Isekai Izakaya Nobu Episodes 1~4

Isekai stories or alternate world stories are all the rage in anime along with light novels. As an anime fan, its just sad to see the medium turning into a wish and fetish fulfillment to sell.

Another genre we get a lot in jdoramas is food porn. All you need is some semblance of a story, good looking food and creative ways to say that something is delicious.

Isekai Izakaya Nobu is a combination of the two genres. An Izakaya that exists in modern Japan and a middle ages type world. The most shocking thing is that it is made by WOWOW.

I would never have imagined WOWOW would take a light novel and turn it into a jdorama but they have it Isekai Izakaya Nobu is very fun to watch.

The concept is fresh in the jdorama world and watching the alternate world people discover izakaya food is enjoyable. The stories are feelgood and all problems are solved with the taisho cooking up something nice.

The food porn is awesome and makes me so hungry and depressed. I won't be able to taste real Japanese food for a very long time. I mean look at that soft juicy pork on that katsu sando. There's nothing like eating katsu sando on a shinkansen, except for kurobuta shumai.

If you want something to cheer you up during these depressing times, Isekai Izakaya Nobu will put a smile on your face and a rumble in your stomach. Mochi has subbed up to episode 5 at d-addicts and the raws are up on nyaa. Thanks to notpenk for recommending the show. Its not Shinya Shokudo but Nobu has its own charm and its damn fun. Very Watchable.

Chou no Rikigaku

Chou no Rikigaku is the 3rd in Kisaragi Toko (Kimura Fumino) series starting with Ishi no Mayu, continuing with Suishou no Kodou. There was also a prequel Aku no Hadou with a different character.

As per usual, Kisaragi Toko has to solve another series of grotesque murders.

While all 4 WOWOW shows had the usual WOWOW level of direction and looks, there was always something off with the writing.

The writing is not your stupid no common sense level like your typical mainstream police jdoramas like Siren but I find myself asking a lot of little questions and not getting excited like this bomb scene that tried to hard to be something that it did not need to be.

Its hard to explain what's off with the writing. The characters and dialogue just feels off.

I finished the 5 episode series of Chou no Rikigaku half distracted with other stuff and this is for people who enjoyed the previous series.

I guess my favourite thing about the Kisaragi Toko series is that her colleagues don't dislike her for no reason.

If you are like me and you previous shows never impressed you give it a skip. This series has a nice ending but the road to get to the ending was not very exciting. Meh.

Koi wa Tsuzuku yo Dokomade mo Episodes 1-4

I rather like Kamishiraishi Mone as a singer and thought I should check out her shoujo manga dorama Koi wa Tsuzuku yo Dokomade mo.

Basically 5 years ago, Doctor Kenshin seduced a poor high school girl by putting her scarf around her turning her into Kenshin's personal stalker.

Poor underaged girl gets brainwashed into thinking she has found love and spends the next 5 years studying nursing so she can stalk Kenshin. I don't know about you but that looks like someone who has been groomed and is it a coincidence that the mangaka of Rurouni Kenshin is a pedo?

After 5 years, stalker girl turns up in front of Kenshin in the hospital and what does he do? Proceed to bully and powerhara stalker girl by calling her stupid.

In the real world acting like you are too good for your job and bullying your new colleagues is unprofessional but in shoujo dorama land, the heroine, I mean stalker takes the abuse because of love.

Of course, Kenshin has a perfectly reasonable excuse to act like a dick to his stalker nurse and that is Renbutsu Misako.

Kamishiraishi Mone's acting is not too bad.

But I think Koi wa Tsuzuku yo Dokomade mo needs more Katase Nana and Karina.

Its not the worst shoujo dorama not is it the best but I don't think I continue watching I know every beat of the story before watching it and I know who this story is made for.

At the very least, stalker nurse does not act like a 13 year old girl most of the time and some scenes did made me laugh. For fans of shoujo jdoramas only because it doesn't really do anything particularly well. Maybe I am getting to old for long drawn out shoujo romance stories and would prefer them as 1 1/2 hour movies.

 I think the last shoujo jdorama I enjoyed was Kahogo no Kahoko. Not saying I did not enjoy Koi wa Tsuzuku yo Dokomade mo, its just I feels a bit stale. Hardsubbed files can be gotten from blitz fansubs.

Shiranakute Ii koto

I was going to not watch Shiranakute Ii koto although I like Yoshitaka Yuriko because a story that starts of with the mother saying to the reporter daughter that her father is Keanu Reeves does not sound appealing.

tangerine_days said in the comments that it was a slow burn and indeed it was. I had no interest after the first episode but it slowly got more exciting when the show was about the weekly magazine looking for scandals.

