Difference between revisions of "Umizaru"

This drama is based on last year's hit movie of the same name. Actually, the English title for the drama is "UMIZARU EVOLUTION", but the Japanese title is just "umizaru", which means "sea monkeys". The movie was about Senzaki Daisuke Ito Hideaki who is in training to become a diver in the Japanese coast guard. This time I am happy to say that I have seen the movie too, so I will be able to compare it with the drama series.

In most drama adaptations of movies the same story is retold over a longer period of time with a different cast. However, the "umizaru" drama picks up right where the movie left off, and the same cast members who played the main characters are back again. At the beginning of the drama, Daisuke has become a full-fledged diver and has been transferred to a ship stationed in Yokohama. Daisuke is happy about this transfer since he will be closer to his girlfriend Kanna Kato Ai who works as a fashion designer in Tokyo.

In the movie, the relationship between Daisuke and Kanna was just beginning, and they left it kind of open-ended in the end. Now Daisuke has begun referring to her as his "girlfriend", but Kanna still thinks of Daisuke as just a friend she exchanges text messages with. Kanna seems bothered by Daisuke's presence now that she sees him often again, and it looks like she is ready to break off their relationship entirely. She has another guy who she likes at work. Already by the second episode, she is swayed toward caring for Daisuke again.

But the world Kanna lives in seems quite distant from Daisuke's life on the ship "Nagare". Coast guard life seems very similar to army life, and it's one very manly, testosterone-filled world. And in the business of saving people under water, life or death is the reality that is faced every day. The importance of the buddy-system is stressed heavily in both the movie and the drama. Your buddy is your life when under water, and buddies must act as one in order to succeed. The movie was all about the possibility of losing a buddy, and the drama is filled with similar themes.

Daisuke's new buddy in the drama is Ikezawa (Nakamura Tooru). He is a tough guy who used to work for a more elite group of divers, and he doesn't want a buddy. He thinks he can take care of himself, and has too much pride to be rescued by the likes of Daisuke. Of course, these two are going to have to learn how to get along and become a functional pair of buddies as the drama goes on.

The first episode is about a ship that goes down in a storm, and two people need to be rescued from the belly of the ship, which is slowly filling with water. The second episode is about a Chinese boat filled with illegal immigrants to be smuggled into Japan. When the boat goes down, the crew tries to sink their cargo along with it...

Just imagine these scenarios filmed in near-theatrical quality. That's just what this is - probably the first Japanese TV drama to come so close to movie-quality in special effects and photography. I can't even imagine how they managed to film all of these scenes on and under the sea for this drama. There's no other drama that comes close to this; and, I think it's actually on a higher level than the umizaru movie. The movie didn't feature anything spectacular at all, since most of it was about training instead of actual missions. No sinking ships, no storms - none of that cool stuff. In fact, I think the movie was boring and I wouldn't recommend that you see it. It was garbage that didn't go anywhere, and I have no idea how it gained any popularity or why there is a drama based on it now. Some popular actors were involved in it, but any other reason the movie was popular is beyond me. It only received mild popularity at the most anyway, and I'm sure it would have received a horrible rating had it been reviewed at J-Fan Cinema.

Anyway, the drama is much better, so you should just skip the movie and go straight to the drama. It's really quite amazing how much work and money have obviously been put into this, and the results are really quite exciting to watch. It couldn't be any more different from the movie. In Japan, movies are usually higher in quality than dramas because movies are shorter. However, dramas have always been a much larger and more lucrative business. This is all too evident when you compare the movie and drama versions of umizaru and see a drama which is actually higher in quality than its movie counterpart!

So in short, umizaru movie=bad, umizaru drama=good. So watch the drama.

Source: J-Fan

Related News

'Umizaru' cast, crew brave frigid waters for authenticity

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Are you feeling impatient as you wait for the end of the rainy season and the start of the hot summer months so you can go to the beach? Then envy the crew and actors of Umizaru, who are already on the beach and out at sea--albeit in water that is not as warm as you might think.

The TV drama series featuring a Japan Coast Guard rescue diving team started last week on the Fuji TV network (Tuesdays, 9 p.m.) as a spin-off of the 2004 hit film of the same name, which in turn was based on a popular comic book story. The JCG is cooperating with the production of the TV version, just as they did for the film.

The central characters of the TV version are played by the same actors and actresses from the film, which earned 1.7 billion yen at the box office. They include leading man Toshiaki Ito as Daisuke Senzaki, a novice rescue diver at the Yokohama Coast Guard Office, and Ai Kato as his love interest, Kanna Izawa.

The production team is also the same as for the 2004 film.

A sequel to the TV version is to be made into another film next year, forming an unusual trilogy of two films sandwiching a TV drama.

The TV series depicts how the young diver grows as a professional rescuer. In the film version, he had just finished his 50-day training course after overcoming the tragedy of another trainee's death, and now the TV show will follow his early career on the job. Through his early missions, Senzaki is trained and supported by experienced divers and senior officials, played by actors including Saburo Tokito, Toru Nakamura, and Isao Natsuyagi.

In real life, Ito has a "Dive Master" certificate authorized by an international diving organization, PADI Japan, marking him as a diver who is skilled enough to work in the professional diving industry.

However, the difficulty of acting in the underwater film and drama is another matter. "We have to keep acting at a fixed position in moving seawater," Ito said. "But when shooting of last year's film started, it was hard for me to even stay in shot."

The actor continued: "I've got used to that, and I'm much better than before. But I sometimes feel at a loss as it's not easy when you're in the water to let others understand what you're thinking, and also to figure out what they're thinking."

In late June, in a small fishing port on the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture, the crew filmed a scene in which Senzaki rescues a drowning young man.

The sea is still cold in this season, and the water temperature that day was 18 C. Stoves and blankets were essential items to warm the actors and cameramen on the beach.

The atmosphere seemed very serious and tense as they had to complete the shoot in a limited time due to the severe conditions.

After rehearsing on the beach, Ito, costumed in a wet suit and entered the cold water with diving gear on his back.

Checking the shot on a monitor, the director gave detailed instructions to the crew and actors.

The actors are usually also given advice by diving coordinator Masanori Kinjo, 39.

Based on his 23-year diving career, he gives advice on the sea conditions and tells actors and crew how to move safely and smoothly through the water.

"We have more underwater scenes for the TV version, so I'm putting safety before everything else," Kinjo said.

Producer Hirotsugu Usui said: "About 30 percent to 40 percent of the series is shot underwater. I hope viewers enjoy the missions of the rescue divers risking their own lives." (Jul. 14, 2005)

Other Resources

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 *'''Ep 4:''' 13.7%
 *'''Ep 5:''' 12.0%
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