Mare (2015)

This drama is worth to watch! It has a very high rating in Japan but not well known internationally I guess? It has around 20% rating in Japan which VERY HIGH. This drama has everything from lovely characters, comedy, character growth and beautiful life messages to deliver. I watched this drama 5 times already. Sometimes I find myself crying and laughing through all the show. It has around 150 episodes which are unusual for a Japanese drama (it tends to be short). However you wont find it as a problem as each episode is 15 minutes length. This drama cover about living a life to pursue your dream and the true value of family.

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Could have been a great show about an independent working woman chasing after her dream

First of all, spoilers ahead.
Second: If you watched Mare already and like Yamazaki Kento's character Keita, I advise you to stop reading.

"Mare" was the first Asadora I watched and I like Tsuchiya Tao, so needless to say that it made me fall in love with the "Asadora concept". Which is also why I scored it very highly after my first watch. Now that I've seen a few more Asadoras I decided to rewatch exactly because of these reasons.

Mare's character takes a little time to get used to, but it's basically built upon the stereotypical Japanese "I want to do my utmost best" template, which I don't necessarily dislike. Tsuchiya Tao did, in my opinion, a great and believable job with the character and her expressions and gestures added a lot of humor. The story of becoming a chef/baker/patissier is also nothing new, but thanks to the fact that it's an Asadora we get a much more detailed look at how hard it is to become one, even if it probably wasn't very realistic (the same as most Asadoras). I also really liked most of the side characters, especially the best friend for most of the story, Minori (Kadowaki Mugi), the little brother Ittetsu (Hayama Shono) and the "foster grandparents" played by Tanaka Yuuko and Tanaka Min. Their coolheadedness and dry humor/sarcasm added a lot of enjoyment for me. But let me get into why I decided to write a review and why I wrote the second point of my opening.

Like I said in the headline, it could have been a great drama about a woman who decides to be independent and chase after her dream of becoming a patissier, even though she tells herself that she hates dreams. Unfortunately the emphasis is on "COULD HAVE". Which is when the character Keita enters the picture, who's probably my most disliked character in all the Asadoras I've watched so far. He's boring, he's boorish, he's selfish, he's extremely single-minded and he can't read the atmosphere in a room. The worst part is that he says to Mare, in one of the first weeks when they're still in High School, "it's wrong for you to selfishly ask me to set aside my dream" and then he's actually really happy when the woman he supposedly loves (Mare) gives up the probably one chance of fulfilling her own dream that's directly in front of her after working at it for almost ten years just so she can support him by basically becoming the maid of his grandfather's lacquer shop. Long story short, all he has going for him are his looks and the only traits that could've made the character worse are that he's an alcoholic and cheats on his wife. Don't get me wrong, I like Yamazaki Kento and his acting, but even if he'd be the best actor in the world, there's nothing he could've done differently. In my opinion this character was a hair's breadth away from destroying the story and turning it into another "a Japanese woman should support her husband above everything else" drama for the majority of the second half. Without Keita, "Mare" would've probably been my second favorite Asadora (after Natsuzora and tied with Amachan), but the writer's incomprehensible need for a woman to marry and make babies before she turns 30 (which is the only reason I can see why the story went that way) let it definitely slip a few ranks.

Thankfully everything before she marries (again, why anyone would ever fall in love with a guy like that is still a mystery to me, especially because she had a much better option) and everything after the writer remembered what the story was all about is very enjoyable, but in my eyes "Mare" is one of the best examples of how one support character can almost destroy the story/purpose of a 156 episode drama, regardless of everything else that was good about it.

Edit: After watching a few more episodes again I can't believe this was actually written by a woman because the character Mare is actually the perfect example of the sad stereotype Japanese men have about working women ("Why should we promote a woman when she's going to give up on her career anyways as soon as she marries") and why Japan is last in every statistic by a long shot when it comes to "women in leading business positions".

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"We'll meet here again."

"Mare" is my 17th asadora and I confess that I was a bit disappointed. I wish I had watched this asadora earlier on in my journey, especially since I've had it downloaded for quite a while. I think "Mare" would appeal to newer viewers of asadora but if you've seen more than 10+, I think it'll leave you a bit frustrated.

Let's talk about what I liked first. Tsuchiya Tao plays an aspiring patissier named Mare. Tao basically sells this role because Mare could've easily been annoying. [Though if you don't like Tao, you'll probably hate Mare lol.] I really enjoyed Mare's journey. Her initial hesitation to chase her dream was a tad exasperating, but I also felt that it was realistic. Not everyone goes head first into doing what they want like most asadora heroines. I'm not such a fan of her relationship with Keita, but we'll get into that later. However, I do like Mare's struggles with marriage and motherhood. Essentially trying to "have it all." Though the storyline stumbled a bit, I think this is an important storyline for modern day Japanese women.

I also liked the supporting cast, except for Ichiko (played by Sengen Yoshiko) during her "I hate Mare" phase. It was a delight to see Tanaka Yuko again. She starred in the 1980s hit asadora "Oshin." [Ishimatsu Guts from "Oshin" was also in this asadora.] Tanaka plays Mare's adoptive grandmother and my only complaint that we don't see her nearly as much as I want to. Then there's the patissier, Ikehata Daigo (Kohinata Fumiyo), whom Mare apprentices for. He's one of those typical eccentric mentor characters you see a lot of in asadoras. I really disliked him at first, but he ends up being so sweet by the end. Tokiwa Takako as Mare's mother Aiko is a delightful mix of emotion and comedy. I really like how she supports Mare and encourages her to leave when she realizes that Mare is trying to protect her. I'll stop here, but there are a quite a few interesting and fun characters.

On to Mare's father, Toru (Oizumi Yo). I honestly don't know what to think of this character. He abandons his family not once but twice. But in a sort of noble way... I guess? I liked his character at times when he was trying to do things for his family. Him being a big dreamer wasn't really the problem like the drama tries to say. It's his bad decisions in the process of trying to achieve that dream. And honestly did the writer hate Toru? Lol this man literally could not do anything right.

Now on to Mare's backstabbing friend, Ichiko. Oh my good I hated Ichiko even as a child lol. She was so rude even then. The real hate came when she started dating Keita (Yamazaki Kento). Mare had not said that she liked Keita to Ichiko, but I will maintain that that b*tch knew what she was doing. She only gets worst tbh and I could never forgive her after she said that she hated Mare. I don't care that they essentially made up and became good friends again. I really don't care.

Finally, on to the last thing that irritated me. I'm not a fan of Mare's love interest, Keita. Not only does he date Mare's best friend after confessing to Mare just a few episodes before that he loved her, but his personality is also just annoying. And he's a freaking hypocrite. Him and Mare then get together and married way to quick. There was hardly any romance to it. There relationship gets better once they become parents. I like them as a family unit and I think Keita is a good father. I really Mare had dated Daisuke (Yagira Yuya) for longer than one episode. I preferred him as her love interest. He was more interesting and was showing a clear interest in Mare, while Keita was still all about Ichiko (for some reason). Anyway, justice for Daisuke. He was way better than Keita.

In conclusion, I think "Mare" is a good asadora but the romance aspect of it is a dud in my opinion. It also left me wondering why every asadora heroine has to get married. I wish in this case that they had decided to focus on her career instead. I would recommend "Mare" to beginners since it has a lot of good points to it. I especially liked the music, which a lot of effort was put towards. However, veteran viewers will be able to spot the flaws easily.

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