I am a sucker for a team working together to uncover scandals and when we have affairs and corruption, all the better.

What I didn't enjoy is this triangle affair between Yoshitaka Yuriko and the other two characters. Specifically, I don't like stuff about Yoshitaka Yuriko's personal life. She blew off the one guy who really loved her, got together with a selfish creep and fucked up the life of the guy who cared for her again.

I finished the show in one day and I loved the investigating and scoops but I dislike the main character. Hmm, reminds me of Abby in the Last of Us 2. Similarly to The Last of Us 2, I can't recommend this to anyone because there are parts I really disliked.

However, I can't really complain because the title of this jdorama is 'Its better not to know' and the story is about the bad things that happen when people get knowledge they should not have. It still doesn't change how I feel.

In summary I will say Shiranakute Ii koto is a slow burn investigative reporting dorama with some a lot of characters you will like and some that you might dislike very much like me. I enjoyed most of it, which is why I finished it in one day but I also remember the parts I didn't like more than I did.

If you are ok if not so happy shows, then this might be for you. I normally like sad endings but I find Yoshitaka Yuriko's Kate rather selfish.

Tetsu no Hone Episodes 2~5

Just finished Tetsu no Hone and hurray, I did not dislike it! There were a few things here and there I wasn't impressed with but overall, I thought it was an entertaining show.

First off, the last episode is not available on nyaa and the link at the mare_zora discord is not for the JPTVTS version and I had to get it from JPTVTS. It is also available from avistaz.

THE GOOD

+ What I liked about Tetsu no Hone is that people I thought were bad turned out to be good and people who appeared good turned out bad. Well, its more different shades of grey.

+ Tetsu no Hone is about people trying to survive in this industry that's is corrupted.

+ Uchino Masaaki can make anything watchable.

+ The twist at the end of episode 4.

+ The pacing is great.

THE BAD

- They tried to do way too much with Tsuchiya Tao's story with Mukai Osamu. Nothing about her relationship with Kamiki and Mukai worked.

- On a side note, I can't believe Mukai Osamu signed on for such a minor role.

THE MEH

= The offices were very sparse and did not feel worked in. Maybe its budget problem or maybe its because they were filming with covid19 started spreading.

= I don't get Shibata Kyohei's character Manzo. In the beginning he goes about how Japan will never improve if bid rigging and then you find out he's the pupeteer. I get that he is stuck in the job of his own making but I cannot reconcile his portrayal and words with his deeds.

On a side note, the dude looks sickly thin. I hope he is alright cause he was awesome in Lady Joker.

= Too much of Kamiki's job is just telling all sorts of people to keep cutting costs when they are at their wits end. I don't feel like I got to see him do any nitty gritty work.

SUMMARY

I am happy I didn't hate it like the NHK one but a bit sad it didn't reach its potential of a must watch jdorama. Still, it has manage to maintain the WOWOW level of quality which means its still better than most jdoramas. Watchable.

Tetsu no Hone 2020 Episode 1

10 years ago, NHK made Tetsu no Hone, a show about bid-rigging in the construction industry starring Toyohara Kosuke aka Mr Lan Evo and Usuda Asami and it was good.. according to my review and then I hated the last two episodes.

I don't really remember anything about the show, which is a good thing but it also means that if this WOWOW version follows the NHK show, then I am going to hate the last two episodes as well.

I have not read my reviews for the NHK show so I will be interesting to read them once I've finished watching this WOWOW one and what a great first episode it is.

I had exactly two thought while watching episode 1, firstly is the first episode so good because of the script of is it because of the great WOWOW direction?

The second thought was that I would not want to be in this line of work because the stress would just be too much. I was glued to the screen for every second of the episode because WOWOW jdoramas are better than the rest.

Kamiki Ryunosuke is the young, impressionable protagonist who goes from construction supervisor to doing bids for public works but I really enjoyed watching Uchino Masaaki as the boss who convinces Kamiki that bid rigging is not only important for their company but it is essential for the survival of all small to medium sized construction companies.

The first episode is basically an argument about the pros and cons of bid rigging done against the backdrop of a bid and it is done masterfully.

I think just going for the cheapest bid is not a good idea. Years ago, I know someone tried to save money by going for the cheapest security company and what they got was very horrible security.

You get what you pay for and yet as a taxpayer, I would want government contracts to go to the cheapest bidder to save money. Watching the first episode I was thinking if I were in charge of deciding the bid, I would give other factors a consideration but how would I decide in the end?

I will refrain from giving it a must watch until I finish the show. Raws can be gotten from nyaa and subs from mare_zora.

Edit: You can get the raws from the mare_zora discord server here. The last episode is not one nyaa.