Beginners! First Impressions

Decided to go ahead and give this series a go since the season is wrapping up and I want to be able to catch up to the series I wanted to watch for this drama season before the new one starts.

This drama shows some promise from the first episode though since I have been following reviews of it I know not to keep my hopes up. Even so it looks like a good enough drama to watch to kill some time or just unwind after a busy day with.

I have always liked Fujigaya Taisuke so I was happy to hear that he would be starring in a drama finally. I think he has the talent to be a good actor but still needs more experience. Being the lead in Beginners! should at least help with the experience bit but it feels like the kind of series that will not have much of a lasting effect.

That said I enjoyed watching him in his role as Shimura Teppei and I think he will be the highlight of each episode for me. He plays the typical young male lead well enough and having a smiley character is great for him as he has a great smile.

When the announcement for the series first came out I thought is would be a rather series drama but it looks like I was completely off with that. It actually is more comedy than drama which is fine for me. My only concern is if they will be able to find the right balance of the two elements. The first episode shows promise but there are nine more episodes to go.

It is easy to see that they plan to set up the main male character with the main female character and I feel indifferent to it mainly. Most likely because there has not been much about the characters really given. Only Teppei has been developed as a character in this episode and even then he does not stray far from the young male lead stereotype. The other side of the coupling is Momoe Hiro played by Gouriki Ayame and she comes off as either boring or annoying. I really cannot see myself wanting for them to get together unless there are some major character development moments during the upcoming episodes.

I would talk about Kitayama Hiromitsu but his role was small enough it did not seem worth talking about all that much. I am sure by mid-series he will have had enough to warrant talking about so that will just have to wait until I reach that point and do my write up.


Honestly the show has little impact. There just is not a lot that stands out yet it is not like it is unpleasant to watch. One of the reasons I have this post so short is that I could not honestly remember enough about it that would be worth writing about.

This is definitely a series I will watch the once and then no more unless the quality takes a dramatic upswing, which I know is not going to happen. So instead I will watch and enjoy it for what it is.