Mirai e no 10 count jdorama review

 

There was once a rumour that Kimutaku's next dorama would be based on the Judge Eyes games. Sign me up for a detective action jdorama set in Kamurocho! Unfortunately, Mirai e no 10 count is based on the least interesting part of the game Lost Judgement which is the main character becoming the coach of the boxing club. 

In Lost Judgement Kimutaku actually fights as a boxer but half the game is him being the adviser to various school clubs and it seems like this was the inspiration for Mirai e no 10 count. In Mirai e no 10 count, instead of being a detective who was once a lawyer, Kimutaku is a pizza delivery driver who once ran a yakitori place and was a former champion boxer with a dead wife.

Pizaa delivery Kimutaku is recruited by his former coach to coach his old high school boxing club where no one knows anything about boxing despite being in the club for a year. In order words Mirai e no 10 count is an underdog sports dorama which is an almost failsafe genre.

Kimutaku has recruited an great cast including Mitsushima Hikari who is completed wasted in the role as the love interest cum club adviser, Uchida Yuki as the principal, Yasuda Ken as best friend and Yabe Kenzo as assistant principal.

If you have watch jdoramas, you know how it goes. Kimutaku has to produce results or he is fired and the principal and other teachers go against him while love interest cheers him and students on. I know that I said that underdog sports doramas are almost failsafe but when the sports part sucks the whole thing falls apart. I am looking at you Buzzer Beater.

The boxing in Mirai e no 10 count just sucks. Storyline wise the students are supposed to be so bad but I don't bloody buy it. I don't buy anything in this show. When they show real boxers from different schools for a few seconds you can tell the difference between actors and real boxers. Yes I know they are underdogs because this is about them getting better but you can't do a basketball story where everyone is a Hanamichi. 

I feel Mitsushima Hikari is so wasted in a role she doesn't even have to try. I really wanted to watch this to the end because I like all the other talent but I don't care about the kids and every stupid melodrama just bores me. 

I just feel like the writing while it contains a lot of the necessary jdorama tropes to make the story work, does not have the polish to pull everything together. If you want to watch a sports jdorama, watch No Side Game which actually has good rugby action or Kimutaku's Pride.

Very meh and mediocre dorama despite the actors involved which I finally decided to drop. Just wish Kimutaku had done a hard boiled detective dorama instead of this meh attempt at comfort food.

Tsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru jdorama review

Once upon a time, there was a jmovie called Himitsu and it was good. It was about a husband who's wife swapped bodies with the daughter and was basically a wife became a high schooler story. They turned Himitsu into a jdorama but I don't think I liked it though I never wrote a review about it. (Might try to find it and put it in my watchlist)

When I saw Tsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru, I certainly was not enthused. I could not imagine wife being a primary schooler being any interesting and it would be devoid of any sexual tension. However Tsutsumi Shinichi and Ishida Yuriko were in it so I had to give it a try.

First thing I noticed is that the camera and visuals are slightly better than the usual generic TBS work. The main thing I noticed is that the actress playing the primary schooler, Nono Maida is effing very good. Her casting makes this show. I bloody believe that she is Ishida Yuriko in a high schooler's body.

I was hooked from the first episode which was about Tsutsumi Shinichi and daughter living like zombies and not moving on after losing wife and mother Ishida Yuriko. The first episodes was a really strong story about depression and grief. Well, you could say the whole series is a strong story about depression and grief and finding one's reason to live.

Tsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru is an example of a high concept jdorama that takes full advantage and it and takes the story to interesting and moving places. I kept my hopes down hoping for the best and Tsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru had me very excited with every twist and turn to watch the next episode.

Of course, Tsutsumi Shinichi's relationship with his wife is very chaste. They have to turn his character into a bumbling person who wants to be told what to do by his wife in order to function. Not a complaint, just an observation.

I am very happy to see Morita Misako from the Naked Director in this show as Tsutsumi Shinichi's boss. She is a good actress and deserves it be in plenty of jdoramas. Along with Yoshida Yo who plays Marika's mother the acting talent in Tsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru is amazing.

I have two complaints about Tsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru. First is that the job stories involving Tsutsumi Shinichi's workplace are just poorly written. Everything is lacking in the details and just kills the believability.

The second complaint is that I didn't like the two endings and felt the writer was trying to milk way too much emotion by episode 10 my heartstrings were not being tugged. Jdoramas love creating moving moments but when they too manipulative which often happens, I just go the other way.

While watching Tsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru, I went back on forth between calling this must watch and very good. In the end, it is still a very good jdorama and a surprising one, especially from TBS. Give it a shot and I think you will be hooked from episode 1. Very watchable. Thanks to aoihachi for subbing!

Juken no Cinderella jmovie review

 Juken no Cinderella was a really fun 2016 jdorama starring Koizumi Kotaro and Kawaguchi Haruna. I always always intrigued by the Toyohara Kosuke 2008 movie and finally got my hands on it by buying the DVD from Japan.

I don't have a computer with a dvd drive anymore so I couldn't watch it on my computer nor PS5 because of region locking. I had to drag out my modded PS2 and plug it to my mini tv to watch it so I couldn't do screencaps and can only take photos.

The Juken no Cinderella movie is similar to the dorama. Toyohara Kosuke plays a very rich teacher Igarashi who teaches people how to get into Todai. Igarashi finds out that he has one and a half years to live and does not know what to do and quits his company. In the dorama I think the teacher might have been forced out.

