Thursday, August 13, 2009

Orthros no Inu eps 1-3


After Maou, it was only a matter of time before there was another dorama pitting two Johnnys against each other in another dark dorama with a supernatural theme. If Maou proved anything, its that dark and interesting concepts paired with a cute chick makes a pretty watchable dorama. In Orthros no Inu, we got Takizawa Hideaki as the 'evil' dude with powers of healing and Nishikido Ryo as the good guy with the power to kill by touch. The chick in the middle is a cop Nagisa, played by Mizukawa Asami aka the nurse from Iryu.

Didn't know she was an M. Always thought she was more S. :)

Ryuzaki is a murderer on death row with the potential to save the lives of millions. He tricks the really stupid Aoi sensei to free him and manages to escape from prison. I can understand the Aoi freeing Ryuzaki part. It feels like a fated meeting and Ryuzaki is the yin to his yang. Bottom line, it is a necessary part of the plot. Its gives Aoi motivation because his guilt in freeing Ryuzaki and starting this whole mess. What I cannot accept is how easily Ryuzaki manages to escape from the prison.

Hottest forensics specialist in Japan.

He's on death row ffs! Where are the security cameras and guards close to his holding cell? One can explain away by saying that the prison boss didn't want people knowing about his frequent visits to Ryuzaki but the dorama did not make that effort. Details matter. I can accept some things happening without explanation as necessary but insulting my intelligence more than once per episode is too much. Killing prison boss and putting on guard uniform does not equal escape from prison. Prison is not a house with two guards outside.

This sentence belongs with a nonsensical show like Karei Naru Spy which I urge everyone to avoid.

Episode 2 gets better when we get to see what 'evil deeds' Ryuzaki can do with his powers of healing and it is fun. Episode two poses questions about morality and value of human life. Exploring ideas of right and wrong is what makes Orthros no Inu stand out. It can be said that Ryuzaki does nothing wrong. He is not playing God. He is giving others the option of playing God. He wants to see what value people attach to their own lives and to others'. Ryuzaki is conducting an experiment on the value of human life. However, Orthros no Inu may run into the same problem as Maou whereby you can't hold the 'villain' as the main cause of the crimes.

Stupid blogger giving me problems uploading large pictures. Ggrrr.

Episode 3 is where this show comes back down the earth. First we have that lol stupid statement by Giragira about having access to information on American secret weapons. It sounds like something out of a bad kids show. Then we have the idiocy of Aoi sensei. I can understand that he has to make the decisions he made in order for the audience to see the effects of his decisions. However, the stabbing scene really makes the stabbing scene in Shiroi Haru look good.

Nope, its a great view! :)

Aoi sensei is in room with girl when killer attacks. He struggles, contemplates using power but decides not to. This brings us to the same problem as his first kill in ep 1. It is/was not necessary for him to use his powers to kill. Did it never occur to Aoi sensei to try to disarm the attacker? Disable him? Keep him preoccupied so the girl can escape? Or even get himself stabbed and hold on to the knife?

Where are all the alarms that kids carry in Shiroi Haru?

No, the girl runs of and knife guy runs by Aoi sensei while he does nothing!!!!! He could have at least grabbed onto the knife guy. I'm not asking him to shoulder tackle him against the door/wall. Whoever planned/shot that fight sequence made Aoi sensei look incompetent. Same problem as last episode of Shiroi Haru, Japanese do not know how to shoot 'action scenes' properly. The easiest way to fix that is to plan the whole sequence in one take and see whether it flows/is logical instead of splitting it up and making it look incoherent when cut together.

Shiori wannabes seem to be coming out of the woodwork.

I can't believe that I'm going to continue watching for Takuzawa Hideaki or rather for his character. I've seen many of his shows and he has never shown acting chops. At least he's outgrown his whiny brat roles. I look forward to seeing what moral dilemmas Ryuzaki can cook up next. However, based on the first 3 episodes, there will be lots of stupid dialogue, things happening without explanation and Aoi sensei acting like an idiot.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think I'm going to ask the most important question I could. Does that high school girl's outfit expose most of her bra?

Akiramike said...

Yes it does. I just have trouble connecting her nice girl attitude with her very revealing choice in clothing. The nicer the schoolgirl in daytime, the wilder she is at night?

joeboygo said...

This show has a jeckyl/hyde personality not unlike the combination of its two protagonists. One minute it's posing profound moral questions, a minute later it's being stupid in that special way that results when gay johnny tries to pander to heterosexual teenage girls.

I'm desperately seeking a forum where the moral issues raised by the show are being discussed, but everywhere I've been the topic is choked with fan-girls who are only interested in the undersize beefcake fanservice. "Yes, cold evil Tacky is soooo kakoi especially since he has a cute personality in real life." - genuine quote from forum.

Mayo said...

This show gained quite a reputation on being a very good drama. But I am sure I am not one to say anything here, since my views on dorama and yours aren't the same.

However, I do agree on this show being err... overrated.

Everyone was saying how great this show's storyline is. It sounded promising at first, but I couldn't even sit through the first episode despite in the mood to watch J-drama. :\

And there aren't even any decent looking idols in it (except that dude who died first who looked like Ikuta Toma, but I couldn't even be bothered to check if that was really him).

Sidetracking, I saw that you rated Shibatora as a bad J-Drama, but I personally enjoyed Shibatora very much. It has comedy + a hint of oh!soinfamousmelodrama and 'i believe in you' type of a moral in it, but I really did enjoy it very much. The show was... per sey, cute? I realy liked that show very much.

I feel that different shows are meant for different types of viewers out there. I didn't really like this, even though if you do some research (which I doubt you'd even), Orthosblawhut no Inu (whatever this show's name is) has quite a lot of reviews who are absolutely in love with this show.

I can say I enjoyed reading your review blog, however, you are not in the same genre as I am. I hope you can continue to provide great, useful reviews to those out there who prefers the same kind of dramas as you do.

I personally like pretty funny, pretty epic, and not at all boring and down to 'reality' shows, with some crap mixed in that you'd go "WTF" at.

But good luck! The Japanese are NOT crap producers. All their dramas cater for some specific types of audiences - I mean, come on! You can't please everyone in Japan, there's like 120 million + of them out there. :D So I don't really think you should call the Japanese 'becoming incompetent', as they are trying to please all types of audiences by producing many different types of shows. (I absolutely hate demon/angel movies like Orthosblawhut no Inu, but others love it. I can't do anything about their love for this show which I don't understand. LMAO.)


Good Day~