Byakkotai, Part One
In the beginning of the film, Shintaro (Yamashita Tomohisa) is shown as a rebellious youth who doesn't really care about the past or traditional values. He hangs around with his scantily clad girlfriend and tyrannizes his parents and everybody else. But in the course of this drama, he is taught to respect his ancestors and to value his family's past.
The process begins one day when his grandmother comes for a visit. She's very disappointed by the family dynamics and thinks everybody worthless. She tries to tell them that they are descendants of a famous Byakkotai warrior and should behave in such way. She decides to teach them a lesson and says she'll stay with the family for a few days.
Shintaro and his best friend Shinada Yuusuke (Tanaka Koki) decide to escape this horrible fate by going to visit Aizu, since if the grandmother is with Shintaro's family, she won't be in her home town. Shin's brilliant plan is that they'll stay with his grandfather who dotes on him until his grandmother leaves his home.
While in Aizu, they visit the Byakkotai Memorial because Shintaro's grandfather takes them there and come across paintings of two Byakkotai members who resemble them a lot: Sakai Mineji and Shinoda Kisaburou. And the next thing you see, is Yamapi in samurai hair :).
Mineji (Yamapi) and Kisaburou (Tanaka Koki) are both young men who are about to enter Nisshinkan for the first time in their path to become Byakkotai. In Nisshinkan, they are to learn the warrior's way among other young men.
On his way to Nisshinkan, Mineji comes across a small crying child who tells him that he's lost. Trying to decide whether it's better to help others, as his teachings tell him, or to be late on his first day of school is a difficult question to Mineji, but he ends up helping the child to find his mother. He makes no excuses to his teacher for his tardiness, but a bit later the reason for his tardiness is revealed to the teacher, when the mother and child arrive at the school to thank Mineji.
Right from the start, Mineji is being shown as someone who is very honourable and trying his best to follow his teachings however much it might cost him. Later on it's shown that the warrior's way has been instilled into him from his early childhood, but at the cost of close relationships with his family. I think it's only at Nisshinkan that he finally finds close friends and companionship that has been missing from his life with his family.
A good example is a scene where, as a treat to his sickly mother, he takes her to see the beautiful red leaves, but when she learns that he has taken the day as sick leave, she immediately orders him to go back. He's supposed to be serving his Lord and the Emperor and studying in Nisshinkan in order to die to protect the Aizu as an honorable warrior. That's much more important than taking his mother to see pretty leaves.
Mineji and his mother's case is actually quite tragic. She has been behaving coldly towards him, because she fears he won't fight and face his inevitable death in battle bravely if he has any close emotional ties or has to worry about his weak mother. So she has always tried to push him away. But, of course, her coldness only makes him crave her closeness the more. And in the end, it's more that she's afraid of facing her son's death, so she doesn't allow him to develop a close bond with her. Her remembrances of how he was a baby only a moment ago and now has developed into a young who is still doomed to die in battle really made me sniffle.
One day when Mineji, Kisaburou and another friend of theirs (is that Matsuda Shota?! Drama wiki seems to be down at the moment, so I can't check) (ETA: Fujigaya Taisuke, Drama Wiki is finally up again, so I could check this) are spying on older students' artillery practice, they overhear the teacher saying that artillery techniques are the key in the next battle and decide to beg him to teach them, even though by Nisshinkan standards they are still too young. The teacher agrees, but it turns out he has a group of women who have become experts in artillery skills and is going to let them teach the boys. The boys are, of course, scandalized and very reluctant to be taught by women.
Still, when they see the women's skill and hear their teacher's comment that women live in Aizu, too, and can do their own part in protecting it, they agree to be taught after all. And being taught by a pretty lady like Sayoko (the actress is really pretty!) isn't all bad, is it - though one might accidentally end up talking with a woman... :) (One of the things they have been taught is that they mustn't speak with women outside.)
