Last Cinderella

Last Cinderella was a popular Japanese drama that
was produced in 2013. The main heroine is Sakura, a 39-year-old single woman working in a beauty salon. She works with Rintaro, the man on the right in this picture. The man on the left is Hiroto, a BMX rider who is from a wealth family. Hiroto's sister, Chiyoko, is in love with Rintaro but Rintaro is secretly in love with Sakura. Knowing so, Chiyoko asks her brother Hiroto to trick Sakura into dating him, leaving a chance for her to date Rintaro. Sakura's two friends, Miki and Shima, also have their own personal problems that cannot be told to each other. As the drama progresses, we can see how each character deals with their own problems.



One popular aspect of melodrama involves love triangles (or anything above that). In Last Cinderella, there are several love triangles involving all the characters. Chiyoko loves Rintaro, but Rintaro loves Sakura, who in return loves Hiroto, a young man who is already seeing multiple women for one night stands . Although Hiroto was dating Sakura for Chiyoko's sake at first, he does end up falling in love with Sakura in the end and wants to do everything he can to stay with her. Sakura's friends, Miki and Shima, are unknowingly also involved in their own messed up love triangle. Miki is married, but her husband refuses to have sex with her, making her feel as if she's doing something wrong or is perhaps unattractive. Shima is a divorced woman who is still haunted by her past, so she refuses to get married and has multiple one night stands. Shima unknowingly almost has an affair with Miki's husband, and they both try to hide that from Miki to protect her feelings. The multiple love triangles definitely helps define this drama as melodramatic.

Besides love problems, there are also emotional aspects of the drama that makes it very melodramatic. If you watch this drama, you do not find out that Chiyoko and Hiroto are siblings until much later. I was under the impression that they were perhaps lovers who were fine with the other seeing someone else too. They bought things for each other and although they seemed to fight with each other, their interactions with each other seemed more like lovers than anything else. Finding out that they were siblings was a huge shock for many fans. Besides the hidden sibling relationship between these two, we learn that although Chiyoko regards Hiroto as her brother, she is also vengeful towards him for being responsible for the injury on her back.

This photo is of Hiroto and Chiyoko eating together at a cafe aimed towards couples.

This photo is of Hiroto hugging a drunk Chiyoko from behind after she has an outburst, blaming him for "ruining her life".







Although love relationships are used often in melodramas, familial relationships are also used often. Miki's mother-in-law is the classical "monster-in-law", and her own life goes downhill after her mother-in-law decides to move in with them. Miki is treated as a slave by her mother-in-law, and although frustrated, puts up with it. The most heartwrenching scene involving Miki was her hearing her mother-in-law say, "Miki is innocent so she makes a good housewife. But because of that she's very stupid," to her husband. The worst thing was that her husband did not defend Miki. As an audience member, Miki was also another character that we as an audience felt immense sympathy towards.

The importance of family was also emphasized in this drama. Miki and her husband already have children, so they seem like a typical family. However, Shima, Miki and Sakura's friend, almost has an affair with Miki's husband. When Shima learns of his identity, she immediately tries to stop contact out of respect and consideration for her friend. The concept of loyalty and friendship can be seen throughout Shima's actions. However, Shima and Miki's husband still somehow maintain contact, and Shima decides to reveal to him her secret, hoping to convince him to stay with Miki and to remain loyal. Shima has one night stands because she can't fathom the thought of getting married after what her ex-husband put her through. Shima is infertile, enraging her ex-husband, who had wanted a family. Learning this, Miki's husband pities Shima, but he also reconsiders how he has hurt Miki's feelings multiple times recently. Having a conflict, making an attempt to solve the conflict, and then reflecting over the issue is a major inclusion used in melodrama.

The secrets that each character keeps also makes this drama have a melodramatic aspect. As an audience member, we are able to see what each character is dealing with, so we can feel some sort of emotion, such as sympathy, towards each character. The emotions felt by the audience forms a sort of connection with the character, making us feel like we are experiencing the events unfold. The importance of maintaining relationships, whether love, friendship, or familial, is also emphasized. As an audience member, we can relate to at least one character in some aspect, which I think was a huge reason why this drama was so popular.