Hayabusa Shoboudan Episodes 6~9

I think the main reason I like Hayabusa Shoboudan so much is that it is basically 20th Century Boys set in a remote village combined with Abe Hiroshi's Trick. 20th Century Boys was a great manga/movie series about a bunch of childhood friends standing against a great conspiracy. While not everyone in the shobodan are childhood friends, there is a deep comradery, where a bunch of regular people band together to protect their village from this conspiracy.

And what a great conspiracy it is. End of the day, all mystery stories depend on the ending and the truth being revealed. The character work and relationships are important of course but it all is for nought if the conspiracy is not interesting. While the reveal is not a surprise seeing as how the show is similar to Trick, the clues and the execution are very well done.

I enjoyed the episode where the shobodan went to Tokyo. It was fun watching inaka people enjoy Tokyo and made me think it is not just foreigners who go to Tokyo or Osaka for a holiday. Its so hard for Japanese to get more than a day off work that they can only do a weekend trip.

I really liked all the characters and the bond between the shobodan members. Love the incredible scenery which makes me want to visit.

I absolutely adore the confrontation at the izakaya between the writer and the last boss where they argue about the definition of what a cult is and the writer makes the point that it is not about control and not saving people. A lot of times especially in anime, two main characters will have a philosophical debate before final battle except most of the time it is usually way too long and boring with a lot of you don't know how I feel. Hayabusa Shobodan has this great and succinct discussion where Last boss tries to convince writer that if people believe there are happy he should let them be.

Great job by TV Asahi after that dumpster fire last year that was Roppongi Class. That show was so special because it was so bad to the point of disbelief. Thanks to Kaizen subs for subbing and ladies and gentlemen, we have our second must watch jdorama of the year! 

GTO REVIVAL

Stolen from jin115, there is going to be a GTO revival special dorama spring next year. 26 years after the legendary 1998 Sorimachi show. The original GTO is one of the greatest jdoramas ever but every special and movie after has reduced in quality. I am not expecting much. Mitsushima Nanako better be in it as Fuyutsuki sensei! Fingers crossed it doesn't suck.