First of all, before I start my post I want to make something clear. The drama tackles gender identity disorder as its major plot line, however as I’m not knowledged enough concerning this aspect, I can’t say if Kataomoi has done well in regards of making a good representation of the subject to its viewers.
Kataomoi is the common WOWOW drama, well produced and acted with an interesting plot that makes you want to research more on the subject outside of the drama. The flow of the episodes felt a bit slow for my taste but at the same time I can’t complain, as the hints were given in a way so that we, as viewers, can digest everything easily, considering the heavy theme.
There was never a BOOM kind of situation with the given information. That certain moment or scene which gives us adrenaline thus some may think that the drama is rather boring. Having said that, from the way I see it, I don’t think it needed a thrilling situation. As a whole, it gave off the feeling a person directly telling me a story about someone they know. That person isn’t good at telling stories, yet I got drawn into it without noticing thanks to the passion he or she told the story with.
The story starts with Mizuki, a former manager of an University American football club who appears as a man in front of his former club members and tells them that he murdered someone – note: Mizuki is taking T shots. The drama starts from here as some of the team members pursue in helping Mizuki. Although it may appear that Mizuki is the main character, I found Tetsuro, the former star of the football team, to be the character that had the spotlight. He was the one who takes us with him in finding the truth behind the murder. Strangely, Tetsuro was the first and only one that could truly understand Mitsuki and that’s because he gave him time to express his inner struggles. Even when Tetsuro’s wife, Risako, said that their friend should go back to being a woman so he could hide from the police, Tetsuro didn’t agree with the plan. Also, he didn’t made any rush assumptions, in fact he took everything slowly wanting to find the truth. Did Mizuki really commit a murder? Is he trying to cover up someone else? Why did the victim hide in his house 3 family registers, one of which was Mizuki’s.
The episodes were well structured. I like how the director transformed me into a quiet witness as the characters went on finding more and more about Mitsuki. In fact, I liked this role for myself, the viewer, more than the one where you actively take part in the story like a couch no on listens to whenever characters from the respective show makes your blood boil and you start screaming at the screen.
The mood of the drama was nice. Everything was approached in a serious manner. No idiotic comedy. The acting was good as if the actors become one with the characters. You can feel everyone’s dedication for acting which was quite refreshing.
As a last note, or more like, something that I learned from this drama and maybe this is what the writer actually wanted to convey is that sometimes people don’t want to live being controlled by their own gender, they just want to be true to themselves – something along these lines was said by one of the characters (won’t say who as it might be a major spoiler). Kataomoi it’s a drama that asks you to at least respect, if not understand, the feelings and hardships of others. People just want to live as themselves without being told what they should or shouldn’t feel.
Four Seasons Dramas! 