Brother Beat

All photos were taken from drama
My fascination with Hayami Mokomichi led me to one of his older series; Brother Beat. I was originally watching Regatta but because of some technical difficulties switched to Brother Beat. I found this a good drama with a few good relationships which brought the drama together however the series just doesn't feel complete to me. In all honesty I think out of the 5 series I watched of Mokomichi this one is probably the weakest however it does excel in certain aspects.

My favourite character and probably the person who stole the show for me was Kuninaka Ryoko.I found her character sweet and endearing whilst her performance was a gem - though personally I liked the Chisato (Ryoko's character) earlier episodes I found the growth of her character believable and interesting to watch.

I found myself developing a love hate relationship with Tamayama Tetsuji's character Sakurai Tatsuya because of the many times he hurt Chisato's feelings but yet how caring he was to his younger brothers (though at times implemented in the wrong way). I think Tetsuji did well for his debut as the main lead and hopefully I'll see better performances by him in the following dramas.

Now onto Mokomichi's character. His character development was strong at the start but it seemed to languish towards the end. His character annoyed me a lot but yet you couldn't dislike him for some reason. I think Mokomichi portrayed the character well but it is evident that he is a better actor now; still it was a good performance by him. It was sad to see that Ai and Riku's story was shoved aside in order to develop Chisato and Tatsuya's because I really wanted to see them together more (even though I love ChisatoxTatsuya!)

Sakurai Junpei the youngest brother was played by Nakao Akiyoshi. I found his character a good supporting to the others, his caring nature made him a likeable character yet his outbursts added depth. I didn't really believe his sudden love interests though, yeah he maybe a young guy but it seems like he falls in love quite easily.



Namase Katuhisa played Noguchi Hideki. I was really annoyed with Katuhisa's character in Gokusen 2 but in Brother Beat I found him a vital role. I didn't really realize how important his character was until he left because their just seemed to be a void in the story after he left. It's so sad that he had other things to do whilst filming Brother Beat or we may have seen the boss with Haru (the mother)!

Tanaka Misako was the mother of the three, I think her character was OK but I thought she would be more outrageous of a character to be honest. Her antics were amusing and it's nice to see a different type of motherly character but I thought once Hideki had left her plot seemed to thin out and it seemed like she was becoming more and more of a supporting cast than a lead.


The Obstinate father (Chisato's father). I absolutely despised this character even if he developed to become a nice character. I just got really annoyed with his ignorance and outdated thinking. I'm so happy his character was only seen as much as he was because I would have got so annoyed with him that I would probably throw a slipper at my computer screen!


Oh also of note; the child actor that played Riku was also supposedly the child actor that played
the young Masaya Nakagawa in Tokyo Tower - personally I didn't realise it until I found out of the internet!

I think I found the love relationships more interesting than the brotherly relationships in the series which may have defied the point of the series slightly. I would really have wanted to see Ai and Riku more as well as Chisato and Tatsuya. I think the story could have been more sweet at times because I'm not sure how to sum this series up; it seemed to dabble in many genres and styles but it never developed on either one. I think the story should have had more scenes of the three brother alone also because those were far and few between - I mean without Haru.
The ending was also not very inspiring. From the Jdramas I have watched already Tokyo Tower had an emotional ending; but kind of a release, Zettai Kareshi was very emotional, Oh! My Girl! was sweet and suscint. But in Brother Beat and similarly in Gokusen 2 I found the ending uninteresting and kind of what you expected since the beginning anyway - though I didn't want it to end like that. the person that stole my heart in this drama was Chisato because of her innocence making her other emotions all the more sweeter.
Overall the acting was good, the characters were good, the relationships were good but the story overall was average. I'd give this drama a 7.5 (out of 10), something you could try if you have time.