Minha Família, Minha Luta

Sometimes Kudō Kankurō can pleasantly surprise me so well. Maybe in this case he pulled it off perfectly. I got an incredibly fine show full of great acting and, most importantly, incredibly interesting characters. The acting, as always in Kudō's works, was dominated by Nagase Tomoya – a great guy, a great actor, and Ore no ie no hanashi was a wonderful tribute to his work. Who would have guessed that a story where the main character does both wrestling and noh would entertain me so much, and get me so much in the end. Neither the wrestling nor the noh do anything for me, in fact I found it pretty boring, but I totally didn't care because I got an interesting, warm, and funny show. Kudō did very well with the multitude of characters, not one was left flat, but each had one characteristic that stood out. For me, we were taken through the family travails of a traditional family in an engaging way. Ruggedly beautiful – that's what I would call it. I had a similar feeling with Kazoku no katachi; where this series wins in wit, Kazoku no katachi is again more sweetly sedate. Yes, the series has some flaws, but I forgot them all within two days of watching it and now I just fondly remember all the people, the hilarious story, the quirky characters, the bag washing, the realism combined with the absurd in a perfect combination – just the way Kudō does it. I will definitely come back to them again. (03/04/2021)