Kato Rosa in Japanese Film Jotei
A Girl's Journey Of Revenge Against Powerful Men.
A Japanese highschool girl takes revenge on powerful men and aims to be "Jotei"-the empress of Ginza's hostesses." (9/10)
Summary
Tachibana Ayaka is a normal highschool girl; a straight A-student and vice-president of the student council, but otherwise a perfectly normal girl. She is raised by her mother, who was abandoned by her lover when he became a political figure, and tried to keep his good name for the sake of his career. When Ayaka’s mother tragically dies, Ayaka leaves the good schoolgirl image, and enters the nightlife, becoming a hostess—a girl trained to attend to the desires of her patrons (not to be confused with prostitution). To top it off, it seems like every hostess is her rival, trying to get more and more clients for themselves. Even in light of her challenges, Ayaka vows to become ‘Jotei’, the queen of the nightworld, in order to take back what was taken away from her and her mother.
Review
Any repeat customer of Japanese’ media will tell you endless tales of how sexuality and eroticism ties into their entertainment. For a country so renowned for its sensitivity and polite mannerisms, it has become an ironic joke; that the birth place of the beautiful sakura blossom and kimono also flaunts one of the world’s darkest red-light districts. Ayaka’s world, a hostess’ world, is surrounded by a prejudice that’s only expected of those who don’t live in it, and yet Kurashina Ryo chose to use this setting for his original manga, to show a deeper light within the shadows. Only with this kind of understanding can anyone really appreciate the amazing balance and creative genius of a series like Jotei.
Normally, a criticism for a series of this subject matter would be that it’s far too short—ten hours is not enough time to delve into the detail of this sort of life and lifestyle. However, this is anything but an average drama. All credit goes to Ouki Shizuka and Takayama Naoya, for a great screenplay of Ryo’s manga. There is no slippage in transition between scenes and mini-stories, a very fluid central theme and plot, and they did a spot-on job of splitting the manga into manageable one-hour segments. There are a few plot holes that don’t appear too believable—such as Naoto’s instant trust and allegiance to Ayaka after the debacle on the beach—but these slips were not critically damaging to the central plot, or development of the characters.
What becomes the hallmark of this Cinderella story is Ayaka’s “human flaw”, her ability (and one that acts up constantly) to make poor judgment. In an age of “feel good drama”, where it’s become difficult to find anything resembling a tale of redemption, it feels great to bear witness to a series that uses someone’s major vice as a virtue. In all honesty, anyone could walk away from the series not sympathizing for Ayaka at all, or feeling badly for the nominal antagonists, Rina, and Kaoru. But apart from their irreconcilable character flaws, they were acting as perfectly normal members of society, a society most would consider deviant, but nonetheless normal.
With the script prepared perfectly, and the stage set for a great emotional production, all that’s left is the acting. As the male counterpart to the story’s heroine, Matsuda Shota stars as the mysterious, charming, and ever enigmatic Date Naoto. Previously, his less than believable conversion to Ayaka’s cause was discussed, and while that’s more of a plot flaw than anything, when it comes out on screen, it’s the actor who’s at fault. His moment at the beach house near the end of the series was tragically beautiful, casting his character’s solitude against Ayaka’s ebullience.
Kato Rosa, as the star Tachibana Ayaka, had a solid performance in this lead role, but only shone from time to time in this series. A biographical story of a hostess who was aiming for the head title of ‘Empress (or Jotei) demands a brute, confident, and yet gracious personality; befitting someone who would survive and succeed as the master of all the women who would respect her. Rosa brought the grace, and definitely had the confidence, but there still wasn’t enough raw power to her personality or stage presence, which really affected her overall performance. The real star actresses of this story are Sakai Ayana, Kaneko Sayaka, and Ozawa Maju, who played Hojo Rina, Kudo Kaoru, and Erika, respectively. These three ladies, as Ayaka’s principle rivals in the hostess world, were perfectly evil, gracing viewers with a chilling performance that was absolutely necessary for this series to be credible and successful.
This story is truly a tear-jerking experience, as well as a lesson in sympathy. From the premise to the slightly anticipated fairytale end, it’s a tightly wound, well-put together story that absolutely deserves a viewing.
