Big Money! (2002)

Honestly, I was surprised that I enjoyed this as much as I did. It doesn't start off as much, but gradually blossoms into a truly amazing, heart-wrenching drama. The beginning is more light-hearted with scattered bits of humor and even romance, while the second half is more dark and somber. But, worry not - it ends on a very happy note.

[STORY]
As with most shows, Shirato starts out slowly, but gradually learns the trick of the trade and works towards becoming a competent stock trader. He makes a lot of mistakes, of course, but it's fun to see others teach him how to do things right, and you also get to learn about the different methods of stock trading as well. The stock business isn't as easy as it seems.

The rest of the characters are all very amusing in their own ways, from his exuberant mentor, to the even more cheerful and flippant mob boss, to the surprisingly adorable yet nevertheless intimidating mod boss' underling. (who was my personal favorite) Oh, and let's not forget the adorable cat!

I thought the "villian" of the series was great, too. He gives a good contrast to the occasionally selfish
but usually well-meaning Shirato. He values greed, and isn't afraid to do whatever it takes to stay in his position of power and will use any means necessary to get what he wants. It's no surprise that Shirato's mentor wants to take a guy like this (and the bank he is in charge of managing) and knock them down.

[ACTING]
The acting was quite good, especially on Nagase-san's part. All of the other actors also did very well,
without too much of the over-the-top acting we're using to seeing in most Asian dramas. They didn't try too hard to play their parts right, and delivered a nice, above average performance.

[MUSIC]
The music was about average, I suppose. Nothing special.

[REWATCH VALUE]
You could probably rewatch this every once and a blue moon, just for kicks.

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I often say that one of the (many) reasons why I like J-dramas so much is the incredibly vast variety of genres and of topics they address, and the great freedom the writers have. Now, this dorama is a perfect example of that! Where else could you have a whole series depicting banks for what they really are (the portmanteau "banksters" immediately comes to mind!) and thus having a bank's big gun as the villain, all the while having as the totally improbable heroes an old guy, a young and inexperienced fellow and two incredibly funny yakuza? Nowhere else, ne? ^_^;
Particularly worthy of praise, as always, Nagase Tomoya's performance, but also Kohinata Fumiyo's and Matsushige Yutaka's - who add some much needed comic relief moments (plus, one of the most tragic and romantic scenes ever!) - and last but not least, Okamoto Aya's; besides, she's to die for in this, period. The only reason why I don't give this beautiful dorama a full 10/10 is that I'm a bit dissatisfied with the ending; after having built up all that tension with such a despicable S.O.B. of villain, I'd personally want said villain to be utterly crushed, disgraced, humiliated, destroyed at the end (Kusturica's "Black Cat, White Cat" comes to mind, if you know what I'm saying, LOL). This "let's give the guy a hand" just doesn't sit right with me...

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