Monday, June 01, 2009

Konkatsu! eps 1-3

Gah, what's Rin's mom doing here?! Give Rin back to Tetsuro!

Unemployed man Amamiya Kuniyuki (Masahiro Nakai) finds a job but tells a lie that he is getting married as it is a prerequisite for getting the job. The premise for the show is that he has to find a bride by the wedding date or he will lose his job. The first problem is that his best friend and colleague are idiots who can't even protect a simple secret so most people except his boss finds out by ep 2.

Not even the combined beauty of Ueto Aya and Shaku Yumiko can save this show. Ueto Aya should go back to doing cheesy shoujo doramas.

I guess Japanese find people who have a loose tongue and talk openly about an important secret funny because I don't. Even Kuniyuki's colleague who harbours the same secret has the IQ of 50 in realising the danger of talking about their marriage hunting. The show makes the mistake (in my book) of making Kunuyuki's best friend and colleague look like full retards thereby destroying any hope of empathy I have for their situations. Characters who have zero intelligence are neither funny nor interesting to watch.

Another supporting actress who deserves a chance to main.

I basically skimmed through episode 2. Nothing really funny, only cringe worthy stuff. Lo and behold, Yamaguchi Sayaka appears in ep 3! She's one of my favourite supporting actresses and her guest appearance in Konshu Tsuma was show stealing. Yamaguchi Sayaka always plays the supporting girl that I would have chosen if I were the main dude. In Konkatsu, she is exactly the answer to Kuniyuki's problems and he just ruins everything. I mean WTF! How am I suppose to root for him when he rejects the ultimate solution which falls on his lap? He is short on time and his worried that they're only on their 2nd date???? She's hot and he's gotta get married to save his job! Is this suppose to be funny? Where's the fucking sense of urgency or realisation that he just blew his one chance to get out of his bind?

hhhm, tsundere secretary...

Ueto Aya is suppose to be the main chick but I get zero chemistry vibes from her and Nakai. The cast is decent. Tanihara Shosuke is once again criminally underused. If there's someone who can bring humour to this show, its him. Konkatsu! has an interesting concept but the execution is so by the numbers. There's nothing to make me look forward to the next episode. Nothing that makes me laugh. There's nothing really bad about it, I'm pretty much indifferent to the show. And let's not forget the evil developer plot.

Will you please stop doing boring doramas like Hotelier, Abarenbo Mama, Hokaben and Celeb to Bimbo?

In summary, potentially good concept but cliched and pedestrian execution. If you have better shows to watch, avoid Konkatsu. If you have time to waste, give it a go and don't expect much. And word of warning, it will make you hunger for tonkatsu except I have no idea where to find shops which will serve you a whole basket of tonkatsus on sticks outside of Japan.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think the Japanese find it funny either, as barring a miracle this will have the infamous reputation of having the lowest getsu9 rating in recorded history (average and per episode).

I don't know about the record of the scriptwriter, but resorting to making Kuni's best friend and colleague idiots to generate any kind of comedy just makes you wonder about his own IQ level. The situation comedy is so forced and contrived that you can see the payoff from a country mile away. Nakai seems to be a decent actor, but here he only has 1 or 2 expressions and most of the time he just looked confused or lost.

I gave up on the show near the end of ep. 2; I won't even recommend it if you have time to spare as there're far more interesting shows this season to catch. Even watching BOSS or MR. BRAIN just for star gazing is a better use of time in my books.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, this show is really, really stupid... There's really nothing I can find watchable about it... But I thought Celeb to Bimbo was funny at least, so don't put it down on the same level as this or Hotelier, please :p

Jung said...

^I agree. Avoid this show at all cost.

I adore Aya Ueto, and I thought she finally got a decent role in the last bengoshi dorama.

But this show manages to undo all the hard work put into that show, and then some. She back to playing her tired old self again.

Same criticism goes to Sato Ryuta too. This guy should pick a different role. It's not that he's bad. But he's like a Japanese Steven Segal; he plays the same guy over and over again in different shows.

Anonymous said...

Just saw the first episode of Mr. Brain... you weren't kidding about star gazing! :P