Yokokuhan The Pain Eps 1-3

Mizutani is riding a train and we see a bunch off schoolgirls looking at him weirdly.

One of the girls grabs his arm and accuses Mizutani of being a chikan. Lesson of the day, use both hands to hold the handle when near schoolgirls in packed trains.

Mizutani pleads not guilty, he gets held for 3 months before the matter proceeds to court and prosecution says they found a chikan material in his room. This is so stupid. Which guy doesn't have chikan material in their room? I'm pretty sure everyone has a few in their room, right? Right?

Mizutani is in deep trouble. The girl has been 'chikaned' before and the two guys ended up settling the matter aka paying her off(jidan). So basically police are complicit in a blackmail system where schoolgirls can make pocket money from poor Japanese salarymen without giving anything in return.

Mizutani's search leads him to a lawyer who brings him to a falsely accused chikan meeting and there he meets Sakuma...

who happens to be Shinbunshi who runs trials on the net and the viewers vote whether the person is innocent or guilty.

Yokokuhan is kind of interesting but there are a few problems with the premise:

1) Because its a 20 minute online trial, there is no time for twists and turns. Basically Shinbunshi knows everything and is never in trouble.

2) I know the judiciary in Yokokuhan is corrupt for the Shinbunshi online trial is so easily abusable. I can see how Shinbunshi can portray an innocent person as guilty.

3) Toda Erika is the only cop who is allowed to be smart.

Did I mention Erika-sama the second looks as malnurished as Mano Erina is now? They should be kidnapped and forced to eat something for their own good. They are like walking skin and bones.

The interesting thing about Yokokuhan is the identity of the members and their end game. Clearly its to build up viewership and go for the big fish. Whether or not its going to be exciting remains to be seen.

Eh dorama for me, which is just a step above meh.Unless episode 4 super sucks, I'm probably going to watch it until the end.

Boku No Tsuma To Kekkon Shite Kudasai Eps 3-6

Gah, Yoshikazu Okada should have finished off at episode 5 before it turned into crying porn in the final episode. I have nothing against crying or porn but episodes 1-5 had the right mix of humour and sadness for a cancer dorama. Plus, Yoshikazu Okada had the perfect gag to end episode 5.

Yeah, he had to tie up loose ends and I liked Shuji's line to his boss in episode 6 but it just went on for too long and just dragged. I guess they had their target audience to think of. Boku no Tsuma to Kekkon Shite Kudasai is still pretty. I won't call it must watch but here are my 5 reason to watch it:

1) As I mentioned a few times already, its pretty funny. Cancer dorama and humour is not something you find often.

2) Kimura Tae's best work I've seen.

3) They got the director of the Byakuyakou movie to direct and it looks pretty good.

4) If you've got Koizumi Kotaro and Sakai Wakana doing your minor supporting role, its definitely going to be good.

5) Its a story about the value of laughter. Shuji grew up fatherless and alone and it was laughter that variety shows brought him that sustained him through the tough times and its how he deals with pain.

The original work was a novel and was done as a stage play last year. It certainly explains why a lot of scenes have that stage look and the jokes. I would love to have seen the stage version. Speaking of stage shows, someone needs to turn Better Half in a dorama special. Highly recommended. Probably as good as cancer doramas are going to get.

HASHIMOTO KANNA IS GOING TO BE IN SAILOR FUKU TO KIKANJUU MOVIE

:)

If you don't know who she is, just watch this.

Boku no Tsuma to Kekkon Shite Kudasai Eps 1+2

I was going to try this out for Kimura Tae but I was afraid it was going to be your run of the mill sappy cancer dorama. From the first frame with the stage-like retelling of Mimura Shuji's childhood to the sitcom like wide camera angle of the house scenes, there was a different vibe to this dorama.It did not feel run of the mill at all.

Boku no Tsuma to Kekkon Shite Kudasai takes its time with the cancer and Shuji finally deciding he needs to fix his wife with up with someone before he dies. I won't spoil the who or why but its pretty funny. Actually, its not who or why but rather the hilarious situations and dialogue that it leads to.

Speaking of how funny TsumaKon is, the only people Shuji can talk to about his plan are his doctor (Koizumi Kotaro) and nurse. In giving Shuji advice, we can see the relationship issues between the doctor and nurse come to the surface with the eyes throwing daggers. I love it when dialogue says more about the speaker than other people. I'm surprised they got those two playing minor supporting parts.

