Golden Bowl

Golden Bowl is another NTV production, broadcasted in Autumn 2002. This 11-episodes drama was re-written by Shinji Nojima based on a comic book. It stars Takeshi Kaneshiro, Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Matsumoto.

Synopsis
Japanese-Taiwanese heartthrob, Takeshi Kaneshiro stars as Shu Akutagawa, a securities analyst who relieves the stress of sitting at a computer screen all day with nightly sessions at the local bowling alley. The young salaryman is so good, in fact, that the alley's elderly owner tells him he's pro material and bequeaths him his own "golden ball," since he won't need it anymore. It turns out a local developer is trying to convince the owner to sell the bowling alley, whose business has never been the same since the end of Japan's huge "bowling boom" of the late '60s and early '70s. The developer wants to tear it down and build a love hotel.

Of course, the long-time employees of the alley, as well as the manager of the planetarium that's located on the roof and a former pro who frequents the establishment, oppose the sale and try to convince the owner not to cave in. The developer comes up with an idea: He and the owner will bowl for the building. There is also a romantic subplot involving an upper-middle-class housewife (Hitomi Kuroki) who uses the same locker that Akutagawa does, but in the daytime.

Review
I was so happy when I knew Takeshi Kaneshiro would have a new Japanese comedy drama, but was so disappointed upon knowing it's an NTV production and the script is written by Shinji Nojima! NTV usually has dark dramas and I have a bad impression of Shinji Nojima's stories. I don't like his Strawberry on Shortcake, Lipstick, Seikimatsu no Uta (The Last Song), Miseinen(Underage). And I was thinking, how can a story about bowling be that exciting? However, a lot of my friends said that Golden Bowl is really enjoyable and very funny, so I decided to watch!

Turns out that I love it very much!! Yes, it is definitely very enjoyable!! And the bowling story is about 45% of the story and the love story is 55% of the whole show!! I love the bowling story! Especially scenes of Akutagawa & Hitomi pairing up in the bowling matches, as they always discuss these love & life problems during the match. Sometimes, they even have funny conversations!! And I definitely love the way how Akutagawa always finishes off the match with "The Golden Bowl".

A 32-year-old bachelor who works in a stock exchange and a 38-year-old housewife... what kind of love story can we expect from these two? At one point, I was sure that they would only be friends 'till the end of the story. Unexpected developments made me hesitate as I thought they would be romantically involved. This is the first time I had difficulty in guessing where the plot goes!! Kaneshiro is actually 29, while Kuroki is 42 in this drama, so believe it or not, they are originally 13 years apart!! However, Kaneshiro's mature looks & Kuroki's girl-like looks succeed in making them look like only 6 years apart! Cool, huh?

Acting Performances

Takeshi Kaneshiro as Shu Akutagawa
I used to watch Kaneshiro's Hong Kong movies, and he usually acts those ridiculous roles. I was quite disappointed, because when he entered the Japanese entertainment world, he was in serious doramas and acted in serious roles. I miss his hilarious acting! So, when I knew that Golden Bowl is a comedy, of course I would really love to watch this one! Very dashing and handsome! He put on a superb performance as the cheerful & ridiculous Akutagawa!!

Hitomi Kuroki as Hitomi Sakura
Unbelievable!!!! She looks 10 years younger than her real age. And, what makes me root for her role to be together with Akutagawa (despite the fact that I'm usually not fond of the older woman-younger man love story) is because Kuroki-san can perfectly act her role cute, funny, fun and just like a girl!! She talks like a girl and even dresses like a girl, or at least less like an 'oba-san'(auntie). I really love her as an actress, since I watched her in TEAM. It's quite ironic, because in Majo no Jouken (Terms of A Witch), she succeeded in making me hate her to the core playing the role of Hideaki Takizawa's mother.

Music
I just love western 60s songs!! So, hearing them as background songs in the dorama just suits my taste perfectly! The themesong itself, is You Are My Destiny by Paul Anka. I was wondering why this drama would use the 60s songs, but I then realized the "bowling" boom era was in the late 60s and early 70s, so, they used songs from that era for this drama. It was a nice choice!

I didn't expect this to be a great dorama and would be one of my favorite doramas!! The ending is something you have to watch for yourself! I'm giving this one 4 stars overall!