Jdrama Review: Taiyou no Kisetsu

 

Taiyou no Kisetsu or Season of the Sun starring Takizawa Hideaki is as hot just as it is cold and dark.

If there are some themes that Jdramas are good at, these are: school dramas, slice of life, seishun/youth, detective/ mind stimulating dramas and quite a few romantic comedies here and there. I don’t want to generalize but I think Kdramas have got the romantic dramas down perfectly. But that’s another story for another day. Lately I’ve been watching old Jdramas because well, I kinda don’t find the recent ones worth investing on. Except maybe the new one with Miura Haruma and Erika Toda. I don’t know… maybe it’s because they don’t make the kind of nostalgic, simple yet memorable dramas that really speak to me anymore.

Okay first! Let’s talk Takizawa Hideaki (from Tackey & Tsubasa). Man, if there’s one boy in JE that I think will succeed old boy Johnny and run the company, it’s this guy. Lol. I first noticed him when he was a perky, confident and active junior, and he looked sooo different from the others. He was definitely the golden boy in those days. He kinda looked like a “gaijin”/ foreigner or a “hafu”/half-Japanese. But that’s not the reason why I think he’s attractive— his brand of handsomeness is definitely of a different level. I mean, he’s got trademark cheekbones, dimples and hotbod to boot. And I also think he’s really smart—he tries to learn the things that go behind the entertainment biz as he now directs videos (he did NEWS’ concert intro vid), and is now producing theatre taiga performances. If only he danced and dressed a little better he’d be totally perfect lol. So I was really excited to watch his 2006 or (was it 2007?) drama Taiyou no Kisetsu or Season of the Sun.

 

Give me the key to your heart.

 

Brief synopsis: It’s a story about a college student Tatsuya (Tackey) who’s exceptionally smart, good-looking and has rich, popular friends. In other words, he’s part of the “in” mean crowd. Even so, his friends still think there’s something dark and mysterious about him and doubt if he really has parents who own big businesses in the province. But there’s one person who believes and supports him all the way, Shuji, the rich son of a bank owner. But while everyone in the university thinks that he’s loaded like his peeps, he actually lives alone in a dingy old apartment he barely has money to keep. With all his pretences and efforts to conceal his real identity, he has but one goal—to take revenge on Shuji. That is, until he meets an innocent girl (played by Ikewaki Chiziru) with a limp, whose sunny personality and kindness just might break Tatsuya’s cold and cunning heart.

 

Takes three to tango.

 

We are first introduced to the drama with a glaring shot of the sun (which will recur until the end of the drama) and with Tatsuya making a big, ugly scratch on a spanking new, expensive top down car. Together with his friends (which we shall call “bratpack” lol), Tatsuya was actually out on a beach trip, doing nothing but sipping cocktails and lounging around a swanky yacht. Yes, these kids are extremely wealthy spoiled brats and they parasite off their parent’s money. They couldn’t have emphasized that any further. The bratpacks grew up together, attending each other’s black tie parties, hung out on the same bar and had their faces published on every society page there is. For some unknown reason, Tatsuya worked his way into the group, gaining the trust of the kindest (or should I say naïve?) bratpack member, Shuji—the one who happens to own the scratched car. Behind his back Tatsuya would steal his beloved girlfriend, even going as far as sleeping with her on Shuji’s basement and eat dinner with him afterwards as if nothing happened lol. Dang. Has he got guts or what? He even uses the girlfriend to work for her dad’s company and plot ways to bring the company down. Anyways, what’s interesting is that Tatsuya WAS actually a nice guy. So what the hell is he doing sleeping with a girl (countless times at that) he barely knows and destroying someone else’s life?

 

 

In this drama, Tackey shows that he’s more than just a pretty face. Well, you’ll see him running around all sweaty and taking his shirt off a lot to show his abs as a plus lol! Tatsuya was on the point of no return—he has the choice to either keep running or turn back, either way he’d still lose everything. The allusion of him running (which is also a recurring theme) shows how he’s trying to run away from himself, fuelled by his selfish desires for revenge, yet at the same time he’s trying to figure out which way to go. When he meets the young composer his pace wavers, and from being a sturdy man-bitch he becomes a “weak” nice guy, fickle-minded as to whether he should keep up with all his lies or live an honest, real life and love with this girl.

This is the first time I’ve seen Tackey do a serious and dark drama, and I really think he’s got the makings of a really good actor. At one point I got really annoyed with Tatsuya, his cunning ways and indecisiveness and all that freaking running! They really worked him hard for this one, as about more than half of the drama you’d see him running real fast wearing a form-fitting sleeveless top that shows off his muscles. Lol sorry can’t help but stare at the pretty. Anyways, the fact that he was able to elicit such a reaction means that he’s really effective. The drama is quite shocking (for a Jdrama starring an idol) in itself. It has a lot of themes like suicide and lots of implied sex, makeout scenes between Tatsuya and Shuji’s girl. Gotta admit Tackey was really seductive in this one. There was even a scene where he grabbed a middle-aged woman’s breast just to make a statement that yes, he is EVIL with a capital E. He simply uses his sexual and persuasive power to get what he wants.

 

The girl who played Shuji’s girlfriend and cheated on him with Tatsuya. Thought she was really pretty, but her character was quite evil, wanting to keep Shuji while maintaining a “fling” with Tatsuya. But she’s also pitiful as she was used (and re-used) by Tatsuya.

 

Ikewari Chizuru was the representative good girl who changed Tatsuya’s heart. She played her character well, but I do think she’s not quite memorable. Her character is someone who plays the piano really well, with a has-been pianist mom who’s quite insecure of her very own daughter. It’s understandable that she’d fall head over heels with Tatsuya the bad boy who showed a teeny weeny bit of kind gesture towards her in the beginning. She’s always been locked in her home (with no friends and was forced to practice piano every friggin’ day) and for the first time, she found a reason to get out. In a way Tatsuya also helped her become strong, but I can’t help but feel like she’s always being naïve even when the guy cheats on her face. I just am not too convinced why she’d throw away everything for Tatsuya.

 

What’s also interesting is the drama’s intro. It shows Tackey and the girl on a desert and on one shot Tackey is shown lying on a cracked ground, with something like coal in his mouth. Weird… Anyways, from the way Tatsuya narrates in the beginning and throughout the drama, you’ll know that it’s not gonna end happily ever after. All I can say is, it’s something different from all the gambatte-happy-cheery Jdramas. There were a lot of loopholes and confusing parts, and the ending/ resolution of one character who helped Tatsuya with revenge felt rushed, and the ending itself is quite ehhhh… But it’s definitely one to prove that Tackey’s got mad acting skills. I wish he’d do a rom-com though. It’s been too long since he’s been on one!

Just coz’ I love Tackey too much.