giving semblance to those passing thoughts

Boku dake no Madonna (...and I love you) 6.3

Boku dake no Madonna (2003). translates as "My Madonna," but I think the official English title is "...and I Love You"

stars
Hideaki Takizawa as Kyoichi Suzuki, architecture student
Kyoko Hasegawa as Surumi Kataoka, object of Kyoichi's affections

Hitomi Shimatani as Keiko Imamura, most beautiful girl at school
Ogata Naoto as Yoshitaka Honda, object of Surumi's affections
Koutaro Koizumi as Takashi Nakano, Kyoichi's best friend
Manami Konishi as Rie Shimada, Mr. Honda's fiancee

Summary: Kyoichi Suzuki (Hideaki Takizawa) is having a very bad life. At school, the resident glamour queen Keiko Imamura (singer Hitomi Shimatani) dumps him because his good looks just don't make up for his lackluster personality. At home, his domineering mother and sisters make him obey their every whim while his quiet, submissive father hides with a newspaper. Unable to take it any more, he moves out into an apartment complex, only to find that his neighbors, in addition to being really bizarre, are under orders from his mother to keep an eye on him. Said neighbors include a short would-be novelist who steals the best things from Kyoichi's care packages, an extremely tall man who stares but does not talk, and romance-starved Shizue, owner and bartender of the "S" bar.

His existence, which currently consists of architecture classes and a late-night security guard shift, is indeed pretty dull, although things get more exciting when he discovers that a mysterious young woman climbs in through his window, sleeps in his bed, and raids his refrigerator while he is gone. Speculations as to her identity and aims abound from best friend Takashi (Koutaro Koizumi, son of the Japanese prime minister), neighbors, and fellow security guard; the slightly timid Kyoichi finally decides to solve things once and for all by hiding underneath his bed and catching her breaking in. Unfortunately for him, Surumi (Kyoko Hagesawa) is one of those cheerful free spirit types; he is the one who is totally embarrassed when she finds him cowering under his own bed. When he finally works up the courage to ask this lovely woman to explain her behavior, she tells him that she needs to use his window to observe the apartment of Mr. Honda, who once promised to marry her but is now engaged to someone else. So begins one of those strange and wonderful relationships that fiction is so fond of.

Kyoichi, feeling sorry for her and cowed by her confidence, gives her a spare key, stocks his fridge for her, leaves her little notes, and generally lets her boss him around. Surumi convinces him to spy on Mr. Honda and his fiancee Miss Shimada for her, putting him in many awkward situations, especially after he, Takashi, and Keiko are all hired as summer interns Mr. Honda's architectural firm. Annoyed that the boring Kyoichi has managed to replace her so quickly, Keiko decides to get him back, and is surprised when Surumi, who thinks of Kyoichi as endearing in a purely platonic sense, encourages her efforts. However, it gradually becomes clear that Surumi isn't telling the whole truth about her past, and things become more complicated for Kyoichi as he has to balance all the feminine attention being lavished on him with his schoolwork and his prying neighbors, all the while dealing with his attraction to the older Surumi and fighting his growing respect for Mr. Honda and Miss Shimada out of loyalty to her.

Drama Reduction: When ultimately faced with the choice, will Kyoichi go for Keiko, the girl he's always secretly dreamed of--who is starting to like him, or Surumi, who is cheerful on the surface and yet contains deep wellsprings of sadness--but in any case thinks of him only as a younger brother? Who is Surumi, really? And is Kyoichi's neighbor actually mute, or will he speak at an opportune moment?

Opinion: The success of the drama rests on the shoulders of Hideaki Takizawa. Unfortunately, like Keiko says, his Kyoichi is handsome but not much else. While he isn't too bad from scene to scene, the most disappointing is his inability to portray the crucial personal development into maturity; although another character remarks near the end of the drama that he has become an adult, the change isn't that obvious. Hitomi Shimatani and Manami Konishi probably give the strongest performances in the series as Keiko and Miss Shimada, respectively, both effectively conveying depth and integrity of character. In contrast, Surumi is difficult to relate with for the first few episodes, and her random happiness feels contrived, although she does improve over time--her convincingness as a character seems to correlate inversely with the state of her gaeity.

Other than Keiko, Miss Shimada, and Mr. Honda, the supporting characters seem to be caricatures for comic effect, and they are all overacted accordingly. However, to speak favorably of the series, although it is bursting at the seams with secondary story lines, most of them are integrated smoothly into the main narrative, though it is a little much when everyone (and I don't use the term lightly) is paired up at the end.

Verdict: 6.3/10.0 The acting isn't spectacular, and neither is the story, but there are several good moments.

posted by alice @ 12:17 PM