Spring 2008
Zettai Kareshi is about a young, single woman named Riko Izawa (Saki Aibu); a temporary staffer with relationship issues that works for a giant dessert company. One day, an "electrician" named Gaku Namikiri (Kuranosuke Sasaki) from Kronos Heaven offers a free trial to test a new ideal lover robot to Riko. Being a little tipsy and frustrated that night, she doesn't fully comprehend what she was getting herself into, but signed the papers to test the robot out. The next day the robot "01" is delivered to her door with instructions that requires a kiss from a human to activate it. Riko thinks it ridiculous but abides by the rules and leaves for work. Later, a sexy man follows her around embarrassingly stating that he is her ideal boyfriend. Riko calls the robot Tenjo Night and thinks of him as just another expensive appliance, but as Tenjo's unwavering devotion begins to affect her, she realizes that her heart is receiving mixed emotions as she's also drawn to her good looking boss, Soshi Asamoto (Hiro Mizushima).
Recommendation: I heard about this drama a few years ago and reading the synopsis I wasn't interested in another love triangle romcom that screamed "cliche!" But I found it on YouTube recently and realized Saki Aibu and Hiro Mizushima were in it. Being a fan of both actors and just finishing up "Mei Chan No Shitsuji" that starred Mizushima, I checked out the first episode and got hooked right away. This drama was hard for me to rate for different reasons. First, the story is definitely nothing new (with the possible exception that a robot is part of a love triangle) and the style of directing and witty script have been seen and done. But with the actors all doing an exceptional job, I felt like it was executed very well overall. I really enjoyed every episode. In this case the phrase, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies here. The drama is full of wit, interesting characters, and heart breaking moments (no pun intended). Although I did see the special episode which possibly could be episode 12 that came out the following year, but I think they should have left the ending at episode 11 so I'm not counting episode 12 in my ranking as it was kind of a useless story in my opinion. If you like a good, fun romantic comedy that also includes some thought provoking moments than this drama is one to watch. I'm always rooting for Saki Aibu to get more notoriety in the awards department but she was up against some heavy hitters from dramas like "Change", "Gokusen 3", and "Last Friends" that season and I think she was robbed of a TV drama academy award for her role in "Kaseifu No Mita."
Story: 1.0
Acting: 1.0
Directing: 1.0
Character Development: 1.0
Emotional Factor: 1.0
5.0 Out Of 5.0 Crowns
No comments:
Post a Comment