Underwear

I was surfing Netflix for something new and started watching Atelier out of curiosity. I'm not sure when it happened, but at some point I was drawn in and couldn't let go. I'll save you the trouble of looking it up: Atelier is a French word for an artist's workshop. The plot is a fairly predictable Cinderella story (even referred to in one episode): Young country girl just out of school goes to work in the big city. The store is a high-end custom lingerie shop. High-end meaning all hand made for an exclusive set of clients, and costing $500-$1000. Mayu is a fabric expert, not a designer. I think what kept me watching was that the show doesn't focus exclusively on young Mayu. There is strong character development of the whole cast as the series progresses. The obsessed and perfectionist owner, the assistant designers, the business manager, etc. I enjoyed watching how the story developed for many of the peripheral characters we see early on. We get to see how they are really integral to the story, and how they progress and influence things much later. My wife asked me why I was watching a chick flick and my only response was that I found it interesting even though I had to see the whole thing in subtitles. Kudos to the translator for bringing out a lot of subtleties, double entendre, and depth. I have heard the Japanese language is nothing but such things. The meaning is well-conveyed by the acting which was excellent across the board. The only weakness in the cast was that of Mirei Kiritani, the lead actress who plays Mayuko. In many scenes she just comes across as a stereotyped young Japanese girl, the kind we see portrayed too often. (Maybe that really is how they act? I don't know) My only other annoyance with the series was the strange time jumps that would sometimes occur without warning. They seemed to cut past some important developments or just jump too far ahead too fast. All in all I felt like Atelier was much like anything created by BBC -- It's better than 90% of any American commercial crap.

I love fashion, beauty, clothes etc. so when I saw this on Netflix, it piqued my interest. The show is pretty happy, lighthearted, kind of whimsical filled with pretty characters who are impeccably dressed-- I mean all the shirts are ironed, hair and makeup very clean and fresh with not a single hair out of place. All the clothing pieces are coordinated so everyone look super presentable like the posters.

Overall, it was an enjoyable watch for me because of the eye candies. The storyline was okay-- super straightforward, very simple... pace of the story is somewhat slow. characters are very manga like-> very happy and not multifaceted.

Love the soundtrack / music that they used. Would like to know where I can get a hold of them.

I found this to be unexpectedly interesting, and was seduced into almost binge watching it on Netflix. Who knew lingerie was a secret affirmation of a woman's essence. Well maybe you did, but I didn't. Many little esoteric philosophical droppings along the way in this otherwise enchanting little story about a girl in a high end lingerie shop. I was quite willing to forgive the lapses into sentimentality. The acting was uniformly excellent although the lead girl was perhaps provided with a somewhat banal and underwritten script. For a westerner it was a nice contrast to see the thought patterns of the Japanese, whose politeness seemed interwoven with surprising directness and honesty. No slang, clichés, double entendres, sleaziness even among the nasty corporate brutes encountered along the way. For me a refreshing change of pace. Highly recommended.

The young and the old, both in transition, makes up the story of "Atelier" a 2015 miniseries from Japan.

Adorable Mirei Kiritani stars as Mayuko, a young woman who comes to work at the Emotion salon in the Ginza section of Tokyo. Her boss Mayumi (Mao Daichi), made up to look like Anna Wintour, is tough but fair. The lingerie is hand-made and exquisite, and Mayuko falls in love with the whole industry, to the point where she wants to create something herself.

Mayuko and Mayumi learn more from one another than either one thought possible, as Mayuko works to find out who she is and Mayumi realizes she needs to invent herself.

Lots goes on in these 13 episodes: designs stolen, a theme for a fashion show stolen, a child who is estranged from his mother who appears, going into mass marketing, and lots else.

I have never been to Tokyo - it looks so beautiful on this show - it's like watching Manhattan, where I have lived, on Suits or White Collar. At the end someone is out on the sidewalk and you can really see that the streets are crowded like New York in midtown.

Learning a little of the culture was amazing also - lots of bowing, not a huge amount of touching, people seem to treat one another with respect. It's a more formal culture.

Someone on this board said the show reminded them of anime because some of the younger women had plastic surgery. I was wondering during 13 episodes why some of the women seemed to be a mix of American and Japanese.

Mirei Kiritani is so pretty and played the part of a naive girl who wants to learn everything very well. Mao Daichi, who seems like Japan's answer to Joan Collins, is perfect in her role of an elegant, somewhat imperious woman who hides her vulnerability underneath. She wears an Anna Wintour wig -- I'm not sure if I saw her in something else if I would know her. I believe at one point the character is said to be 50, or maybe I misheard - Daichi is 60, and I could have believed she was late forties.

The other actors were all wonderful, including Mayuko Kawakita, Ken Kaito, and Wakana Sakai.

Highly recommended - and for those concerned about language and nudity - this is cleaner than a Disney film.

Years ago there was a local PBS channel that was leased for Japanese broadcasts in its off-hours, and I saw so many great Japanese TV series. So I thought I'd check this out.

This silly show is about a young, eager woman who goes to work for a prickly lingerie fashion designer. The young woman is very passionate about textiles, and makes a number of speeches in the first episode about how wonderful some are, and the whole series portrays the creation of bras as this amazing, noble thing, and it's all rather odd.

Outside of the first meeting between the girl and her boss, who offers the wit and presence lacking from the rest of the series, there was nothing in the first episode that made me want to watch a second. It's not terrible, but it's a far cry from those series I saw in the 90s like Kagayaku Toki no Naka de or Furuhata Ninzaburō. I know there's good Japanese TV out there, but outside of anime it's hard to find.