Chiritotechin (2007)

This is unexpectedly good. It's not the typical "heroine overcomes misery" asadora that often hammers so much sentiment into my face to the point of becoming overwrought and ineffective. Kiyomi, the heroine here faced a different kind of problem: She's a city girl having to move to a rural small town named Obama so that her unemployed father can succeed his estranged father's chopstick lacquering workshop. The atmosphere in the extended family is always tense To make things worse, Kiyomi has to share both her first name and surname with a popular, pretty, academically excellent classmate. Unconsciously, Kiyomi volunteered to be called Kiyomi B, a seemingly harmless, minor decision that she would later regret. As a matter of fact, she initially found it hard to get along with her classmates. To the 9-year-old Kiyomi, there isn't a single good thing laying in store for her.

This is when rakugo comes into play. Kiyomi has always relied on her wild and vivid imagination to get away from her humdrum life and before she knows it, she finds herself being engrossed in the rakugo played from the cassette in her grandfather's workshop. Rakugo and laughter have a way of rekindling broken relationships that no word can. Through her bonding with her grandfather and exposure to the enchanting world of imagination named rakugo, Kiyomi gradually comes into her own and decides to stop being Kiyomi B and pursue a career as a rakugo performer.

Acting wise, I'm particularly impressed by Kanjiya Shihori for being able to play a rakogu performer at such a young age (22) and Emi Wakui, showed a new facet of her acting arsenal as a laid-back mother. I like that the series doesn't try too hard to convey a beautiful message about finding your soul like asadora. To add lightness to the series, there are many dream sequences of Kiyomi's fantasy and interludes of her family members reenacting classic rakugo stories. I suspect that part of the reason this series doesn't do too well rating wise (17% on average) is because its theme is rakugo, a 400-year-old tradition that may seem intimidating and old fashioned for the younger viewers in Japan. I consider a series or film to be good when the storytelling is so captivating that it makes you forget your apprehension about a certain theme, and Chiritotechin is one of them.

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Wakui Emi is absolutely PERFECT (no surprise here, LOL), but also most of the remaining supporting cast did a wonderful job, from Matsushige Yutaka to Sato Megumi, from Watase Tsunehiko to Katsura Kichiya, from the lovely Miyajima Mai to Kato Toranosuke, from Kabira Jay to Kimura Yuichi etc. etc. - seriously, it's easier to name the very few exceptions, i.e. the moronic uncle (Kyomoto Masaki is 20 years older than Hara Sachie and the layers of makeup and flashy clothes he wears are supposed to make him look younger, but he ends up giving a strong 50-something-drag-queen vibe; you'll forgive me if I don't find realistic that Natsuko-san falls for him, ne?), the clichè-but-mostly-useless-grandma (I don't like when the elderly are written in scripts as mere ornaments, really; compare this with Churasan's obaa-san and you'll see the difference: now, THAT's an obaa-san, not this ghostly presence!) and the annoying new apprentice, Kososo. Furthermore, rakugo makes for a very interesting and refreshingly original topic (though "Tiger & Dragon" wins hands down there...but that's another story) and throughout the whole dorama, music is an extremely pleasant accompaniment ("Furusato" and the opening credits music most of all!). So why "only" 7/10? Well, sorry if I'm too blunt, but I found both Kanjiya Shihori (whom I also didn't like in the otherwise great movie "Swing Girls") and Aoki Munetaka extremely annoying - and as much as it pains me to write this (me being a Hanshin-fan and whatnot), I have to admit that so was the constant use of Kansai-ben (seriously, now that I've finished watching this, I don't wanna hear another "-hen" nor "-han" for at least six months, LOL!). Anyway, Aoki's character's stage name happens to be perfect for summing up 151-episodes worth of dorama in just two syllables: So-So! :/

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