[Discussion] Soumato Kabushiki Gaisha

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nynaevealmeera
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[Discussion] Soumato Kabushiki Gaisha

Post by nynaevealmeera » Jul 22nd, '12, 01:22

Soumato Kabushiki Gaisha

Image
Title: 走馬灯株式会社

Synopsis
Soumato Corporation is an intriguing place where recorded images of one’s life can be viewed on DVD. A person who happens to stray into Soumato Corporation, will be handed DVDs equivalent in number to his age by Kaminuma (Kashii Yu), the company’s mysterious guide. She will tell him to go back and watch his life to his heart’s content. What he will see on these DVDs is his own life through the eyes of other people. He will learn startling facts that are better left unsaid. What will he think after watching everything? --Jdrama Weblog


Hi! I just started this thread so we could discuss this thriller. I'm such a scaredy-cat so I just fast forwarded through the first episode. I would like to know other people's opinions before I go further, else I will just wait til' sunrise before I watch this sucker. :pale:

LaLaLaDRAMA
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Post by LaLaLaDRAMA » Jul 22nd, '12, 03:17

I watched the first episode. I really like this drama. Its only 30 minutes long. I don't like watching scary suspenseful things, but this one is interesting enough for me to watch it.

Its only the last half of the drama that got a bit creepy because of one of the characters.

Sairyou
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Post by Sairyou » Jul 22nd, '12, 17:17

Watched it today. Second drama I'm following weekly. (GTO remake being the first.)

I like these pyschological heavy things. It's really heavy stuff though. But that's what it makes it so amazing.
I hope they will refrain from explaining how Soumato Corp can exist, since I guess this will get close to the supernatural and that's something I don't see fit for this drama.

But damn
Killing a character in one episode never made me feel so bad for the person. ;_;
I hope not all coming in contact with Soumato Corp will die :C

GaussAlgorithmus
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Post by GaussAlgorithmus » Jul 23rd, '12, 03:58

Great drama, it's something completely different from the other dramas, that's really nice. I also like the "cinematic" touch about it, the visuals, the slow pacing, some of the camera angles, they all look like from a bigger production and give this drama some sort of "artsy" feeling.

Still, I think there is a slight plothole:
How did noone found out about her kidnapping the baby?
- Person A's baby was kidnapped and disappeared
- Person B suddenly got a baby at the exact same time
- Person B wasn't pregnant
- Person B hasn't got a man

The police did not investigate this any further? Nobody in the neighbourhood noticed that? I mean, if she had moved to a different town, I would accept this, but when he watches his video, he clearly recognised "his" home in the night of his kidnapping. So the mother definetly did not move.
Side note: I REALLY liked the actress playing his girlfriend Yuko. In my eyes, she was quite pretty, but not "flawless idol-like beautiful" as most actresses. She just looks like the "ordinary" "nice" girl you might meet everyday in the streets of any Japanese town. That'S a nice touch. :)

LaLaLaDRAMA
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Post by LaLaLaDRAMA » Jul 23rd, '12, 05:25

GaussAlgorithmus wrote:Great drama, it's something completely different from the other dramas, that's really nice. I also like the "cinematic" touch about it, the visuals, the slow pacing, some of the camera angles, they all look like from a bigger production and give this drama some sort of "artsy" feeling.

Still, I think there is a slight plothole:
How did noone found out about her kidnapping the baby?
- Person A's baby was kidnapped and disappeared
- Person B suddenly got a baby at the exact same time
- Person B wasn't pregnant
- Person B hasn't got a man

The police did not investigate this any further? Nobody in the neighbourhood noticed that? I mean, if she had moved to a different town, I would accept this, but when he watches his video, he clearly recognised "his" home in the night of his kidnapping. So the mother definetly did not move.
Side note: I REALLY liked the actress playing his girlfriend Yuko. In my eyes, she was quite pretty, but not "flawless idol-like beautiful" as most actresses. She just looks like the "ordinary" "nice" girl you might meet everyday in the streets of any Japanese town. That'S a nice touch. :)
I noticed that too. The characters looked like just any japanese couple you would find on the street. I also noticed that it had a japanese movie feel to it.

