Friday 13 May 2011

Currently watching: Ushi ni Negai wo: Love & Farm











When you’ve been watching Jdramas for a while, you notice quite quickly that the same faces keep cropping up. I mention this because I feel like I’ve reached a bit of a milestone with this drama because it’s the first in which I recognised every single member of the cast. Apart from a couple of people in minor roles, I know everyone who’s in this show, which was quite distracting at first. The cast list boasts Toda Erika (Keizoku 2), Aibu Saki (Rebound), Karina (Parade), Keisuke Koide (also Parade, Nodame Cantabile), Kohinata Fumiyo (Marks no Yama, Ashita no Kita Yoshio) and I could go on.

In this drama from 2007, some students spend three months working on a farm as part of their sutdies (I wonder if I chose it because I miss Family Outing). It is a pretty typical fish-out-of-water story about city types having difficulty with the simple country ways. The regular stereotypes are all represented, including a moody sullen man, a superficial fashionable woman, a couple of perky eager types and... er... a guy who can draw. Not sure what his story is.

It’s not the greatest series, by any means, but what’s interesting about this is not the physical humour as they try to work on the farm, nor is it the clumsy attempt at a family drama. Instead what caught my interest is that there’s a light out in the fields at night. A couple of the students have seen it but no one’s gone to investigate, and it’s this tiny mystery that’s keeping me watching.

Jdramas do that a lot. An average comedy drama will throw in a little hint of something deeper going on, just to keep you watching. It probably won't be anything too exciting, but it's working. I'll keep watching. For now.

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