First Impressions of Spring 2010 Drama
Posted on May 16th, 2010
In no particular order (based on first episode only, unless indicated otherwise)
1) Team Batista 2: General Rouge no Gaisen
I was quite excited to see that there was another season of a drama I really liked come back for a second season, although I was afraid it wouldn’t be as good. From the first episode, the two recurring characters are no other than Taguchi and Shiratori. Their dynamic is still strong as ever, and once again they make an otherwise serious story lively and humourous. In this season we are taken to a whole new hospital with a different case (although at this point with the title ‘Team Batista’ retained, I wonder if there will be any Batista surgery performed~ will just have to wait and see). One thing I totally didn’t know that pleasantly surprised me was the casting of Nishijima Hidetoshi as the main surgeon. I had just finished watching Real Clothes before watching this first ep and was like “hey, it’s Tabuchi!”~~
2) Tumbling
Your typical ‘rebellious teen reforms through a form of sport (and falls in love with a girl)’ series. Honestly I wasn’t planning on taking this one up as teenage/sport drama doesn’t stick out for me that much anymore, only there were two things: Tumbling is about rhythmic gymnastics, yes you heard me gymnastics, and not to mention a boy’s team (although there is a girl’s as well in the school), which already perked my interest more than baseball/football/basketball/etc… Gymnastics is one of the few events of the Olympics I’ll actually watch. Secondly a couple of the actors in the main cast: Yamamoto Yusuke and Seto Koji. I have not really watched YY in starring role, and I began taking more interest in watching some of Seto’s work after seeing him pop up in a few dramas, as well as starring in Kamen Rider Kiva. The first episode was not too bad, and I quite enjoyed it, I think that it has potential, especially in terms of the two lead actors.
3) Zettai Reido
I’ll probably be waiting a bit more to see if this is worth continuing till the end. So far the premise is like Cold Case, whereby a team of detectives specialise in investigating cases from the past. The thing about Ueto Aya’s dramas is that they’ve been a hit or miss for me. Sometimes I think she’s a bit too cute and innocent for some roles, though granted she often plays a rookie character. Kitaoji Kinya makes an awesome fatherly-type boss though. And there are some other familiar faces I won’t mind continuing for – Minami Keisuke, Kimura Ryo… well mainly both of them, although their roles are rather minor at the moment.
4) Mother (ep 1-3)
This one is probably the emo series of the season, well, compared to the others I have watched. Basically a teacher runs away with one of her pre-school students when she realizes that said student is being abused by her mother’s partner. The pair have to survive without revealing the kid’s identity while masquerading as mother and daughter. The girl, Reina, is played by Ashida Mana, and is really cute. I think the teacher, Nao (Matsuyuki Yasuko), makes an interesting lead her story and that of the drama itself is rather unusual compared to other single parent family dramas I’ve seen, not having that happy fluffy scene at the end of the eps… and her own family situation is also pretty complicated, adding to the plot. I have no idea whether these factors makes it more real or surreal to believe but it definitely has a unique flavour.
5) Sunao ni Narenakute (ep 1-3)
On first glance, I thought this would be a romantic comedy, but it’s slightly more heavier than that. This series is a take the increasing number of young people making friends online, and in this drama’s case, Twitter is chosen platform. It also deals with people’s perceptions of each other based on net handles, compared to the reality of their situations. The cast for this one is what intrigued me as you have Eita, Ueno Juri, Tamayama Tetsuji, and interestingly, JaeJoong ‘Hero’ of DBSK/TVXQ fame (yes, that massively popular Korean pop group that is like everywhere nowadays… not criticising it or anything, I actually quite like their music but am not crazy over it). So far this series seems like a mid-20s version of Love Shuffle, which means it’ll be hard to top it as LS is one of my favourite romantic dramas.
6) Tsuki no Koibito
Here we have a Pygmalion type story where a poor chinese factory worker is chosen by the president of a huge Japanese furniture company to become the company’s next poster girl. I predict this is going to be one of the most popular dramas of the season as not also is it a Kimura Takuya drama, but it also boasts an impressive cast list featuring the likes of Shinohara Ryoko, Kitagawa Keiko, Matsuda Shota, Abe Tsuyoshi and Lin Chi-ling (Xiao Qiao in the Red Cliff movies). I decided to watch the show for the rest of the mainc cast as they are some of my favourite Japanese actors/actresses. Regarding Kimura, despite his popularity, I actually haven’t seen a show of his that particularly stood out to me… then again I haven’t seen many as I haven’t been that interested with the synopsis-es I’ve found. I tend not to base my wanting to watch on reviews as my personal taste tends to differ… Tsuki no Koibito seems promising though, and the acting so far is pretty good. Since I don’t know much about the actors’ backgrounds as I’m not the type to read up every single thing about them, I was surprised that Abe Tsuyoshi speaks decent Chinese on the show, and Chi-ling, Japanese – speaking of Chiling, she looks quite different from her Red Cliff role and I didn’t recognize her until read her filmography and looked up some of her non-historical work. I think it’s cool she has a main role in this drama.
