Ohitorisama (2009)

And here we go again. I'd go as far as to say that any young actor who was once a student of Yankumi (Gokusen 1, 2 and 78) will sooner or later be involved in a love story with a more mature woman. It must be a karma thing.

Nothing wrong with it, mind you. On the contrary, if a man is attracted to younger women, I don't see why it shouldn't be the same for a woman. And in many cases the formula works.



Not here, though, not to me at least. Koike Teppei is the perfect child: he's sweet, invariably clumsy, funny in a goofy way, but he's the most unbelievable lover ever. I can imagine he could have a teen-ager crush on a tall, statuesque, perfectionist of a collegue but why should she reciprocate? To fullfill her mother instinct?

This was the first time ever - and I hope the last - in which I laughed out loud during the first love declaration.



The plot is so inconsistent I forgot most of it after watching the end credits. The situations these 2 are thrown into, which in the drama world should help the 2 fall in love with each other, are little, daily, mostly boring ones. I had no particular wish to know the epilogue of this story, so by the end I simply watched it while I did a dozen other things. How did it end, by the way? I forgot.



I give the music a non-committal 5 because, truth be told, I don't remember how it was. Whatever the case, it certainly did not leave a great impression on me.



Overall, a boring, dejà-vù dorama with a very unfitting cast.

Leia Mais

I decided to watch this drama because I had really gotten into older women/ younger men pairings and the story seemed promising.

Synopsis:
Kamisaka decides to take a temporary job as a teacher after getting tired of working temp jobs. At the school he meets Akiyama, who is a hard working teacher that prefers to take on task by herself. When Kamisaka arrives all of the young teacher and students fall in love with him and fight for his affection.

Because of Kamisaka inexperience, the principle assigns Akiyama to be his mentor. At first it seems that the two are completely incompatible. Akiyama is ten years older and enjoys dining out by herself, while Kamisaka prefers to be frugal and looks for deals to create cheap meals.

At first this story seemed to be interesting. These two characters end up in a situation where they are together and are forced to get alone. After watching their relationship, Akiyama came off as more of an older sister than a girlfriend. Kamisaka was very naive and immature. He did not know how to deal with certain situations, and he relied on Akiyama's guidance.

The story was very weak and unbelievable. I felt like so much was missing and nothing really happened. Overall i give this drama a 3. I feel like watching this was a waste of time. Even though some dramas don't intellectually stimulate me, I still feel good and happy after watching them. I would have much rather skipped this one and devoted my time to another drama.

Leia Mais

I decided to do a review of this drama because I saw people's reactions to it, I'm just so confused by many people's reactions to this drama. I'm not saying this drama has the freshest and most unpredictable plot that keeps you on the edge of you seat every episode but I feel like people missed the point that this was intended to be a very little hearted and happy go lucky type of drama. There are many humorous parts to this drama and also some touching parts. For me this drama was so addicting, it's something I can watch easily and not get tired of. I started to re-watch it recently and remembered how much I loved it. This is all just my opinion but this drama should be on everyone's to try list at least because it's quite fun and relatable, nothing drags and it's not repetitive. It made me feel warm inside watching this and made me giggle because i feel like there is a little bit of Akiyama-sensei in all of us, especially us drama watchers.

The storyline is has good timing, I never felt like anything was particularly rushed or shoved into the story last minute. I thought the cast's chemistry was there an everything looked really natural. As for Teppei and Alisa, their love story is cute, corky, and very mother/son feeling at times but I feel like that's how some relationships going when people have these huge age gaps so I just figured when I watched it the first time that, that was what the director was going for and it made sense to me.

I do encourage people to at least give this drama a chance, you won't regret it!

Leia Mais

Lighthearted and still deep

A lighthearted love story, with deep inside in main characters' job.
Main point of the story is Satomi being able to live by herself and still enjoying her time alone, and yet realizing this is not in contrast with finding someone to share your life with. At the same time, while slowly developing a love story between the main characters, the plot succeeds in giving some meaningful insight on teaching, with some deep and moving scenes about some aspects of a teacher's relationship with students, parents, the school itself and on what it means to the main cahracters to be a good teacher.
Recommended.

Leia Mais

A quite original drama actually

This drama is not that special in the sense of its story, it`s very cookie cutter - older woman and younger man start off by getting to know each other and they have vastly different personalities. That`s where the true originality of this show lies. The characters are all not quite what you would find in a drama like this. The female lead is cold and, at times ruthless, but still likeable. The actress playing her has done a GREAT job in showing her both clumsy, but endearing side and that serious, mysterious one. She`s also very attractive, goes forward and has a surprisingly positive outlook on life by the end of the show- which is not as common with this character type. On the other hand, the male lead really becomes one in episode seven. Up to that point, he`s always reminded me of that cute younger brother, that doesn`t know how to do anything but you still keep him around. He`s not as pensive or mature as men in these types of dramas usually are, which adds to my whole point of originality of the actual couple dynamic. Other characters compliment the whole thing well, though they are quite one dimensional, at the end of the day.

As for drawbacks, the romance doesn't really kick in until episode 7 or 8. Up to that point, both the female lead and male lead are both busy with their issues and also getting to know each other and their habits, which, this drama includes cohabitation, which I typically like as a trope. It`s always easier to believe a romance when two people fall in love despite seeing each other in pathetic conditions and situations. The way they decide to wrap up the romance is not my favourite either, but it's still fun to watch.

Leia Mais

NOTE: This review is based on the first episode only. It may get better (or worse) but I won't be watching it to find out.
The Good:
There is comedy to be found it Ohitorisama, even if it does feels recycled rather than fresh. The 'you drank too much so I carried you home and stayed the night' concept is so over-used that it's barely funny anymore but Ohitorisama manages to give it a slight twist.
One of the better performances in my opinion comes from Maya Miki, the school Principal - she manages to convey to the viewer a lot without actually saying anything (and as a bonus she gets to wear sophisticated and fresh hairstyles for a woman her age).
The Bad:
Teppei's character seems tired and uninteresting; I've seen him do much better work in the Love*Com movie, Gokusen 2, Shibatora and Dragon Zakura. If you're a fan why not check out one of those instead?
The supporting characters seem to detract from the dorama rather than enhance it and the sheer number of them in the first episode is overwhelming.
Having watched three seasons of Gokusen (and a proliferation of other Japanese High School doramas) I have come to realise there are only so many variations on a theme within the Principal/Vice Principal/Head-Teacher relationship. Although it tries to revive the dynamic Ohitorisama doesn't seem to have anything new to add.
Also, should teachers really go out drinking multiple nights of the school week?
Summary:
Firstly, I have to say that I only watched the first episode of Ohitorisama before dropping it. It's not that it's not good (there are some good laughs in there), but rather that it's just not new or interesting. I feel like I've seen it (or doramas like it) before; Sapuri and Hataraki Man come readily to mind, and perhaps Hotaru no Hikari & Kimi wa Petto as well.
If you haven't watched any of those doramas (or you absolutely loved them) and you like the idea of an age-difference-relationship based dorama (they tend to take themselves more seriously than popular doramas) then Ohitorisama may be for you.
If you're looking for more of an outright comedy without any re-hashing of the past and mulling over one's marriage prospects (or lack of), then perhaps you should try something else...

Leia Mais