Woman (2013)

Keenly realistic, Woman illustrates the hardships of widow and single mother Aoyagi Koharu. This drama qualifies as slice of life, and as such, adopts gentle pacing; but the emotional weight exuded by the story line is no joke. Though I would dub this a must-watch of 2013, empathetic viewers should proceed carefully. Even the softer scenes, such as those sweet interactions between Koharu and her children, only serve to intensify the powerful emotional effect. For my part, much of the eleven episode duration was spent biting back tears. That said, Woman may be a painful experience for some, but ultimately still an enriching and beautiful one.

Despite flirtation with the idea of what it means to be a woman, core themes center around poverty, motherhood, and family (fractured and/or 'whole'). Many will find parallels with real life, uncanny sparks of the every day between each character interaction or plot motion. Though the story can be depressing, sometimes unrelentingly so, rays of hope peek through from unlikely places. The slow pace also works well, allowing for quiet sequences and subtle explosions to be worked in without unevenness. Unfortunately, well written as I found it, there were times an event or character seemed superfluous. A glaring example of this would be the welfare worker and his wife. Their tale felt unimportant and tacked on, the purpose served more thematic than necessary -- and even then, other characters had already fulfilled this aspect well. The Shiori character was perhaps a bit underdeveloped in the end, but her place in the plot was decidedly important.

Where have they been hiding Mitsushima Hikari? If the rest of her work is as vibrant as her portrayal of Koharu, it wouldn't be far-fetched to name her among the best actresses in Japan. Mitsushima-san delivers lines as if they were second nature; her gestures and body language are subtle and real. She positively carries this drama, though her work brought up the performances of others as well. The young ones depicting the Aoyagi children are also an absolute joy to watch. More than just precocious cuties paid to be tiny versions of adults, each of them felt like actual children. They babbled and asked questions endlessly, they cried without reason, they understood more and less than adults might want. This was especially true of Suzuki Rio, as the older Nozomi.

Fans of Oguri Shun should be happy with his solid performance, but will not want to watch Woman primarily for his sake. Shun-san is primarily seen through flashbacks, and though his character is important enough to warrant a spot as a main character, it is in the same way as a literary character might be labelled as such. The absence of his Shin is what pushes the basic conflict. There is a particular scene including him which had me bawling, though.

Musically, the drama stands strong. Orchestrations felt well-placed, especially in those scenes meant to be pivotal. These are also marked by unusual but interesting cinematographic sequences, such as an intense slow motion bit, set to an older song called "Believe." These instances were a little disconnected from the rest of the drama, but strangely effective. Though the sound of the theme song ("Voice" by androp) does not initially appear suitable, the lyrics tell another tale.

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"Woman" is one of those captivating dramas that should be watched with one's full attention because it deserves no less than that. It's a calm and quiet drama, but if I had to describe it in one word, I would probably chose 'intense'. The story is intense, the characters are intense, the entire atmosphere is intense. It's very thoughtprovoking and it'll make you question a lot, it's heavy on the heart, but has an incredibly warm atmosphere to it at the same time. I felt that not a single scene was wasted in this, the dialogues were incredible, so much is said with a delicate subtlety and I've yet to understand just how they managed to make such a "Oh my God, this can't be happening" plot so realistic.

And let me tell you about the acting, it's beyond incredible, you'll basically forget you're watching actors doing a terrific job. Not just Mitsushima Hikari, but everyone involved, especially Suzuki Rio because damn this little girl's acting is so great oooooh man.
The music is fantastic too (if you're waiting for something negative in this review, well I can't think of anything really), there were many moments where I got goosebumps because music and cinematography worked so well together.

I give this a very high rewatch value because due to its high quality I could probably watch this years from now and still be blown away. I'll have to let this one sink in for quite some time, though I feel like this is a drama where I can go back and rewatch and discover so many new things.

But first I have to watch more dramas written by Sakamoto Yuji because oh man ooooh man oh man.

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Forgiveness, atonement, acceptance, amends and family... yes it is all here in "Woman “and I would add the word "Motherhood" too.

Yet again a wonderful, beautiful, inspiring, realistic, rich of humane emotions one peace of art written by Yuji Sakamoto. Woman has managed to stay real to the core and majestic even though the whole story does very much emphasize on real depressing facts which we see in our day-to-day life yet it still managed to be optimistic and full of hope leaving you feeling warm and hopeful yourself. Hope is a great thing, and that's essentially the message of this show.

"Woman -My Life for My Children-", tells the story of a single mother who struggles with money, living her life for her children who she loves so dearly. Woman depicts a woman's fight to survive in a difficult world, whilst shedding light on problems rooted in Japanese society in specific. Although I'm not related to the Japanese society in anyway but I can to some extent relate to the culture and its drawbacks especially towards women in "family oriented societies" which is why I find this drama very compelling and rewarding.

The story touch on motherhood, how motherhood is not a switch you can turn on and off once a mother, forever a mother. However, there are mothers who never chose to be a mother. This is about Koharu's motherhood and although she questions herself whether or not she is fit to be a mother, personally I think the real question is whether or not you "want" to be a mother. This is what matters.

What else makes "Woman" very special? Well, Woman had some of the most commonly/overused cliches in Asian dramas not just J dramas and as a drama viewer, you can either choose to be turned off by it and quit watching or enjoy the awesome acting and put aside the logic of it all. But here there is a 3rd option! Woman. I was taken by the unshakeable resolve of Koharu's attitude and the fact that she never allowed herself to get swallowed by self-pity and rejection. She took it upon herself that she has to survive and at least allow her kids to grow old enough for them to become independent. That was one of the most inspiring motherly acts I've ever witnessed in Asian drama.

