Japanese Drama - Autumn Season
The autumn drama season has started and after a few weeks of random viewing, I finally settled to 4 that I think I would stick with till the end. It’s been a while since there’s any real quality drama and “Boku no Aruku Michi” or The Way I Walk is one of the very few.
There are all together 3 “My Way – Michi” drama series.
The first one “Boku no Ikiru Michi - The Way I Live” was about “Death”, or rather, as stated on the official Japanese webpage the only English phrase – Have a good die!
The second one “Boku to Kanojo to Kanoto no Ikiru Michi – The Way We Live” was about “Bonding”
The third one, which is showing now “Boku no Aruku Michi – The Way I Walk” is about “Pureness”.
When I watched the first one of the “My Way - Michi” series – The Way I Live, I was deeply moved by the story and of course Kusanagi’s acting. The second one – “The Way We Live” was quite boring in the beginning but turned out to be a heart-warming drama in the end. Now in “Boku no Aruku Michi”, Kusanagi plays the role of a 30-year old autistic guy “Teru” who has the intelligence of a 10-year old. It’s a sad story told in a beautiful way - reminds me of Forest Gump.
To have a “pure” heart is a beautiful thing and yet it is sad to learn that it’s impossible for such a person to fit in the real world. Teru faces a lot of problems communicating with others and taking instructions. It’s ironic to learn that we’ve expected so much from others and vice versa in everyday life that reading between the lines has become a basic requirement.
People tell you one thing and you’re expected to know that they actually mean something else from their tone of voice, facial expression, etc. But with Teru, he takes things literally and won’t do anything extra if not being properly told or instructed. And of course a lot of troubles as well as amusing situations occurred. There’s no right or wrong either way but his little deeds and frictions with others made me laugh and think about how we should treat people and communicate with others.
Episode 4 will be on tomorrow. Just can’t wait as there’ll be some surprises.
Other autumn dramas this fall, also on Episodes 3 - 4 this week:
Kazoku (by one of my favorite actors Takenouchi Yutaka)
Nodame Kantabire (very funny, just like reading a manga)
Tatta Hitotsu no Koi (by the popular idol Kamenashi from KAT-TUN, after starring in Sapuri)