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dangermousieIf you watch only one jdrama this season, make it JIN.
You probably noticed that I don't post about jdramas often. The explanation is simple - I haven't found any recently to really kindle passion in me. There is a trend for more and more jdramas to come across as live-action anime which is all fine and good if that's your thing but as for me, I'd rather watch anime, thank you very much. My tastes in jdramas tend to slice-of-life stories starring actors at least in their mid-twenties. Most of comedy jdramas don't work for me and neither do most of those that seem written by a highschool girl's id. I am not knocking those types of dramas - they are just simply not my thing.
So it's perhaps ironic that the jdrama that brought me back into the fold is, itself, based on a manga. But JIN is clever, moving, filled with real flesh-and-blood people, and is also the most gorgeously filmed jdrama I have ever seen.
What is it about? JIN is a story of a burnt-out neurosurgeon named Minakata Jin (Osawa Takao - I have never seen him before but the man is AMAZING. I don't think he is good-looking per se but his character comes across as so alive, human, and basically decent that I don't care - I fell for him like a ton of bricks). Jin has spent the last few years tormented and withdrawn from his work as a self-punishment - his fiancee and fellow doctor Mirai (Nakatani Miki) is in a vegetative state - he was able to remove the tumor threatening her life but due to complications she has been in a coma ever since.
One day chasing a mysterious man who is trying to steal hospital supplies, Jin falls and when he wakes up he is in 1862 Edo. His life is protected by a young samurai but Jin is able to return the favor almost immediately by saving the latter's life when he is wounded. Even without most of his tools, in that primitive place, Jin's skills are like nothing that has been seen before. The samurai's sister Saki (Ayase Haruka) is both grateful and fascinated and decides to help him and let him stay in their house.
Jin is desperate to get back to his own time but he does not know how and with every life-saving procedure he performs, history seems to be knocked more and more off course - after all Jin landed in the middle of Bakumatsu, the Japanese Civil War which decided the future course of the country...Did I mention there is also a famous and highly mysterious geisha, Nokaze, who is a dead ringer for Jin's comatose fiancee.
JIN is intriguing, sumptuous, a bit funny, a bit tragic, and full of people I can love. The protagonist is so relatable and human and Saki (Ayase Haruka was the main reason I checked this out - she is my favorite jdrama actress) is a wonderful heroine. I find myself in a very position for myself - I do not want anything to develop between Jin and Saki but I want to watch their partnership with rapt attention.
Dr. Jin in the dreary present - compare the vibrant colors of the past and this washed-out present day:
With his comatose fiancee - we learn pretty quickly, Jin's smile hides how he really feels entirely too often.
Flashback to before the operation:
Remembering:
Saki:
Saki and Jin after he saved her brother's life:
He dreams of Mirai awake:
But wakes up still in Edo:
Just see how gorgeous this drama is:
My favorite scene:
Did I convince you yet? If not, have a little more:
You probably noticed that I don't post about jdramas often. The explanation is simple - I haven't found any recently to really kindle passion in me. There is a trend for more and more jdramas to come across as live-action anime which is all fine and good if that's your thing but as for me, I'd rather watch anime, thank you very much. My tastes in jdramas tend to slice-of-life stories starring actors at least in their mid-twenties. Most of comedy jdramas don't work for me and neither do most of those that seem written by a highschool girl's id. I am not knocking those types of dramas - they are just simply not my thing.
So it's perhaps ironic that the jdrama that brought me back into the fold is, itself, based on a manga. But JIN is clever, moving, filled with real flesh-and-blood people, and is also the most gorgeously filmed jdrama I have ever seen.
What is it about? JIN is a story of a burnt-out neurosurgeon named Minakata Jin (Osawa Takao - I have never seen him before but the man is AMAZING. I don't think he is good-looking per se but his character comes across as so alive, human, and basically decent that I don't care - I fell for him like a ton of bricks). Jin has spent the last few years tormented and withdrawn from his work as a self-punishment - his fiancee and fellow doctor Mirai (Nakatani Miki) is in a vegetative state - he was able to remove the tumor threatening her life but due to complications she has been in a coma ever since.
One day chasing a mysterious man who is trying to steal hospital supplies, Jin falls and when he wakes up he is in 1862 Edo. His life is protected by a young samurai but Jin is able to return the favor almost immediately by saving the latter's life when he is wounded. Even without most of his tools, in that primitive place, Jin's skills are like nothing that has been seen before. The samurai's sister Saki (Ayase Haruka) is both grateful and fascinated and decides to help him and let him stay in their house.
Jin is desperate to get back to his own time but he does not know how and with every life-saving procedure he performs, history seems to be knocked more and more off course - after all Jin landed in the middle of Bakumatsu, the Japanese Civil War which decided the future course of the country...Did I mention there is also a famous and highly mysterious geisha, Nokaze, who is a dead ringer for Jin's comatose fiancee.
JIN is intriguing, sumptuous, a bit funny, a bit tragic, and full of people I can love. The protagonist is so relatable and human and Saki (Ayase Haruka was the main reason I checked this out - she is my favorite jdrama actress) is a wonderful heroine. I find myself in a very position for myself - I do not want anything to develop between Jin and Saki but I want to watch their partnership with rapt attention.
Dr. Jin in the dreary present - compare the vibrant colors of the past and this washed-out present day:
With his comatose fiancee - we learn pretty quickly, Jin's smile hides how he really feels entirely too often.
Flashback to before the operation:
Remembering:
Saki:
Saki and Jin after he saved her brother's life:
He dreams of Mirai awake:
But wakes up still in Edo:
Just see how gorgeous this drama is:
My favorite scene:
Did I convince you yet? If not, have a little more:
