Takane no Hana (2018)

I've literally never been compelled to write a review before, but this drama called me to do so. Takane no Hana is brilliant—brilliantly shot, brilliantly acted, brilliantly paced, and, with admittedly some stumbles, beautifully written. Never has a drama pulled me in so deeply—and everything about TNH is deep. The development of its characters (particularly its female lead) over the course of a few months is the focus of the plot. And not only the development of fictional characters, but the exploration of human emotions and the way they are expressed, from person to person. The raw moments of humanity, often chillingly acted by much of the cast, but Satomi especially, are astounding. This is a drama that will stay with you after you've finished watching it.

I watched it out of sheer love for the characters (Momo in particular) and the journeys they all go on, but viewers who watch for romance will find it here. If you're looking for couple with lots of sweetness, Momo and Pooh (our leads) will give that to you. The give-and-take of the actors is tremendous, and they play their roles exceedingly well. I'm generally not one who gets attached to couples, but these two are so playful and thoughtful. You will find yourself loving every minute they spend onscreen together.

I cannot stress how much of an impact this drama left on me. Yes, there are some odd plot twists and unrealistic behavior that result from them, but the magnitude and quality of this drama make me overlook it all. I could say so much more to praise it, but there's little point: just know that this drama is absolutely fantastic. My specific favorite things TNH tackled: 1) the growth within people when they discover how to love themselves, 2) the representation of the intense love between sisters, 3) the bravery it takes to admit you love someone, and the understanding that it does not make you weak.

In all, I cannot recommend this drama enough.

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Takane no Hana tells the story of, unsurprisingly, a "flower out of reach". If you haven't gotten the idea of who that metaphorical flower is within the first five minutes of the series, she chants "I am a flower" repeatedly in the last episode just so you're sure.

At the center of the series is a sweet love story of the celestially beautiful heir to an ikebana empire (Momo played by Ishihara Satomi) and an older, poor, "ugly" and humble bicycle repairman (Pooh-san played by Mineta Kazunobu). There is no real sexual chemistry between the two actors, and the trope of a beautiful woman falling for a man "far beneath her station" is a tired one indeed. However, the performances of the two actors are superb and are the primary reason to watch this series. This is largely Ishihara's series and she rocks it. Pooh-san is presented as pretty much saintly having never having had a girlfriend because he had to take care of his bed-ridden but now recently deceased mother. He altruistically helps the people in his neighborhood and is presented as a hidden intellectual genius (he never looses on his shogi app!), but that character trait is largely irrelevant in the end though it does come up now and then.

Surrounding the love-story is a bizarre succession drama in a cutthroat world of flower arranging that does not and could not exist in the real world. The people in that world routinely plot and scheme in ways that take this series immediately to soapville and the "villains" are so over-the-top that you will check to see if this was adapted from a manga, but, no, sadly, it's not. Your enjoyment of this series will probably hinge on how much you can ignore the succession drama or appreciate ironically its machinations. There is a heavy metal boy band ikebana troupe managed by the main antagonist, and, honestly, there is probably a better series than this one to be written around the story of that group and the conflict between modern marketing techniques and the traditional business model of this Japanese art form. But this series decidedly does not go there.

The direction of this series and its aesthetic is Lynchian in a good way. The shot-selection, palate, art-direction and song selection are all well above average. The themes of the series are much less dark than Lynch's material but it is similarly populated with a lot of charmingly quirky tertiary characters that do bring a delightful vividness to this otherwise unrealistic world.

In the end, this is a fable of artistic self-discovery for the main character Momo. Ishihara confidently carries the series on her tiny shoulders and is given ample opportunity to display a wide range within the character's journey. She has the hardest job of convincing us that Momo would choose Pooh-san, and she does achieve the goal of reaching that seemingly out of reach flower.

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Love Ishihara Satomi and Chiba Yudai but couldn’t stand the plot

3.5 out of 10.

The ones who created the plot for this series, are they really mentally okay? Omg, I can’t stand the logic of this. It’s worse than just bad. The plot is really the pain in the a**, and most of the characters are annoying.

There are a lot more things I hate than a very few things I like about this series. Maybe I will write about them later. There are only 3 things that keep me bear with this series, and make me rate it 3.5 out of 10, and I’m being generous!

