Freeter Ie Wo Kau ~ フリーター、家を買う

I just can't resist to write about this one, even though the plan is to write this along w/ the rest of Fall season drama or the 2nd half of 2010 review. The series is still airing and it hasn't even cross half and my tearing start from episode 2, 3, 4 and I guess the trend will continue after I saw the Epi 5 preview. Again, Freeter is human drama and it's a family-themed. Definitely no comedy here, though they still manage to slip in some humour here and there, but that's about it. There's a potential for romance, but I sort of doubt it as I haven't seen Nino in rom-com drama so far (Oouku is a movie, not drama).

The drama is about Take Seiji, who for all his life has been living comfortably with no goal, no motivation and no sense of achievement, and definitely, no money. His philosophy is just to get by easily. That's until he started working in the new company and faced with typical working environment where his supervisor likes to take advantage of his subordinates. Having no hardship endurance skill, he just happily quited after 3 months and just hoping from 1 part time job to another for the next 2 years. And then, when his mom broke down in depression, he again tried to get by easily except that this time he couldn't escape and daddy didn't make things easier. So, Seiji has to buck up and start taking care of his mom, looking for job and bringing money to the house. How Seiji fares and how he will grow from a ungrateful jerk to, well, the character that we all love, only the drama will tell.

Now, I've seen almost all Nino's works (talk about drama marathon boot camp), and this drama is a platform for him to show that he grows as an actor. If you're touched by his character portrayal in Yasashii Jikan, Ryusei no Kizuna, Door to Door, you'll be rooting for Seiji starting from the end of Epi 1. Seiji character grows because of his love for mom and he starts to recognize the word 'sacrifice' in order to take care of mom. I was very touched as the first growth of Seiji character when he narrates that he just realizes that he's been taking for granted of his life for the past 25 years. Each episode shows that Seiji learns something from his situation and he's actually doing his best in his capacity to tackle all the problems around him. Definitely something to root for, and Seiji being Seiji, he'll break down in frustration from time to time, now knowing what to do and how to make things better, and then he moves on. Sure, he's still far from descent. Seiji still has his cockiness and the 'screw it, I don't care anymore' attitude that are definitely need to be fixed, but yeah, we'll root for him because he really loves his mom. And his interaction with his mom is very real and normal to me because we also do that to our mom from time to time if our mom nags, only in here, mom is in special condition and Seiji should not do that which he regrets it soon after and immediately rush to fix it. By Epi 4, I also cry when Seiji blurt out his frustration literally crying for not knowing what to do. It's like crying for help only he knows that nobody will run to help him and he has to somehow stand up and solve all the mess.

Next, the most hateful character in the drama so far is, daddy. You'll definitely hate the dad, and by Episode 4, you'll really despise him. Takenaka Naoto (Nodame) is really brilliant as the hateful dad. He's so convincing in nitpicking and bullying his own family and when mom now is in depression, he goes out playing around escaping the situation at home, leaving the hikkimori son that he always despises and criticize to take care of everything, And no, he's not grateful with the outcome at all, everything is not his fault, it's Seiji, mom, and sister's fault. The best hateful thing from dad is his philosophy of dad just need to work and bring home money, period, no helping out family etc.

In some ways, Freeter brings out one of the culture that I don't like. It may happens in other parts of the world too but I think it happens more in Japan. The bullying here is portrayed to be everywhere, from family, neighborhood, and office. I don't really understand adult bullying especially the neighbors bullying the mom in here, for 10 years to top it up! The housewives there (especially Nishimoto-san, 2nd most hateful character) should really get a life instead of filling their brains with hatred and jealousy just because Take household get to pay the house cheaper with company help than them. People just should accept the fact that some people are simply more fortunate and move on with their lives. Office bullying is another different aspect and Seiji having no perseverance doesn't get that he needs to curry flavor the boss and 'get along w/ split the pay evenly' tradition that the boss keep insisting to have, as much to his own advantage. And lastly, bullying inside family. What daddy has been doing is actually verbal abuse. He keeps pushing around Seiji and mom, calling them useless, weak etc etc. What happen if you keep listening to these words? You'll naturally feel that you're useless and weak, which is why mom is breaking down.

What you learn in this drama is not to take for granted what your mom has been doing for you year by year. If you are, you only realize and regret when you don't have it anymore. One of the very touching portrayals from this drama is when in the past, mom taking care of Seiji when he's sick and never leaves him by keep holding his hand, and then moving to present time, now it's Seiji holding mom's hand to calm her down from the depression symptoms. Yeah, a good tear jerker, in deed.