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“Brought to You by Our Sponsors”: The TBS Adaptation of Ishiguro's Novel Never Let Me Go

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Richard Donovan
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Abstract

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TBS's 2016 adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Never Let Me Go elicits a particular irony of language in that the Japanese word teikyō means both ‘sponsorship’ and ‘donation’. In Ishiguro's unsettling dystopia, clones donate their organs to ailing humans, becoming the ultimate consumer items. But lead actress Ayase Haruka's appearances as various ‘clones’ of herself in the numerous advertisements punctuating the Japanese drama constitute a breach of the ‘fourth wall’ that not only undermines the anti-consumerist message of its literary progenitor but also exemplifies the burgeoning commercial intrusion into the fictive space of Japanese audiovisual media.

Keywords

Kazuo Ishigurodystopian fictionJapanese dramaconsumerism
Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 16 , Issue 14 , July 2018 , e3
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2018

References

Notes

1 “Drama Watashi o hanasanaide: The reasons for its lowest-ranked viewing figures despite its starry line-up” (「ドラマ『わたしを離さないで』豪華布陣も最低視聴率の理由」), retrieved 4 June, 2018.

2 「平成の原節子、世界的作家に会いに行く」, op cit, pp. 212-221. Setsuko Hara acted in many of Ozu's films. The Heisei period began in 1989 with the accession to the throne of Emperor Akihito. The interview was conducted with an interpreter, Ishiguro's original English being translated into Japanese for publication. The abridged English back-translation of his words, as with all subsequent translation from the Japanese, is mine.

3 Kazuo Ishiguro, quoted in Kazuo Ishiguro: Contemporary Critical Perspectives, eds S. Matthews and S. Groes, Continuum, 2009, p. 124.

4 Cf. the drama series Jimi ni sugoi! (NTV, 2016) and Tonari no kazoku wa aoku mieru (Fuji TV, 2018).

5 Indeed, there are hints in the story that Manami may be gay, further reinforcing the idea of the non-Japanese being a repository of alterity.

6 Wai-chew Sim, Kazuo Ishiguro, Routledge, 2010, pp. 85-86.

7 Ibid, p. 86.

8 Ibid, p. 90; original emphasis.