Dorama Review : Marumo no Okite

It's my first time in giving a drama review.
I spend my time watching Japanese drama lately. Why do I do it? I don't know...Sometimes life can be boring, or I need more life lesson that I haven't gotten yet. So, this typical slice-of-life drama suits me best since Japan produces this kind of drama a lot. Indonesia did it too,..Do you remember "Keluarga Cemara" and "Si Doel Anak Sekolahan"? Sadly nowadays there's nothing like those in our local TV. Our TV series is all about nonsense teenager love story, revenge and evilness with cheesy scenario...I'm done with this.

Ok, So "Marumo no Okite" literally means "Marumo's rules". The drama tells about Mamoru Takagi..a 30-something year old single man who works as a Customer Service at a stationery maker company. He suddenly find out that his best friend (a man named Sasakura) passed away and left his twin daughter and son (the kids are sooo amazingly cute). The twins sadly have to live separated, the boy (Tomoki) has to live with Sasakura's brother and the girl (Kaoru) is with Sasakura's sister. Mamoru doesn't want it that way because Sasakura told him before that the twins had been always together since they were born. In order to grant Sasakura's wish, Mamoru lets the twins live with him and takes care of them as if they are his own kids.
Here the story begins. The twins start calling him “Marumo” (they got his name wrong, so instead of “Mamoru”, they call him “Marumo”). The three of them, along with a lost dog that's miraculously able to talk named Mook begin to live in a small room as a family., their life’s filled with love, joy, pain, friendship, and many wonderful moments. You’d laugh, cry and then laugh again when watching this drama.

So, sorry for everyone who hasn’t watched it yet. What I wrote below may contain spoilers.

Main Characters


Mamoru Takagi (Sadao Abe)

Let me introduce our Marumo

A typical Japanese Salaryman who's taking care of the adorable twins. A kindhearted, clumsy, a little bit short tempered and sometimes selfish single man. His life's lack of romance but he secretly adores his tall and goodlooking coworker. He lives in a 2nd floor room of a kind restaurant owner named Yosuke Hatanaka. Sadao Abe played this role amazingly. He had what we call superb acting talent. I saw him before as an eccentric anaesthetist in "Team Medical Dragon".  I think he could handle both roles perfectly.

Kaoru Sasakura (Mana Ashida)

Arrrgh...I don't know what I get to say about this cute little girl.  I must admit that Kaoru (Mana Ashida) is heart of the drama. She's incredibly mature for children her age, rebellious, sensitive and protective over his twin little brother. We can say Mana Ashida is the most popular child actress in Japan. She had starred in many high rating dramas and even would have her first solo concert.

Tomoki Sasakura (Fuku Suzuki)

Here we have Tomoki, the younger twin...He hooked me up with his innocent, spoiled and dependant character. Fuku Suzuki, one of Japan's future actor played this role pretty well. By the way..May I pinch his chubby cheeks?

Yosuke Hatanaka ( Sera Masanori)

 He's the owner of the 2nd floor small room that Mamoru rented. Though he looks like a yakuza, he has a very gentle heart. The twins call him "oyaji" (which literally means "father"). He keeps arguing with Aya-chan, his only daughter though he loves her so much. He also loves to learn from Marumo and the twins the meaning of being family.

Aya Hatanaka (Manami Higa)

Aya-chan is the only daughter of  Yosuke Hatanaka. She just got divorced and decided to help in his father restaurant. She's good at making delicious and cute bento. She cares a lot about the twins and I can tell she slowly falls for Mamoru.

Besides the five main characters above, You will find other lovable supporting roles such as Mamoru's  coworkers, the twins' mother who once abandoned them and the twins' cute classmates. No pure antagonist here, but you can still get hooked by this drama.

Why do I love this Drama:

• Great casts and great acting. No Idol here, but this drama is still enjoyable to watch.
• Neither devil like nor angel like character is here. Everyone is just human with the flaws.
• So many heartwarming scenes 
• The twins...Nobody would ever hate them
• Great soundtracks,esp "Maru Maru Mori Mori". I'm sure it will get stuck in your head once you listen to it. I love how everyone in the drama dance together in the end of each episode.
• Great direction, plot and scenario ( I still consider Japan's drama scenario is the best among Asian dramas ).
• I'm thrilled to see how passionate people in the drama work and coworkers are just like family, supporting each other.
• Mook the dog. You may think it's strange to add a talking dog in the drama...but sure it works. 
• Little spark between Mamoru and Aya-chan in the last episode. I heard they got closer in the SP (this drama got an SP, I should watch it)
• The food Aya-chan made.
• The twins' outfits. Everything they wear just makes them look cuter.
• I'm gonna stop this. I love almost everything about this drama.

