There were a lot of comments on the previous post so I thought better to do my reply as a post than in the comments section since there's so much to say.
Nankyoku Tairiku
Haven't watched it because of KimuTaku. Karei naru Ichizoku showed clearly what a fraud he is or how stupid the powers that be were. His character in Karei naru wasn't the main character and was obviously an idealistic idiot but was portrayed as this cool hero because he was Kimutaku. He somehow is unable or is not allowed to play an everyman. If you watch Love and Honour/Bushi no Ichibun, its clear that the only character Kimutaku can play is Kimutaku. Its as if there is an edict whereby he must have wind blowing in his face and rising orchestral music when he's giving a lame speech.
Change, Mr Brain and Tsuki no Koibito turned out to be horrible. I think I had exorcised Tsuki no Koibito from my memory until I looked up KimuTaku's wiki for this post. All three built around his superstar status. It works for cheesy stuff like Pride where its all about macho, cool and hot girls. If you want to do a story about normal people against the elements, I would get a good actor who the producers felt they didn't need to overpush. Jt and jadefrost's comments have convinced me to never watch it.
Boku no Star no 99 Nichi
What I meant by idol pushing is basically a blatant dorama to promote foreign stars, see Rondo, Tsuki no Koibito and Uso Koi. I'm guessing the girl is an accomplished actress is crying melodrama and the guy is some dancer/singer dude. Fact is, the concept of Boku no star probably come up like this (translated in English):
Producer 1: Hey, we've got an offer to do a Kim Tae Hee dorama. She wants to jump on the Korean wave bandwagon in Japan and get a piece of the pie.
Producer 2: Sugoi! I've got the perfect idea. She'll be a Korean star acting in a jdorama playing a Korean star acting in a jdorama! We'll make her a tsundere because all Korean girls in rom coms post My Sassy Girl are tsundere and Japanese guys love Asuka Langley Soryu.
Producer 1: Good idea! Who do we get as the male lead? How about Nishijima Hidetoshi? He's been in so many doramas and movies, can act and we don't have to pay him much because he's not on variety shows. Gwahahahaha. That's what I love about Japan! Fame and salary is dictated by tv time and commercials, not by acting ability. Even better news, we have to push this other Korean singer as well.
Producer 2: No problem. We'll just make him the long lost brother and give him a lot of blatant dance scenes to promote him. We'll need to make the sister of our bumbling hero a dancer as well to justify the dance scenes.
I think Jadefrost summed up why Boku no Star doesn't work in her comments. Any chance of Pandora 3 subs? Jung, let's not crucify JC. I'm more interested in what he likes about Boku no Star.
11 Nin mo iru!
No interest in another family dorama, especially with 11 people (WTF?) unless someone tells me the writing is pretty good like Aikurushii. Wait, its by the writer of Tiger & Dragon and Manhattan Love Story? Thanks for the heads up Yuzu!
Maiku: Permanent Nobara has been sitting in my HD for a while. Just need to find the time.
Sonaaaaaa~: When I was unemployed many years ago, I ended up rewatching all my jdoramas. Good luck job hunting!
Dude, you should totally start blogging in Japanese. You'd get a lot of readers...
ReplyDeleteoh! that's mio ayame!
ReplyDeleteI've been enjoying Boku to Star too. Sure, it won't land in my top 10 (or even 20), but it's far from horrible. It's intended to be a light romantic comedy. It's not hilarious or life-altering. It's obviously not Long Vacation or Soredemo, but not every drama needs to be. As a light drama I think it meets expectation.
ReplyDeleteTo its credit, Boku to Star is pretty consistent. If you like ep1 you'll probably like the rest. Compare that to Star no Koi, which started off very strong then lost focus in the middle. Even Bus Stop and 101st Marriage Proposal have those episodes that feel like padding.
Boku to Star is like that ice cold cheap beer you drink after mowing the lawn. It's good in the right context. In my case, sometimes I just want to turn off and watch a simple story play out. In this regard Boku to Star is serving its purpose.
I have to warn you, the subs for 11 Nin are slow in coming but maybe you don't need them (I do). Was hoping you'd review it so I could see whether to be patient or not!
ReplyDeletebframe, you could help me translate and set up a Japanese blog.....
ReplyDeleteJT, I can't believe you actually know who she is, lol.
Thanks for the shout out lol. I guess I'll stick to being sonnaaaaa~. I'm thinking of re-watching The Queen's Classroom, I usually do once every 18 months or so. I also need to finish Manhattan Love Story. I'd re-watch IWGP but it's taking me ages to find it.
ReplyDeleteAnybody watching "Saka no Ue no Kumo" part 3? Any comments, rants, etc.?
ReplyDelete