Friday, December 05, 2008

Bloody Monday ep 4

Spoilers ahead! Don't read unless you've watched ep 4 or Kichise Michoko will shoot you!

So far so good. I feared that they had done too much in the first episode that they little left for the rest of the series. Hacking issues aside, its been a pretty good 4 episodes. The UN needs to issue a wordwide ban on unrealistic hacking movies/dorama. When was the last decent hacking show? Hackers starring Angelina Jolie came out when the internet was young and the audience was more ready to swallow the fact of faster typing = better hacking. Trying to convince the audience that someone could hack into super government computers in 5 minutes without having a stealth trojan type software in it is pushing it.

Hhmm, Fujii Mina. Doing Shikaotoko and Bloody Monday is a good way to start her career.

The important part is that there is always something happening and every episode has an interesting revelation that keeps the audience coming back for the answer in the next episode. The thing I'm happiest with is that Bloody Monday has managed to avoid many cliches which ruin cop shows. So far, there's no scene of 500 hundred riot/police officers to capture one person. There's no long time wasting scenes of characters posturing around with dramatic music. There's no non-threatening villain who just laughs like an idiot and spends 15 minutes monologing... yet.

She kinda looks like Toda Erika.

They've given the ball to Kichise Michiko to carry the 4 episodes as the main villain and she's really running away with it. She's so good as the supremely confident Maya who at the same time exudes danger. I almost wish she'd just break away from the terrorist group and become a rougue character with her own intentions so I can cheer her on. Don't like how Takagi has been Shinjified that sometimes he's like the damsel in distress.

With this and Gira Gira, this season will be known as the Ashina Sei season!

May main problem with Bloody Monday is just the small nagging issues in logic which completely negated some scenes for me. Take the beginning of ep 4 when Maya shot Hosho. WTF did Hosho not shoot back? Wasn't it Hosho job to kill Maya? If she was scared of Maya, then shoot her when she was walking away! Kirishima was told that Hosho was in HQ and alarm bells did not ring? Even after she was suspected of being a spy and she had told him she was in pursuit of Maya? What sort of fucking anti-terrorist is Kirishima? And after Kirishima's fiancee found the viral bomb, why didn't he order her to disconnect it from the air vents and run? Why did they have to spend 10 seconds watching the video of Hosho setting it up? It completely ruined the suspense.

I think for the rest of her career, she'll be known as the super doctor girl from Iryu2.

Kirishima's fiancee's incident is a huge event in the series but its impact is negated by all this issues. If an air borne virus is released in a building, shouldn't it be evacuated? How long can the virus stay in the air and how far can it travel? Wouldn't the safety of the occupants be the first priority? If you catch a terrorist who who know is skilled in close combat, wouldn't you first ensure that the terrorist is secured before notifying the others? If you had a terrorist on the rooftop with a hostage, wouldn't your main priority be to secure the terrorist so that you can get information? Why couldn't anyone in Third-I shoot her when Hosho's back was to them? Don't tell me no one in Third-I can aim? Why didn't they shoot her when she commit suicide to stop her? This is not just cops cornering a criminal. This is an anti terrorist organisation surrounding a person who could provide them with a wealth of information to stop the terror attack.


As I've said before, many shows have gaps in logic and its when issues get complicated and the gaps become essential to events that it brings it down. I'm not saying Bloody Monday is unwatchable. I enjoy it a lot but I just have to point out the obvious flaws that left me cringing. I think all this logic problems would have minimal if the main character had been a Jack Bauer/Jason Bourne character instead of a Shinji Ikari. Then the audience would forgive Third-I for being so incompetent.

She almost makes me want to watch Kamen Rider Hibiki....

15 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:45 pm

    Damn is that ashina sei?

    If so Jung was right (damn!)...its her smile which makes her knock out.

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  2. Anonymous2:56 pm

    ^Jung-kun is always right.

    god damn it Mike, these screen captures are awful.

    That girl doesn't look like Toda Erika... Looks more like Java the Hut in that picture.

    And my god, is Katase Nana chewing on a pound of tobacco?

    You even managed to look Kichise like a witch...

    Booo! Stop ruining my women and recap the pictures.

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  4. Anonymous5:13 pm

    bleh f*ckin google

    http://blog.mystarhill.com/television/
    ashina-sei-stars-as-call-girl/

    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/
    x3fic6_hara-sachie-sekisui-fiora_ads

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  5. Anonymous10:52 pm

    Didn't know that Fujii Mina was in Shika Otoko, although in hindsight, she probably was one of the classmates/kendo club members. Probably just didn't notice. It's good that she's now appearing in doramas. Last time I've seen her was in her chocolate drink ad (where she was pretty cute mind you, Haha).

    Here's a compilation of some of her ads:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nr2dGjwaqc

    The choco drink ads begin at around the 11 second mark if anyone is curious.

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  6. Anonymous1:26 am

    ^ Mina Fujii has to be mixed... though I can't seem to find much info about it....

