Change (j-drama Spring 2008)

[Guest dudung]

While I am watching the final episode, suddenly before the ending of the finale my connection stop and the channel gone missing, so I'm clueless on the ending. could someone kindly share how the ending goes please.... will he remains as PM? [cuz eventhough I watch I didn't understand what the actors are saying...completely blank]..anyway, many many many thanks in advance....

[Guest jade_frost]

I haven't seen the episode yet but Chinese websites say that

Keita runs for office all over again. And that he and Rika are both wearing rings on their ring fingers.

[gerryg]

I haven't seen the episode yet but Chinese websites say that

Keita runs for office all over again. And that he and Rika are both wearing rings on their ring fingers.

Hope that is the case.... thinking about it makes me smile

[Guest jade_frost]

Here we go. Look at their fingers.

[Guest shinhaku]

eeeek, greatest spoiler ever!!!! wonder what's the rating of the last ep, so was there a time lap in the last ep? He'll definitely get elected as PR again XD

[Guest simoneaw]

No!! What a spoiler! Where can I find the episode fastest?

I hope they kissed at least once in the whole show. One of the things I'm totally looking forward to.

[Guest jade_frost]

Change Episode Ratings

Ep 1 - A grade school teacher change Japan? An amateur politician becomes Japan's youngest PM!: 23.8%

Ep 2 - The Diet Prince's first experience: 23.0%

Ep 3 - Tonight, a PM is born!: 22.4%

Ep 4 - The PM gets bullied: 19.3%

Ep 5 - A major event on the PM's day off: 19.5%

Ep 6 - Love scandal: 19.1%

Ep 7 - A shattering outcome! The PM disappears: 20.9%

Ep 8 - Farewell. And then a counteroffensive: 19.5%

Ep 9 - Shock! The PM collapses: 22.3%

Ep 10 - Goodbye, PM Asakura's last message (22 mins of live national telecast): 27.4%

[Guest margarettemeister]

Change Episode Ratings

Ep 1 - A grade school teacher change Japan? An amateur politician becomes Japan's youngest PM!: 23.8%

Ep 2 - The Diet Prince's first experience: 23.0%

Ep 3 - Tonight, a PM is born!: 22.4%

Ep 4 - The PM gets bullied: 19.3%

Ep 5 - A major event on the PM's day off: 19.5%

Ep 6 - Love scandal: 19.1%

Ep 7 - A shattering outcome! The PM disappears: 20.9%

Ep 8 - Farewell. And then a counteroffensive: 19.5%

Ep 9 - Shock! The PM collapses: 22.3%

Ep 10 - Goodbye, PM Asakura's last message (22 mins of live national telecast): 27.4%

I'm glad the final episode ended on a high note (i.e., high rating). Did not find any kissing scene in the end, but the hand-holding and shoulder butting did it for me. Can you please post a screen cap of this scene? Thanks a lot for the one above too. Good work!!!

[Guest jade_frost]

Ep10 spoilers. It may be a little inaccurate because I'm translating off the script since I haven't watched it yet. I'll do more when I get home later.

Nirasawa & Rika talking at the park

Nirasawa: I don't like beating around the bush. Are you alright? Letting him resigning like this?

Rika: ... Dr Rumiko told me. He mustn't tax himself. He might develop something more serious. I can't tell him to perservere anymore.

Nirasawa: Are you saying this as his secretary? Or ...

(Rika is silent)

Nirasawa: I see.

[Guest simoneaw]

Ok just watched the raw episode of the finale! Even though I'll still have to wait for the subbed episode to finally understand the speech he made on broadcast, I thought it was a pretty good ending for me.

As a couple even though they didn't kiss or hug or do anything intimate [which sounds a lot like 'HERO' I think the writers don't have an interest in writing love scenes], I still think they ended it well. I guess only Takuya and Eri have enough chemistry to be able to pull off such a simple and elegant ending. Maybe since the writers have already built up their relationship pretty extensively throughout the entire show as a couple to have gone past the physical needs to supporting each other emotionally, it may be weird to suddenly see them kiss.The exchange of looks and holding hands was good enough in my opinion for someone as shy as Keita and rigid as Rika. I also like the way they did the credits for the final, adding in the meaningful scenes of Keita and Rika.

