Real Clothes
Posted on August 8th, 2010
Real Clothes
[Rating: 8.5/10]
Genre: josei, drama
Kinue, a plain and totally unfashionable saleswoman in the futon section of a big deparment store suddenly finds herself transferred to work on the women’s fashion floor. Her views on fashion and the people who work in it start to change as she goes on her own clothing journey, mentored by Miki, her new boss and no-nonsense ice queen.
It’s rather amusing how I originally did not have much interest in watching this as it sounded like a clone of Devil Wears Prada and Ugly Betty, but when I gave it a chance it ended up one of my favourite jdramas. What I liked about it was that Kinue’s colleagues and boss were less bitchy and shallow than the fashion workers in abovementioned american productions. In otherwords, the characters were more real and likeable. While Jinbo Miki was portrayed to be an ice queen, Miranda Priestly she is not. She actually showed concern and interest to her subordinate’s well being and understood her personal assistants quite well, often delivering some good advice and insight to both the fashion industry and to life. Kuroki Hitomi played her role with grace and poise, and the moments where Miki was dealing with her long time customers were warm and inviting. Her back story added an extra dimension to the character. Karina, who played Kinue didn’t come across as too stubborn and ignorant, and when as she learned the importance of personal presentation, her own fashion style was quite nice. I also liked when she became a mentor to the new sales assistants later on. I also enjoyed the rivalry between the two male leads, Tabuchi and Hachiya, played by Nishijima Hidetoshi and Koizumi Kotaro. Absolutely loved their dress styles and contrasting personalities, especially how they dealt with clients. Another thing was that while there was a little romance going on, it was played down and did not take up the plot, rather it was a relationship that subtly progressed from being colleagues to friends to mutual attraction but not an all out romance at the end. It made their working relationship more realistic as well.
So strong casting and overall a very enjoyable series. I think it can be appreciated by many types of jdrama fans, and is a safe choice people who are new to the jdrama scene.