The Family Game (TV series)


The Family Game, also known as Kazoku Game, is a Japanese television drama based on the award-winning novel of the same name by Yohei Honma, as well as an adaptation of its filmed version. The drama is directed by Yuichi Sato and Kazuyuki Iwata and was broadcast on Fuji TV. It aired from April 17 until June 19, 2013.
The drama was a critical and commercial success and received several awards.

Synopsis

Kazushige Numata and his wife Kayoko have two sons. The elder son, Shinichi, is considered an honor student, but the second son, Shigeyuki, is an underachiever, who might even fail to enter high school. To make matters worse, Shigeyuki has stopped going to school. His parents, worried about Shigeyuki, find an advertisement for a private tutor on the internet. They contact and then meet Koya Yoshimoto, who becomes Shigeyuki's tutor. During their meeting, both parties lay out one condition to work with each other. The father stipulates that Shigeyuki must go back to school within a week or Yoshimoto will be fired. Meanwhile, Yoshimoto stipulates that the parents must not interfere with his work. Yoshimoto's extraordinary teaching methods then influence not only Shigeyuki, but also his entire family.

Cast

Ratings

In the table below, represents the lowest ratings and represents the highest ratings.

Reception

The drama received positive reviews from critics. Philip Brasor from Japan Times compared the drama to the film adaptation. He said that "it exaggerates the elements that made the movie shocking. The characters aren’t just deluded, they’re twisted." Brasor particularly praised Sho Sakurai's portrayal of Yoshimoto, in which he said that " Matsuda’s tutor was an antisocial loser with a streak of cruelty. Sakurai’s is a full-blown sociopath. Matsuda struck Shigeyuki just to get a rise out of him. Sakurai not only strikes Shigeyuki, he practically destroys the Numata home on a weekly basis, cackling all the while like the Wicked Witch of the West. Matsuda’s power over the Numata household came from the force of his personality. Sakurai’s power is of the purely calculating kind, as is the writing in general....Like Matsuda’s tutor, Sakurai uses gamesmanship instead of pedagogy to get results, but his methodology is more sadistic."
Sho Sakurai's acting reportedly made fans find it "too disturbing to watch". It was dubbed as 2013's Biggest Drama Surprise by critics, and Sakurai was given a number of awards.