Friday, April 20, 2012

Kaeru no Oujosama gets off to a shaky start

Gendai.net has this article talking about how "Kaeru no Oujosama" getting a mere 9.1% for its first episode and talks about the possible reasons why it's not well-received.

"Kaeru no Oujosama" starring Amami Yuki got a lacklustre start at 9.1%. Considering that the Thursdays timeslot is one of the signature timeslots on FujiTV, "Kaeru" has earned itself the undesired title of being the 2nd drama since 2002's "Bara no Juujika" starring Mikami Hiroshi to get a below 10% rating on its debut.

What's puzzling is that the previous drama in the same timeslot i.e. "Saigo kara Nibanme no Koi" did pretty well and Amami's past hits like "BOSS" were also shown in the same timeslot. Moreover, one of the key selling points of "Kaeru" was that Amami was a former Takarazuka star who could sing and dance well so she is a perfect fit for her role.

According to Hiyama Tamami, a TV columnist, she highlighted the fact that although Amami is a talented performer, the fact that the stage performances featured in the drama don't feel the same on TV as when you see them live on stage makes it more difficult to draw viewers. Moreover, Amami's supporting cast members like Ishida Yuriko don't have the same stage presence as her. Tamayama Tetsuji is also seen to have lost quite a number of female fans following his marriage. The coincidental thing is, the trio were all involved in the 2002 flop "Bara no Juujika". For Amami, the fact that the title of her current drama is very similar to her previous flop on NTV "Enka no Joo" should be bringing back undesirable memories as well. There's also been talk about "Kaeru" being a mix-and-match of US movie "Dream Girls" and Matsuyuki Yasuko's movie "Hula Girls" so it makes it more difficult for the drama to distinguish itself.

Source: Gendai

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