Freeter, Ie Wo Kau

It's been a couple of years since I found a Japanese drama (for the uninitiated, they're also called J-dramas or "doramas") that really and truly captured my attention. I'll normally watch a show if it features an actor I respect, or if the premise seems kind of interesting, but it's still rare that a drama will have both an interesting story AND great acting.

In 2008, that drama was Maou. Now, a little over 2 years later, another story has finally appeared--and ironically it bears a connection with the former drama.

"Freeter, Ie Wo Kau" (フリーター、家を買う), called "Part-Timer Buys a House" in English, follows the story of Seiji Take (Ninomiya Kazunari), a 25-year-old "freeter"--a term given in Japan to young adults under 30 who don't have a full-time job. A disillusioned and complacent Seiji quits his job and hides away in his room all day, essentially becoming a "hikikomori" (shut-in).

His already-tense relationship with his father worsens when his supportive mother suffers a nervous breakdown and is diagnosed with clinical depression, leading Seiji to get a part-time job at a construction company. Suddenly the "permanent part-timer" who would immediately quit whenever things got too hard finds himself in one of the most difficult and demanding jobs ever, as he begins to understand just what it means to have goals and be persistent.



I don't usually go for human dramas, but this one is so beautifully done I actually find myself waiting anxiously for the next episode. Considering I haven't done that in a long time, it's a refreshing feeling. 5 episodes have already aired at the time of this post, and the character development is fairly well-paced. Ninomiya is believable as a frustrated twenty-something lacking a solid direction in life, who's suddenly thrust into the role of caregiver for his mother as his father flatly refuses to believe she's actually sick. His sister Ayako (Haruka Igawa), facing pressure of her own as the wife of an affluent doctor, does her best to support their mother, but the majority of the work falls onto Seiji who still lives at home.

Ninomiya does an amazing job portraying the compassionate but frequently overwhelmed and resentful son dealing with his mother's breakdown. Naoko Takenaka is equally powerful as the overbearing, strict father who seems to have deeper feelings he refuses to show, which has yet to be revealed as of episode 5. Although the show has plenty more characters, each with a rich background of their own, the majority of the drama stems from the relationship between these two.

As for the connection? Ninomiya also happens to perform in the same music group as the star of Maou, Ohno Satoshi. Ninomiya even had a cameo appearance in the 2008 drama, which is consequently the first time I ever saw him.

The interesting fact here is that Freeter, Ie Wo Kau is a good drama because everyone is a consummate actor and the storyline is compelling--not because Ninomiya is a member of Arashi, which happens to be quite literally the #1 band in Japan right now. There's a reason it has one of the highest viewer ratings this season, and I'm pretty sure it's unrelated to his idol status (even though I'm equally certain people watched the first episode BECAUSE of it.) I feel compelled to compare it with Matsumoto Jun's recent drama, Natsu no Koi wa Niji-iro ni Kagayaku. Matsumoto is both a great actor and a member of Arashi, but the story lacked both spice and realism. The ratings reflected that, which demonstrates that star power alone can't rescue a mediocre show.

Maybe it's because people are getting tired of the crime shows, medical dramas and reality shows that used to be cutting-edge but are now carbon copies of each other. That affliction seems to have attacked Japan as well as America. But for a human drama, this is one of the most realistic stories I've witnessed in a long time that's both heartwarming and heartwrenching in all the right places.