Title: プロポーズ兄弟 Puropōzu (Propose) Kyōdai
English Title: Proposal Brothers
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Year: 2011
Episode: 04
Cast:
- 佐藤隆太 Sato Ryuta
- 渡辺杏 Watanabe An (杏 Anne)
- 松重豊 Matsushige Yutaka
- 浅利陽介 Asari Yosuke
- 柄本時生 Emoto Tokio
- 小池徹平 Koike Teppei
- 佐々木希 Sasaki Nozomi
- 中村倫也 Nakamura Tomoya
- 中村蒼 Nakamura Aoi
- 本仮屋ユイカ Motokariya Yuika
- 伊藤淳史 Ito Atsushi
- ベッキー Becky
- 谷花音 Tani Kanon
SYNOPSIS
This drama is a love comedy that follows four very different types of guys who grew up in a very normal household: an eldest or first child, a middle child, a youngest child, and an only child. It portrays the transformation of the guys as they meet someone special, and how they worked hard to find true happiness.
Eldest (First) Child
Yamada Ichiro is 30 years old, and he's the eldest child of the Yamada family. As an an older brother to his siblings, he is used to being relied on by everyone. He is the chef at the family restaurant Kitchen Yamada.
Sasaki Aya starts to work as a kitchen assistant in Ichiro's restaurant. Although she is a walking disaster, Aya has a good heart and she aspires to become a licensed chef in the future. Ichiro develops romantic feelings for Aya over time but he is troubled by the no-romantic-relationships policy in his restaurant.
Middle Child
Yamada Jiro is 27 years old, and he is the second son of the Yamada family. As the middle child, he got used to being unnoticed by everyone given that his older brother is the one relied upon and his youngest brother is the one pampered on. He works as a subcontractor in the research department of an advertising company.
He likes Watanabe Minami, a receptionist at the advertising company, but he couldn't find the courage to confess his feelings and ask Minami out on a date.
Youngest Child
Yamada Saburo is 24 years old, and he is the youngest child of the Yamada family. He is spoiled and is used to being taken cared of by his older brothers and parents. He doesn't apply himself seriously at work, but he believes that he can be somebody in the future if he only works hard.
Saburo's childhood friend Ito Mao is worried about Saburo's irresponsible ways, especially since she's leaving for the United States for training.
Only Child
Tanaka Kazuo is 28 years old, and he's the only child of the Tanaka family. He is a cousin of Ichiro, Jiro, and Saburo. Kazuo is used to being alone and to working at his own pace that he sometimes find it hard to relate to other people.
Suzuki Saki is the new part-time assistant in Kazuo's company. She has a bright personality and she comes from a large family of six siblings. Kazuo finds himself being with Saki and he is troubled by how unpredictable her life is, which is very different from his own.
REVIEW
Propose Kyōdai explores the characteristics of people depending on their birth order. The drama is quite fun to watch and the stereotypes presented are somewhat accurate.
Personality Based on Birth Order
Eldest (First) Child:
Middle Child:
- disciplined
- has a strong sense of duty and responsibility
- values harmony above all else
- reliable
- full of spirit of self-sacrifice
- honest
- generous
- thickheaded
Youngest Child:
- well-behaved
- good and skilled at everything
- dissatisfied with his lot
- terribly afraid of getting hurt and being rejected
Only Child:
- spoiled
- competitive and hates losing
- very tenacious and doesn't like compromising
- often says and does things without thinking
- prefers being alone
- goes at his own pace
- mysterious
- has an abundance of imagination and creativity
However, I don't think the idea that birth order determines a person's character holds much weight. Although there are certain similar characteristics for people with the same birth order, which accounts for the stereotypes; these characteristics are not always simply brought about just by birth order and other factors may also contribute to the development of said characteristics.
It's interesting how a person's characteristics are said to be influenced by a variety of factors: birth order, time of birth, Chinese horoscope, Western horoscope, blood type, etc. And these are on top of other factors such as cultural, generational, etc. I think these studies are accurate up to a certain point but I don't believe that any one factor greatly influences a person's characteristics.
Given that each episode of Propose Kyōdai only has roughly thirty minutes, the plot developments are too fast. In most stories except that of Yamada Saburo and Ito Mao, the main characters have recently met their romantic partners, and then they have proposed after a few weeks or months, and then they got married after one year.
Ysmada Ichiro and Sasaki Aya have not even acknowledged their romantic feelings to each other when Ichiro confessed his feelings and proposed marriage to Aya in front of her parents.
Although Yamada Jiro and Watanabe Minami may have known each other for quite a while before their first date, I think it is too early to propose marriage on the second date.
The same goes with Tanaka Kazuo; although he has spent a lot of his free time with Suzuki Saki and her younger siblings, it is still too soon to propose marriage after a couple of dates, especially given that their dates are not formal arrangements.
With Saburo and Mao, knowing each other is not an issue because they have known each other their whole lives. It's strange though that they have been best friends all their lives and all of a sudden, they are together romantically.
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プロポーズ兄弟 Propose Kyōdai
