Estúdio de Fotografia Kogure (2013)

How this show only has four episodes, I'll never know! This show was definitely a highlight for my year even though it came out in 2013; definitely a favorite of mine for forever. Each episode was thrilling and filled with creative suspense and unique talent up until the very last moment! I never could have predicted what would happen next within each episode. I wish there were more than four episodes, it definitely carried itself well between the actor's, actresses, and the storyline/plot(s).

The family, friends, acquaintances, neighbors, and "ghosts" were all very honest, genuine, real people. This is definitely not a typical drama or special-series involving ghosts or family drama, and it is definitely not a drama you can watch just anywhere from any network. This show has something special; each episode showed a very vulnerable, open, raw side to each person involved in this series. It has the power of laughter one second, then anger, then worry, then fear, and then even tears. Though at the end of this series I was left with the feeling of pride, happiness, accomplishment, and I even feel like I learned a lot from each person involved in this wonderful show.

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Heartwarming drama

The summary above makes it sounds like a horror ghost story. But it really wasn't like that at all. Although, there were some moments where it gets suspenseful, but it's not scary. But I thought that four episodes was good enough to finish the story. I did find the mystery to be interesting and they weren't predictable. I also liked the main characters and they had an intriguing history and heart warming drama. In this drama, it's not just a mystery story, but it also has themes like importance of family, taking responsibilities and reconciling with one's past. Despite the slow paced story, it was a nice drama to watch. In addition, Kamiki seems to never fail to give a great performance in his dramas.

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Kogure Shashinkan is my favorite family drama

Kogure Shashinkan is my favorite family drama done by Kamiki Ryunosuke, a very talented young Japanese actor. This is the third time he played as the oldest son in a family, the other two were 11 Nin Mo Iru and Kazoku Game (I haven’t finished this one because the story lingers too much). In each drama, he showed different acting skill even though in all three he became the oldest son. One as a gentle brother, one as a cold brother and one as panicky brother. I just love seeing him acts.

Anyway, I have mentioned it before that I always like stories in a happy family rather than in a dysfunctional family (I guess that’s why I haven’t finished Kazoku Game even though Kamiki’s acting was brilliant there). Kogure Shashinkan is a warm story revolving around a happy family. The mysteries surrounding the photo studio makes the story more interesting.

Hanabishi Family decided to buy an old photo studio. However, they didn’t plan on using it as a studio only as a house. In honor of the previous owner, they kept the sign despite not using it as a photo studio. The place was said to be haunted by the old owner, Mr.Kogure. The Hanabishi were Hanabishi Hideo (Ishiguro Ken), Hanabishi Kyoko (Matsushita Yuki), Hanabishi Eiichi (Kamiki Ryunosuke) and Hanabihi Hikaru (Kabe Amon)…and an extended family, Tenko (Eiichi’s best friend) (Horii Arata). The family had a peculiar way of calling their sons, Eiichi was called Hana-chan even though Hana is usually a girl’s name and Hikaru was called Pika-chan (Hikaru means light and Pika means sparkle). The Hanabishi actually had a daughter but she had passed away due to a sudden illness. Her death had caused this small family to break away from their relatives because when Fuko passed away, everyone was blaming Kyoko for her death.

Not long after living in the photo studio, Hana-chan was given a ghost photo. The girl who gave him the photo found it in a book she bought. A face of a sad woman was seen in the background of a family photo. With some help from his family, his best friend and the real estate agents, Hana-chan began investigating the photo.

His success in solving the mystery on that photo led him to other unusual photos and somehow he got a nick name as Ghost Photo Detective.

You might think that this mini series (there were only 4 episodes) was about ghost and mystery…but it really wasn’t like that!! The story was pure about family problem.

All the ghost photos acted as stories that connect to Hanabishi’s family problems. The family loved each other…they were a true happy family. Their problems was with their relatives. Every mystery solved by Hana-chan helped him to understand his family’s problems and how to help his family.

Kogure Shashinkan was a warm family story…there were no exaggerated cry, no exaggerated shout and definitely no exaggerated family fight. It looked so normal that you could easily relates it to your own family. It was a simple story and yet very fun.

I really like Hana-chan and Tenko’s friendship. It reminds me of my own friendship with my best friend (we’ve been friends for 20 years now).

Hanachan n Tenko

I really like their brothership (I don’t think this is even a word 😉 ) Hana-chan took good care of his little brother. Both of them showed how 2 brothers from a warm family would act.

I also like Hana-chan’s unclear relationship with Kakimoto, an older girl who worked in the real estate agency with suicidal issues.

Eiichi and Junko

Basically…Kogure Shashinkan was about relationship between one person to another. Although we could clearly see that it centered mostly on Hana-Chan.

And I love everyone’s acting…every actor act so normally here, it’s like every one was destined to be the character they were chosen to play. Kamiki, once again delivered a great performance, he managed to deliver all the perfect emotion for his role.

Overall, I really enjoyed Kogure Shashinkan. I have watched it twice and would love to watch it again one day.

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