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Shitsuren Chocolatier
I probably should have posted this before Yuletide signups closed, but oh well...better late than never! I am currently obsessed with the Japanese drama Shitsuren Chocolatier (Heartbroken Chocolatier), and thought I'd share the love with my F-list. (If you're my Yuletide writer, please don't worry that I want this fandom more than any of the others; I promise that I'll be thrilled with any of the fandoms I've requested. In fact, I'll probably discuss the other fandoms in later posts as well.)
On the surface, it's a romantic comedy, but it's not quite your typical romcom. There's romance, and there's a lot of humor, but it has a different take on the typical romance tropes. What I like most about it after watching way too many "stalking is romantic" type dramas, is that it portrays obsessive love as unhealthy rather than cute or romantic. More spoilery details below...
To summarize, Koyurugi Sota suffers from unrequited love for the beautiful Saeko. She loves chocolate, a fancy French brand in particular, and so Sota impulsively decides to go to France to become a chocolatier and make chocolates that will win her heart. Five years later, he returns to Japan to open his own shop, only to discover that Saeko is engaged to another man. However, he still can't let go of his obsession, and continues to pursue her even after she gets married. And despite being married, Saeko appears to be leading him on, although it isn't clear at first whether she's doing it on purpose or not. Sota tries to turn the tables on her and make her jealous by playing hard-to-get, and then she in turn tries to make him jealous, and both of them spend much of the series playing manipulative head games with each other.
They're both self-centered and not very likeable at times, but as I said, the unhealthy romance plot was interesting because it was unexpected. And I did have some sympathy for Sota, who is a nice guy apart from his Saeko obsession. When another character tells him that he should give up on Saeko already, he retorts in exasperation that he already knows that, and although he wishes that he could give up on her, his feelings for her won't disappear just because he wants them to. Which I could definitely relate to--I think most of us have suffered from at least an unrequited crush, and know from experience that you can't just make those feelings go away. OTOH, that doesn't make it okay to pursue a married woman, either.
Saeko was the more manipulative of the two, and I found her less likeable, but I did have some sympathy for her when her husband turned controlling and then abusive. Still, I couldn't ever really warm to her because I felt like she was using Sota to escape her unhappy marriage rather than being in love with him, but OTOH, that was kind of the whole point of the story: by the end, they both realize that they were never really in love, but (especially in Sota's case) were only in love with idealized fantasy they had imagined the other person to be.
I also found that I really adored the supporting characters, especially Rikudo, who is an older, more established chocolatier. At first it seems like he's going to be a business rival, and possibly a rival for Saeko's affections as well--a typical romance trope. But again, the show steers away from the expected, and it soon becomes obvious that Rikudo is gay and has a crush on Souta rather Saeko. In a comedy of errors, Rikudo gets the mistaken impression that his employee Sekiya is in love with Sota, and he sets aside his own feelings to try and help the two find happiness together (or so he thinks, anyway). In a show filled with characters who are self-centered in varying degrees, Rikudo was the kindest and most selfless of the bunch: aside from "helping" with Sekiya and Sota's supposed romance, he also acts as a mentor to Sota and gives him advice. He acts comical and silly most of the time, but he's so cool in his few serious moments, when he talks about his devotion to chocolate-making and how important it is for him to follow his vision whether it has mass appeal or not.
Other favorite supporting characters: Sota's practical and no-nonsense employee, Kaoruko, who is secretly in love with Sota, though he regards her more like a friend or sister. Also, the above-mentioned Sekiya, who is sort-of dating Kaoruko (although Rikudo mistakenly believes it's Sota). He's taciturn and a bit socially awkward, which is why Rikudo feels obliged to give him romantic advide. And Erena, a model who's a friend of Rikudo, and who becomes involved in a friends-with-benefits relationship with Sota--she also suffers from unrequited love, and suggests that she and Sota can offer each other some comfort from their respective heartbreaks. I was rooting for Sota/Kaoruko, so I was a bit annoyed when yet another love interest appeared, but Erena's vulnerability won me over, and I found myself liking her and not knowing whom I wanted Sota to wind up with in the end.
The spoilery answer is: none of them. At first I was a bit disappointed, but in the end, I decided that I liked that the women decided that a relationship with Sota would not be right for them, and that Sota realized that he needed some time alone to find inspiration for chocolate-making from within himself, rather than doing it for Saeko's sake. It really seemed like the most healthy choice for everyone involved, rather than Sota immediately jumping into a new relationship, or Erena or Kaoruko settling for being Sota's second choice.
Although I really find myself shipping Rikudo/Sota, and like to imagine them getting together after Sota has gotten over Saeko. And there's also a couple of very brief femslashy scenes towards the end where Rikudo is completely bewildered by all the various love triangles, and while trying to figure out who Erena is in love with, imagines her first with Kaoruko, then Matsuri. Or possibly the other way around; I need to watch the dvds again. I'm more into m/m slash, but those brief comedic scenes were pretty hot. ^_^ I also kind of ship Rikudo/Sekiya, based on a scene in which Kaoruko is talking with Sekiya about her unrequited feelings for Sota, and asks what Sekiya would do if he felt that way about Rikudo--it's purely hypothetical, but now the idea is stuck in my brain.
It was quite an interesting show. I can't say that I love it unreservedly, since I frequently found myself wanting to shout at the characters for the stupid and selfish things they were doing, but at the same time, I found myself feeling very passionate about it--almost a love/hate relationship at times. And that combined with my love for the wonderful supporting characters made me request it for Yuletide this year.
