Line #39 Series/Oshin


1	[[quoteright:327:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oshin.jpg]]
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3	Oshin (おしん, ''Oshin'') is a TV morning drama (''asadora'') aired in 1983 by Creator/{{NHK}}. It lasted 297 episodes, each one 15 minutes long. Its script writer, Sugako Hashida, said that the story's based on the real life of a woman named Katsu Wada, the mother of the Japanese entrepreneur Ryouhei Wada, founder of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaohan Yaohan supermarket chain.]]
4
5	The series itself was this close to not be aired since it included a not very flattering view of UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan's classism, lack of free speech and increasing militarization through the first part of the 20th century. The head of NHK, however, gave it his seal of approval, which turned out to be a great idea since it was a hit in Japan and in many other countries, specially in the Middle East, some parts of Latin America, and Hawaii.[[note]]Many Americans' first exposure to the show might have been through a short excerpt aired on ''Primetime/Japan'', a 1988 Creator/{{PBS}} special about Japanese TV, hosted by Harry Anderson of ''Series/NightCourt'' fame.[[/note]] The actresses Ayako Kobayashi, Yuuko Tanaka and Nobuko Otowa (little, teenage/adult and old Oshin, respectively) portrayed the main character.
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7	Shin "Oshin" Tanemura is the youngest daughter of a farmer family, who has to start working at age 7 because her father Sakuzou can't make ends. She, however, can barely make it through her first work and almost dies in a snowy day, and only forging a sort-of IntergenerationalFriendship with an ex-soldier saves her. Oshin's second work fares much better and she bonds with her employer's granddaughter, Kayo, plus gets something similar to an education and decides that someday, she will forge her own future. However, since her story is set in Imperial Japan plus she's a humble CountryMouse, it will NOT be an easy task... The story itself is marked as a 83-years old Oshin, now a very successful entrepreneur, explaining her humble origins to her teenage grandson Kei, while traveling across all the places in Japan where all the most important events in Oshin's life happened.
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9	There's also an anime version, released theatrically by Creator/{{Sanrio}} in 1984, directed by Creator/OsamuTezuka associate and ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato'' veteran Eiichi Yamamoto, and adapting the early part of the story. Unlike the live-action series, the film bombed, and plans for further anime adaptations were scrapped. Ayako Kobayashi reprised the role of Oshin for the anime version.
10	----
11	!!''Oshin'' includes many tropes, including these:
12	* ActualPacifist: Oshin is this, thanks to her friendship with Shunsaku [[spoiler: and its tragic end.]] Not only she's increasingly disturbed as UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan becomes more militarized, when [[spoiler: Yu is drafted into the military itself]], she breaks down in tears and thinks that she's failed to her first friend.
13	* TheAlcoholic:
14	** Ryuuzo, after his textile business fails. He got better.
15	** [[spoiler: Kayo, after being forced to work as a prostitute, [[LieBackAndThinkOfEngland as a way to deal with the clients and the job itself]]. This caused her death.]]
16	* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Kayo was in love with Kouta, but he could never return her feelings, mostly because he was dedicated to his cause and [[LoveTriangle because he was in love with Oshin]]. While she eventually gives up on him, it strains her marriage during its first years.
17	* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Oshin gives one to Ryuuzo after the incident with Genji, perfectly aware that even when they love each other, they can't get married [[UptownGirl since they're from different worlds.]] [[spoiler: Ryuuzo gives her one of his own, saying among other things that he's willing to leave his family if it's needed... and they pretty much exchange those as they finally reach an agreement and decide that they'll marry anyway.]]
18	* ArrangedMarriage:
19	** [[spoiler: Kayo runs away from her first one, but ultimately accepts getting into a second one to a UsefulNotes/TokyoUniversity graduate from a rich Osakan family. It ends ''badly''.]]
20	** Hitoshi intend to get his sister Tei married to his best friend and NumberTwo Tatsunori in order to enforce ties with the Tanokura Supermarket business. [[spoiler: She ends up marrying him, not for the business, but because [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan she realizes that he is the type of man she wants to be with]].]]
