(Follow Up) Ozaki Yutaka - Oh My Little Girl - Theme to 『この世の果て』/Kono Yo No Hate (1994)

 

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野島伸司/Nojima Shinji's 『この世の果て』/"Kono Yo No Hate" (1994) is often regarded by Japanese Drama fans as being one of the "darkest" Japanese drama ever (which is somewhat of a dubious distinction). Indeed the drama is very depressing at times and as the title implies is a bit nihilistic in its outlook regarding life yet it is also a brilliant character study of characters that are "on the edge". 

With its themes of sacrifice, salvation, redemption and devotion, it a surprisingly very spiritual story with its frequent refrences to Catholicism, the Virgin Mary, Heaven and Hell. 

In typical Nojima fashion, the drama's cast of characters are a collection of deeply troubled, emotionally damaged, self-destructive and needy individuals who are all trying to survive admist life's harsh obstacles but who end up hurting themselves and those around them with their desperate actions. The drama's underlying themes could best be illustrated through the telltale psychological test and question that is frequently proposed throughout the drama --  

"It is the end of the world and if you are given a chance to escape on a boat with only one animal as your companion which would you choose?" (A) A Horse; (B) A Peacock; (C) A Tiger or (D) A Sheep. 

As explained in the context of the drama, the test is said to be a fairly accurate identifier as to what one most cherishes and values in life as that each animal represents a certain human desire. When the lead character, the tragic and self-destructive 高村士郎/Takamura Shiro (played with absolute abandon by the great 三上博史/Mikami Hiroshi) is confronted with this theoretical question, he non-chalantly answers - "I wouldn't get in the boat". 

Blessed Maria - A very different role for Suzuki Honami

This indifference and apathy are what causes Shiro to decend in a downward spiral to his own personal hell. A famed concert pianist with a celebrated and bright future, Shiro decides to throw his fame and fortune away one day and runs away from his lavish lifestyle and wife, the cold and distant 高村百合子/Takamura Yumiko (「スチュワーデス物語」/"Stewardess Monogatari's" 高樹澪/Takaki Mio), whose father had plucked Shiro from obscurity and mentored him to become a worldclass pianist. It is through a random accident and chance encounter that he meets up with the feisty and brash, tomboy 砂田まりあ/Sunada Maria (the beautiful 鈴木保奈美/Suzuki Honami, portraying a character the complete polar opposite to her fun loving and carefree Akana Rika from 東京ラブストーリー/"Tokyo Love Story" -1991) who has a dark past. Maria is moonlighting as a hostess inorder to pay for operations to help restore her younger sister なな/Nana's (another great role by the brilliant 桜井幸子/Sakurai Sachiko) eyesight which was lost when their family home was burned down. Shiro (who is feigning amnesia) is recovering at a hospital from injuries suffered in a hit and run accident. With seemingly no one to contact or take care of Shiro, Maria reluctantly tells the hospital that she will let the handsome stranger recover in her apartment until he recovers his memories. As Shiro and Maria get to know each other and share experiences, they soon begin to fall deeply in love. However their blossoming romance is soon disrupted when Yumiko and former Police officer turned shady Private Investigator 二村浩一/Nimura Koichi (加藤善博/Kato Zenpaku) discover his deception and whereabouts and attempt to force him back to his old life. 

Doomed Lovers - L-R - Shiro (Mikami Hiroshi) & Maria (Suzuki Honami)

Not wanting to leave his new life with Maria and desperate to not be anyone's "robot" anymore, Shiro takes drastic action and mutilates his own hand with a broken wine bottle so that he can never play the piano again. 

Yet this self-sacrificing action of pure devotion to Maria backfires on him and he ultimately loses his only true talent in life. With no other useful talents or marketable skills, Shiro suffers through a succession of humiliating menial jobs. As his selfworth and confidence waning, he becomes increasingly resentful towards Maria whom he blames for his deliema. However despite Shiro's declining mental state and increasing dependence on her, Maria never complains and infact falls even deeper in love with him and even takes on an almost motherly role caring for him. 

Feeling like a "leech" and a burden, Shiro eventually falls victim to the seductive influences of the manipulative and absolutely depraved 加賀美ルミ/Kagami Rumi (played with villainous glee by 横山めぐみ/Yokoyama Megumi) who is also in love with Shiro. Under Rumi's evil influence, Shiro becomes addicted to heroin and soon becomes a drug trafficer for a criminal syndicate. 

