Tokyo Tower (2024)

the life cycle of an affair

Tokyo Tower is based on the novel by Kaori Ekuni. This screen adaptation is not the first but I haven't seen the other productions to compare. And if there was an English translation of this work, I would definitely be interested in giving it a read. This drama is a very short series, 9 eps of 23 mins, which is suitable as it concentrates purely on emotions.

The story is an exploration of age gap relationships. It follows 2 college friends, Toru & Koji, who embark on 2 different affairs with older, married women. Toru is a medical student who falls in love with a well known architect after a random encounter. He then discovers the degree of separation is far too small for comfort, & things get worse when she invites him to events that include people close to them both, such as his mother, as well as her husband.

Koji, who is more experienced, is fascinated by Toru's infatuation, & decides to conduct his own experiment by pursuing the mother of a high school student he's tutoring. Koji's story is an interesting contrast to Toru's. Koji is the one who initiates & thinks he is in control of the whole relationship & can end it anytime. However, he's shocked when he realizes the one on the leash is actually himself.

The story telling is mostly quiet & reflective, which brings into sharp focus the range of emotions that explode when both Toru's & Koji's affairs destroy all the other relationships around them. And in the aftermath, both men decide it's still worth pursuing what they started, after crushing the walls that surrounded and supported the women they came to love.

Ultimately, it comes down to maturity. Toru & Koji end up overestimating their own importance in an older married woman's life, and older married women come to understand that the only thing they can build their future on is themselves. But will the experience leave each of them with regret, or peace? That, too, also depends on maturity.

All in all, this show was an interesting exploration of the life cycle of an age gap extramarital affair, with nice pacing in the story telling & acting from all of the cast. The short episodes made it an easy, but thoughtful, watch.

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L'exploration des sentiments à des âges différents

Nos attentes changent avec le temps. On grandit, on expérimente, on mûrit. C'est ce qu'explore Tokyo Tower au travers de son histoire sous couvert d'infidélités.

Toru est un étudiant en médecine lassé. Asano Shifumi est une architecte reconnue mariée. Après une rencontre fortuite, ils vont créer un lien qui va rapidement devenir une liaison. De l'autre coté, Koji est curieux devant tant de passion de la part de Toru, une facette de son ami qu'il n'avait jamais vu jusqu'ici. A la fois intrigué et motivé par le goût du challenge, il va séduire la mère d'une adolescente à laquelle il donne des cours, Kawano Kimiko.

Personnellement, l'histoire entre Toru et Shifumi est illusoire et voué à l'échec dès le départ. Contrairement à celle entre Koji et Kimiko qui avait un goût différent. Elle semblait plus réaliste, plus amoureuse, plus concrète. Peut-être parce qu'elle semblait plus accessible ? Je l'ignore, mais la seconde romance était plus sensible et forte d'émotion à mes yeux.

Le casting est formidable, je n'ai rien à redire dessus. La narration s'amuse avec les sentiments de la meilleure façon (et j'aime les dramas japonais pour cette raison). En réalité, la seule chose qui m'échappe est l'intérêt de Toru pour la Tokyo Tower. Je n'ai pas réussi à saisir les sous-entendus, mais je ne m'en formalise pas trop non plus.

Bref, Tokyo Tower met en avant une relation qui favorise la croissance et la maturité. Toru et Koja expérimentent et grandissent, tandis que Shifumi et Kimiko reprennent le contrôle de leurs vies. Le tout avec une très jolie bande son.

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Two friends and their affair life

So basically this drama is about the two best friends from school time, there's Toru as ML and Koji as Second ML.

Throughout the school life whatever ML does, SML tries to replicate that, so when ML falls for Shifumi as FL even thought she was double his age, SML also thought of experimenting this (yes, this was the term he used) with the mother of his tution student hana, he gets involved with Kimiko around the same time without letting his girlfriend know.

An affair is bad no matter the reason, we don't really see the husband of Kimiko, but I find it hard to understand what was wrong with FL's marriage, her husband seem ok and he cared about her a lot. I find her attraction towards younger ML awful, it's good from story point of view but it's not logical. She had everything a woman could hope for unlike Kimiko.

Kimiko's husband was neglecting her which is why she gave herself to SML (Koji) but the same cannot be said for FL (Shifumi).

Aside from all this, I honestly didn't see much chemistry between main leads, so it was awkward to see them together, but Koji had good connection with Kimiko, throughout the drama I was watching for his relationship development.


Anyway what happened to these two main leads (Toru and Koji) is a lesson to be learned.
I won't say I like this drama as I have mixed feelings about it. Do give this a try.

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Tokyo Tower won't suit every taste...

When I first read about Tokyo Tower story I wanted to watch the drama because I love this kind of noona romance.
I liked all characters and their developments and I couldn't wait for the next episode. Each character learned from pain and it was worth to watch their changes for better.

Ren Nagase was perfect for his role and the pain in his eyes for Shifumi was so intense I could feel it. I loved his character development! Watching Genta Matsuda and Megumi's performances was amazing!
Though I think last episode was a bit inconclusive and couples deserved a better ending, I still like much about this drama, including the beautiful song played in the last minutes of each episode sung by Ren Nagase and Kaito Takahashi (Halfmoon - King & Prince).

I know this drama is controversial and messy and it is sad in many ways but I like it.

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