Dandy Daddy ~ Romance Novelist: Izaki Ryuunosuke ~

Another drama from the Summer 09 drama premieres is the family comedy titled Dandy Daddy ~ Romance Novelist: Izaki Ryuunosuke ~.

This drama follows the life of Ryuunosuke Izaki, a popular romance novelist who his well known for his tips on young love and grabbing a hold of it without barriers. Yet, within the comforts of his own home, he is paranoid over the possibilities of his daughter even dating a young man herself. This drives tension between his daughter, Akari, and himself — as well as inner confliction within himself.

How can a man who writes passionate love stories and gives advice to young adults be so conservative in his own home?

In the first episode, we’re introduced to our leading male against the music backdrop of classic 70s love songs giving the illusion that he’s a playboy. He attends a book unveiling ceremony, woos the MC, and suddenly jets from the party in his high style convertable…

… straight to his psychiatrist who holds his offices in a cleaners.

He claims he can’t sleep at night, that he’s worry sick about his daughter but his psychiatrist is too oblivious to pay attention before falling asleep himself. Ryuunosuke then talks about what had caused all of this when he had went to his daughter’s school ceremony when suddenly he notices a young man sit next to his daughter and he charges straight towards them causing a ruckus. But then he’s suddenly asked to give a speech — and his speech is something opposite of what he had just done:  Love is not from the mind, its from the heart!

Within those first ten minutes, you pretty much get the direction and style of this drama.

Tachi Hiroshi character of Ryuunosuke Izaki is not much different from his character in Papa to Musume no Nanokakan, in which he plays the role of an overprotective parent who works in an industry that is targeted towards young teenage girls but has not a clue about it when it comes to his own daughter.  The only slight differences to these two characters is that Ryuunosuke Izaki is more hip and up with the times and less timid, unlike Papa to Musume where his character was a timid ‘yes sir’ salaryman.

If you’ve seen Yasuko to Kenji, the story is pretty much the same in that he’s a single parent trying to protect the virtue of his daughter and will do anything to make sure it stays that way. His overactions, snooping, and distrust seem to push his daughter, Akari, away from him but a sudden reality check brings them close again only to go right back to square one when she ends up dating the young man he had used to spy on her.

It’s that roundabout, episodic, plotline that may hurt this series midway through if they plan to run this beyond 8 episodes. Unlike Yasuko to Kenji, the punchlines aren’t as outrageous or ‘anime-ish’ to keep the viewer interested when dealing with a family/school life comedy such as this. It’s light hearted and safely played, which relates it closer to Papa to Musume in terms of humor that focuses primarily on a generation gap. I am trying to figure out how will they be able to spread this drama through an entire season without going flat.

There’s not too many memorable characters from the first episode that stand out. You have Ryuunosuke, his entourage, his critic, Akari, and her friends but no one immediately stands out with memorable performances. Not even Chairman Kaga (lol) makes his on screen performance as Ryuunosuke’s critic proves to be as memorable other than ‘ Oh wow! Its Chairman Kaga! ‘. Granted its the first episode, I think its playing things a bit to safe. Its pretty obvious, besides Tachi Hiroshi, not everyone is comfortable in their roles yet but considering this cast is filled with seasoned actors, I do expect more out of them.

I’ll probably be watching Dandy Daddy on the side, but not seriously as I’m afraid it’s going to get stale by episode 4. But I’ll keep with it to see how far I’ll get with the light hearted family humor.