[Discussion] 99-nen no Ai - Japanese Americans

kuma601 · Post by **kuma601** » Nov 7th, '10, 20:59

Looks like a very heartfelt show. I kinda cringe at these types since it evokes emotions of a despiteful period. Sad that as people, these scenarios have occurred.

Looking forward to this series.

saayan · Post by **saayan** » Nov 7th, '10, 21:15

I was impressed by the first episode. Kusanagi Tsuyoshi has grown to be a very fine, top-class actor. Though I never felt this way about him before Ninkyo Helper, he looks unbelievable gorgeous as well.

My only gripe is with the bad acting from the non-Japanese cast. This always seems to be an issue with Japanese dramas. I don't understand why it's so hard to cast foreign actors who aren't total amateurs (especially since they even filmed some of it in the States where there's bound to be hundreds of struggling actors looking for jobs). The woman who played the widow was good, though.

I also found it hard to believe how fluent the 4th generation Japanese American boy was in Japanese and how bad his English was lol. But I guess I'll let it pass since it doesn't affect the story... Though it would have been nice if they paid closer attention to details for the sake of believability.

Very moving start. I totally teared up at the end. Looks like it will be a promising mini-series.

yanie · Post by **yanie** » Nov 8th, '10, 02:04

RATINGS
Ep1 "America" - 12.6%
Ep2 "Issei to Nissei" (1st and 2nd Generation) - 15.5%
Ep3 "Kyosei Shuyojo" (Concentration Camp) - 14.7%
Ep4 "Nikkeijin Butai" (Japanese American Force) - 14.6%
Final "Saikai" (Reunion) - 19.1%

LOVING the amazing OST by Senju Akira!!*v* I hope it will go on sale!

Despite I love this drama, 2 things that I don't buy:

Ep1

Ep2

I do get that this drama is meant to be soap opera-ish, so I guess I should just let it go

saayan · Post by **saayan** » Nov 8th, '10, 03:10

I wonder why episode 1's rating were so low. :/ I'm glad they went up along the way, though.

yanie wrote:
Despite I love this drama, 2 things that I don't buy:

Ep1
I don't buy that Chokichi(Kusanagi) accepted Tomo(Imoto), the younger sister of whom he suppose to be married with, just like that. I know it's omiai, but surely a guy would definitely be disappointed to see his omiai partner doesn't look like the beauty he had seen in the picture? I just wish Chokichi get to know Tomo first before he finally decided to marry her. I totally don't buy everything he said to Tomo at the port, lol.

I actually didn't have a problem with this because

Ep2
Shinobu(Nakama Yukie) swim her way back to Seattle... seriously, REALLY??? :

yanie · Post by **yanie** » Nov 8th, '10, 05:05

Yeah, I agree about Imoto Ayako, I can really believe she's the younger version of Izumi Pinko!^^ She really looks like she can be the younger Pinko^^

Ep1

But too bad, Nakai Kiichi and Pinko is a mismatch, Pinko can really be his mother instead

(while Tomo is suppose to be 3 yrs younger than Chokichi)

yanie · Post by **yanie** » Nov 8th, '10, 14:06

Ep3 was great!! I love Sachi's plot much better than the main leads

She has become my most favorite character after Ep3!!

But I hate the obaasan who plays the older version of Sachi. She can't act at all and she looks nothing like the young Sachi

isabelh2o2 · Post by **isabelh2o2** » Feb 8th, '11, 20:03

I'm late to this discussion, but after watching the first 4 episodes, I have mixed feelings. These events really happened, and forcing them all onto one family and getting details wrong sort of takes away the reality. The Japanese audience probably won't pick up on the inaccuracies, but it is driving me to more research. The farm scenes were filmed in eastern Washington where farms are big, but nearer Seattle they were (and are) smaller. Most of those relocated from Washington State were gathered at Puyallup (hours, not days by train) then sent to Minidoka in Idaho. Bainbridge Islanders (about 1/2 an hour from Seattle by ferry) were sent to Manzanar in California according to Wikipedia. In either case, you don't just hop in the car & go to Seattle for a honeymoon. Sad times indeed.

