So, I just wanted to share my thoughts on Hibana : Spark on Netflix.
It might be the greatest show ever made.
So, to get them out of the way, my biases: I love Japan and all things Japanese; a lot of the show is shot on location in Kichijoji, including the park there, where I spent many of my formative years; I find any show that can made me extremely sad while also laughing out loud to be incredible.
Hibana is about two guys trying to make it in manzai, which is basically the most popular form of Japanese stand-up comedy. One of the two meets a veteran comedian and becomes his apprentice. The show is ten episodes, one for every year, and basically follows the two guys (known as Sparks) through their life and career. It features a number of great Japanese directors on a few episodes, and some of the shots -- long, uncut, single scenes -- are amazing. Daredevil-fight-in-the-hallway kinds of incredible. In one especially poignant scene, the camera is focused on the main protaganist's face, not moving, and he's not moving, and the emotion that is coming across is tangible.
If you have ever wanted to do or be something more than anything else in your life, you will fully get this show, I think. The frustration, the hurt and heartache, the rush of happiness -- it's all there. The acting is brilliant and believable. It takes you on an emotional roller coaster, and the final two episodes had me crying -- I'd say nothing on film or television has moved me this much since the ending of Glory.
It has a fairly terrible star rating on Netflix. I think that's because the casual viewer will find it a) boring at the beginning, and b) unfunny. Japanese comedy and western comedy are very different. Manzai especially relies on extremely fast conversation full of clever wordplay, puns, and silliness. My Japanese is good, but not good enough to get all the jokes. The subtitles do their best, to be honest (I usually complain about subtitles), but to an average American viewer, I think they would seem odd and not at all hilarious.
This is the kind of show that I tell my best friend about, force him to watch all ten episodes with me, and would never speak to him again if he didn't love it as much as I do. It really sparked a visceral reaction for me that was positive, painful, emotional, and necessary.
It made me realize over the course of ten episodes just how many of my own dreams I've failed to achieve, and in fact neglected to even try to achieve.