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!

The High Flying "House of Ninjas"

Just started watching the new NETFLIX series "House of Ninjas" and so far, it is a real HOOT!!! The Story: The last descendants of an old and legendary Ninja Clan, the TAWARAS, have been living normal lives among the commoners after the death of one of their family during a mission causes them to abandon their darker pasts and "go straight". But they have found that it is harder than it seems!

Father Souichi (Yosuke Eguchi) is the one trying his hardest to go legit, running the sake brewery that has been passed down through the generations as a front for their covert activites. But with dwindling sales and an aversion from getting "government" help, he is clearly struggling. And it doesn't help that at home, no one seems to respect his decision!

Mom Yoko (Tae Kimura) is a bit more lenient on slipping into her old ways and spends her free time shoplifting minor items form the supermarket for kicks. But when a real mission comes up, she eagerly accepts, careful not to let hubby know!

As well, young daughter Nagi (Aju Makita)  has never truly abandoned her ninja roots and has kept up her skills, keeping fit and training every night, stealing precious artifacts from the Museum of Art for the pure challenge of it all!

The one who is the hardest hit by the death of the family member is son Haru (Kento Kaku), as the one killed was his older brother Gaku (Kengo Kora), and Haru feels personally responsible for his death. 

He has been haunted by nightmares of that fateful night and has spend the last few years keeping to himself, working nights as a vending machine stocker, avoiding others.

But this changes when he happens across a pretty girl who frequents the late-night joint where he gets his meals. She is extremely pretty and Haru wuld love to ask her out. But he dares not. If it is up to him, nothing will happen... but unbelievably, they hit it off and it is the girl herself who asks HIM out on a date! Haru is thrilled but he will find there is more to this girl than meets the eye.

Her name is Karen Ito (Riho Yoshioka), and she is an intrepid journalist for a conspiracy-type magazine. At the moment she is investigating a horrific incident on a cruise ship where every passenger aboard was poisoned and killed, and part of the reason she asks him out is to accompany her on some of her investigating!

Despite being warned by others to avoid this problematic girl who sticks her nose where it doesn't belong, he of course grabs any opportunity to be with her. And before he knows it, Haru soon finds himself helping and protecting this girl as the unseen enemies try to silence her and her informants!

By some coincidence, this terroristic attack is also being followed by a secret agency called the BNM- the Bureau of Ninja Management whose job it is to facilitate operations and keep track of all agents. They have asked Souichi for his help in looking into the attacks, but the stern father flatly refuses to go back to ninja-like business.

But there is a darker fate being planned for the fate of Japan when it is revealed that the first attack on the cruise ship is just the beginning and that the cult responsible for it GENTENKAI, led by the enigmatic leader Tsujioka (Takayuki Yamada), has even BIGGER catastrophes planned and even MORE deaths!

And with  Gentekai's wicked agents all about working undercover, it may soon be too much for even the level headed Souichiro to ignore and the time may come for the legendary TAWARA Ninja Clan to live once more!

I'm only about 3 episodes into the series, but must say how BLOWN AWAY I am at House of Ninja's production and execution-intriguing characters and compelling story and oh my GOSH the ACTION scenes- more than your usual twist and tumble tussles (though there is some of that), the choreography of the fighting is creative and innovative along the style of John Wick, with the battlers using what EVER objects they can get their hands on to inflict damage upon their assailants!

And then there's Riho Yoshioka.  OH MY, you all already know how much I ADORE this girl, and House of Ninjas makes the MOST of her- she easily captivates her scenes whenever she steps into them and you realize how charismatic she can be!

Really, her role here as Karen Ito is so cool and compelling that I'm finding myself falling back head over heels in love with her and am on the verge of yet another  "Crush of The Day" post about her! But as I've already recently done one (for her turn as the time tripping girl in "Toki wo Kakeruna Koibitotachi"), this time I'll try to constrain myself and leave the gushing here!

PS: Ooh, and if that wasn't enough, they ALSO pay a visit to the good old reliable "Love Distance" Apartment Complex, a deja-vu scene I haven't seen in awhile!

I'm telling ya, this drama really has it all!!!!