Original Title:  湯を沸かすほどの熱い愛 (Yu wo Wakasu Hodo no Atsui Ai)

Director: Nakano Ryota

Distributor: Klock Worx

Release Date: October 29, 2016

Cast: Miyazawa Rie, Sugisaki Hana, Odagiri Joe, Matsuzaka Tori

Genre: Family, drama, slice of life

Notes: 2 hours and 5 minutes, bagged numerous awards in 40th Japan Academy Film Prize, 26th Japanese Movie Critics Awards, etc.

Review:

This film was so good I might as well tell you to stop reading this review and watch it right now. No kidding. Do yourself a favor and watch it. Right now.

If that isn't convincing enough, then continue reading and welcome aboard.

Our story centers around the protagonist Futaba who has a daughter bullied in school and a closed public bath business, thanks to the disappearance of her husband one year ago. Then, she found out she has a terminal cancer and that her days are numbered. So she decided to hire a private investigator to locate her husband. It was a quick search and Futaba managed to bring his husband home, with his child from another woman. They soon opened the public bath with all the members of the family helping around. But that's just two from the list of things she was determined to do before she dies. And the rest will guarantee to make your heart melt and put tears in your eyes.

I love the general concept of the movie: the pure, selfless love a mother can give to her children, husband, and strangers. It also showed a dying mother's strength, courage, and wisdom and her ability to inspire and change people's lives despite the dreary horrors she was facing herself.

AtsuiAi was well-written, the dialogues were creative, appropriate, and spot on, the pacing was not too slow, not too fast, and every characters were carefuly knitted into a wonderful 3D persona easily capable of drawing out empathy from the audience. The way the characters grow and matured into better persons were also worth mentioning as it made them more human; it made me feel like we're watching a reflection of ourselves, of our families, and of society as a whole. I also love the side stories and the little unexpected twists which added flavor to an already excellent film. Themes like bullying and death were handled responsibly and realistically. The resolutions were also convincing and satisfying.

Each characters were portrayed by top-tier actors and actresses, especially Miyazawa-san and SugiHana. That was a powerful combination and I would love to see them in a different film as mother and daughter again. Odagiri Joe's role was annoying but my heart warmed up to him after some scenes and I also appreciate the comic relief he gave to the story. I already lost count the number of times I cried while watching this film, but I remembered even the youngest kid in the film tugged my heart. That just proved how well-picked the cast were.

Cinematography and editing of the film was also good though nothing spectacular. The music was apt and brought nostalgia and heart warming feels.

I definitely recommend this to everyone. It's a gem you shouldn't miss!(*ﾟ▽ﾟ)/ﾟ･:*

Rating: ★★★★★

Original Title: 小説王 (Shousetsu Ou)
Network: Fuji TV
No. of Episodes: 10
Release Date: April-June 2019
Cast: Shirahama Alan, Koyanagi Yu, Sakuraba Nanami
Genre: friendship, drama
Notes: Based on a novel, 23 minutes per episode

Review:

I love stories about writers and the publishing world, and I've watched some which are extremely good like, Ghostwriter (novelist), Bakuman (manga artists) and Ito-kun A to E (scriptwriter), so when I've first read its title, I know for sure I will watch this.


The story takes place in modern day Japan wherein novels are considered to be a declining industry, so it was a lot harder for rookie novelists to get published. Publishers do not simply publish a book just because it's good. It must also be marketable. And in order for a book to be marketable, it needs to have a quality that will set it apart from the others. A book that can generate a particular impact to its reader that it will be etched in their mind. A book that is not just riding the trend but creates its own trend.

Yoshida Toyotaka, a popular writer ten years ago, who was on the verge of giving up writing novels, and his childhood friend, now a newbie editor who believes in his talent, Koyanagi Shuntaro, join forces to achieve their dream: to be the best novelist in Japan. To be the "King of Novels".


To be honest, the plot is exciting but quite ambitious. It seems inevitable that the audience will have high hopes toward the series. But if it will be pulled off well, it will certainly be of the best jdrama this season has to offer.

When I have started watching this drama, I knew immediately that Yoshitaka is a character I can easily empathize with. He was at the lowest point in life wherein nothing is going in his favor. His new novel got rejected, his boss didn't like him and just assumed Yoshitaka was taking his job lightly because he was once popular novelist (I honestly think his boss was insecure with him), and he was also not in good terms with his father who treats him like a human ATM.

And then there's Koyanagi whose ideas seemed not to matter with his boss at work, but because he was really passionate in achieving his dream with Yoshitaka, he worked really hard to the extent that he's forgetting the fact that he is a father and a husband and his family needs him too.


I like how human the characters were created. They are not perfect; they have several personal issues in life. I also like how realistic they presented the story. It will make you realize how hard it was to create a book: from brainstorming ideas to make a plot, deciding the themes, elements, setting, characters, writing style, flow of the story, to getting feedback and revising the draft until the writer and the person who made the feedback were both satisfied with the final manuscript.


You can really feel Yoshida and Koyanagi's frustrations and hard work that you can't help but cheer them on. I also like how they support and strengthen each other, even the way they fight each other after speaking what's on their mind. It is important to have someone who believes in you, that you can do it, that you’ll be alright, that you’re not as worthless as you think you are, especially in times you yourself don’t think the same way. Someone who you can openly speak your troubles with and frankly tells you when you are wrong. Someone you can have arguments with and understands you enough that he won't take it against you if you've said something completely stupid or childish when you're not in your best self.

There were scenes that really touched me and warmed my heart, especially that arc about Koyanagi's family. They also dealt with topics like accepting honest criticism and I like how Yoshida grew up from someone who couldn't keep his cool when being criticized and even blamed the critic for not reading his work hard enough to someone who can calmly take criticism, agree with the critic, and openly discuss how to improve the novel.


But despite everything I've said, there is something off about this drama. At the latter half of the series, I find myself losing interest in it as it's becoming repetitive, and formulaic. (Very much like what I felt watching First Class.) There are scenes which felt like the creator is trying too hard to keep the tension high all throughout the story that it ended up being unnatural and anticlimactic. It is also disappointing that they concentrated too much on Yoshida getting his novel published that they forgot they could use the best-selling author Nonomiya-sensei as his rival: the right person to beat if they want to be called the "King of Novels". 

book cover of the original novel

"Is it totally acceptable that we met only to suffer afterwards?

Did we find each other only to fall apart, as some form of punishment for my sins?" 

   

Yurigokoro trailer

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