Love Generation (TV series)
| Love Generation | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Title screen | |
| Created by | Koiwai Hiroyoshi (小岩井宏悦) |
| Starring | Takuya Kimura Takako Matsu |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| No. of episodes | 11 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 54 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Fuji TV |
| Release | October 13 – December 22, 1997 |
Love Generation (ラブ ジェネレーション, Rabu Jenerēshon) is a drama that aired on Fuji TV. It first aired in Japan from October 13, 1997 to December 22, 1997 every Monday. It enjoyed a very high rating of 30.8% and features music by Cagnet. The theme song was "Shiawase na Ketsumatsu" (幸せな結末; "A Happy Ending") by Eiichi Ohtaki.
Cast
- Takuya Kimura as Katagiri Teppei
- Takako Matsu as Uesugi Riko
- Norika Fujiwara as Takagi Erika
- Masaaki Uchino as Katagiri Soichiro
- Risa Junna as Mizuhara Sanae
- Ryuuta Kawabata as Yoshimoto
Characters
- Katagiri Teppei is a talented advertisement designer and a playboy with an egocentric attitude and dislike for mediocrity. He starts a relationship with Riko but still misses his past girlfriend Sanae.
- Uesugi Riko is a secretary who works in the same department as Teppei. Hoping to become more independent, she moved away from her family in Nagano to Tokyo. She has a lot of spirit and eventually becomes part of a love triangle.
- Takagi Erika is a flight attendant and Riko's best friend. While she secretly likes Teppei, she frequently gives helpful advice to Riko to help her maintain her relationship.
- Katagiri Soichiro is a prosecutor and Teppei's brother. He is very serious in his doings unlike Teppei, and thus Soichiro is his brother's role model. He was engaged to Sanae, Teppei's former girlfriend, but he meets his own past girlfriend and develops an affair with her later on in the story.
- Mizuhara Sanae is a translator of Mandarin and Japanese. She was Teppei's high school sweetheart. She became engaged to his brother Soichiro, but later finds herself falling in love with Teppei again.
- Yoshimoto is Teppei's high school friend, who falls in love with Riko at first sight, and is rejected by her.
Summary
Love Generation, as the title suggests, revolves around the relationship of the two leading protagonists, Katagiri Teppei and Uesugi Riko, who begin their relationship as squabbling colleagues before falling in love. Katagiri Teppei is a talented designer and very popular among women. Unfortunately, Teppei, who despises conformity, is forced to move to the sales department for his egocentric behavior. Throughout the series, he is forced to adapt to the new working environment, which includes cutting his precious locks of hair to create a neater and more professional image. As he struggles to adapt, he meets Uesugi Riko. While she does not like him at first, she eventually falls for him. However, Teppei runs into his high school sweetheart Mizuhara Sanae, and discovers that his ex-girlfriend is now engaged to his brother Soichiro. Riko is there to console him, and this eventually blooms into a romance. Not long after, however, Sanae realizes she still has feelings for Teppei, and thus creates a love triangle. To make the matter even more complicated, Soichiro starts to have an affair with his past girlfriend.
Symbols
Crystal apple
Teppei's apartment has many unusual items such as a Thai artifact, a 30-year-old refrigerator that is no longer manufactured, and a crystal apple. The meaning behind the apple is that there is only one true love, between Adam and Eve, that is. A crystal is very fragile, and when one would look in it, his or her views would appear upside down. The apple is seen upside down for the 10 of the 11 episodes. At the last episode, however, the apple is no longer upside down. The apple was also on the album cover of Love Generation's soundtrack.
True love never runs smooth
The advertising poster appears over and over again. The model is holding a crystal apple, and the message True love never runs smooth (based on the quote from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream Act1 Scene 1, "The course of true love never did run smooth") symbolizes the relationship between Riko and Teppei, which constantly faces struggles from when they meet for the very first time to the love triangle. This advertisement is visible everywhere from the park to Teppei's 30-year-old refrigerator, as "True love never runs smooth" is the unofficial tagline of this TV series.