Kisaburou's mother is very supportive and is willing to stay by him whatever road he chooses. Matahachi and Mineji feel very envious of him, and as is revealed in a following discussion, it seems that Mineji's mother's coldness has affected him so that he feels unworthy and doesn't have anything else but his duty to live for. As a result he feels that the only thing he can do is to die in battle. His friends' viewpoint is different: they are willing to lay down their lives, but will try to do their best, because they have something to protect and to live for even though they are prepared for their deaths.
In a later meeting with his mother, Mineji asks her if she would support him whatever road he chose? But she starts ranting on him that people can't choose their roads. There is only one way to live a person's life, 'to live strongly and to die bravely'. He has no right to act selfishly and to choose his own road, he has no right to decide whether he will live or die. And she finishes by handing him her garden scissors and saying that if he doesn't have the spirit of an Aizu man, he should finish his life right there and then.
But when she is in her own room alone, she thinks that one day when people can choose their own paths, she will support him whole-heartedly whatever path he chooses. He will have to be born as her son again so that she can show her support to his son. *BAWL!*
I had to stop for a while, because I was crying too hard :P. These mother-son scenes are constantly bringing me to tears, because they are so very painful and there is so much suppressed emotion and so many unsaid things in them! And I feel really sorry for poor Mineji because he must think his mother doesn't care at all for him as a person and only sees him as an offering to their Lord, while her mother thinks she's protecting him and making him stronger by behaving this way.
I like the budding romance between Kisaburou and Sayoko. The scene where he's bitten by a dog and she sucks the poison out of his wound is wonderful. He is so completely dazed after she leaves him *g*. Mineji and Matahachi, spying on them together, wonder if he'll be able to leave behind someone like Sayoko and die bravely in battle? This seems to be the central question in the young men's minds throughout this drama: they know their destiny is to die in battle, but wonder if emotional attachments or close ties with something or someone will prevent them from doing their duty.
Still, the way Mineji's mother treats him is so wrong! There is yet another painful scene after he has almost fallen down a cliff, because he was trying to find some medicinal herbs for her in the middle of the winter. She only ends up scolding him again and talking about "dignified death" that can be reached only through a dignified life. Sacrificing his life uselessly for looking herbs for his sickly mother is not 'dignified'.
At least he has his grandmother who shows him warmth and closeness, but he can't help yearning for his mother's love. The scene where he asked his grandmother to look after his mother when he was in the war made me cry again :(.
Whoah, Yamapi is buff nowadays! (*cough* You don't want to know how many screencaps I took during this scene... I went into major fangirl mode :P.)
Poor Mineji, he wants a dog, but his family hasn't allowed him to have any pets in the past, because they (read, his mother) think he won't be able to sacrifice himself if he has any attachments. This is SO WRONG!
He is prepared to throw the dog away, even though he desperately wants it, but then his mother shouts after him that he can keep it if he wants to. Is she actually thawing a bit?!
Her justification is that it's good to learn to be responsible towards living things, but she's actually thinking of his safety in case he goes climbing on the mountains again. Seeing him smiling and extremely happy with the dog, Kuma, also brings joy to his mother, because she thinks she has at least that memory of his smile when he goes to war and dies there.
The ending with Mineji's father talking with him and complimenting him on how he has grown up was so sad. He said that Mineji's mother had done a great job raising him, and that he might not have done as good a job. Then he talked about the grief that those left behind are going to have to live with for the rest of their lives and asked Mineji to take care of his mother and help her, because he was going to the war to die. Damn, after this I think "You Raise Me Up" is going to bring tears to my eyes for a while every time I hear it :P.
I'm fairly ignorant of Japanese history (I have mostly forgotten what was taught in school), but I can tell that the story centres around events that are leading to some major tragedy. There is quite a lot of political scheming and backstabbing on the background, but most of the story concentrates on the lives of the people whom these political decicions will affect and who will lose their lives in the resulting wars.
