TOKIO.- A comedy of Netflix in which a man from the 1980s travels to the current era and tries to adapt to new times has achieved great success in japan, for its contrast between the years of economic boom and a more politically correct present.
The serie, call Extremely Inappropriate (Extremely inappropriate), describes a time when you could smoke on buses, see naked breasts on television, and corporal punishment was commonplace.
When the protagonist, a father and schoolteacher named Ichiro Ogawa, suddenly travels back in time from 1986 to 2024, he scandalizes young people with his ideas about gender, family, and labor rights.
But modern Japan is not doing well either and the series, the most watched on Netflix in Japan for three consecutive weeks, implicitly criticizes current society.
Producer Aki Isoyama, 56, thought it would be a challenge to mock progressive values without provoking a violent reaction from the public. But according to her, the series, produced by TBS, one of the most important media companies in the country, does not want to draw conclusions about the superiority of one era over the other, she told AFP.
“Our society has certainly improved, but in a more restrictive way too,” Isoyama noted.
A fan of the series, Mao Yamada, 25, said it is a reminder of how: “our society has become more accepting of diversity, including LGBTQ rights.”
Extremely Inappropriate It also makes fun of motivational talks in companies, while the protagonist, Ichiro Ogawa, makes jokes about menopause and feminism.
“Our life was full of what could easily be seen as harassment and sexism due to current morals,” Kyo Maeda, 68, a viewer of the series, told AFP, remembering those years.
Bold themes
In 1986, Japan was enjoying a time of economic splendor and many employees were obsessed with success, regardless of the hours they had to work. The opposite of the current generation, who, after the lost decades of economic stagnation that began in the 1990s, never works overtime, as seen in the series.
“In the 80s, I loved going to work,” Kyo Maeda commented with a smile. “I think there was more hope and excitement about the future in the ’80s than there is now.”
Extremely Inappropriatewhich includes musical numbers, has also received criticism for presenting feminism or discrimination in a simplistic way.
“The creators obviously wanted us to reflect on the status quo of our society,” Takahiko Kageyama, a media professor at Doshisha Women’s University of Liberal Arts, told AFP.
“But if this intention had been too direct or preachy, it would simply have failed,” he said.
The themes that the series addresses are bold, according to the professor, in the context of an entertainment industry marked by recent scandals such as sexual abuse at an agency that created ‘boy bands’ or workplace harassment in a prestigious theater company.
FUENTE: AFP