21	* BenevolentBoss: Kuni Yashiro, Oshin's second boss, is a CoolOldLady who recognizes Oshin's potential and encourages her, personally training her to be a useful asset to her business.
22	* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: [[spoiler: At the same day of Hitoshi's birth, Fuji [[SoapOperaDisease starts feeling the symptoms of the disease that would eventually kill her]].]]
23	* BreakTheCutie: The plot bends over and down to break the characters and specially Oshin herself. It ''fails'' in her case (coming ''very'' close to succeed in Saga and during WWII), but she does come close and so do many others [[spoiler: like Oshin's sister, best friends, eldest son, and husband.]]
24	* CallingTheOldManOut: [[spoiler: Ryuuzo ''finally'' tells his mother to shut the hell up and that he won't ditch Oshin, when his sis-in-law Tsuneko tells him that Kiyo was hiding Oshin's letters.]]
25	* CareerEndingInjury: [[spoiler: Oshin suffers one in Saga, which hinders her from retaking her initial hairdressing work. With hard effort, she becomes a restaurateur instead.]]
26	* ChildhoodFriends: The friendship between Oshin Tanokura and Kayo Yashiro starts when they're little girls and lasts for many years, [[spoiler: until Kayo's death.]]
27	* ColdBloodedTorture:[[spoiler: Kouta]] suffers this after [[spoiler:being arrested for his communist ideas, [[TwoPlusTortureEqualsFive in order to abandon them]]]], to the point that he's permanently crippled.
28	* CoolBigSis:
29	** Haru to Oshin
30	** The girls from the café at Tokyo, especially Someko, to Oshin.
31	** Oshin herself to her younger siblings, judging by their reaction after meeting her at [[spoiler: their father Sakuzou's deathbed]].
32	** Hatsuko, even in her near fifties, is considered this by Hitoshi, Nozomi and Tei. With Yu it was [[NotBloodSiblings a different matter]].
33	* CoolOldLady:
34	** Kuni Yashiro, Kayo's grandmother as [[BenevolentBoss descibed above]].
35	** Hisa, Kouta's aunt, who helps Oshin to establish her fish market business in Ise, to take care of her children when she had to leave her home and [[spoiler: after Oshin and her family were ditched from their house after the war]].
36	** Eventually Oshin herself; Kei adores her too much to the point that he prefers to travel with her and listen her story than return to university or ''to call his girlfriend''.
37	* DarkerAndEdgier: According to Mrs. Sugako Hashida herself:
38	-->"I felt that the telling of her hardships while serving as an apprentice and being sold at a brothel was an obligation our generation needed to honor. However, the themes were so harsh and dark that the show was rejected by every television network. Even NHK opposed it. I was told "'We can't confront Meiji issues.'"
39	* {{Fallen Princess}}: [[spoiler: Kayo]].
40	* FatalFlaw: Ryuuzo isn't a bad person, but he is ''incredibly'' proud and that causes him and Oshin ''enormous'' trouble.
41	* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling:
42	** From the Yashiro sisters, Kayo, the ''eldest'' was the foolish to her little sister Sayo. She outright told her parents and grandmother that she prefered Sayo to inherit Kagaya.
43	** Hitoshi and Nozomi, respectively. Ironic, [[spoiler: considering who their [[YamatoNadeshiko respective]] [[RebelliousPrincess mothers]] are, who also fitted this trope in a ChildhoodFriends way.]]
44	* ForWantOfANail: Used as {{Foreshadowing}}. While telling Kei about her encounter with Kayo in Tokyo during ther time as a hairstylist, [[InVinoVeritas a very drunk Oshin]] [[DrowningMySorrows cries while lamenting never telling Kayo]] [[spoiler: that Kouta indeed went back to Tokyo]] and [[ItsAllMyFault blaming herself for it]]. [[spoiler: Over a hundred episodes later, it's revealed that said event was [[DisasterDominoes the catalyst of the fall of Kagaya and Kayo's subsequent disgrace and death]] ''and'' the reason she is telling him all this story.]]
45	* FramingDevice: Most of the series is framed by an 83- year old Oshin telling the story to her beloved grandson Kei.
