Youtuber wo Musume ni Yaran episodes 1+2

I will not give my daughter to a youtuber! has an interesting premise. Sasaki Nozomi is left at the alter by her fiancé and is left in a pinch. Lucky for her, there is a famous youtuber at her wedding called Taktak and someone who works at a tv station who helps salvage Sasaki Nozomi's ceremony. At the end of the day, both youtuber and tv station person declare their intentions to go out with Sasaki Nozomi.

The concept is appealing to me because youtuber is now a normal job and kids are growing up wanting to be youtube or tiktok stars. The stations are losing viewers and sponsorship because of new forms of media and the idea of youtuber vs traditional tv fighting over Sasaki Nozomi sounded intriguing. Plus who would not like to see what the life of a youtuber was really like? There are so many interesting stories to tell.

However, the first two episodes are anything but interesting. There are a lot of youtube jokes ie doing a lot of youtube stereotype stuff like slow motions, counting down etc and impersonating famous people. I got about half the impersonations but I did not find anything remotely funny. Endo Kenichi really tried his best as the father but nothing worked for me. I would describe it as a jdorama filled with stupid gags instead of trying to tell funny stories.

Maybe I don't have enough inside knowledge and Japanese viewers would find Youtuber wo Musume ni Yaran show funny but the execution sucked, story was boring and I did not laugh once. Do not watch. 

Informa Episodes 1~6

 

WHAT IS IT?

Informa is about a tabloid magazine reporter who is one day assigned by his boss MEGUMI to follow this Informa, a former yakuza played by Kiritani Kenta who is this legendary figure who trades in information in the underground and political world.

WHAT I LIKED

+ Informa is about is a normal person entering the absurd world of yakuza and politics genre which I enjoy eg first season of Ushijimakun.  Reporter becomes the patsy and driver for Informa who brings him around and slowly Reporter and audience starts to piece together Informa's past and what his plan of revenge is.

+ Its more realistic unlike shows like Miki Clinic and I think there was a recent jdorama with a similar story about an underground informant that was too unrealistic.

+ Real violence is not so common in jdoramas. Usually Yakuzas in jdoramas shout a lot but there is not much action but no Informa.

+ First 5 episodes are good and exciting.

WHAT IS BAD ABOUT IT?

- Episode 6 was a flashback episode and it tried to be a tragic episode but failed miserably because Ponkura no.1, the main character of the episode was a total idiot and deserved to die. Just because he had a wife and kid coming does not make him tragic when he had no brains.

- Another bad thing about episode 6 is that Informa doesn't seem so legendary.

MEH

= Morita Go just standing around the whole 6 episodes and doing nothing cool. There better be a good fight scene with him in the end!

SUMMARY

Episode 6 nearly killed Informa for me. Hopefully episode 7 can bring the story somewhere interesting. If you like yakuza doramas with action and violence then you can try it. Off the top of my head, I can't even think of a yakuza jdorama with action and violence. Kurohyou had action but wasn't really a yakuza show. All the yakuza shows I can think of are movies. Watchable if you like violence and action until ep 6. You can grab the subs and raws from drama-otaku.

Uso no Sensou jdorama review

After watching the first 4 episodes of Wana no Sensou I decided to try Kusanagi Tsuyoshi's Uso no Sensou. Kusanagi plays Ichinose Koichi, a swindler living in Thailand taking advantage of other Japanese. 

Koichi's family was murdered when he was a child and his father was blamed for killing his family but by chance Koichi ran into the person who stabbed him and decided to return to Japan to get finally his revenge against the Nishina family.

I love revenge jdoramas, especially trashy revenge jdoramas like Fukushuu no Miboujin.  Revenge jdoramas are hard to get right though. You need the avenger to be sympathetic, the bad guys be despicable and the methods of revenge must be interesting and Koichi's method of revenge is tricking people as he infiltrates the Nishina family and gains the trust of the oldest son played by Yasuda Ken who has been demoted and makes the daughter played by Yamamoto Mizuki who is so impossibly stupid and pure fall in love with him.

I enjoyed the first few episodes but there were a few warning signs about the script like this scene in episode where Koichi told Yamamoto Mizuki that he would be waiting outside the hospital but in true jdorama fashion waited in the rain instead under cover right next to him and somehow that touched her when she should be asking why he was being an idiot. 

Or Koichi's gang gathering in a bar that is open to the public and yet we never see any custormers. That's ok, this is a trashy revenge jdorama and one of the hallmarks is that you need to turn off your brain. Have to say it is nice to Osugi Ren again.

Although I have few brain cells left to turn off, the story in Uso no Sensou become more and more soap opera and I could not turn off what little brain I have. Too many coincidences for Koichi plans to work and too many people not seeing the bleeding obvious. 

