Shizumanu Taiyo Eps 1-8

By the jdorama gods, I think I just watched 8 episodes of the best jdorama this year. On a side note, if jdorama gods really existed, would they have permitted overpushed Takei Emi, Goriki, Kiritani Mirei and Kitagawa Keiko to each have their own shows in the same season?

Gnosticism aside, Shizumanu Taiyo is really Fumo Chitai 2.0 and completely blows the movie out of the sky. I had many doubts coming in and everytime I thought the show might drag, the way the story is executed just kept me going.

Unfortunately at this time, I do not know of a download source besides streaming it from dailymotion here, although one can easily download from dailymotion. The Chinese subs are distracting and I hate it when they cover the Japanese subs when someone is speaking a foreign language. I need a clean no Chinese sub rip and Shizumanu Taiyo deserves to be freaking subbed in English. If you've got basic Japanese, you can watch the movie first and be able to follow the dorama in terms of plot.

Now I need to get to spoiler talk so don't continue reading if you haven't seen it. If you need English subs, write to your senators, petition in d-addicts and raise awareness for Shizumanu Taiyo because it deserves to be watched by as many people as possible instead of stupid Kiritani Mirei romance doramas.

SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

+ OMFG, I need to start of with this. Onchi taking the stand in episode 8 was so fucking cathartic after all that he had been through.

+ The dorama really built up all the trials and difficulties that he encounters so well and I love that the show has time to show all the cultural differences of the three places Onchi is stationed.

+ Onchi taking up hunting is a sort of release and the only way to keep himself sane works really well.

+ The looks his family gives him when they see his house of stuffed animals. As a viewer, you are surprised to see how much his kids have grown but for Onchi's family, they are surprised at how much he has changed and I could really feel that in the acting.

+ There were times during the show I really felt Onchi should quit his freaking job or just promise no more union involvement for his family. The president already lied to him twice and Onchi doesn't need to keep him word anyway.

+ Speaking of the president, what a useless old man who can't even muster the political strength to save one of the few good employees of the company.

- One thing I do hate about Shizumanu Taiyo are the bad guys sneering all the time as if they are in Hanzawa Naoki. OK, the overacting is not as bad but its one of those Japanese things that gets on my nerves. Bad guys don't act like bad guys in real life.

= I can't believe all those accidents happened and the airline was so freaking corrupt. I'm assuming everything that happened are based on real incidents.

+ I was so happy for the Samurai Boss cause it was getting tiring watching Onchi get beat down at every turn.

= I missed Gyoten's relationship with the stewardess from the movie though.

= I liked that they series had more time to develop Gyoten and show why he turned but after that he was just a faceless bad guy. In the end its more Onchi's story rather than Onchi and Gyoten.

SUMMARY

Two more episodes for season 1 and I have no doubt it will be awesome. The question is the remaining 10 episodes of season 2 about Onchi's investigating the sneering bad guys. Its always better for a dorama to have a stronger second half than a first. However, the first 8 episodes truly made for a memorable viewing experience and nothing that happens later can spoil that. Absolutely, positively must watch jdorama.