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IMDbPro

Quartet

  • TV Mini Series
  • 20172017
  • 45m
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
997
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
26,543
5,514
Quartet (2017)
DramaMusical
Maki, Suzume, Iemori, and Beppu accidentally met in a karaoke one day while bringing instruments. They then decided to form a musical quartet and live together in Karuizawa during the winter... Read allMaki, Suzume, Iemori, and Beppu accidentally met in a karaoke one day while bringing instruments. They then decided to form a musical quartet and live together in Karuizawa during the winter.Maki, Suzume, Iemori, and Beppu accidentally met in a karaoke one day while bringing instruments. They then decided to form a musical quartet and live together in Karuizawa during the winter.
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
997
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
26,543
5,514
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Stars
      • Takako Matsu
      • Hikari Mitsushima
      • Issey Takahashi
    Top credits
    • Stars
      • Takako Matsu
      • Hikari Mitsushima
      • Issey Takahashi
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 1User review
    • 1Critic review
  • See production, box office & company info
  • Episodes10

    Browse episodes
    TopTop-rated
    1 Season
    2017

    Photos14

    Hikari Mitsushima in Quartet (2017)
    Hikari Mitsushima in Quartet (2017)
    Ryûhei Matsuda, Issey Takahashi, and Hikari Mitsushima in Quartet (2017)
    Takako Matsu and Issey Takahashi in Quartet (2017)
    Masako Motai in Quartet (2017)
    Takako Matsu in Quartet (2017)
    Takako Matsu in Quartet (2017)
    Riho Yoshioka in Quartet (2017)
    Takako Matsu, Ryûhei Matsuda, Issey Takahashi, and Hikari Mitsushima in Quartet (2017)
    Hikari Mitsushima in Quartet (2017)
    Takako Matsu, Ryûhei Matsuda, Issey Takahashi, and Hikari Mitsushima in Quartet (2017)
    Takako Matsu, Ryûhei Matsuda, Issey Takahashi, and Hikari Mitsushima in Quartet (2017)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Takako Matsu
    Takako Matsu
    • Maki Maki
    10 episodes10 eps • 2017
    Hikari Mitsushima
    Hikari Mitsushima
    • Suzume Sebuki
    10 episodes10 eps • 2017
    Issey Takahashi
    Issey Takahashi
    • Yutaka Iemori
    10 episodes10 eps • 2017
    Ryûhei Matsuda
    Ryûhei Matsuda
    • Tsukasa Beppu
    10 episodes10 eps • 2017
    Riho Yoshioka10 episodes10 eps • 2017
    Takeshi Tomizawa10 episodes10 eps • 2017
    Akiko Yagi10 episodes10 eps • 2017
    Mummy D.10 episodes10 eps • 2017
    Masako Motai
    Masako Motai10 episodes10 eps • 2017
    Hitomi10 episodes10 eps • 2017
    Kôji Ohkura2 episodes2 eps • 2017
    Ryû Morioka2 episodes2 eps • 2017
    Seiji Kinoshita2 episodes2 eps • 2017
    Sakura Andô
    Sakura Andô1 episode1 ep • 2017
    Yukiko Shinohara1 episode1 ep • 2017
    Marika Matsumoto
    Marika Matsumoto1 episode1 ep • 2017
    Tsuyoshi Abe1 episode1 ep • 2017
    Issei Ogata
    Issei Ogata1 episode1 ep • 2017
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    User reviews1

    Review
    Review
    Top review
    10/10
    Highly entertaining series from the pen of Yûji Sakamoto
    A young woman counts her tips after busking with her cello in a busy Tokyo square and is approached by an elderly lady who offers her ¥10000 to get to know the woman with a violin in a photograph that she holds up. The woman in the photograph waits in the pouring rain for a minibus that collects her and takes her to a villa in the resort town of Karuizawa. On the way the driver, who is also revealed to be a musician, stops to collect a young man standing by the roadside and, at the villa, the cellist is found sleeping under a table.

    This somewhat unconventional introduction to the four characters who form the string quartet alluded to in the title of the series, is a harbinger of the quirky dialogue and convoluted plot that is to follow in this unusual comedy of manners in which very little is what it initially seems.

    Quartet is actually a brilliant study of how four disparate characters with a common purpose, i.e. to become a successful string quartet, learn to overcome their differences and reveal their secrets to become a harmonious and emotionally interdependent little group. So much so that it begins to seem that life as an albeit celibate group of four seems to trounce hands down the dull conventionality of being in a couple.

    Unexpected events do their best to unsettle the group's composure and one serious revelation from the past leads to one of the group running away to deepest Tokyo, only for the other three to track them down, rally round and bring them back to the villa (a bequest from the grandfather of the second violinist, who keeps hold of it despite pressure from the rest of his family to sell).

    As with a lot of J-drama, this show avoids the glossy, over-produced quality of equivalent western productions, lending it an easy spontaneity. I don't know if the actors were selected for their familiarity with stringed instruments but they are entirely convincing in their miming. Another pleasure is the witty, philosophical and sometimes absurdist conversations around the dinner table which occur on a regular basis.

    'Quartet' is an intelligent and insightful comedy of manners, very different in character from (e.g.) Sakamoto's intense and melancholic 'Still, Life Goes On' and entertaining enough to engender withdrawal symptoms in this viewer after reaching the end.

    This is currently the top of my list of recommendations for those who enjoy quirky, slice-of-life drama and would like to experience the best of what Japanese TV currently has to offer in that regard.
    helpful•5
    0
    • Gordon_Harker
    • Jun 21, 2020

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 17, 2017 (Japan)
    • Country of origin
      • Japan
    • Official site
      • Official site (Japan)
    • Language
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
      • 四重奏
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      45 minutes
    • Color
      • Color

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