Monday, February 23, 2009

Uta no onii-san eps 1-4

Yes, you don't deserve Shiori!!!!!

The lawyer from Maou stars in jdorama Yano Kenta, a student is about to graduate and reluctantly becomes involved with a children's program. When I first read about this show, I thought it was a great idea. Showing the inner workings of a children's program would be very interesting. After all, it is about adults singing songs and doing dances no one would even dare do when they are drunk all in the name of entertaining children. The contrast with the children exterior and the adult/serious inner business of children's entertainment would make a reverting show because its not something that the general public is privy to.

Ugh, super anorexic Kimura Yoshino. Someone buy her a char siu ramen with extra topping.

Of course, there was very little chance of Uta no onii-san being the dark jdorama I was hoping for. Its pretty much very light-hearted anime inspired fare with plenty of overacting which is still cool. There are everyday workplace issues like politics and kowtowing to management and seeing it in a children's show is still surreal. Unfortunately, Uta no onii-san hasn't really made me laugh. Dark humour would suit this show much better but unfortunately its a concept confined to Jmovies. I kinda enjoyed the some of the subtle homour in Uta no Onii-san but it doesn't work because so many parts of the show are too anime like that the subtlety is misplaced.


The other thing Uta no onii-san has shown is that Maou can't sing. Of course, this isn't eaxctly news. Johnny's is usually associated with no singing/acting talents pushed on looks. I'm not sold Ohno Satoshi's acting. He doesn't stink up the joint but neither does he show me anything interesting. All he had to do in Maou was to brood a lot and let Shiori divert all the attention. I just got no empathy for Kenta. He's like this whiny brat who only knows how to whinge before putting in the hard work.

Hottest chick in the show: Nagaike Natsuko deserves more screentime!

Of course, its part of the character development arc so that he can grow up during the course of the series but right now, there is no interesting character save for Himuro Oji, the narcissistic star of the show. He is the villain who talks too much who entertains but the audience wants to see him beaten and crawl back the next episode. He is the perfect antagonist, designed to make the hero look good. He fits the rediculous feel of the show and actually had the potential to be the most developed character.Too bad he was quickly removed from the show.

ZZZzzzzzzz. Who did she screw to get casted in the show?

My attitude to Uta no onii-san is one of indiference. I've managed to watch 4 episodes but I feel no compulsion to watch more and no concern for the characters. What this show really needs is a villain for Kenta to face. A goal or a seemingly insurmountable challenge because his only challenge really is himself and his attitude.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm really no fan of the main guy, but episode one was pretty watchable. But I guess based on your review, ep2-4 is also just that; watchable.

Btw, check out Akai Ito. It's a middle/high school drama, but it has a distinct feel. (and of course, there's none of that, hackneyed teen against adult garbage theme) I quite like it. It's a consolation after witnessing Arifureta Kiseki go south on me...

Akiramike said...

Oh god. The only reason I haven't written about Arifureta Kiseki is that I'm sick of writing negative reviews.

Pretty much Uta no onii-san doesn't stink but doesn't do anything well either.

Anonymous said...

I sort of like uta no oniisan. It's amusing seeing Maou's awful face when he's supposed to be in a kid's show. But it's really not anything to write home about.

Most jdramas this season sadly kind of suck. I wasn't looking forward to any of them last season, and only Zeni Geba and Love Shuffle are enjoyable to me.

But there's a new jdrama next season with Hiroshi Abe called 'Shiroi Haru', so I'm going to watch it!

Anonymous said...

I forgot to mention, Shiroi Haru also has Yoshitaka Yuriko in it, too :P

joey said...

After reading some of ur review, I have to say that we are a LOT different.

I like this show, I am still loving Arifureta Kiseki, and Ohno certainly can sing.

But I am not gonna say more since I understand that as much as you detest Johnnys, I also do not understand why on earth would anybody listen to momusu or c-ute or whateva~

Fia said...

I've read your what you had to say about this drama and I have to agree that this really isn't the greates drama but I have to disagree about what you had to say about Ohno's singing ability.. to simply judg how he sings in the into song and a few childrens songs in a drama that don't even show how truly talented he is at singing...

But still, everyone's allowed to have their own opinion ^^