A bit of a rant

[dangermousie]

Sapuri.

Is about officework.

BORING?

Yes.

Why do I keep trying to watch those 'workaholic misunderstood career women' things?

They do NOT work for me.

a. I am not tall (not even by Japanese standards)
b. Am not single and putting off men with my ginormous brain/career. Hopefully I have both but I married my college boyfriend, the first guy I was ever in love with, and how much more 'mainstream' can you get?
c. Have not encountered discrimination at work because of my gender
d. I would be described as hyper and cheerful rather than efficient and reserved

In other words, I am closer to Chae-Gyung with education (and hopefully more brains) than I am to a typical jdrama heroine.

My husband is younger than me. By a measly year. And definitely not shorter or worse educated.

I have never had a desire to:
a. make out with a temp hired by the office
b. make out with a much younger man in order to prevent self from succumbing to temptation of making out with a married co-worker
c. kept a human as a pet (Yeah, I like KwP but the heroine makes me go wtf, still)
d. had my fiance dump me and realize my career was over because of my age thus inflict my crankiness on some poor pianist much younger than self.

P.S. Moreover, to be shorter than me, the boy would have to be a dwarf. And I don't drink.

See? See? I am not cut out for these.

I know I am ranting, but come on! I am sure these dramas are neat and controversial and what not. In Japan. For people in similar circumstances (in Japan or elsewhere) they must strike quite a chord. But I've never ever been in anything similar and you might say, right, you've never fallen in love with your dying half-sibling either, but you forget that the latter has a great potential for angst and drama. Not to mention running, crying artistically, or holding your dying (but still immaculately made up) love in your arms.

The rest? Has water coolers.

I am so going to regret posting this.

And Kame is still hot.

And I am still going to watch this. Maybe it will get better. It's just I think I oded on these lately. I started it and went 'OMG, another unlikeable-but-not older more powerful workaholic woman finding love with a younger shorter less empowered man. In an office. Where gender issues arise. Blah.'

Comments

[kitsune714.livejournal.com]

Mousie, I know exactly where you are coming from. For reasons that I still don't quite understand, I don't have a very high tolerance for office romance genre jdrama. winterspel and nihongofrancais love Sapuri to pieces, but I haven't seen more than the first episode. It just never really grabbed me right away, and so I ended up shelving it and watching My Boss My Hero instead (which is awesome, amazing, cracktastic, and did I say awesome already? Because it was). I mean, I'll finish Sapuri eventually, I'm sure, but...

Yes, you will have to let me know how this goes, as you and I share scarily similar drama tastes.

[smartylibrarian.livejournal.com]

Wow! I identified way too much with the heroine from KWP. I did encounter quite a bit of gender discrimination in my previous profession (audio engineering); I am too tall; and men seem to find me off-putting. My boyfriend has a few Momo-like qualities, which is maybe why we get along so well.

What other dramas feature cold career women finding true love?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

a few Momo-like qualities

As long as you don't refer to him as a pet, I think you are OK :)

Others:

Anego (haven't seen. calixa liked it and posted a summary. Made me want to run to the hills because I don't like the genre but sounded very good if you like office stories). Sapuri (see above). Long Vacation isn't really like that (the one with the pianist). I am sure there are more, but I am not really the person to ask, because it's a genre I tend to steer clear of. (Oddly enough, I adore Forbidden Love which is about student/teacher relationship, but the woman in that one isn't cold-hearted, but very warm and trapped).

There is also Boku Dake No Madonna which has younger man-older woman dynamic but it's not job related and she is more wheedling than cold.

I kinda love having a guy who is really capable and able to take care of you (in fiction and in rl). It doesn't mean he will need to, in fact I hope he lets me do my thing, but it's nice to know you can rely on someone for support, including financial if time comes. Yeah, I know. Very retro :)

Btw, MatsuJun icon=yum. He is going to star in a new drama where he is going to play a Chef.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Exactly! I mean, the excitedment of 'OMG! Will I get the promotion! OMG! Papercut!' isn't really up there with 'your true love will go blind unless you donate your eyeballs and she will die of cancer anyway.'

I'll give Sapuri a few eps.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

EEEE! I could have been called workaholic once (before I met marvelous Mr.Alexander) , but I don't usually enjoy workaholic power women on screen at all. :D

I will see if you warm up to Sapuri, but up to this point nothing really calls me there. Some young part-time worker without direction in life? I don't find them attractive, though I like pianists. :D And even this is where my main problem lies with "Tatta Hitotsu no Koi" ** gasp and confession ** : though I think Kame does a great job , I am not attracted to the type he represents there, as you once called him fittingly "quiet and depressive". I was thinking about this, but I just don't seem to get involved with some characters so much, I just want to give them a shake even though I understand that they are sometimes in no-win situation. ** end of confession **

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

"quiet and depressive".

