Saikou no Rikon review

Saikou no Rikon is an other drama on my list I really wanted to watch. It played in 2013 and it was my most anticipated drama at the time, I just had to watch it!

Synopsis: (From DramaWiki)

The story begins with a husband and wife caught in the middle of their usual round of bickering and bantering. They cannot come to understand the other's personality or actions as they constantly fight on a regular basis...but despite that, they could not, however, come to part their ways. But one day, after an incident occurs the wife informs the husband that she had "submitted the divorce papers." The former husband and wife, or rather strangers to each other now, somehow end up continuing to live together under one roof...On the other hand, another couple has discovered a "hidden shocking truth." Their marriage seemed to be a happy one but was it really!? What does "marriage" mean? What does it mean to be a "husband and wife"? Watch closely as these two couples become lost in an indescribable complicated relationship, developing in between marriage and divorce. It's the life-sized love comedy you've been waiting for.

The cast

Cast:

• Eita as Hamasaki Mitsuo
• Ono Machiko as Hamasaki Yuka
• Maki Yoko as Uehara Akari
• Ayano Go as Uehara Ryo
• Ichikawa Miwako as Seta Tomoyo
• Matsuo Satoru as Seta Tsuguo
• Ono Yuriko as Arimura Chihiro (ep1-5,10)
• Serina (芹那) as Umino Nana (ep1-6,8,11)
• Yachigusa Kaoru as Hamasaki Aiko

 

Review

Story

Saikou no Rikon - The great divorce, is as you can expect from the title, a romantic comedy type of drama. It also has strong elements of Slice of Life as well.

To start with an overview of the story, we have the first episode introducing our 4 main characters and their present situation with marriage. We get a glimpse of their varying (strong) personality traits. After the big introduction, the ride begins. We see the characters living, making decisions, having drama, talking about marriage and divorce and learning about them a little bit by bit. It really is what this series is all about, it does just that. It's basically a series about normal life events.

The story sounds quite simple and not only that but we manly see the same 4 characters in the same areas through the whole drama. It is quite interesting. Even though they are using less, in the end, I found that they still managed to do a fulfilling story. I didn't even get bored. Here we have a drama that is totally Japanese like, but also is so different from the rest. It is hard to describe. It is Japanese like by it's slow pace, slow character bonding and romance and the energetic humor. Something you can expect to see in a romantic comedy. But it is quite unique by it's adult theme and by stretching it a bit, the adult reactions and decision from the characters. An example would be a character going to rent a porn video after being dumped by his girlfriend. This drama also has a special aura, something that made me feel like I was in the drama as a camera, observing the events. The camera views are original and are taking a bit further away that we are used to, contributing to the feeling that you are a passerby observing the events. I really liked that and it fits the theme of the drama.   

Personally I have been waiting so long to watch a good adult romantic comedy. I really love them and I find most dramas are becoming more childlike. Saikou no Rikon was a step in the right direction.

However, the series can become a little shallow as well. With only really 4 characters and the only main theme being marriage and divorce, 11 episodes are a lot. I can imagine it might be long and boring for some. I was a bit disappointed by the slow start of the series. After watching the first episode I had a lot of great hopes about the direction of the story, and those hopes only started happening in episode 8. So, for me it did get better at the end of the series. However, since most of my hopes have happened in the series, you could say it was highly predictable. I also wished to have seen more themes included like work for example and more intense actions. But I wish for those things because I truly loved the base of the series.

An example of an unique camera perspective

Acting

Like mentioned already, there are mainly 4 main actors with a few secondary characters. The acting in this drama is of utmost importance, as this style we see here is aiming to portrait real life situations, the acting is really important. Here we have 4 very distinctive personalities and the drama did great effort to show it to us in detail. We have the serious and awkward Hamasaki (Eita), lazy and happy-go-lucky Yuka (Ono Machiko), tolerant and classy Akari (Maki Yoko) and mysterious and unfaithful Ryo ( Ayano Go). Each actors looks very good in their respective role and are very convincing. Really I have no complaint about the acting. I know most actors pretty well already and they are among my favorites (especially Machiko Ono and Eita). I personally enjoyed how each of them also have a very distinctive non-verbal postures and clothing style. The chemistry between the actors is amazing. They looked really great together! The characters even have realistic personalities, they have some good sides and some bad ones too.

However there are some aspects that were bothering me a little bit. I can sense they tried to have realistic characters, but sometimes they have quite exaggerated personality traits. Hamasaki is extremely socially awkward at times. It's totally good with me in a drama, but it is borderline not realistic in some scenes. Although it does manage to get better as you get towards the end of the drama, the characters personalities evolves significantly. Also, I found that the humor can be hit or miss. My last complaint would be that I felt like it was mostly focused on Hamasaki than the others.

On an other interesting note, one of the characters was so similar to me that it was scary. It enable me to refer to that character a lot. I even had a similar fight.  

Music

First, I have to mention the ending theme is really amazing (if you don't know about it already). It's a very good song by Kuwata Keisuke and the main characters are dancing in a rather suggestive manner.

As for the normal background music, it was ok. There are a few themes that I took notice of and I felt they were expressing a melody that reminds you of a "home" feeling. Again, it contributed to the realistic vibe. The quality was good and it didn't feel cheap.

Recommendation

Saikou no Rikon was one very popular series of 2013. I enjoyed it and I really like that type too. Here is some dramas that reminded me of Saikou no Rikon.
Last Friends : Divorce or marriage are not the theme here, but it ressembles Saikou no Rikon for trying to deal with realistic issues and focusing on 4-5 characters too. Eita plays in it too.
Love Shuffle : My hope with Saikou no Rikon was that it would follow a plot similar to Love Shuffle. Instead of 2, here we have 4 couples that are starting to crumble. It is not about marriage but it has a more mature view of romance.