Speaking of funny, this show is less sappy more feel good laughter. I'm watching it thinking, damn this dialogue is pretty good and the jokes are more hit than miss. Its nothing I've never heard before; perfect couple, husband with a secret but everything just works.

So I looked up the wiki to write this before I go on to episode 3 and lo and behold, the writer is Yoshikazu Okada who just recently graced us with the horrible Kokoro ga Pokitto ne. Talk about huge difference in quality. I think Kokoro ga Pokitto ne's failure had more to do with casting and directing though.

I am excited but I'm scared cause Yoshikazu Okada's recent good shows always end up short of being must watch such as Saigo Kara Nibanme no Koi. Uchimura Teruyoshi and Kimura Tae are really effing good. Its hard to make nice people interesting but the script does help a lot.

Very close to calling it a must watch. The first two episodes are really fun but I just don't want to label something must watch and then watch it fall apart after a strong start. I wonder if the same people who made Cofee-ya no Hitobito are involved in this as well.

Stella Glow and 4 things I never want to see in JRPGs again

So I finally finished Stella Glow on the 3DS. It was on OK mid budget strategy RPG. The best way to describe is FF Tactics meets harem visual novel. I loved the FF tactics parts with all the special moves and different characters. The visual novel bit was not fun with our boring nice protagonist who is the 'conductor' having to 'tune' all the witches which basically means he is the psychologist for all these loli characters with emotional problems.

The kanji says 'tuning begins'. I'm pretty sure everyone knows that its an euphemism for.

This just reminds me of Sen no Kiseki with how a potentially good Madoka-esque story is ruined by having too many anime tropes that. So, the following are things I never want to see in JRPGs again.

1) Mysterious little girl with no memory is taken in by heroes and and sleeps in main character's bed so lolicon fans can fulfill their papa fantasy with their harem girl

We've seen this is Zero no Kiseki and SAO. Shouldn't your first priority be contacting child services or putting the child in an orphanage?

2) Character takes so freaking long to die so that they can thank each and every character. 

FFS, do they no longer know how to do a good death in RPGs/anime? Less is more. See Legend of Galactic Heroes. What type of stupid audience falls for a super dragged out death scene anyway? I was so afraid that the dying character(s) would not actually die.

3) Stereotypical harem storyline takes precedent over saving the world.

The story of Stella Glow is supposed to be about saying the world but most of the story is about the hero saying stuff like you are my friend/comrade and you will never be alone multiple times and in so many ways. Not enough of the dialogue is on battles and casualties of war.

I'm not opposed to harem aka multiple endings depending on the girl. I am opposed to stereotypical harem characters with stereotypical dialogue which sound like its written by the same person that writes every goddamn harem anime based on a light novel.

The girls are only as paper thin as their typical issue and after that is solved there have nothing to do in the storyline besides eat cakes and go to onsen.

4) Having stupidly long debates with the baddie in the middle of battle with every character having their say.

What ever happened to you want to destroy the world and we're going to kick your ass you m'fer?

SUMMARY

If you love SAO and harem anime in general, this game is made for you. If you like FF Tactics style games, its still fun to play through and Imageepoch really put a lot of effort into it. Can't believe I have to play through the game again to get the real ending. Gggrrr.

LANGRISSER RE:INCARNATION

Its only a month until release and Masaya not even shown a second of how the troop animations actually look like. They've shown how the battlefield map and lots of artwork but no footage of actual troops. This does not bode well.

Mousou Kanojo Eps 1+2

Keisuke has been making money by blogging about his fake girlfriend Haru when one day, Haru appears in front of him. She is exactly as Keisuke describes her in his blog.

Keisuke finds out that having his dreams turn into reality is not really what he wants and whatever Haru is, is trying to find out more about the world including hanging out with Keisuke's publisher. In the end of episode, Keisuke sets Haru free and she becomes the opposite of ideal.

I really hate the main character and the first two episodes have not been funny nor interesting. Kinami Haruka is Keisuke's comrade living in the imaginary world but she hasn't done anything much. Mousou Kanoko could still turn out to be an interesting show on fantasy vs reality but it hasn't given me any signs it might. Avoid.

OMFG Shenmue 3 is real!!!!!!!!!

If I weren't at work right now, I'd be crying manly tears of joy. Oh yeah, The Last Guardian or The man eating eagle Trico is also alive but kickstarter? No one at Sega or Sony had the balls to fully back Yu Suzuki?

