, there was one 'child' whom I found a little bit off. There was almost a strange over-emphasis on one the oldest child in the Home - the seventeen year old sulky and wilful Hoshino Misae. She was a scowly, sultry young miss who like the rest of the cast had more chemistry with Jiro than the lead actress, but there was just something odd about the attention focussed on her. I suspect she might be there Next Big Thing which is why they were trying to promote her. She certainly seemed to receive more screen-time and storyline than the other children. I guess we should keep an eye out for the next big drama starring this pouty little miss.
Another problem I had wth the drama was the need during significant moments (eg Jiro says/does something which makes everyone happy or sad) for the camera to separately pan in on and focus on the face of every single one of the children. There were 12 children in the cast. I felt really sorry for the actors because you could feel that the children having the camera shift onto them towards the end, particularly the 12th, had been forced to sit there for about 10minutes with a fixed smile or expression of sadness on his/her face which was no longer very natural and looked very strained. I think even an adult would have had difficulty holding an expression that long.
One thing that didn't work for me either was the fact that Jiro's passion for driving never worked for me. Maybe it's because I don't like race car driving, but in Good Luck, I really believed that Shinkai loved flying. He loved flying so much, it made me want to be a pilot, it made me wish I could have a job I loved so much. I was never convinced by his passion. I can't blame Kimura because I know he's a good actor. I don't know what the reason was.
I sound like I didn't like the series. I did - very much so but it was too flawed for me to love. To make it perfect, I would have:
- rewritten some of the characters around the race track who were cliched and exaggerated
- either ditched the love story altogether or picked a leading lady who had more chemistry with Kimura
- had more of a story about Shuhei, the young boy who arrived at the Home on the day Jiro returns home. In the first episode, the writers appear to set up a bond between these two, almost a parallel set of stories of "2 children" arriving on the same day. The problem is, the story never develops and we never learn more about Shuhei even though I personally believe he was one of the more talented actors. I much preferred him, for instance, to Hoshino Misae.
- developed more scenes between Jiro and his father as they were also particularly good.
The Children
HoshinoMisae
Misae is the eldest of the children and was abandoned by her parents as a child when they were running from loan sharks. Although I didn't like her very much as a character, I think that the actress is quite accomplished. I think 10g James thinks she's pretty.
***
Hida Harumi
Harumi has a storyline in the series, being a young girl who desperately wants to escape her life, her unloving, something youthful and kinda trampy mother. Her means of escape is to attempt to marry one of her classmates.
***
Shioya Daisuke
Daisuke is Shuhei's scowling room mate and the actor was excellent, except he was also one of those who suffered from "Hurry Up And Move The Camera Off Me"-Fixed Grin Syndrome. His parents are both doctors but quite neglectful and Daisuke is a rebellious and troubled young juvenile delinquent who is eventually reached by Jiro.
***
Taguchi Nao
Taguchi Nao does not get a separate storyline in the drama. All that we really know about her is that her ambition is to become a singer.
***
Sonobe Toru
Silent, serious and responsible, the rather adorable young Toru shows touching responsibilty for his younger sister Sonobe Aoi, always wanting to protect her from the realities of their break situation.
***
Ninomiya Yukie
Yukie does not have her own storyline. The room-mate of Hoshino Misae, her sole purpose in the drama appears to be to cry, clutch a teddybear and be pathetic so that Hoshino Misae can be shown to be caring and not quite as bitchy as she appears to the rest of the world. Yes I'm harsh. To be fair, Yukie grows something resembling a spine at the end, but she's largely there just as a foil to Hoshino Misae, for instance to enable Hoshino Misae to show emotion and sadness.
***
Hirayama Morio
Hirayama Morio is an outspoken young boy who receives quite a bit of screen time with Jiro. His father is addicted to gambling, and I think is an alcoholic.
***
Tone Akira
A little third grader who wants to be a defence lawyer when he grows up, he is a pathological liar who frequently lands himself into trouble for his little white lies ...
***
Sonobe Aoi
A cute but wise little girl with the pigtails, flyaway ears and the sense of premonition, Aoi is the younger sister of Sonobe Toru. The two are very believable as brother and sister and were both excellent actors.
***
Kanemura Shunta
Little Shunta is hands down my favourite of the children. He's absolutely adorable, cheeky and stubborn. Encouraged by Jiro to openly announce that is not pathetic or deserving of pity, he appears to have the closest bond to Jiro - much more natural than the one "forced" on us with Hoshino Misae. Can anyone ever forget Jiro coaxing little Shunta out of his cupboard where he is hiding? Soooo cute.
***
Komori Nanae
2 year old Nanae spends most of the early part of the drama parked on the back of Mr Kanzaki's back like a little koala. She is absolutely adorable. Towards the end of the drama where she is and the actress are growing up, she actually speaks and 'acts'. For the most part though, she's just there to be adorable and she does it wonderfully. I thought she was one of the cutest little things I'd seen in a while. She so cute she belongs in a Fuji film commercial!
***
Kusama Shuhei
A new child who arrived at the Home on the same day as Jiro returned. As I have indicated above, I am personally very disappointed that his storyline wasn't explored in more detail given that the actor was very good and the character was also quite interesting.