46	* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: In anger, Someko, one of Oshin's beloved customers essentially tells this to Ryuuzo when she sees him having an affair with another woman at the bar, after a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech lecture.
47	** Oshin also tells this to Nozomi when he runs away after getting mocked and scorned for being an adopted child.
48	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Genji dies protecting little Yu in the Kanto earthquake, shielding the boy with his own body.]]
49	* INeverGotAnyLetters: Oshin believes that Ryuuzo has dumped her when she stops receiving letters from him after moving to Sakata. [[spoiler: It turns out Kiyo intercepted their correspondence, however, so Ryuuzo didn't even ''know'' Oshin had left Tokyo.]]
50	* IntergenerationalFriendship: A seven year old Oshin strikes one with an already adult desertor of the army, Shunsaku, who saves her life [[SnowMeansDeath when she almost freezes to death]] and lets her into his hut, teaching her how to write and read. [[spoiler: But Shunsaku is later found and shot dead for desertion, and while Oshin survives the encounter with the Army, her reputation is initally tainted ''and'' she's broken for it.]]
51	* KickTheDog: Almost ''anything'' that Kiyo does to Oshin during her time in Saga, [[spoiler: [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone until Oshin miscarriaged her baby beacuse of said treatment]].]]
52	* KimonoIsTraditional: Oshin, as a YamatoNadeshiko and CountryMouse, always wears kimonos and arranges her hair in the traditional Japanese style. This also offers a contrast with her LoveInterest Ryuuzo, who almost always dresses in [[SharpDressedMan Western suits.]]
53	* LoveTriangle: The teenaged Oshin and Kayo fall for the same guy, a TroubledButCute young man named Kouta Takakura.
54	* LookBothWays: The cause of death for [[spoiler: Nozomi's wife/Kei's mother Yuri.]]
55	* [[MarriedToTheJob Married To The Cause]]: Kouta, which was one of the reasons he didn't pursued Oshin even when he was in love with her and had the chance. He had to [[spoiler: be tortured to abandon his ideals]] to even ''consider'' marriage.
56	* MiddleChildSyndrome: A big part of Ryuuzo's mindset seems to come from this trope, as he's the third son of the Tanokura family and [[WellDoneSonGuy feels that he needs to prove himself to his parents.]]
57	* MissingMom: Kei's mom [[spoiler: Yuri was [[LookBothWays killed by a car]] when he was four.]]
58	* MistakenForCheating: [[spoiler: When Oshin is working in a Tokyo food stall with her ''yakuza'' friend Ken (who secretly loves her), Ken's girlfriend mistakenly believes that she's his lover. Oshin [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere decides to leave]] since she doesn't want to get in trouble ''again''.]]
59	* TheMourningAfter: Hatsuko decides to never get married after [[spoiler: Yu's death]]
60	* ObnoxiousInLaws: While Ryuuzo's father Daigoro eventually warms up to Oshin, his mother Kiyo ''really'' hates her and makes her life VERY hard [[spoiler: when Ryuuzo and Oshin are forced to live with his parents in Saga and work the fields to earn their keep.]] She later goes as far as [[spoiler: hiding Oshin's letters to Ryuuzo when she works on her own in Tokyo and Sakata, which leads Oshin, Kouta and Kayo to believe that he's abandoned her.]]
61	* OutlivingOnesOffspring: [[spoiler: Two of Oshin and Ryuuzo's kids, Yu and Ai, perish through the story.]]
62	* OfficialCoupleOrdealSyndrome: Oshin and Ryuuzo's marriage is rather rocky, specially at first.
63	* TheOphelia: Oshin spends a short time as this, [[spoiler: after her and Ryuuzo's second child Ai dies soon after birth, as the corollary to the ''terrible'' times spent in Saga. She gets better when ''[[ObnoxiousInLaws Kiyo]]'' [[PetTheDog allows Oshin to breastfeed]] ''[[SpoiledBrat her daughter's]]'' [[PetTheDog own newborn]].]]