When Maria tries to save Shiro from his addiction, Shiro, in a violent and hysterical rage, beats Maria so savegely she has a miscarriage (she was pregnant with Shiro's child). Maria in desperation soon turns to rich playboy 神矢征司/Kamiya Seiji (the wonderful 豊川悦司/Toyokawa Etsushi) heir to a vast corporate dynasty and who has come to frequent the high class lounge that Maria works at. Their love/hate relationship soon shifts from one of platonic respect to one of romantic love. Seiji's normally aloof and indifferent demeanor melts the more he becomes aware of what Maria is suffering through. Seiji vows to save her and does what he can to help Maria deal with Shiro (even going so far as to introduce Shiro to a decent job with a Planitarium) but when Shiro's erractic behavior and increasing drug dependence causes him to fall deeper in despair, Maria takes drastic measures and with the help of Nimura forces Shiro into isolation to free him of his drug dependence. 

Shiro's cold and controlling wife Yumiko (Takaki Mio)

Throwing It All Away - Shiro (Mikami Hiroshi) mutilates his own hand to stay with Maria

Maria's younger sister Nana has her own issues to content with as she gets involved with the brooding and troubled mechanic 三島純/Mishima Jun (大浦龍宇一/Oura Ryuichi). Severely disfigured from a car accident that killed his parents, Jun is hesitant to get close to Nana for fear of being rejected by her but at the same time is desperate to win her love even though he has a criminal past (he and an associate had robbed a convenience store in which Nana was an unwitting witness). 

When Nana eventually discovers Jun's involvement in the robbery and fearful for her safety, she drives Jun away. Unwilling to let Nana out of his life Jun decides to to learn braille and begins sending Nana touching heartfelt letters under the alias of another individual living with blindness. Nana soon learns of Maria's dark secret (that Maria was responsible for the fire that caused her blindness and the death of their father, who she felt had not paid her enough attention). Nana also discovers that she and Maria are actually step-sisters as Maria's biological father left their mother before she met Nana's father. Feeling betrayed Nana decides to distrance herself from Maria by agreeing to be adopted by the kindly elderly couple whom she has been working for in their flowershop. Yet when the couple's morally corrupt and vile only child 村井道夫/Murai Michio (沢向要士/Sawamukai Yoji) gets wind that Nana will be inheriting not only his parents' store but also their inheritance, he conspires to marry and then kill Nana. Together with his girlfriend 博実/Hiromi (土屋久美子/Tsuchiya Kumiko) the pair trick Nana into signing a marriage form and proceed with plans to kill her until Jun intervenes and beats Michio near death. 

Sisters Maria (Suzuki Honami) and Nana (Sakurai Sachiko)

Mad Love - The both physically and emotionally scarred Jun (Oura Ryuichi)

Later in the series Shiro eventually kicks his addiction and finally resigns himself to leading a more decent and quiet life, while Nana gets her sight back through the efforts of her mother (who commits suicide with Maria's biological father) and gives permission for the hospital to use her corneas to replace Nana's.

The cruel bitch Rumi gets her comeuppance when a former lover gets his final revenge on her for destroying his life by throwing acid in her face, disfiguring her. In one of the most shocking and melodramtic scenes in the drama, Rumi's hulking degenerate henchman, 井野仁/Ino Hitoshi (松田勝/Matsuda Masaru) who has secretly longed for her, in a sign of pure love destroys his own eyes to prove to her that her now severely scarred visage means nothing to him and that he still loves her.

The beautiful yet utterly ruthless bitch Rumi (Yokoyama Megumi)

A crazed and now horrifically scarred Rumi attempts to kill Maria one last time.

Love is Blind - Rumi's loyal Henchman Hitoshi (Matsuda Masaru) gouges his own eyes for Rumi.

However Nojima leaves the best for last as he pulls the ultimate "WTF" ending -- Maria decides to marry Seiji who promises to finally give Maria the happy life she has always longed for. After their lavish wedding celebration aboard a private cruise boat, they take a corporate helicopter to the wedding chapter to exchange vows. When Maria sees Shiro at the launch pad and remembers the happiness she had with him at the very beginning of their relationship, she decides to throw away her future life with Seiji and jumps from the helicopter into the ocean. While Maria survives the fall, the resultant impact with the water not only shatters her legs (making her a paraplegic), the resultant severe head trauma has also made her catatonic. Guiltridden by all the pain and suffering he has caused Maria, Shiro has finally found purpose in his life and vows to take care of Maria for as long as she remains alive. The final scene shows a strangely content Maria, smiling as she is clutching the "blue bird of happiness" that Shiro had given Maria when they first moved in together.