Well, that’s it for the Spring 2010 dramas I’ll be watching. It seems like a season with lots of potential, though I don’t know if it’ll be as good as last year’s autumn season, I’m willing to continue all of them at least~
Waiting for subs: (1 left to go! release and availibility of subs for this season has been pretty good this season)
Yankee-kun to Megane-chan
Backlog of recent shows:
Ryoma den
Tokujo Kabachi
Reviews coming up:
Real Clothes
Shukumei 1969-2010
Filed under: ** jdrama | No Comments »
Kamen Rider Decade
Posted on March 9th, 2010
Kamen Rider Decade
[Rating: 7.5/10]
Genre: tokusatsu, action, drama
Tsukasa Kadoya is a wandering photographer who suffers from memory loss. He cannot remember his past or where he comes from, but he holds the power to transform into the masked rider known as Decade, who is apparently fated to be the destroyer of worlds. As he traverses through the many alternate worlds and eliminates the foes within each, each step seems to take him closer to what has been foretold…
Filed under: ** jdrama, action, tokusatsu | No Comments »
Kamen Rider Kiva
Posted on February 10th, 2010
Kamen Rider Kiva
[Rating: 7/10]
Genre: Tokusatsu, Action, Mystery?, Romance
Wataru is the teenage son of Kurenai Otoya, a brilliant violinist and playboy. Kiva is a hero who protects the human race from the soul sucking monsters known as the Fangire. And then you have Yuri, a member of a secret organisation who hunts said monsters. Just what is the connection between all of them? The story unfolds over a twenty year period…
Filed under: ** jdrama, action, tokusatsu | No Comments »
Bambino
Posted on February 7th, 2010
Bambino
[Rating: 7/10]
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Ban is an confident and enthusiastic university student who dreams of becoming a chef. One day circumstances bring him to work as a kitchen-hand in a popular Italian restaurant in Tokyo. There he gets a real eye-opener to what it is really like working in the restaurant-business.
Filed under: ** jdrama, drama | No Comments »
14 Sai no Haha
Posted on February 7th, 2010
14 Sai no Haha
[Rating: 8/10]
Genre: Family, Drama
A junior high-school student finds herself pregnant and decides to keep the baby. The story explores the repercussions of this controversial issue looking at the reactions from various characters.
Filed under: ** jdrama, drama, family | No Comments »
Gyne
Posted on January 28th, 2010
Gyne
[Rating: 8/10]
Genre: Medical, Drama
Hiragi Nachi is an anti-social obstetrician who would do anything to save her patients, even if great risks are involved. Though her colleagues are dismayed by her attitude, they know she is one of the best in her field and is a genuine doctor who cares for her patients. Nachi also has her personal reasons for the way she conducts herself. One day a freak accident makes her re-evaluate things as the situation puts not only her career but the entire department at stake.
Filed under: ** jdrama, drama, medical | No Comments »
My Girl
Posted on January 28th, 2010
My Girl
[Rating: 8.5/10]
Genre: Family, Drama
About a young aspiring photographer who suddenly finds himself saddled with a young daughter he never knew he had. A heart-warming story about love, loss and persuing your dreams.
Filed under: ** jdrama, drama, family | No Comments »
Autumn ‘09 Drama Wrap Up
Posted on January 28th, 2010
After the lukewarm offerings of the past two seasons, the J dramas last Autumn were pretty solid, and instead of watching about 1-3 I picked up six of them and watched most of them enthusiastically and wholeheartedly (ie without skipping). Therefore I decided to make a post on my top three of the season and instead of doing full reviews for all of them I’ll just do more in-depth ones for the best. I may start to do that for each season instead of choosing which to review, the ones I was neutral about or didn’t particularly care for I’ll just make short condensed reviews in one post.
Anyway, my top 3 dramas for the season are:
1. Gyne
2. My Girl
3. Ohitorisama
Honourable mentions go to:
Tokyo DOGS and Shokojo Seira
I didn’t get to see:
Challenged and Koshonin 2 because I couldn’t find subs. They might’ve been on BT but I can’t use BT and I feel I won’t give an accurate review for watching RAWs because my Japanese skills aren’t that good.
I am still in the process of watching:
Samurai High School and Untouchable although I’m rather half-hearted on SHS and while Untouchable is a good mystery it isn’t as enjoyable as Tokyo DOGS plus for some reason I’m getting a bit tired of seeing Nakama Yukie although she is not a bad actress. Untouchable is good with the suspense building though, it’s pretty scary at some parts.
Filed under: ** jdrama | No Comments »
Satomi Hakkenden SP ’06
Posted on January 24th, 2010
Satomi Hakkenden SP
[Rating: 8/10]
Genre: fantasy, historical
Satomi Hakkenden SP is a two part drama based on The Legend of the Eight Dog Warriors, a classic Japanese text. A wicked enchantress (Tamazusa) curses the land of Awa and the future children of Fusehime, the princess of the Satomi clan. Fusehime kills herself to relieve the land of the curse and the eight glass beads she wears disappear… to be found years later by eight men all whose sirname contain the kanji for ‘inu’ (dog). The pieces fall into motion as the hero of the story, Shino, is searching for his beloved Hamaji, who has gone missing with his family heirloom, Muramasa, a sword which is gushes out water out when it is used by the right owner.
Filed under: ** jdrama, fantasy, historical | No Comments »
Mendol
Posted on December 12th, 2009
Mendol
[Rating: 6.5/10]
Genre: Shoujo, Comedy
Mendol is the story of three teenage girls who have made many unsuccessful attempts at auditioning to become pop idols. One day they witness a crime and find themselves on the run for their lives. An eccentric producer agrees to help them but the catch is they have to hide their identities and debut as a boyband. How long can they keep their secret before they’re found out?
Filed under: ** jdrama, romantic comedy, shoujo | No Comments »