I very much like this and can't wait to watch the second part of this special, though, judging from my reactions to Part One, I suspect I will have to have plenty of tissues available while watching it.
Edit: Modified the text a bit.
The process begins one day when his grandmother comes for a visit. She's very disappointed by the family dynamics and thinks everybody worthless. She tries to tell them that they are descendants of a famous Byakkotai warrior and should behave in such way. She decides to teach them a lesson and says she'll stay with the family for a few days.
Shintaro and his best friend Shinada Yuusuke (Tanaka Koki) decide to escape this horrible fate by going to visit Aizu, since if the grandmother is with Shintaro's family, she won't be in her home town. Shin's brilliant plan is that they'll stay with his grandfather who dotes on him until his grandmother leaves his home.
While in Aizu, they visit the Byakkotai Memorial because Shintaro's grandfather takes them there and come across paintings of two Byakkotai members who resemble them a lot: Sakai Mineji and Shinoda Kisaburou. And the next thing you see, is Yamapi in samurai hair :).
Mineji (Yamapi) and Kisaburou (Tanaka Koki) are both young men who are about to enter Nisshinkan for the first time in their path to become Byakkotai. In Nisshinkan, they are to learn the warrior's way among other young men.
On his way to Nisshinkan, Mineji comes across a small crying child who tells him that he's lost. Trying to decide whether it's better to help others, as his teachings tell him, or to be late on his first day of school is a difficult question to Mineji, but he ends up helping the child to find his mother. He makes no excuses to his teacher for his tardiness, but a bit later the reason for his tardiness is revealed to the teacher, when the mother and child arrive at the school to thank Mineji.
Right from the start, Mineji is being shown as someone who is very honourable and trying his best to follow his teachings however much it might cost him. Later on it's shown that the warrior's way has been instilled into him from his early childhood, but at the cost of close relationships with his family. I think it's only at Nisshinkan that he finally finds close friends and companionship that has been missing from his life with his family.
A good example is a scene where, as a treat to his sickly mother, he takes her to see the beautiful red leaves, but when she learns that he has taken the day as sick leave, she immediately orders him to go back. He's supposed to be serving his Lord and the Emperor and studying in Nisshinkan in order to die to protect the Aizu as an honorable warrior. That's much more important than taking his mother to see pretty leaves.
Mineji and his mother's case is actually quite tragic. She has been behaving coldly towards him, because she fears he won't fight and face his inevitable death in battle bravely if he has any close emotional ties or has to worry about his weak mother. So she has always tried to push him away. But, of course, her coldness only makes him crave her closeness the more. And in the end, it's more that she's afraid of facing her son's death, so she doesn't allow him to develop a close bond with her. Her remembrances of how he was a baby only a moment ago and now has developed into a young who is still doomed to die in battle really made me sniffle.
One day when Mineji, Kisaburou and another friend of theirs (is that Matsuda Shota?! Drama wiki seems to be down at the moment, so I can't check) (ETA: Fujigaya Taisuke, Drama Wiki is finally up again, so I could check this) are spying on older students' artillery practice, they overhear the teacher saying that artillery techniques are the key in the next battle and decide to beg him to teach them, even though by Nisshinkan standards they are still too young. The teacher agrees, but it turns out he has a group of women who have become experts in artillery skills and is going to let them teach the boys. The boys are, of course, scandalized and very reluctant to be taught by women.
Still, when they see the women's skill and hear their teacher's comment that women live in Aizu, too, and can do their own part in protecting it, they agree to be taught after all. And being taught by a pretty lady like Sayoko (the actress is really pretty!) isn't all bad, is it - though one might accidentally end up talking with a woman... :) (One of the things they have been taught is that they mustn't speak with women outside.)
