Niigaki Yui has always been the best candidate for the "national wife".
With a sweet look and a healing smile, she has been listed in Japan's major beauty rankings many times.
For example, from 2017 to 2018, she won the first place in Japan's "Women's Most Wanted Face" list twice.
Or maybe she's number one on the list of "actresses who want to fall in love with her" selected by Japanese men.
In 2016, with the popularity of the Japanese drama "Escape Is Shameful but Useful", the popularity of Yui Niigaki in East Asia also went all the way up.
Through this drama, Niigaki Yui officially confirmed the title of "National Wife".
At that time, in order to chase the stars, many Japanese parents directly named their children "Yui", making the name "Yui" the most popular name for baby girls at that time.
Although "Escape from Shame but Useful" (hereinafter referred to as "Escape from Shame") has long been over, many viewers still remember it.
So, at the beginning of this year, the drama finally launched an SP after four years of violation -
"Escape is shameful but useful" Chinese New Year special
Before we officially talk about this SP, let's briefly review the content of the previous game.
The female protagonist, Shiori Moriyama (Yui Niigaki), 25 years old, graduated from graduate school.
Whimsical, although the mantra is "I live every day to the fullest", she has been running into walls in the process of employment.
After several turns, she was introduced by her father to get a job in domestic work.
The employer she works for is a single white-collar worker named Tsusaki Hiraku (Hoshino Gen).
Ping Kuang, who was 35 years old at the time, was a herbivore of Mu Ne.
Because he has great resentment about finding a job, Shiri cherishes this domestic work. Hirakumi is also impressed by Shiori's seriousness and carefulness, and hopes to hire her for a long time.
In the end, when Shikuri was unsettled, Hirakumi kindly took in the other party. The two became a "contract couple" and began a married life of "employer = husband" and "employee = wife", and eventually became a long-term relationship, from a contract couple to a real couple.
Although the plot framework of "Escape from Shame" seems to be somewhat exaggerated, the marriage and love issues it explores are not exaggerated. The main purpose of the play is to start from reality and explore the equal model of gender coexistence.
Before that, many people regarded "marriage is the graveyard of love" as the truth, but they were reluctant to go further and torture why marriage became the graveyard of love.
And "Escape from Shame" is through the equal coexistence between the sexes, just right to wake up everyone: the so-called gender contradictions, in fact, are caused by improper communication, only timely communication, know how to empathize, is the long-term way for the two sexes to get along.
The plot of SP continues from the previous work, starting from the married life of Shiori and Hirahiro.
In a relaxed and bright comedy atmosphere, the whole drama explores a variety of social issues such as workplace bullying, the system of husband and wife with the same surname, the birth leave of husband and wife, the difference between male and female parenting, LGBT, and the new crown epidemic, interspersed with several major events experienced in Japan from 2019 to 2020.
There is a heart-wrenching reality, and there is also a heart-warming feeling.
Its overall quality is basically the same as that of the previous game, and the current Douban score is 8.5 (the previous work is 8.4).
The first problem the two encountered after marriage was the problem of "changing their surname and naturalization".
In Japan, naturalization is not as simple as writing the names of both husband and wife on the same household register, and one of them changes his or her surname with the other's surname. Most of the time, Japanese women will "crown their husband's surname" when they are naturalized.
For example, the heroine, Moriyama Shiori, changed her surname to "Tsusaki" (Hiraku's surname) after naturalization.
This practice of "wife following her husband's surname" is essentially a clear manifestation of the patriarchal system - through the "sense of deprivation" on the surname, it indicates the "change of master" in female identity (from the father's surname to the husband's surname).
However, for this sharp problem, sp did not make in-depth digging, but a brush stroke, extending the important premise of changing the surname to naturalization: both husband and wife should calmly think about each other, whether it is "crown husband surname" or "crown wife surname", one party should not take the other party's sacrifice for granted.
Later, Shiori became pregnant, and the couple also behaved quite enlightened when naming their children.
Shiori gently asked Hirakumi, "Do you want to take a common name for boys and girls?" ”
She asked this not because she didn't know the sex of the fetus, but because she was worried that "the child may change gender as she grows up." They do not want to use a gender name that is too obvious to frame the growth of children, but they want to let children grow up freely according to their personal wishes.