64	* ParentalMarriageVeto: Ryuuzo's parents Daigoro and Kiyo didn't like their son marrying beneath his station, whereas Oshin's dad Sakuzou didn't approve of her marrying Ryuuzo as he feared to lose her economic help ''and'' later [[PapaWolf got very angry on her behalf]] when [[IdiotBall Genji badmouthed Oshin in the middle of his visit.]]
65	* {{Polyamory}}: Discussed by Ryuuzo and the family retainer Genji, who tells Ryuuzo to marry two women as a way to dodge the ParentalMarriageVeto. Ryuuzo refuses, however, as he considers it immoral. [[spoiler: This is actually what causes Daigoro to approve of Oshin.]]
66	* ParentalSubstitute:
67	** [[spoiler: Kouta]] offers to be one for [[spoiler: Oshin's son Yu]], believing that [[spoiler: Ryuuzo has ditched the two of them. Oshin isn't too kin on the idea, and later it turns out Ryuuzo has ''not'' ditched his wife and kid.]]
68	** [[spoiler: After Kayo's death, Oshin and Ryuuzo take Kayo and Masaru's orphaned son Nozomi into the Tanekura household. Nozomi doesn't learn his origins until later.]]
69	** Ken is intending to sell a little girl named Hatsuko into cleaning work to [[WorkOffTheDebt work off her parents' debts]], but the Tanokuras take her in and with time she pretty much becomes Oshin's protegèe and an honorary daughter.
70	** Hatsuko herself ends becoming this for a while for [[spoiler: Kei]] after [[spoiler: Yuri's death]], until Nozomi decides [[{{DefiedTrope}}to take care of his son by himself.]]
71	* PassiveAggressiveKombat / PolitenessJudo: Almost ''all'' Oshin's interactions with her mother-in-law Kiyo in Saga and with her daughter-in-law Michiko.
72	* PlatonicLifePartners: Oshin's relationship with Kouta evolves from romantic love into this with the pass of the years.
73	* PluckyGirl - SilkHidingSteel: Oshin became a sort-of symbol of determination in Japanese society and media, as she's shown to never give up and to stand up and start again whenever she fell.
74	* RebelliousPrincess: Kayo is this since she develops a interest in the arts, doesn't intend to take over the family business, and wants to MarryForLove. [[spoiler: It doesn't work well for her, [[KilltheCutie sadly]].]]
75	* RedLightDistrict:
76	** Oshin and her yakuza friend Ken find [[spoiler: Kayo]] in one of these, working as prostitute after [[spoiler: her husband has gambled the family's fortune away and killed himself ''and'' her parents have died, leaving her destitute.]]
77	** [[spoiler: Hatsuko works in one of these after the war, as a way to cope with Yu's death. Oshin gets her out of it, too.]]
78	* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler: Kouta admits to Oshin that he never really loved Kayo, and saw her as a replacement for Oshin. Understandably, Oshin isn't happy but she doesn't tell Kayo anything.]]
79	* RunawayBride: [[spoiler: Oshin's best friend Kayo runs away from her (first) ArrangedMarriage to be with her first love, Kouta. Oshin is heartbroken since she loved Kouta too ''and'' doesn't want to get Kayo in even more trouble, so she leaves her work.]]
80	* ScrewPolitenessImASenior: How Hitoshi's wife Michiko interprets Oshin's attitude towards her.
81	* SelfMadeWoman: Oshin's biggest desire is to be an independent woman and earn a happy life for herself.
82	* ShipperWithAnAgenda: As said above, Hitoshi ships his little sister Tei with his NumberTwo Tatsunori because he wants to make the family business stronger through their marriage. [[spoiler: They get married, but that's because she ''does'' like him.]]
83	* ShippingTorpedo: Not only Oshin ''and'' Ryuuzo's parents oppose to their wedding, but the OldRetainer Genji also thinks she's not worthy of his "young master". He even gets into a hug verbal spat with Oshin's father Sakuzou [[KickTheDog when he insults Oshin to her face]]. Fortunately, [[DefrostingIceKing he warms up to her later.]]
84	* ShrinesAndTemples: There's a scene where old!Oshin and Kei pray together at a Shinto shrine.
