The team behind Shitamachi Rocket is the team who made the huge success drama Hanzawa Naoki: the novel which is the base of the drama has the same author, Ikeido Jun, the same scenarist, producer and director. And of course, even if the story is completely different, we can see a lot of common points between the two, especially the nice little guys vs. the bad powerful ones. The drama is overflowing with good feelings, and that's too bad, because otherwise it would have been perfect. Furthermore, it's hard not to compare it with Hanzawa Naoki, which was, in my opinion, a perfect drama. In Shitamachi Rocket, I couldn’t find the suspense that got me hooked in Hanzawa Naoki, maybe because I knew the tricks of such a drama.
I was sometimes bored during the first part of the drama (the rocket story), because of many complex and technical terms. Furthermore, I didn’t find the bad guys bad enough in this part of the drama. However, I really enjoyed the second part. The medical theme was more enjoyable, and this time the bad guys were rotten to the core. Regarding the acting, I really liked how Koizumi K?tar? personified the bad guy. He’s one of the reason I liked the second part so much.
I think this drama is for people who would like to know more about work in Japan (even if this is exaggerated) or people who are interested in small companies.

Read More

My feelings about this drama are mixed. There are so many boring episodes (especially episode 1 and 2, when the characters are still children), but there are also interesting ones (number 3, 6 and 8) that kept me interested enough to watch this drama until the end.
First, in my opinion, this is a corny story. The all thing about the clones is just here to support a simple love triangle. Of course, the clones theme adds some drama to the story, because our three heroes can’t control their destiny: they will die young and they don’t have much time left. However, I think that adding some elements about cloning could have brought some interesting subplots. For example, I would have liked to know more about how “normal” people view the clones. I believe that in our contemporary societies, people would fight for the human rights of the clones.
There is an interesting passage around the half of the drama, when Manami, one of the clones, decides to fight and rebel against her destiny. Unfortunately, this very interesting subplot was not developed enough.
Of course, I’m well aware that cloning is not the main theme of the story; the main theme of the story is the relationships between the main characters. Unfortunately, this is not well done.
Speaking of the main characters, I didn’t find them particularly likeable. I didn’t feel empathy for them, and I’ve never thought “Oh, poor things, they’re going to die, it’s horrible…” Never.
Kyoko (Ayase Haruka) is cold and sometimes her kind of “perfection” is annoying. I understood that this character chose to deal with her destiny by being cold, but unfortunately this choice made her disagreeable. Tomo (Miura Haruma) is sometimes dumb and he has a weak personality. Miwa (Mizukawa Asami), that many people didn’t like if I look on the comments here, is for me the one who has the most “normal” reactions and personality. She’s afraid of dying, she’s afraid of being left alone, and she expresses those feelings, even if awkwardly. This is her way to rebel. In comparison, her two friends seem really apathetic. They accept their destiny without trying to fight.
The love story between Kyoko and Tomo is not very romantic. Sometimes, it seemed to me that their relationship was like a relationship between two close friends, not between two lovers. I couldn’t feel any passion, just deep feelings coming from the fact that they were raised together.
Finally, there is one thing that made me feel particularly uncomfortable. There were no alchemy at all between Ayase Haruka and Miura Haruma. I felt they were distant, not really comfortable, especially Miura Haruma. Of course, the characters they had to play and the story don’t help them, but I was waiting for a best performance from those two actors.
Like I wrote at the beginning of this review, I have mixed feelings about this drama. It is not good, but it is not bad either. I don’t recommend it, but I won’t say “Don’t watch it” either. It’s really up to you!

Read More