And about the plothole:
I agree with you completely. I couldn't help thinking how ditzy his real mother was. I mean, couldn't she just have gotten the police involved? DNA testing would have solved everything.

But I guess this drama is meant to be watched without much analyzing.

GaussAlgorithmus
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Post by GaussAlgorithmus » Jul 23rd, '12, 06:48

LaLaLaDRAMA wrote:I noticed that too. The characters looked like just any japanese couple you would find on the street.
I think, that this is a great touch. I'd really love seeing more "normal" people in doramas.

LaLaLaDRAMA wrote:
I agree with you completely. I couldn't help thinking how ditzy his real mother was. I mean, couldn't she just have gotten the police involved? DNA testing would have solved everything.
The actor was born 88, and I know, that DNA testing "spread" in the alte 80s, so a DNA test should have been possible. But even without such a test:
The police coul've just asked "when was the baby born, in which hospital, by which doctor and where are the documents?". But, like you said:

"But I guess this drama is meant to be watched without much analyzing."

If the story and the cahracters are good and interesting, I can live with that...even if it makes the story a little bit stupid. ;)

Seelenfang
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Post by Seelenfang » Jul 23rd, '12, 16:29

Whats about his fiance, did his so called mother killed her?

GaussAlgorithmus
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Post by GaussAlgorithmus » Jul 23rd, '12, 19:56

Seelenfang wrote:
Whats about his fiance, did his so called mother killed her?
Of course she did. Hint 1 was the additional paper figure at the shrine, hint 2 was the blood covered lock sealing the shed. That's the reason why he hung himself, because that was finally too much for him.

Sairyou
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Joined: Jul 22nd, '12, 16:15

Post by Sairyou » Jul 26th, '12, 13:37

lol. This episode was a bit predictable, but still awesome.

I don't get who his junior was, though. Just a *new* stalker?

and OMG Rio~

LaLaLaDRAMA
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Location: sunnytown CALI

Post by LaLaLaDRAMA » Jul 27th, '12, 03:50

Episode 2 Question
Can someone tell me what the text that he received from his coworker said near the end of the drama?

Romance
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Post by Romance » Jul 27th, '12, 04:23

LaLaLaDRAMA wrote:Episode 2 Question
Can someone tell me what the text that he received from his coworker said near the end of the drama?
It said "I got pregnant! After all this was our fate!"

LaLaLaDRAMA
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Post by LaLaLaDRAMA » Jul 28th, '12, 05:57

Thanks for the translation Romance!
So does that mean the whole purpose of the coworker was just to trick the viewers into believing that fat girl was the coworker? So now he has two kids from two creepy obsessive girls? I guess thats what he gets for being so shallow.

pandan
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Post by pandan » Jul 28th, '12, 21:25

^
Seriously...I felt zero empathy for the protagonist of Ep. 2.

Also, I will watch this show without thinking too much about it, but the plotholes here were just as abundant (or even more so) than the first, so I hope the show cuts back on those, otherwise I'm not sure how much more I can watch if it continues to be poorly written -- though I do understand how difficult it must be to have coherent, concise stories, since they're working with only a 30-minute timeslot instead of the usual 1-hour that most other shows get.

doramaworld
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Post by doramaworld » Jul 29th, '12, 18:21

For those who are interested, please visit the following site for Ep 1's review:
http://doramaworld.blogspot.sg/2012/07/ ... -ep-1.html

I enjoyed the first episode for its succint storytelling and adequate pacing. It did have a tinge of "Yo ni mo Kimyou na Monogatari" feel but I think overall, this is a rather decent piece of work. Hope that the future episodes won't disappoint though!

DMCpawn
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Post by DMCpawn » Jul 30th, '12, 04:31

I've only seen the first episode so far, but it's the only drama this season I'll follow weekly (as I usually play catch-up, so I don't have to wait for subs/videos like an impatient child). It kinda reminds me a tad bit of Loss:Time:Life, except somewhat more serious. Compared to some J Dramas I've seen, there's more attention to cinematography. Not that J Dramas are terrible in terms of cinematography, but you can tell that there is more care in each thought. That's something I can respect.

