Last Friends ep.01

April 13, 2008 | 26 Comments

OP Theme: 「Prisoner of Love」 by Utada Hikaru - AVI version (22.3MB) | PSP version (10.7MB) | YouTube version

I was going to write about Kyouran Kazoku Nikki after this but because I had to go to a party, I can only write the summary for this drama. I'm sorry about this but I'll try to cover it after the next batch of 2nd episodes that will come soon. Anyway, as I promised, here's the review for Last Friends, the new J-drama that airs on Fuji TV. This drama turns out to be much better than what I had imagined. While there's nothing new or extraordinary about it, it tells the story well and the actors are very capable performers. It's a bit shocking to see Ueno Juri playing a character with a completely different personality from Nodame but this series show that she has a good acting range. What impresses me the most, however, is Utada Hikaru's OP theme, Prisoner of Love. As one might expect, the song is a constant presence throughout the series. The producers even shot a specific opening for the series where the actors get to look around in confusion while red ribbons fly all over the place. Having said that, I'm still not sure if I'd continue watching this. I find the theme a bit too depressing and I still haven't finalized my Spring 2008 viewing schedule.

A pregnant girl is gazing into an ocean before returning to her flat in a coastal region. As she walks back, she can be heard writing a letter to her friend, Ruka. She explains that she's living on her own now but because she's always used to being alone, she doesn't feel lonely. She realizes that this is the second time she disappeared right before Ruka's eyes. The first time was back in high school when she was taken by her mother. She figures she probably won't be able to meet Ruka again. But it can't be help because she feels that she had betrayed Ruka and this is her punishment. Back then, she didn't know anything about Ruka. Not her dream, nor her worries, nor her feelings, all of which Ruka hid in her heart. All of a sudden, the girl rips off the letter she just wrote. Despite this, she still says that knowing someone is really difficult. When she thinks about it, if she has the ability to know what's inside someone's heart, she'd have been able to protect it better. Despite this, she feels like she's always been with her friends. Even if they can't meet again, she feels their support.

A flashback then reveals what happened before the separation happened. Back then, the girl, whose name is Aida Michiru (Nagasawa Masami), was working as an assistant at a beauty parlor. She is constantly bullied by her senior and when she asks if she can go home earlier by 5PM, she's forced to work until late. Despite this, it looks like her boyfriend, Oikawa Sousuke (Nishikidou Ryou), can be seen waiting patiently for her that night. Michiru explains that despite the though working condition, she loves the job. Sousuke then gives Michiru her birthday present, a similar cup to the one that Michiru often uses when she visits Sousuke's house. Because of this, Sousuke asks Michiru if she'd like to move in with him. Michiru hesitates but tells him that she'd love to stay with him. That night, she goes home only to find her mother laying drunk while her lover comes over and tries to grope her. After her mother wakes up, the man asks her how old is Michiru. Her mom thinks she's still 21 but Michiru corrects her that she's now 22 and that her birthday was actually yesterday.

The next day, after her mother's lover gone home, Michiru asks her if she can move in with Sousuke. She assures her that although she won't be around, she will continue to pay the rent of their house. Upon hearing this, her mother immediately gives her the okay. Meanwhile, Sousuke is in the middle of a field work as a child protection agent. He goes to an apartment to talk to the mother of a child but said mother is not there. He and his colleague follow the kid to a park and finds out that the kid's hand has been severely beaten by someone. Before he can ask the kid anymore question, however, he gets a phone call from Michiru, informing him that she can move to his house. In order to celebrate, she decides to buy several items to use in Sousuke's house. While shopping, a girl called Kishimoto Ruka (Ueno Juri), enters the shop and recognizes Michiru. Before she can talk to Michiru, however, Michiru already left the shop. In her rush, Ruka knocks over a man called Mizushima Takeru (Eita). She then hops on her bike and tries to catch up with the bus that Michiru took.

Although the bus is fast, Ruka somehow manages to catch up with Michiru once the later stops at a bus stop. Michiru immediately recognizes Ruka so the two end up talking as they take a stroll at a park. As it turns out the two were friends at junior High before Michiru and her mother moved away from Tokyo. Michiru tells her friend that she is now a beautician while Ruka explains that she's now aiming to become a Motorcross racer. The two then go to sit in an area where that they used to visit when they were still in junior high. Ruka tells Michiru that if she's looking for a place to stay, there are only two people living in her apartment. Michiru politely refuses because she's planning to move in with Sousuke. Ruka looks disappointed upon hearing this but does her best to hide it. When Michiru asks Ruka if she has someone special, Ruka claims that she wants to focus on her dream so she doesn't think about that kind of thing. As the two part ways, Michiru narrates how back then she didn't realize that Ruka was looking back at her.

