Satorare (Transparent) Review
Dec. 31st, 2006 02:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scottishlassJust finished watching the jdrama Satorare from 2002 with Odagiri Joe. I was a bit apprehensive about the whole concept of the show but I fell in madcap love with it :)
summary:
Satomi Kenichi is a doctor at a local hospital in a typically normal small town somewhere in Japan. Well, actually nothing is so normal and typical. Satomi is a satorare, one out of 10 million ppl whose thoughts can be heard by others. Japan sees these persons as national treasures and make everything possible that they can lead a normal life and not become aware that others can actually hear their thoughts (a couple of other satorare who became aware of their condition committed suicide).
The government has created a special committee to take care of the satorare and at least two agents are assigned to the persons to make sure they are safe.
So everyone at the hospital, from the staff to the patients, are specially instructed not to react to any of the satorare's thoughts. Why all the effort apart from the fact to have potential suicidal tendencies in satorares? Satorares are geniuses with an IQ over 200 and brilliant in their fields of work. Kenichi is not an exception, he is a brilliant doctor and surgeon but because of his special ability he is not allowed to do surgery and treat really sick patients. Terminal illness patients might find out their real condition by hearing his thuoghts, so he is assigned to broken legs and arms in the outpatient ward. He grows restless there, as everyone treats him more or less like a stupid medical student with no skills at all and when his one-sided love for Megumi-sensei also goes downhill, he feels more and more dissatisfied with his life.
It all seems to change when a new pathology doctor Hoshino Noriko comes to the hospital. She has a hard time adjusting to the whole satorare situation but these two are inevitably drawn to each other and strike up an awkward friendship even though Noriko is acutely aware of the growing feelings of Kenichi towards her. Noriko tries to put forth their 4 year difference as a possible reason for not dating him but she is already loosing the battle as she is attracted to him not only despite the fact he is so transparent but also because she can hear his thoughts so freely. Kenichi almost immediately falls for older Noriko and everyone is already looking forward to him being jilted as no woman could stand having her intimate relationship announced with a satorare (That is why Megumi turned him down with the help of a doctor colleague).
The hospital staff who is fed up with Kenichi's constant thoughts about Megumi and later Noriko try to get him transferred to a remote research laboratory. Little do they know that they all somehow have come dependent on Satomi's thoughts. Everyone expects Noriko to help them get ri of him but more than one time she finds herself on the side of Satomi against the rest of her work colleagues than actually helping her new employer to get rid of him.
When his mom becomes ill and he treats her himself (she especially asks for him performing the surgery) all become painfully aware what a skilled and brilliant surgeon Satomi is and that the fact that he is satorare is the only reason why he is kept from becoming a full-fledged doctor.
It seems all to work out well until a child slips up one day and calls him satorare-sensei and all the little odd occurances and things add up in Satomi and he becomes aware that everyone can hear his most innermost thoughts ...
review:
I love this show. From the story line it isn't so different from the Korean movie Satorare but it is much more funnier. The reaction of the staff to Satomi's thoughts as well as any slip ups when they DO react to his bickering is just hilarious. I more than once giggled with glee when they all more or less tried to cover up and got into silly situations and Satomi thinking they are all mad.
On the other hand it is a very sad series, esp. the last two eps when Satomi little by little finds out that the ppl around him can actually hear his thoughts and that he has no privacy. He is ready to give up his dream to become a surgeon who saves lives and recluse himself on a remote island where he is alone, utterly alone. The illness of his mother also puts a damper to the madcap hysterics and the comedy is substituted with melodrama, and rightly so. Thinking about it, if such a condition would be real, the person suffering from it would have no privacy at all. This situation is addressed in small bits and pieces, esp. in talks about Satomi having relationships and that most women don't want the public to know about their love life. Poor Satomi, when he thinks about Megumi in the beginning of the series he unconsciously embarrasses her and the young doctor can't handle it.
He also embarrasses Hoshino Noriko big time when he meets her father and thinks about him already as his father in law. Noriko's father is appalled and shanghais her into an omiai which results in one of the most hilarious scenes of the series where Satomi drops in to the omiai disguised with a false mustache and a snake skin suit.
But the most angsty scene for me was the one on the roof top. It was heart-breaking when we see Satomi crying his heart out after he realises that he is satorare. He hugs the reiling of the roof terrace, apologizing to his mother over and over again who is dying of stomach cancer and whom he cannot save. Then his embarrassed gome nae to the staff and to Hoshino-sensei because he thought so much about her and was going on and on about loving her but never actually telling her. He is on the verge to commit suicide when Noriko finds him and comforts him silently, listening to his agonized apologetic thoughts and I'm in tears.
When he wants to go away, too embarrassed to be around ppl, Hoshino wants to accompany him to the deserted island, but when he hears that another satore lost his girl-friend in the very same scenario (the woman actually fleeing the island after a time), he very deliberately deceives Noriko and tells her a different departure time. It is such a quiet scene and you can actually miss it quite easily but as he is such an honest person, you can actually see how much effort he puts into it trying not to think so she will hear about his decision.
In the end, all ends well. The staff misses his loud voice and patients who are determined to find out if he is a genius after all come pouring in and he can do what he loves to do, treating the sick.
