credits: AF
I started this drama the other day and finished it yesterday. For quite a long time, I’ve shied away from dramas that involve Maki with a guy other than Yamapi. While he, Yamapi, was not the first lead I watched her act with (being Oguri Shun), he was simply the one I self-righteously chose to be the one and only for Maki (YaMaki shipper, thanks).
I don’t even watch fan made videos of Maki with other people. Interestingly I hated the whole MuAki pairing and thought that I will never watch whatever drama this whole couple began with.
Voila, almost a year later, I’m done with watching AtaDan, and at the brink of shipping the couple. If only I don’t find Mukai as an interesting individual. But I do, so I like their pairing, but I still don’t ship it. Maki is still a different entity from Mukai. HAHA.
Anyway, enough blabbing, and on with my review. I didn’t read any former reviews on this drama before watching it. I only had the backbone that Maki will play Chisato, who will be the “Mama” of six individually personified adopted sons. So watching it at the beginning, I thought that it was based off a manga. Soon enough, I realized that the flow of the story is something different from a manga. While a manga ‘episode’ can stand alone, contributing only a little bit to the progress of the story, AtaDan’s episodes were too stitched together that when you miss one episode, it sort of breaks a part of the story. And the fact that each episode never solely focused on one character is one thing that kept it away from being boring, at least to my taste.
I knew most of the actors who played in the drama, except for the little boy who played Akira, and, surprise, the person who played Sho (I watched NC but I don’t remember him 😛 ). Everyone played their role well, but I should give props to Shinzo, the lawyer woman, and the secretary. Especially Shinzo, the delicate expressions eminent on his face can only be done by a real long-time professional.
I still find Maki’s acting quite weak, but I’m such a fan. I noticed progress from her previous roles, but it seemed she has not grown a lot in terms of acting.
I’m not going to comment on the others but they all seem to have a comical characters in real life that helped bring about the comical personalities of their roles n the film.
The castle was beautiful from the outside, it would really be cool if they showed the audience a bit more of how it looked like inside. I was disappointed that they only showed the facade, and the chamber from when you enter the main doors.
Overall, I will give this drama a rating of 7 stars out of 10. But I recommend it to those who are fascinated with secret doors and state-of-the-art inventions (very creative toys/stuff from Miracle, I must say).
My Little Heaven on Earth 