Recently, in the supplementary Japanese drama, I seriously watched the prestigious "JP" and "Legal High".
[1] "Legal High" and "Trick the World JP"
Both of these dramas belong to the classics of Japanese dramas, and Masato Sakai and Masami Nagasawa have contributed countless emojis that transcend national boundaries.
The first is Legal High. The first season of this show is 2012, the second season is 2013, and it has been 10 years since the finger is pinched, which can be called an old drama. And the third season has not been any news, the probability is not very likely.
"Legal High" is a kind of seriousness that is contrary to the tradition of political law, and there is no forced drama of "the theme is not enough to fall in love to make up", and the Gumeimen lawyer played by Sakai Masato is "cheap" and pragmatic enough, and the overall situation uses a very pompous way to let the audience in addition to gaining pleasure, and occasionally think about what justice (justice) is in contemporary society.
The Komimon lawyer performed by Sakai Masato and the Dai lawyer interpreted by Niigaki Yui essentially represent two views (attitudes) of contemporary society towards law (justice and fairness), one based on procedure (Gumimon) and the other based on morality (Dai).
To take a less appropriate example, a police officer witnessing a death row inmate Who will be executed tomorrow, Ah Mao, is about to be fatally attacked by another death row inmate Ah Dog, who will be executed the day after tomorrow.
What if A Cat ever killed A Dog's biological parents? What if Cat had killed the policeman's biological parents?
The rivalry between the two of them, on the one hand, is to increase the tension of the whole play (attractiveness, viewing), on the other hand, it can also be called doing some popularization (social education).
The lawyer's duty is to maximize the interests of the client, which is understandable. It is also true that some lawyers will try to eat the accuser and eat the defendant. If we take a wider perspective, what does it mean if a lawyer could actually reverse black and white in court (and that's how many of the plots in this show are portrayed)?
The law is flawed.
As a result, laws and regulations will continue to be amended to maintain fairness and justice to the greatest extent. There is a view that lawyers exist to force prosecutors (or plaintiffs) to do their utmost to search for evidence in order to uphold procedural justice.
Of course, there must be too much "operable space" for human-operated things, and the above "model" is just an idealized structure.
Gu Meimen's lawyer is a mercenary realist, because he has seen through the truth of this society (macro level), so that his needles in society will appear so sharp that people will be addicted to listening.
On the other hand, he is proficient in human nature (at the micro level), which means that he will weigh the pros and cons as much as possible and give the optimal solution to the problem.
Like the first season 4, the plaintiff sued the real estate developer on the grounds that the "rizhao right" was infringed, and some people (merchants) joined it in order to get a large amount of compensation, and if a new residential building was born here, it would not necessarily be a bad thing for the surrounding merchants. Gu Meimen, as the agent of the real estate developer, actually noticed this detail.
Or in the second episode of the second season, the genius plaintiff ostensibly files a lawsuit against the infringement of the right to reputation, but Gu Meimen notices that in addition to thinking about the addiction of a lawyer, he also hopes to heat up the heat of the comic to compensate for the people who have been hurt.
How can this story be described? Like peeling an onion, we can always peel one layer to see the next layer, and in the end we may cry because we see the depth of human nature (whether it is because of good or evil), cruelly speaking, the title of "Legal High" is the most core thing of the whole play -
Victory is justice. The winner is the king, and the loser is the coward.
The second is "Trick the World JP".
Although this is an urban drama under the banner of "fraud", it is essentially a beautiful Yan Yixiu of Nagasawa.
Although this is an urban drama under the banner of "fraud", it is essentially an urban cool drama that punishes evil and promotes good deeds and spreads happiness.
In fact, the screenwriters of "Trick the World JP" and "Legal High" are the same person (we will talk about it later), "Trick the World JP" has produced many theatrical versions since its launch in 2018, and "Legal High" stopped for 2 seasons, I think, the reason is because of market demand.