Across the city, Takeru is about to go to work when he hears his phone ring. After seeing the name written on the phone (Shirahata Yuuko), however, he decides not to pick it up and just go straight to work. As it turns out, Takeru is a make-up artist. Despite working with some of the most beautiful women in the business and getting his share of kisses from them, Takeru seems cold and aloof towards them. That day, Takeru is about to go home when he realizes that the girl riding a bike next to him (Ruka) is the same girl who knocked him back at the store. He tried to give her the mug that she dropped but because he was starring at her, she thinks he's a weirdo and therefore she asks him not to stare at her. Despite Takeru's attempt to give Ruka a chase with her bike, Ruka manages to elude him. Later on at a Motorcross field, Ruka has just finished her training when a creep smacks her ass. In retaliation, Ruka kicks his ass, leaving him fall flat on the ground. At an airport, a stewardess called Takigawa Eri (Mizukawa Asami), has just finished her shift.

That night, Takeru is in the middle of working at his 2nd job as a barman when Eri comes by, telling him that it's been a while since they see each other. Eri has brought a friend with her: Ruka. Ruka immediately recognizes Takeru as the guy who followed her around. Takeru, however, explains that the reason is because he was trying to give her the mug that she left. Ruka, however, refuses to take it and tell Takeru to just take it. She then tells Eri about the sexual harassment case that happened to her earlier in the day. She wishes she knows someone who respect other person's personal space. Much to her surprise, Takeru agrees with her sentiment and want a friend like that as well. This causes Eri to squeal with excitement, thinking there's something between the two. Later when after she and Ruka go back to their home, she tells Ruka that although Takeru is good-looking, he's probably gay. After all, he never goes to his GF's home and his job? A make-up artist. Ruka seems uncomfortable with this but Eri doesn't notice her awkwardness.

That night, Ruka stares at a picture of herself and Michiru while they were at junior high. She tells herself how Michiru once told her that she's aloof towards other people. But the truth is, she's afraid of other people. Even now, in her heart, there is an important thing that she can't tell others. Even Michiru herself won't be able to guess it. These past 4 years, what kind of feelings does she have for Michiru? And was she afraid of their reunion? Ruka looks like she wants to send a text message to Michiru but she decides against it at the last minute. The next day, Michiru is working in the beauty parlor again. It quickly becomes obvious that her senior is afraid that she'll take over her job. Because when Michiru was trying to put a gel on the client's hair, her senior quickly takes over and steps on her foot. She then turns on the hot water while Michiru was washing her hand, warning her to stay away from her client. Michiru's only ray of light comes when she finally gets to move in with Sousuke. As she enters the house, she inadvertently says "please excuse the intrusion" but then realizes that since she's going to live together with Sousuke, from now on she'll say "I'm home".

Michiru's seemingly happy life with Sousuke, however, abruptly comes to an end the next day. When she wakes up in the morning, she notices that Sousuke is no longer sleeping next to her. Instead, he's in the living room, checking her mobile phone's messages. It looks like Sousuke finds a message from Ruka and becomes jealous even though Michiru already explains that Ruka is just a friend. Moreover, despite the name, Ruka is actually a girl. In order to convince Sousuke, Michiru tries to call Ruka back but unfortunately Ruka doesn't pick up her telephone. Suddenly Sousuke becomes accusatory towards Michiru. He believes that the message sender is a man. He kicks the coffee table and starts to violently shaking Michiru, demanding her answer. Wow, talk about drastic change from understanding boyfriend to a domestic violence troll. In order to convince Sousuke, Michiru tells him that she's going to show him the album which has pictures of her and Ruka during their junior high. Because of this, Michiru goes back to her house and attempts to find the photo album in question.

However, despite her attempt to look for it, she can't find it. To make matter worse, an impatient Sousuke calls her mobile but she decides not to answer it. The next time she answers, he explodes with anger and asks her why she didn't answer earlier. He accused her of being with the other man despite Michiru explaining that she's trying to find the photo album. Unhappy with the explanation, Sousuke orders her to go back to his apartment right away. Because of this, despite the fact that the day rains heavily, Michiru tries her best to make her way back to Sousuke's apartment. Once she gets there, Sousuke pulls her in and starts pushing her onto the ground before slapping and kicking her around. Even though Michiru are clearly in pain, Sousuke looks as if he's possessed and continues to beat her up. Eventually, however, Sousuke comes to his senses and apologizes for what he did. Despite his assurance, Michiru won't have any of it and tells him that she's going to try looking for the album again. Instead of doing that, however, she runs away from his apartment despite the heavy rain. Unfortunately, she can't go back home since her mother is now living happily there with her boyfriend.

