Voice Episodes 1-4

Voice reminds me a lot of Signal and not just because both are remake of kdramas. Both have a science fiction premise, it Signal it was the ability to communicate through time and in Voice, its someone with a superhuman sense of hearing working at an emergency control room.

However, both also feel like the shows are trying way too hard to be touching and exciting. I will accept any premise as long as it leads me down an interesting path but the path that Voice makes doesn't feel well made.

Too many jumps in logic and the police looking incompetent, something that happens a lot in jdoramas. Most of all, it feels like certain crimes are happening in certain ways in order for Maki Yoko to use her super powers. Plus everyone knows that most calls to emergency lines are about domestic disputes.

I really wanted to like Voice because I am a fan of Karasawa Toshiaki and Maki Yoko but I just could not buy what Voice was trying to sell me. Sometimes the lines feel like they are badly translated from Korean.

If you liked Signal, Voice should be right up your alley. If you didn't like Signal like me, its not worth giving Voice a try. Its a real shame because I really like the cast in both shows. Voice with available with English subs. Meh.

Soshite Ikiru Episode 2

So in episode 1, it seemed like Soshite Ikiru was going to be about two people who met at the scene of a great disaster who also happened to orphans who feel a great debt to their adopted family.

Everything was great, acting was great and the only thing that gave me pause was Arimura Kasumi playing this jimoto idoru wanting to be an actress.

That kind of role is usually reserved for female idorus when they act in jdoramas for various reasons. For male idorus its usually dancer.

I kept wondering why the writer chose this dream for Arimura Kasumi's character because any another job would be ok.

The the twist happens and we find out not only will Arimura Kasumi's character sacrifice her dream, she will not tell the dad who she barely dated.

Right now, I am not particularly invested in her character or her predicament because of her choice.

I guess there would be no story if she aborted but I don't feel the desire to continue especially with their relationship which hardly started. Maybe it gets better in episode 3 but meh.

Mada Kekkon Dekinai Otoko pictures are out!

To be honest, I don't really want to watch KDO2. I refuse to believe that Kuwano and Hayasaka sensei did not get a happy end. If Kuwano Shinsuke could not find happiness with Hayasaka sensei, then what hope do the rest of us have?

Yoshida Yo and Inamori Izumi are good actors but are they going to have the chemistry with Abe Hiroshi?

No idea who this Fukagawa Ai is but she's playing the new neighbout. Can she be the new Kuninaka Ryoko?

The brother in law is back.

And most importantly the pug.

I'm keeping my expectations low and getting ready to wipe Mada Kekkon Dekinai Otoko from my memory if it sucks. I am counting on the great Ozaki Masaya to do his magic one more time. Mada Kekkon Dekinai Otoko starts in October.

Akutou - Kagaisha Tsuiseki Chousa

WOWOW has done it again! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, they have created yet another reall good jdorama in Akutou - Kagaisha Tsuiseki Chousa. I think its the remake of a 2012 one shot starring Takizawa Hideaki.

Akutou is a hard boiled jdorama about a former policeman turned private detective Saeki who works in an agency specialising in chasing down villians or perpetrators of crimes after they have served their time which is also what the title of the show is.

In the first episode Saeki is tasked with find the killer of a couple's child who was sent to juvenile prison for a short time but is now free. The old couple asks Saeki to find information on whether or not they should forgive the killer.

We've all seen shows about when the punishment handed down does not seem to fit the crime. To the victim's families have the right to take the law into their own hands? Does someone who has paid his or her debt to socity have not have the right to live their life?

Higashide Masahiro does a decent job as the brooding Saeki. While Shinkawa Yua is nice to look at she just could not project that inner sadness that her character needed. Not that she did a bad job.

My favourite characters were Aoyagi Sho as the villain from episode one and Renbutsu Misako as the girlfriend. They are the most interesting characters to me because it is not a black and white relationship at all and a lot of the relationship is inferred throughout the series.

A enjoyed Akutou very much. Dark and brooding is right up my alley. Akutou unfortunately is not subbed as far as I know though it should be. Not quite must watch but goddamn its very good. Where would jdoramas be without WOWOW?

Parasite Kmovie review

Its been a while since I've seen a Kmovie. When I heard that Bong Joon-Ho's Parasite had won the Palm d'Or which Shoplifters won last wear, I was very excited to watch it. I was disappointed with the overhyped Okja and I wanted to see the director who had done The Host, Snowpiercer and Mother back at the top of his powers.

Parasite is a movie about this poor, down on their luck family whose son becomes the tutor for the daughter of a very wealthy family. The son then gets his sister a tutoring job with the wealthy family and then his whole family is leeching of the wealthy one.

From the beginning, Parasite felt very off for me. The characters did not feel sympathetic at all. It wasn't like shoplifters where the family did not know any other way to survive. The Parasite family is smart and they did not feel downtrodden enough to be underdogs.

