Couldn't disagree more with the comments of the other reviewer. And it's not really an Oda Yuji drama; I see this very much as the drama that kicked off Tokiwa Takako's golden period.
You no doubt know the details of the story - Oda runs a dry cleaning shop, Tokiwa sees a cute dog outside the shop (which she names Hanzo, after her father - they have issues), the dog gets her clothes dirty, Oda cleans her clothes, they like each other, they arrange a date -- so far, so good -- then she gets brutally gang-raped on the way to meet him.
It's just so jarring. You have 40 minutes of gentle rom (with a little bit of com) drama, then it suddenly morphs into something completely different. The other reviewer talked about how Tokiwa comes across as whiny... Well, I've never been chased in the dark by a group of men, slashed with a knife across my chest and gang-raped, so I can't predict what my reaction would be, but I think I'd probably be forgiven for being a little bit upset about it.
The acting is uniformly excellent. Takako and Oda have great chemistry and get across the frustration of wanting things to work out but *just not being able to* perfectly. And the supporting cast, including Iijima Naoko and Naitou Takashi, never looks tacked on.
If you're a bit sick of what Japanese drama has become in 2008, you could do worse than get this drama from eBay. I've been after the DVD for years and was thrilled to finally get a copy today.
And yes, my wife has had to get accustomed to my deep sigh whenever Tokiwa Takako comes on TV over the last 12 years. I liked her in "Akuma No Kiss" (for obvious reasons), thought she was cute in "Mada Koi Ha Hajimaranai", but "Mahiru No Tsuki" is when I fell completely in love.
You no doubt know the details of the story - Oda runs a dry cleaning shop, Tokiwa sees a cute dog outside the shop (which she names Hanzo, after her father - they have issues), the dog gets her clothes dirty, Oda cleans her clothes, they like each other, they arrange a date -- so far, so good -- then she gets brutally gang-raped on the way to meet him.
It's just so jarring. You have 40 minutes of gentle rom (with a little bit of com) drama, then it suddenly morphs into something completely different. The other reviewer talked about how Tokiwa comes across as whiny... Well, I've never been chased in the dark by a group of men, slashed with a knife across my chest and gang-raped, so I can't predict what my reaction would be, but I think I'd probably be forgiven for being a little bit upset about it.
The acting is uniformly excellent. Takako and Oda have great chemistry and get across the frustration of wanting things to work out but *just not being able to* perfectly. And the supporting cast, including Iijima Naoko and Naitou Takashi, never looks tacked on.
If you're a bit sick of what Japanese drama has become in 2008, you could do worse than get this drama from eBay. I've been after the DVD for years and was thrilled to finally get a copy today.
And yes, my wife has had to get accustomed to my deep sigh whenever Tokiwa Takako comes on TV over the last 12 years. I liked her in "Akuma No Kiss" (for obvious reasons), thought she was cute in "Mada Koi Ha Hajimaranai", but "Mahiru No Tsuki" is when I fell completely in love.