While waiting, I shall rewatch A Million Stars Falling from the Sky to make up for the intimate scenes I was expecting to see in CHANGE. Their kisses in this drama are pretty hot, its probably the most number of times Takuya ever kissed his female lead this passionately. *jealous*

Also I've never seen any of Takuya's bed scene so intimate it makes me jealous of Eri [episode 9 of AMSFFTS]. I was pretty shocked to see Eri's breasts covered only by Takuya's arm since usually the actresses would pull up the blanket to their collarbone. I would feel pretty uncomfortable if I were them, but they seemed professional enough to not let it get in the way of their chemistry.

Maybe its because they go so well together in this show that their chemistry was still apparent in 'CHANGE' after 6 years. They looked so cute together just looking at pictures, having fun at the amusement park. I like the way he would smell her hair and kiss her head so naturally like a real couple as if he can't keep away from her in episode 10.

If you like them go watch! I highly recommend it.

[Guest suedbee]

No!! What a spoiler! Where can I find the episode fastest?

I hope they kissed at least once in the whole show. One of the things I'm totally looking forward to.

It's already in Veoh. I hope Veoh's available in your location. The full version is here, and the version cut into 3 parts but has ads is here.

Just pick your poison.

Edit: Whoops! Looks like you've already seen it... Yeah, I loved the whole recap of most of Keita and Rika's "meaningful" scenes in the credits. And LOL on rewatching AMSFFTS. I did that too whenever I felt CHANGE wasn't doing it for me.

And margarettemeister, did you mean these caps? Loved this whole scene!!!

SPOILERS UP AHEAD!!!

Rika looks over at the offered hand.

Looks at Keita, who's suppressing a smile.

Grabs his hand. Keita smiles.

Keita pulls her in.

Yeah, I highly doubt they're looking at anything anymore at this point.

<333333

[Guest margarettemeister]

So COOL!!! He made it a subtle hand holding and suddenly did a pull over his shoulder closer to him instead. Quite effective and so TK. I liked it. It was a satisfying ending.

[Guest simoneaw]

Just a thought, it would have been cute to see Eri sitting in the car with him at the credits since they are married.

And does anyone know when the dvd for this drama would be out for sale in Singapore?

As a fan I would make an effort to buy the original show to support Takuya! Besides, I think its pretty worth the money and overall a great script. I still don't understand why the critics are giving it really bad reviews. Maybe they are the typical critics that just want to write something that stands out and are trying to pull Takuya's popularity down.

[Guest suedbee]

^^Oh yeah, it would have been totally awesome if Rika was also in the car!

I wonder what their wedding was like...

Can't wait for the subs so I can understand the long and heartfelt speech from Keita.

[Guest jade_frost]

Episode 10 Synopsis

Prime Minister Asakura Keita eventually collapses. Having decided as "Team Asakura", that the country will back the rehabilitation of the cabbage farmers, various issues and work are undertaken for the people's sake. Keita had lost consciousness and collapsed in the middle of answering Kanbayashi's question at the Budget Committee meeting.

Although Keita is confined to bed, he has a Cabinet reshuffle carried out. The eight Cabinet ministers involved in the Daido Shoji scandal are replaced and new Cabinet ministers are appointed. Keita also selects Ubukata Tsuneo as the acting Prime Minister.

Keita has privately decided to step down. But before he can make the announcement himself, Kabayashi conveys his intention to resign to the press. Keita is taken aback and so are the members of Team Asakura. They pull together and talk about the what they wish to accomplish with the time that is left. During that time, the children Keita had once taught in elementary school in Nagano, visit him. They have come to tell him that they do not want him to resign. Even so, Keita's determination doesn't waver.

