Wednesday 20 July 2016

Algernon ni Hanataba wo (2015)


Japanese title: アルジャーノンに花束を
Other title: Flowers for Algernon

10 episodes
Aired on TBS
From 2015 April to June

Main cast:
  • Yamashita Tomohisa as Shiratori Sakuto
  • Kuriyama Chiaki as Mochizuki Haruka
  • Tanimura Mitsuki as Kawaguchi Rio
  • Ishimaru Kanji as Hachisuka Daigo
  • Kubota Masataka as Yanagawa Ryuichi
  • Kudo Asuka as Hiyama Kosuke
  • Hagiwara Masato as Takebe Junichiro
  • Oomasa Aya as Koide Mai
  
  • Screenwriter: Nojima Shinji, Ikeda Natsuko
  • Producer: Han Choru, Sato Atsushi
  • Director: Yoshida Ken, Sakai Masahiro, Matsuda Ayato

  • Notes: Based on Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (which I haven't read).
    Hey little sister from Buzzer beat, you're all grown up now.

    Review: -


    Title: It comes from the book. I like it, it's poetic and relevant. Algernon is the name of a mouse, who's been given a new substance that develops its intelligence.

    Boy: He has the intellectual development of a child. He wants to be like everyone else and he is very persistent. He is good-natured and usually defuses the fights between his co-workers who are young offenders.

    Girl: She is a researcher. She is impulsive and good-hearted.

    Other girl: She is a student, nice and shy, but also brave.

    As you can see, I'm not really inspired...

    Plot / relationships: I don't know if this comes from the source material but I didn't care for the pacing. It felt like it took forever to get to the premise and then raced through the consequences. Moreover, it doesn't use that time to make the characters more dimensional. And I didn't really believe in the main love story. It got too intense too fast.

    Other characters: I was more interested in the circle of friends around Boy. The character of the mother which is super important (according to the Wiki article) was not convincing. She was everything and its contrary.

    Funny factor: Not at all.

    Bottom line: The premise was not my jam but I went into it open-minded. I was not convinced. Though there was an interesting twist leading to a dilemma, it was not enough. It didn't even make me want to read the book.

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