Comments on: Slow Dance

By: mo

mo — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 05:23:26 +0000

Hatsumi: Thank you for all the recommendations! I’m definitely willing to reconsider Fukatsu Eri as an actress, and maybe I’d prefer to see her in a different role. Like I said, something rubbed me the wrong way about her here, but lots of people have positive things to say about her, so I’ll go give some of the shows you suggested a try. I actually was just waiting for a chance to watch Koi no Chikara, so maybe I’ll start from there.

By: Hatsumi

Hatsumi — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 21:19:30 +0000

Flogging a dead horse here, but I thought Fukatsu Eri was particularly good in her role as Isaki-san. Her character and personality and her off-beat and strange chemistry with Tsumabaki Satoshi was the reason I kept following this drama. I don’t think I was the only one to pick up on the chemistry between her and Tsumabaki Satoshi, as they later teamed up again in Koki Mitani’s The Magic Hour, and yet again with a new film in production by Sang-il-Lee, called “Akunin”.

I think your judgement of her being the “flaw” of the show is a bit too harsh, especially since I felt her character issued some of the best lines of the series, and in a way that felt convincing. I don’t think anyone else could have pulled off some of those lines and NOT make it sound corny.

I didn’t care much for Fujiki Naohito or Ryoko Hirosue, and admittedly didn’t really understand their relationship very well (and didn’t see the development.)

If you’re brave enough to venture into a good drama without subtitles, I would suggest seeing Kabachitare! starring Eri Fukatsu and Tokiwa Takako (and in which Tsumabaki Satoshi showed up in a very minor role). She was also great in Haru (1999), Onnanoko Monogatari, the dramas Koi no Chikara and Change (alongside Kimura Takuya), and in another drama w/ Kimura Takuya called ” A Million Stars Falling From the Sky.”

I hope you do decide to give her another chance.

By: mo

mo — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:59:34 +0000

Matt, thanks for stopping by :) I obviously wasn’t watching Japanese TV 10 years ago, but some of the older dramas definitely have a lot of charm to them. It sounds like I might need to give Fukatsu Eri another try, since I definitely didn’t care for her in this role.

By: Matt Thorn

Matt Thorn — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:40:01 +0000

I pretty much stopped watching Japanese television about ten years ago because the quality (particularly of the dramas) had dropped so much, so I haven’t seen this one. But I will always have a thing for Fukatsu Eri, since she was the only good thing about the otherwise horrible “Summer Vacation 1999″ (「1999年の夏休み」1988) an extremely loose “adaptation” of Hagio Moto’s “The Heart of Thomas” (萩尾望都「トーマの心臓」1974) There were only four cast members, all young girls, playing the roles of four young boys, and while Fukatsu’s character was supposed to be the most minor, she completely stole the show.