So, they finally named their daughter "亜江(あこう)", which means "a fish that can change gender".
After Shiori became pregnant, the fledgling couple also encountered many real real dilemmas.
For example, the issue of maternity leave and paternity leave.
Shiori planned to start taking maternity leave 6 weeks before giving birth, and when she asked the leader for a leave of absence, she received a lot of blank stares at the company. And the benefits she deserves have also been affected by maternity leave.
In the eyes of the leaders, women's paid maternity leave is to let the company "paste money backwards".
Because of this, many unmarried and childless women will be treated unfairly during the interview process. Even if they are successfully employed, they will face the problem of "difficulty in asking for leave" next, even if they take maternity leave for legitimate reasons, they will have to bear the harsh responsibilities of leaders and the blank eyes of colleagues..."
The problem of "declining fertility" (declining fertility) has been a thorny issue that Japan has struggled to deal with in recent years. Many experts and scholars have studied it with great fanfare. As everyone knows, in order to truly solve this problem, we need to start from the source, starting from improving the status of women and improving women's welfare.
As Li Li said: You want women to take leave if they want, don't squeeze them with positions and workloads, and they will have plans to have children.
The same problem of asking for leave also appeared in Ping Kuang.
Men take paternity leave, which is a new policy introduced in Japan in recent years, although the official claim is that men can take 60% of the monthly salary and take paternity leave for one year, but in fact, the number of men who actually take paternity leave is very small.
Most men are not unwilling to take paternity leave, but dare not take paternity leave - on the one hand, under the influence of traditional values, company leaders will unconsciously breed such doubts: women take maternity leave can be understood, why do men need maternity leave? On the other hand, the competition in the workplace is fierce, and once paternity leave is taken, it is bound to greatly reduce the competitiveness of men in the workplace.
And "Escape from Shame" SP starts from reality and says what most social animals think: this thing of not being able to ask for leave is not right!
In addition, in terms of parenting, SP also reveals a positive three-way view that makes people shoot the case.
The most impressive thing is a piece of Ping Kuang's heartfelt parenting shout: In the period before the birth of the child, I will try to do your support, you are not welcome, if there is anything to tell me, I will help you...
Most women, hearing this, will be very pleased.
But Shi Li was not only not moved, but also asked with a gloomy face: Help? Aren't we going to be parents together? I was having a baby for the first time, and I didn't know anything and was very uneasy. Still, do I have to study alone and then give you orders? We have to learn together and be parents together. Isn't that what a husband and wife should be?
Through this remark, Shi Li not only said the key to equal parenting for husband and wife, but also poked at the pain and pain of "widowed parenting".
Although "Escape from Shame" has changed from a sweet love drama to a social problem drama with five tastes, the ornamental nature of the drama has not dropped but has risen, bringing out a lot of deeper thinking and connotation. Compared with those topic dramas in China that only focus on provoking public opinion, "Escape from Shame" not only does not avoid the various dilemmas in reality, but also provides a textbook-level gender mode of getting along.
However, compared with the previous game, this drama is not without problems.
In the 2-hour plot, the director mixed with a number of sensitive hot topics, but these hot topics were pointed to the end, and did not make in-depth excavation, which seemed to be more than sincere and insufficient in depth.
And the play has not had strong contradictions and conflicts from beginning to end. Even the slightest conflict will allow the characters to resolve themselves through reflection. For example, a male colleague said something bad to Shi Li the day before, and the next day He apologized to Shi Li for his words and deeds.
Or maybe the boss originally did not agree to Ping Kuang's paternity leave, but after hearing some "workplace risk management" rhetoric, he suddenly woke up and happily agreed to Ping Kuang.
It can be seen that this SP is still too idealistic in setting up contradictions and resolving contradictions.
But so why bother?
Anyway, it is enough to see Niigaki Yui dancing the "love dance"!
After all, the healing japanese script is the habitat of idealists.
It will deliver the most mellow chicken soup when people are tormented by reality, and it will also give the most beautiful and gentle response when people are hesitant to choose.
Tell us --
Even if you sometimes cry, you can still turn the page with a smile.
Steelball