The Things I hate:

• The drama is too short (Actually all Japanese dramas are). I do miss all the characters (esp. the twins) after it ended.
• I think Mana Ashida looks more natural in acting when she cries in silence. Crying out loud suits Fuku Suzuki better.
• I'm not sure about this, but sometimes I saw Fuku Suzuki looked at the camera.

For the bonus, I'll give you some screencaps:

The twins'  birthday

Such a heartwarming drama

What cute faces

With Mook, the talking dog

Aya Chan to Oyaji

Aaaarrrghh..

Having fun while mopping the floor

Let's follow Marumo!

Sano, Nakatsu and Ashiya from "Hana Kimi Remake" are eating in Oyaji's restaurant..LOL

Marumo at work

Bye Bye!

Harajuku Fashion

It's been a long time, huh!
I do miss this place and actually wanna write everything down...but when I came up with a quite brilliant idea, I didn't know... I didn't feel like writing..(I was to blame and no execuse for this)

Oke, sudah cukup basa-basinya. Sebelum berpanjang lebar, saya mau nanya...Apa yang terlintas pertama kali saat mendengar kata "Jepang"?
Yak, jawabannya pasti sangat beragam tergantung selera masing-masing. Kemungkinan jawabannya seputar ninja, samurai, anime, honda, dll...masih panjang listnya. Tentu saja tidak hendak membahas semua hal tersebut, teman. Di postingan ini saya mau fokus ke fashion-nya.
Yupp...It's Harajuku.

Hah? Harajuku yang aneh itu?
Kalo mau dibilang aneh sih, memang aneh...unik tepatnya. Tapi tahukah kalian kalau harajuku itu banyak sub atau jenisnya? dari style yang bikin orang menganggap kita sinting sampai stye yang cool bak artis Kpop. Oiya, meskipun fashion Asia dipandang sebelah mata oleh orang barat, bukan jaminan penggemarnya nggak banyak lho.So, let's find this out together!

Jadi, Harajuku itu nama area di sekitar Stasiun Harajuku yang terletak antara Shinjuku dan Shibuya, di kawasan kota Tokyo, Jepang. Tiap Minggu, para remaja di sana ngumpul dan bersosialisai..lengkap dengan style harajuku mereka. Kalo dibayangin pasti aneh kan, mirip karnaval. Tapi berhubung itu udah tradisi di sana, jadinya yah seru-seru aja..justru itu menjadi daya tarik wisatawan. Nggak heran ada beberapa brand internasional yang mengusung gaya Harajuku pada hasil rancangan mereka.
Ini dia nih jenis-jenisnya:

1. Gothic Lolita

Gothic Lolita in Anime

Gothic Lolita for girls

 

Gothic Lolita style for men

Gothic Lolita atau Goth Loli adalah style perpaduan gaya boneka porselen Victoria dan Gothic. Ciri khususnya : dark make up, rok lebar selututdengan ruffle, warna biasanya sekitar hitam, putih, merah, dan ungu. Gaya ini dipopulerkan oleh para personil band Visual Kei seperti Malice Mizer, Luna Sea, Plastic Tree dll.

2.  Decora & Kawaii

Decora berasal dari kata "decoration" dan Kawaii dalam bahasa Jepang berarti "cute" . Style ini menitikberatkan pada penggunaan baju berwarna terang, berlayer-layer dan aksesoris yang berlebihan.

3. Cosplay

Seperti keluar dari komik..

Gank-nya Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, Kakashi Sensei, dll..

Ada Sesshoumaru juga..Salam buat Inuyasha ya..!

Kalau ini sih udah pada sering liat di Festival Anime atau Festival Jepang ya. Cosplay berasal dari kata "costume" dan "play". Intinya sih bergaya ala tokoh anime gitu.

4. Gyaru

Gyaru berasal dari kata "girl"..Maklum lidah orang Jepang belibet kalo ngomong bahasa Inggris. Ada yang bilang fashion gyaru diadaptasi dari penampilan cewek-cewek di LA sana. Gaya ini sering dipakai para artis Jepang maupun Korea. Sebenernya sub Gyaru fashion itu banyak..ada shirogyaru (white gyaru), kogaru (yang ini lebih dark) dan masih banyak lagi. Berhubung terbatasnya waktu dan tempat, saya kasih contoh garis besarnya saja ya..

Nah, tren Harajuku sebenernya nggak sebatas yang saya jelaskan tadi karena pada kenyataannya terdapat perpaduan antara style satu dengan yang lainnya. Jadi kalau masih penasaran, cari sendiri ya :D

XOXO