'Hirugao' drama ~ Middle Ages in Japan

beware of spoilers

First of all, I'd like to say I really liked this dorama, if this is possible for me to say that I liked a realistic artwork. The truth is, I don't like stories about how every family is unfortunate in its own way. That's why I've never read 'Anna Karenina' and have no intention to. Why did I watch 'Hirugao' then? And why didn't I drop it as soon as I understood there will be no rose-coloured happy ending?

story and characters

To put it bluntly, this is a story about how circumstances won over people, not people over circumstances. In Japan an affair is still considered to be almost a crime, but well, show me a place where it is praised and favoured by anyone? A very expensive crime, by the way. I was surprised that in Japan something like this is possible.

I guess I'll never date a married man in Japan. I can't afford it when his wife discovers it.

Well, leaving that aside, I'd say that the drama draws a kind of a circle, but the circle is not perfect.

It starts with such words:

And it ends with the same stating:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually, somewhere in the middle I was so excited about this dorama, that I even told my friends about it, couldn't help but to tell them. What I was disappointed with was the ambiguous ending.

While the Heroine, Sawa, managed at least to escape from her boring marriage, and promised God that she'd do something dangerous again...

other characters ended up completely different. Viewers tend to pity Kato, the painter, the most, but I doubt that his other half, Rikako, was in any better situation. At least he was trying to learn to paint with his left hand (and painting Rikako, by the way). Miss Takigawa, however, returned to her husband who treated her like a doll, and who gave no guarantees that he'll change anything and start to respect her more from then on. 

The fact that she bothered me the most is easily explained, since I was originally greatly obsessed with Kato. However, she herself became my favourite among all women shown in the series for another reason, too. Strangely, Sawa's love story was too close to your average teenage-love-story with holding hands and riding a bicycle together, with those typical

while Rikako was much more mature.

However, even if I suppress my dissatisfaction with Rikako's fate, I'd still say I wasn't satisfied with the ending, because the ending was not in any good correlation to those beautiful moments that were present in the middle of the story.

At some moments it felt like the scenario was written with the purpose of showing all things that weigh down an unfortunate housewife. There were moments that all viewers can relate to,

and moments when a viewer finally sees the characters making the right questions,

 and even moments promising the right action

 and of course, moments when inner thoughts of the Heroine sounded so right and so true

I didn't feel it was worth showing how much the characters struggled and tried to escape just to get to nowhere.

But well, who promised they would. It's a realistic dorama, right...

But well, I never said I like realism.

acting

Like I said, my sole reason for watching was mr. Kitamura. If you ask me whether I regret watching, I'd say no, because even though I did feel nervous, and worried, and sad, and disappointed too, I was able to see how he looks at her when he's trying to test her

 and how he doesn't look at her when they speak about something serious

 and how he looks when she's crying

As for Michiko Kichise as Rikako, sometimes I was really thinking she sucks, because her intonations when she was saying something really important were not proper. However, at important moments like this one ↑ she did her job very well.

I would say that all the actors in the main cast were really impressive. It's a rare pearl among all Japanese doramas that I've seen, because Japanese actors usually just pretend, put on airs, and try to look good or cute in front of the camera, lacking any real emotions.

music

The main theme of the series, 'Tanin no kankei' or 'Relationship of strangers', was not very interesting for me. Just another jazzy tune. However, Kanno Yugo is a genius! To write such music seems something impossible to me. Scary moments were scary, fun moments were fun, and dramatic moments were accompanied by 'Never again'.

I probably like the 'Never again' version that is #1 on the album, not the short version titled 'feat. Aoki Karen', because the arrangement of the vocal part is deeper and more overwhelming. Every time I hear the song I feel like I might break. It tears my heart apart.

conclusion

In the end, all the characters lost their most important people. The young girl at the company of Sawa's husband couldn't win over his heart.

Noriko is not likely to become truly happy with her husband knowing she sew him to herself with white threads of a written oath, which is visible in the final episode when she's crying before they leave their house, obviously already regretting the fact she was so possessive.

 

Well, teacher Kitano lost to a school, because a teacher shouldn't show his students a bad example.

And Rikako lost to her children. I don't think she'd come back to her husband if there were only two of them and no children.

Sawa lost to her husband who was supposed to be a good one. See, how much he cherishes her:

 Well, Sawa's husband lost to his self-deception

The moral of the story is that

This is a story about civilised Japanese society in the 21st century. See, the characters were not burnt or bitten with a whip for their affairs. They were brought to lawyers - in case of Sawa. Or not brought, in case of Rikako, because her husband had torn the divorce application to pieces.

The society wants people to have stable households with a hard-working husband and loving wife to make him lunch and put it in a box every morning. The society doesn't want adultery to be shown or discussed. The society doesn't want to leave it as a private matter. Children are already brought up with a strong commitment to the idea that a wife, moreover a mother cannot commit such a sin. The society doesn't want to recognize her right to have personal happiness. And the characters have lost to such society.

Only the school director didn't lose anything.