Zeni Geba

Zeni Geba (銭ゲバ) is a 2009 Japanese drama a bit on the tragic side of the spectrum starring Matsuyama Kenichi, Saito Ryusei, Mimura, Kinami Haruka, and Miyagawa Daisuke. The synopsis is as follows:

Gamagori Futaro has been poor since the day he was born. As a child his recklessly wasteful and abusive father sunk the family into debt and disappeared, leaving Futaro and his sick mother to fend for themselves. With no money to pay for medical treatment for his ailing mother, she eventually died. After her death Futaro became obsessed with money and willing to do anything for it. Several years pass and Futaro finds himself working at "Mikuni Shipbuilding" where he meets the company president's daughters Midori, who was his former classmate, and her younger sister Akane, who is disabled, and like Futaro, has a scarred face. In a plot to acquire their fathers company, Futaro begins to get close the sisters...

The plot is rather dark, focusing on money and how much it controls people - after all, nothing's free in this world (one of my mother's favorite things to say to me). Matsuyama, who is one of my favorite actors, plays someone who grew up in poverty with a father who didn't deserve to be called as such and a loving mother who died because they did not have enough money to pay for her medication or any other medical services. Because of the circumstances he was under, he soon realized that money was "everything" and instead of most other characters who still sees good in most everything, this particular character went the opposite direction, doing anything for money, thinking that while doing so, he had gotten one up over money, when in reality, it had taken control of him and beat him at his own game.

One main thing: Matsuyama plays a character that could be considered evil and twisted. I heard of that and with his acting skills, I decided I must watch it. Even though some people are killed throughout the drama, it's not graphic at all though it's implied. I wasn't disappointed. I watched and finished all 9 episodes in one day (today, in fact) and it was great. It was slightly disturbing seeing Matsuyama who was once L, someone who lived for justice, play someone whose morals were twisted and stripped to nothing. What was also interesting was the way some shots were shown upside-down and sideways, perhaps alluding to his own warped ideals and some of the shots had him in light and in shadow, perhaps displaying his two sides: his potential and the reality.

It all came together in the last episode when the "what if" scenario is shown, portraying all the people he encountered in 'reality' where he grew up poor in different circumstances when they're all middle-class. Watching the drama was like having the message that "money isn't everything" pounded into me; good thing I prefer simplicity and I truly dislike shopping. The music soundtrack was sort of over-dramatic at times so it sort of bothered me, but oh well. Either way, I highly enjoyed it - and the acting (not only from Matsuyama).

You can watch it at DramaCrazy and MySoju. :)
Picture taken from here.