"Legal High" is indeed good, but the theme is still a bit "solemn", although the story of "Cheating the World JP" is "fraud", and the amount is hundreds of millions, but the people who are deceived are almost all bad people (black-hearted merchants, black bosses, despicable antique dealers), and the money that is cheated is also ill-gotten wealth; at the same time, even if "Tricking the World JP" can't stand the logic of many stories (such as Episode 1, in order to deceive the black boss Dazi and his party actually built an airport, the black boss actually believed it The black boss jumped off the plane and landed near the box dropped from the sky a few minutes ago), but this kind of "bullying the powerful" comedy is like the story I watched when I was a child, "Avanti crushed Mr. Bayi with iq", and it will always be the core theme that the public likes to hear!
Compared with "Legal High", "Trick the World JP" is "figure a music" from beginning to end, coaxing everyone to laugh, and this is the goal achieved. Moreover, "Trick the World JP" can also connect the characters and plots of the previous and subsequent episodes, increasing the audience's fun of discovering the Easter egg of the movie - some domestic media like to say that this "idea" is "XX universe" and create a "XX universe". It's really uncreative.
Speaking of which, the earlier Verne trilogy, Jin Yong's "Legend of the Eagle Hero", "Eagle Hero" and "Dragon Slayer" are not all such a way to play? It's just that from the perspective of net profit, Disney (Marvel) is the most slippery to play - but Marvel has accumulated half a century before.
If we compare the theme of Japanese novels in recent years, we will find that there are many concepts of other worlds. The common design of this type of work is that some mediocre person is suddenly summoned to another world (often to die first), a goddess superimposes a bunch of buffs on it, telling him, "Your mission is to save the world", and then the person with his own aura begins a series of "domineering side leaks" highlights.
What does this mean? Looking at the needs of Japanese audiences alone, they are more looking forward to such fun works as "JP Who Cheats the World" and "Dragon Aotian". Dig deeper, that is, when the economy is down (stagnant), the people only expect some simple happiness.
We will look back at the country, will find that "the economic downturn (stagnation) at the moment, the public only expects some simple happiness" This view is also true, short videos have become the first choice for national entertainment, a large number of short videos just to make you happy (even if it is just a little sister twisting and turning the waist and dew grooves), just because many people open their mobile phones just want to be happy.
[Knowledge] (whether in the broad sense or narrow sense) is not important to them at all. The luxury of knowledge, from ancient times to the present, is probably only meaningful to a few people.
Although JP is a comedy, it is also a tragedy, in which two actors commit suicide - Yuko Takeuchi and Haruma Miura. One of the male protagonists, Higashi Izumi Masada, was derailed. By the way, Higashi's ex-wife is Watanabe Apricot, Watanabe Apricot you may not know, but Watanabe Apricot's father you should know - if you still have an impression of the Japanese Man Watanabe Ken in "Inception".
Although the sudden death of Yuko Takeuchi and Haruma Miura has an impact on this game, it is quite controllable because it is a supporting role. However, as the male protagonist, there is negative news, and the follow-up continued appearance may have a serious impact on the ratings; if the person is directly replaced, whether the audience can accept the new trio, or whether the new trio can continue the "wonderful chemical reaction" of the original trio, is a big question.
【2】Masami Nagasawa and Yui Niigaki (&Sakai Masato)
My earliest impression of Yui Niigaki was that of "Love Air", and the male protagonist was the Miura Haruma. After that, her impression was that of "Dragon Sakura". After that, there is no impression. Then, there was news about her marriage.
Yui Niigaki and Masami Nagasawa both had a role in "Dragon Sakura", when it was 2005, and they were both under 20 years old. In 2012, Yuki Niigaki in '88 played an innocent quasi-social animal who still knew little about society in "Legal High", which was appropriate.
Personally, I don't know if the Japanese showbiz will compare Yui Niigaki with Masami Nagasawa from time to time (there are some lines in "Legal High") - after all, the two people debuted at about the same time, and they were also two Hanadans of the pure youth department.
With the growth of age, the role played by Yui Niigaki always seems to carry the aura of "young girl" of that year, saying that some of them can "lock in youth", and it is not good to say that the team behind them is still clinging to the original impression, which actually seriously affects her long-term development on the road of actors - people always have to face natural aging, and only by trying some new images and new positioning can they make a breakthrough.
Nagasawa Masami, on the other hand, is very able to put down all kinds of baggage, or to be able to calmly accept the reality that she is about to "become a big mother" - in "JP", there is Self-deprecation of Masami Nagasawa, there is "self-deprecation" expressed through the mouth of other characters, and there are close-up shots that directly present Nagasawa Masami's crow's feet and wrinkles in front of all audiences.
