Utada Hikaru - First Love (Theme to Majou No Jouken/「魔女の条件」

Continuing my posts on various J-Doramas, I wanted to post this entry on one of the most tragic of the J-Doramas that I've seen, "Majo No Jouken" 「魔女の条件」AKA "Forbidden Love" which starred the stunning beauty, Matsushima Nanako/松嶋菜々子.  NGN Hawaii recently just finished broadcasting the 2011 NTV drama "Kaseifu No Mita" 「家政婦のミタ」, a very odd but compelling TV drama series featuring Matsushima.  Wikipedia mentions that Matsushima wanted to star in "Kaseifu No Mita" as she wanted to work with famed screenwriter Yukawa Kazuhiko/遊川和彦 again on another series as they had previously collaborated on the immensely popular「GTO」 and this series.  Her role as the sympathetic yet disgraced high school teacher Hirose Michi  was one of former model Matsushima's first starring roles on TV and is often considered a career defining performance that showed that Matsushima was more than just a pretty face and was a serious and talented actress as well.

The story premise is indeed a bit lurid for the time - 26 year old math teacher, 広瀬未知/Hirose Michi (Matsushima) has always depended on others to make decisions for her - her stern educator father had urged her to become a teacher and even went so far as to select the particular school in which she serves as a math teacher. Her current banker boyfriend, the affable Kitai Masaru/北井大 (別所哲也/Besshou Tetsuya) was introduced to her by her best friend and high school classmate Uda Kiriko/宇田桐子 (西田尚美/Nishida Naomi) and is now set to become her fiance and future husband. While Michi has mixed feelings about marrying Masaru, she feels pressure from her parents to start a family. 

One faithful day Michi is almost run over by rebelious, 17 year old rich boy Kurosawa Hikaru/黒澤光 (滝沢秀明/Takizawa Hideaki of the Johnny's/ジャニーズ事務所 duo タッキー&翼) riding his motorcycle. It is love at first sight as Michi is enthralled by the handsome yet mysterious student. Hikaru is the son of Kurosawa Kyoko/黒澤鏡子 (Kuroki Hitomi/黒木瞳), a former nurse who is now head of a small but influencial hospital in Tokyo, which was established by Hikaru's late physician father. Hikaru's father had died when he was 7, and now his mother has become emotionally dependent on him (almost to the point of being incestial). Hikaru has transferred to Michi's school after being expelled from his previous school and has been assigned to Michi's homeroom. As Michi and Hikaru interact they soon find themselves becoming more than teacher and student and soon develop a romantic relationship with each other. As their love affair becomes more intense and heated, their secret and taboo relationship soon becomes exposed with devasting results.
 

"Star-Crossed" Lovers - Michi (Matsushima) and Hikaru (Takizawa) - Image courtesy of http://blogs.privet.ru/community/147/tags/123522?page=11

After rebuking Masaru's wedding ring proposal, the normally good natured Masaru becomes insanely jealous and vows to get win her back at whatever cost. Hikaru's mother conspires with Masaru to have Michi arrested on kidnapping charges and seducing her son. Kiriko, secretly in love with Masaru and bitter at Michi for hurting him, betrays her friend by aiding Hikaru's mother. Hikaru's mother goes so far as to even force Hikaru to transfer to a school in the United States to seperate him from Michi.  Michi's disciplinarian father disowns Michi and she is forced to quit her teaching job and find menial employment in a variety of low paying jobs. Yet despite these hardships and the world seemingly turning against them, Hikaru and Michi still manage to keep their love alive even managing to runaway to the country briefly to live together. Michi however soon becomes pregnant with Hikaru's child but suffers complications from all the stress that she has been suffering.

Looking for the "Dream World" - Michi (Matsushima) and Hikaru (Takizawa) -- Image courtesy of BananaIdol (http://www.bananaidol.com/JD/%E9%AD%94%E5%A5%B3%E7%9A%84%E6%A2%9D%E4%BB%B6%E6%97%A5%E5%8A%87%E7%B7%9A%E4%B8%8A%E7%9C%8B/)

 It is to the series directors' credit (Doi Nobuhiro/土井裕泰, Naniwa Kazuhiro/難波一弘 and Katayama Osamu/片山修) that they treat an otherwise salacious story and plot with seriousness, integrity and touching sentimentality.  While others would have exploited and played up on all the taboo and kinky sexual themes, of the story,  prolific screenwriter Yukawa Kazuhiko/遊川和彦 grounded the series, choosing to focus on the tender love story between two individuals who just so happen to be teacher and student (I'm not completely sure how much inspiration Yukawa drew from the infamous Mary Kay Letourneau case which occurred at around the same time). 

