Wedding Planner ~Sweet Delivery~
I just finished the J-Drama "Wedding Planner." It was pretty good. Pretty standard fare as far as romance dramas are concerned. Two reluctant leads (the unlucky in love, heart on his sleeve male with the painfully obstinate female) eventually fall in love with each other.
My first and last impressions of female lead, Kanako, were "insufferable bitch." I warmed to her in the middle but she treated the male lead, Toru, excessively bad. I don't know why Toru was so attracted to a woman who was constantly undercutting and belittling him (perhaps he had a bit of a mother complex). Though if you was me Toru was in it more for Taku (Kanako's son) than he was for Kanako herself.
Kanako's ex, Tachibana, was the perfect plot device - Absent for years, with presumably no contact with his son (I'm guessing since on a few occasions Taku was asked if he even recognized his father), he re-appears with a new wife and demands for full custody only to disappear as soon as the leads declare their luke-warm affection for each other. Within the context of the story though: He was a truly shitty father. The only reasons he cited for wanting custody of Taku were: [Kanako] can't handle being a mother and working at the same time (which begs the question, if you thought that all along how come you left the kid with her in the first place) and that his new wife is a kindergarten teacher and loves kids (which I interpreted as: he doesn't want to have to deal with raising another infant so he remembers that his has a 10-ish year old son out there that he can use to quell new-wife's maternal urges), something about his future and going to school (which he apparently needs 2 parents for). He never stated he's my son and love him or anything of the sort.
In the end, Kanako and Toru (of course!) get married (in a field). I was bothered that his family wasn't there. I found his family to be incredibly annoying but it doesn't make sense that they wouldn't be there.
Also...what was up with that random group therapy session bit? I didn't get why it was there. Is Toru being in some sort of bizarre cult like therapy session supposed to make him seem slightly creepy/extremely pathetic? Because that's what it did. I understand that it served as an outlet for Toru to vent his problems and provide some comic relief...but it was just distracting. If they wanted Toru to have a place for that how about a regular shrink? Or hell, why not Shuhei? The two seemed to have a solid friendship, why not play it up?
I also enjoyed seeing Tsumabuki Satoshi & Abe Hiroshi in it! Eye candy such as this can only help a drama. Also, hearing Chemistry's "君をさがしてた ~New Jersey United~" twice an episode (it doubled as opening theme and insert song) was highly enjoyable at I love that song. I've even decided that will be playing at my wedding (whenever that ends up being...gotta find Mr. Soulmate first...)
Nothing new here, but still a fun a ride. I'll give it a "B."
My first and last impressions of female lead, Kanako, were "insufferable bitch." I warmed to her in the middle but she treated the male lead, Toru, excessively bad. I don't know why Toru was so attracted to a woman who was constantly undercutting and belittling him (perhaps he had a bit of a mother complex). Though if you was me Toru was in it more for Taku (Kanako's son) than he was for Kanako herself.
Kanako's ex, Tachibana, was the perfect plot device - Absent for years, with presumably no contact with his son (I'm guessing since on a few occasions Taku was asked if he even recognized his father), he re-appears with a new wife and demands for full custody only to disappear as soon as the leads declare their luke-warm affection for each other. Within the context of the story though: He was a truly shitty father. The only reasons he cited for wanting custody of Taku were: [Kanako] can't handle being a mother and working at the same time (which begs the question, if you thought that all along how come you left the kid with her in the first place) and that his new wife is a kindergarten teacher and loves kids (which I interpreted as: he doesn't want to have to deal with raising another infant so he remembers that his has a 10-ish year old son out there that he can use to quell new-wife's maternal urges), something about his future and going to school (which he apparently needs 2 parents for). He never stated he's my son and love him or anything of the sort.
In the end, Kanako and Toru (of course!) get married (in a field). I was bothered that his family wasn't there. I found his family to be incredibly annoying but it doesn't make sense that they wouldn't be there.
Also...what was up with that random group therapy session bit? I didn't get why it was there. Is Toru being in some sort of bizarre cult like therapy session supposed to make him seem slightly creepy/extremely pathetic? Because that's what it did. I understand that it served as an outlet for Toru to vent his problems and provide some comic relief...but it was just distracting. If they wanted Toru to have a place for that how about a regular shrink? Or hell, why not Shuhei? The two seemed to have a solid friendship, why not play it up?
I also enjoyed seeing Tsumabuki Satoshi & Abe Hiroshi in it! Eye candy such as this can only help a drama. Also, hearing Chemistry's "君をさがしてた ~New Jersey United~" twice an episode (it doubled as opening theme and insert song) was highly enjoyable at I love that song. I've even decided that will be playing at my wedding (whenever that ends up being...gotta find Mr. Soulmate first...)
Nothing new here, but still a fun a ride. I'll give it a "B."