dangermousie | Bara No Nai Hanaya: go watch it now!

Still a little sniffly from the end of The Devil, I popped in Bara No Nai Hanaya, on my flight back. Before I knew it, I was on episode seven, and addicted like no tomorrow.

BNNH is a Japanese drama that came out earlier in the year, and took my flist by storm. It was not a drama I ever planned to check out: I had a lot of other dramas at the time, I have never seen Katori Shingo (the male lead) in anything, so had no predisposition to check it out for his sake, and the story description (single-father florist falls for blind lady) sounded so twee and sweet as to give me cavities. And when I want a 'pure' romance, I usually go for kdramas, anyway.

And yet, it kept popping on my flist, with people as different in their drama tastes as

filmi_girl and

nihongofrancais, and everybody else, loving it. And I read some fascinating spoilers, too. So...BNNH it was. And now? Unless the quality mysteriously nose-dives in the last eps, this is going on my all-time fave jdramas list, and that plot description? While not incorrect? Really tells you nothing about the drama.

So yeah, BNNH. Katorii Shingo plays Eiji, a florist who is also raising an eight-year-old daughter, Shizuku (the amazing, adorable Yagi Yuki). Eiji is a quiet, unassuming man full of kindness, but his life begins to take a complete U-turn after he meets Mio (Takeuchi Yuko), a blind woman who moves into the neighborhood. As Eiji begins to open his heart to yet another person, he does not know that Mio is part of an elaborate plan conceived to wreck him mentally, emotionally, and financially, a part of elaborate scheme of revenge...

First off, I love Katori Shingo! All I knew of him going in was that he is in the same group as Kimura Takuya, and that I've never seen him in anything. He is simply excellent. I posted in my meta about The Devil that it is hard to portray pure goodness and not seem trite, or cloying, or ridiculous, but Eiji is good. He is incredibly good and gentle, in both the smallest of ways, and in the most giant ones, and yet he comes across as a real person, and likeable, and someone you feel enormously for. Eiji is basically my new drama boyfriend. And not just because I've gotten to the age where to see a scruffy man interact with a little kid automatically makes me fluttery. It doesn't hurt that not only is he age-appropriate, he looks like he eats.

I also love Takeuchi Yuko. I loved her in Pride so much, as the conservative yet strong Aki (does that mean that a SMAPxSMAP member+ Yuko=drama win?), and she is equally excellent here, in an incredibly different role.

Mio is a hard character to get you to like: she is, after all, hired as part of the scheme to wreck Eiji. But I have enormous sympathy for her, caught between a rock and a hard-place: she cannot let her father die, but the only way the doctor (HATE) will perform that operation is if he participates in his scheme. And then, of course, she ends up falling for Eiji for real, because of his such genuine caring and goodness, from small things, as how he steadfastly keeps his back turned when she is changing, even if she is (supposed to be) blind so she won't know if he peeks, to his being beaten up without a protest to protect her. That fairy tale about Beauty and the Beast the drama keeps mentioning? I don't think she is the Beauty that sought out the poor Beast in the castle. I think it's rather the other way around.

You know what kills me? Even after he finds out the truth, even after he finds out she wasn't blind, she played him for the money, he is still not angry. He still loves her and wants her. He is just so grateful she stuck around after she got the money (and puzzled by it), that is breaks my heart. I was talking to

filmi_girl, and she pointed out that he simply can't believe anything good could ever happen to him, and that is why his reaction, and I think it perfectly makes sense. I think that is where his being an abused child comes in...I don't think he believes he is worthy of being loved or of having happiness. (Btw, how awesome was that interlude with little Hiroto and Eiji figuring out the boy is abused and getting through to him, and rescuing him!)

But oh, that scene at the beach, it just kills me. Because she wants him to take off the gauze so the first thing she sees will be his face (and you see her wear the gauze even when nobody is around because in a way, she is desperate to make her lie real), and he knows the truth by then, but yet, he removes her bandages, and after a bit, he walks away but then stops and just stands there, and throws his arms wide open, and just stands, waiting for her. And of course she runs into them. Oh my. I think I got a little teary. I love Mio's reaction in ep 7, when she finds out from the teacher, that Eiji knew...

But I love all the relationships in this drama: the one Eiji forms with that old lady he has move in, the one with the bar owner etc etc. But above all, with Shizuku. Shizuku is that rarity: a realistic child who is yet fun to watch. She is mature somewhat beyond her ears, and secure as only those completely loved can be. And yet she is eccentric enough to wear a 'puppeto muppeto' hood on her head etc etc. The relationship between her and Eiji is just so tender and so amazing to watch (interestingly, I am tempted to do a whole compare-and-contrast thing between them and Gwan Pil and Ggot Nim in kdrama Powerful Opponents, yet another 'tough guy, little daughter' scenario).

You know who I do NOT like? That horrible doctor grandfather of Shizuku. WTF? Once again, I started watching this right after The Devil, another story of revenge gone awry and the difference is stark! Hold on, the Doctor wants Eiji's life ruined because Doc's daughter fell for him but he didn't love her back and she died in childbirth (naturally, not through some foul means). What???? WHAT??? How is it Eiji's fault? Even without spoileriness that I know, that is ridiculous. So, he is supposed not to have loved a girl back. Is that a crime? Why? How? I certainly had people who liked me who I didn't like back. UGH. And he never even tries to meet or find out the truth. In The Devil, Lawyer had certainly legitimate grounds for revenge: murder (as he believed) of his brother, his Mother's being killed in front of his eyes, his own near starvation to death. And even there, he would not only giv outs but attempt to verify the veracity of the story and the nitty-gritty. But here? No way. Not to mention he basically wants to make poor Mio into some sort of revenge hooker? 'Here nurse, go seduce this random guy you don't know and who's never done anything to you, or else your Daddy dies.' WTF?

Also, spoil me. Does Naoya (Matusda Shota) ever get a glimmer of conscience? Or a little guilt or niceness? Because as of now, I rather hate him too.