I don't know whether its the disappointments of last season or the fact that I'm playing even more VF5 recently but I'm losing my urge to watch jdoramas, until I saw ep 10 for Wonderful Life. As I've lamented in my review of ep 9, why don't they make simple and fun shows like this anymore?
What this series has done is broke down the character of Kirishima Akira. He was introduced as this arrogant and irresponsible former star and slowly, we are shown that he is not a bad person, just that he made bad decisions. All the while, he was entertaining to boot and finally after doing his 'penance', he is given the chance to go back into the spotlight.
We finally get some more back story on Masayoshi, the former lawyer and it really makes him more of a sympathetic character as he had chosen a more difficult path in life. He may have been a self serving, dishonest lawyer served well as a comedic character but the fact that he could have an easy life's shows that at one time, he must have had some ideals and had the balls to act on them. Its just that the lost those ideals on the way.
Ah yes, the staple of jdoramas, carrying a girl on your back so you can grab her ass...This ties in with Kirishima's journey for redemption. Though the setup for Masayoshi's future is pretty obvious, its still fun to watch cause there's nothing better than when a supporting character slowly gets fleshed out with minimal screen time and gets a resolution.
She must be thinking how good life would be if Kirishima were playing baseball....Another thing I want to touch on for this episode is some things are left unsaid/unexplained like Masayoshi's background. They show us his interaction with his family and his facial expressions are enough to tell us his history. The fact that he didn't lament about his problems only serves to arouse the audience sympathy. Or how Mizuki's uncle keeps getting injured as he gets even more worried about her. The use of symbolism in jdoramas is always refreshing.
But the star of this episode is is definitely Mizuki (Hasegawa Kyoko). She gets to peer into what Kirishima's life was like and is disturbed by this world he comes from. Instead of the out of job and penniless coach of Jaguars, she sees him as this former star who lived in a world where money was no object. Again, all she did to tell us that was her facial expressions of frustration and confusion while her uncle did all the talking. Hasegawa Kyoko has never impressed me until this episode.
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