He runs into Terashima Saki's character Endo Maki who is this poor girl with a dad who has left his family for another woman and a mom who plays around whole day. Endo Maki has found that she can save money when she buys things at the convenience store one at a time butIgarashi is in a hurry and throws a 10000 yen note at the cashier to pay for Endo Maki's stuff as well.

Endo Maki admonishes Igarashi about the way he treats money and runs into her again when she tries to get money from him by jumping in front of his car. Igarashi decides to undertake treatment for his cancer and to teach Endo Maki who has not even finished high school.

I thought Juken no Cinderalla was an ok movie about the rich person giving this poor girl not money but an education to better her life as his final act instead of teaching people who are already smart and rich how to get into Todai. 

Of course it did not have the 8 episodes of the dorama to build up their relationship. My main reason for watching was to see Toyohara Kosuke in a main role. 

I think the drama is better and if you have seen the dorama there's not much reason to watch the movie. Watchable. 

Oi Handsome!! jdorama review

Once upon a time there was a jdorama called Oyaji starring the late Masakazu Tamura and it was the perfect dad jdorama. They then tried to capture lightning in a bottle a second time with Otousan and it was crap.

Since then, I can't really think any dad comedy jdoramas of note until Oi Handsome! Oi Handsome! is a father and 3 daughters comedy and the good thing is that the dad, perfectly played by Kotaro Yoshida is not your typical stubborn dad. I think the overly stubborn dad is way too showa.

Kotaro Yoshida is more like an eccentric and interesting dad who at the end of the episode sometimes says something cool hence the Oi Handsome! name. Actually everyone in this family is interesting with a daughter who is having an affair, a daughter on verge of divorce and the youngest who is living with a deadbeat.

I love the writing, especially the banter whether it be about people's shadows or how each family member likes their eggs, there is always some payoff story pay off with the banter.

Its been a while that I've seen a show where I feel compelled to pay special attention to the dialogue because it is entertaining and funny and of course as all family shows do, have life lessons.

My only complaint about Oi Handsome! is that Megumi is a bit too young to be the mother and there are plenty of 50 year old actresses that they should have cast. Megumi doesn't look like she has aged since Kimutaku's Pride.

Alas 8 episodes is also way too short especially how good it is. I really love Oi Handsome! Would like to give it a must watch but its just not there. Maybe if it had at least two more episodes. 

Huge thanks to Gabrielmpf for subbing! Very watchable and highly recommended if you want a well written and funny family comedy.

Touboui F

 

Touboui F is another fugitive jdorama. Innocent man gets accused of killing his girlfriend and goes on the run helping someone every episode while slowly inching closer to whoever framed him.

The gimmick is that the fugitive is a doctor hence the I in Touboui and every episode someone will need some super operation that only he can do with just random tools. Hot on the doctor's heels is also Masahiro Matsuoka who plays the brother of the deceased girlfriend and whose face looks slightly less plasticky when he has facial hair.

If you thought the operations in Iryu were fantastical, you have not seen anything yet because the operations in Tuoboui are just stupid and make absolutely zero sense. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Its a super serious show that absolutely defies all sense of logic and the only way to enjoy Touboui F is to treat it like an absurd comedy.

Touboui F is only for the most hardcore of jdorama fans who want to test their tolerance for the absurd and nonsensical.

Not even Sakuraba Nanami can save this show. Avoid unless you are a diehard Maeda Atsuko fan.

Teteiteki ni Ai wa Episodes 1~4

Even watching bad jdoramas you can understand why the show became the way it did and once in a while you come across a really bad jdorama like Teteiteki no Ai wa that left me scratching my head thinking who in their right mind would think this would make an interesting love story?

This doofus is our main male character Nakahara Ronpei who works in the Foreign Ministry. In fact all 4 main characters do. 

Ronpei has a girlfriend Teruno Saeki but he treats her like shit. He also lives with his father and stepmother.

Ronpei is obsessed with Adachi, his colleague who he runs into in LA in the beginning of the series.

Adachi has an affair with Ariyoshi, boss of Teruno Saeki and Ronpei decides to be a sticky beak and stalk and lecture Adachi about everything. 

There is nothing about Ronpei that makes him a main character. He acts like a lovesick puppy neglecting his girlfriend and not having the decency to break up with her. I would be so happy if he got hit by a truck. 

Everyone's lives would be so much better without Ronpei in them. I kept watching thinking this show might turn the corner but it never had a chance. Avoid.

Jashin no Tenbin jdorama review

Jashin no Tenbin is the latest in WOWOW's Ishi no Mayu series except this time Kimura Fumino is not in it and the Aoki Menutaka plays the main character Takano. 

The Ishi no Mayu series has always been meh for me. Its better than your usual idoru cop dorama but there are always elements of the writing that irk me. 

This time Jashin no Tenbin is more Gaiji Keisatsu as Takano has transferred to public security (Kouan) so this is a story about a serial killings where internal organs are removed and the heart is placed on a scale with a feather.

Of course as jdorama law dictates, no one likes Takano and the way he does things rubs everyone else in public security the wrong way but he does bring a different set of skills with his background in the first division. I really like Matsuyuki Yasuko as Takano's partner Himuro and you can never be certain whether to trust her or not.

I enjoyed Jashin no Tenbin and it is easily the best of the Ishi no Mayu series. The writing is tight and is actually suspenseful whereas the other shows in the series I struggle to care.

If you are after a serial killer investigation with a political bent by public security who will have no qualms about achieving the piece using whatever method, this show is for you. Watchable for me and thanks to earthcolors for subbing!