+ My favorite actress and actor Satomi Ishihara and Yudai Chiba. But I couldn’t stand their characters. I don’t understand why they choose to act in this series. Maybe because it’s a story with the Japanese traditional flower arrangement (Ikebana)?

+ Ikebana: I want to learn more about it, and it would be great if they focus more on it, instead of the mess they have created.

+ Pooh-san’s friends, those who usually hang out at Kayoko’s bar. I don’t enjoy Pooh-san character (not because of his look), but I like his friends.

Now, about what I dislike about this series, I would say pretty much most of it except for those little things I've listed above:

1. The story of a random boy who "cycles around Japan" with a "motivation" from Pooh-san and the female lead, and suddenly meets a guy with a terminal disease and wants to commit suicide, and they encourage each other? I was like, wtf? Like, how does this even relate to the main story? Plus, it's also an awkward side story and doesn't make any sense. Instead of this nonsense, it would be better if they focused more on the Ikebana part.

+ Related to the story above, it's the fat shaming from the female lead towards the boy and laughing at him, and everyone considers it a normal thing and a "motivation" for him to "cycle around Japan"? It's bullying! He's also bullied at school, but nobody in this series takes it seriously.

+ And the boy holds a grudge and shouts at everyone he meets almost the whole series, and suddenly in the end, he brightly smiles and gently speaks with everyone. Does puberty and bullying sound like a joke to the production team?

+ And all the "inspirational" messages Pooh-san sends to the boy, they all sound too cliché and dogmatic. I couldn't stand them.

+ Pooh-san let the boy use the female lead's bicycle without her permission. This really pisses me off. It's not about whether he returns it or not, but the fact that he let someone else borrow your customer's stuff without asking her first, and then explain it in a very dogmatic way, like "believe me, he will come back and return your bicycle". If someone did this to me, even if we knew each other before, let alone a stranger, or worse, a customer, I would end the relationship with them for sure, because they disrespected me. Oh, and also don't expect me to see that person in a romantic way later on.

2. All the things Pooh-san says throughout the series sound too cliché and dogmatic to me. I don't like the acting of the actor playing Pooh-san either. His facial expressions look too fake. And so do all the things his mother says. They don't look and sound natural. Sounds like they are professors who are giving lectures, not speaking in a normal way.

3. What kind of mother sleeps with a guy and tells him to date and marry her own daughter. Disgusting! And after the affair is exposed, the mother doesn't even give a sh*t because of the crap "We're mother and daughter. She can't end our relationship."

4. Having an affair is considered quite a normal thing? A lot of people cheat in this series. A guy that never cheats is already the best guy? Please, raise your standards, both men and women.

5. About the female lead's sister and their sibling relationship, it doesn't make much sense. I guess the screenwriter wants to add some dramatic elements into the plot to make it more interesting? Like rich kids never get a normal loving sibling relationship? Well, it's not interesting at all. The two have been having a loving and supportive relationship since childhood, and out of nowhere a random guy appears, and the little sister turns evil? What an old and cliché trope!

+ The relationship between the little sister and the guy seems too awkward to me, too. She doesn't even pay attention to him at first, and then only one question "Do you believe in destiny?", she suddenly falls in love with him so deeply that she decides to turn against her beloved sister? What kind of crap is that?

+ Also, the guy's been doing bad things to take revenge for a long time and suddenly changes after a short time tricking the little sister because she is too kind and innocent? A kid would think of a better scenario.

6. The pairing between the leads feel too forced for me. I don't feel any chemistry, and their progress doesn't feel natural. Them being a couple seem too forced and fake for me, not because of their looks. but I don't really understand why they fall for each other. The female lead is a red flag, and Pooh-san is too cliché, dogmatic, and fake.

7. The President/so-called father of the female lead is the true weak and pathetic man, to both his wives, and daughters. And in the end, everyone just accepts that he loves both daughters and wives in his own ways, and ignores all of his pathetic behaviors? I refuse to understand his sick logic of being an artist, because it's too pathetic. He's just an insecure coward who can't stand the women who outshine him.

+ Sets up to ruin his daughter's marriage by breaking her heart so that she can't leave the house? Pathetic. No excuse about a father's love or being an artist can make up for this.

+ Makes the two loving daughters hate and fight against each other.

