14 Sai no Haha
Posted on February 7th, 2010
14 Sai no Haha
[Rating: 8/10]
Genre: Family, Drama
A junior high-school student finds herself pregnant and decides to keep the baby. The story explores the repercussions of this controversial issue looking at the reactions from various characters.
I guess to some extent you could call this Juno extended. That said, I felt that this drama was pretty realistic in depicting the viewpoints of the parental figures of both Miki and Satoshi. I have read reviews about the two lead characters being a bit too mature for their age and to some extent I do agree with that (considering both lead rather sheltered lives) but at the same time, who is to say that teenagers aren’t mature? Also I think the element of Miki’s personality made her character more likeable rather than if they created a lead character who was irresponsible so to speak. The uniqueness of this show is that the reason Miki became pregnant in first place is rather… normal? Normal (for lack of better word) in the sense that she wasn’t forced, neither were she and Satoshi aware of the consequences because they just lacked the knowledge to comprehend something like that would occur as a result. They were in a somewhat frightening situation saw it as comforting each other – and during that night it seemed that Miki saw herself in a rather material/big-sister role despite her being the younger. The issue of abortion is controversial, and whether or not she decided to keep the child, the whole situation itself is a can-of-worms. While it wasn’t very sensible of her to get pregnant, personally I am pro-life and am glad she kept the child. She has a supporting and loving family and she would be able to raise it fairly comfortably. The thing I liked most about it was that it showed how even the most normal of families can fall prey to the unexpected, and in the end it all boils down to how we deal with things.
The acting in this show is quite strong as I mentioned, especially on the side of the adult cast. Miki’s parents, especially were great, and they really felt like a real family. The performance that really surprised me Namase Katsuhisa who played Miki’s dad, because I am so used to seeing him in comic-type roles (ie. Sawatari in Gokusen) that the image has been stuck in my mind. But he displayed so much dedication and emotion in 14 Sai no Haha that I have to commend him. And Tanaka Misako was very nearly the perfect mother. Miki’s brother, Kenta was very cute. I felt the two young leads grew into their roles as their characters matured as well. Yes, in the end their characters were still a bit naive but they were still in their mid-teens so you can’t exactly fault them for it. I think Shida Mirai has quite a bit of potential so I look forward to watching her acting career.
All in all, despite the serious issue brought up, this is actually quite a heart-warming show and if you like family dramas I’d recommend it. I felt that the handling of this topic was well-done.
Filed under: drama, family, jdrama