I basically fast forwarded the second half of the show just to see the ending. I am a bit worried about Wana no Sensou now. I can see some similarities and I hope it doesn't get too trashy. If you like your extremely soap opera revenge shows and can completely turn of your brain, Uso no Sensou might be for you. Me, I prefer trashy but not too much. Meh from me. Huge thank you to kyashiidesu for retiming the Japanese subs. I don't think it has been English subbed but it is very easy to watch in Japanese.

Wana no Sensou Episodes 1~4

Once upon a time Kusanagi Tsuyoshi did the Boku trilogy; Boku no Ikiru Michi, Boku no Aruku Michi and Boku to Kanojo to Kanoko no Ikiru Michi and they were good. Actually I only watched the first two and the were good and should one day watch the 3rd one.

I did not know that Kusanagi Tsuyoshi has a new trilogy, the Sensou series and Wana no Sensou is the third in the series. Kusanagi plays Washizu, a parliament secretary to a minister who recently said some sexist remark and has a son who does not do any work. Washizu has been slaving for the minister for 20 years because the minister helped him when he was at his lowest and now works himself to be bone for the minister. You do feel sorry for him working so hard but not being appreciated but on the other hand hard to feel sorry for someone married to Igawa Haruka.

An incident happens to Washizu's son and the minister asks Washizu to accept that it was an incident and turn a blind eye. The minister is clearly covering for someone important and Washizu has had enough and it is time for him to fight back and to find out who actually injured his son.

Wana no Sensou is an easy jdorama to get into because it is a fun slightly trashy revenge show where regular unappreciated workers give corrupted politicians their just deserts. As Washizu says, the powerless people can fight as well.

Would also like to mention that the main actor from Scams is in this and so is Ono Karin as Washizu's colleagues and I think both are good actors. I enjoy the political aspects of the show and watching behind the scenes people work. Behind every politician there is a team of people writing speeches, fact checking and briefing the politicians. It is interesting that Wana no Sensou shows staff getting abused as recently in Australia there was a huge case of a political staffer allegedly getting raped and parliament not having an HR office to deal with it and politicians responding inadequately to it. Parliament is supposed to be filled with the best people of a country and somehow the worst people manage to get there.

One interesting aspect that Wana no Sensou seems to be going is that this revenge plan is going to change Washizu and maybe not for the better. As Nietzsche said, "Do not stare too long into the abyss lest the abyss stare back at you".

I am onboard this fun revenge jdorama because 99.9% would appreciate justice being done to people in power because most of the time, they get away with corruption and wasting a lot of taxpayer's money. It has been a while since I've seen a Kusanagi dorama. Was the last one I saw Ninkyo Helper?  Anyways, watchable. Thanks to subie06 for subbing!

Tantei ga Hayasugiru Season 2 review

I enjoyed season 1 of Tantei ga Hayasugiru. It was the story about this detective Chikumagawa (Takito Kenichi) hired to protect Hirose Alice from her relatives who want her inheritance. Instead of solving crimes, Chikumagawa had to figure out how Hirose Alice was going to be killed and to stop it.

Season 2 is here and its more of the same. This time Hirose Alice gets involved with another inheritance matter and her live is targeted by 4 evil siblings including the trainer from Scams, MEGUMI and Sonim. I have not seen Sonim for ages and remember her for being in a group with GoMaki's brother way back in the day. 

The best things from Season 1 are still here. The chemistry between Chikumagawa, Hirose Alice and Mizuno Miki is still there. Hirose Alice is really good at comedy and her facial expressions and mad energy are funny. You can tell they were having a lot of fun and there are plenty of moments where they almost break character trying not to laugh.

The bad thing is the gimmick of Chikumagawa is kind of tired. There really is no new interesting way for the bad guys to kill Hirose Alice and its all variations of the same cause accident by poison etc. We all know there's no danger and I really wished the scenes of Chikumagawa at the end explaining would hurry up.

The comedy and chemistry for season 2 is great but story is meh. Its ok. Hirose Alice gets involved in a love triangle and the story keeps the audience guessing which among the two men can be trusted. The writer really did his best to milk the concept of the show and keep it entertaining.

Season 1 is very good and I recommend everyone try. Season 2 is more of the same good and bad and a bit tired for me. So watchable only for people who really loved season 1. Tantei ga Hayasugiru season 2 is not English subbed but luckily there are JP subs at jptv. The only annoying this is that the first line appears at the bottom so you have to read from the bottom up. Jpsubbers is gone so beggars can't be choosers.

Scams 2019 Netflix jdorama review

 

Forgot about to write about Scams when I saw some time ago and I ended up rewatching it when I reactivated Netflix for Alice in Borderland. Scams is a prime example of how lack of budget does not matter when the story is good.

Scams is basically a handbook on Japanese phone scams. If you have watched a few jdoramas, you should be familiar with 'ore ore sagi', where the caller pretends to be the son and say its me (ore ore). Scams is about a more sophisticated version of ore ore where one person plays the son, another a policeman and the third a lawyers and say that the son got in trouble and compensation money is required. On a side note, the ore ore scam has arrived in Australia as the 'hi mum' scam. 

