Liverpool Productions — Champion Gold Series Dairy — Rio Natsume

We'll lead off the April issue of AoV with Diary, the companion DVD to Waterdrop (reviewed last month). I thought this was the worst Idol DVD I have seen this year. How's that for a blunt opening statement? And I don't mean just 2006. I'm talking all of '05 and so far the first quarter of '06. The DVD may have a story line in there somewhere, but it is very murky, and I can't quite get my arms around what they are trying to do. Now please remember that I could not read anything written or spoken so the interpretation I came up with is based only on the visuals.    Obscure storyline: the non-Japanese speaker or reader won't necessarily have a clue what it's all about. Not even Rio can rescue this offering.

Rio Natsume is a 'star' returning to a small town far from Tokyo. She carries a diary with her; and we are supposed to think she has come home. She's lost in her thoughts. The first character that she meets — or imagines, I can only guess — must or might be her father, a construction laborer. He digs meaningless holes as well as piloting some heavy construction equipment. He's tired from his labors, and he dies on the beach from exertion. All of which is portrayed on screen with Rio as the workman with the shovel who lies down on the beach, worn out from his labors; symbolically dying.

Her mother — who Rio sees or imagines — is or might be a school teacher. You see this with the high-collared, semi-Victorian style dress that she wears. Of course they couldn't possibly keep Rio buttoned up throughout.

Rio visits her old school. She walks the hallways in a brief bikini. This symbolically represents how she always felt that people stared at her in this school. And she was a prisoner of a kind here. Not bound by real chains, but by the school's refusal to modernize. Going there was like being caught in a spider's web which the director awkwardly presents to us. The gauzy tape scene in the tiled room represented a scene where Rio or maybe the Director himself underwent a traumatic experience. We're not going to get an answer on this from anyone, so my perspective may be right.

Then there was the kayak lesson. Literally I've no idea why it was included in mid-movie, especially since the net result was Rio's bust being covered by the life preserver for the entire period of what was the longest scene in the video. Maybe it refers to career choices by either Rio or the Director. Paddle in one direction then paddle back. Neither can escape the narrow world of the Japanese Idol DVD without some harsh criticism upon trying, or upon staying, as it appears.

Then the 'making of' segment; the way they pampered her and fussed over her and the way she acted like a little primadonna complaining about her bites and skin irritations. Then they bring out the sweets and treats to mollify her; not at all flattering if I read the intent correctly.

As far as my interpretation of the story line — I thought it was a literal jump into the model's past. Either it was scripted from a diary — if not Rio's, then someone else's — or all this is totally imaginary: maybe, just maybe, it might have been real. Or it's just a poorly made cos-play DVD. I wonder if the written and spoken clues might have pointed us towards a more reasonable and plausible explanation. Don't waste your money on this DVD: two point two five is all I can muster, even for the ever-delightful-to-look-at Rio Natsume. But trust me, the rest of the reviews can only go up from here.

Liverpool Productions — Champion Gold Series Diary — Rio Natsume www.cdjapan.co.jp  2.25 out of 5      Forward to Megumi Kagurazaka      Back to Introduction