Just Watched: Tokyo Tarareba Musume

Sex & the City Japanese style! Except there are only three main ladies in this drama. Tokyo Tarareba Musume was on my radar ever since Bel blogged about it. I love watching dramas with female leads. It’s the different perspective and opinion from women that I fascinated about. Besides, I am biased. I adore my species very much! *laughs*. I completed the drama last week and I just want to say I’m glad I waited until it is done to blog it. Why do you say? The ending was as I expected but the journey to this happy ending was rough.

As I said earlier, three female leads with three different unique characters with baggage. Rinko, the main lead, is a struggling screenwriter. She left her job at a tv network to pursue her dream of writing. Unfortunately, her style is not favorable to many directors. Hence, the struggle to survive in an entertainment world. Rinko is also in her 30-year-old box. Without a boyfriend, she suddenly feels life is going downhill. Her desperate determination to be in a relationship is the focus of this drama. From sleeping with a model-turned-actor, Key, to dating the perfect yet boring chef boyfriend, Okuda, and lastly regretting to say yes to Hayasaka’s initial dating proposal, Rinko finally said enough to herself and decided to pursue happiness no matter what. The only major obstacle she has is herself. Key nicknamed her miss “what-if” because of her constant doubt and worry too much about the things that are merely nothing.

Rinko always shares her struggles, good or bad, with her besties Kaori and Koyuki. Kaori owns a nail salon and she often provides her girls with free service. Kaori struggles to find love herself after dumping her ambitious amature musician boyfriend. But when she met him again, he is very successful in his career. They hooked up again one night but the next morning she realized that Ryo has a girlfriend! In the beginning, she hated this affair but later she got sucked in by her memories with him. In the end, I got so proud of her because she was able to walk out of this relationship despite having numerous attempt to hook up with Ryo even though he and his girlfriend broken up.

Koyuki helps her dad in a restaurant. Coming from a broken family, she moved to the city to be closer to her dad. Koyuki’ loveless life was extremely depressing. One night she met Yoshio, a suddenly frequent customer. She agreed to date him. The not so happy picture in this relationship is the fact that Yoshio is a married man. Period. He convinced her that his marriage is broken and he will end it once his pregnant wife gives birth. Initially, Koyuki agreed to put this behind her. Her dad disapproved her decision and after much thought, she left Yoshio with a heavy heart. She finally saw her decision was wise when she bumped into him and his daughter one day. She knew immediately that the man was just having a moment. She was glad that she didn’t break a family up.

Back to Rinko, I have been shipping her with Key since the beginning. Key has his own heavy baggage. Prior to being famous, his old life was nothing but dreamy. But it ended and he was aware that the happiness was temporary. And that has turned him into a bitter and salty man. I wouldn’t go further to why he is the way he is, but really, you can see his sadness all over his face. Rinko hated him but she began to understand him more and more towards the end of the series.

This drama is based on a manga of the same title. It’s cute and it’s fun to watch the struggle these girls were facing. But I really hated the ending. I was fine with the pace but the writer rushed the ending. It was too quick and the OTP moment was terrible. I was frustrated with the ending because of that. And too many mixed messages! Why couldn’t the writer make it direct? Urgh! No matter, though, I still think Tokyo Tarareba Musume worth a watch. It’s fun and entertaining. Well, there are few stressful moments but I wouldn’t sweat it. It’s no biggie.