+ Plans to kick out his talented first daughter, the one that his late wife's daughter had with another man and that he's raised as "his own daughter", and uses her as a tool to make his biological daughter look more outstanding and win the competition to become the next president. Firest, he ruins her marriage to keep her in the house and lies to her about her late mother's death wish and tells her to be the next president. Then he intentionally makes her lose the competition and let his biological daughter be the next president. And all of sudden, he again asks the first daughter to become the next president instead when his biological daughter refuses to become one. At this point, the series implies that he actually loves his late wife and first daughter, and how loving he is as a "father". What kind of nonsense is this?

+ Plans to make his biological daughter witness her mother and boyfriend have sex together, which he set all up, only to make her experience betrayal and hatred, to create the darkness in her heart so that she can become a talented artist to compete with her sister? And his reason is that she is his biological daughter so he wants to help her become the next president, and that he can't let her lose the driver's daughter (the female lead, his late wife's daughter with another man). That's his sick definition of a father's love? Disgusting!

+ Gets a guy to trick his wife into having an affair with the guy for his own selfish purpose, and then in the end reveals that actually he loves his wife? Make it make sense!

+ Ignores his wives (both the late wife and the current one) because of his toxic excuse that an artist doesn't need love and that love destroys the artist's talent. This makes both wives feel lonely and end up having affairs.

+ The thing that explains most clearly about his pathetic behaviors is the sentence he said to his current wife at the end, something like "My late wife's outstanding talent pushed her away from me, but you're different because you have no talent in flowers or being an artist." What a pathetic excuse of an insecure coward who can't stand being with a woman that outshines him. Like, "I love you because you don't make me insecure about my talent, and I don't have to destroy your talent because I feel insecure like how I did to my late wife."

8. The way the female lead suddenly calls the driver "father" at the end also feels too forced and fake.

To sum up, I can't stand any character in this series, only a few supporting characters, and I love some actors and actresses, and the flowers are beautiful. That makes my 3.5 out of 10 for this series.

I’m quite generous when rating a film, but I also pay attention to very little details and sometimes can end up disliking the whole series for those little details. For this series, it’s the opposite case, I dislike the whole series, but there are a very little things that I like.

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Interesting but..

I started to enjoy Ishihara Satomi since watching her role in 5-ji Kara 9-ji Made, so I like how she acts her role and in this drama, the main roles have acted very well with very good character inspiration, besides that, the explanation about the story seems to teach us to see how good perspectives in fostering relationships are interesting to make us easy to understand.
Even though the storyline is described in such detail by explaining the relationship of each role and clearly tells how to forgive being united in the family so that selfishness, revenge and betrayal can dissolve only with forgiveness, but there are irregularities in the story for me, how can there be a lot complicated of infidelity in their family, especially the affair of a mother with daughter's boyfriend. It really doesn't make sense..Well, for me, 'No thanks, goodbye to you'. Hahaha

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All over the place...

This show is all over the place. First of all, at no point in time throughout these 10 episodes did I even for a single second feel as though female lead (FL) and male lead (ML) were right for each other. What a weird pairing. Despite that though, FL can act. She has a wide range of emotions in a sea of stiff performances from everyone else. ML has his moments too that made me change my opinion on him for the positive, but I feel this couple pairing felt too forced.

Second, the young antagonist is comically cringe worthy. What is this acting? Holy, it’s bad. And this boy be a freak! He nasty! It doesn’t make it better he looks dangerously young. And the story has the audacity to give him a redemption arc. Furthermore, all the scenes that revolve around his business are awful - awful concept, awful music, and awful visuals.

Third, there’s a range of random characters thrown into this show. Cosplayer girl, while very cute with her different cosplays and general acting, is such a weird addition to the show. Truth be told though, since this show is kind of bad, I didn’t really mind her presence. Even with her limited screen time she spices things up visually. Then there is bike boy… This part of the show was an insane miss. Did not care, this entire plot line should have been deleted from the script.

Lastly, I think the only unique thing this show has to offer is the whole realm of highly professional flower arrangements. Although it is an intriguing concept to center a show around, it’s just not for me. While the show does a good job of opening up this world to me for the first time, I didn’t find it all practically interesting and felt more disbelief regarding how this could be such a big thing in the first place. How should I say it, it’s very Japanese.

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