Friday, September 26, 2008

Yasuko to Kenji ep 3-9


Masahiro Matsuoka's overacting killed this show. There is way too much overacting in jdoramas nowadays. Its the seemingly fail safe crutch. Act like an idiot, get a few laughs and hopefully no one will notice that you can't act. Except that Masahiro can act. He was excellent in Heaven Cannot Wait and you can see it in this series after Sakuraba sensei's identity is revealed. All of a sudden, he stops pulling stupid faces and screaming like a madman. His caricature of a yakuza slowly started to act more like a person than a lunatic.


Unfortunately, its way too late for Yasuko to Kenji. Tabe Mikako tried really hard to hold this show up. Too bad Kenji was so important to the storyline because everything he does is neither funny nor cool. I don't think I've even laughed while watching this show. I know I've groaned a lot at how stupid and repetitive a lot of the show is. Every episode is basically the same. Yasuko and Kenji fight, lots of unfunny incidents happen and somehow there's a fight in some abandoned warehouse somewhere.


Hirosue Ryoko is so miscast. I think they could have made it work for her if they tried to do a smarter script instead of going after the cheap laughs. And her brother in the show can't fucking act. Its so obvious that he can't even act natural in front of the camera. Seriously, I just can't believe I watched 9 episodes so far just for Hirosue Ryoko and Haruna. Some shows are just not worth it.

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:37 am

    I agree. I watched the first few episodes and was really caught up in it, a few episodes later and it gets boring and awkward. Same old formula, a few laughs now and then...

    it's not worth watching waiting for something different to happen.

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  2. Anonymous2:15 am

    another mangorama!

    ummm for some reason I quite enjoy the extreme stylised mangarisms...it like reminds to read the manga behind/between the scenes.

    Seigi no mikata is the much superior mangorama of this season.

    I still watched it all though...the zen attitude to take is... NOT AT ALL seriously (Akira lighten up!!)...overall it became pleasant with some smiles and totally throwaway.

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  3. Anonymous8:58 am

    Haha this show is pretty bad. But shockingly, it isn't the worst show of the season. That honor goes to Taiyou. In fact, it may be even be the worst dorama I've ever seen. How these two shows even managed 13 - 14.5 % ratings is too much for my two digit IQ to handle.

    I just hope this doesn't turn out to be the final nail on Hirosue's coffin... She must be as frustrated as I am.

    I think it's time jdorama wrtiers try scripts that are not self-contained in each episode. It's definitely harder to write such scripts, and still get good ratings. So kudos to Maou and Gonzo for deviating from the formulaic and episodic writings.

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  4. Sparqi, I have no idea how you managed to enjoy this show. Most jdoramas are like live action mangas but extreme mangarisms IMO only work in very few cases like Mukodono. Even then, such shows need to be very funny, something I find Yasuko to Kenji is not.

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  5. Anonymous1:18 pm

    Akira.. SBK = eng sub?

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  6. Anonymous5:26 pm

    Yikes..total condemnation! Reputation in shreds! :)

    I think seigi and yasuko are about the only mangoramas Ive seen...and ummm I can adopt a pre-teen mentality...what versatility! Although I did feel the urge to suck my thumb on occasion.

    perhaps the ratings are explained by the age demographic of Japanese viewers.

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