Ozaki Masaya notches another must watch dorama on his list of great jdorama scripts. Black President was the first jdorama I caught up with after my trip. I'm happy to see that Coffee-ya no Hitobito has been subbed into English but I'm surprised such a great show as Black President hasn't been subbed. Long story short, Black President is the spiritual sequel to KDO with even the same story beats but its oh so smart and funny. Not at the classic level of KDO but still very good and must watch. If you've got basic Japanese, its highly recommended you try.
THINGS I LIKED ABOUT BLACK PRESIDENT.....
Trying to educate Mitamura on sekuhara. lol
Kuninaka Ryoko should have been the lecturer. I like her angry look better and she's got better chemistry with Sawamura Ikki.
Dan Mitsu used only for fan service. Whoever thought it was a good idea to have her try to act in Hanzawa Naoki must have had a great bj from her. Lol at Sawamura Ikki's bulging eyeballs. Pretty sure no acting was needed.
I really enjoyed Yuri's awkwardness and her seeking some sort of direction in life.
Argh, its the girl who ruined Dai Tokyo Toy Box! Love this episode. Its a riff on the everyone thinks Kuwano got a girlfriend episode from KDO but with a different twist.
Kuroki Meisa being so anti black companies but doesn't notice how she treats her assistant.
Kuninaka Ryoko taking paid vacation episode. Saw the ending coming but it was still funny.
The employer rating website episode. I love how Ozaki Masaya takes all these ideals and pretty words and uses Mitamura to show that things are not so black and white and that people can do bad things in the name of good.
Plenty of eye candy, even among very minor characters. Love that angry face.
Thank goodness the medical misunderstanding episode didn't drag.
Always good to see Toda Keiko, the voice of Matilda as the mother-in-law. How do I know this when I've never watched Gundam?
This should have been the ending to the show. Absolutely hilarious and brings everything full circle. Who gives a crap about Kuroki Meisa.
I pretty much watch this show's to watch Kuroki's assistant. The guy cracks me up so much!
ReplyDeleteI think this is a solid B+ show. In my opinion, it lacks comedic moments that KDO had. It tries to make up for it with more dialog, but that forces actors to focus more om the line delivery, and less on non-verbal acting.
But I give them a lot of credit for deviating from the KDO formula with different style.
For me it was so-so, because of characters.
ReplyDeleteJung, I would say its a different kind of funny from KDO. I find Mitamura's arguments hilarious.
ReplyDeletexaxa,you mean the characters are not as fleshed out?
Akiramike,
ReplyDeletecomparison with KDO was inevitable and not in a favour for this drama. I think every character except Kuninaka Ryoko's lost to their "counterpart" from KDO. Abe Hiroshi > Sawamura Ikki (hated his stupid laugh and superiority to students). Natsukawa Yui >> Kuroki Meisa (not even comparable). protagonist's relatives were funnier and "cozier" in KDO. Ken > vacuum cleaner. all the students were kinda meh for me, didn't care about them at all. didn't like Yuri - too strange, too ugly. etc, etc.
Yuri too ugly??!!! Blasphemy! On the contrary, I find her strangeness interesting.
ReplyDeleteCute drama. Was no where close to the greatness that was KDO. TBH, even with the whistling BGM and knowing it was from the same writer, I couldn't tell that it was trying to be a spiritual successor.
ReplyDeleteCan't believe no one else thought it was a very good show.
ReplyDeleteCan't believe I waited so long to watch this show. I don't know anything about masterpiece but this one is 8 hours of entertainment. I find Sawamura's maniac laugh and superiority convincible in the whole scheme. The script feels like it was written by a writer who did his homework properly instead of a clueless hack who never worked 9-to5. No other comedy shows have come close to Black President since then IIRC.
ReplyDeleteWhat keeps it from reaching KDO's status IMO is the pairing of Sawamura and Kuroki, Dan Mitsu had too much screen time and there're way too many supporting characters who I don't care for. This show also hurts because of the title and the slow subbing process.