TV in Japan

[Ono Seiko and Aaron Gerow]

Thanks to Michael for his comments:

>Aaron, you wrote about how we must pay attention to modes of viewing; 
>I certainly watch NHK morning dramas differently than I would an 
>evening drama or a movie, and suspect a lot of other longtime viewers 
>do too (and so am curious as to how it was received by your wife). I have 
>long imagined that inside NHK was a check list of requirements that any 
>story considered for the morning drama series must have (e.g. young 
>female hero, either she or her parents work in a "traditional" Japanese 
>field, despite continual obstacles and adversity success is found 
>through working hard and never giving up, and in the end realizing that 
>the traditional Japanese ways are the best). So one has to look past 
>these obligatory inclusions to see what the story is really about; I see 
>here a story that often questions tradition and satirizes Japanese 
>society in a gentle way (something also done in _Otona no Otoko_, the 
>other Oishi Shizuka written drama on the air here now). From one 
>perspective one certainly could bemoan the cliches, from mine I am 
>impressed at how many it avoided.

You are very right.  In fact, we watched _Futarikko_ precisely because it 
avoided many of the cliches which usually make us give up on the asaren.  
Well, not quite.  We first caught on simply because of Mana-chan and 
Kana-chan, and then got hooked by the oldest of narrative cliches: the 
underdog who succeeds against expectations story.  What clinched things 
was that it was a woman trying to succeed in the all-male world of shogi. 
 But while that part was progressive in terms of gender, we were totally 
turned off by the story of the other sister: her character was sloppily 
written, the acting bad, and her capitulation to patriarchy at the end 
totally unbelievable (if not annoying).  Frankly, we watched mostly for 
elaboration of characters, but found a few too many of them lacking 
motivation for their actions.  Maybe we did not watch it the way it was 
supposed to be watched, but that's because we expected something 
different: _Futarikko_ delivered in some ways, but missed out in a lot of 
others.

By the way, I watched Sakamoto Junji's _Ote_ again the other day for the 
first time after seeing _Futarikko_ and was amazed at how much 
_Futarikko_ owes to that movie.  Some of the same situations, some of the 
same locations, some of the same actors, etc.  Frankly, it made me look 
down on Oishi some more.  (Sakamoto's Osaka films are all worth second 
viewings.)

>One of the funniest shows that I have ever seen, and one of the few 
>Japanese shows that might be classed as a sit com, was the Furuhata 
>spinoff/takeoff _Imaizumi Shintarou_ starring Nishimura Masahiko and 
>written by Mitani Koki. It is available on video if you have never seen it.
>
>The comedy  dramas written by Mitani that I have seen 
>(_Furuhata Ninzaburou_ and _Ousama no Resutoran_) were quite good as 
>well.

I should have mentioned Mitani in my original comment: his comedies are 
definitely the best scripted around.  But I do have a problem with the 
direction: everything seems to be overdone and, while that works for the 
first few episodes (the parodic element), it begins to grate halfway 
through.  I wish there was a more subtle director who could handle 
Mitani's scripts.

Bringing up Mitani also should remind us that the "auteur" in Japanese TV 
is often still considered the scriptwriter.  Stars of course are 
important for ratings, but one of the best ways to select shows is to 
focus on scriptwriters you like.  It would be interesting to find out how 
this came about.

Aaron Gerow
YNU