Mare poster
Mare (Japanese Long Running Drama Review)
I am currently watching this drama which is 156 episodes long. 🙁 I know, right? But it has Yamazaki Kento and Tsuchiya Tao in it.
Each episode lasts for 15 short minutes and the first 3-4 minutes is intro of Tsuchiya as Mare, half-running and half-floating in a white summer dress. She looks young and carefree.
- Genre: Family, Romance, Food, Baking, Youth
- Date Released: March 2015
- Origin: Japan
- Dorama:154 Episodes
Cast:
- Tao Tsuchiya as Mare Tsumura
- Kento Yamazaki as Keita Kontani, Hiroyuki’s son and Mare’s classmate and Mare’s Husband
- Yō Ōizumi as Tōru Tsumura, Mare’s father
- Takako Tokiwa as Aiko Tsumura, Mare’s mother
- Shōno Hayama as Ittetsu Tsumura, Mare’s brother
- Min Tanaka as Kanji Okesaku
- Yuko Tanaka as Fumi Okesaku, his wife
- Atsuo Nakamura as Yatarō Kontani, a lacquerware craftsman
- Itsuji Itao as Hiroyuki Kontani, Yataro’s son and a public servant
- Eisuke Sasai as Kōichi Kuramoto, a hairdresser
- Sawa Suzuki as Hana Kuramoto, his wife
- Fumika Shimizu as Ichiko Kuramoto, their daughter and Mare’s classmate
- Guts Ishimatsu as Shin’ichirō Kado, a fisherman
- Yūta Takahata as Yōichiro Kado, his son and Mare’s classmate
- Muga Tsukaji as Makoto Teraoka, a postman
- Eri Fuse as Kumi Teraoka, his wife
- Mugi Kadowaki as Minori Teraoka, their daughter and Mare’s classmate
- Daichi Watanabe as Takashi Futaki, Mare’s classmate
- Fumiyo Kohinata as Daigo Ikehata, an expert patissier
- Ryō as Rinko Ikehata, a Chinese restaurateur
- Yuya Yagira as Daisuke Ikehata, their son
- Yurika Nakamura as Minami Ikehata, their daughter
This drama is like a more modern version of Little House in the Prairie meets the Gilmore Girls.
Mare’s family was forced to move to the countryside away from Tokyo, where they accumulated a mountain of debts. This was mainly because the father kept investing in quick get-rich schemes, which ultimately failed.
The drama started rather slowly, taking time to introduce the people in the village of Noto, a place where everyone is welcomed with an open heart. People/neighbours would distribute their daily harvest, catch, etc to each other for free. You won’t be left starving!
Mare’s family ended up in Noto renting a room in an inn run by an elderly couple Kanji, a salt-farmer, and Fumi, a brilliant cook. Mare was with her dreamer father, strange and weak mother and younger brother. They ended up staying in the inn permanently, in return they have to help out around the inn and in the salt mine.
Mare’s view of life was coloured by her weak loser father’s, who made their life a hand to mouth existence.
They were only staying for a few months in Noto when her father went back to Tokyo to look for a job. There he stayed for six years without coming back.
Though Mare’s mother was upset, she was actually happy that her loser husband was chasing his dreams, irregardlessn of what was happening in their home front, where she abused Mare for child labour! 🙂 LOL
From a young age, Mare learned to shoulder the burden of her family. She worked really hard. She does not believe in having dreams, all she wanted was to become a salary woman in the local government were pay will be consistent.
But despite herself, she can’t help but aspire to be a good cook, a cake chef a patissier.
From Noto she travelled to Yokohama and train under a world renowned patissier, Daigo Ikehata.
For four years she learned the craft and excelled. Daigo was impressed that he encouraged her to further her training in Paris.
Unfortunately love intervened. She married Keita, who was an apprentice in lacquer; he was to inherit the historic with long tradition, wood lacquer ware of Noto. The marriage came with so much responsibility that her goal of becoming the world’s best patisser was put in the back burner. It only got more complicated when she fell pregnant and gave birth to twins.
She did return to the cake business in the end and would continue to work and better her craft.
Finally finished watching this long drama. It took me two days. I love it. there are parts that are really outstanding and some are not so good.
I have to admit the older cast out-acted the younger generation.
