Shijukara (2022)

please don't slip away

"My heart lying in my hands
I never wanted this
This tear will never mend
How did it come to this"
~ Slip Away by Ruelle ~

Triggers:
• Rape
• Prostitution
• Infidelity
• Abuse: sexual & verbal

She acts younger than her age.
He acts older than his age.
Yet they are stuck in between.

♣ This drama is about 2 individuals who were used\abused and had no choice but to surrender & numb their feelings to survive. Working close to one another, revived their hearts and reopened deep wounds. Despite the difference in age between them, they found solace in each other as they both never lived their age.

♦ Shinobu suffers from oppressions caused by the continuous condescending behavior of her husband. Drawing manga is her outlet of thoughts: what she can't say or do, goes straight into her writing. Her character is mostly timid but with help from Chiaki, she slowly allows herself to be angry, crazy, and happy.

♠ Chiaki has a daring personality and constantly suffers from taking on more than he can handle. He walks around confidently but breaks apart easily. He took responsibility of his single mother at a young age and was subjected to her negligence and immaturity. He grew up too fast and not because he wanted to.

Pros:
• The raw emotions Itagaki Rihito can deliver is insane! This kid blows me away with the diversity of expressions he can convey. The way he can change the mood of the scene is no joke. I am completely impressed. However, there is one scene where he laughs hysterically/crazily that was a bit not convincing.
• The nerve-wracking sound effects and the instrumental pieces used made me feel like drowning in anxiety & depression. The contrast between complete quietness and sudden music was brilliantly added to each scene.
• As a student of literature, symbolism was so satisfying to analyze. + The level of craziness was something beyond entertaining, I must admit.

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Heart-breaking beginning, Heart-healing finish

I started watching Shijuukara because of Itagaki Rihito (ML actor) and had no warnings regarding the contents. This show presents dark and heavy topics that a lot of other shows are too afraid to mention, so this already captivated my attention and surprise since early episodes.
The best aspect of this show to me is the amazing cinematography! I would say that the worst aspect is the music, because in some occasions the songs didn’t feel appropriate to certain situations… music man wasn’t having it with this one.

I loved the heck out of the realism touch Shijuukara had. Japan indeed does romance best. Definitely recommended!

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I should have known from the poster alone that this will not be some great masterpiece. But did I expect this one to be? Certainly not. I’m just curious how such a large age-gap romance will play out on the screen.

Well, the sinister but ill-timed sound track certainly was a letdown many times where I anticipated a stabbing or two to take place. So all that foreboding knife-wielding was really there just for show. Much like the various ASMR of gurgling and brushing of teeth were actually people just practicing oral hygiene and did not carry some sort of symbolism.

At one point, I even expected the romance between Shinobu and Chiaki to go south. And I am so okay with that, as they later both took on separate paths and lived without each other for years. But aside from Yuta the son, and maybe Okano the Magazine editor, the rest of the characters were frankly unlikeable. From the misogynistic ex-husband to Chiaki’s mother, both battling each other out for “The Worst Parent of the Decade” award.

Then, towards the end, where each of these characters started their own monologue to tell their own backstory, but more like an excuse for their shitty behavior, I almost lost it.

But like some other rubberneckers, I can’t help but be glued to the screen watching this train wreck of a romance go by.

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