I was captured by the lovely music (Chopin's the best, seriously!) from the very first seconds, and my beloved classical music is a constant (and very appreciated, at least by THIS reviewer) presence in this tv movie / dorama SP. Another fabulous feature of this "Mesen" aka "Gaze" is the direction, so tremendously "hitchcock-esque"; the viewers are drawn right away in the eery atmosphere of this masterfully crafted thriller/noir. Last but not least, I confess having a soft spot for Kokubu Sachiko: she hopelessly charmed me from the very first time I placed my eyes on that fascinatingly mysterious face of hers, and it's always a pleasure to see her in movies/dramas (too bad her filmography is so short, and to add insult to injury, the dorama where she has the main role are basically impossible to find, sigh...). And though I'm not Nakama Yukie's biggest fan, I have to say she's absolutely *perfect* for this part! Oh, and I almost forgot the cherry on top: part of the movie takes place in Ginzan Onsen, Yamagata...such a suggestive scenery! Well, all in all, a solid, tragic plot which could've been written by Shakespeare, terrific directing, very good acting, amazing settings and fantastic classical music throughout all of it! In my book, that's a perfect 10!

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Similarly to "Bungaku Shoujo", the only reason why I went and watched this dorama (or should I say, "endured this abomination until its conclusion") is the fact that I'm a big fan of Morikawa Aoi. And indeed, once again she shines through it like she always does. The big difference though is that, apart from her acting, "Bungaku Shoujo" was just "meh", while this "Kakafukaka" is plainly terrible. As I wrote while reviewing "Iguana no Musume" on another site: "Instant top10 of the WCE (Worst Cr@p Ever)". If I could use only one word to describe it, that word would be "EEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!". Seriously, I have a question for whoever wrote this, as well as for the tv channel people who greenlighted it: "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?"
The only thing that could've saved this from getting the minimum grade would have been if one of the following two changes to the script had been applied:

1) All of a sudden, Jim Caviezel's character from "Person Of Interest" is magically transported inside the shared-house during the last breakfast scene, and of course he does what he's best at, shooting the male lead's kneecaps off right on the spot! (see if that brings up a reaction on that insufferable fish-face of his!)

2) Right after the last scene, an extra scene with the caption "some time later": we see a prison guard escorting the new inmate, Hongyo, to his cell. The prison guard opens the cell and introduces Hongyo's cell mate, a 7-feet, 250-pounds giant with a scary face and an evil smirk right in the middle of it: "This is Bubba, you guys are bound to get along just fine...you see, he also tends to "GET STRAIGHT TO THE POINT!". Caption: "And they lived *painfully* ever after"...

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Nice dorama, mostly well written and acted (honorable mentions for Kanno Miho, Watabe Atsuro and Tokoro George), accompanied by some lovely music. You'll need a strong suspension of disbelief, though, as these guys keep bumping into each other as if they lived in a small village, instead of a metropolis, LOL. On the other hand (and this is the reason why I don't give it a full 10/10) the characters are even "too realistic", in that none of them is fully appealing; they have too many faults and even the apparently nicest among them will reveal a dark, hidden side. Something which might have been ok in a noir, but in a romantic story seemed a little out of place, imho.

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Brilliantly scripted and superbly acted by the whole cast (with particular mentions for the leads, Koizumi Kyoko and Nakai Kiichi, who are absolutely great! Chapeau!), this is without any doubt one of the best doramas I've ever seen, seriously! It even reminded me a bit of the wonderful series of movies "Kazoku Wa Tsurai Yo!" for the general atmosphere and for the adorable craziness (and at the same time, adorable "normality", as weird as that may sound) of the families portrayed in those movies as well as in this dorama. Great music, too (most of all, the piano piece reminiscing of Erik Satie's Gymnopédies). Instant top10 of my personal all-time faves! Perfect 10! ^_______^

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With a different ending/message, it would have ended up in my top10 of all times...

I had great expectations regarding this "Umi no Hajimari", and the first half (or even 2/3) of it kept those expectations at himalayan heights...but unfortunately the last third of it, the ending and more generally the message it conveyed proved to be such a huge let-down, as far as I'm concerned.

First things first, what I liked:

1) Izutani Rana
As I always put it in such cases, to think that someone can be so good at acting at a such young age is actually kinda scary! This little child could teach many grown up actresses a lesson or two, really. Chapeau, Rana-chan!

2) the OST
Catchy and haunting, it'll stay with you even long after having finished watching the series. It reminded me a lot of "1 lt. no Namida", which is a huge compliment, in my book.

3) the "packaging"
Direction, editing, photography...all top-notch, period.

And now on to what I didn't like (impossible to explain it without SPOILERS so consider yourselves warned and stop reading NOW if you wanna avoid them!):

as briefly mentioned in the opening paragraph, the series went downhill right after episode 8, and the downward spiral just kept going until the end.
In my very humble opinion (and I totally agree with thecheesz_'s review so at least I know I'm not the only one thinking this!), the problem lies with selfishness and making wrong choices that lead to others' suffering being portrayed as a good thing. It's so not-Japanese it hurts!!! >_______<
In a Confucian society, the ethical imperative is that self-sacrifice is *necessary* for harmony. In a nutshell, your freedom ends where the others' begins, and that's something you should always keep in mind. Disregarding this simple truth should be frowned upon, not celebrated. Instead, we have Natsu-kun, Tsuno-san, the grandparents and most of all the poor Umi-chan horribly suffering from the very poor choices of two immature and selfish individuals (Mizuki and Yayoi) who are, on top of that, portrayed as role models for having made others suffer.
And finally their "example" leads Natsu-kun to make another poor choice that in its turn makes Umi-chan suffer even more (when he listens to Yayoi instead of taking Umi's grandpa's advice and makes Umi change school and home). Which is the obvious outcome of making choices based solely on your own volition, not taking others into account. Quod Erat Demonstrandum.

This is how I would have written the last third of the series:

a) First of all, I would've had Yayoi-san make no U-turn whatsover and stay instead where she was at - that is, being a caring, selfless person who would've been just all too eager to become Umi-chan's new mom. So no break-up.

b) Secondly, I would have made Mizuki-san explain her choices as follows: going to the pre-abortion ob-gyn, she was informed of her cancer and given two options: either remove it and forever lose the ability to procreate, or else procede with the pregnancy and risk that the cancer become inoperable. She chose to give birth to Umi, and to push Natsu away (and later on, to not let Tsuno get too close) because she didn't want to burden them (which I'm not saying it's actually right either - but at least it would've been a lot more consistent with Japanese culture!!!)

c) Thirdly, I would've had Natsu take the grampa's advice and move in with them, even if it had meant to change jobs (for crying out loud, he's a freaking *salesman*, not Dr. Schweitzer nor Mother Teresa, he could've changed jobs and the world wouldn't have been any worse for it! >____<)

d) Lastly, I would've had Natsu, Yayoi and Umi build a happy family together in the end - oh, and while at it, I would've made sure that Tsuno too found a better half (like, one of Yayoi's colleagues perhaps).

And all would've lived happily ever after...

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