35 Minute Commercial Disguised As A J-Drama – 俺のダンディズム
Japan produces some unique J-dramas sometimes. Unique can be good. Unique can be fun. So when I heard of the new drama 俺のダンディズム (My Dandyism), which bears a surprising similarity to the dandy samurai manga series here on Jalup, I had some high expectations. What could be more wacky than a rigid Japanese businessman trying to pursue dandyism in order to be more popular with his woman subordinates at work.
It starts off great for the first ten minutes. It’s funny, it has that super weird edge to it, and it plays off the theme and bit of absurdity of obsession with dandyism. I was excited.
Then he goes to some kind of special dandy education bar, where he is going to get schooled on the ways of dandyism, and it crashes fast.
The first episode covers a dandy “wrist watch.” The show proceeds to turn into a lengthy advertisement for expensive brand watches like Rolex, Seiko, and Patek Phillip. Literally it felt like it was just a long narrated infomercial. It covered all the detailed specs, prices, reactions, and had incredible zooms of the watches on the screen for extended periods of time.
Some direct screenshots from the show:
I just kept waiting for it to get better. But nothing.
Here you can see a preview of the first episode:
But maybe this was just a fluke?
The preview for next week shows the theme of dandy “fountain pen,” and looks like it spends more time advertising it at the dandy bar.
Thoughts? Anyway to look past this to find entertainment?
Founder of Jalup. iOS Software Engineer. Former attorney, translator, and interpreter. Still watching 月曜から夜ふかし weekly since 2013.
Mmmm… I wouldn’t be surprised if it were actually setup as “content marketing.” As in, creating J-drama that tries to build brand promo and boost sales.
That’s what it definitely feels like. If you watch it, it is almost laughable how obvious the advertising is and why the program was created.
Haha, they even show the price of the watch? Yeah it might be best to skip this one Adshap.
It’s a shame, as it could’ve been a good comedy. Though I guess if you want some advice on buying brand products, this show might be good for you.