moku
This review may contain spoilers
* MINOR SPOILERS*
In Seinfed, Jerry Seinfeld is famous for having a new girlfriend every week (a fact that is self-referenced later on in the series), and in this show we see an older middle-aged man (age given as 55 but looks older to me) looking for love with a new woman or girl each week, while one of his ex-wives skirts the border of his life. The difference between the two shows is that Seinfeld does not take itself seriously while this show takes itself a little too seriously, with the main character, confectioner Takuzo-san, given to extended inner dialogues that feel like they should be punctuated by comedy (as used so brilliantly in 2003's Manhattan Love Story) but instead his eyes scrunch up earnestly as he convinces himself that this new girl he's known for ten minutes (usually) might be the one he is falling in love with.
A drawback to this is that each time this happens it diminishes the previous episode's woman or girl (at least one of the dates is thirty-five years younger than his character), and this lack of an overall arc or development is the major frustration when watching. It seemed as if the ex-wife was going to be used in this way but then she is shoved out of the way and sent to Kyoto.
I watched this because I am a fan of Takahata Mitsuki, who here plays Takuzo's assistant Akane, and the one episode that centres on her is probably my favourite - as a whole she is quite underutilised, given to either scolding or mocking Takuzo. The show would have benefited greatly if she had been given a side arc herself which could have been woven into Takuzo's for a satisfying ending - at least the writers did not end up making Takuzo and Akene and fall in love, which is something I began to worry about halfway through.
What I did really enjoy though were the little guided tours of Tokyo, the history of districts and notable landmarks. I would happily watch an entire series of Takuzo just going for walks through Tokyo and giving us these little history lessons, forget the romance, just a lovely series of amiable walkabouts.
Overall if you get past the first couple of episodes the series has some charm, but the potential was there to achieve so much more.
In Seinfed, Jerry Seinfeld is famous for having a new girlfriend every week (a fact that is self-referenced later on in the series), and in this show we see an older middle-aged man (age given as 55 but looks older to me) looking for love with a new woman or girl each week, while one of his ex-wives skirts the border of his life. The difference between the two shows is that Seinfeld does not take itself seriously while this show takes itself a little too seriously, with the main character, confectioner Takuzo-san, given to extended inner dialogues that feel like they should be punctuated by comedy (as used so brilliantly in 2003's Manhattan Love Story) but instead his eyes scrunch up earnestly as he convinces himself that this new girl he's known for ten minutes (usually) might be the one he is falling in love with.
A drawback to this is that each time this happens it diminishes the previous episode's woman or girl (at least one of the dates is thirty-five years younger than his character), and this lack of an overall arc or development is the major frustration when watching. It seemed as if the ex-wife was going to be used in this way but then she is shoved out of the way and sent to Kyoto.
I watched this because I am a fan of Takahata Mitsuki, who here plays Takuzo's assistant Akane, and the one episode that centres on her is probably my favourite - as a whole she is quite underutilised, given to either scolding or mocking Takuzo. The show would have benefited greatly if she had been given a side arc herself which could have been woven into Takuzo's for a satisfying ending - at least the writers did not end up making Takuzo and Akene and fall in love, which is something I began to worry about halfway through.
What I did really enjoy though were the little guided tours of Tokyo, the history of districts and notable landmarks. I would happily watch an entire series of Takuzo just going for walks through Tokyo and giving us these little history lessons, forget the romance, just a lovely series of amiable walkabouts.
Overall if you get past the first couple of episodes the series has some charm, but the potential was there to achieve so much more.
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