Thursday, December 15, 2011

Fall 2011 jdorama round up

Only two shows worth watching this season; Shinya Shokudo 2 and Doctors. So what about the rest of the fall lineup?

BITTER SUGAR 1-3


Another female ensemble mid life crisis dorama ala Yottsu no Uso. Gave it 3 episodes but its so generic I feel like I've seen it many times before.

BOKU NO STAR NO 99 NICHI 1-3


This show makes me want to rewatch Staa no Koi because Boku no Star is so bad that it makes Staa no Koi seem so good. Staa no Koi had charm and Boku no Star is just a souless beast. Its not even remotely funny and the forced brother storyline with the dancing scene in ep 3 just killed it for me. How much more blatant can idol pushing doramas get? Do it with a majisuka low budget midnight dorama, not waste a prime time slot and tons of money.

MITSU NO AJI 1-9


Its gone from a niece vs wife dorama to secret operation story to psychotic ex boyfriend story. Kanno Miho is still the main villain but I enjoy watching evil Hachi-one Diver. I'll like to see him become more evil than Kanno Miho. There's nothing really bad about this but I do skim the series more than watching it.

KASEIFU NO MITA 1-7


How the hell is this POS show getting 20%? Does Matsushima Nanako possess so much star power or are Japanese audiences enjoying this? I stuck around cause the writer has written so many good shows and I was hoping it would get better but the build up to the supposedly emotional scene at the end of ep 7 is so freaking bad that Hasegawa Hiroki performance looked like it belonged on a 2pm soap opera.

The writer was trying to build up to the father breaking down but all this dorama is are people doing stupid things. The definition of stupid is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. The bloody kids and dad know asking Mita for favours always ends in disaster but the characters ignore the simple fact completely and never get into a fix where there is no other choice but to play with fire and get Mita to help.

RUNAWAY 1-4


There is a limit to things I can turn my brain off to. Runaway is an affront to all that is logical.

WATASHI GA RENAI DEKINAI RIYUU 1-7


How quickly it went from tolerable show with lots of eye candy to I can't believe how contrived everything is.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

What about Nankyoku Tairiku?

Anonymous said...

bitter sugar= im on episode 4 and maybe will see the next episodes when im not busy.

Nankyoku Tairiku- dropped after 15 minutes
Runaway- dropped after 2 episodes
Boku No Star- Episode 1 dropped after 30 minutes
Mitsu No Aji- dropped after 45 minutes
Watashi Ga Renai- will watch episode 6 in the near future.
KASEIFU NO MITA - No plans.

This is what happens when your working... You tend to ignore the crappy ones. In the future, I wont be surprised if the only jdrama that i will watch on the first half next yr will be Shokuzai and the remaining good unsubbed shows to be continued.

Yuzu said...

Did you try 11 Nin mo Iru ? I have liked Kudo Kankuro's things in the past (have not watched all of them yet, though).

Anonymous said...

O Kimutaku, where art thou?

maiku said...

If you're frustrated with dramas check out Permanent Nobara with Miho Kanno. Definitely a film that's more than it appears to be.

Jung said...

"This is what happens when your working... You tend to ignore the crappy ones."

Haha for me, it's because I've been watching jdorama for too long. Like drinking beer... you eventually learn to not bother with crappy ones.

This jdorama season is like Chernobyl-powered Titanic plowing into mid-town Manhattan. An epic disaster unfolding... and i don't live too far away from it.

I should've dropped Runaway after 4. I usually overlook plot holes the size of Minnie Driver's head. But this show is just too much. I don't know how the veteran actors shoot this show with straight face.

But I have a solution...

If you want a good medical drama, give "Brain" a go, if any one is subbing Korean drama. It's airing this season.

p.s: can we now beat up Jesus Christ Supercop?

Sonnaaaaa~ (now known as Obasan Drama) said...

1. Bitter sugar -- couldn't do it after the first episode. The video (cinematography) was excellent but it was so boring and I'm the obasan drama queen.

2. 99 Star, Runaway, Renai
I have a feeling I'm watching these because I'm unemployed.

