Atashinchi no Danshi

Synopsis:

Mineta Chisato is a 20-year-old girl who lost her mother at a young age. Unknowingly, her father left her with a huge debt and she has to live as a "homeless" to escape from the debt colectors. Her life changed after meeting one man, Okura Shinzo, who will pay her debt if she is willing to be his wife for the last month of his life. Shinzo is a bachelor and has adopted six good-looking sons with the hope of one becoming his successor. After his death, Chisato realised that there were additional terms and conditions for her contract: to be a mother of these six sons. Will these seven strangers be able to live as a "family"?

My opinion:

From the synopsis alone, several cliches come into my mind. First, this is likely going to be a romantic comedy with multi-sided love among the six guys and one girl. Secondly, it looks like the funny parts will likely stem from the girl catching the guys in various states of undress.. And thirdly, the plot will most likely go on like this: each guy has their own dirty secrets or troubling background and the girl will solve each guy's issues one episode at a time until we reach the part where all the guys realise how "special" this girl and feelings develop.

Thank goodness the dorama turns out to be great and avoids all these cliches. Yes, there is some romantic comedy but the romance is more for comedy purpose, rather than the main plot. The main theme still focuses on "family". There are plenty half-naked scenes which I believe are for fan-service for the fan girls. I just think it is quite weird for these people not to take a shower but to spend time together in the sauna. Haha..

The plot development also does not follow the formula: one guy - one problem - one episode at a time. It is quite nice that all the characters and their problems are sort of mixed together in every episode. In addition, it is quite surprising that there is no really "central" guy character here. All six are equally represented with the same amount of screentime as well as with their own strong unique characteristics. It is not a case of 1 main guy and 5 supporting casts but rather 6 guys and 1 girl. In fact, even the supporting casts provide sufficient laughing materials.

Everything goes on well until the final 2-3 episodes. The portion on the corporate takeover and the closing of the story seem to be too "forced" to "gel" these people as a family. The actors are doing good job but I think they are not good enough to immerse into the RPG-like plot near the end to find the treasure.

My afterthoughts:

Honestly, I am feeling quite mixed and confused about the values being highlighted here. If these 7 strangers can be a "family" even without being blood-related, how is it going to be different as compared to families which are blood-related? Is blood-relation really that important? It also leaves a very good reflection: if strangers can live as a "family", what is actually wrong with families who have constant arguing and fighting?

Sigh I don't know but I think I favour the view that blood-relation is not important to constitute a "family". I mean, just put any random people to stay together, live together, they will grow close enough and bonds/relationships will form. Similarly, love is a bullshit. I don't believe in marrying someone that you love bla bla bla.. It takes commitment, responsibility, etc for a marriage to last. Similarly, sex is over-rated. You don't need love to have sex. Just put 2 people and if they grow close enough to have sex, they will soon admit that they are in "love". And for couples who are in love vs couples who are in "love", sooner or later, sex will get boring too. Ultimately, it takes commitment and responsibility right?? Haha.. Of course love may help but I think "love" can also become love. Okay perhaps can ignore this since I have never experienced love before. Haha..

I notice something interesting. The mansion in this series (they call it Trick Heart Castle) looks a like to the mansion in Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge. What a coincidence to watch these back to back! Haha.. Anyway my suspicion is confirmed when I googled. Many people also realise the same thing. Lol.. Actually it is also the same place as Yukan Club which I watched years ago so I can't recall. Haha.. The actual place is called Lockheart Castle (it's true!!). Here is the website for more information about it.

I also find that one of the supporting cast very familiar. However, when I read the cast list on wiki-addicts, there is no familiar name. After randomly clicking on the Japanese names, I discovered that there is this person who is the brother of Eita. No wonder he somehow looks and sounds very familiar. Haha.. Anyway, his brother is much more famous lah. He plays in in famous series like Waterboys, Nodame Cantabile, etc. Okay, I think my last 2 paragraphs are quite random haha..