Although she had many things going on with her family instead of disintegrating and falling apart, they choose to unite and set aside feelings of bitterness and hatred. After all family is what matters you need to try and open up your heart for them to reach you. The drama is blessed with a beautiful striking dialogue one of the best really.

According to my research on this drama, I‘ve come to know that Woman has managed to obtain huge rave especially to women among the J audience (which made me happy). Why wouldn’t it? We get the ever-so realistic performance by Hikari Mitsushima, and a stellar cast to drive the story (Hikari is the queen of them of course). Not to mention the compelling script that takes you inside Koharu's struggles and her sweet moments with her two adorable children, the drama unfolds the daily life of a young family just trying to find peace and happiness... I sincerely urge you to watch this drama although it isn't a drama made for entertainment purposes but it is nonetheless entertaining, rewarding, insightful and precious especially to women :)

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[WARNING: the rating and review I give have the possibility to be subjective due to my preference for the genres, scenes or casts]

For anyone who want to watch this because of Oguri Shun, be prepare to disappoint, because he’s not the main lead in this dorama. But! Not that this is a bad dorama, in contrast, this dorama is a very good dorama and emotionally draining. Even the pace a little bit slow, but that’s really fit with the type of the dorama.

Heartbreaking.
Tearjerker.
You'll judge the good and the bad at the beginning, but you'll questioning your own judgment as the dorama goes by. You'll need a box of tissue ... at least that's what I'm doing. And as the movie end, you'll treasure your mother more.

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Le combat d'une mère célibataire au Japon.

Je l’ai vu parce que ma team le traduisait, parce que j’étais tombée sous le charme de Mitsushima Hikari dans Soredemo (j’en parlerai un autre jour) et par dessus tout pour la présence d’Oguri Shun, bien que selon son habitude il ne fasse qu’un rôle secondaire, ce qu’il préfère, dit-il.
J’ai adoré ce drama, qui sait parfaitement en 11 épisodes de 45 mn mettre en place une peinture sans fard de la condition féminine au Japon (elle n’est pas rose !) et surtout du sort réservé aux familles monoparentales.
Pourquoi accorder une aide à Koharu, alors qu’elle a une mère ? Elle ne l’a pas vue depuis 20 ans, elle a été abandonnée, qu’à cela ne tienne ! elle doit s’occuper de sa fille !
Ce drama montre comment on comprend les liens familiaux au Japon : une mère peut partir en abandonnant sa fille mais elle doit s’en occuper 20 ans plus tard ! Une fois de plus, un drama japonais montre la différence fondamentale du traitement du divorce : le droit de visite, la garde partagée, il semble bien que ça n’existe pas ! En général la mère embarque l’enfant et le père disparaît de sa vie, ce qui cause de nombreux drames et suicides de pères au Japon !
Mais revenons au drama. Ici, on a la description du mal que Koharu a pour trouver du travail tout en s’occupant des ses très jeunes enfants… Parce que les crèches, les assistantes maternelles… ben y en a pas, ou alors il faut être riche ! Koharu a été brisée par la mort de Shin (moi aussi ^_^) mais elle se consacre à fond à ses enfants; et il faut remarquer le personnage magnifique de sa petite fille, qui va essayer de son mieux d’aider sa mère…
Puis Koharu retrouve sa mère, qui est remariée et a une autre fille… Le drama est une histoire de femmes, 3 femmes, mère, fille et jeune ado… L’écriture du drama retranscrit magnifiquement la difficulté de reconstruire un pont par dessus, les vingt ans d’absence, le talent des deux actrices nous fait partager, sans mélodrame, avec pudeur et finesse, l’éveil d’un nouveau lien filial… La jeune sœur, en pleine adolescence, est difficile, rebelle et finira par se libérer de son terrible secret. Ce drama est entièrement fondé sur les liens familiaux, ceux qui rendent heureux, ceux qui blessent, ceux qui se reconstruisent, et il ouvre aussi une belle perspective sur ce la paix que peut apporter le pardon, aussi difficile soit-il.
Je n’ai jamais plus pu entendre une cloche à vent (furin )sans revoir Koharu face à sa mère, dans un profond silence seulement rompu par les tintement légers et cristallins…
Un drama de femmes, fort et profond, superbement interprété, on ne l’oublie plus si on l’a vu.

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Hurts so good

This Drama was WAY outside my usual preference and I watched it for two reasons: Reason Nr 1 - Mitsushima;and Reason Nr 2 - Hikari . Together they spell AWESOME. She just blew me away in this, a stunning display of her acting prowess. She was ably backed up by a phenomenal performance from Suzuki Rio playing her daughter.

There were no bad performances in this Drama but the Hikari-Rio pair OWNED it 100% The core storyline was a bit predictable, especially the 2 key plot points involving Shiori in both the tragedy and the reddemption, and the side story of the doctor and her husband divorcing felt a bit like filler. Despite that, I'm still giving it 10/10 for the sheer rw emotional power exerted by the great acting. The park bench conversation between the 2 sisters early in the final episode had me bawling like a baby, and impressed me with the understated intelligece of the dialogue. As is so often the case with Dramas whose dialogue wows me, I was left wnodering "if the subs were this powerful, what must it be like in Japanese?" As a hardcore died in the wool brony, I urge anyone who wants to see how truly GREAT acting can make the ordinary extraordinary, WATCH THIS.

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