By the way, in "Trick the World JP", he repeatedly ridiculed Tatsuko's Southeast Asian black-hearted entertainment industry tycoon [Ho Nam-sang], played by Iwase Katsuhisa, and he is the actor of the male protagonist's nemesis In "Legal High", Nagaichiro Miki.
In "Trick the World JP", Masami Nagasawa jumps up and down, her eyebrows flying, she smiles so confidently, and "doing" (positive) is so calm. I think Masami Nagasawa herself realized that once she could let go, let the audience realize that she still had this side. In this way, as an old actor who is no longer young, he can broaden his acting career by trying more character roles.
A good actor should dare to face up to his own shortcomings and improve himself by trying different types, different eras, and different identities.
We can also talk about Masato Sakai, the uncle who was born in 1973 and is now 50 years old. If we look at his early works, it is also a variety of styles, from ancient to modern characters have tried, but handsome and handsome can also be cute and weak, like a piece of plasticine, highly malleable.
For people in the mixed showbiz industry, the human design is indeed a good thing, it is like a brand that can enhance their own recognition. Singers like to play this kind of routine the most - what is "pure love prince" and "clear princess". But people will change, people will also change, singers may be able to eat a lifetime of royalty income with a few famous works at the peak, actors can not.
The big problem with Niigaki Yui today is probably that she is too stubborn to the original image - as early as the "Legal High" period, she also had the following "self-blackness". I even suspect that Niigaki yui got married because he encountered a bottleneck in his career, so he wanted to try to enter a new stage of life through marriage.
Let's talk about lace in passing.
Judging from some of the videos of Hoshino Gen and Niigaki Yui together, I think the aura of this pair, or [fit], is not very compatible. However, in such a thing as love, the authorities feel that it is appropriate to be at ease.
For those who once enshrined Niigaki Yui as an eternal beloved, we should lament how the ancestors lost Okinawa, the birthplace of the goddess, that is, the former Ryukyu Islands.
Otherwise, she would have Chinese!
If this is the case, probably some people will complain, if such a good girl is ruined by the dark domestic showbiz, it is also a great loss.
Ryota Furuzawa
【3】Ryota Koya Yomitani Koki
The screenwriters of "JP" and "Legal High" are the same person - Ryota Furuzawa.
I really wanted to know how he designed a story. Although "JP" and "Legal High" belong to different types of dramas, they essentially belong to a gentle core wrapped in a pompous appearance. The so-called exaggerated appearance is a variety of reversals, establishing the "opposition" of the plot before and after to form a gap.
There is a kind of writing technique is "write good people as bad people, and write bad people as good people", and Ryota Furuzawa has played this game thoroughly in "JP" and "Legal High".
At the same time, Ryota Furuzawa's knowledge structure should be complex—either thanks to the richness of life's experience or the richness of books. If neither is true, then it can only be said that he is gifted, and with his imagination he can gain insight into human nature and point to the truth.
Lines such as "All politics is a smiley devil, and he instigates energetic and nimble people to torture the disobedient masses in order to take away the money, power, and thoughts in their pockets" are not something that casual passers-by can write.
In addition to "JP" and "Legal High", the works that can also reflect the screenwriting art of Ryota Furuzawa are the movie "April Fool's Day".
From a structural point of view, "April Fool's Day" is similar to "True Love Supreme", which is a routine of multi-line and finally returned to the first line because of various coincidences (and finally each branch line has a beautiful ending) - "April Fool's Day" focuses on funny, while "True Love First" focuses on true feelings.
I think that the essence of storytelling is [interesting], and the difficulty of multi-line juxtaposition is how to make each small story and the big story maintain an independent and complementary rhythm.
I hope that one day I can write such a story myself.
At the same time, Ryota Furuzawa's script also has a more obvious trend of catering to the market - the reasons mentioned above make works like "Legal High" appear less likely to appear in the future. Another thing that may be overlooked is that the script of "Legal High" was actually tailored by the producers to Ryota Furuzawa for Sakai Masato.
