Story :
Basically it's a love story between so many people. She love him, he love her, she love another, that another loves another.
It seems cliche but trust me, you would somehow be wrapped into the whole drama and you would find yourself getting into their conflict like as if you're experiencing it yourself. I dont know how the drama made it that way, maybe it's the way how 90s dramas present themselves. But it just works so magically well and you just want to watch it more, to satisfy your curiosities.
Though, one thing i love in this drama, is that it doesnt go out of the way and just stay realistic as it can be.
Acting:
Can i just say how much i love everyone in the cast?
I dont know any of them at first but I just want to fangirl suzuki Honami . She has done a good job in portraying the cheerful friendly girl in the whole story . From the start, she has already got me to like her. And probably 100% of the time, I continued watching because of Akana Rika (her character), She is so relatable in so many ways. Plus, that million-dollar smile she does when she is actually hurt.
And this is my bias opinion, but I believed many japanese actress have the same character with the same persona, but Suzuki Honami has this uniqueness in a way that I dont think others can beat. I can't seem to find the right words.
I would go on more about praising her, but really, the whole cast of this drama definitely had their own charms and has contributed to the drama which make the whole thing a success.
Music:
The soundtrack is the best. Even though it is old school, it touches the deep of my heart like no other songs in this generation can make. Such an up beat melody but the emotion it brings , really makes you like as if you yourself are experiencing the issues in the drama. The song definitely deserves the 9th most best single that has sold in Japan. I could just repeat that song forever.
Over all:
I love it so much ! I never thought i'd be this obsessed with a drama,especially a drama that is older than I am. Such a classic gem that everyone should try and watch . Tokyo love story made me wish I was experiencing the life style during the 90s , and the way how people love during that time. Totally worth watching, even in the midst of our busy real lives. And for a classic-oldschool drama lover like me , this has definitely over-meet my expectations and how I wished there's more dramas like this nowadays.
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The character portrayals are what makes this drama fantastic: from the handsome player,, the shy classmate whom t the guys adore, the lovely med student who blindly follows parent's orders, the popular coworker, to the perky girl who falls for her coworker. What's a girl to do when she loves a guy whose heart yearns for his old schoolmate? Rika will win your heart and maybe break it. I rarely have found a character that I adore so much. How can someone smile amid so much pain? I wish we all could. And that is why this is such a worthwhile watch.
Music was great, The clothes, hair styles, and phones were all outdated. So what! This one is a classic!
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In mid 2016, Waku Waku Japan, a local Japanese tribute channel in our cable network began showing 'legendary' shows from Japan, including 101 Proposals, Long Vacation, Last Christmas, and Tokyo Love Story. I was fortunate to catch it, after viewing and completing 101 Proposals. I had heard it was about love triangles between school friends, and that the ending was particularly and popularly disappointing to its viewers. This 'insight' lowered my expectations, especially after having experienced 101 Proposal's top notch drama series. I was able to revisit the series when Waku Waku Japan showed it again early this year, and this time I saw it with a more attentive gaze. The second time around it justified the reason why this drama series were effectively heartbreaking, and explains why it was immensely popular. I hope the producers are considering a sequel with the original cast, as the Manga version just did such early 2016.
The story in short was about love relationships between country boy Nagao Kanji, who just arrived in Tokyo following the foot steps of his friends only to be entangled romantically with Akana Rika a vivacious beauty with a lonely existence. Along the way, feelings for his high school sweetheart Sekiguchi Satomi reemerged, which pushed Kanji towards a crossroad; who shall he choose, or has a choice been determined all along?
Surprisingly, I was blown away. How? First, I was glad the series didn't run long, although at its end I ended up wanting more. One naturally roots for Rika, essentially falling for her charm and forthright nature. But when her world crashed, you will get carried away and want to cry with her. Second, each series were solid individually and each delivered key storylines that fit well with each other. Initially I wished it showed more of cosmopolitan Tokyo, but the office and apartment settings worked just as well because we need to feel close to the characters, we need to be at home with them, to feel their vulnerability during their most private moments. Here the director is clever by 'directing' subtle nuances of the character's facial expression, in particular the sad smile that Kanji produces every time he is exhausted of not being able to reciprocate Rika's love for him is--or the sudden change from vibrancy to gentleness, when Rika lovingly called 'Kanchi.'
Third, I was impressed at how well and in-depth the characterization was, particularly on Akana Rika, played masterfully by the 'then' rising Suzuki Honami. Either the director was brilliant or it was Ms. Suzuki's performance was downright genius, as she successfully embodied the schizophrenia of the city through her feistiness, ever energetic cheerfulness as her facade for loneliness and mania, ever longing to escape through romantic notions of life. Yes, that may seem shallow, but by living through the stories and characters you feel Rika's pain. Kanji demonstrated clearly that his heart was big enough to care for Satomi even though she was with Mikami, his best friend from home. Rika's admiration turned to attraction, and soon enough to love. You relate with her when this is shattered. You admire her more when she demonstrate that her love for Kanji is deep enough to make a drastic decision.
These simple allegories of love affairs were played well into the backdrop of complicated love stories. The love drama cleverly triggers particular emotions via thoughtful pauses and silences, where we find the seemingly cheerful yet depressive nature of Rika swarms the impenetrable yet deep Nagao Kanji. That's how we viewers were pulled in.
The music was my fourth reason to applaud this series. I could not get tired to Oda Kazamusa's ode to romantic love, but Toshifumi Hinata's piano serenades, particularly Rika's theme and the ending theme Goodnight Heartache all echoes the heart brakes and pain. The music completes the love narrative that pulls the audience further into the story, as if the soundtrack played were the background music of our lives. Even though this is fantasy, the sentimentality feels real, and for drama that is what matters.
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This review may contain spoilers
Interesting story in a Tokyo we'll never get to see again
It took me ages to finish this drama. Even though I like some characters (such as Rika) I found it weak overall. I think the premise is too simple, and I didn't like the way the couples were matched in the end. But, what I like the most was this vision of Tokyo before the bubble era, where everyone was very happy and optimistic about the future. And in a way, I feel women were starting to get more and more independent, and thinking about their own life projects, instead of the typical "I want to get married and forget joining the workforce" that I've seen in other shows. Unfortunately, none of this came to be what we'd like, but this is a good insight into that nostalgic Tokyo I'd love to have lived in.Was this review helpful to you?
Main character is unbearable
Usually, I love old series because they are classics. I wondered why this one had such a low rating, but after watching four episodes, I understood why. The main actress plays her role excellently, but her character is unbearable. She is extremely forced, even the happiest person in the world doesn't behave like that. She tries to prove that she has no emotions, which is perfectly fine, but her enthusiasm and smile while telling a white lie are truly exaggerated and cannot be attributed to any normal woman.There is another major issue with this series. It tries to portray something that never existed in Japan, especially not during that period. There is a complete disconnect from reality. I highly doubt that women felt so free to talk about their exploits and that they were free to do as they pleased in Tokyo. I strongly suspect that this was a forced attempt to be a series fitting the spirit of the times in the U.S. and to pander a bit. This was, of course, a common occurrence then as it is today, but when watching old series in retrospect, it becomes very clear and grotesque to the point of disgust.
What truly lasts will last despite the passage of time, even for 100 years. The only reason it can still be called a classic is due to some attachment to that period by Japanese viewers who watched it. It's hard for me to believe that they don't realize how grotesque and disconnected it is from the past.
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