I'm guessing the director does not want empathy towards the Parasite family but I did not really care about anyone. I didn't find the antics funny or moving at all and there was not really anything to contrast the Parasite and rich families. Even the dark comedy parts after the reveal left me bored and can anyone tell me what was the point of the little boy doing the morse codes in the tent?

99% of the reviews for Parasite praise it very well about its analogies to class divide but all I saw was an unfunny comedy wannabe where I could not figure the point of the story. Meh.

The Naked Director

The Naked Director is an 8 episode Netflix series starring Yamada Takayuki as an English encyclopedia salesman who ends up being a porn director. The most obvious comparison would be Mosaic Japan written by the legend himself Sakamoto Yuji which was en examination of the good, bad, weird and funny things about JAV.

The Naked Director is history lesson into the business side of Japanese porn with the story of a bunch of underdogs trying to go against the establishment. One thing it does better than Mosaic Japan is that its a lot more visual and sensual. The best thing about Netflix is that there are no censorship rules, unless you live in one of those countries.

While I enjoyed the series and finished it in two days, I just felt the writing was not as strong as it could have been. I think The Naked Director to me as an underdog story felt undercooked, especially the supporting characters. I liked all the characters in the end but for the time I spent with them I felt I should have known them more.

The story is also really slow in the beginning and its not until that Morita Misato who plays Kuroki Kaoru gets involved in the main story that things get heated. I have no idea who Morita Misato is but she is good. When she's on the screen with Yamada Takayuki, that's when you feel the electricty.

Things happen in the final episode too quickly and I just wonder maybe it should have been better as a movie? Despite my various complaints, I had fun not just because of the sex and nudity but I love shows set in the Showa era and I enjoyed the history lesson. Watchable jdorama that could have been more. If you are not on Netflix, you can use the free one month trial to watch The Naked Director like I did.

If you are interested in more JAV shows, I recommend Mosaic Japan and Make Up Room.

Soushite, Ikiru Episode 1

Just when I thought there's nothing for me to watch this season, I saw HPriest was subbing WOWOW dorama Soushite, Ikiru and I knew there was still hope for this season.

First of, like I saw with 90% of WOWOW shows, the production values is better than your typical jdorama. Even the car crash at the beginning of the episode was better than what you usually see in your every jdorama.

Soushite, Ikiru has 'it girl' Arimura Kasumi play an orphan who was raised by her uncle is sort of a countryside idol wanting to try to make it in Tokyo.

Before she could go to the audition, the great Tohoku earthquake hits finds herself doing volunteer work in Kesennuma where she meets Sakaguchi Kentaro.

Very good solemn and moving first episode. I was glued to the screen from beginning to the end and I got attacked by onion ninjas during the bonfire scene.

I like the revelation in the end from Sakaguchi's character. Not sure how this show will proceed from here or what the gimmick is but Soushite, Ikiru has the potential to be must watch show. I'm guessing Soushite, Ikiru about people who on the outside should be happy but have a deep profound sadness.

Very promising first episode and I encourage everyone to check it out.

Keishichou Zero-gakari Seasons 1-3

Every generic police show needs a gimmick. Keiji Zero had the detective who has amnesia. In Keishichou Zero-gakari, it is about a collection of cast offs or unwanted people lead by the most irritating and obnoxious main character in jdorama ever played by Koizumi Kotaro.

The main character Kobayakawa is full of himself, cannot read situations at all (ky) and has no social skills. If there's any fictional character that I would love to see die, its Kobayakawa Fuyukiho. He's so obnoxious that I was happy he finally met a character as irritating as him in season 3.

The next question you are thinking is this show any good because I watched 3 seasons of it? The answer is that its not good but it doesn't suck that much aside for me wishing a car would hit Kobayaka everytime.

I can't really remember any stories that were too sentimental and there are some dark stories in there. Truth be told, I use Keishichou Zero-gakari as background noise when looking up twitter and reddit. Its the type of show you can play in the background pay minimal attention and know what is happening.

There are some things in Keishichou Zero-gakari that I don't understand. I don't understand why the antics of Kobayakawa and Terada are suppose to be funny. I don't understand why the dinner place they go to having bad food is suppose to be funny. I don't understand why Kobayakawa being annoying is suppose to attract viewers. Finally, I don't understand why Osugi Ren playing a character who always goes to the toilet is funny.

Gisou Furin Episode 1

The best thing that Gisou Furin has going for it is the concept, an arasa woman who has not had any luck in love lies about being a married woman and has an affair with a younger guy. So the question is about whether the affair happened because younger dude like married women?

The worst thing about Gisou Furin is that the concept is about telling a lie and letting it snowball. We've all seen so many of these type of shows to know how they go. I'm not a fan and they need to be pretty funny for me to want to continue watching.

It doesn't help that the main character is boring and the sister played by Nakama Yukie is actually having an affair. So I have zero care factor towards the characters in Gisou Furin. Maybe Watanabe Anne's antics to cover her lies gets better/funnier but I have no interest in finding out. Meh.