02 April 2008

きみはペット Kimi wa Pet


Title: きみはペット Kimi wa Petto (Kimi wa Pet)
English Title: You're My Pet
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Year: 2003
Episode: 10
Cast:
  • 小雪 Koyuki
  • 松本潤 Matsumoto Jun
  • 田辺誠一 Tanabe Seīchi
  • 鈴木紗理奈 Suzuki Sarina
  • 酒井若菜 Sakai Wakana
  • 佐藤隆太 Sato Ryuta
  • 瑛太 Eita
  • 石原さとみ Ishihara Satomi
  • 上原美佐 Uehara Misa
  • 乙葉 Otoha



SYNOPSIS
V6 - Darling
Iwaya Sumire is smart, successful, and elegant. She is a strong woman who can support herself financially. She also takes pride in her career, rising up the ranks really fast due to her good performance at work.

Unfortunately, it seems that people around Sumire are insecure and threatened with her strength and success. She does not have any good friends at work. Her boyfriend cheated on her and left her when the other woman got pregnant.

On her way home one rainy day, Sumire notices a cardboard box in front of her apartment building. When she checks out what is inside the box, she is surprised to find an injured young man asleep inside.

Sumire takes the young man home to her apartment and takes her of him throughout the night. She went home the next day expecting that the young man has left her place. When she gets home, she finds the young man still at her house and he refuses to go away.

Sumire told the young man he can only stay if he becomes her pet and he readily agrees. He asks Sumire give him a name since she is his owner and she names him Momo, after her beloved pet dog when she was a child.



REVIEW
Kimi wa Pet is a very confusing drama. I put off watching it for a while because I just can't get behind the premise of a young man becoming a pet of someone. I just don't understand really why it happened.

I like Iwaya Sumire as a character because she is a very accomplished woman. She has a no-nonsense personality and she's blunt to a fault, but I think she's an exceptional woman.

I think it must be frustrating to be ostracized for refusing to act cute and for not pretending to be helpless. It must have been vexing to be transferred to a dead-end job because people, or men in particular, think a woman shouldn't have a career in the first place.

Sumire's colleague Fukushima Shiori is an irritating character because she seems malicious and mean. However, I also find her refreshing because she's frank and honest. She says what most people are thinking but are too afraid to say out loud.

Fukushima Shiori: I don't know if I should say it but don't you feel like she kind of deserves it? People who can do anything kind of gets on on my nerves. Like, "who do you think you are?!"

Fukushima Shiori: Men are really afraid of women getting more powerful than them. If you (as a woman) want to have things go your way, it's more advantageous for you to act dumb and cute.

Anyway, I really don't understand the relationship between Sumire and her pet Momo, whose real name is Goda Takeshi. What does it mean for a human being to become a pet of someone else anyway?

But if I was confused about the drama's premise, I'm even more confused of the vagueness of its ending. Sumire and Momo are still living together but they no longer have a strict owner-and-pet relationship. They are not really lovers but it is not really explained what they are. Are they surrogate siblings? Or are they roommates who happen to also be close friends?




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きみはペット Kimi wa Pet