Eternal Beauty - Matsushima Nanako - Image courtesy of Kootation (http://kootation.com/matsushima-nanako-sorimachi-takashi.html)

 The series' success (earning an average 21.5% viewership rating during it's original air dates) owes in large part to the bold and convincing portrayals of its stars Matsushima and Takizawa.  Enough can't be said of how great Matsushima was as the conflicted teacher Michi. Matsushima brought just the right amount of emotional vulnerability and sensitivity to her difficult role. In addition to her appearances in such diverse drama series as 「花より男子」(2005) and 「ラッキーセブン」(2012) , Matsushima has also been making a name for herself on the big screen in such films such as the popular "Ring" 「リング」(1998), "Bizan"/ 「眉山 」  (2007) and most recently in 三池崇史/Miike Takashi's electifying and gritty "Shield of Straw"/「藁の楯」(2013).

Takizawa also really surprised audiences as well with this his first co-starring role in a drama series. With his 美男(イケメン)/"ikemen" good looks, it was just a matter of time before he would also become a breakout star. 

"Lucky bastard" Hikaru - (Takizawa 'Taki' Hideaki)

Incidentally, Matsushima's fellow castmate Shirakawa Yumi/白川由美 who portrayed her Matsushima's supportive and kindly mother in "Majou No Jouken" also portrays a similar motherly role in "Kaseifu No Mita" in which Shirakawa plays Harumi Akemi, Mita's quirkly employer and the only one who knows Mita's tragic past. 

Utada Hikaru's/宇多田 ヒカル stirring and powerful ballad "First Love" was appropriately selected as the theme song for this drama and I feel it is a absolutely perfect fit. Utada's vocals mixed with the tearful lovelorn lyrics only enhance the powerful tone of the tragic series. "First Love" was Utada's 3rd single from her landmark debut Japanese album of the same name which shattered Japanese and Asian record sales in the year of its release 1999.  According to Wikipedia, the album "First Love", sold over 2 million in its debut week, and topped the Oricon album chart for 6 weeks. "First Love" was Japan's 7th highest album in debut sales and is also noted as the best-selling album in Asian music history. It sold over 10 million copies worldwide. 

Cover to the Utada's "First Love" Single - Image courtesy of Review Carnival (http://reviewcarnival.blogspot.com/2010/07/j-pop-album-review-utada-hikaru-first.html)

"First Love" the single was another major hit for Utada, ranking in the top ten Oricon charts for the month of its release. There is both a 8cm single version and a 12 cm single version which featured different arrangements of the song in additional to the standard single.  Written and composed by Utada with arrangements by longtime collaborator Kawano Kei/河野圭, the song has been a popular cover for a variety of artists including JUJU, Tokunaga Hideaki/徳永英明, Nakanishi Yasushi/中西保志, Eric Martin, Boys II Men, Sotte Bosse, Cao Xue Jing and Jessa Zaragoza among others.  With its bilingual (Japanese-English) lyircs, it is a popular song staple at Karaoke Bars especially among foreigners.  The inventive PV for the song incorporated some very elaborate high-speed camera effects to achieve its dreamy stylistic look. 

 

I wonder if it was just happenstance that Takizawa's character was also named 光 using the exact same character that Utada uses for her name (although for professional purposes she opts to use Kana - ヒカル most of the time).

While various love stories such as 「Beautiful Life」, 「神様、もう少しだけ 」 and 「東京ラブストーリー 」 are often credited as being the golden standards of weepy, romantic dramas I consider "Majou No Jouken" to be just as good as, if not in some ways superior to those dramas in its boldness and straightforward approach to tackling an otherwise sensationalized topic.  While nowhere near as bleak and over-the-top tragic as the similarly themed cult series 「高校教師 」(1993) or its sequel 「高校教師 2003 」(2003),  "Majou No Jouken" is nonetheless a powerful and sometimes sobering drama that looks a true love and dealing with tragedy through the eyes of an unconventional  romantic couple.
 

"Now and Forever" - Chinese replicas of the promise rings that Michi and Hikaru exchanged in the series - Image courtesy of http://global.rakuten.com/zh-tw/store/asterism/item/414405/