As the issues that he has to undertake and quickly work on pile up, Keita decides to give priority to certain matters and handles them in his own way. But there's just one week left for him to work. Because serious business cannot be done within one week, Keita and the rest settle on ceasing the provision of tea at the weekly liaison conference. However, even this matter doesn't make the progress desired. On top of that, it escalates all the way to Nonomura, the Permanent Under-Secretary of the Cabinet Office. Keita explains the way of doing things to Nonomura, who has come straight to the Prime Minister's Office, and gets him to implement reform.

Onoda Asao visits Keita after he has finished his final piece of work. Onoda tells Keita about the dream his father had. And then he advises him that resignation isn't the only way to take responsibility since there's a multitude of things that he wants to do.

Keita goes in search of Rika, who is alone in the secretariat office, and tells her that he has two requests to make. The first is that he would like her to create an opportunity for him to convey his feelings to the people as their Prime Minister. When Rika tries to ask him about the other request, Keita tells her that he'll let her know after the first one is over.

Rika arranges a live telecast from the Prime Minister's Office. In that telecast, Keita once again apologises for the Daido Corporation scandal, talks about the political world that he has seen and communicates the hope he has found. He then announces that because he is seeking the public's opinion, he isn't just resigning but also dissolving the House of Representatives and calling for a general election.

After the telecast, Keita makes his second request when he asks Rika to stay by his side forever. Rika smiles in response ...

[Guest jade_frost]

Scene at the hospital

[Guest simoneaw]

Finally caught the chinese subbed episode. Thank God I'm bilingual its harder to find english subbed ones so soon. Also thank you for your synopsis!

The tea thing was kind of silly in the first place, but thinking about it I guess every small issue does make a certain impact. I can't believe they spend so much money on such a small issue, not thinking about the fact that every money they wasted are from the citizens which can be used on something more important.

I can't believe I actually cried along with Keita during his speech, the things he talked about in politics are the exact same situations that happen in every single country. I would criticize the government, have my own thinking about certain issues, but I would still think that casting a vote wouldn't change a thing. I guess we would all like to sit back and let the government take responsibility for what happens, so that if something doesn't go well we can point fingers and feel guilt-free. No wonder there's a spike in the the ratings.

I still can't wrap my mind about the fact that so little people thought this was a good drama. I'm so sick of the typical love stories and dramas on the simple background plots everyone would understand but makes no difference in our lives after watching them. 'CHANGE' really does live up to its title, dealing with something we face all the time but have absolutely no idea what it really is all about. Even if they didn't talk about some major issues the country may be facing, this show does make people want to begin to care about the political problems that have been evident for so long.

Its a wake-up call to everyone to stop being in denial and take physical action to make change happen.

*hope they would consider making an SP for this although the ratings aren't fantastic and it may be a problem to write a script for it. *

[Guest mcmug]

this must be one of the most subtle yet dramatic final episode

i have never seen a drama with a 22 mins scene, one take shot of a single actor with such a LONGGGGGG spoken script

i must really give huge pros to takuya kimura, the script writer & the director for such a daring approach

all other actors & actresses are equally impressive, japanese drama always give me surprises

despite the rating of average 21.7, being under-rated, its my favourite drama of 2008

it did not disappoint, takuya kimura did not disappoint.

[gerryg]

Why is 21.7 a low rate. In reality isn't this really a high rating but just lower than what TK brings in?

[Guest seasonone]

ah, i guess we have to settle for a little smile, and hand holding for rika and keita. got to watch it soon! yes, totally loved them in 'million stars' and their hot chemistry there. i guess most of us were heartbroken that they didn't get together in that earlier drama and hoping in this one, they'll hit it up to make up for it. yet don't forget, eri and takuya were also in 'Chuushingura 1/47' and eri was his wife - there weren't too many scenes there but they loved each other from a distance. eri also starred in the same drama as takuya in 'Wakamono no subete' - they weren't each other love interest though. i'm glad that 'change' tried to be a unconventional drama and perhaps due to its unfamiliarity, people were not attracted to it. however i'm glad the show attempted at being different.