If it weren't for Sakai's "self-release", many of the lines that are actually quite serious would not be so funny in terms of picture presentation. In other words, "Legal High" and "JP" belong to the works that conform to the market (demand) at different times.
However, on some platforms, the overall rating of "Legal High" will be higher than that of "JP", why?
In fact, "Legal High" and "JP" have their own logical hard wounds - in short, the real world does not have so many coincidences (or wishers are hooked), but the former is not as obvious as the latter, and some of the former's views do have enlightening thinking, seemingly "slightly higher".
In addition, we may overlook that some platforms, while seemingly popular, are actually very small. Some of the target audiences of some works may not care at all about the reviews presented on the platform.
Merchants create a "sense of scarcity" to create a "sense of superiority", which is more prominent in the "tasting" of books, movies, and music. Sometimes, we talk about an unpopular but full of works — note that this may just be what the narrator thinks he thinks he is, and he can't help but be complacent, and that's why.
In fact, it is difficult for works that are too realistic to achieve elegant and popular appreciation, and it is difficult to achieve commercial success.
Here's a conversation about another screenwriter and director I admire, Yuki Mitani, in addition to Ryota Furuzawa.
His "University of Laughter", like "That Man From Earth", almost supports the whole play by dialogue. "University of Laughter" actually has only 2 people, which is much less than "That Man From Earth".
Yeah, if you say that these 2 people are talking about crosstalk, it's not disbelief.
"The University of Laughter" satirizes Japan's former censorship of literary and artistic works in a dramatic and restrained way. This movie used to be directly watched on the b station, and then it was removed from the whole network for unknown reasons - maybe it is the media reason?
Anyway, this movie can talk about more and can't talk about more, and I have to stop at the end.
If you think Yukiki Mitani is the kind of "niche artist," you're wrong.
Yuki Mitani is the kind of person who knows how to find a balance between business and art, and his successful works as a screenwriter include "Renzaburo Furuhata", "Hotel with The Sky", "Magic Moment", "The Great Undead", "Sanada Maru", "Radio Time" (also known as "Belly Boom", which is said to be translated as "Welcome back, Mr McDonald" in English).
The old work "Renzaburo Furuhata" is extremely well-known and has been seen by many people. "Sanada Maru" is the Ōkawa drama starring Masato Sakai. "The Top Sky Hotel" is similar to the above "April Fool's Day" structure, and it is also the final interweaving of multi-line narratives - is it said that Japanese screenwriters love to play this kind of thing?
As for the comedy "Radio Time", the long shot at the beginning will surely make fans who like to "shoot to the end" a lot of excitement - you know, this movie is Yuki Mitani's directorial debut. You think that the other party is testing the waters, and the other party directly shows a big move.
If you talk about seniority, Mitani Yuki is definitely the old predecessor of Ryota Furuzawa, and moreover, Ryota Furuzawa's style is the inheritance and development of the predecessor in my eyes. They know very well what a [serious] work is like, and they know very well what the public expects it to be.
When I studied the works of these big guys with admiration, a point of view became clearer and deeper in my mind - "Pleasing others before pleasing yourself." If you can't understand and practice this, the chaos will most likely suffer.
[4] The dan position of literature and art
So, I thought about the "Duan Position" again. As the saying goes, Wen Wu is the first, Wu wu is the second. If literary and artistic works have to be compared together, the relatively objective reference value is commercial revenue.
We can say that a movie is bad, but if the movie is extremely high, it may be because [we] feel bad and others don't think so; or because the works that came online at the same time are worse than it, and the audience who wants to see the movie has no choice; or it is a box office fraud; or some reason makes it extremely high.
However, in addition to movies this year, there are other forms such as web dramas, excellent short videos, exquisite chinese videos, and good radio dramas that can be used as pastime, as long as their quality is high enough, they can force the film industry and the TV drama industry to seriously polish their works - although the process will be very long.
For bad work, isn't the best way to deal with it cold? Not seeing, not listening, not discussing, obscurity, extinction.
We are now living in a "chaotic world" – this kind of chaos is not a chaotic chaos, but a chaos in which right and wrong sometimes lack measures.
Do facts really speak louder than words?
I don't think so.
[Good works] are first of all to find ways to be "seen" and "known", because there are enough bad works, and good works will be buried.
There are always more ways than problems.