After having a blowout with her mother while simultaneously fighting with her boyfriend, rambunctious Anri Akama (Marie Iitoyo) is out on the streets and looking for a friend whom she can crash at...
But is seems they all have their various reasons for rejecting her pleas, whether it be circumstance or just personal reasons.
Without a place to go, her friend Rui (Misato Morita) introduces her to the world of Papakatsu- in essence, a sort of online escort service sans any sexual overtones, where girls post their stats on a website to meet men who want to support and encourage a young girl’s dreams in return for companionship.
Without Anri’s say so, Rui sets up an account and posts it up at the site, much to her surprise. But she is getting desperate and, figuring it couldn’t hurt, lets it go.
In the meantime we focus in on mild mannered Wataru Kuriyama, a thoughtful and studious man who spends his days isolated reading French Literature in the park with his carefully crafted lunches.
He’s married to a busy career woman (Reika Kirishima) but though he tells her “I’m also happy” in the rare moments they are both at home together, it’s clear that the two haven’t been living a happy marriage for some time and he's actually quite lonely.
Anri DOES know a guy who says he's willing to help her out and has even offered to let her stay at his place, her co-worker Minoru Kakizawa (Kentaro Ito), a chef at the restaurant where she works as a server. But she sees him as a player of sorts and doesn't trust his motivations!
So it is that Anri spends the nights at an uncomfortable internet cafe.She spends the evenings bitterly looking through the texts of her friends giving her excuses of why she can’t stay with them (LOL), when she absentmindedly clicks on the Papakatsu website and is thrilled to find many, many men selecting her for dates!
The next day she goes out, pretty and wide -eyed, and though she has a hard time adjusting to her internet persona “Anna”, she ends up going out with quite a few clients.
Unfortunately for Anri, the men are either old and boring, sleazy and creepy and a mixture of BOTH, and in the end she screams out “I can't TAKE IT any more!” and gives up.
Things reach to a head when she catches one of her best friends Nagisa (Mia Sakisaka) at her boyfriend’s apartment, Even worse is when she finds out that Nagisa was actually going out with her boyfriend BEFORE her! This completely bottoms out Anri and she just about gives up.
And so it is that when she makes a date with another potential client at a hotel, it is a very sad and sombre Anri who waits in the lobby for her customer.
As the stranger sits, she pours out her confession without ever looking up. She’d always thought she was a popular girl with lots of friends and tons of love and support. But when the chips are down, it seems she is all alone in the world.
“The night seems like a black hole…And to top it all off, my back hurts,” she concludes. With tears in her eyes she bitterly says, “I need to rest. I want to sleep just once in a real bed, and have a good night sleep….”
"Is that so?” asks the voice, measured with patience and understanding. “Then…let’s do that.”
And when Anri looks up she sees the first kind face she’s seen in a long time. It’s here she meets Wataru Kuriyama...
Without protest, a clearly beaten Anri nods and follows the quiet man back to his apartment. “It’s my secret place away from my marriage”, he explains.
Anri nods but is then flabbergasted by what the man does next. He hands her the key to the apartment and says, “Well, goodbye then.” You’re leaving?” she asks, shocked.
Nodding with a smile he says, “You were looking for someone to support you, right?” And with that, he leaves.
And as the show comes to a close, we tune in bright and early the next morning and see Anri still deep in slumber, getting the first rest in a seeming long time…
But as the camera pulls back, we scroll across Wataru’s desk…and see that he’s going to be teaching at the same University she attends! What will be in store for the both of them?
This drama at first reminded me of the 2012 Emi Takei drama “Tokyo Zenryoku Shojo”, which also starred Atsuro Watabe as a mild mannered bachelor suddenly finding himself stuck with a boisterous girl in his life, but once I got into the show I realized how different it was.
Far from the fun and zany Tokyo Zenroku Shojo, (and despite its seemingly hilarious set-up) Papakatsu was more of a serious and heartfelt kind of drama. Though there WERE a few laughs, I didn’t expect to experience so much FEELS in the first episode, and have already placed a lot of expectations on this show- it’s so good!
Marie is terrific in her role as the exasperated Anri and Watabe kind and stoic, but special mention must be made of pretty Misato Morita who steals the show for me in her role as Anri's wild and carefree friend Rui-
So, so beautiful, stylish, and oh my GOSH so SASSY!
Below: Stylish Rui stands out among the girls. Satsuki (Rikako Nagino), Anri, Nagisa (Mia Sakisaka) and Rui (Misato Morita)
PS: this “Papakastsu” stuff must be a newer trend, because even heard about it when Yuko Takeuchi was talking to Asami Mizukawa in the drama QUEEN when they were talking about some girl getting a sugar daddy and both of them giggled “Papakatsu!!”
LOL
dele, as a wife with something in her mind...
a witness to a horrible crime in Final Cut
This isn’t the first Haruki Murakami Movie Reika’s done as she played Reiko in “Norwegian Wood”, a performance I thought was fine though at the time I wished they cast someone older.
