Air Date: Saturday, March 21st at 9:00 pm on NHK Length: 72 minutes
Cast:
Kenichi Matsuyama as Tatsyua Shindo
Tsubasa Honda as Mitsue Takeshita
Gen Hoshino as George Mabuchi
Miwa as Michiko Namaki
Takashi Kobayashi as Shiro Matsui
Seiji Rokkaku as Roppa Furukawa
Yuhi Ozora as Takiko Mizunoe
Had a post yesterday where I mentioned dramas/movies that you figured would end up getting subbed often times aren't and on the other hand you have ones like this which you would never think would be subbed yet they are. Kind of a pleasant surprise that it was as I really like to see everything that Tsubasa is in yet so often they're not subbed, also it was a fairly big role for her in this too.
Bit of a short, simple movie which I wouldn't say is a must watch but then again it was an enjoyable watch and if you like any of the cast then you'd probably like this TV movie. It being a short, simple movie will try to also keep the review that way, won't give away too many details but then again in 72 minutes only so much can happen. Didn't occur to me know but this is the musical show that airs every New Years Eve in Japan, back in 1945 was the first time the show was aired though these days of course it airs on TV.
This movie opens up about a month after WWII has ended and revolves around the NHK radio station 'Tokyo Radio', though most of the city is in shambles their building is still standing and in operation. Shindo has just returned from the war seemingly not damaged physically but still carries some wounds in his head about the war, he originally wasn't a soldier when the war started but was eventually drafted so he was able to see both sides of the war, from a soldiers and citizens point of view. Before Shindo was drafted he worked at the Tokyo Radio station, coming back from the war he surprised it was still there, naturally all his ex-workers were excited to see him and he was quickly hired back to his old position.
Shindo wasn't a broadcaster, actually not sure what his official title was before or what it was after his return but it seemed all his comrades leaned on heavily for advice. The radio station was going through a difficult period after the war, they weren't sure what kind of programming they should be putting on the air. Radio stations were quite important back then, it was before the age of TV plus it was the easiest way to communicate to the masses of people. The Americans knew this too and they're now sort of 'advisors' tot he station, all programming must go through them, they were really trying to promote democracy to the Japanese people.
Most of the programming the station thought of was either heavily censored or not aired at all, the Americans had some very strict rules about what could be aired, there was to be nothing about the war or any kind of national pride. There was a Japanese-American who was the translator for the Americans named George, he's lived in both countries but during the war he was living in the U.S. and fought as a soldier, he was kind of a creepy character until the final few minutes.
To get to the main point this is where Shindo and Mitsue come in, he's developed a New Years Eve program that he feels would lift the spirits of the Japanese people. In Japan it's not like here as most people don't go out celebrating or at least they didn't back then, they would be home that night and the program Shindo has created is a music contest. The show would consist of two teams of singers, male against females in a singing contest. Shindo and Mitsue go around Tokyo and enlist the help of all the major singers of the era, a few were reluctant to join the contest but eventually they all did.
Though a bit hesitant at first the Americans after a bit of revising approved the program as long as the script was followed to a T.
It was followed until the end of the program when a pair of singers failed to show up, Shindo arranged for the two team captains to sing but at first it wasn't allowed as it wasn't part of the script. However as his boss had left George showed a bit of his national pride and allowed the change in the script and the show ended up being a huge success. No winner was announced in a bit of a sappy ending and the MC told the viewers to send in their votes, the movie ended right about there.
Kind of a melodramatic ending but most of these TV movies are like that, still was a worthwhile watch as more than anything else it was quite interesting, you don't see many movies like this which show what Japan was like the first few months after the war. Would recommend this and would rate it a 8/10, as mentioned not a must watch but certainly an interesting one. The subs are available at D-addicts and were done by Candylemon, the subs were fine throughout.
Have a few more screenshots here from the movie but the next post has a huge amount of ones for Tsubasa as I wouldn't have watched this movie if she wasn't in it.
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