Scams is the story of Kusano, a young man is fired from his job and whose father's requires expensive medical treatment. Kusano's friend introduces to a job withdrawing money from ATMs and this leads him down the path of phone scams where he has to go through rigorous training to be selected to be on the scam team.

What is interesting about Scams are the leaders to the scams justifying their actions because the old people own most of the wealth in Japan while young people are doing it tough. There is this funny scene where the boss takes the apprentice scammers to see happy old people playing golf and in the pool. This anti old Japanese people because they got rich during the bubble is very similar to the anti boomer sentiment going around in Australia because the boomers worked in an era where houses cost only 2 times their annual wage and they experienced huge wage growths. People who are poor or have limited opportunities will resent people who they perceive to have had an easy life.

Scams is a fun jdorama with some likeable and some unlikeable characters doing very bad things. I also liked how Kusano's mom was a carer for the elderly which ties in with the down with the elderly theme of the show and how she also resents the people that she has to care for and ultimately helps Kusano with a victim's list. 

Watching Scams made me think about how many organisations have my name, address, email etc. Even some places when you order food using QR codes they want your name and number. As long as hackers have a list of names with info, they just need to scam 1% of the people on the list.

Scams is very memorable and relevant jdorama for today. Masato Wada really made an impression as the person who teachers Kusano how to scam. If you have Netflix, be sure not to miss Scams! Watchable.

Konya wa Konoji de season 2

I finally finished retiming the Japanese subs for the second season of Konya wa Konoji de. I had forgotten that season 1 was only subbed until episode 2. I regret not downloading the Jp subs from jpsubbers now that the site is gone and should have retimed the Jp subs for season 1. If you have not watched season 1, it is highly recommended. The Japanese is pretty easy to understand.

Konya wa Konoji de is one of my favourite food doramas because it does not feel like a 10 minute food program stretched to a 30 or more for 'story' reasons. It is a story about this dude Yoshioka who is now a manager and his senpai played by Nakamura Yuri as they enjoy visiting all sorts of izakayas etc in the shape of a 'ko'. There's even a yakinuki one which reminded me of a place I went with bframe way back in Yokaichi.

In season 2, Yoshioka's kouhai is not annoying anymore but he has a new colleague played by Yuki Mio who is a bit strange, is a knowitall and quit a big construction firm after a few months. It mirrors season 1 with Yoshioka having trouble with his kouhai and how going to a konoji can help people have a better understanding of each other or in this case lead to a triangle. :)

The fun part about Konya wa Konoji de is not just watching nice people eat delicious food but also interact with all the other regulars. That is the appeal of konoji. Its like everyone sitting at a round table and having to face each other and make conversation. 

On the whole the series is not must watch like Shinya Shokudo/Midnight Diner but its almost must watch quality. Can be rewatch this show every year because its food porn plus good writing and is a feel good show. I like that the story slowly went somewhere in the end. Very, very watchable.

Just don't watch it on an empty stomach.

Hiru season 1 jdorama review

Hiru has a very interesting premise. We all know Japanese work very long hours and have to go drinking after work etc so are hardly at home. What if there were a underclass of people with no identities or jobs called Hiru who survive by finding these homes and living in them when the owners are not in. It is a high concept but not too far fetched beyond the realm of possibility. After all this is a country where a lot of people vanish all the time (jouhatsu) and where taking time off from work is such a big deal. 

I will accept any premise as long as it enables the jdorama to tell a good story. The story of Hiru is about Shinomiya Yuki who is a cleaner at night and comes home to find an unknown man in his apartment. The police get involved and the man who was stabbed claims that he is the real Shinomiya Yuki and  Shinomiya has to go on the run where this mysterious Hiru girl helps him and teaches him how to survive as a Hiru.

Sounds exciting doesn't it? Except Hiru is one of the most boring action/thriller shows I can remember. I am sorry WOWOW, I kept watching this 20 minute 6 episode series thinking surely Hiru will get exciting soon but it never got into second gear. I really wanted to like this show especially with Konishi Manami as the detective but I felt the writing was flat and lacked attention to detail.

The main character is annoying and worst of all Hiru season 1 feels like a preview for Hiru season 2 featuring superHiru named Kara played by Sakaguchi Kentaro. Kara is a superHiru with the powers to appear anytime the plot needed him to, to know anything the plot needed him to and made me think this show has not made me care about any of the characters. Season 1 feels like an advertisement for season 2; stay tuned for season 2 to find out the true story about Kara a character this show has not made me care any bit about.

I have to ask is Sakaguchi Kentaro a good actor because his acting is the same wherever I see him? It seems like this guy has no range although I did enjoy Kyoso no Bannin.

Hiru is such a boring WOWOW show that I want to give it a do not watch but I know its not objectively bad. SuperHiru Kara just killed the show for me. Very meh. If you want to try it out you can get it hardsubbed from irozuku fansubs.