I thought the first episode was well-done. The foreshadowing was cool enough to send English teachers into nerd-spasms :D

First Episode (Obviously) :)
The fact that the dead man in the beginning was the main character surprised me. My older sister, who was watching the drama for the second time with me, was surprised he was the dead guy too. And SHE'S the film snob.
This drama is going to be fun!

totally_0bsessed
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Post by totally_0bsessed » Aug 2nd, '12, 01:08

This drama was one of the few that interested me this season. I really like the first two episodes. It'd make you think of Soumato Kabushiki Gaisha's purpose as a whole. I didn't really mind the plot holes but this drama could have gotten a longer air time (45mins) but like some of you said this drama isn't meant to be analyzed.

LaLaLaDRAMA
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Post by LaLaLaDRAMA » Aug 3rd, '12, 01:22

Episode 3:

.................................
I didn't like this episode. Of course, I was in suspense through out the episode, but!!

I can't even put my thoughts into words. This drama makes me feel uncomfortable because of the creepy characters.

feelsneeh
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Post by feelsneeh » Aug 13th, '12, 01:00

minna
where i can get the link for download for episodes each week?
i have watched 3 episodes for this dorama and i enjoyed.
this is sugoiiiii :p

nynaevealmeera
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Post by nynaevealmeera » Aug 13th, '12, 02:29

I personally did not like Episode 3. The gaping plot holes were just too obvious for me to ignore and go on enjoying the show. Even though Fujii Mina (whom I adore) made an appearance, episode 3 was such a disappointing mess. :|
Like, what's up with the Soumato Kabushikigaisha office appearing out of nowhere? ... and in a supposedly remote village at that? :argue:

Not to mention the zombie-like villagers who gang up on the protagonist, realizing too late that the clock has struck past midnight. I know the whole plot is flawed, but the shoddy execution makes it all the more cringe-worthy :whistling:

LaLaLaDRAMA
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Post by LaLaLaDRAMA » Aug 13th, '12, 04:04

I saw much improvement in episode 4.

It made me forget how silly episode 3 was (almost).

route242
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Post by route242 » Aug 30th, '12, 02:25

I just saw episode 6. I don't get the ending. Can someone explain to me?

Romance
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Post by Romance » Aug 30th, '12, 09:47

Episode 4 with the detective case was really intresting and well done. How is ep 5 and 6?

ps790
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Post by ps790 » Sep 14th, '12, 14:22

I was a bit puzzled about the name of the show, 走馬灯株式会社, but it makes lots of sense with a little cultural context. A Soumatou (走馬灯) is a "revolving latern" in English, a 19th century predecesor to moving pitctures, i.e. a lamp with a revolving screen showing increments of movement of an object so that the object appears in motion when the screen is rotated. A typical screen back in the 19th century would be a running horse, hense the name, 走馬灯 (running horse lamp) in Japanese. A tradition arose in Japan where it was believed that the scenes of life that flash before your eyes shortly before death (or when you are scared enough to think you are going to die) were simliar to a 走馬灯, so 走馬灯 is used to describe the experience of seeing your life flash before your eyes. The Soumatou K.K. developed a device that downloads this information the moment a person walks through their door (but somehow also gets information from related other people).

I like the short story format and (sometimes) unexected plot twists. The Japanese is very easy to understand, but I find sometimes the show needs to be watched multiple times to catch the important plot twists, which is just fine for language learning anyway. Even if you think you understood everything, you might very well find something much deeper when watching the show a second time. This might be misinterpreted as "holes in the plot," if you don't rewatch. The show reminds me of some of the short stories of Hoshi Shin'ichi, who was inspired by Ray Bradbury.

The Japanese Wikipedia article has lots of interesting details (from the Manga) that I would never have figured out just from watching the TV show. My big remaining question is "Why is it located at the "R" floor?" The wikipedia article mentions that there are naturally stockholders of the corporation. I wonder exactly who they would be. Has anyone read the Manga version? I'm wondering if the plots of the TV drama correspond to the Manga. As far as I can tell from the customer reviews on Amazon JP, there seems to be content that hasn't appeared yet in the broadcast drama.

doramaworld
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Post by doramaworld » Sep 22nd, '12, 18:19

Please visit the following link if you are keen on my review of Ep 2:
http://doramaworld.blogspot.sg/2012/09/ ... -ep-2.html

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