Beach Boys

Beach Boys is a Japanese drama series from...mid or late 90s? I just know that it's really old. I recently came across it online and watched all episodes. It was actually a lot better than I expected. I thought it was just gonna be some cheesy "dorama" about pretty boys because, you know, they're hot.

Even though it takes place almost 15 years ago (I think), it didn't seem like that mattered. I was able to enjoy it and it made me think a lot.

The thing that stood out the most for me was how Kaito just took a summer vacation leaving his girlfriend behind in Tokyo. One might think, "WTF?" I mean seriously, he just took off to go live/work on the beach with very little explanation. Talk about quarter-life crisis. A couple of the characters (both male) told him that he did the right thing by not letting a woman come in the way of his decision. He set his foot down and went back to the beach no matter what anyone said or thought because he knew that was what he needed.

More often than not, it seems like women are compelled to consult/involve their partners in their important life decisions. They might be seen as being spineless, indecisive, and dependent, but not so abnormal because many women do this. On the other hand, women who don't are probably seen as callous and selfish, when men are respected for being independent and brave.

What about women like the girlfriend on this show who who supported his decision inspite of her feeling abandoned, humiliated, and lonely? Takes some guts to just let her man do whatever he wants. Someone did give her credit for giving in to his "selfishness" and said that it takes a great woman to be able to do that. It also seems like that's what's expected of a "proper" Japanese woman.

I've seen many guys make decisions based on the needs of their partners and their family. It seems like they're always being forced (or act like it) to do things that they don't really want to do and become resentful for it later on.

Bruce Willis' character on...Unbreakable?? (something like that), that movie about a guy that can't be killed/hurt pretends that he's hurt in a car accident gives up football so that he could be with his girlfriend who doesn't like football. Boy, he really regretted that and their marriage went horribly bad.

Things would be so much easier if we all wanted the same things.

Tonight's episode on Sex and the City was about Big thinking/planning about moving to Paris but not telling Carrie until the last minute. She gets pissed off that she's not involved in this at all. He tells her that he needs to be able to make these decisions on his own (or something like that).

I guess the moral of the story was that if you want to be happy you have to do what your heart tells you to do. Maybe everyone needs a little vacation to find themselves (or your "ocean" as they called it). Big probably made the right decision by being clear about what he wants and what he doesn't want. Bruce Willis' character really screwed up by giving up his passion and not being happy with is decision. I really do think that you can be happy as long as you can believe in yourself that you made the right choice even if it's wrong. You almost have to if you wanted to live happily, because you can't always make the right decisions.