Asura2025

“Asura,” a seven-episode Japanese drama on Netflix (in Japanese, with subtitles, or dubbed), is the full package: a detailed, human-scale domestic drama with plenty to say, fascinating characters to say it and the stylishness to make it sing. The downside is that other shows feel paltry and thin in comparison. The upside is everything else.

四姐妹故事，前有写三十年代的细雪，后有一零年代的海街日记，宛如阿修罗描绘的，刚好是与前后各隔四十年的中间世代。情节由大家族旧秩序下的相亲嫁女的风波，到四姐妹发现年迈父亲出轨的冲击，再到父亲去世后姐妹情谊的重新编织，正是父权逐步瓦解，而女性逐渐找回自我的位置与生活的过程。往前是可审美的历史，往后是可审美的理想，唯有宛如阿修罗是昭和时代鸡零狗碎的现实。放在今天看站队型观众们肯定要大呼过时，不过新的表达并不等于爽的表达，真正的好东西首先应该是植根现实的东西，年代剧并没有原罪，反而塞满流行议题的当代都市小品们是真的尖锐复杂还是在献媚投机更值得好好审视。

2025 is less than a month old, but we may have already seen the best show of the year. .... The Takezawa sisters’ rebellion against the stillness that Japanese society forces upon them is gentle but profound. If Kore-eda can be a little indulgent in exploring this, it is only to better highlight the subtle, often understated ways these characters begin to reverberate with his signature humanism through the smallest gestures.