Kisaburou's mother is very supportive and is willing to stay by him whatever road he chooses. Matahachi and Mineji feel very envious of him, and as is revealed in a following discussion, it seems that Mineji's mother's coldness has affected him so that he feels unworthy and doesn't have anything else but his duty to live for. As a result he feels that the only thing he can do is to die in battle. His friends' viewpoint is different: they are willing to lay down their lives, but will try to do their best, because they have something to protect and to live for even though they are prepared for their deaths.
In a later meeting with his mother, Mineji asks her if she would support him whatever road he chose? But she starts ranting on him that people can't choose their roads. There is only one way to live a person's life, 'to live strongly and to die bravely'. He has no right to act selfishly and to choose his own road, he has no right to decide whether he will live or die. And she finishes by handing him her garden scissors and saying that if he doesn't have the spirit of an Aizu man, he should finish his life right there and then.
But when she is in her own room alone, she thinks that one day when people can choose their own paths, she will support him whole-heartedly whatever path he chooses. He will have to be born as her son again so that she can show her support to his son. *BAWL!*
I had to stop for a while, because I was crying too hard :P. These mother-son scenes are constantly bringing me to tears, because they are so very painful and there is so much suppressed emotion and so many unsaid things in them! And I feel really sorry for poor Mineji because he must think his mother doesn't care at all for him as a person and only sees him as an offering to their Lord, while her mother thinks she's protecting him and making him stronger by behaving this way.
I like the budding romance between Kisaburou and Sayoko. The scene where he's bitten by a dog and she sucks the poison out of his wound is wonderful. He is so completely dazed after she leaves him *g*. Mineji and Matahachi, spying on them together, wonder if he'll be able to leave behind someone like Sayoko and die bravely in battle? This seems to be the central question in the young men's minds throughout this drama: they know their destiny is to die in battle, but wonder if emotional attachments or close ties with something or someone will prevent them from doing their duty.
Still, the way Mineji's mother treats him is so wrong! There is yet another painful scene after he has almost fallen down a cliff, because he was trying to find some medicinal herbs for her in the middle of the winter. She only ends up scolding him again and talking about "dignified death" that can be reached only through a dignified life. Sacrificing his life uselessly for looking herbs for his sickly mother is not 'dignified'.
At least he has his grandmother who shows him warmth and closeness, but he can't help yearning for his mother's love. The scene where he asked his grandmother to look after his mother when he was in the war made me cry again :(.
Whoah, Yamapi is buff nowadays! (*cough* You don't want to know how many screencaps I took during this scene... I went into major fangirl mode :P.)
Poor Mineji, he wants a dog, but his family hasn't allowed him to have any pets in the past, because they (read, his mother) think he won't be able to sacrifice himself if he has any attachments. This is SO WRONG!
He is prepared to throw the dog away, even though he desperately wants it, but then his mother shouts after him that he can keep it if he wants to. Is she actually thawing a bit?!
Her justification is that it's good to learn to be responsible towards living things, but she's actually thinking of his safety in case he goes climbing on the mountains again. Seeing him smiling and extremely happy with the dog, Kuma, also brings joy to his mother, because she thinks she has at least that memory of his smile when he goes to war and dies there.
The ending with Mineji's father talking with him and complimenting him on how he has grown up was so sad. He said that Mineji's mother had done a great job raising him, and that he might not have done as good a job. Then he talked about the grief that those left behind are going to have to live with for the rest of their lives and asked Mineji to take care of his mother and help her, because he was going to the war to die. Damn, after this I think "You Raise Me Up" is going to bring tears to my eyes for a while every time I hear it :P.
I'm fairly ignorant of Japanese history (I have mostly forgotten what was taught in school), but I can tell that the story centres around events that are leading to some major tragedy. There is quite a lot of political scheming and backstabbing on the background, but most of the story concentrates on the lives of the people whom these political decicions will affect and who will lose their lives in the resulting wars.
I very much like this and can't wait to watch the second part of this special, though, judging from my reactions to Part One, I suspect I will have to have plenty of tissues available while watching it.
Edit: Modified the text a bit.