    And Sparqi, that's the worst picture of Ashina Sei... she looks very manly... *cries*

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  7. Anonymous12:49 pm

    f'kin' google.

    anyway...I sent those links after I managed to disentangle myself from Jungs evil influence which made me halucinate briefly that that cap of ashina sei was Gira gira's wife, but with different hair-style and looking miserable.

    But fear not evil has been defeated and I can say the truth is that gira gira's wife is played by hara sachie not ashina sei.

    Fujii Mina was in Shika Otoko as the kendo captain.. note that within the comments for that show on this blog she was bingoed as a 'talent' many months ago..by myself!!! ehehheheh (I should really aim my discernement, taste, judgement and vast intelligence at other problems such as war, poverty etc)

    BUT, is min fuji mixed? And is hara sachie mixed or Okinawan or what?

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  8. Anonymous5:34 pm

    just watched ep4.

    What a shame! Its tanked.

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  9. Anonymous6:18 am

    ^oh boy, and I thought ep 4 was decent compared to the later episodes.

    I really didn't mind the plot holes, or logic holes, because I'm normally too thickheaded to notice them... though I have to say, the holes are getting larger and larger through episode 8 that I'm starting to cringe too. (The show is getting draggy too, with zero 'big-plot' development.)

    However, what really kills me is the cheesiness and the childishness of the villains, and how pathetic their organization really is. Narimiya Hiroki is a total miscast, because he's not likeable in any show. Instead, they should've casted someone like Yutaka Takenouchi who is likeable by default, but looks deep and tormented enough.

    The show would've been better if the viewers were shown the glimpse of what is driving their god-wannabe behavior, and also if they weren't portrayed in such flat and monochromatic way. Why didn't they give audience something to chew on and opportunities to take sides by making the foes more formidable and human?

    It's still not a bad show. But I hate to say it, I'm almost having more fun watching Oh My Girl these days...

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  10. Anonymous6:36 am

    You know, I just scanned through ep 4 and 5. I think the show's excitement peaked when Hosho shot herself in episode 4.

    From then on, you see a lot more of Narimiya Hiroki and his organization, and what a joke they are. (which in turns makes Third-i look like a joke too)

    I want Katase back. She was the most interesting character. Maybe she shot herself with a rubber bullet...

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  11. Anonymous4:02 pm

    I hate to agree with jung-kun (heheheh) but at the moment 'oh my girl' has been the most watchable (up to ep7)...also because the manageress of hima-chan soothes the eyes and heart(as long as shes not moralising about something or other!)

    BUT, the hosho shooting herself scene in bloody seemed to me the lowest point (surely jung kun you meant it peaked before this scene)...as suddenly about 20 gun toting cops surrounded her (one can only conclude hosho totally incompetent) on the roof top...mina fuji embarrasses herself stumbling into the sentimental hackers cringing arms...This is Rondo bad or even worse...I felt depressed.

    The last hope for me this season is 'yume wo kanaeru zou'...a comedy involving hindu elephant gods...Im allowing myself to hope...

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  12. Anonymous4:05 pm

    ohhh...Im feeling sentimental about maou and gonzo!!

    Is it that the autumn season is usually a bin for the low quality shows and the winter season is the high quality season?

    Please let it be so...

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  13. Anonymous4:57 pm

    wow... 'yume wo kanaeru zou'...

    Now you're grasping straws to save yourself from fall over the cliff... Just let it go man and die with dignity. That show ain't worth your time.

    How about Innocent Love? It's a 50/50 blend of Last Friends and Winter Sonana... (yes.. the one with Yon-sama) It sucks you in with a catchy Utada Hikaru song, then walks you down the tried-and-tested formulaic memory lane sprinkled with amnesia, incest, terminal illness, love-triangle and a dash of homosexuality.

    You can't go wrong with that my friend!

    *sigh* *pounds head on desk*


    Well, 2007 Fall shows were generlaly good, so I don't think it's a seasonality factor... nor is it the global economic meltdown and the credit crunch, since most of these shows were shot several months ago... Hrmm.. but starting NEXT season, I fully expect to see cheaply produced shows with more blatant product placement.

    Speaking of product placement.... why do I have the urge to go out and by myself a Subaru... Must go buy a Subaru Legacy now...

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  14. Anonymous11:11 pm

    ...that post made me laugh...and then as the implications sunk in...blaaaaaeeeeeeeh.

    I would guess that the finances for the production of next season would have been sorted before the bankers started getting hysterical (with laughter)...so there is (a slim) hope for christmas!

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  15. There are hints that the terrorists were not gonna be menacing/real when they had them playing cards with skewed camera angles, lots of posturing and some laughing.

    Its like there's a jdorama rule that villains must act like they're from some sentai show.

    Totally agree on the Takenouchi Yutaka suggestion. Alas, he was in the horrible Rondo and pedestrian Tomorrow.

    I thought doramas were shot close pretty close to airing time, ie a few eps in the can before it airs cause they changed the script for 101 proposals midway in the show.

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