Roppongi Class is a how to run an izakaya dorama dressed up as a revenge story. Kagawa Teruyuki is the super rich bad guy who runs Nagaya Holdings with his super spoiled son who killed Miyabe Arata's father in a hit and run. Arata's dream of becoming a police officer is ruined and he ends up going to jail for a few years and vows revenge on Nagaya.
The hook of this revenge is story Arata's true love played by Araki Yuko works for Nagaya holdings and there is a love triangle with an influencer/sns girl who likes Arata as well. Problem is there is no chemistry between them and the relationship just doesn't work.
The revenge part of Roppongi Class is very boring in the first 4 episodes. Episodes one is what Nagaya did to screw Arata over and the next 3 episodes is him doing a pretty bad job to open an izakaya. Arata proclaims that his plan of revenge against Nagaya Holdings is create an izakaya chain to compete but 4 episodes in he is not doing a convincing job.
How can this be an exciting revenge story when its about this owner stumbling around trying to open an izakaya? Arata is like a shounen hero shouting I will get stronger but doesn't show the audience he has given any thought as to how and there is no anticipation of where his plan is going.
Maybe everything will be revealed in the next few episodes and his plan will be very exciting but everything I have seen in the first 4 episodes is boring. There is no chemistry between the leads and there is nothing fun about Arata's lack of revenge planning.
I just found the whole izakaya thing fake and lacking in detail. They tossed in the influencer girl and there's stuff about recipes and advertising but I feel like there's no nitty gritty detail about running an izakaya. Izakaya Miyabe is too bright and feels like a bunch of students pretending to run an izakaya during a school festival.
Fans of Hanzawa Naoki will probably enjoy Kagawa Teruyuki as another super evil bad guy and he doesn't overact as much but I was too bored to continue. Revenge shows are supposed to be fun and exciting like Fukushuu no Miboujin but Roppongi Class is not. Do not watch. On a side note Kagawa Teruyuki seems to have gotten in trouble for a sekuhara incident at a kyabakura. One thing about the Japanese entertainment business is that as long as you did not do drugs, you just need to lay low for a while and things will go back to normal.
I can't believe you survived past episode one!
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t get into this one. I tried up to ep 3 with lots of fast forwarding but couldn’t manage it. I hate revenge shows but this felt like a friendlier look.
ReplyDeleteTwo questions: Have you watched or read Summertime Render? The other is, off to Japan any time soon since the rules have changed?
@youngheartsparkfire: The first episode was not very promising but it takes a certain amount of incompetence to make a revenge series not fun at all.
ReplyDelete@Sonna~: No I have not heard of Summertime Render. Are you recommending it? The Japanese government is changing their entry rules one slow rule at a time. Not going to Japan anytime soon for other reasons. Have you got your visa organised?
Not headed out to Japan either, mostly because of lack of money and confusing visa and entry caps. My last visit was November 2019.
ReplyDeleteI am recommending Summertime Render. The anime is great but it’s a 2 kour so it hasn’t ended yet. Not sure if it’ll stick the landing. There will be a live action at some point.