Hokaben (possible spoiler)

[quandary]

This kind of thing drives me nuts. The writers of some of these dramas don't seem to care whether their characters behave as they would in real life or not. Don't they hire technical advisers? Rookie lawyers, rookie anything, cops, doctors, nurses, don't know much, it's true, but they weren't born yesterday.That's the way Ueto-san's character is written. In this drama they seem to be saying that though her client was deliberately and relentlessly stupid, it was, somehow, the rookie lawyer's fault that the wife stabbed the husband. Nonsense. I'm a big fan of Aya-chan, but, if this kind of stupidity continues, I don't think I'll be able to watch it. Characters can do stupid things, but the writers can't, or it just isn't worth watching.

[lzydata]

This kind of thing drives me nuts. The writers of some of these dramas don't seem to care whether their characters behave as they would in real life or not. Don't they hire technical advisers? Rookie lawyers, rookie anything, cops, doctors, nurses, don't know much, it's true, but they weren't born yesterday.That's the way Ueto-san's character is written. In this drama they seem to be saying that though her client was deliberately and relentlessly stupid, it was, somehow, the rookie lawyer's fault that the wife stabbed the husband. Nonsense. I'm a big fan of Aya-chan, but, if this kind of stupidity continues, I don't think I'll be able to watch it. Characters can do stupid things, but the writers can't, or it just isn't worth watching.

Welcome to the forums quandary! If you feel something you write may be a spoiler, you can just enclose it in spoiler tags, like what I do below. No need to put it in the title

Your comments made me go back and rewatch bits of ep1, because I was very pleasantly impressed with the drama and I'm following it still.

It's true that Sugisaki yelled at Akari, "it's your fault that she went to stab her husband!" but note how he softens his tone, "what the hell are you doing", and then even more with "you should just quit being a lawyer." What he means is Akari, being the passionate amateur, was much too concerned with fighting for Justice and neglected fighting with The Law, the distinction that Sugisaki and the show are trying to make.

The idea is that (1) Akari should have taken steps to hide Maki before the husband's lawyers had the chance to use the 人身保護法 jinshin hobohou (Habeas Corpus Act??), (2) should not have hesitated in filing a divorce petition (perhaps because this would have made the kid-snatching legally impossible), and (3) should not have said things like "hey, this is clearly DV, this is WRONG! Sure I can win this for you!"

Now obviously I am not familiar with Japanese law, so perhaps the Jinshin Hobohou cannot be used like that. It seems realistic enough though. The second point is also debatable, since Akari had good intentions for trying to mediate (before she realized the DV and other stuff). But surely the last point is inexcusable - she was being completely unprofessional. That is the main reason why Sugisaki came down so hard on her: she promised the sky but couldn't deliver the basics, like preventing Maki from being taken away, so the mother thought she couldn't trust Akari and lawyers anymore and so had to resort to violence. We can say, yeah that was crazy and stupid of her - she clearly wouldn't get her Maki back anyhow - but the woman was desperate.

So in that sense Akari screwed up IMO. But you should really watch ep2 for the conclusion to this sad mother-daughter story and the harsh lessons Akari has learnt from this

Seeing how Hokaben is struggling with the ratings (average 8.5% after 3 eps) reminds me of unfortunate Ueto Aya (putting her character aside). She's one of the hardest working people in the business, yet she's the only actor I know who has such bad luck with scripts and ratings. She does have her successes, but two dramas with her in the leading role have gotten axed one episode early [Hitonatsu no papa e (average 5.6%, lowest 3.6%), Shimokita Sundays (average 7.3%, lowest 6.3%)]. I hope Hokaben doesn't suffer this fate.

Oh, to be clear, I don't believe high ratings always mean a good show and low ratings a bad one. Your tastes may differ from the masses. However, dramas with very high ratings are worth catching, and dramas with very low ones do have big problems. In general.

[concertmistress]

I've read that this drama is adapted from a manga written by a real-life seasoned attorney.

[marspeach]

It was better than I thought (only seen the first episode) but maybe that's because I had low expectations. Hopefully it will continue to keep my interest.

[pinkey]

R there anyone going to suptitle hokaban? i want to see it .

[laifalove]

Subs are in progress by Candypop.

[harukaya]

geesshhh.. this drama is getting worse and worse..domoto should not be a lawyer. she should change career to become a social worker or an investigator. i have no intentions to continue watching any of this nonsense. what a waste of good cast!!

[marspeach]

geesshhh.. this drama is getting worse and worse..domoto should not be a lawyer. she should change career to become a social worker or an investigator. i have no intentions to continue watching any of this nonsense. what a waste of good cast!!

I've only seen the first episode, but just from that I agree that she is not suited to be a lawyer. Being a social worker seems right up her alley. Don't know why she didn't go for that instead. Maybe she wanted the badge?

[ainhoa]

I'm only really watching this drama to see Shige in business suits. hot.

[the_lilone]

geesshhh.. this drama is getting worse and worse..domoto should not be a lawyer. she should change career to become a social worker or an investigator. i have no intentions to continue watching any of this nonsense. what a waste of good cast!!

i know!!! i feel so bad for Sugisaki-sensei (not that he feels this way) to have to mentor such a stubborn person.... i mean yes it is right to be ethical and everything but pretty much everyone knows that it's very contradicting to be a lawyer.... to be ethical u have to stay professional and faithful to ur job and hence this means giving up the general morals.... domoto just doesn't get it though! it makes me so mad why she couldn't just let go of certain things even though i THINK i was supposed to be on her side as she is the protagonist of the story... i think it just makes her so stupid and i wonder how people can go thru law school like that being SO naive...... i'm just watching cuz of Sugisaki-sensei and i generally don't quit a drama once i start watching unless it's just completely unwatchable.... and i guess this is not THAT bad yet.... i only started watching cuz of Shige but his role is too small

p.s. does anyone happen to know where i can download the OST for this drama?? there's always one drama every season with an OST that like burns to my head and this drama is it.... one of them... it echoes between your two ears and the song is so addictive!!

[Eternal Snow]

What happened in the final epi.?? Did Domoto win the case or no??

[edilions]

Just finished watching it...
what was the results ? of the trials