Sayonara, Maestro

An almost identical reworking of the Mugi Kadowaki drama “Reversal Orchestra”: Genius musician at the top of their game who has to withdraw due to the hospitalization of a family member and then retires. Years later a small-town orchestra needs their guidance to build back interest in the music (or the evil government people will close down the orchestra for good)…Little by little they are coerced into taking the leadership role, which they then flourish at and find they love the music life after all.

Instead of Mugi Kadowaki as a lead violinist, we have Hidetoshi Nishijima as a conflicted Symphony Conductor. Other than that, it’s basically a real retread of the former, with even a bit of Gekokujo Kyuji  thrown in (which Sayonara Maestro ironically just took the place of)… Like the other shows, it seems they will focus each episode on the personal problem of a specific member, and they already delved into one of them...I can't say that sounds too interesting, though I'm curious about the Yuko Araki and Ami Touma characters...

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!

Hayabusa Shobodan~ Hayabusa Fire Brigade

 A young writer named Taro Mima (Tomoya Nakamura) is in a bit of a slump since he won the newcomer award some years back, for his first book “Hell”. But since then his novels haven’t quite taken off,  and is under pressure by his editor Nakayamada (Koji Yamamoto) to produce his next book.

When he gets notice in the mail that parties are interested in purchasing his childhood home in Hayabusa and he needs to look it over, he uses it as an opportunity to get away from the bustle and demands of the city. 

Once there, however, he is charmed by the rustic small village and, though overrun with bugs, he decides to keep the house and live in it.  Taro has been estranged from his Father for years, even before his death, and has not been home since he was a youngster of 5 or 6. But the warmth touches him and, after just one day there, hears him say to himself, “for the first time, I feel alive.”

As he’s been away for practically his whole life, he doesn’t remember any of the people there, folks who say they are like aunts and uncles to him are strangers to him. A guy named Kansuke (Shinnosuke Mitsushima) visits him and chides Taro for not remembering his childhood friend, telling him of how they would play tokusatsu super-hero games in his backyard.

Kansuke invites Taro to the town restaurant, where he eventually finds he has been brought there to meet with the local volunteer Fire Brigade, of whom Kansuke is a member of.

The men (among them Namase Katsuhisa, Jun Hashimoto, Takashi Okabe and others) want Taro to join their forces as a volunteer, aggressively trying to convince him to be a member. But Taro has moved there to become a writer, and so, citing the fact that he has no physical skills and is bad around groups,  politely declines.

This outlook of his is about to change when one day, while out fishing with Kansuke, a fire breaks out at the home of one of his Uncles. Tagging along to help, Taro sees firsthand how committed and brave these men are, working fiercely to get the fire under control and braving the fires within to save the inhabitants.

Talking with his Uncle a few days later, he is reminded of the childhood stories he’d write as a kid, stories of him being a super-hero who would protect his home and hometown from all the evils of the world. 

He realizes these firefighters are doing just what he promised HE would do, and thus, with the help of some alcohol, faces the fire Brigade once again, and this time officially requests to be permitted to join them.

 

WELL! This news is met with much cheering and camaraderie, and before you know it, he has been given his own uniform and has officially been made a member of the Department!

Taro hopes to make something of himself in this town as a firefighter, and he’s even begun writing again, all of it very good and ready for serialization.

But beneath the cheerful demeannor of the firemen lies something more sombre: there is a darkness lurking beneath the surface of this seemingly idyllic little town, with strange serial arsons springing up over and over again, and outsiders lurking around every corner. And when dead bodies begin turning up, Taro must face the fact that his idealistic childhood hometown may be more sinister than he ever thought!

…And then there’s the mystery of the melancholy young woman Taro has seen out of the corners of his eyes ( Haruna Kawaguchi) while about town. Ever since first seeing her brooding upon a hill, he has been fascinated with her…and as we are to soon see, SHE has an interest in HIM as well!

Only time  (and future episodes) will tell who she is and what her agenda may be….

Another drama I found myself TRANSFIXED watching!!! Unlike a lot of J-dramas, you never know just what you are supposed to be feeling: warmth, happiness, guilt or suspicion as the scenes play out, keeping me on my TOES and ond the edge of my seat trying to guess what comes NEXT!