85	** [[spoiler: Ryuuzo and Oshin's marriage ceremony is symbolized by them happily praying together in a shrine, the same one that old!Oshin visits with Kei.]]
86	* StayInTheKitchen: Ryuuzo feels ''very'' undermined as he turns out not to be as good as business as he thought, whereas Oshin is a natural at such things and becomes their family's breadwinner. It's not until they almost ''starve'' in Tokyo [[spoiler: while Oshin is ''pregnant'']] that he starts changing his mind.
87	* {{Seppuku}}: [[spoiler: Ryuuzo's suicide counts as this since he stabs himself dead after the death of his and Oshin's son Yu ''and'' his definitive economic ruin at the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, believing that he has failed to Oshin in absolutely unforgiveable ways.]]
88	* SpannerInTheWorks: [[spoiler: Kiyo's plan to break up Ryuuzo and Oshin by intercepting the letters she has sent him is undone by Kouta (who writes to Ryuuzo intending to tell him that he'll look after Oshin, which leads Ryuuzo to suspect something weird's going on) and Tsuneko (who manages to find and reconstruct Oshin's letters and show them to Ryuuzo.)]]
89	* StarCrossedLovers: [[spoiler: [[NotBloodSiblings Yu and Hatsuko fall in love]], but Ryuuzo isn't exactly approving of their relationship ''and'' Yu enrolls in the Army, dying some time later.]]
90	* StockShoujoBullyingTactics:
91	** Little Oshin is subjected to this when she tries to go to school in Yamagata, since she's a farm girl who also has to take care of her boss's baby.
92	** [[spoiler: Oshin's adoptive son Nozomi is heavily bullied at school when it's revealed that he's an orphan.]]
93	* ThatManIsDead: [[spoiler: Hatsuko]] declares to Oshin [[spoiler: after she finds her in a brothel at Tokyo]] that the woman she used to know died [[spoiler: along with her son Yu]], but as Oshin can see BeneathTheMask ([[RuleOfSymbolism while removing her makeup]]), [[spoiler: the Hatsuko who came to her home when little and considers her own daughter still exists]].
94	* TextileWorkIsFeminine: One of Oshin's many works is as a seamstress, and she's seen both sewing normally and using a Western sewing machine. [[RareMaleExample In one scene, Genji is shown sewing next to her.]]
95	* TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse: Surprisingly averted, since the series does have Tokyo as one of its scenarios but also features places like Yamagata (Oshin's home prefecture), Saga (Ryuuzo's homeland) and Ise (Mie prefecture, where Oshin's family finally settles down)
96	* TragicDream: [[spoiler: Oshin's dream to become a hairstylist was originally her older sister Haru's, and when Haru dies Oshin decides to fulfill it for the two of them.]]
97	* UndyingLoyalty: Oshin to the Yashiro family, and Kayo particularly, even after stop working in Kigaya, to the point [[spoiler: she adopts Kayo's child Nozomi after she dies and hopes to raise him to rebuild Kagaya.]]
98	* UptownGirl:
99	** Ryuuzo is from a rather rich family and they do ''not'' like to see their son courting a mere country girl like Oshin.
100	** Also Michiko to Hitoshi, which is one of the reasons that [[ObnoxiousInLaws made her clash often with Oshin]]. She also was practically useless as a housewife ''and'' [[MealTicket was aware that Hitoshi married her only to make business with her dad]].
101	* WholeEpisodeFlashback: The series is more or less set as one, since it begins in 1983 with an old Oshin who's now a very prosper entrepreneur and tells her beloved grandson Kei about the story of her life...
102	* {{Yakuza}}:
103	** One of Oshin's friends and strongest supporters in Tokyo is a "noble" yakuza named Ken.
104	** When Oshin and Kayo work together in a small eatery and bar, the local ''yakuza'' threaten them. By this point, though, Oshin has become rather GenreSavvy about Yakuza habits and uses that knowledge to defuse the crisis, winning the guys over.
105	* YamatoNadeshiko: Oshin is seen as a classic incarnation of the archetype, as she's strongwilled and plucky but also kind, sweet and duty-bound.

Context Series / Oshin