Shanghai Typhoon

When I first downloaded this drama, I was wondering if I would like this drama or not 'cause it seemed like a typical love story between an obstinate and unreasonable heroine with a handsome, wealthy, foreign stranger, but then it turned out much better than I thought it would be. I have to say that I was not a fan of Misuzu, the heroine, at first, but gradually she grew on me and we can see why she turned out the way she did.

Shanghai Typhoon is about an elite sales manager, Nomura Misuzu, of a lingerie company in Japan who gets sent on a business trip to Shanghai. She meets the handsome businessman, Cao Fei, there and both become attracted to each other, but cultural differences and business tactics cause the two to constantly fight. Misuzu later causes a strike in a Chinese factory and because of this, resigns from her job and decides to try something else. However, because finding employment in Japan is not easy and due to her causing a commotion at her previous workplace, she is unable to find a new job. On top of that, her long-time boyfriend breaks up with her because she is unwilling to commit to marriage and he meets a nice woman from an omiai set up by his boss. When everything seems to be going up in smoke for Misuzu in Japan, she decides to go back to Shanghai to try her luck there. Several reasons why she picks Shanghai is because 1) it is the place she hates the most; 2) a flower arranger named Mitsui Kaori says that there are lots of opportunities in Shanghai; and 3) Cao Fei (though she fervently denies it).

When she first starts living in Shanghai, she meets Toono Mari, a woman who works for real estate, and is introduced to an apartment in an inexpensive part and supposedly good part of town. However, the apartment turns out to be really unreliable and leaky so she ends up living with Mari. When she finally settles in with Mari, she starts looking for employment in Shanghai, but is turned down by many places and in the end is tricked by a couple of "potential employers." After much hardship and being tricked by people, she finds Mitsui Kaori and starts working for her, but has a bad attitude about things and ends up getting herself fired.

The later part of the series, Misuzu becomes a lot better when she stops blaming things on other people and Shanghai, and actually tries to make an effort in liking this new life she's chosen. She grows close to Kaori, Mari, a young Chinese girl named Lin, and Cao Fei. She also learns about the father who's disappeared from her life ten years ago, and in resolving things between them, she matures and grows up. She ends up finding what she really wants to do in Shanghai and takes the city by storm with her innovative idea.

Shanghai Typhoon has both Japanese and Chinese language with some English. Actors and actresses speak with accented Japanese or Chinese, but it's not too bad. The series also depicts living in China pretty accurately. A lot of the things that happens in the series are things that my family often tells me to watch out for and such when going to China to visit. I find watching the series pretty educational in a way so I stuck with it. There are times when listening to broken Chinese kind of bug me, but overall, the series is pretty nice.