Sajen16 · Post by **Sajen16** » Feb 23rd, '11, 07:57

I liked this overall, despite the fact I don't like Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, I really don't know why, you know those people you look at and just don't like for some unknown reason, well he's one of mine, but still a very well done good drama.

isabelh2o2 · Post by **isabelh2o2** » Feb 23rd, '11, 18:08

Just checking back to say that I was wrong about some of the details I posted above. Although the Seattle internees went to Puyallup at first, the ones from the east side of Lake Washington (which would be the family in 99-nen no Ai) were sent to the Pinedale Assembly Center, near Fresno, CA which did take days by train. Then they were moved to the Tule Lake Internment Camp (California) where they stayed until they 1) left to work on farms away from the coast, now desperate for farm labor, or 2) were moved to other camps when Tule Lake was made the single camp for those who marked "no-no" on the loyalty questionnaire.

«minah» · Post by **«minah»** » Feb 24th, '11, 21:31

I liked this drama a lot. I love dramas that deal with the issues of discrimination because I think globally everyone can understand the message from this. I wish it would air in the US since it's also a part of American History (even though it's rarely talked about in school...). I just hate it when people discriminate against someone based on skin color, nationality and ethnicity... because we're all humans and something we were born with... we don't have control over that. So yeah ^^ I think everyone did a superb job acting... I don't really like Kawashima Umika but this is the first drama that she didn't bother me in ^^

Ender's Girl · Post by **Ender's Girl** » Mar 27th, '11, 09:56

My review...

99 Years of Zzzzsolitude

moustachegai · Post by **moustachegai** » Dec 1st, '11, 00:50

Great review Endersgirl!

I watched the entire drama in 2 days.

It badly suffers from repetitive dialogue syndrome... it's like 80% of the lines can be cut and it'd be stronger and shorter too but I guess they really got to conform to 5x2hr specials...

It's still really good though. I'm really impressed by how Tsuyoshi being 36 can pull off looking half his age. That sexy devil.

One thing that's distracting is why that character is played by Tsuyoshi and then another actor when the character is older. I wish they'd just made Tsuyoshi look older and made him play 2 people at the same time.

And the 'american' actors are really bad... maybe they were native-born Japanese and have engrish problems?

Ender's Girl · Post by **Ender's Girl** » Dec 2nd, '11, 05:02

Heh, thanks, glad you liked the review!

Yeah, it's pretty obvious that the Nisei and Sansei characters were played by actors who weren't familiar with Eng(l/r)ish, even as a second language. I suppose the language deficiency wouldn't have been that big a deal if this drama had only aired in Japan, but apparently it was shown stateside as well. Personally I couldn't get past how awkward and unconvincing the English dialogue was.

moustachegai wrote:One thing that's distracting is why that character is played by Tsuyoshi and then another actor when the character is older. I wish they'd just made Tsuyoshi look older and made him play 2 people at the same time.

You mean using trick photography and a body double for the Chokichi and Ichiro scenes? Er, that probably would've been difficult to execute technically... not to mention a little creepy? lol

moustachegai · Post by **moustachegai** » Dec 2nd, '11, 15:23

Yeah I guess the only way it'd been pulled off well is if they had Nutty Professor/ Back to The Future II Hollywood level effects going on... haha I wouldn't find it creepy, cuz Tsuyoshi is AWESOME. There's not enough of him.

Or just cast Tsuyoshi in 1 role instead.

Yeah the English dialogue was awful. I noticed there was 1 Japanese that spoke fluent english, in the camp segments when they were on the train... but he didn't look like an actor/idol so he was barely ever on screen lol poor guy.

Have you seen Boku no Aruku Michi? That's my favourite Tsuyoshi drama. If Ninkyo Helper and Japanese Americans were B, I'd give Boku no Aruku Michi A++++++++!!!11

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[Discussion] 99-nen no Ai - Japanese Americans

[Discussion] 99-nen no Ai - Japanese Americans

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