Managed to find auto subs for Hagetaka the movie and decided to see what WithS2 are up to and to my surprise, they've subbed yet another jdorama, Ai kotoba wa yuki! Talk about a stellar cast! Its got Yakusha Koji (Shall we dansu) and Suzuki Kyoka! Yakusho Koji plays Akatsuki Nitaro actor who is way past his glory days and yet still acts as if the world owes him a living.He can only get roles as a corpse or monster, his mistress is cheating on him and his wife wants a divorce but he is still rude to everyone and thinks only of himself. In short, he is our asshole main character in dire need of redemption.
Tadashi (Katagori Shingo) is in Tokyo on a mission, to find a lawyer to defend his village from the evil polluters. Every lawyer Tadashi has seen has refused to help because the case is hopeless and the polluters have a legendary lawyer on their side. One night, Tadashi sees Akatsuki doing his best Gregory Peck impression from To Kill a Mockingbird and hatches a plan to hire Akatsuki to pretend to be a lawyer and tell the villagers that it is not worth going to court.
Akatsuki, having reach the lowest point of his professional career is now enjoying all the attention that the villages shower upon him in their mistaken belief that he is here to save them. His selfish, nonchalant attitude is in danger of being exposed but in important moments in front of the villagers, his acting skills save the day.
First off, this is a mistaken identity dorama, a genre I don't particularly like because its so formulaic. Akatsuki is going to struggle, he's going to slowly change and do well before his true identity is found out and then we get the happy ending. Normally I would avoid these shows but Yakusho Koji's performance as Akatsuki is awesome.
Yakusho Koji gets to play him as the whining, primadonna actor as well as when he puts on his lawyer face. Akatsuki has to be funny, compelling and even when he's at his worst, amusing. I can only think of 4 other Japanese actors who could have played this role today. Shingo does OK as the audience's POV and Suzuki Kyoka is so far just window dressing.
I am skeptical about how good this show can be because they'll have to find some interesting ways for this actor playing a lawyer to successfully defend this village of country hicks for the next 9 episodes. Add to the fact that I don't find mistaken identity doramas appealing means I have little hope. Still, I shall give this dorama a fair go because Yakusho Koji is awesome, Suzuki Kyoka is easy on the eyes and they don't make doramas like this anymore. I would like to declare Ai kotoba wa yuki must watch but I can't until I have seen how the writers can keep things interesting in later episodes. However, if you're a fan of old school doramas like me, this is definitely worth checking out.
You can find the raws at Project Restoration and the subs at With S2.
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