Followers (2020)

Like everything that Ninagawa Mika does, "Followers" is totally an aesthetic, a way of life. From the music, to the visuals, to the fashion, this drama tells the story of powerful women who strive to live by their own rules. Society admires them because they live by their own rules, and yet at the same time, tries to control and tear them down for the same reasons - much like social media, which serves as a tool for and metaphor of the larger narrative. The cast is absolutely fantastic, a wonderful assembly of character actors, particularly in Mari Natsuki, Itaya Yuka, and Kaneko Nobuaki. The pacing of the drama is perfect for Netflix, which allows you to sit and watch it in one sitting (which I did!); I imagine it might feel longer if watched drawn out. Overall, very enjoyable and definitely left me feeling inspired and empowered!

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This drama is a lot like its characters: campy and self-aware, gorgeous and ambitious. Followers is trying to do a lot, maybe a little too much, but I really liked it and think it's definitely worth your time.

If you're familiar with director Ninagawa Mika, you know that she’s all about playing with bright, loud colour, and she definitely isn’t afraid to do things outside the box. This drama is dazzling, hypnotic and oh so gorgeous. Every scene is a complete sensory overload. You can tell that this is a high-budget drama, not only because of the great cast, but because every episode is filmed like the most eye-catching Hollywood movie you’ve ever seen. The music, the costumes, the sets, everything is so well done.

To keep it simple, Followers is about women working in the entertainment business, an industry that both loves and hates successful women. This drama touches on a lot of hot button topics that you probably won’t find on network jdramas: there are multiple LGBTQ+ characters, a LOT of feminism, women of different ages being unabashedly open about their careers, sexuality, motherhood etc, and not so subtle societal critique thrown in as well. This isn't your average network jdrama, that's for sure!

My only complaint (and it’s kind of a big one) is that the drama has a lot of characters and probably tries to cover too many storylines in only 9 episodes. 2-3 more episodes to develop some characters and tie up lose ends would have been great. It just felt like there was a rush to end everyone's storyline just perfectly, even though some characters probably deserved a bit of imperfection.

Last but not least: KOM_I was a total scene stealer in this drama and I hope she continues to pursue acting!

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