Saving Maria - Wealth benefactor Seiji ( Toyokawa Etsushi) tries to save Maria from her troubled life.

Paradise Lost - Maria (Suzuki Honami) literally throws her life away so that she can be with Shiro.

Oh My Little Girl - Maria (Suzuki Honami) has finally found happiness

The all-star cast is absolutely brilliant and their performances are not only truly memorable but incredibly poignant as well. "Kono Yo No Hate" features a number of actors who have or would star in other Nojima scripted projects. As mentioned Suzuki Honomai (who starred in Nojima's "Ai To Iu Nano Moto Ni" - 1992) played against type and her chain-smoking, rough-and-tumble, tough-girl portrayal here was in nice contrast and a welcomed change from the overly sweet characters she portrayed previously. 

The fetching Suzuki Honami - Image courtesy of http://f.hatena.ne.jp/reirei01/20081205080343

Mikami Hiroshi (who would also star in Nojima's sublime 「世紀末の詩」/"Seikimatsu No Uta" - 1998 and the fan favorite 「リップスティック」 -1999) played a truly morally conflicted and pitiful character in this drama. As much as one hates his continual self-destructiveness and tired of his pathetic, self-loathing behavior, he still managed to make his character sympathetic and likeable. Sakurai Sachiko (who was the heroine in Nojima's 「高校教師」/ "Kou Kou Kyoushi" - 1993 and would later go on to co-star in several of his other projects including 「人間*失格」/"Ningen Shikkaku" - 1994 and 「未成年」/"Miseinen" - 1995 delivers a very nuanced and convincing portrayal as a blind woman. With her alluring and beautiful features and ability to play complex and empathetic characters, it is little wonder why she became Nojima's "go to" actor for his screenplays. The beautiful Yokoyama Megumi gives a commanding and often times chilling performance as the truly villainous Kagami Rumi. Rumi certainly ranks as one of the most hateful villains in Japanese drama history with her cold, calculating ruthlessness (Rumi proudly exclaims that she will not allow anyone else to enjoy and experience the true love that is denied her). Yokoyama would go on to play other morally ambiguous characters like the indifferent Vice Principal Mayuzumi in the recent drama 「35歳の高校生」/"35-Sai No Kou Kou Sei" - 2013.

The theme song for this series was appropriately Ozaki Yutaka's sentimental and tearful love ballad "Oh My Little Girl" which was released posthumously in 1994, two years after his untimely death and which eventually went on to become one of his most popular and signature hit songs. J-Canuck has already covered this great song back in his 2012 post but I just wanted to add some additional trivia for the song and how it relates to the drama. 

Image courtesy of http://tongolele.pixnet.net/blog/

 

Image courtesy of http://ameblo.jp/yupuki/entry-11425923238.html

"Oh My Little Girl" was originally titled "Sailor Fuku To Little Girl" on a demo tape which Ozaki recorded early in his singing career. It went through several iliterations and title changes ("Tonari No Little Girl") until finally becoming the song we know now. It was featured with little fanfair on Ozaki's debut album 『十七歳の地図』/"Jyunanasai No Chizu" (1983) but it wasn't until the song was used as the title song for "Kono Yo No Hate" that it got the attention it deserved. The song was released as a single that year and it went to No. 1 on the Oricon charts the week of its release. 

As with his breakout hit "I Love You" in 1991, "Oh My Little Girl" is a quintessential love song filled with heartfelt lyrics about true love and eternal devotion. It was tailor-made to be the perfect song for weddings or other events where proclamations of love are exchanged. Yet series director Nakae Isamu (who also directed the similarly dark "Lipstick") and music arranger Mizoguchi Hajime (who would also work on such future series as "Pure" and "Beautiful Life") do something really devilishly clever - they twist the meaning and lyrics of the song and warp it into a sad, foreboding and almost darkly prophetic indicator of how things will turn out in the end (that Shiro has found purpose caring for a caotonic Maria who now depends on him for everything).  Even Ozaki's refrain of "Oh My little girl" begins to sound more and more like "Oh Maria" in a haunting unconscious way.

While "Kono Yo No Hate" was released to VHS a few years after it aired on TV, it has sadly and inexplicable not been released to either DVD or Blu-Ray. This is a complete shame as despite its dark tone and tragic ending, it is perhaps one of Nojima's most poignant and heartbreaking drama series. Ozaki's bittersweet theme "Oh My Little Girl" is the perfect compliment to this story and I can't help but be reminded of this unforgettable series whenever I hear this song.