Monday, June 15, 2009

Mr Brain eps 1+2

If there's one thing Iryu taught us, its that standing in formation is only cool if you have an important purpose in the freaking show.

If you like Hero, Mr Brain is the jdorama for you. Big name stars and huge budget held together by irrelevant plot. There's no need to read on if you enjoyed Hero and Change. KimuTaku is one of the greatest jdorama stars. There is no denying he has been in some of the greatest jdoramas ever; Long Vacation, Love Generation, Pride etc etc. KimuTaku is no actor. Karei naru ichizoku was a good show despite focusing way too much on him and showed that he is not fit for serious shows. Love and honour showed that he cannot hold a candle to Hiroyuki Sanada. His best shows are when his star power is focused and ultilised as the generic nice guy in a strong narrative.

This is what the viewers who gave the first two episodes 20+% look and act like.

Watching Mr Brain made me appreciate Kiina more despite the fact that the solutions to Kiina's problems are easily solved in the first 10 minutes. Maybe it has something to do with Mr Brain's crazy budget and the stupid ways the use it. Not in the service of the story but just to show people that its a big budget show. Like the super unrealistic police science lab thingie filled with 100 peons whose purpose is just to show that they can afford 100 extras.

So if the Japanese police want to catch two criminals, they'll send twice the number?

Or the table touch pcs which can read people's minds, know which programs to pull out and scan and convert a 2D image into a 3D holographic model! Or maybe its the customary 100 armed police in SWAT gear rush a deserted building to capture someone. In samurai movies, its cool for the hero to go in alone to meet the enemy. In modern cop shows, hiding behind 100 other 100 other riot/SWAT cops is cooler. If they ever to do a cop show starring all members of SMAP, I think 1000 police officers with grenade launchers and laser beams would not to sufficient to fulfill it cool quotient!

I'm just going to bag the shit out of this show because its a prime example of how Japanese cannot do a proper big budget cop/action show. *cough* Bloody Monday *cough* Maybe its not that they can't. Maybe its the jdorama system. Maybe its the necessity to fill it up with 50 irrelevant characters that bring nothing to the show when concentrating on a smaller core of characters like most normal budgeted shows do. Maybe its all those stupid facts and unfunny jokes about brain stuff that makes me want to put a nail through the wall with my forehead.

Waste of talent :(

I know it was suppose to be a big deal to have Gackt in ep 2 but ffs since when are guys in Japanese prison allowed to wear make up? I'm pretty sure 99% of women's prison do not even allow. Shows like this make me want to swear off Japanese dorama forever. Thank god for Shiroi Haru. I'd rather watch season 2 of Galileo than Mr Brain. At least its not too bloated with its own self importance.

Don't get too excited, she only has a cameo in ep 1.

I can't believe that the writer who wrote the Trick series also wrote this and Bloody Monday!!!!! It just does not make any fucking sense?!!!! Can someone please explain it to me? How can someone write something as good as Trick churn out Bloody Monday? If this were a hollywood production, they'd be plenty of whispers of studio interference. Mr Brain isn't a bad show, if you can somehow ignore how unnecessarily bloated the show is. Gonzo was a sign of how they can make good jdorama cop shows = good acting + tight script. Mr Brain is anything but. If you watch only 1 cop show this season, make it Rinjo. The saddest thing this season is not the abundance of crap cop shows, its that Shiroi Haru has a 12% average rating while trash like Mr Brain rate in the 20s. If the Japanese don't vote for quality with their remotes, then the stations will keep feeding them the same junk every season.

9 comments:

Enma said...

i find hero quite entertaining. also having separate episodes was fine for me. That is not the case with Change. But thanks, I won't waste my time on Mr Brain. I find the name silly.

But I don't share your optimism on Shiroi Haru. I am a fan on Abe Hiroshi and Shiraishi Miho (since Densha Otoka I think), but this show works so much on the pathos, that it is either slow or sounds fake. Starting from the little girl. She is so nice, gentle, thoughtful, loving of her father, OMG... A teen would have brought much more dynamic. The baker is dull without class (not that hard working people have no charm, it just that he is too much in his baker thing). Finally the plot is bad. I mean, if you want to do something to save the life of the one you love, you can tell him calmly, why this ''I don't want to see you" scene during the jail-visit, and what is with the stupid excuse "I wanted here to be happy, even with someone else".

