Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge Review: An Anime Drama

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge is a drama adaptation of the Japanese manga of the same name. The story has four drop-dead gorgeous men trying to help a socially awkward girl to become a normal girl. Now the heroine Oomasa Aya reminded me a lot of Athiya Shetty probably because of her angular face and ultra-slim figure. So, Oomasa Aya plays the role of Nakahara Sunako who is a ‘shut-in’ i.e. someone who prefers keeping away from human company and feels nervous around people. She especially feels nervous around good-looking people and head-butts them when she is unable to bear their ‘dazzling aura’. Now, such a girl is forced to live in a house co-habited by young boys who have women dying for their attention. If Sunako had a problem living there I would have volunteered to take her place but she never seemed to have any problem so I never got my chance to help her out. 🙁 

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge (The Wallflower or Perfect Girl Evolution) (2006-07) (10 Episodes)

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Nakahara Mine (Takashima Reiko) owns a boarding house which is rented by four attractive young boys: Takano Kyohei (Kamenashi Kazuya), Oda Takenaga (Uchi Hiroki), Morii Ranmaru (Miyao Shuntaro) and Yukinojo Toyama (Tegoshi Yuya). Though all four boys have a fan-following of their own, Kyohei is the most popular boy who has women of all ages stalking him. He is often fired from jobs for being too good-looking.

One day, Nakahara Mine asks the four boys to empty the house but they request her to allow them to live there a little longer. So challenges them to transform her niece into a ‘lady’ and the boy who is successful in this will be able to stay in the house free of cost till he graduates. The four boys readily accept the challenge unaware that Mine’s niece, Nakahara Sunako (Oomasa Aya) suffers from personality issues and refrains from interacting with people.

In school, Sunako was rejected by her crush who turned her down because he found her too ‘ugly’. Since then Sunako has been hiding from people and prefers to live an isolated life in the darkness of her room. She has no real friends and spends time talking to mannequins and playing with torture equipment. She cannot stand the sight of good-looking people as she finds them ‘dazzling’ and head-butts every dazzling person who gets close to her.

Kyohei is finding it difficult to land a decent job to be able to pay the rent so he decides to make Kyohei a ‘lady’ just like her aunt Mine asked them to so he can waive off the rent. However, his mission to make Sunako a lady slowly takes a turn when he sees himself falling for the weird ‘horror girl’.

Let’s weigh this funny story of a ‘wallflower’ and four hot men on our drama beam balance and see if this dorama is worth a watch.

Good Weights

I enjoyed watching Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge because…

…I am a Kame fan. 🙂 Yes, I know I hated him in Second Love but he was really bad in that drama unlike Tatta Hitotsu no Koi where he was fabulous. In this drama, he was good. Not fab but good. I would watch the drama because of him. 

…all characters are battling their own problems and have certain personality flaws but each one is accepted the way he or she is. Sunako is a ‘horror-girl’ and an extreme case of a person suffering from social anxiety. Her aunt wants her to become more social and live a normal life. Though she does gradually become slightly comfortable around other people she still remains a ‘horror-girl’ and her family and friends don’t mind it. Kyohei is short-tempered and grumpy. He often gets into fights with his friends but despite his poor manners, they love him for the sweet guy that he really is. Each character has an episode explaining his backstory which blends easily with the plot.

…the drama is funny. Okay, this is a Japanese dorama so the ‘funny’ scenes will be over-the-top but the cast is cool so they do managed to get occasional laughs from me.

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Bad Weights

I did NOT LIKE Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge because…

…Kyohei’s problem made absolutely no sense to me. Kyohei hates his face because he is so handsome that random women pursue and stalk him relentlessly. Really? He hates being good-looking. (Reminds me of a t-shirt I had in college which read ‘I Wish I Was Rich Instead Of Good-Looking. I think that t-shirt would have suited Kyohei.) If he is ‘that’ handsome why doesn’t he become a model or an actor which will solve all his problems in life? Why doesn’t he put his good-looks to some use? Don’t normal (read good-looking) people usually do that?

…the screenplay got overly exaggerated at times. Though I liked Sunako I did not like how she transformed into a fighter when someone called her ‘BuSunako’ (ugly girl). It is a typical Japanese drama trait where they tend to get very anime-ish and I couldn’t help rolling my eyes each time she transformed. The drama is adapted from a manga so such stuff is expected but something like this gets annoying for someone like me who does not gorge on Japanese anime and manga.

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge is about accepting a person the way he is no matter how weird that person may be. Each episode you see the characters deal with a new problem while making their way for love.

I give Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge 2.5 out of 5 rating. If you are Japanese anime/manga lover you might just like this dorama.

 

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