Operation Love Review

Operation Love
Alternative Title: Proposal Daisakusen
Year: 2007, 2008 (special)
Episodes: 11 episodes, 1 special
Language: Japanese
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Sci-Fi

Synopsis:

Iwase Ken (Tomohisa Yamashita) attends a wedding of his childhood bestfriend Rei (Masami Nagasawa). He is secretly in love with Rei and regrets for not being able to confess his feelings to her. A fairy then appears to his rescue by giving him a chance to go back to the past and try to win her heart.

Seriousnuts’ Review:

As soon as I watched the first episode, I could already empathize with the protagonist. This drama is seen more from the point of view of a male. Seeing the story through a guy's perspective has always been interesting to me (especially because I'm a girl). At the start of the story, as I saw Ken rushing to the wedding, I had the wrong impression that he was the groom. As the scene went through the wedding, I learned that it wasn't his wedding and his long time secret love Rei was to be wed to another man (awwww). The couple exchanged their vows, and the reception proceeded. After Ken gave his congratulatory speech with an unhappy and bitter expression, a series of photos of the bride were shown in the big screen. Since Ken is Rei's best friend, he too was included in most of the photos. For each picture that was shown, Ken reminisced the events that occured during those times. He regretted each chance that he let pass by without showing his real feelings for Rei. Rei would then occasionally give him meaningful glances as the pictures appeared. She too was affected by those memories, and if I were the groom, I would get jealous. Ken seemed to have really a deep connection with Rei, yet, they didn't end up together. What could have gone wrong? What could have been the story behind those pictures? I was so intrigued and that made me watch the series episode after episode. A male fairy appeared before Ken to the rescue. He used his magic to give Ken a chance to go back to each photo to try and change the past, and hopefully, win Rei's heart. 

This is not just an ordinary drama. Although romance between friends is a common feature of many love stories, the drama was able to stand out. I think the magical element in the story made the series more interesting and entertaining. Each time travel Ken made, he still failed to win Rei. Yet, for each time he came back to the present, he saw the changed photo, with Rei smiling instead of the originally sad expression. Despite being unable to win her heart, he was able to change her sorrows into happiness. He tried his best but the main ending (wedding) was still the same. After so many struggles, Ken finally realized that he couldn't change the past. He could only change the present. As he failed in his last attempt to win Rei's heart, he took a picture of himself (a method to go back to the present) and went back to the earlier present. He was back to the present times, but instead of finding himself standing in the reception hall (as always throughout the series), he was outside the building smoking. He realized that he haven't given the congratulatory speech yet. There he decided to confess his love to Rei. If he could not make it in the past, he could make it in the present.

The drama does not only focus on the love story, but to friendship as well. I enjoyed watching the friendship among the five people. They really reminded me of my own youth and school life. We were able to follow Ken and his friends from high school to work. As they grew older, they became busy with their own lives that they seldom see each other anymore. This shows a very common part of real life. As we grow older, we start losing more and more things. What would be left are the memories. I admire the friendship they had in the story. Despite the physical distance, the five of them remained very good friends. 

I think that the drama made a superb job into relaying its message to the viewers. Using the time travel concept is brilliant, a thought-provoking concept. I too had so many regrets in life that I wished a fairy would appear and help me go back to the past. But instead, the story only showed how useless it is to dwell on the past and live with regrets. We should rather focus on what we can do at the present. Aside from the good story, the acting is also praiseworthy. The actors are convincing, each of them were able to portray the roles perfectly. At first I find Yamashita (Ken) to be too poker-faced. Whenever he had to go back to and fro the past, he had to let out a yell yet his face was expressionless. I grew to love him anyway, and he was able to earn my sympathy for his struggles to earn Rei's love. It's also fascinating how some of the extra characters reappear each time Ken goes back to the past. The restaurant owner, the foreigner athlete, their classmate Socrates, and the teacher who turned into a potter seem to be always just around the corner. It's funny how they show up each scene despite their little role in the main story. Their inclusion into the drama made it even more heartwarming and unforgettable. I highly recommend the drama for it's thought-provoking message and highly entertaining story as well as the great performance of the actors. Definitely not a time-waster. Two thumbs up for the drama!

Seriousnuts’ Verdict:
10 out of 10 stars.

Asian Stars Trivia: Ryunosuke Kamiki

Japanese: 神木 隆之介

Birthdate: May 19, 1993

I saw this lad for the first time in Koukousei Restaurant. He plays Yosuke Sakamoto, the best student chef in Shouka High School. I wasn’t a bit familiar with Ryunosuke, and I thought there must be something about this boy that had landed him to such an important role in the drama. It turned out that I knew him all along! Well, not really by face, but by voice. Yes, Ryunosuke is a voice actor. He has lent his voice to many popular characters: Spirited Away’s Bo, Arriety’s Sho, and Summer Wars’ Kenji, among others. If you have watched the movies I’ve mentioned, you’ll know that the characters are very different from each other. I didn’t have a clue that they were voiced by the same actor until I read it on Wikipedia. I really have high respect for Japanese voice actors. In my opinion, Japan has one of the best voice actors in the world.

Note: In the images shown above, The Great Yokai War is a 2005 fantasy movie that stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and in which he was nominated for the Newcomer of the Year Award.

Puzzle (2007) Review

Puzzle

Year: 2007

Episodes: 4

Language: Japanese

Genre: Mystery

Source: Amazon Japan

Synopsis:

A group of armed men seizes a school and takes a teacher and a student as their hostages. The hostage-takers ask the top class to complete a puzzle in exchange for the hostages’ lives.

Cheerfulnuts’ Review:

Aside from sharing the same title, being aired on the same TV network, and having Yamamoto Yusuke in both dramas, Puzzle isn’t related to 2008’s Puzzle in any way. The former is about a group of students from the top class who are forced to search for 2000 puzzle pieces and complete a picture within 48 hours. A group of armed men barges into a school which happens to be empty except for two teachers, the students from the top class, and a student who is about to quit from school. The events are slowly relayed to us through interviews carried out by an unknown man whom I presumed to be a police officer. During the entire interview, only the faces of the victims are shown. The delivery method had instantly caught my curiosity and I thought something as horrible as the Battle Royal must have taken place. I was wrong.

The hostage-takers aren’t as evil as I’ve expected. In fact, they aren’t scary at all. The students, on the other hand, are not a bit memorable. It’s shameful that the female teacher cannot take charge and seems to be the most panicky among the victims. I also fail to sympathize with any of them. I find the students’ detachment to each other hard to believe.

Still, I like the delivery of the story and I was suddenly drawn to it. It’s not boring (each episode lasts only about 24 minutes) and it’s actually quite entertaining. But it isn’t as good at it has promised. This is a type of drama that would catch your attention in the beginning and would keep you from switching off the TV until the very end, only to realize that it’s not really worth your time.

Cheerfulnuts’ Verdict:

4 out of 10 stars.