This jdorama is the latest treat from Jun Matsumoto that talks about passion and dream. It’s not a love story set in the kitchen but it’s about falling in love with the latter.
Jun Matsumoto as Ban or Bambino (name for a “newbie”) is a college student from Fukuoka Prefecture who had his training in a high-class Italian restaurant, Baccanale Trattoria, in Tokyo. In the beginning, he encountered difficulties because he could not catch-up with the pace of the kitchen staff. But when he adjusted, his training was about to end and he had to go back to school. Ban-chan’s determination and aspirations will then be tested as the story unfolds.
I thought I would not hear any words of wisdom in the story but there was on the latter part from Ban‘s former classmate, Shimine, it goes: “Only one day off and hard work the rest of the days, one day you realize you’ve gotten old. Work is important. People need to eat. But work is work, it should not be your whole life. You should enjoy the moment while you’re young.” Yes, we need to work but we should also take time to smell the roses. Ergo, it’s not bad to unwind once in a while, go to places, meet people, watch movies/dramas, read books, explore and so on. We do also need to understand life and find the purpose of our existence and not just work all the time.
And the second moral of the story is, it’s never too late to what you might have been. Like here, even though Tekkan (Baccanale’s big boss) is way beyond his prime and already stable, he still decided to venture to a new business in Italy, be a first-timer once more and learn again from there. Therefore, regardless of what age we are in, we should dare and continue to dream on for this lifetime is short.
Regarding Matsumoto, I dunno if his walking has somewhat improved or it was tricked ‘coz it seems he is not anymore “sashaying.” At least the director did something on this matter. In "Hanayori Dango" and "Bokuwa Imoutoni Koi Wo Suru", his model walk was very obvious. It’s very him and not the character.
One more, I also noticed his skin imperfections here when I thought it is that smooth. When I saw his interviews and performance over you tube after watching HD, gosh, he’s like the cutest guy to hit the screen ever… I considered him a demi-god then. But when I saw him in here, this belief thawed out.
As to his acting, matsujun has been improving ‘coz as a viewer, I felt his “force” here. As if I’m one with him, promise…But when it comes to his leading lady, they really have no spark at all. They act as if they’re like brother and sister. I dunno if this was intended because Ban still seems to be not serious with his love life.
Another thing that irritated me here is the CR guy whose behavior is kinda weird. It appears that he has a world of his own. He’s also a kitchen staff but does keep pace with the rest of his colleagues. He only spoke very few words, more on facial reactions, and when he delivered his advice to Ban-chan, he did it by singing. Crap! He’s horrible!
But if this guy is irksome, my golly wow, Katori and Masashi are otherwise. Two other handsome Japanese aside from matsujun and kimutaku, hakhak! I hope they will be given more exposures in other jdoramas.
About the presentation of the story, it has side comments, pauses and change of color to black & white on the beginning and latter part of every episode, quite novel for a drama, but I still like the traditional one.
Well, if “Long Vacation” is my most favorite drama to date, this is included in my least favorite dramas together with “Love Contract” and “Beautiful Life.” But then again, if you’re a fan Matsujun, this will do.
Jun Matsumoto as Ban or Bambino (name for a “newbie”) is a college student from Fukuoka Prefecture who had his training in a high-class Italian restaurant, Baccanale Trattoria, in Tokyo. In the beginning, he encountered difficulties because he could not catch-up with the pace of the kitchen staff. But when he adjusted, his training was about to end and he had to go back to school. Ban-chan’s determination and aspirations will then be tested as the story unfolds.
I thought I would not hear any words of wisdom in the story but there was on the latter part from Ban‘s former classmate, Shimine, it goes: “Only one day off and hard work the rest of the days, one day you realize you’ve gotten old. Work is important. People need to eat. But work is work, it should not be your whole life. You should enjoy the moment while you’re young.” Yes, we need to work but we should also take time to smell the roses. Ergo, it’s not bad to unwind once in a while, go to places, meet people, watch movies/dramas, read books, explore and so on. We do also need to understand life and find the purpose of our existence and not just work all the time.
And the second moral of the story is, it’s never too late to what you might have been. Like here, even though Tekkan (Baccanale’s big boss) is way beyond his prime and already stable, he still decided to venture to a new business in Italy, be a first-timer once more and learn again from there. Therefore, regardless of what age we are in, we should dare and continue to dream on for this lifetime is short.
Regarding Matsumoto, I dunno if his walking has somewhat improved or it was tricked ‘coz it seems he is not anymore “sashaying.” At least the director did something on this matter. In "Hanayori Dango" and "Bokuwa Imoutoni Koi Wo Suru", his model walk was very obvious. It’s very him and not the character.
One more, I also noticed his skin imperfections here when I thought it is that smooth. When I saw his interviews and performance over you tube after watching HD, gosh, he’s like the cutest guy to hit the screen ever… I considered him a demi-god then. But when I saw him in here, this belief thawed out.
As to his acting, matsujun has been improving ‘coz as a viewer, I felt his “force” here. As if I’m one with him, promise…But when it comes to his leading lady, they really have no spark at all. They act as if they’re like brother and sister. I dunno if this was intended because Ban still seems to be not serious with his love life.
Another thing that irritated me here is the CR guy whose behavior is kinda weird. It appears that he has a world of his own. He’s also a kitchen staff but does keep pace with the rest of his colleagues. He only spoke very few words, more on facial reactions, and when he delivered his advice to Ban-chan, he did it by singing. Crap! He’s horrible!
But if this guy is irksome, my golly wow, Katori and Masashi are otherwise. Two other handsome Japanese aside from matsujun and kimutaku, hakhak! I hope they will be given more exposures in other jdoramas.
About the presentation of the story, it has side comments, pauses and change of color to black & white on the beginning and latter part of every episode, quite novel for a drama, but I still like the traditional one.
Well, if “Long Vacation” is my most favorite drama to date, this is included in my least favorite dramas together with “Love Contract” and “Beautiful Life.” But then again, if you’re a fan Matsujun, this will do.
* photo credit to AF
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