Fumou Chitai (The Wasteland)


Details from http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic_78883.htm
Official Website
http://wwwz.fujitv.co.jp/fumouchitai/

Cast
* Karasawa Toshiaki as Iki Tadashi
* Wakui Emi as Iki Yoshiko
* Yanagiba Toshiro as Kawamata Isao
* Koyuki as Akitsu Chisato
* Sasaki Kuranosuke as Akitsu Seiki
* Nakamura Atsuo as Akitsu Noritake
* Hashizume Isao as Tanigawa Taisa
* Amami Yuki as Hamanaka Beniko
* Takenouchi Yutaka as Hyodo Shinichiro
* Ito Shiro as Hisamatsu Seizo
* Danta Yasunori as Kaizuka Michio
* Furuta Arata as Ashida Kunio
* Abe Sadayo as Tawara Hideo
* Matsushige Yutaka as Koide Hiroshi
* Kishibe Ittoku as Satoi Tatsuya
* Harada Yoshio as Daimon Ichizo
* Tabe Mikako as Iki Naoko
* Endo Kenichi as Samejima Tatsuzo
* Hakamada Yoshihiko as Hanawa Shiro
* Kajihara Zen as Kaname Kaibe
* Takahashi Taira as Iki Makoto

Broadcast
Thursdays, 10.00 – 10.54 p.m. from 15 October 2009

Station
Fuji TV


This drama has just come to an end this evening. (Sorry, i have to correct myself here after watching reading Tokograph. The full run ends in March.) Since Jdorama.com has the most comprehensive database on jdrama, it is an injustice not to have any discussion on Fumo Chitai.

Fumo Chitai is written by the same author of Shiroi Kyoto, Yamazaki Toyoko (山崎豊子) . If you were one of those who sat at the edge of your seat when you watched Shiroi Kyoto, you might enjoy Fumo Chitai as well. Instead of Auschwitz, we see Arlington Cemetery.

Synopsis
Iki Tadashi is the protagonist. He is a Siberia POW veteran who said he is more comfortable being among his fellow comrades than his blood-thirsty colleagues. Being an elitist, he is groomed to be a major powerbroker in a typical keiretsu. Known for putting across dramatic ironies in her novels, Yamazaki drew deep contrasts between the real battlefront which Iki never had the chance to make his first killing, and the business battles in his office which spill blood in his hands.

Commentary
The cast has no space for hana yori dango lookalike or johnny's boys but it is congested with idols of yesteryear (ahem!). So stop wondering why you can't bring yourself to hate those foxy characters in the drama or why few decades have gone by and the cast still looks as young. If you really want to hate them, watch the 1976 version of Fumo Chitai. The Ojisans looked more foxy.

Is there anyone whom i find a misfit ? Yes, Koyuki. She gave me a chance to have a toilet break.

Why is this worth watching ? 2009 is a yawn for me . I could not recall the jdramas i watched in 2009. This drama woke me up to welcome 2010.

Almost every episode reaches a climax. The entire cast is impressive. You will find Japanese artistes speaking Russian, English, Mandarin, Korean fluently. You will find Caucasians speaking fluent Japanese, halting mandarin etc. You will also find some of their big names in motor industry bearing an uncanny resemblance to those in our real world. And the cars are cute. The office machines are ......laughable.

^ The lack of any Johnny's pretty much makes it a must-see, ne?

Oops sorry, generation gap here. I am calling out to Beach Boys fans.

Just finished epi 1 and even though it clocks in at a little over an hour and a half, it didn't drag for second. This is going to be very good.

I'm 3 episodes in and so far they are going by in the blink of an eye.
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Since the original stories of "Shiroi Kyoto" and "Karei naru Ichizoku" are written by the same author I had high hopes for this. I will definitively watch it till the end but I have to say this drama is sadly not as good as I expected.

There are four mayor problems for me:

Click on button to reveal/hide spoiler:

- The pseudo-documentary style This point of view is by definition very dry. The huge number of people and their little screen time does create rather one-dimensional characters. The time leaps of a few year every third episode or so result in too short story arcs. - The typical Japanese BS So he joins a trading company to "rebuild Japan". That must be why he uses every dirty trick to fight against the other Japanese trading firms, bribes politicians and uses his ex-military connections shamelessly, because that is oh so beneficial for the political system, yea right. A company is there to make money, there is no higher goal, period. - The emotionless protagonist Japanese people are not known for their outgoingness in the first place, Japanese high army officers even less. Iki Tadashi's character is a serious combination of suppressed emotions and acting to "keeping one's face" even in darkest times. This must be the iciest main character I have ever seen. Now, while it may be a realistic portrait it is sadly very boring to watch. Karasawa's emotionless face from the official poster is very telling in a way (http://wiki.d-addicts.com/File:Fumo-Chitai09-banner.jpg). - The business drama itself So since the focus of "Fumo Chitai" is not on the family or moral issues or historical accurateness, it must be the business side that drives the story. I personally like this sub-genre (especially because it is rare in western TV). But compared to for example "Hagetaka" or "Karei naru Ichizoku" it is just an average business drama in my opinion. There is of course some suspense in business rivalry, industrial espionage and managerial competition, but others did it better. So as I sad above, I will watch it till the end, no doubt. I am just a bit disappointed on a high level...

^ Spoiler tags added.

It can be very dry or deja vu because this is a literary work, not a manga or soap opera. Her stories cannot be digested like fast food. Sometimes the dialogue is more important than the story or narration. This novel was written in the 1970s, by the way.

Yamazaki's themes always address the issue of power and wealth vis a vis the fabric of Japanese society. She highlights how self-worth is measured in terms of wealth and power and how obsession in these two elements replaces a person's conscience. We don't really see strong family ties in any of her characters and we see only a splatter of small talks because the characters don't spend time at home. The minor characters stay in the shadow because their roles are to contrast with the protagonist.

Up thru epi 3, this is getting better as it goes, although

Click on button to reveal/hide spoiler:

It was pretty obvious Koide was going to roll over, they way they kept treating him like shit after all the work he had done.

Haven't figured out what Koyuki's character is all about, it seems like Yuki Amami's character is being groomed to be the "homewrecker". And a big surprise of Miho Shiraishi working as the hostess!

Anybody know how many episodes this going to be? Looking at the official site, they're up to episode 15 in Japan. I wonder how many more there are to go?

gaijinmark wrote:

Anybody know how many episodes this going to be? Looking at the official site, they're up to episode 15 in Japan. I wonder how many more there are to go?

Probably 5 or 6 more to go.
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Kanjani8's 18th single, "365 Nichi Kazoku" out June 8th, 2011!


colorbar credits to nannandesuka@LJ

I didn't know Sakamoto Ryuichi did the opening for this drama!!! I'm going to check this out

Up thru episode 11, it's still real good, but where did they get those five guys to cast as the "Fork Research Team"??

Looks more like five guys from some dive down on the Yokohama docks!!

The drama finally ended after 19 episodes. Why were they so secretive (during the launch) over how many episodes there were ?

Thanks to JadeFrost (via Soompi forum) , I found out Iki was indeed based on a real life story of Ryuzo Sejima, the former chairman of Itochu Corp (not sure if there was really a pretty potter who became his lover but the REAL GUY in uniform looked more suave than the actor). The business transformation of Kinki Corp mirrored that of Itochu's, except that all the names are fictatious in the drama.

I thought there is something to learn from Iki's character and leadership style. I don't think i will ever have his leadership guts. It threw me off that this is a real story, REALLY.