Underwear

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.

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.

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.

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.

A new employee at an exclusive lingerie shop is enamoured with the beautiful products the owner designs but has her own ideas on what is suitable for her. The series has a superb female cast and looks at the ethics of conglomerates stealing ideas from small independents and the struggles of artisans competing with mass production. The pace and character development is excellent and you become invested in the individuals and their futures.