冬の運動会

I'm on Okada land nowadays and this is one of Okada's older work that I finally get a hands of it and tadaaa, watched it. Fuyu no Undoukai is a drama SP from 2005 so I didn't need to do a drama marathon which I can't really afford to do nowadays (I'm deprived of sleep, rest and peaceful mind lately). Enough of my real life ranting, let's take a look at this drama, how does it fare? Well, for me, the pull factor is Okada off course (what else :p), but hey, if you're not even Okada fan, should you watch it?

Fuyu no Undoukai revolves around Kitazawa household, a family of 3 generation, the grandpa, the father and the grandson. From outsider's point of view, Kitazawa family is a respectable family with the grandpa as the former judge turned to university professor and the dad as manager in respectable company. But beneath the exterior lies lots of secrets in Kitazawa household. The males in the family have their own 'shotaku,' a home away from home, a second wife's home as the shoe shop's uncle always tells the Kikuo, the grandson. The 3 generations of Kitazawa family are very comfortable in their own second home while they're all suffocating in their main house. And the drama begins when each of them starts losing his own second home, learn how to forgive, accepting each other as real family, and finally moving on.

Yeah, it's not a very new plot out there but I like human drama and this is one of the ones that I think is good and deserves to be saved in permanent folder. The drama focuses on the meaning of 'home.' It offers you types of home for you to choose, the prim and proper home but stiffling inside where family members always got into argument and never really listen to each other. Or, the simple but full of laughter type of home where family members can be at ease and simply communicate to each other. I like how the plot flows from everybody being comfortable with their own little secrets and having themselves in the comfort zone where they can always run to whenever they face difficulties in the main house. But so much for the secret until it's out in the open one fine day and the comfort zone that they once had dissapears in the speed of light. From these series of event, you can also see the characters' growth (not sure if I can call it depth, but I find that the characters in this drama are full of complication, even the mom is not that really simple, her expressions always make me wonder how she must have felt).

There are lots of good meaningful scenes in this drama. We can start from the title itself. In the drama Kikuo narates what's the winter game (fuyu no undoukai) would look like. He's reminiscing the young version of himself taking part in the track field competition. And the boy wil stumble along the run but get up until he finish the race. Back to the present, Kikuo is no different from the boy, he starts his journey in the society having graduated from college and in search for job. Due to his pride, he turns down what should be good opportunity for him just because his dad were taking part in it. Hence one obstacle after another as the story goes including his romantic involvement with the hostess girl and then losing on his second home. But from these chain of events, he somehow realizes how bratty he is (yeah, he's really a brat in the beginning, blaming everybody but himself for anything bad happens), and starts to take charge in real life and moving on to the future, and the drama ends with the track field (me: awwwww). Then we move on to the heart-wrenching scene when grandpa lost his second home. Grandpa turns out to be keeping a lover nearby and he cherishes her to the point that he'll do the housework in this house as well, while in the main house, he'll just sit in his chair and read the newspaper. Unfortunately the lover died with brain hemmorage and in the quiet funeral proceeding, grandpa earnestly putting on the red nail polish on his long gone cold lover's nails. The scene really shows how the grandpa tries to grasp the reality of his much younger lover pass on before him and the sadness of losing somebody he loves (me: *tissues*). Another scene that I find it interesting is the golf club scene where the dad just happily give the son from his second home (the son of his deceased friend) the golf club that Kikuo has been covetted for so long (me: NO U DIDN'T, how could you, dad!!!) in front of Kikuo himself. Kikuo's expression in here is so emo that I feel goosebump and he can just go beserk anytime. But being the brat himself, Kikuo just retreat to his room and sulking to his girlfriend (without telling her what really happened), and off course got told off.

What I like from this drama is also the ladies' character. First we have the girlfriend. She comes from a nobody family and she even has to pay off her dad's debt which is why she has to work in a host club. But besides that, she has a very strong personality and very grounded to reality, which is why she accepts the money offered by the dad as the hush hush money for stop seeing Kikuo. She needs the money to pay the debt. She also fully realizes that her relationship with Kikuo won't last though she loves him, that's why she goes away aka dissapears (me: NOOOOO and when Kikuo just change to a cool man, not a brat). And, we have the mom. I love her expression when she finds out about Kikuo's secret second home. One can only imagine the shock and heartbreak that she's been maintaining the home full of lies for years, especially when she find out about the grandpa's second home shortly after Kikuo's been exposed. And how calmly she handles the whole situation and even when the dad is so close to having an affair with his deceased friend's wife.

But, then how about Okada? I totally forget that I watch this drama because of him haha. Well, Okada's acting in here is OK, I like his glare on the golf club scene, and the cheerful expressions when he's in his second home as if all his burdens are just lifted (which is why the mom glares literally when she sees that, because I can imagine she's never seen that expression when he's at home). And off course, Okada has good chemistry with all the ladies that he's been paired in dramas/movies and this is no exception.

So, back to the main question, is it worth your time? Yes and even if you're not Okada fan, you should watch this because the casts and story are good. And after circling around Internet, I find that this one is not that that that hard to find after all.

PS: I still cannot find the ending OST info of this SP, but I totally love it because it gives out the warm feeling of hope.