Unable to figure out where she could go, Michiru attempts to contact Ruka again. However, she only reaches her answering machine again. Ruka, however, gets the message and is in the middle of a convenient store when she decides to check it. Upon hearing Michiru's seemingly depressing message, she grabs her umbrella and proceeds to run to the park that they visited before. Over there, Michiru is still sitting on her own, looking traumatised and dumbfounded. Michiru is surprised when she sees Ruka arriving with an umbrella. Ruka tells her that she guessed that she would be here. Seeing that Michiru has no place to go, she offers her to go to her house. When they arrive there, they find out that Eri and Takeru are already there, having an Indian night. Surprised at the reception, Michiru asks if everyone lives there in the shared house. Eri begins to introduce herself and Takeru. Upon hearing this, Michiru wonders if it's possible for her to stay here for the night because she had a 'little' fight (0_0;) with her boyfriend. The others agree so the four of them have a great night together.

Michiru recalls how that night, Ruka and the friends that she just met, were very kind to her. She felt like a lost child who came to a house full of sweets and became happy. However, when the night came, she remembered Sousuke. Note: anyone who feels this way after being abused needs to check the term battered person syndrome. She apologizes to Ruka because the side of her who felt that she's the most unfortunate person in the world back then was just a kid. Anyway, the next morning, Takeru bids goodbye to Ruka while the others are still asleep. Before he left on his bike, however, he asks Ruka if he can live in the house as well because he thinks the house feels friendly. Ruka suggests that he asks Eri about it instead of her. After Takeru left, Ruka puts a blanket on the still sleeping Eri before putting another one on Michiru. She then goes to stare at Michiru and after a while couldn't resist her desire to get closer to her. The episode then ends with a shot of Ruka kissing a sleeping Michiru on the lips.

Impression

The second half of this story really was disturbing and depressing. I have no idea how Sousuke turns from a kind, understanding boyfriend to an abusive, girlfriend beater. It's like there's a switch in his brain and just like that, he turned into an abuser. On a hindsight, his job as a child protector agent was probably some kind of hint. Maybe he was abused as a kid and therefore when he became an adult, he chose a job where he can help abused children. However, as many people know, people who got abused as a kid sometimes turn into abusers themselves. At any rate, the whole thing was really disturbing. I was watching this in a darkened room and for some reason I could feel Michiru's fear as Sousuke beats and kicks her down. On the other hand, what was she doing going back to his apartment? This should be a warning to anyone. The minute your boyfriend, or even girlfriend, starts to seriously beat you up, that's the minute when you need to move the hell away from him/her. If he does it once, then it's guaranteed that he'll do it again. No man or woman worth so much that you have to suffer that kind of abuse.

Because of this, Michiru should have also left his ass, or even call the police, the minute he started to lay his hands on her. There's no reason for her to tolerate that kind of behaviour. Since this story is told in a flashback and the current Michiru is pregnant, it wouldn't be hard to guess that she actually went back to Sousuke despite what he's done to her. Having said that, hats off to the actors who portray both characters because their portrayal are so convincing that it's terrifying. Moving along, I also have to praise Ueno Juri's acting as Ruka. Her character here is completely removed from Nodame. She's reserved, aloof, and tries to keep her distance as much as possible. Maybe after Nodame she wants a completely different role and it's obvious that she finally gets it with Ruka. Eita didnt do a bad job either as Takeru. I just wish they are less cliche about his appearance. For some reason, every single portrayal of a male hairdresser means that they dress like an eyesore and have a hair which should be trimmed with clippers number 2. It's probably to emphasize the point of how people can easily associate appearance with sexual preference.

Takeru's feminine outlook was the very reason why Eri got the impression that he's probably gay. The truth is, it's really hard to tell one's sexual preference from outer's appearance. The most masculine men out there could be gay while someone who looks like a girl is actually as straight as an arrow. Moving along, Mizukawa Asami's role has been pretty limited thus far. She just seems like a very chatty friend for Ruka and Takeru. I did see that she seems to be ignored by her colleagues for some reason. Maybe we'll get to see more of her story in the future. Overall, this is a strongly acted story. It doesn't offer anything new in terms of drama but it does it well. The combination of acting, directing, and the soundtrack produce a strong episode about friendship and relationship. I was especially impressed with the domestic violence scene because it looks disturbingly real. The same can be said about the scene where Ruka runs in a rain to find Michiru while Utada Hikaru's Prisoner of Love plays in the background. Having said that, I'm not sure yet if I'll revisit the story again next week. It's a pretty dark and depressing story and I'm not in the mood to see this kind of thing at the moment.

Preview

On next week's episode: Ruka gets into a motorbike accident.

© memento 2003