Mother
Posted on August 12th, 2010
Mother
[Rating: 7.5/10]
Genre: drama, family
Nao is an elementary schoolteacher who wonders if there is something more to life. She encounters a girl named Reina in one of her classes, who has bruises and marks around her body and is often hungry. Nao, suspecting something decides to intervene and what follows changes her entire life…
This is not your usual family drama where very episode ends giving you the warm fuzzies. It is quite poignant and gripping, albeit rather slow moving at times and I did drop and pick it up rather than watch it consistently due to this flaw. However towards the final few episodes it became much more interesting. I really commend the cast for managing to capture each role beautifully even if I didn’t have strong likings to any character aside from Reina, who was just really cute. The characters were very real and I can imagine something like this happening in real life, even if the story of a teacher spiriting away her own pupil may seem a tad farfetched, but how everyone reacted to the events was very believable. With regards to how things ended, where Reina eventually ended up is common in reality. Nao, despite her good intentions was guilty of kidnapping even if the child went along willingly and to a better, safer environment. Ashida Mana, who played Reina has to be commended on her acting skills for a 6 year old she is very talented, and as I said before, this is not a typical happy family drama. All the women, especially the three mothers (Nao’s two mothers and Reina’s mother) had lots of depth to them and while they had their own faults, I did feel a little sorry for all of them as they did have their own reasons for how they behaved.
If you like slice of life stories, and one that deals mainly with character emotions and don’t mind dramas that are a bit sad and slow, then this is for you. If you’re looking for a family drama to cheer you up after a long day, then I point you elsewhere (ie, try something in the vein of My Girl, Abarenbo Mama or Brother Beat, be warned the first can be sad in parts but is overall very warm and fuzzy)~
Filed under: ** jdrama, drama, family