Beautiful Life

From the writer of the popular drama Long Vacation, comes a tale of a talented hair stylist and a librarian living with a handicap, set against the backdrop of Aoyama. Bringing these two characters to life and together are the one-two angst punch of Kimura Takuya (from Long Vacation, in the role of Okishima Shuji, the stylist), and Tokiwa Takako (from Utsukushi Hito, in the role of Machida Kyoko). Appearing in supporting roles are Mizuno Miki (currently starring in Hatsu Taiken, she portrayed Kyoko's best friend Tamura Sachi), Ikeuchi Hiroyuki (from GTO [Drama], in the role of Shuji's kohai [junior] Okabe Takumi), and the most memorable performance within this series comes from actor Watabe Atsuro, playing Kyoko's younger brother Masao.

Machida Kyoko and Okishima Shuji have a chance encounter in the streets of Aoyama. With a carelessly outstretched hand from the window of her car, she nearly knocks Shuji from his motorcycle. After a terse exchange, they find that they have ac ommon destination; the library where Kyoko is employed. Following another short exchange, Kyoko's handicap is revealed in a rather gentle way, and our story unfolds.

This series lasts eleven episodes and will not fail to tickle your funny bone from the start, then begin tugging at your heart until the very end. Keep a box of tissue handy, as the depth of these characters are superbly potrayed by this cast, not to mention the realism of the story masterfully written by Kitagawa Eriko. This was the highest rated drama in its season in Japan, and the last episode kept them talking for quite a while after.

This was about the most popular show around last year. Nearly half of the population of Japan watched the last episode, and everybody talked about it every week. I totally dug this series. I did not miss a single episode - even when I came back to the U.S. for a 2-week trip, my VCR was set to record the shows I would miss. It lasted 11 or 12 episodes, standard for Japanese dramas.

This show, a little clumsily, addresses issues relating to disability, with the main female character in a wheelchair because of a mysterious (but quite serious) disease. Her overprotective brother is particularly good.

Kimura - or Kimutaku as everybody calls him - lives up to his title as Japan's Sexiest Man in this movie. Great hair, reasonable acting, plenty of standing around looking nonchalant.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who understands a little Japanese - you don't need to understand everything to follow the very sweet story. The short version is: boy (hairdresser) meets girl in wheelchair (librarian), they fall in love, she gets sicker, things progress, blah blah. But darn it, it's so sweet.

Beautiful life is the first and only Asian drama I have watched so far. Why did I watch it? Well the reason is that when I ran into this drama I just happen to run into comments like these, "This is the second J-drama I ever watched and this is still my favourite drama of all time." "Explosive ending," "Be sure to have a box of tissues beside you cause I assure you will really need it." Also half of the nation was watching this show. But this is a terminal illness melodrama, but reading these comments made me curious, thinking that is this drama manipulative enough to make me cry? Also does this melodrama have an unexpected ending? In the end this is just one extended terminal illness/romance melodrama, that is quite manipulative because of the charismatic and confident acting from the actors and actresses.

Kyoko is a librarian who is living her life on a wheelchair, and is quite a burden to her family. Shuji is a hairdresser, working in a famous salon, and has a goal set to become the top hairstylist. These two lives cross, in what forms into friendship, and later love. The obstacles that are standing in this couples way is Kyoko's older brother, and Kyoko's condition that is getting worse as the clocking is ticking. The couple have a dream, will this dream every come true? Will they be able to live a "beautiful life?"

Plot here is the most basic terminal illness plot ever. Heck the plot has every single terminal illness cliché in the book, and I am serious about this. The most annoying is that I expected the ending to be different, since these people were talking about the ending so much. Take a guess how the ending is going to be like, and I guarantee you will be correct on how it ends. At the same time the plot had some great sub plots, such as the relationship between Kyoko's best friend, and Kyoko's older brother, when you see these moments the word come into your head is "cute." Overall the plot was quite disappointing, but for some reason when I woke up the day after I watched the show, the memories of this show came into my mind, which is a good thing.