Not many have played Shenmue 1&2 but its basically the father of Ryu ga Gotoku and Shenmue 2 ends with Ryo finally meeting Shen Hua.

I'm getting on kickstarter after work. Take my fucking money Yu Suzuki!!!!!

Edit: Just backed for $185. Kickstarter is at 1.74 mil. Now idea how they are going to make a sequel to a game that cost $50 mil to make unless Sony is backing the rest.

This is exactly how I felt watching the reveal. 

I don't want no dubbed version though. I better be able to choose to get the Japanese version.

Yume O Ataeru

Do you need a bigger reason to watch than Kaho on girl action? End of review.

Ok, maybe I should say something more. Yume O Ateru is about Komatsu Nana's character, Yuko who grows up as a child star and the effect it has on her mother Kikuchi Rinko and her easy going French father. Odagiri Joe is the advertising guy who chooses her. Talk about WOWOW and acting talent.

In the beginning, we see that a sex video of Yuko has been leaked out and while we are pondering how that happened, the story starts from when she was chosen to appear in a CM and the various people who used and pushed her up the entertainment world.

Unfortunately, Komatsu Nana is just not that good. Kaho, meanwhile is superb. Maybe the casting people thought Kaho just doesn't have that dark, depressing look but anyone who's seen her in the superb Hitori Shizuka knows she can do it.

Kaho steals the freaking show as Yuko's one and only friend in the business. Too bad her role is minor. I really liked the first two episodes and was ready to declare it watchable but the third and fourth were kind of meh.

I didn't really care about Yuko. The characters surrounding her like her mother and Kaho were much more interesting so the speech at the end didn't work for me.

Watachable show about being in the entertainment industry and the pressures of living in that bubble with standout performance from Kaho.

Fuben na Benriya Eps 1-3

Another benriya dorama after Mahoro Ekimae Bangaichi except this one is set in an unknown town in Hokkaido with a script writer stuck there and staying with two benriyas. Its laid back and wacky. There were a lot of gags where I could see the joke but it didn't really make me smile or laugh.

Mahoro Ekimae had pretty good human element stories about the characters in the small town but nothing in the first three episodes of Fuben na Benriya caught my attention and Lunch no Akko-chan is more interesting and funnier despite having less jokes.

The stories but get better but I've got no incentive to keep watching cause I'm just not feeling this show. Meh.

Sono Otoko, Ishiki Takai-Kei Eps 1+2

Sono Otoko, Ishiki Takai-Kei is shoujo manga style dorama about a Ito Ayumi and her new colleague, Joe who thinks very highly of himself. The hook of this dorama is Joe is very irritating character who talks a lot but does not know how to do anything.

In terms of making him a vexatious character, they've done a great job cause everytime I see him smile I want to pound his face into the ground and kick his teeth in until he can never smile.

However, Sono Otoko, Ishiki Takai-Kei does not answer why I should keep watching such a despicable character who has deceived the boss and is walking all over Ito Ayumi. I'm interested in seeing how they are going to make the otome game but I can't stand watching Joe.

The only reason I gave this a shot was Ito Ayumi and she does not belong to the school of overacting. Avoid.

Lunch no Akko-chan Eps 1-3

Lunch no Akko-chan is a light dorama about a temporary employee Sawada played by Renbutsu Misako and her mysterious boss Akko-chan played by Toda Naho.

Sawada's boss is strict and capable, everything Sawada is not and one day, Akko-chan proposes they swap lunches.

Sawada will give bento to Akko-chan and Akko-chan will tell Sawada where to go for lunch. This strange arrangement provides the opportunity for Sawada to get out of her shell and learn life lessons.

To me, Lunch no Akko-chan so far is a must better version of Mondai no Aru Restaurant mixed with Jyoou no Kyoushitsu.

The fact that only one character needs saving instead or having a whole host of character plus the short runtime makes the storytelling more efficient and focused.

Toda Naho's portrayal of Akko-chan certainly owes a lot to Amami Yuki's famous role.

I've always enjoyed Renbutsu Misako's acting since Nanase Futatabi many years ago.

She's always played supporting characters so its nice to see her playing the main role.

Fun and breezy 3 episodes so far for me.

I can't wait for episode 4 cause Mano Erina is in it! Erina-chan~~~~~~~~~~!!!!!

Thanks to cyberwave for recommending Akko-chan! I don't think its been subbed but its pretty easy to follow.