Monday, December 15, 2008

Giragira eps 5-8

If only I had better writers....

Giragira can be a frustrating series to watch. Like in ep 5 when Hideyoshi falls hard like a cement block in water for Yuna. Can't really blame him but for someone who's suppose to have real life experience and hates liars, Hideyoshi's ignorance towards Yuna's motives is just unbearable. Not to mention that there was no build up and all of a sudden Hideyoshi is getting himself in all sorts of trouble for Yuna. It would have worked if during the course of the series, he is the only one who notices that Yuna may not be that happy with Taisei, ie he catches glimpses of when she lets her wall down. Even then, he would still need to be cautious towards her.

Angel at the doorway to heaven...

It is basically creating a relationship out of thin air in the middle of the series just to advance the plot. There should be more foreshadowing of the Hideyoshi-Yuna thing, not to mention Hideyoshi only came into the series after the first few episodes. I can accept Kohei running around as our idealistic super host but when even he was wary of Yuna, that makes Hideyoshi an idiot who's unbearable to watch.

Hello thighs!

There are parts of Giragira that I love besides Ashina Sei. The whole family man by day, super host by night is fun. Watching him use his host skills to reassure his wife is funny.The whole idea of host battles just remind me of Yakuza/Ryuuga gotoku. Only Japanese shows can overdramatised any profession and make exciting. It would have been better if the show had shades of grey instead of black and white ideas of right and wrong but it would have been workable if they had put more thought and planning into the plot.

Looks like Umemiya Masako's career is really going nowhere. At least she was in the most memorable scene in Golden Bowl.

It is bloody unfortunate Ashina Sei is not in the last two episodes. They should have spread her story over the series and made in part of the climax. Instead we get some crappy actor playing Taisei's kid who acts like a girl. Like the part where he shouts at his dad and runs of. Its so laughably bad. And Kohei's decision at the end on what to do with the evidence was pushing the realms of logic. I just wish it were a calculated risk on Kohei's part to force Taisei to become enemies with the yakuza guy prevent Rink from becoming a target of retribution.

Nakanaide Ashina Sei!

My biggest dissappointment is probably the climax being a whimper instead of a bang. Momoko finding about Kohei's job through her brother was so anti-climatic. We need a scene where she catches him in a comprimising position with a client! The cue running away, Kohei not being able to abandone client, she turns around and his not there, blah blah blah, to be continued. Instead we get a boring table conversation. Without the eye candy, Giragira is a failure. But with Hara Mikie and lots of Ashina Sei until ep 6 and not to mention cameos from Umemiya Masako and Mitsuya Yoko, I'll have to cautiously recommend this show just for the girls.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:05 am

    Somehow... I kinda feel the same way as well.. I was comparing Gira Gira to Yaoh.. and I don't know..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous8:08 pm

    I totally agree. So much potential, and it just tanked. Totally unrelated, but I was hoping for him to somehow stay in the business.. That's obviously what he was best at.

    But, I really like Umemiya Masako, although I've only seen her as the uber vulnerable girl from Lunch no Joou. Maybe it wasn't a really demanding role, but she totally nailed it.
    She was... 25 at the time?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Damn, completely forgot about her in Lunch no Joou. Probably cause her role was more cameo than supporting role. I really want to see what she can do with more screen time.

    ReplyDelete