The characters in this drama is the reason to watch this show. All of them are great to watch, and very likable, no matter how you look at them. All them shared great, fun moments together. The acting was quite good in my opinion, but the biggest flaw is the way that takako takiwa thinks in this show. I swear every single time, she says stuff, and does stuff for us viewers to sympathize for her, also she keeps talking about death, making it like she really want's to die. But the acting is quite manipulative, and you can fall under a hypnosis and still love her character, the best part is the way she smiles. I watched this drama for her, and I was still happy with her, cause physically she was awesome, and her acting was decent, but the guy who stole the show was her older brother.

In the end, the conclusion I came up with the question "why do people love this drama so much?" The answer is that this is one of the first terminal illness drama's to come out, even before the movies you see today. If you have never watched a terminal illness drama, then I recommend this, and I am guessing that you will love it, including depending on the kind of person you are, this can be a forced tearjerker on you. If you have seen other terminal illness drama's such as some of the Korean movies like a moment to remember, the last present, and such, then I say you can pass this, cause there is nothing new in this, but you can just watch this drama to pass some good time, and for the good moments. If you can take all the manipulative actions and dialogs, then you can enjoy this drama. Again I'll say it, just don't expect anything new, whatever you expect from this show, may be correct, but the show can be quite memorable, and some good moments can stay in your head.

On a Sidenote, I have never let out a tear while watching a sad melodramatic movie, and I am happy to say that this show did not have the power to me cry once again, quite proud I am.

3.5/5 ***.5 I'll give this 1 infected thumb up. Still watch this for the good moments, and character's.

Beautiful Life (2000) was an emotionally charged drama that struck a familiar chord reminiscent of other ones like it for its textbook depiction of love, loss, and resilience, but it wasn't without its flaws. At its heart, the story was anchored by the chemistry between Takuya Kimura's charming yet understated portrayal of Shuji and Takako Tokiwa's luminous performance as Kyoko, a woman whose physical limitations were treated with admirable sensitivity for its time. The drama's beauty lay in its quiet moments, Kyoko's defiant joy, Shuji's evolving tenderness, and the unspoken melancholy of ordinary life brushed with rising pain. However, its emotional power often bordered on manipulation, with tear-jerking sequences and swelling musical cues that risked reducing a nuanced relationship to a mere tragedy. Fortunately, this was only most applicable to the last 3 episodes. Additionally, while the drama broke ground by portraying a disabled FL in a leading role, it sometimes leaned into idealized tropes, framing Kyoko's struggles more as narrative devices to drive Shuji's growth rather than delving deeper into her agency and identity despite being a leading character. The pacing, too, occasionally faltered, with melodramatic stretches that risked to undercut the rawness of its central theme. In a different world, I would love to see them continue exploring the relationship without the terminal illness element since it was somewhat cut short to accommodate for the writer's predetermined plan. On another note, a few things were planted but neglected and ended up being underutilized. For example, it was foreshadowed multiple times how Shuji was the son of a famous hospital director/CEO and coming from a family of doctors but that didn't play a role later on, nor the anticipated involvement of his family which remained anonymous. Many things were either missing or unfinished at the cost of fleshing out the story and its characters just to reach the highly emotional familiar moments. For all of its shortcomings, Beautiful Life captured something universally human: the poignancy of love in the face of fate. It was imperfectly told and profound, a drama which, even as one wished it had dared to be bolder, lingered on in the heart, at least for a little while.

Somehow I knew it would be a usual typical Japanese movie with not-a-happy-ending, but still I love it anyway. Takuya Kimura really showed his arrogant cool handsome look in that movie -I love the way he smokes- and acted as if he was a real hair stylist. The story gave me a roller-coaster of feelings and a shocking touchy ending. Once in a while, Shuji was not a firm person, as he couldn't seem to decide where he stands. Like when he couldn't decide between Kyoko or his ex-girlfriend. He didn't seem to show his feelings toward Kyoko -which is seen in almost most of Japanese movies where Japanese guys are too proud to show their feelings and end up loosing the girl- while on the other hand Kyoko was trying to show her feelings but didn't get the response she hoped for. The ending is also a hit! I couldn't stop my tears when Shuji tried to talk to Kyoko's dead body and put on make-up for her burial. A man could really love a woman and tries to achieve his dreams for her. The story teaches us to tell someone that you love before it's too late. Long live love!! =p