Tokyo Love Story: A Modern Day Melodrama

There were some interesting elements to this short clip of an episode. One striking difference between Japanese television shows and American television shows is that the Japanese shows, there is little to no public displays of affection. When Katchi and Rika embrace for the last time before Rika leaves to go to L.A., all that they do is engage in an elongated hug. This, while certainly not a dramatic kissing scene that many American viewers may be accustomed to, is still considered an emotional and romantic gesture for other viewers.

There are certain moments in the show where scenes are drawn out, which add to the more emotional romantic love scenes or those where Rika and Katchi are saying goodbye. For example, when Katchi races to the train to reach Rika before she leaves for L.A., we see the scene of him running there seem like it takes forever. Additionally, when Katchi realizes that Rika took and earlier train, his utter disappointment and sadness can be felt by the audience due to the longer period of time.
Two melodramatic elements are a complicated love-story, again involving a third party, and unfortunate timing. Katchi is involved with a girl from home as well as Rika. This creates an obstacle for the couple to overcome. Not only that, but this allows for more emotional aspects to be introduced to the plot line including jealousy and major disappointment. The unfortunate timing of the episode takes place when it takes Katchi just a couple minutes too long to realize that he does in fact want to go to Rika to L.A. By the time he reaches the train, he finds out that Rika is gone and there is nothing that he can do to bring her back. He has essentially missed his only opportunity to hold onto that love.

This drama was considered one of the first shows in Japan that was created to connect to and reach the previously untapped mid to late 20's females. Most production companies and story lines were owned by males at the time, and a lot of the shows that they created were far fetched and did not bring anything new to the story. Love stories, while not uncommon in Japan, were never portrayed like Tokyo Love Story accomplished.