Review: FFXIV: Hikari no Otousan ( Dad of Light)


Stars: Chiba Yudai, Ren Oosugi
Voices of:  Yoshino Nanjou, Aoi Yuuki

Summary:
The son, Inaba Akio (Chiba Yudai) invites Dad, Inaba Hirotaro (Ren Oosugi) ,  over to play FFXIV and rekindling their father-son relationship. Son concocts a plan to woo dad over to play the game (without revealing who he was in the game) and for the dad to finally open up and rekindle their relationship.

The Review
I know what you're thinking. From the summary itself, the words "CHEESY" and "SAPPY" will come into play, but it's not all that bad. A series that touches on parenting and gaming is one unusual work but the whole series made the cut and find itself endearing to the audience.

The Good
The taciturn father, Inaba Hirotaro


You might find some familiarity in this guy, veteran actor Ren Osugi. He's been everywhere from My Boss, My Hero to Night teacher and the prime minister in Shin Godzilla among others. For his role as a gamer dad, he did quite well and he has impeccable comedic timing as Indy Jones.  Indy Jones was such a cool character that you want to buddy up with him in the game.

The soundtrack, Glay's The Other end of this world
Glay's opening theme exudes the coolness of the game as well as the series. It's as if it's enticing you to go ahead and play the game.


The casting 



Well, at least here Chiba Yudai played an age appropriate character. A salary man who plays FFXIV in his spare time (although he's looks young because of his baby face looks). And if you think that Chiba Yudai is somewhat familiar, he's Gosei Red in Goseiger,and he will play Ryo Yoake in the live action movie adaptation of Relife.  The core unit of Inaba family also jives well, the aloof yet caring mum (Ishino Mako) and the stern, stoic dad (Ren Oosugi) completes the Inaba family.

The Bad

The son
He can tear up in an episode but it did not really have any impact or wasn't tugging any hearts esp when he learned a hard truth about his father.

The Ugly
The final episode
We really don't need a recap of the series. We would rather have 1 full episode story for the supporting character if they warrant it. Though the recap was taken in a  light-hearted way. After all,  they took a jab on what the series ought to contain scenes ( with more shower scenes for Akio! A father and son Sentō (銭湯) time should have done the trick. LOL) .

Final Thoughts:
I was looking at the series without any expectation. I was just drawn in by the premise of a son trying to rekindle a relationship that was lost, which is truly relatable. I was drawn in whether he will succeed in his plan to open, strike a conversation with his father, and to finally have this relationship.

There's really not much to say about the series as everything works well. This very light, cheesy series somehow was able to hit the right spot and manages to woo the audience and empathizes with his plight. The series is short and sweet and is based on a true story.

Rating : 7 out of 10 . The series streams in Netflix.

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