Castella (2013) poster
7.5
Your Rating: 0/10
Ratings: 7.5/10 from 23 users
# of Watchers: 87
Reviews: 1 user
Ranked #22038
Popularity #99999
Watchers 23

Masashi is a 5th-grade student in elementary school. His family consists of his father, Masato; his mother, Kiyoko; younger brother, Shigeri; younger sister, Reiko; and his grandmother, En. His father, Masato, works as a timber broker. Their family lives in a large house in Nagasaki. For the first time, Masato tells his son that he can have a birthday party at their home. Masashi is completely thrilled, but Masato and Kiyoko know that this will also be Masashi's last birthday party at their home. Masato's financial situation has collapsed. Masashi does have his birthday party with friends at his home, but on that night, Masato informs his family that he will move. ~~ Adapted from the novel "Kasutira" by Masashi Sada. Edit Translation

  • English
  • magyar / magyar nyelv
  • dansk
  • Norsk
  • Country: Japan
  • Type: Drama
  • Episodes: 5
  • Aired: Jul 7, 2013 - Aug 4, 2013
  • Aired On: Sunday
  • Original Network: NHK
  • Duration: 48 min.
  • Score: 7.5 (scored by 23 users)
  • Ranked: #22038
  • Popularity: #99999
  • Content Rating: Not Yet Rated

Cast & Credits

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Reviews

Completed
worldcultureslover
2 people found this review helpful
Sep 29, 2015
5 of 5 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
I feel this drama is a very good one. It deals with many life problems that children and parents face indivdually and as a family unit. I think there wasn't much of a story in a way, but don't let that scare you off. This is very focused on life, so of course the plot elements have to do with life experiences.

The way everything comes together (the flow of the plot, setting, and whatnot) are similar to the books My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle by playwright and author Marcel Pagnol. The narrative voice isn't really that of an adult looking back on his childhood, but it still gives off an idylic and nostalgic vibe. This may partly be due to certain contemporary pop-culture references (one of which is the song known as Sukiyaki in the US, or Ue o Muite Arukou, refrenced, admittedly a little too much , in the first few episodes). Watching each episode I came away with a feeling that the staff tried their best to make everything as accurate as possible in terms of what life was like at the time this takes place.

Casting was great. Sometimes it may seem like a family made up of actors may not really mesh well together, but that isn't the case here. The child actors seemed as if they could be real siblings to me. And the parents (as characters) were perhaps a little typical of Japanese families, but that only adds to the actors' performances. Everyone just makes this feel like a real family. The grandmother was played very well and I feel the actress added a lot of life and warmth to her character. These people made this family a completely belivable one to me.

The music overall was quite good. At times it felt like a mixture between Japanese and American musical stylings. The only thing was that it felt just a tad over orchestrated as Japanese music always seems to me (and I'm not entirely sure why). Overall though, the music really added to the atmosphere of the whole work which is always a plus, and I feel that is one thing Japanese composers as a whole are usually very good at. This drama does a good job of emitting emotions and empathy (as well as sympathy) for the characters. So if you like being able to imagine yourself as a part of a drama, I personally think that this a good choice. Because by the end, you may start to feel as though you were a part of the family whose lives you just witnessed. I did, and I was actually a little sad when the whole thing ended.

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Details

  • Drama: Castella
  • Country: Japan
  • Episodes: 5
  • Aired: Jul 7, 2013 - Aug 4, 2013
  • Aired On: Sunday
  • Original Network: NHK
  • Duration: 48 min.
  • Content Rating: Not Yet Rated

Statistics

  • Score: 7.5 (scored by 23 users)
  • Ranked: #22038
  • Popularity: #99999
  • Watchers: 87

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