Rinjo would be nice with lesser yelling.

BTW I am having a nice time discovering Tiger and Dragon. Seems that from time to time Japanese can do nice comedy

Jadefrosts said...

It was bad enough having Boss heaped on us. And to have that followed up with Mr Brain.

Two dramas to show why even a big name cast and high drama ratings don't signify quality.

Rinjo is certainly the best of the investigative dramas this season.

Anonymous said...

No disagreement here. Well, at least ep. 5 has Nakama Yukie as guest, so it should be fun to watch. Some rumor has Ken Watanabe as a future guest as well, but that would totally usurp the star of the show and I don't think JE will allow that to happen.

Even though our blog master may be exaggerating a bit about Shiroi Haru, I don't agree with some of the negative comments posted. 'Works so much on the pathos'? How many episodes have you watched if I may ask. If anything the writer is actually very restrained in this regard (compared to KDramas for example), and I don't find it slow or fake at all (may be a little in the first 2 episodes but I've heard enough sob stories in my life and this is really very tame by comparison). And what's wrong w/ the little girl? You've never met someone like that in your life? Give me a break...
And finally I don't see anything wrong w/ the plot; it's been very logical and realistic, much more so than any other dramas this season (except may be Aishiteru which I haven't seen). Sorry, don't want to sound confrontational and turn this into a shouting match. You've every right to not like the show as everyone has his/her own preference, but I just can't agree w/ what you said (I've yet to see comments like that made about the show on other boards).

As far as Rinjo, again how many episodes have you seen? Most of the yelling was in ep. 1; it was much more restrained after that (as of ep. 8).

I think I should really shut up now...

Jung said...

I had no idea what Mr. Brain was about, so I had zero expectation when I watched ep 1. I really enjoyed the first few minutes; the exchange between Kimutaku and Hirosue was great. And I was totally hooked when he suddenly got buried under the scaffolding. I thought to myself, "WOW! This is going to be a great show!"

Then I got really confused, because they started airing a completely different show, with cops and glass building. A few minutes later, I became furious, because I realized I was actually still watching the same show...

I agree with what everyone said here about the show. I think a copy show that solely focuses on the neurological science was a novel idea. But this show isn't really focusing on that aspect, and it has turned into another bad CSI show.

Enma said...

to anonymous

I saw the hardsubs till 3. And the raws till episode 9 on Shiroi Haru. I didn't understand much, but again if you saw how the 9nth episode ended, you would understand what I meant by pathos.

"And what's wrong w/ the little girl? You've never met someone like that in your life?"
This is the problem,there is nothing wrong with her.
And no, in my teenage years, some of us where cynical, jealous, bastards, ironical, disdainful, rebellious, punks(well soft punks).
I wanted a Girl with some weakness, a little older so that she understands who Ojissan is, and then decides how to face this reality (denial for example).
Instead she is a cute, bright, nice little girl, and on the verge of death. Everyone, prepare your Kleenex. I imagine that in order to save her, we need some kind of transplant... Oh, lets guess: who can it be? I would still watch this Drama, specially now that we have the soft till episode 9. But part of me will be disappointed because we are left with 2 episodes to settle the daughter/biological father relation.

Anonymous said...

Sadly, next season has almost NOTHING that is even remotely interesting...

Sevmpe said...

I saw that Ayase Haruka was in this drama and after watching Hero (I enjoyed that show) I decided to watch this. I have been through three episodes (yep, I should go out more) and I have come to two conclusions.

First, Ayase Haruka is definitely wasted in this show. Her character is, at its best, unnecessary. I guess she swallowed her pride when she signed for this.

Second, Kimura Takuya was the "black sheep" in Hero's cast and I find his acting highly irritating.

Anonymous said...

i'm probably going to be labelled as a crazy kimura takuya fan but i don't think mr. brain is as bad as everyone makes it out to be. it is rather funny and easy to watch and who cares the main reason i'm watching it is only because of kimura takuaya. but i'm not that deluded to think that the drama is great though. but definitely still watchable. i am rather disappointed that kimura takuya has not been in a decent drama since engine though.

Anonymous said...

Downloaded the show and watched it. I have to say I was entertained by it. It was a fun show. I liked the chemistry between KimuTaku and Ayase Haruka.