Satorare

Japanese Title: サ ト ラ レ
Chinese Title: 心靈感應
Language: Japanese
Episodes: 10

Cast:
Odagiri Joe - Satomi Kenichi
Tsuruta Mayu - Hoshino Noriko

Review:
Usually I stay far away from series or movies that are either dubbed or ones which force me to read subtitles but 'Satorare' is an exception. A 10-chapter long Japanese serial starring promising actors like Odagiri Joe and Tsuruta Mayu with an original and quirky storyline, this series has made me fall in love with it and become enraptured in it, more so than any other series.

'Satorare' is about a 27-year-old, named Satomi Kenichi a.k.a. Satorare #7, who is longing to become a doctor. Unfortunately for him, Kenichi is born with a disease called 'Satorare' -- fortunately, though, he doesn't know it. Why do I say fortunately? Well, because Satorares allow people within a few feet from them to hear their every single thought. They can't control it and it is said that if Satorares find out about their condition, they then tend to mentally breakdown or commit suicide -- which has happened to Satorare #1. This is why the government put them under protection and look after them 24 hours a day, in order to keep them from finding out what they really are. Satorares are also geniuses, all with an IQ over 200, as well as being rare -- there is on Satorare in every 10 million people.

Satomi Kenichi (Odagiri Joe) is a sweet, mild-mannered young man whose deepest dream is to become a doctor. And being the incredibly intelligent Satorare that he is, Kenichi manages to graduate from medical school with the highest marks and gets transferred into a hospital. Even so, Kenichi is kept away from the patients, due to his condition, and is unintentionally made to feel useless and unwanted. Kenichi is also a lonely, friendless guy due to the fact that most people keep away from him, as he is a Satorare. Anyhow, a beautiful psychologist, Hoshino Noriko (Tsuruta Mayu) soon arrives at the hospital as well, to monitor Kenichi and try to understand Satorares and the actual disease. Quite soon after, Kenichi falls head over heels for Noriko, a 'secret' that he, Noiko, his mother and the whole hospital finds out.

Many funny and touching incidents occur form then on. I love each and every one of them but a few do stand out. One of them includes when Kenichi and Noriko discover a baby in the hospital and Kenichi is put in charge of looking after the baby. His love for Noriko is more apparent than ever and his loving, sweet nature can also be seen, from his every move and expression when talking to Noriko or whenever he's with the baby (which he calls 'Satorare' as the baby seems to understand Kenichi's every though). Another much sadder and touching one is when he discovers his mother has cancer and performs surgery on her. Unfortunately (spoilers ahead) he finds out that it's too late. The cancer has already spread and is much too advanced. Kenichi then runs up to the rooftop and cries, totally blaming himself for all this and just generally being sad. Noriko is there to comfort him but obviously, it's not enough. (Incredibly sad.....I'm crying as I write about this. The scenes just comes back into my mind and I start crying all over again). There are many, many more cute, sweet, touching, funny, sad, you name it scenes in this series, each one as good as the other.

Admittedly, I don't know a lot of Japanese actresses or actors but Odagiri Joe is perfect as Kenichi. I honestly cannot imagine another to be him (if I were looking at a range of Chinese or English actors). Odagiri Joe display Kenichi's loneliness as if he were Kenichi, as with his pain, his desire to be with Noriko, his sweetness, everything. It's not easy to play Satomi Kenichi but Odagiri manages it just fine. Tsuruta Mayu is average as Noriko but she does look like what Noriko should be. The chemistry (and the awkwardness of first love) between her and Odagiri Joe is apparent and I applaud the two actors for it. But it's not just the lead actors which make 'Satorare' what it is. The supporting cast play a big part in making 'Satorare' as good as it is, with their quirkiness, their pity and affection for Kenichi, their playfulness and just generally being them. Special acknowledgement to the actress playing Kenichi's mother (at first I didn't like her very much but towards the end, she was outstanding, especially when talking about or to her son), the head nurse (a very funny character) and actually....now that I think about, special acknowledgement out to the whole of the supporting cast. Excellent actors and well-casted.

Satomi Kenichi is, as mentioned before, shy, sweet, lonely and friendless. He's totally and completely in love with Noriko and would do absolutely anything for her, as with his mother. He's also incredibly cute (in manner and in looks; at first I though Odagiri Joe was UGLY, due to the mole on his chin, but as the series progressed, he became cuter and cuter, due to Kenichi's personality) and adorably ignorant of himself being a Satorare. He's also naive about the big bad world out. Kenichi is the typical boy-next-door and admittedly, my kind of guy ^_~

Hoshino Noriko is the accomplished, beautiful older woman (by three years) who later on, falls in love with Kenichi as well. She's a bit of a daddy's little girl and would also do anything for Kenichi, even to move in a remote, desolate island. Tsuruta Mayu is beautiful and suited the part very well, with her little, small movements with displays a lot to the audience, as to Kenichi.

Like I said before, I love this series. No series I've watched so far has ever been as good as this one, but admittedly the ending disappointed me a little. I would liked it if Kenichi actually said to Noriko, 'I like you,' instead of thinking 'I can never say those three words.' But again, I LOVE THIS SERIES! I'm writing this a few hours after watching the final episodes and I'm incredibly disappointed it's ended. Hell, I'm actually crying over the fact that it's ended. So you can see form response (and my email) how good I think it is. Go and watch it, seriously. If you can't catch it on TV, then go buy or rent the VCD/DVD set. Amazing series.....I don't think I can go on now that it's finished without buying the VCD or DVD set = (if I can find it that is!!)

Music:
'Aitai Kimochi' - Glay. Ever since I first watched this series and heard this song, 'Aitai Kimochi' is my absolute favourite song in the world. Admittedly, I have no idea what it's saying since I don't understand any Japanese except for a few select phrases but even though I don't know what the song it means, it still seems to convey a message to me. To me, the song, with its melodic singing and harmonic music tells a story for a guy who whole heartedly loves a woman (like how Kenichi loves Noriko) but has no idea as to how to express so he just keeps it silently in. I'm probably wrong but that's what it means to me.

A beautiful song, definitely deserves 5 stars.

Rating:
I'd give this 10 stars if I could but unfortunately, I'd have to resort to 5 stars!