(Most of this post is based on the promo post I made on the Yuletide comm earlier. I waffled back and forth whether to romanize the main character's name as Souta or Sota, but settled on the latter since most of the info in English on the show uses Sota.)
On the surface, it's a romantic comedy, but it's not quite your typical romcom. There's romance, and there's a lot of humor, but it has a different take on the typical romance tropes. What I like most about it after watching way too many "stalking is romantic" type dramas, is that it portrays obsessive love as unhealthy rather than cute or romantic. More spoilery details below...
To summarize, Koyurugi Sota suffers from unrequited love for the beautiful Saeko. She loves chocolate, a fancy French brand in particular, and so Sota impulsively decides to go to France to become a chocolatier and make chocolates that will win her heart. Five years later, he returns to Japan to open his own shop, only to discover that Saeko is engaged to another man. However, he still can't let go of his obsession, and continues to pursue her even after she gets married. And despite being married, Saeko appears to be leading him on, although it isn't clear at first whether she's doing it on purpose or not. Sota tries to turn the tables on her and make her jealous by playing hard-to-get, and then she in turn tries to make him jealous, and both of them spend much of the series playing manipulative head games with each other.
They're both self-centered and not very likeable at times, but as I said, the unhealthy romance plot was interesting because it was unexpected. And I did have some sympathy for Sota, who is a nice guy apart from his Saeko obsession. When another character tells him that he should give up on Saeko already, he retorts in exasperation that he already knows that, and although he wishes that he could give up on her, his feelings for her won't disappear just because he wants them to. Which I could definitely relate to--I think most of us have suffered from at least an unrequited crush, and know from experience that you can't just make those feelings go away. OTOH, that doesn't make it okay to pursue a married woman, either.
Saeko was the more manipulative of the two, and I found her less likeable, but I did have some sympathy for her when her husband turned controlling and then abusive. Still, I couldn't ever really warm to her because I felt like she was using Sota to escape her unhappy marriage rather than being in love with him, but OTOH, that was kind of the whole point of the story: by the end, they both realize that they were never really in love, but (especially in Sota's case) were only in love with idealized fantasy they had imagined the other person to be.
I also found that I really adored the supporting characters, especially Rikudo, who is an older, more established chocolatier. At first it seems like he's going to be a business rival, and possibly a rival for Saeko's affections as well--a typical romance trope. But again, the show steers away from the expected, and it soon becomes obvious that Rikudo is gay and has a crush on Souta rather Saeko. In a comedy of errors, Rikudo gets the mistaken impression that his employee Sekiya is in love with Sota, and he sets aside his own feelings to try and help the two find happiness together (or so he thinks, anyway). In a show filled with characters who are self-centered in varying degrees, Rikudo was the kindest and most selfless of the bunch: aside from "helping" with Sekiya and Sota's supposed romance, he also acts as a mentor to Sota and gives him advice. He acts comical and silly most of the time, but he's so cool in his few serious moments, when he talks about his devotion to chocolate-making and how important it is for him to follow his vision whether it has mass appeal or not.
Other favorite supporting characters: Sota's practical and no-nonsense employee, Kaoruko, who is secretly in love with Sota, though he regards her more like a friend or sister. Also, the above-mentioned Sekiya, who is sort-of dating Kaoruko (although Rikudo mistakenly believes it's Sota). He's taciturn and a bit socially awkward, which is why Rikudo feels obliged to give him romantic advide. And Erena, a model who's a friend of Rikudo, and who becomes involved in a friends-with-benefits relationship with Sota--she also suffers from unrequited love, and suggests that she and Sota can offer each other some comfort from their respective heartbreaks. I was rooting for Sota/Kaoruko, so I was a bit annoyed when yet another love interest appeared, but Erena's vulnerability won me over, and I found myself liking her and not knowing whom I wanted Sota to wind up with in the end.
The spoilery answer is: none of them. At first I was a bit disappointed, but in the end, I decided that I liked that the women decided that a relationship with Sota would not be right for them, and that Sota realized that he needed some time alone to find inspiration for chocolate-making from within himself, rather than doing it for Saeko's sake. It really seemed like the most healthy choice for everyone involved, rather than Sota immediately jumping into a new relationship, or Erena or Kaoruko settling for being Sota's second choice.
Although I really find myself shipping Rikudo/Sota, and like to imagine them getting together after Sota has gotten over Saeko. And there's also a couple of very brief femslashy scenes towards the end where Rikudo is completely bewildered by all the various love triangles, and while trying to figure out who Erena is in love with, imagines her first with Kaoruko, then Matsuri. Or possibly the other way around; I need to watch the dvds again. I'm more into m/m slash, but those brief comedic scenes were pretty hot. ^_^ I also kind of ship Rikudo/Sekiya, based on a scene in which Kaoruko is talking with Sekiya about her unrequited feelings for Sota, and asks what Sekiya would do if he felt that way about Rikudo--it's purely hypothetical, but now the idea is stuck in my brain.
It was quite an interesting show. I can't say that I love it unreservedly, since I frequently found myself wanting to shout at the characters for the stupid and selfish things they were doing, but at the same time, I found myself feeling very passionate about it--almost a love/hate relationship at times. And that combined with my love for the wonderful supporting characters made me request it for Yuletide this year.
(Most of this post is based on the promo post I made on the Yuletide comm earlier. I waffled back and forth whether to romanize the main character's name as Souta or Sota, but settled on the latter since most of the info in English on the show uses Sota.)