Happiness included, or why I watch Atashinchi no Danshi

[bluelovesorange]

This is spoileriffic for the most recent episode of Atashinchi no Danshi: 8, or "the one where Sho falls a lot, and fanservice, you can't handle this amount of fanservice."

There are many reasons to watch a drama - entertainment, escapism, a safe hour of catharsis to avoid thinking about the pressing realities in one's life, to get a crash course in a different culture, to lovingly (or not so lovingly) mock the deliciously bad and inane, to enjoy a good story told well --

or for the sheer pleasure of turning one's brain off and just basking in glorious eyecandy, whether the reason is deep or shallow, dramas are meant to be enjoyed.

And I haven't enjoyed a drama so much in such a long time as I have with the Littlest Hobo. I may love it even more than my ultimate summer happy love, Hanazakari no Kimitachi e, and that is saying a LOT, if any of you have been paying attention to my LJ for the past two years.

Atashinchi no Danshi is pure sunshine happiness in a lightning struck bottle. It takes a fairly standard situation comedy plot - lone girl adrift in a house full of boys, tweaks it so it becomes a bizarre Brady Bunchesque happening, and faster than you can say OH JAPAN, Atadan's mix of visual pun/slapstick/family humor + pathos has turned into a sweet (but not cloying) drama full of surprises and unexpected romance and heart. Even though there are serious traumas/issues associated with the characters, Atashinchi doesn't take itself seriously, and the humor keeps it afloat instead of a PSA about how the nuclear family has disintegrated. If there's social commentary, it's mostly by accident and in the background.





Guess who's back? FUU'S BACK.



Man. To be a fly on that wall. And imagine what Maki's diary entry for the day must have been.



A lot of the fun of (re)watching Atadan is to pull focus from the main action and just watch what's going on in the background. Sometimes you can see an actor drop character, but a lot of the time, there's just some great throwaway gags going on in the background.

Oh, Takeru and Shou are fighting again? Who cares, what's for breakfast? THAT IS REAL FAMILY BEHAVIOR.







Do you mind? I'm trying to pretend I'm not strangely attracted to you.



LIKE MAGNETS.



KISSING MAGNETS.



Yeah, sweetheart, just keep telling yourself that.



SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO EAT OUR WATERMELON AND REPRESSING YOUR KISSING MAGNETS.



WHAT HE SAID.


Oh boo. Well, it is a family show, so people were going to have to get dressed eventually.









This family, you guys. Made of SO MUCH LOVE. AND CUTE.



my favorite (of many) part of this episode: The Ookura YANKEE BIKER GANG





Yasuko to Kenji, eat your heart out!













IT'S ALWAYS THE LITTLE ONES YOU HAVE TO WATCH OUT FOR.

Or perhaps, Ookuras Host Club!





































WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO US?



That's what I'd like to know

















Why yes, that *Is* a Langston Hughes poem on Shou's t-shirt.


















all of my Atadan caps so far can be found here