alfiesgal

what a great ensemble comedy, drama, & some mild mannered suspense! i must have seen this at least 3 times now over the years. it's a seductive view of office culture, where friends and enemies still coexist in harmony. for my money, matsu takako is the secret ingredient. you can almost put any other genial, sweet-faced young "slacker" opposite her goody 2-shoes stickler, and still have the formula work. except, of course, kimura's saucer-eyes are adorable & his close-ups save him from any heavy-duty acting (let's face it: even his role in GIFT '96 was more demanding.) the supporting actors are all hilarious caricatures. the only downside is whenever kimura breaks out the family values-sermons. overall a FUN, FUN, FUN series!

Several sources have pointed out the similarities of this Ryo to the Kamon Ryo played by Sawada Kenji in "Akuma Youna No Aitsu / Guy like a Devil" (1975; Sawada was sort of the 70s Kimura.) That one was even more violent and amoral (incest, gay relationship, multiple murders/rapes, bullying/torture, male prostitution, drug/immigrant trafficking.) Check out a photo comparison:

http://homepage1.nifty.com/hachi/16/akuma/ryou.htm

I really loved the 1975 series (available from amazon & panorama: http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005QYP8/qid=1081752816/sr=1-17/ref=sr_1_2_17/249-2932363-8258725), so I'll be picking up this one with Kimura to see how they "updated" it!