Seigi no Mikata (正義の味方, Ally of Justice) is a story first published by Shueisha as a manga, and then made into a short-running TV drama in 2008 by Nihon Television, directed by Satoru Nakajima. The story is about a 15-year-old girl named Yoko, who is being tormented by her older sister Makiko. Only Yoko and her parents know her sister's true nature, while other people are fooled by her unbelievable good luck.
15-year-old Yoko is constantly tormented by her self-centered and fiendish older sister Makiko, who works for a government office after having graduated from a famous university. But despite her ill nature, Makiko's actions tend to somehow make things better for those around her, causing others to praise her as an "ally of justice."
Because of her sister's attitude, Yoko longs to be free. She decides to get her sister married so she will move out. However her plan backfires. There is also a boy called Riku who always teases her because he has a major crush on her. He becomes one of her closest confidants.
Makiko eventually reveals her true nature to her husband, Naoki, who decides to get a divorce.
Meanwhile a close friend of Riku's, Chika, tells Yoko that he is about to move away. Her friends attempt to get Yoko to confess through a live T.V. program, but her sister storms in and starts yelling at her, right before Yoko confessed and when she (Makiko) is taken away by security.
A few days, Naoki and his parents arrive to talk with Makiko. As the divorce is about to be finalized,
Makiko tells everyone that she is pregnant. The series ends with Yoko finally talking to Riku before he went to Osaka and Makiko giving birth to a baby. Yoko is the one left caring for it.
Now for the review- It was an okay drama. What was good was that the story was interesting. The younger sister's characters and romance and quite good though her love became a disappointment in the end. The character of the elder sister's husband was also very nice and polar opposite of the elder sister's character.
The biggest problem with this series was the elder sister. Her personality was extremely unlikeable and at times, she feels more like a villian than a heroine. The fact that Yamada Yu did her role made matters worse. Yamada Yu is not visually pleasing as one might have expected the elder sister to be. She is totally stone-faced except for some fake and childish expressions she shows in the series. I still cannnot believe that Yamada Yu won an award for this.
The younger sister blames her older sister for her misfortunes but it really is her fault for listening to her older sister like a puppy. The older sister once doesn't say very harsh words or threaten her. There was virtually no comedy in the drama. If the drama makers were relying on the cruelty of the elder sister to make the viewes laugh, they have failed terribly.
A drama worth skipping and I am not sure why I ended up watching it.
Pros- Everyone except Yamada Yu acts well
Mother-in-law brings much needed variety to this show
Riku and Yoko's romance
Cons- Yamada Yu's poor acting and lack of visual apppeal
Boring storyline which becomes extremely repetitive and predictable
Weakness of the younger sister
Nice review. Well, I had to sacrifice a night's sleep to binge watch, but it was worth it. SPOILER ALERT! I loved Yoko for how naive and simple she was, her love for even her tormenting and evil sister. Yoko was like her father, good - natured, obedient and out of luck. Makiko, her elder sister, was beauty with brains, but was cold, manipulative, bully, brash and plain lucky. She was a copy of her mother. Although the potrayal was intended to be funny, it was ironic that someone as good as Yoko was actually used by her evil sister and had to in the end sacrifice her own fun and happiness to live under her complete shadow.
ReplyDeleteAs it happens in real life, the good and the simple do not necessary end up as winners, but the evil and cunning actually get their way around. However, in dramas, it is weird not to see this happen, and I was in fact let down by the ending. Yoko ended up more enslaved than she was earlier. Mikako ended up being more spoilt as ever, having manipulated everyone around her.
It was heart-breaking to see Riku, the only person who understood Yoko, leave her although after having confessed his love for her. In a way, this is a lesson for people to be a bit selfish or to term it in a more politically correct way - look after their own interests. If you fail to do that, the world will surely take advantage of you and suck you dry.