I don't mind that about Tattakoi (I like the drama actually) mainly because he feels so much and you get every bit of it. I do wonder though, because I know you love A Love to Kill, don't you think Bokgu is rather similar, with no direction in life (in fact, he is bona fide self-destructive).

But yeah, I'll see about Sapuri...

I HEAR YOU, MOUSIE.

[calixa.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way. I just can't take anymore.

I don't care, shag whoever you want.

Most of it is catered specifically for the OL audience who dream of falling for the hot office temp. Anego narrowly avoided this by being ruthlessly realistic, so I love it, but I'm not watching anymore after I finish Chae Rim's "Dal Ja's Spring" which is korean and very entertaining and I have started it so I will finish it so help me God but nevertheless no more after that!

*is resolute*

I think maybe I should just take a break from dramas for a couple of weeks, because I am seriously feeling oversaturated. Maybe I should do my homework every once in a while. Pft.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I know you love A Love to Kill, don't you think Bokgu is rather similar, with no direction in life (in fact, he is bona fide self-destructive

Oh, I don't see that he similar character to Hiroto at all. He is rather a "bad boy" who could have achieved anything if he cared even a little (for example, in boxing) but he doesn't because he is tortured and as you say, self-destructive. Where Hiroto is sort of underachiever type, he tries but in the wrong direction perhaps. (don't kill me, please??? I am not all about achieving, but I just don't find his type attractive).

Another thing I forgot to mention - I don't know why, but I never met with the real gender discrimination even though I work in predominately male environments all my life ( I am a systems analyst, or simply "programmer"), so I don't know how to relate to these issues. I feel they are important, but it is a little "theoretical" to me.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting point (about Bokgu). He is someone with enormous potential but who is self-destructive due to his past. Thing is, he goes after his goals like a maniac, whatever the strain or cost (taking care of the burn girl, avenging his brother, protecting the OTP etc etc). Hiroto has become a withdrawn introvert instead (Bokgu is rather loud). Bokgu is much more 'outwardly passionate:' everything boils in him, all the time. Hiroto had to school himself not to want anything and to abnegate everything. I don't know, I really like him. Mainly for his quiet, incredible decency. But yeah, everyone has different types.

but it is a little "theoretical" to me.

Exactly.

Re: I HEAR YOU, MOUSIE.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

What is Dal Ja's Spring about?

Most of it is catered specifically for the OL audience who dream of falling for the hot office temp.

ROFL.

Maybe you should watch Mars? *nudge nudge* No age disparity at all :)

or yeah, homework is good too.

Re: I HEAR YOU, MOUSIE.

[calixa.livejournal.com]

It's about a 33 year old woman whose boyfriend (co-worker) cheats on her, so she hires this young, hot whippersnapper (who's profession is literally "DATING SERVICE", he has business cards, rofl) to be her new boyfriend to exact revenge. It's kind of cracky and has lots of hilarious pop culture spoofs (ie, Kill Bill, Wong Kar Wai films). And is more like Kim Sam Soon than Kimi Wo Petto/Anego, I think, because the female lead is naive and childish, rather than a cold-career woman. There's more emphasis on the romance than on the officework stuff, so it is probably more to your taste. I think it's cute.

I thought about watching Sapuri but now I don't want to anymore.

I'm downloading Mars, but I can only find it on megaupload with each episode cut up into a frillion pieces so it will take me FOREVER to get. I think by the time I get it all I'll be ready to watch it.

[kitsune714.livejournal.com]

winterspel says that Yuuya makes the whole drama worth it, but I'm still kind of wary. I like crack in my dramas, and it's not like I can't watch realistic type dramas either, but...yeah, office drama just doesn't really grab at me.

[ficchica.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't advise watching Anego. It starts off ok but then gets really bogged down with bedhopping, drinking, adultery, psycho jealous wives and the main relationship is never resolved at all. It just really irritated me, nothing got resolved. The main character was completely lacking in ambition for a career woman and just seemed to lurch from one personal crisis to the other. I only finished it because that guy was pretty and I thought maybe this will get tied up in the end.

Sapuri on the other had is a nice bit of fluff with a resolved ending.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh, don't worry. I am staying far far away from Anego.

