必要のない人 ▫️1998 ▫️Episodes

Here is another early Jun drama. I know the grandma, played by Mori Mitsuko, is fairly famous but personally I didn’t recognize the rest of the cast. I assume they were likely popular at the time, though.

I generally don’t mind watching things without subtitles, and as my Japanese improves this gets more and more comfortable, but this show was challenging for me. It was super dialogue heavy and the lingo used was different from what I’m familiar with. I am curious if I had had subs or was better at Japanese when I watched it if I would have enjoyed it more–it’s never fun to not fully understand what’s going on. But I also think it’s just a slow paced family drama that might not be my style.

The filming and setting were pretty bland, as it is kind of like a daytime soap opera. Perhaps for someone familiar with Ginza Culture it could have been more fun. The story wasn’t bad, each character has a problem they are facing and there is some uncertainty of how things will work out. But I have to admit I didn’t find many of the stories that compelling, even Jun’s.

After having just finished Bokura no Yuuki, this show probably felt even more bland than it already was. And Jun’s role here, compared to the previous one, didn’t feel as well rounded either. He isn’t really even in the show much (ok maybe that’s a personal complaint). I don’t think he did a poor job, but perhaps the energy of the show didn’t bring out his true talent. They also made him obsessed with wrestling, which just felt a bit awkward for Jun. It’s natural that early on their roles might not be appropriate for how I view them from a more modern perspective–they haven’t matured yet as a human let alone as an actor.

My main enjoyment of this show came from the soundtrack. I loved the opening theme song by Oda Kazumasa so much that I spent hours searching for it online (it wasn’t there) and actually ended up purchasing one of his CDs (the whole CD was pretty good too in my opinion, just a fantastic voice). The instrumental tracks by Tarou Iwashiro are also lovely–I like to put on the soundtrack while I’m working or driving. So I suppose I can’t fully write off the show because it did bring me something I love. That may sound harsh, and as I mentioned there are elements that may have negatively impacted my enjoyment, but I am going to stick with a low score. Perhaps in my next life if I’m an unemployed Japanese father this show would hit a home run.