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!

Moka Makes a Sage Observation about a Mystery Drama Trope

 So I'm watching the latest episode of Keishicho Outsider, where Hasumi (Gaku Hamada) and Mizuki ( Moka Kamishiraishi)  are interviewing a victim who was attacked by a masked man, trying to get clues to the case.

 Some guy comes into the room where he is introduced as a friend of the victim, who is praying for her to come through. I rolled my eyes and thought, "Duh, it's obvious that this '"good" guy is gonna end up being the attacker!"

WELL, whether or not the dude actually ended up being the attacker was still to be revealed, but I had a laugh when, in the next scene, Mizuki is talking to Hasumi and flat-out says she believes the criminal to be the helpful friend, because she watches a lot of crime dramas and that's ALWAYS who it turns out to be!

Not only did Mizuki call out the overused trope, but even went as far as saying it was a particularly overused cliche on TV ASAHI shows, the joke being of course that Keishicho Outsider is a TV Asahi show ITSELF! 

AAHAHAHA, I was dying! TV ASAHI even further clowned themselves by having Hasumi say you have to learn from real life, not dramas...and ESPECIALLY not TV ASAHI dramas! 

HAHAHAHA

The “Backstabber Within The Company” Trope Alive and Well in Current J-Drama Land

 I’ve complained ab0ut this trope which seems to be a staple of every J-drama featuring a small group of entrepreneurs starting up a new company, and that is that as SOON as the company begins to get some success, there will be a member of the team who will be a TRAITOR to the team, selling out secrets and sabotaging the product, much to the SHOCK of the employees!

We’ve seen in it shows like SUPER-RICH and RICH MAN, POOR WOMAN, and with the cliche making its appearance in current shows like the recent Mei Nagano computer app startup show UNICORN NI NOTTE, the trope seems to be ALIVE and WELL!

But when I saw it back-to-back in both FIRST PENGUIN and the latest episode of ATOM NO KO, I really had to stop and say, "MAN, this is one of the most BORING and PREDICTABLE twists in  shows like this...how can  a writer in good conscience keep utilizing it?"

For once, it would be nice if, when they caught the culprit, he got fed to the wolves as is deserved. But of course, the turncoat doesn’t have to worry, because ANOTHER trope is that the owner will not only forgive the traitor, but coddle him/her and say there will ALWAYS be a place in the company for them, making the traitor FALL on his KNEES and BREAK DOWN crying!

Heart of gold owner INSISTING he is valuable to the company and wants him BACK!

Can we PLEASE stop using this trope already???!!!

You're in a J-Drama When...

 A few new entries going into the big list of J-drama Cliches and tropes!  

Unexpected Person at the Haka

Whenever a lone character goes to visit a grave and give offerings, he/she will be startled by the unexpected arrival of another person. Then the two will talk about the deceased, usually they employ this method to explain backstory between the deceased and the main character.

Slamming Down a Glass of Beer in Disgust

 An almost comically overused cliche of the downtrodden employee who, after going to an izakaya with co-workers after a hard day, will take a swig of beer before slamming it down and half-drunkenly complaining about the “jerk” that they are working with!

Bonus points if the scene begins with a closeup of the glass slamming against the table...

"Hey, There's That Person I Like! Ooops..."

A new variation of the classic "Mistaken Kiss" trope that i've been seeing a lot lately is when the main character is just starting to fall in love with this new romantic interest and sees him/her out in public. They happily rush over to say HI...but stops SHORT when they see the person MEETING UP with ANOTHER PERSON who looks like it is his/her LOVE INTEREST!!

Cue heartbreak and subsequent "OH I SEE He/She already HAS a partner, guess we were only FRIENDS, well, I guess that's OKAY!