Freeter, Ie wo Kau #01

http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Freeter,_Ie_o_Kau.

Yeah! New dorama to watch this season (just in time for my semester break too!). Well, I’m behind 3-4 episodes but I’m going to catch up soon.

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My Rating : 3.5/5 Stars

~ This episode didn’t really have that “Whoa” factor to me but I’m interested to know what will happen next so hopefully I’ll be diligent enough to write a review.

~ The last dorama I saw with Nino in it is “Stand Up!”. But I’ve always been a fan of his acting career. Since I became an Ohno fan (which later introduced me to Arashi fandom), I’ve always watched Nino on Arashi’s regular TV Shows. Not that this has anything to do with the dorama… but I’ve seen what kind of a person he is on TV so I thought it would be fun to watch him acting a different kind of character.

===== Episode Summary =====

We are introduced to Take Seiji who changes his job every 3 months. After quitting his last job, he had a fight with his father which led to the hostile atmosphere around their house. This went on for more than a year. Then Seiji quitted yet another part-time job and went jobless for 2 months. One day, his mother had a breakdown. A visit to the psychiatrist office later revealed that his mother is depressed. Considering the situation his mother is in, Seiji decided to find part-time job with a good pay which brought him to a construction site that pays 10,000 yen per day.

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I’m not good at writing a detailed summary. That’s just a summary that gives a gist of the episode.

Sigh. Ninomiya Kazunari ka?

At first, I wanted to watch this because Takenaka Naoto is in it (playing as Nino’s father)… but I wasn’t motivated enough to actually make efforts to watch it. Moreover, I couldn’t find any eng-subbed version. I know where to find a chinese-subbed ones but as I said before, I wasn’t really motivated to watch. Anyway, now that I have some free time (finally!), I decided to watch it as it is (no expectations whatsoever). Don’t care about Takenaka-san anymore.

As always, whenever I watch doramas, I try to find myself in its characters. This one is no exception. The main character is “me” enough to me. SIGH. I’ve always been afraid of thinking what would happen to me after I graduate. This dorama depicts just the situation I [think I] have in mind. I have a similar temper to Seiji too (I always answer my parents “I know, I know!”)… which kind of freaked me out when his mother broke down like that. I’d seen it coming (the mother spaced out in some scenes) but I wasn’t sure what would happen really. I was thinking something worst like murder or suicide… but depression is a heavy issue enough.

I was reminded of a certain relative who had the same condition. One of her symptoms were thoughts of her neighbours going/planning to kill her (though she lived in a place far from her neighbours). So, in “Freeter”, I’m guessing the neighbours would be part of the story too (& judging from the preview for the next episode, it seems that I’m correct).

Looks like it’s going to be a quite heavy-themed drama (not as heavy as Maou though)… at least to someone that is going to graduate and find a job soon. I say… this looks scary even though it’s only the first episode.

 

Random Observations

1. I’ve seen Takenaka Naoto in various roles before – he’s really a versatile actor! The last image of him that’s imprinted in my mind was the perverted conductor, Stresseman, in Nodame Cantabile. It felt really different watching his character in here. I was kind of annoyed actually with the way he treated his wife (poor Take-mama!)… but I don’t blame him for Seiji’s mother’s breakdown. The breakdown is mostly both father and son doing really (they just don’t get along with each other).
2. Would there be more skies (clouds maybe? at least)? In NatsuNiji, I saw many rainbows motives throughout the series.

Favourite/Memorable Scenes:

1. The breakdown scene. Scary!
2. Last scene where Seiji kept on falling during working. He had many things going on in his mind and then he recalled something encouraging his mother said & stood up to continue his work.
3. Hatenai Sora in the end!