3. Mitsu no aji
Crazy psycho drama at its best. I can't stop watching it because it's so crazy.

4. Kaseifu no mita
I LOVE this show. I think it's a great role for Matsushima Nanako. The show might be predictable but it's crazy. I'm liking the crazy this season.

Not mentioned

5. Yokai Bem, Himitsu no Erika
I'm unemployed and these are cute fluff.

6. HUNTER
I love this but I am the Obasan drama queen

7. DOCTORS mei whatever
Watched first episode, not sure if like or not. Higa Minami looks identical to her role in Code Blue which kind of freaks me out.

8. Nankyoku Tairiku
I couldn't make it past the first 15 minutes. That sucks because I love KimuTaku and Ayase Haruka.

Anonymous said...

@jung

i don't think it's as bad as chernobyl. i can still think this is the fukushima disaster. haha.. it can still be salvage by Anarchist and Jadefrost. sad to say that the possible good ones are not subbed. shimei tamashii, pandora 3, shitamachi rocket for example. the reason why i end up watching the rest of the ones being subbed this season.

i gave up on kdrama because of melodrama aftershocks when a drama reaches halfway. is Brain melodramatic in some way? and i dont know if i can handle watching neurosurgery related stuff. it's like putting salt into a wound. im surprised about Doctors though.

if it's like beer, hopefully the bitter aftertaste will soon be tolerable.

Mark said...

That bike escape scene from Runaway was hilarious...

Can somebody put a hand out to grab the guy riding a motorcycle 5 mph through a crowd of police?

Nope, I guess he's just too damn good with that motorcycle.

Jung said...

lmao@ the internet tough guy. you're so right on that one.

Anyway you said Boku to Star no 99 Nichi is "really good". You still stand by that?


@jt I know what you mean. Even good kdrama stay engrossing to about ep 8, and just fall apart. I basically blame this on the fact that they're still on two 1-hour episodes per week airing schedule. And love / melo stuff is just cheap to write and fill time.

Anyway, I've watched Brain up to ep 8. There's not much love/melodrama stuff up to this point. It's been mostly about dirty hospital politics, character development, with decent amount of surgery as plot device. And thankfully no ridiculous super Saiyan surgeries either, like using toe-jam to reconstruct missing cerebral cortex. *cough*Iryu*cough*

So I recommend it... but I don't know English sub is any good.

Jadefrosts said...

Nankyoku Tairiku - I've reached the point where I regard dramas celebrating past glory with suspicion. Especially if Kimutaku is the lead

Boku no Star - It was like there were two styles going on in the drama that was just so jarring. The funny was painfully lame. And it seemed like they didn't have a clue on how to craft a proper story

Kaseifu no Mita - Don't understand the hype. Every episode seems like its cycling through the same old routine with some nuggets to keep audiences begging for more. It irritates me.

Shitamachi Rocket - Some good bits but in the end pales in comparison to Soratobu Taiya. Too much sentimentality, speeches on the need to follow dreams and focus on the David vs Goliath theme. Characters were better written and portrayed in the previous one.

Pandora 3 - Now this is promising. In the same vein as the other Pandora dramas, the "calamity" this time is a man whose personality is alters so much after treatment that he joins the "dark side". Uchino Masaaki is doing a good job playing his character that it makes Kimutaku's turn as a prime minister in Change look pathetic. Need the last 4 eps!

@ jt I'm totally with you on kdramas falling apart after 8 eps. There are also too many side characters.

Jung said...

^ well, Brain bites the dust after ep 8. I'm on ep 9, but the pacing came to a screeching halt. 1-8 was a fun ride

Anonymous said...

@jung

if tv shows creates dreams, i should give Brain a try... but i can't promise if i can finish it. super saiyan surgeries are actually something im not craving for like Iryu.

@jadefrost

the good thing about Pandora dramas is that it keeps getting better.

im not a fan of sentimental speeches either. i think it only worked in Hagetaka.

Flip said...

For me, Boku to Star no 99 Nichi is quite good drama. Everybody has its opinion

Anonymous said...

@jt
Anarchist announced a few days ago on his Twitter that he's going to open a new blog soon, so that probably suggests he's finishing whatever he's working on at the moment and then exclusively focusing on writing.

Anonymous said...

God bless the future of jdrama subs!