Kore wa Keihi de Ochimasen! Episodes 1-4

Kore wa Keihi de Ochimasen is everything Douki no Sakura is not. They are both similar in that they are workplace shows with a rigid female protagonist who uncompromising but Keihi de Ochimasen feels more real and its more about the day to day problems people face at work instead of trying to be overly melodramatic.

It is also funny and I find the script to be more cleverly written compared to Douki no Sakura. Both shows talk about problems people face at work but Keihi de Ochimasen presents the problems in interesting ways and does not feel compelled to overexplain everything.

I'm watching this show and I'm thinking I recognise these of problems from my workplace. Various departments needing to work together but at the same time having their own needs.

Loving the guest actors, especially Katase Nana. She should have been a recurring character. 

Tabe Mikako is awesome and I don't even mind the Johnny is this show.

I big thank you to Anonymous for recommending Keihi de Ochimasen. If I had watched it earlier, I would have dropped Douki no Sakura faster I think. Very watchable.

You can get the raws by searching これは経費で落ちません! in nyaa and the subs by going to Keiko1981's fansub map here. And yes, the subs work perfectly.

Douki no Sakura Episodes 3-6

After watching 4 more episodes of Douki no Sakura, I can see that the formula of the series is to build up to a sentimental and long speech by the supporting character featured in the episode where they explain every single emotion they have.

I like that its based on real world work issues like bullying, trying to fit in and female employees not given any real work but the script is not smart enough to say anything interesting about them except to say they exist. That is not enough to make it entertaining.

Episode 6 is my favourite episode so far because its a bit more complex with this feminist author who uses a just cause as a money making scam and Aibu Saki sees through this bullshit but she is conflicted with her work duties.

It is very relevant to today's world where there are many activists out there and some of them are more interested in lining their pockets than making the world better, especially without oversight.

Douki no Sakura is not smart enough nor is it fun enough to rise from GTO clone mediocrity. If you have not seen Dandarin, please see it because it is what Douki no Sakura could be. I don't know if I will continue watching. Mediocre meh.

Douki no Sakura Episodes 1+2

In the beginning of Douki no Sakura, we see Sakura's colleagues huddles near her bed as she lies in a coma. Immediately, I thought about Dandarin, Takeuchi Yuko's must watch show about being a public servant.

Then we see how Sakura came to meet her colleagues as they all entered this construction company as employees together, hence the 'douki' in Douki no Sakura.

Sakura's character is the same as Dandarin's; robotic and old fashioned while always pointing out faults and always honest to a fault. Except Sakura's main tactic when things don't go so good is to give her 'I have a dream speech'. Dandarin just gets really angry and does things.

I spent the first episode thinking Dandarin rip off. Nothing wrong with that of course. After Sorimachi's GTO there were GTO rip offs aplenty and Dandarin is a variation of GTO. It also helps that the writer, Yukawa Kazuhiko is the writer of the legendary GTO jdorama anyway and he did Kohogo no Kahoko along with Takahata Mitsuki.

Episode 2 we have Sakura working in HR as she tries to help her colleague who has been doing a lot of overtime. I'm pretty sure every Japanese salaryman watching this must be thinking that it was a load of rubbish because it would not happen in real life, epecially for a story set 10 years ago.

Anyway, I kind of enjoyed episode 2 and started to accept it as Dandarin set in a construction firm. The main difference between Dandarin and Douki no Sakura is that Dandarin is more a parody comedy while Douki no Sakura is about feel good sentimentality.

I have nothing to dislike about Douki no Sakura and based on the track record of Kohogo no Kahoko, I think it will give me about the same level of entertainment. Watchable.

Japan 2019 trip Day 14: Showa Memorial Park

Showa Memorial Park is a 20 minute walk from Tachikawa Station which is about 30 minutes from Shinjuku. The main reason for coming here was for the cosmos festival.

Map of the park. This place is huge!

We were thinking about going Hakone to see susuki field but didn't end up going so at least we got some susuki here.

Great weather for a walk in the park.

Mark of a civilised country.

People pitching tents and food stalls on the right.

Pretty sure I had the beef steak skewers.

 Yellow cosmos field on the right of the food stalls.

Closer look at the cosmos.

Found some purple? ones.

A lot of people brought their dogs to the park. One could easily spend whole day taking pictures of dogs instead of flowers.

Next up is a Japanese garden.

Which also had a bonsai garden.

I love Japanese gardens.

Now this is a real field of flowers!

Stopped by Book-off at no the way back to Tachikawa station.

Was walking around this food court trying to find a not overpriced place to eat when I saw the words kurobuta.

Not the best kurobuta I've had but it was ok.

Lunch at Gyoza no Ohsho the next day which was our last day in Japan. Can't go wrong with gyoza and chahan.

 Tokyo Tonkotsu Base at Narita. I've had it before. Meh. Chain shop tonkotsu is never good and it irks me when I hear people praise chaintens like Ippudo and Ichiran.

Gaming loot picture 1. I just finished Eternal Arcadia this morning. Now for Shin Sakura Taisen!

Loot picture 2. I could not resist the t-shirts although I already have 100 t-shirts from Japan.

Final loot picture of games I may never get around to finishing. Love Sekiro and I started new game plus but I've got too many games to play. Thanks for reading and I hope I was able to provide some ideas for your Japan trip.

Mada Kekkon Dekinai Otoko Episode 10

So its finally finished, the sequel to one of the greatest jdoramas ever written, Kekkon Dekinai Otoko.

Was it good and entertaining? Yes. I would even say must watch. The question is was it necessary?

Did Kuwano learn something new, especially after the failure of his relationship to Hayasaka sensei? We all know he is a nice guy but the question is can he compromise and learn to enjoy life with someone else? We never did learn why things did not work out in the end.

I think KDO2 turned out to be the best realistic scenario. It was a well written sequel that did not stray far from the formula of season 1. I like that it did not turn into Kuwano and his harem and the reason that Inamori Izumi was seemingly into Kuwano was to rile Yoshida Yo up.

I also liked the 'cameo' of a certain someone from season one when Kuwano was looking at the blog at the end.

Back to the question of was KDO2 necessary. KDO1 was perfection and had the perfect ending so there was no way for KDO2 to be necessary and it had nothing new to say. Though I must say the Eiji wedding episode was great.

KDO didn't need a sequel but it happened and it turned out to be good. We do not need a KDO3 ten years from now. Blitzfansub has subbed until episode 5 so make sure to watch!