View topic - Ueno Juri :: jdorama.com

Blog post from http://foreigndispatches.typepad.com/dispatches/2006/12/the_secret_of_u.html

The Secret of Juri Ueno's Appeal

You know, when I was going about choosing which Japanese TV dramas to watch during this winter season, the show "Nodame Cantabile" was very definitely not on my list of prospects. The thing about Japanese TV shows is that they're generally only 10 to 12 episodes long, which makes it hard to know which new ones to take a look at without just seeing if the actors in them are people one already knows and likes. Now call me superficial if you like (you'd certainly be right to), but as far as I'm concerned, unless I know that the main performers are particularly talented, the main determinant of what commends my attention in a new series will be the attractiveness of the female cast: a show with a humdrum, shopworn premise like "Only One Love" (��̗�) will at least get me to look if one of the main actresses is as pretty as the exquisite Erika Toda (�˓c�b��), and all it has to do to keep that attention is be at least mildly entertaining while giving enough airtime to the pretty actress(es): even as ludicrous a show as summer's Gal Circle managed to keep me watching from start to finish, by wisely packing the cast with as many extremely pretty girls as absolutely possible. On this score, however, with the choice of Juri Ueno (��) as female lead, Nodame Cantabile sadly fell far short.

Contrary to the impression left by the preceding paragraph, I don't intend to imply that Ms. Ueno is by any means ugly - as you can see from this article, this is definitely not the case - only that in terms of sheer physical attractiveness, one would be hard placed to put her in the same ranks as the likes of Erika Toda, Yui Aragaki (�V�_ ��), Erika Sawajiri (��K�G��J) and Masami Nagasawa (��V�܂��), all of whom are in the same age group as she is, all of whom are currently very popular, and all of whom came through the "gravure" ranks, guaranteeing (if nothing else) their physical appeal. Compared to these pretty young things, Juri Ueno is very much the girl next door, and that is not what I generally look for in my brainless entertainment.

Making things worse for this new drama of Ms. Ueno's was that I am not at all and never have been a manga reader, and as such the story "Nodame Cantabile" carried none of the magic for me that it would have were I a Japanese person of the target demographic. In addition, although I'd heard good things said on Ueno Juri's behalf about her performance in other roles, the only other show I'd ever seen her in was the 2005 KimuTaku vehicle* "Engine", in which she played a thoroughly disagreeable teenager whose negative attitude I simply could not detach from my mental picture of the actress herself (in retrospect, this in itself is a sign of how talented she is): I simply could not envision a scenario under which I could enjoy having to see that persona on my screen for 45 minutes at a stretch. Couple this with her not being "idol" material and there's absolutely no reason why I ought to have given her show a chance.

And yet, give "Nodame Cantabile" a chance is just what I did, and what is more, much to my surprise I found out I liked it (which is why you're reading this). In fact, I liked it so much that it is pretty much the only Japanese drama of the season I can claim to have unreservedly been looking forward to - and for this, a tremendous share of the credit must go to none other than Juri Ueno. Had I not felt obliged to at least give the show one viewing out of a sense of obligation to a friend who recommended it to me, I wouldn't be writing these words, but here I am, and I'm glad to say I was wrong.

Other than saying that it never hurts a show to have a first-class soundtrack acting as an untitled actor, I'm not going to give a precis of "Nodame Cantabile" here - for that you can use the links I've provided - as I want to talk about Juri Ueno herself, not the show in general. Here's the funny thing: despite the preconceived bias I had against the actress from the one old performance of hers I remembered, she managed in the course of the very first episode to wipe all those ideas away from my memory, convincingly playing Megumi Noda as the near-opposite of the image I had in mind, as sloppy, ditzy, carefree, considerate, and, yes, even cute, to such a convincing degree it never would have occurred to me that she could have acted otherwise, had I not already possesed evidence to the contrary. For me, the ultimate test of the talent of an actress in a non-tragic** role is this: that despite her not being especially physically attractive, you actually start to find yourself more and more attracted to her, against all your conventional measures of taste; on this test, Juri Ueno passes with flying colors, joining only the actresses Honami Suzuki (��ؕۓޔ�) and Miho Kanno (��) in that select group*** whose ability as actresses gives them an appeal far out of proportion to their raw physical appeal.

In summary, the point of all this is that I guess it really is true what they say about beauty being more than skin deep, at least for those who meet a certain minimum level of exterior attractiveness: a decent-looking but highly talented actress can certainly win out over more beautiful women in the hearts of even looks-oriented fellows like myself if given the chance to show what she can do (though I doubt I'd ever give any flesh and blood woman a comparable opportunity). The problematic thing, though, is that all things considered, being less than head-turningly attractive is not in itself much of an indicator of talent, at least where Japanese entertainment is concerned, and many of the best actresses are also among the prettiest, e.g. Yukie Nakama (��ԗR�I��) or Ryoko Yonekura (�đq��q). As such, were I to say that I'd give every show without a hot female lead a chance, I'd likely waste very many hours watching television with neither a compelling plot, superb performances nor even eye candy to hold my attention. The most I'm willing to say from here on out is that I'll put a little more trust in the recommendations of friends in such matters, even when I don't see the names of pretty idols on the acting rolls, and Juri Ueno is to thank for this change.

PS: Some readers may be wondering how the physical appeal of male actors may figure into my thinking, and the straightforward answer is - it doesn't. As long as they aren't outright repulsive, I really could care less what the men in a cast look like, and the only thing I care about where men are concerned is their track record as performers, strong ones like Hiroshi Abe (��) being much more likely to get my attention. So what if there's a double standard at work here? I'm a straight guy who likes looking at pretty women, sue me ...

*Sorry, couldn't resist that.
**I don't count tragic roles because I think it's actually easier to sympathize with less than stunning-looking people in such roles. Just look at Richard III and his "But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks" etc. and you'll see what I mean.
***I think it's pretty clear that none of these women are what you'd call exactly "ugly", or even "plain" per se. It's just that they're not the sorts you only have to look at to start drooling over. Certainly none of my Japanese friends understand what I see in Miho Kanno.