fate-ss26

I'm pretty new to this generation of J-doramas. I originally watched this because of Nagasawa Masami, seeing that she was excellent in Proposal Daisakusen.

I didn't know who Ueno Juri is, and I didn't understand all the praises for her. That was, until I watched this.
And OMG, needless to say I was blown away by her acting. She's turned me into a believer and is now my #1 most favorite Japan actor of all time. The girl is a natural genius, and from now on I'm looking forward to all her future projects. But before that, I'll check out Nodame Cantabile to see more of Ueno Juri's goodness.

As for the show, it started off pretty slow, and then picked up around ep.5 until the end. By the time you hit ep.7 and forth, it became very intense, depressed and dark. I was pretty much on the edge of my seat and couldn't stop watching to find out what will happen next.

Although the show itself -when you judge it as a whole- was a little disappointing in the resolutions, and over too soon, this is definitely a drama to see for the great acting (particularly Ruka and Takeru) and the intense storyline.

First off, I would say that I wasn't a fan of modern Japanese drama at all. I'm definitely not a fan of over the top, fake, cutesy, cringe-worthy and unnatural acting that I often saw in Japanese dramas and movies I've watched. This however changed my whole outlook of Japanese doramas overall. The first time I watched, I was like "Finally, something worth watching." and it is indeed worth-watching and definitely not one to be missed, even if you're not a fan of J-doramas.

One thing I liked best about Proposal Daisakusen is the amount of morals that weaved their ways brilliantly into the plot of each and every single episode. For those who loved meaningful and moving storyline about friendship, love and life, you'll be right at home with this. In fact, it's one of the most meaningful storylines (especially for young adults) I've seen for so long. You won't walk away from this feeling like you've wasted several hours of your life sitting through it, or feeling nothing at all. It will however teach you something, tug at your heartstrings, and most likely you will not forget about it for a while. Or you will even watch it again from time to time like me, that's how good it is.

Of course the good doesn't stop there. I would say 99% of the casts are likable. Tsuru, Eri and Mikio were all likable and showed some very good acting for their parts. Ken himself (Yamashita Tomohisa) looked good and acted good, though not in the same league with Rei (Nagasawa Masami) who showed not just good looks but consistently great and naturally expressive acting skills every time she's on-screen.

As for the music, they are all well-composed, of high quality, and very fitting. Some of the best you will hear in a J-dorama.

All in all, if you like J-doramas or those movies with good messages and morals, you owe it to yourself to watch this. Proposal Daisakusen has everything that a great dorama needs, great main casts and supporting casts, a fitting and quality soundtrack, plenty of morals, great acting and chemistry, good editing and scripts and more. Don't miss it.