Wonderfully Sombre "Grace no Rireki"

Kikuo Hasumi (Kenichi Takito) is a quiet pharmacist living with his vibrant and positive wife Minako. Since they live a low-key life , Kikuo is shocked when Minako suddenly quits her job and makes plans to take a trip to France! He can’t understand why she would do this on what seems like the spur of the moment, but knows she knows best.

In her beloved Honda she affectionately calls “Grace”, she says her goodbyes before leaving for Narita Airport where she’ll board the flight for France. She worries that he’ll be lonely without her, but he assures her that being alone is like second nature to him and that she should enjoy her vacation!!

Kikuo sends her off with a smile, but what he doesn’t know is that this is the last time he will ever see her alive. Some weeks later, Kikuo gets word of a horrible accident involving a Tour Bus in France, and his worst fears are confirmed when he arrives and she is among the passengers who died in the tragedy.

For the next few weeks, Kikou is a wreck, and he spends his days lying listlessly in the house alone. It’s only when Minako’s car is returned to him that he is forced to come out and interact with people.

The Car is among the items willed to Kikuo by Minako, with the written hope he will use it and learn to enjoy driving it like she did. Kikuo has never driven before, so must take lessons before he can get behind the wheel of Grace. But when he does, he finds a curious thing in the car’s GPS tracking system… A record of a FULL  WEEK worth of traveling in Japan BEFORE her flight to France!

Where had she gone? And what was she DOING and why was it SECRET? Using the Car’s navigation, Kikuo decides to use the GPS to retrace Minako’s steps in the week before her death,  taking a long journey into the unknown! And as he does, he will connect with old friends,  befriend new strangers and make new acquaintances as he eventually uncovers the truth and learns the final gift of love Minako has left for him.

MAN, this was one heart-wrenching and bittersweet drama! Very sombre and slow paced, I had to take the drama in small doses to really appreciate what it had to offer. Loved going along with Kikuo on his spiritual journey and thought the ending was just achingly perfect!

This was a drama from last season that I only now finished, and have to say it’s one of the season’s finer ones!

A Most HATED J-Drama Cliche!!!!!

WARNING:

Spoilers for "Osama ni Sasagu Kusuriyubi" and "Watashi No Oyome Kun"

...also for "Summer Snow", but shouldn't you have seen that by now? LOL

Out of ALL the cliches that have been around since I began watching J-dramas in the mid 90’s, so many of them have been phased out and relegated to occasional chestnut, but the ONE cliche that CAN’T seem to DIE is the “Because I Love You, I’m Going To Dump You” cliche, and it’s driving me CRAZY!

In not just ONE, but TWO of the dramas this past season, they’ve “gone there” with this sad, time-wasting trope, and I mean to tell you,  I WANT IT TO STOP!

It’s always the same set-up: Guy and girl fall in Love and everything is going SWIMMINGLY, until one of the couple’s friends secretly says to the other that they are HOLDING their partner BACK, (or, in the case of the health-issue stories, are told they are BAD for the partner’s HEALTH and WELL BEING), and if they CARED for their partner AT ALL, they would LEAVE THEM IMMEDIATELY!

The concerned partner of course, ALWAYS stupidly takes the friend’s advice and I get it, they care about their partner and truly want what’s best for them… but then comes the NEXT part, which always makes me INSANE:

The person plans to DUMP their partner for THEIR SAKE, but not without VERY ENTHUSIASTICALLY saying “We’ll be together 4-Ever!” the day before. Then the next day, the partner is BEWILDERED when their partner GHOSTS them, IGNORING their calls and AVOIDING their visits. When they DO finally meet up, it’s for the person who dumped the other to say they HATE them and NEVER want to SEE them AGAIN!

Below: One of the first dramas I remember seeing this trope in, "Summer Snow" with Tsuyoshi Domoto and Ryoko Hirosue.

Same scenario with recent Osama ni Sasagu Kusuriyubi:

also "Watashi no Oyome Kun:

Tears are shed and it all seems over…until a concerned person pulls the hurt party aside and tells them “ You KNOW they did it for YOU, right? They only DUMPED YOU because they actually really LOVE YOU, and YOU’RE the one with the problem!”

Below: The revelation in Ousama:

in Watashi no Oyome-kun

And then the wounded party CONFRONTS the other, says they now KNOW they did it for THEIR sake, and it’s ALL GOOD…and then they GET BACK TOGETHER again!

I’m BEGGING you drama screenwriters out there…STOP USING THIS DELUDED CLICHE, it’s a TIRED crutch to fall back on it order to pad the show with more drama at the end!

PS: Gotta love how YOUNG everyone in Summer Snow is, ESPECIALLY Oguri Shun, who looks like a 8 year old boy, and cute Chizuru Ikewaki who, for a brief time, I was MADLY in LOVE with!

Once again, gotta say how time sure does fly!