I saw the show in 4 consecutive days, it is a cute kind of drama where you laugh at the antics but also feel very much for the protagonist and fear the time when he finds out that he is causing all these little problems. It was the first time I saw Odagiri Joe and I must say, he grew on me. I need to check out more dramas by him.
summary:
Satomi Kenichi is a doctor at a local hospital in a typically normal small town somewhere in Japan. Well, actually nothing is so normal and typical. Satomi is a satorare, one out of 10 million ppl whose thoughts can be heard by others. Japan sees these persons as national treasures and make everything possible that they can lead a normal life and not become aware that others can actually hear their thoughts (a couple of other satorare who became aware of their condition committed suicide).
The government has created a special committee to take care of the satorare and at least two agents are assigned to the persons to make sure they are safe.So everyone at the hospital, from the staff to the patients, are specially instructed not to react to any of the satorare's thoughts. Why all the effort apart from the fact to have potential suicidal tendencies in satorares? Satorares are geniuses with an IQ over 200 and brilliant in their fields of work. Kenichi is not an exception, he is a brilliant doctor and surgeon but because of his special ability he is not allowed to do surgery and treat really sick patients. Terminal illness patients might find out their real condition by hearing his thuoghts, so he is assigned to broken legs and arms in the outpatient ward. He grows restless there, as everyone treats him more or less like a stupid medical student with no skills at all and when his one-sided love for Megumi-sensei also goes downhill, he feels more and more dissatisfied with his life.
It all seems to change when a new pathology doctor Hoshino Noriko comes to the hospital. She has a hard time adjusting to the whole satorare situation but these two are inevitably drawn to each other and strike up an awkward friendship even though Noriko is acutely aware of the growing feelings of Kenichi towards her. Noriko tries to put forth their 4 year difference as a possible reason for not dating him but she is already loosing the battle as she is attracted to him not only despite the fact he is so transparent but also because she can hear his thoughts so freely. Kenichi almost immediately falls for older Noriko and everyone is already looking forward to him being jilted as no woman could stand having her intimate relationship announced with a satorare (That is why Megumi turned him down with the help of a doctor colleague).
The hospital staff who is fed up with Kenichi's constant thoughts about Megumi and later Noriko try to get him transferred to a remote research laboratory. Little do they know that they all somehow have come dependent on Satomi's thoughts. Everyone expects Noriko to help them get ri of him but more than one time she finds herself on the side of Satomi against the rest of her work colleagues than actually helping her new employer to get rid of him.
When his mom becomes ill and he treats her himself (she especially asks for him performing the surgery) all become painfully aware what a skilled and brilliant surgeon Satomi is and that the fact that he is satorare is the only reason why he is kept from becoming a full-fledged doctor.
It seems all to work out well until a child slips up one day and calls him satorare-sensei and all the little odd occurances and things add up in Satomi and he becomes aware that everyone can hear his most innermost thoughts ...
review:
I love this show. From the story line it isn't so different from the Korean movie Satorare but it is much more funnier. The reaction of the staff to Satomi's thoughts as well as any slip ups when they DO react to his bickering is just hilarious. I more than once giggled with glee when they all more or less tried to cover up and got into silly situations and Satomi thinking they are all mad. On the other hand it is a very sad series, esp. the last two eps when Satomi little by little finds out that the ppl around him can actually hear his thoughts and that he has no privacy. He is ready to give up his dream to become a surgeon who saves lives and recluse himself on a remote island where he is alone, utterly alone. The illness of his mother also puts a damper to the madcap hysterics and the comedy is substituted with melodrama, and rightly so. Thinking about it, if such a condition would be real, the person suffering from it would have no privacy at all. This situation is addressed in small bits and pieces, esp. in talks about Satomi having relationships and that most women don't want the public to know about their love life. Poor Satomi, when he thinks about Megumi in the beginning of the series he unconsciously embarrasses her and the young doctor can't handle it.
He also embarrasses Hoshino Noriko big time when he meets her father and thinks about him already as his father in law. Noriko's father is appalled and shanghais her into an omiai which results in one of the most hilarious scenes of the series where Satomi drops in to the omiai disguised with a false mustache and a snake skin suit.
But the most angsty scene for me was the one on the roof top. It was heart-breaking when we see Satomi crying his heart out after he realises that he is satorare. He hugs the reiling of the roof terrace, apologizing to his mother over and over again who is dying of stomach cancer and whom he cannot save. Then his embarrassed gome nae to the staff and to Hoshino-sensei because he thought so much about her and was going on and on about loving her but never actually telling her. He is on the verge to commit suicide when Noriko finds him and comforts him silently, listening to his agonized apologetic thoughts and I'm in tears.
When he wants to go away, too embarrassed to be around ppl, Hoshino wants to accompany him to the deserted island, but when he hears that another satore lost his girl-friend in the very same scenario (the woman actually fleeing the island after a time), he very deliberately deceives Noriko and tells her a different departure time. It is such a quiet scene and you can actually miss it quite easily but as he is such an honest person, you can actually see how much effort he puts into it trying not to think so she will hear about his decision.
In the end, all ends well. The staff misses his loud voice and patients who are determined to find out if he is a genius after all come pouring in and he can do what he loves to do, treating the sick.
I saw the show in 4 consecutive days, it is a cute kind of drama where you laugh at the antics but also feel very much for the protagonist and fear the time when he finds out that he is causing all these little problems. It was the first time I saw Odagiri Joe and I must say, he grew on me. I need to check out more dramas by him.
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