The “Brush Up Life,” this season’s hottest drama starring Sakura Ando, “The Possibility of a New Drama” by Bakarhythm. | FRIDAY DIGITAL

The “Brush Up Life,” this season’s hottest drama starring Sakura Ando, “The Possibility of a New Drama” by Bakarhythm.

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Sakura Ando stars in the popular drama “Brush Up Life

The sixth episode of “Brush Up Life” (NTV), a drama starring actress Sakura Ando, aired on February 12, and 《#Brush Up Life》, trended number one worldwide on Twitter. With each episode, the drama is drawing more and more attention.

The drama is a time-released human comedy in which 33-year-old Mami Kondo (Ando), a single woman who lives at home and works at the local city hall, suddenly finds herself starting her life over from scratch. In the sixth episode, Mami (Ando) watches the first broadcast of “Brush Up Life,” a drama in which she makes her debut as a producer, with her childhood friends Nacchi (Kaho) and Myopon (Haruka Kiminami).

It is often thought that a time leap film must have a grand theme such as “saving the earth” in order to be successful. However, the protagonist of this film is “an ordinary woman who repeatedly redoes her ordinary life. One of the highlights of the film is the brilliant gap between the two, which makes the viewer wonder if there is any meaning in starting one’s life over.

Bakarhythm, who wrote the script, made his screenwriting debut in 2002 with “Suteki na Sentaku Taxi” (Fuji TV), a drama about a cab driver (Yutaka Takenouchi) who takes passengers who are struggling with life choices to the past they desire.

In 2008, he wrote the screenplay for “Kakurei no Michido” (WOWOW), which was also made into a movie, by focusing on seemingly unnecessary parts of the story that are never depicted in suspense dramas. The film was adapted into a movie, “Kakurei no Michibito” (WOWOW), which brought a new style to the drama world by focusing on seemingly unnecessary parts that are never depicted in suspense dramas. This latest work is another ambitious work in the “BAKARHYTHM” vein. This work marks his debut as a scriptwriter for a GP series,” said a producer from a production company.

The conversational drama that seems to have been taken straight out of everyday life is nothing short of brilliant.

In the first episode, there is a 20-minute-long girls’ talk between three childhood friends. It is hard to tell how much of the dialogue is scripted and how much is ad-libbed, but in fact, every word of the dialogue is scripted. Producer Reina Oda, who handles the program, testifies that this sense of realism is the result of an overwhelming amount of interviews.

(A director of a production company) “To achieve this, we conducted in-depth interviews with 33-year-olds born in 1989, the same age as Asami. From these interviews, we found out the “aha” stories of that generation and incorporated them into the scripts. The “exchange of stickers” and karaoke box scenes are the result of these interviews.

The world created by Bakarhythm, however, is contrary to drama theory.

In the first episode, when the girl talk between childhood friends goes on for 20 minutes, I wondered if the viewers would leave the show,” he said. When they see the sticker book in the second episode, they wonder, ‘What are they (the other generations) being shown? Oda P confesses that these fears haunted him every time he watched the episode.

(A producer mentioned above) “Contrary to drama theory, we depicted a world that no one had ever depicted before. This approach is not something that Bakarhythm alone can do. The presence of Reina Oda P, who works with Bakarhythm, must be a major factor.

After joining NTV, Oda worked on information and variety programs such as “Zoom in SUPER,” “Another Sky,” “Merenge no Kikan,” and “Ariyoshi Zemi,” before moving on to his dream of working on a drama series. After working in information and variety shows such as “Zoom In Super,” “Another Sky,” “Merenge no Tsuki” and “Ariyoshi Zetsu,” he moved on to his dream of working in drama. Review Girl Etsuko Kono,” and “Shiranai Koto.

After teaming up with Bakarhythm on the serial drama “Ikuta-ke no Asa” that aired during the morning information program “ZIP,” the two have also worked together on the series “Sumiju” and “Nonrem no mado” (Window of Nonrem), among others.

Oda P. describes Bakarhythm as “a genius who makes dramas about things that no one has ever portrayed there before, but that everyone always thought of at least once.

Bakarhythm says that he did not watch many movies or dramas when he was young. Perhaps by bringing these two together, they were able to find a vein of ore that drama productions have overlooked.

When we think of scriptwriters who have made a name for themselves through their experience in comedy and variety shows, the names Mitani Koki and Kudo Kankuro come to mind. Will Bakarhythm one day stand shoulder to shoulder with these two? There is no doubt that “Brush Up Your Life” is a work that gives us such a sense of foreboding.

  • Text Ukon Shima (Broadcaster and video producer)

    He is involved in program production in a wide range of genres, including variety, news, and sports programs. He has also planned and published many books on female TV announcers, idols, and the TV industry. While working on documentary programs, he became interested in history and recently published "Ieyasu was dead in Sekigahara" (Takeshobo Shinsho). She is also publishing the e-book series "Ibun Chakurezuregusa" (Different Stories about Craftsmen).

  • Photo Motoo Naka/Afro

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