Chance! チャンス！

Recommendation:
Genre: Comedy
Type: Japanese Dramas TV series
Air period: March 7 to March 14 2009
Number of episodes: 2 part special

Synopsis is as follows:

Horikita Maki Plays as Kawamura Tamaki who has a hard time landing a job. As she sifts through her mail she is turned down by just about every company, until the last letter where she is finally accepted by a travel company as a customer service agent. As a rookie she makes a mistake by accidentally doing a job meant for more qualified employees as a travel guide. However, the department in charge of planning and travel tours is impressed by the feedback she gets from the tourists. They speak of her in glowing terms and the planning department ends up hiring Kawamura. One day on the way to her new position, she bumps into Saori tamaki (Kuroki Mesa) and accidentally switches phones with her. As a result she ends up having to create an important presentation for her company giving her a "Chance" to make something of herself.

- What I think

This Japanese drama series is kept short and sweet as a two part drama special or "Tanpatsu".

The main plot is pretty straight forward after Maki accidentally bumps into Mesa's Character and switch cell phones. She pretty much has to fake it till she makes it. As predictable as it seems, it is still a fun Japanese drama to watch with little bits of comedy here and there. There is even a particular scene where Kuroki's scene collides with Maki's scene and they film it from each of the actresses relative point of view. Kind of like how they did the movie "Elephant" (google it and/or watch "Elephant" if you don't know what I'm talking about). It would've been awesome if there were more elements like that in this special. There is also a bit of a romance going on with Mesa's character which isn't realized until the second part of the series.



The music gave it a very Westernized feel playing various American hits throughout the drama. It was different but I liked it.

As far as the actors, Horikita Maki was as adorable as ever playing Kawamura Tamaki. Her role here is yet another step into becoming a more mature and even more capable actress as if reflecting her real life transitioning from a young tv actress to a grown up and professional drama queen. She is as enjoyable to watch as ever. It is very interesting (to say the least) to see Horikita Maki in this light.

Kuroki Mesa is a very good actress in my opinion and did well in this movie and can't really say anything more about that since she has a pretty simple role.

As for Gekidan Hitori, he added to the comedic value of this dorama with his goofy facial expressions and kooky antics.

All in all, Chance is an interesting Japanese drama, although for some reason I almost expected it to be a regular 10 to 13 episode series. I got the feeling that it was a bit short lived. It was fun to watch, but as big as a Horikita Maki fan I am, sadly to say, I give this Japanese dorama a four out of five riceballs. It was fun and I'd surely give it a chance. >_<

- J