Hokaben #1
Hokaben: Oh boy, I expected this to be something light and fun, but thanks to darkeyedwolf's post about it, I realized it was quite the opposite. And just watching the prologue for the first episode hammered this home to me...
Ueto Aya 's character Domoto Akari is all gung-ho to start her career as a lawyer, specializing in pro bono cases. She wants to help people, but her first case shows her that it isn't as easy as it sounds on paper.
Heh heh, despite NEWS fangirl promoting of this drama, Shige's character is totally forgettable. His character only appears for a few seconds every now and then in order to offer some comic relief.
Akari's first case is a divorce where the woman has a young child (about 5-6 years old). It all seems so clear-cut, but there are indications that something else is wrong. The woman is adamant about having custody of her child and later on it's also shown that she has suffered from domestic violence (what is it with the DV theme on jdramas this season?).
Akari promises to protect her client and says that the divorce should be a walkthrough thing, but it should be obvious that it's not going to be anything like it... This is her first case as a lawyer and it's so clear that she is completely out of her depth.
In the beginning, she is bubbling with enthusiasm, and I can't really blame her for her total failure, since she gets no help from her superiors. It's like she is expected to jump into the pond at the deep end and immediately know how to swim...
Her boss is completely ignoring her at first and later on blames her for not knowing enough of the laws to understand why her client's daughter could be taken away. Kitamura Kazuki is very hot, but his character is a total bastard (at least in this episode).
I know it's petty, but I also dislike his voice :P But on the plus side, he does go to Akari's help in the end, but it's already too late.
I guess Akari totally bungles things because she doesn't understand what is going on. She can't pick up the clues due to her inexperience, so she only relies on what she is told. Also, her client is hostile and doesn't want to give her enough information because she doesn't trust lawyers.
On the shallow end of the spectrum, she cries so very prettily, and I love the desperate look on her face after losing this case.
I don't think this is going to give much confidence to her client :P...
Ueto Aya 's character Domoto Akari is all gung-ho to start her career as a lawyer, specializing in pro bono cases. She wants to help people, but her first case shows her that it isn't as easy as it sounds on paper.
Heh heh, despite NEWS fangirl promoting of this drama, Shige's character is totally forgettable. His character only appears for a few seconds every now and then in order to offer some comic relief.
Akari's first case is a divorce where the woman has a young child (about 5-6 years old). It all seems so clear-cut, but there are indications that something else is wrong. The woman is adamant about having custody of her child and later on it's also shown that she has suffered from domestic violence (what is it with the DV theme on jdramas this season?).
Akari promises to protect her client and says that the divorce should be a walkthrough thing, but it should be obvious that it's not going to be anything like it... This is her first case as a lawyer and it's so clear that she is completely out of her depth.
In the beginning, she is bubbling with enthusiasm, and I can't really blame her for her total failure, since she gets no help from her superiors. It's like she is expected to jump into the pond at the deep end and immediately know how to swim...
Her boss is completely ignoring her at first and later on blames her for not knowing enough of the laws to understand why her client's daughter could be taken away. Kitamura Kazuki is very hot, but his character is a total bastard (at least in this episode).
I know it's petty, but I also dislike his voice :P But on the plus side, he does go to Akari's help in the end, but it's already too late.
I guess Akari totally bungles things because she doesn't understand what is going on. She can't pick up the clues due to her inexperience, so she only relies on what she is told. Also, her client is hostile and doesn't want to give her enough information because she doesn't trust lawyers.
On the shallow end of the spectrum, she cries so very prettily, and I love the desperate look on her face after losing this case.
I don't think this is going to give much confidence to her client :P...