Beautiful Life

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.

At first I saw this drama I surprised, how can a beautiful Takako Tokiwa with beautiful hair become bad like that? But thank Goodness it just for a little while. The story continue become make sense and tells deep inside for people's feeling. The story teach us to be a good person for them who is sick and get much attention to them, without hurt their feelings.

Good acting from Takako Tokiwa, she always played good for her drama and her film. But not Takuya Kimura, he acting same like his rule in Long Vacation. I disappointed with his acting, even I admitted he played well and make the audience touching with his rule in this drama.

The music soundtrack are singing good.

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.

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