Rich Man Poor Woman

Would you believe me, if I told you that the love story of Pretty Woman is out? Of course not, but I can present you a drama whose love story is almost as good. A story that has definitely been told too often in some way, but it is still enough to fall for, cause it never came with such a fresh plot and acting.

Toru Hyuga, played by Shun Oguri, is in his late twenties and together with his friend Kosuke Asahina, played by Arata Iurathe owner of a sucessful software company called Next Innovation. Toru Hyuga may be succesful and intelligent, but he has a rough character and a very difficult personality.

Makoto Natsui, played by Satomi Ishihara, has a strong personality and is an outstanding college student at Tokyo University, but still has a though time finding a job. After reading an interview with Toru Hyuga featured in a magazine, she decides to attend the company's recruitment event. As Toru Hyuga gives a speech, she catches his attention, but things turn out different than planned. He picks her to pieces. Now is the time for action and Makoto does something that changes everything.

Anger, rage, sorrow, and joy - this movie has everything to satisfy our cravings for variety. It is anything but cheesy. The title of the drama can be misleading. A love story is not the only thing this drama has to offer. It is not a story where the people's material welfare is the real topic. It is more a story of failure, growth, friendship, betrayal and trust.

Satomi Ishihara plays her role incredibly charming. It is so easy to sympathize with her. And Shun Oguri? Well, he is kinda funny, intelligent, strange, lame and slow at the same time. And that is not bad because he is endearing and charismatic throughout the whole movie. The role of Toru Hyuga seems to have been written especially for Shun Oguri. Once you see him acting with such a nonchalance you will know.

Favourite Quote: „When I tell an idiot that he is an idiot what is wrong?“ (Toru Hyuga)

Drama data

# of Episodes: 11 + Special

Airing Year: 2012

Genre: romantic, comedy

Theme song: Hikari e by miwa

Cast: Shun Oguri (Toru Hyuga), Satomi Ishihara (Chihiro Sawaki/Makoto Natsui), Saki Aibu (Yoko Asahina), Yosuke Asari (Michiya Yasuoka), Takeo Nakahara (Tadamasa Fueki), Yasuhi Nakamura (Satoshi Ogawa), Yuki Furukawa (Tomoki Kuga), Masumi Nomura (Haruka Ono), Nozomi Yagi (Tomoka Miyamae), Aiku Maikawa (Risa Tateishi), Kyohiko Ueki (Riichi Hosoki), Tomomi Maruyama (Yuta Nogi), Shiro Sano (Toshiyuki Yamagami), Arata Iura (Kosuke Asahina)

Directed by: Masaki Nishiura, Ryo Tanaka

Screenplay: Naoko Adachi

Producers: Jun Masumoto, Daisuke Sekiguchi

Official Site: http://www.fujitv.co.jp/richman-poorwoman/index.html