Operation Proposal (TV Mini Series 2007) Poster

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9/10
Superb jdorama
radiotheatre-112 October 2007
Tomohisa Yamashita stars as Ken Iwase, a young man full of regret over his past in "Proposal Daisakusen".

As his childhood friend and long-time crush Rei (Masami Nagasawa) is married to another man, Ken muses over not taking advantage of his chances to be with her. Time is interrupted by Yosei (Hiroshi Mikami) a self-described "fairy" of love who grants Ken the ability to travel into the past and try to correct the poor decisions he has made. However, Yosei can only send Ken back through physical pictures of that past, and only for a short time. Can Ken change either the outcome of his future relationship with Rei or how he feels about her?

Moving the story along are Ken's group of four friends including Rei, the mature Mikio, the absurdly immature but endearing Tsurumi, and Rei's best friend, and Tsurumi's crush, Eri. We follow them from primary school, through high-school and university, with Ken darting from his past back into the present moment of the wedding and then back again.

It is difficult to dislike the groom, Tada, (Fujiki Naohito) who seems to embody all the qualities that Ken lacks, while also genuinely being in love with Rei.

This complicates the story, but also makes it more interesting since there is no cop-out, "wait till she discovers he is a bad guy" mechanism in place.

That mechanism would only impede the main theme and course of the plot, which is that in matters of the heart, it is not enough to just identify those who we love most, but that we must consistently act to externalize our love towards that person, or else we damn ourselves to being misunderstood --- and all of the bad things that go with that.

Far less mystical than the premise of a 'time-travel-endowing fairy' suggests, "Proposal Daisakusen" uses that only as a means to express the very real and earthly values of friendship, honesty, redemption and courage. It leaves us with the affirming message that our own happiness is the ultimate standard by which we must make our decisions, no matter how painful the process of that decision-making might be.
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6/10
cute but wimpy male lead can't utter "I like you"...
fprefect-685-2810847 October 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Ken has spent his life trying to express his true feelings for best friend Rei but due to his inability to utter "I like you", Rei is getting married to their former professor. During the wedding reception a slide show flashes displays photos from Rei's life. Ken wishes he could go back and and change things. A sassy church fairly grants him the ability to time travel to one photo per the 11 episodes.

What I liked:

1. Sassy church fairy (Mikami Hiroshi) nudges Ken along trying with charm, humor, and wisdom.

2. Each episode ended with the lovely song, "Ashita Hareru Kana," by Kuwata Keisuke that perfectly fits the overall tone of the jdrama.

3. Believable friendships among Ken, Rei, and their 3 other friends. There were fun and charming moments throughout the series among these friends and their journey to adulthood.

4. The series key points: a) Life is too short to waste on missed opportunities and regret. b) nothing will ever be as big as your First Love. The series catch phrase: Hallelujah, chance!

What I didn't like:

1. Ken, played by Yamashita Tomohisa, can not tell Rei (Nagasawa Masami) he likes her, and he's had 14 years to do so. When he goes back in time for the sole purpose of rectifying this, he still can not tell her. While Ken was a sympathetic character his constant inability to express his feelings becomes annoying, veering on ridiculous. Granted Rei, has also liked Ken for 14 years, and has not told him. Ken and Rei are a well match couple in denial. I got irritated with both of them. Believe me they have charm as a couple, but good grief, all the missed opportunities!

2. Proposal Daisakusen is well made but you must watch the entire series before you get the emotional pay-off. The 2008 special spent more time on the friends that our primary couple Ken and Rei.
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