Tropes and Cliches Abound in “Aoshima-kun wa Ijiwaru”

From the get go I knew the new drama  “Aoshima-kun wa Ijiwaru” wasm’t going to fit in my wheelhouse and that it was aimed at viewers WAY younger than my demographic, but with Anne Nakamura in it as the female lead, I at LEAST had to check it out!

“Aoshima-kun wa Ijiwaru”  featuring the overused-to-death trope of the “Two People Who Hate Each Other But Pretend to be a Couple Then Actually Fall In Love” scenario, when able office supervisor Yukino Katsuragi (Nakamura) needs someone to stand in for a boyfriend for a wedding, and office heartthrob Mizuki Aoshima (Shota Watanabe) needs a fake girlfriend to get all the girls asking him for dates off his back (aw, poor guy)...

Though They each dislike each other, they come to terms  to solve each other’s problems, and after seeing the good sides of the other, sure enough they become attracted to each other. Yep, it’s the same old story and told in a fairly basic an unimaginative set-up, one which I confess I found aggravating to sit through as they did cliche after cliche….

AS I mentioned, I only really checked this out for Anne Nakamura, and My GOSH is she pretty in this one! I’ve been in love with her ever since her small but stunning role in the 2015 Satomi Ishihara drama “From 5 to 9”, and though she’s since appeared in many dramas, very rarely is she the female lead, so this was a nice turn!

Also nice to see Ryoko Kobayashi here as Yukino’s friend Takako Suzuki, 

 as well as appearances for actress Akiko Yada as the drama’s Bar Mama,

and Tae Kimura as Kumi Sakamoto, a Celebrity Guru!

With dramas like “Coffee and Vanilla”, “Usokon”, “Ousama ni Sasagu Kusuriyubi”, heck, even Anne Nakamura’s own “Love Rerun”  from a few years back, this trope of the tsundere lead actor being an asolute jerk to the lead actress and then her falling madly in love with him) is an EXTREMELY POPULAR genre right now among the younger viewers… Guess I’m officially in the “Old Codger” boat, ‘cause most of the characters and conflicts are just aggravating for me to sit through! 

Take the scene where they first introduce Aoshimi. Yukino is standing in the hallway reading an event poster, when Aoshima steps up and tells her to move.  Yukino apologizes and moves to the side- but at the same time, AOSHIMA moves to the side so she’s still in his way. She apologizes again and moves back- to which he ALSO moves back and snarkily says “Are You KIDDING ME?” before brushing past her.

"Can you please move aside?"

"??? Ohhh...sorry!"

She moves aside...and Aoshima moves aside, too!

"Are you KIDDING ME?"

It’s supposed to show the viewer, ‘Oh, they got off on the wrong foot, that’s why they don’t like each other”, but all I could think was, “Hey JERK If you tell someone to MOVE, then why the HELL are YOU moving too? If you ask someone to MOVE, then WAIT so she can move and THEN walk by!

His attitude about the whole thing is bad enough, but in an earlier shot, you can see that the corridor is ABSOLUTELY wide enough that he could have squeezed by ANYWAY!  Surely the stuff he was carrying wasn't THAT cumbersome!

In fact, in one scene, Yukino is in the hall talking with Takako, and two employees easily walk right by them, showing that there's PLENTY of space if you aren't a rude cad! D’OH.

MAN, no WONDER the drama is called “Aoshima-kun is Mean”, LOL!

BY THE WAY, You know ONE THING this drama has made me realize?  My New Most LOATHED cliche is now the “Spoiled Airhead Employee who Slacks Off” Character. MAN, am I beginning to DETEST having to sit through this cliche in every damn Office Drama!
Below: Lazy Employee Rika (Manatsu Akimoto) whines about having to do her work while co-worker Shinji (Junki Tozuka) looks on."Yukino is too Bossy!" she pouts.

Yukino has to tread carefully here since another trope is her getting written up for power harassment, but firmly tells her she must do her job properly....

Later Rika is scolded for screwing up her assignment, no surprise since she doesn't pay attention to her job or even care about doing it right. Who could have seen it coming!

But as these cliches go, she has an easy out: Blaming YUKINO for not properly supervising her and checking her work! 

BOTH of them have to work late to fix the problem. And then for the final part of this overused trope, Rika declares that she has to leave work on time as she has a date, handing over ALL the work for Yukino to finish up!

Don't worry Yukino, this is all just part of the usual Office Related Drama Cliches!

GADS, I just HATE having to sit through this in EVERY Office Drama!

Hayabusa Shobodan おわり

A drama that took me completely unaware! When I initially began watching this, I expected a traditional story of the "harried city man who comes to small town and recharges himself", and at first, that was what we got, with main character Taro Mima (Tomoya Nakamura), a struggling writer, coming to the small village of Hayabusa, connecting with the locals, joining the fire brigade and even finding a love interest of sorts in Aya Takichi (Haruna Kawaguchi).

But at the halfway mark of Hayabusa Shobodan, the show slowly began shifting into an entirely different, SURREAL drama, one involving Fanatical Religious Cults, Supernatural Encounters, and Spiritual Prophet Reincarnation! WHAAA!

While on one hand thinking  "What the HECK is happening to this drama?", the OTHER hand was transfixed and couldn't WAIT to see what would happen NEXT! This had all the makings of a David Lynch Series a la TWIN PEAKS, and I was ALL on BOARD!

 I've said many times how much I appreciate an unpredictable show where you're on your toes with one surprise after another and I GOTTA SAY, I had NO IDEA where ANY of it was going to GO! Had me guessing ALL the WAY to the END!

Sadly, it ended ALL TOO SOON, and I  really wished it could have been even 15 minutes longer just so we could have a nicer "wrap up" between the romantic leads. STILL, a fine show and one I'm satisfied with, something I can't say for most of the shows lately... 

PS: I was worried I might be missing something important by not watching the spin-off series "Koi No Mousou Shoubodan"...especially when the promotional banner showed Taro and Aya getting MARRIED! GAHHH, SPOILERS Much???

But NOT to WORRY... it was all a RUSE as these spinoff shows are rarely to be taken seriously, and in fact this wacky Koi No Mousou Shobodan series consisted solely of the boys of the Hayabusa Brigade drunkenly fantasizing about the future for Taro and Aya, one of which is to imagine them getting hitched! 

Yep, this whole side drama was JUST made up of fun "imaginary" scenarios~! WHEW!

WELL,  they certainly tricked ME!