He writes about families. Not necessarily the families we are born into, but the families we make.
He writes about women. His shows typically pass the Bechdel test within the first scene or two.
He writes about people on the margins of Japanese society. Gas station attendants, health care workers, hotel cleaning staff, otaku living in internet cafes.
He writes about crimes. Always with compassion if not approval for the perpetrators.
His name is Sakamoto Yuji and he should be as well known as Hayao Miyazaki or Haruki Murakami here in the West. In the past eight years he has written ten Japanese dramas and won the Television Drama Academy awards for best screenwriter four times during that period. There have been American writers with similar streaks like Aaron Sorkin, David E, Kelly and Rod Serling, but, generally, American shows have much larger writing staffs and Sakamoto-sensei is the solo writer of his screenplays.
His works are being discovered throughout the world, and are being remade in other countries. The earliest show in this period, Mother, has a remake currently running in Korea and the Turkish production was such a hit that they also remade Woman. Restaurant of Problems was also remade in China.
In general, Sakamoto-sensei's series lean towards melodrama. There are terminal illnesses, confrontations, and romances. However, he gravitates towards a more realistic approach to most of these parts of life and usually avoids the tropes of most Western soap operas. Yes, a character goes into a coma, but, no, that character does not return to consciousness at a dramatically convenient moment. The counterfeiters are caught even though they only inadvertently pass a single bill. The character in need of marrow transplant gets a marrow transplant. But, more important, his characters will surprise you with their reactions and revelations. Almost everything is motivated and grounded in the realities of his characters lives.
His writing tends to be a little stagy. Frequently, the pivotal scenes will have two to six characters seated at a table where truths finally are shared. And he loves nothing more than throwing a bunch of misfits together, shaking the box and seeing what comes out. His characters are multidimensional even when by the conventions of society and scripted television they are supposed to be stereotypes.
He revels in details and the minutia of a crafted, living world. He has written the most touching scene you will probably ever see involving grocery receipts. If you watch his shows, you will come to know what a fond is and wonder how it relates to women's rights. You will puzzle at socks never picked up from the hallway, and, yet, all will be revealed. All these things are there for a purpose.
In this series of posts I will examine the series for which English subtitles are available. Two of the series during this period have not been subtitled by fans as far as I can tell: 2010's crime drama Chase and a 2014 comedy set in the Japanese porn industry, Mosaic Japan. I will cover the remaining shows in my highly biased order of least favorite to most, and I will provide some basic content before launching into spoilers, but the vast majority of my analysis will include spoilers.
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