I really liked Kato Rosa in this; although she looked innocent she played her role well. I already love Matsuda Shota, and he always plays a really good tsundere character. I liked the story line because she the character Ayaka didn't get everything like Cinderella, but in the end made out fairly well. This story didn't seem realistic, but a really ugly fantasy, where Ayaka has all of these disappointing moments and events to make it to a place that really isn't all that great. The drama played in between what is realistic and what would only happen in dramas. I think because it mixed them both it came off as this awesome semi-realistic story.
What I didn't like was how much they put an emphasis on having sex for something you want. It is true that this is a story about a girl becoming an empress in the night world, so that is part of it I guess. I would have wanted to see her get where she was going without sex- but maybe even that is too far-fetched for the fantasy. I also didn't like that the main character, Ayaka, believed that becoming a Ginza Empress would really allow her to exact revenge. That seemed just plain silly to me. I also detested her revenge plans for her father, and screamed my head off when that part came around.
All in all I thought the drama was well planned, a great story to watch, great actors and it was entertaining. It kept me glued to my computer, like hadn't been in a long time. Yes you may not agree with the premise, but if you give it a chance and have an open mind, I think it will win you over.
p.s. the end was good and gave resolution and satisfaction.
p.p.s I cried in the drama- and I am not a crier!
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The drama gives viewers an inside look at the life of a hostess. It's a brutal field, with tons of egos and politics and drama. But the script writing fell short. There were too many repetitive cat fight scenes between the hostesses that just annoyed me to no end.
Matsuda Shota was the best actor in the entire drama. No surprise there. He was the only one who managed to pull off his troubled character well. So of course I was super disappointed that by the end of the series, he had very little character growth or meaningful dialogue or scenes with the main character.
Kato Rosa is attractive. But she didn't really portray her character with enough conviction or finesse.
10 episodes, and many face slaps later (the drama has a good number of them!), I was irritated.
With a good lead actress, better script and more scenes with Matsuda, this could have been a decent drama instead of mediocre.
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This drama also gave me some insight into Japanese night life. It taught me that host clubs are like reverse escort services. Escorts go to the customers to entertain them but at host clubs the customers come to the host for the same type of entertainment and this big business and a lot of money. It is also the selling of the human body. And if the host does not know what he or she is doing it can mean a lot of trouble like the main character Ayaka-chan learns.
The lead actress Kato Rosa is gorgeous. I really was interested in every obstacle that came Ayaka-chan's way and how she was able to over come everything and keep going. The relationship between Ayaka-chan and Naoto-kun is not the typical romance story and it was part of what made this drama unique. This drama is a tragedy about triumph. It is a mature drama that probably won't appeal to some people who don't like adult themes such as violence, sexual abuse and prostition.
My main gripe as I mentioned was the acting. The horrible villainous laugh of Hojo Rina-san was too much to bear at times and the actress's acting was equally as terrible and disappointing. Most of the bad girls were just horribly played. Some parts of the story were not very believable either especially the initial interactions (epis 1 and 2) between the lead love interests but I was able to quickly put that aside to follow the rest of the story which flowed well.
This is also not a typical drama that takes place over a few weeks. this story encompasses many years of these characters lives to show the struggle they go through to achieve their ambitions. The jumps through time are done well and the characters all seem to mature and age in their looks as well as demeanor appropriately. I did not want it to end the way it did but it's kinda fitting ending to everything.
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The implication that the only way for a woman to advance in the world is by manipulating men made me gag. A lot. In fact, don't underestimate this drama's "ick" factor. But Matsuda Shota's bad boy yakuza act? Yeah, it almost made the whole thing worth while. And even the Shota-less episodes still managed to entertain.
It's kind of over the top - there are TONS of dramatic face slaps - but this is why we watch Asian dramas, right?
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The high class host club is great part of japanese culture, it''s like moder geisha houses, but these in low class...
As to cast... Katou Rossa isn''t very beautiful actress , she has very unbalanced face, but Maeda Ai was cute, though I suspect that she has some hidden intention.
I have to admit girls have got so pretty dresses!
Aww... and the most important element of drama - Matsuda Shouta.
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