Re: I HEAR YOU, MOUSIE.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I think there are torrents for Mars, too, at d-addicts. alexandral would know...

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever liked a drama just because I liked a character. I have to like it as a story or I get frustrated.

[ilanala]

I'm neither married nor hyper and cheerful, but I still don't relate to those kind of heroines at all, and they seem to be everywhere in jdramas. I guess it's a cultural thing, but I don't tend to find the angst of the working woman all that interesting. I did like Sapuri well enough, but more because Kame's character is adorable and has an interesting plotline, if you like the sort of coming-of-age stories. I don't really remember much about the main female character, so obviously I wasn't all that interested in her.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but see, I sort of came of age already so the Kame part doesn't sound like my thing.

I much prefer kdrama and twdrama heroines.

My faves being the 'argumentative couple' stories or the 'hyper girl reserved guy' because...projecting.

I like the jdrama heroines which are 'warm' and in touch with their emotions and it's not that many.

Re: I HEAR YOU, MOUSIE.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

"Mars" was on d-addicts (and even Torrent spy :D) and from there I downloaded it, but it was one of the slowest things to download as all torrents were half-dying (and my copy has English subtitles on top of Chinese which is sort of confusing). I am so sorry, may be Megaupload is not such a bad option.

[ginzarhapsody.livejournal.com]

*giggle* I loved this post because it really does give the other perspective on my FAVORITE genre of Japanese dramas. But the reasons I love it are for the fact that I can relate personality-wise to the characters (I do tend to inhibit those traits, but certainly not all the time) and also because I tend to come at the dramas from a much more observant, sometimes research-geared view; my field is Japanese Studies, after all. :) I love seeing gender dynamics explored in dramas, and there's nothing like a good office drama (whether romantic or not - the current Haken no Hinkaku is not romantic, but an office drama with a female lead) which will do just that.

For Sapuri, I already know that I'm one of the few who actually love it. When it was airing, a lot of people disliked it or primarily enjoyed it for Kamenashi's Yuuya. A lot of people hate Minami; I don't. That's all I'm going to say about the lead, because I can ramble on that topic. *grin* But there are other things that are really nice about the drama, I thought. The music and the vibrant colors that they choose to shoot in give it a very modern, trendy feel; which of course it appropriate because it is a trendy drama. :) So, if you hate it, no hard feelings. *giggle*

Anego, Kimi wa Petto and Sapuri are all manga based and all from the same vein. So one should expect similarities. And also, all three make it onto my favorite Japanese dramas list. I gravitate toward marginalized female leads.

Also, while I do like angst and drama, I tend to steer clear of the kind provided in Korean and Taiwanese dramas. I can suspend disbelief happily for three hours when it comes to Bollywood (again, with Bollywood, I also connect culturally, so it's not a stretch), but I can't do it for twenty episodes or longer. There comes a point for me. :)

[ginzarhapsody.livejournal.com]

The main character was completely lacking in ambition for a career woman...

I just have to say something on this because Anego was never a career woman. That was never the path she set out toward, unlike both leads from Kimi wa Petto and Sapuri. Anego wanted to be an OL in a good company and eventually (read: before 25) get married to a good guy, but those things never came to her, so she just kind of continued in her role because it was comfortable and she was good at it. I do agree that Anego does tend to be passive in the way she lets things just hit her, rather than change her life, but that's kind of the point of her character as well.

[janlake83.livejournal.com]

yeah sapuri is kinda the typical japanese office drama with older woman and younger guy. it's an okay drama and the ending was decent. although it was better than the drama i just finished, only you, it was soooo slow and then i kept watching cause i wanted to know how it ends..

[forgottenpolish.livejournal.com]

I really really loved Sapuri. It's my favorite dorama. (ties with Meteor Garden) For me it wasn't so much OMG she finds someone younger as she finds someone who is different from her because he just sorta driffts along in life. To me the dorama is more about growing up and finding what you want and taking control of your life. And I think about every character finds that. I don't think she is freaked out because he is younger then she is as much as he is so carefree and doesn't value work they way she does, as she puts her work first before anything and everything.

I find her as a shy person who uses her work to not deal with relationships. I personaly adore her and understand alot of where she is coming from. Kame's character is amazing.

I can ramble much much more but I don't want to spoil it so much for you, but if you do indeed want to hear more of my thoughts I will talk your ear off about it.

[forgottenpolish.livejournal.com]

I totally adored Sapuri to and is one of my absolute favorites.

[ginzarhapsody.livejournal.com]

*loves you*

You and I are a rarity, as far as I can tell. *grin*