Drama Review: Proposal Daisakusen / Operation Love (Fuji TV, 2007)

Back to the Future: Tokyo Drift

by Ender’s Girl

The Cast:
Yamashita Tomohisa, Nagasawa Masami, Fujiki Naohito, Hiraoka Yuta, Eikura Nana, Hamada Gaku

In a Nutshell:
On the wedding day of his best friend Rei, Iwase Ken realizes that he has let The One get away. But a magical twist of fate grants Ken a unique opportunity to go back in time and try to win Rei’s heart.

(SpoilLert: Very spoilerish.)

[Recommended companion track: The Mongol800 cover of Chiisana Koi no Uta, used as the insert song of the drama. This version sounds a lot like Green Day’s Basket Case, but maybe that’s why I like it so much.]

Really, I would’ve watched this even without YamaPi (heh heh) in it because I liked the CONCEPT. The premise is really a vicarious expiation of sorts for anyone who’s ever loved and lost, and who secretly yearns for that One Chance to go back and redress a wrong, or a series of wrongs. And what better way to do this than by the finger-snapping and heel-clicking of a benevolent *cough* meddlesome *cough* fairy taking an interest in mortal affairs? (Waiiit… that saturnine looking, bowler-hat-wearing dude’s a fairy? Looks more like an oversized leprechaun to me…)

But oh — a twist! Our hero Ken has to do it all within the time it takes to frame one day’s events in a single snapshot! Does he have what it takes to win his One True Love back? Can he finally pull off… that buzzer beater and win? (Heh heh) Can the Leprechaun of Love single-handedly outwit, outplay and outlast the Cosmic Juggernaut of Fate? And in the end, will it all have been in vain? Everything will be illuminated in due time… Hallelujaaaaah… CHANCE!!!

Proposal Daisakusen marks Yamashita Tomohisa’s official debut as a Romantic Lead after years of playing various permutations of his, er, weird spacey self. (And well well well… I see someone’s been working out since Nobuta wo Produce, ehh? *hentai leer*) Not to say that I don’t like YamaPi’s early work; on the contrary, IMO he was at his best when he played these flaky (but refreshingly uncomplicated) adolescents in his past dramas. Maybe all he can do really well is be a vacuous little fluffball, but he’s the BEST damn fluffball in town! Lol. So it was for this reason that I felt apprehensive about his reinvention as YamaPi 2.0, Romantic Leading Man. Although his woodenness as an actor is… legendary, YamaPi is actually… not bad in Proposal Daisakusen. The boy can carry a romantic drama. While he did have his fair share of wooden moments, overall I thought he connected well with his character’s inner struggle.

Ken goes back into the past thinking that the advantage of hindsight has made him wiser and more percipient, but he still ends up doing and saying the same hurtful things. And as the chronological divide between the photographs and the present becomes ever briefer, the precious window of opportunity gets ever smaller. You understand that it is Ken’s fault that Rei slipped away, but at the same time you feel his mounting frustration and crushing sense of failure as each time-slip backfires, and you root for him and hope that things work out for the best. Win or lose, I was Team Kenzo to the (bitter ?) end! As the heroine Rei, Nagasawa Masami is pretty and pleasant and… bland. (I’ll bet in real life, Nagasawa Masami is also pretty and pleasant and bland. Oooh, coincidence? Lol.) While I didn’t think much of the YamaPixNagasawa chemistry (*cough* YamaPixKame 4vr *cough* hahaha), the characters of Kenzo and Rei share the most meaningful and poignant moments in the drama, where regret and heartbreak and hope intermingle afresh with each revisited snapshot.