Pandora III

How do you do a story involving a proverbial Pandora's Box with a cast of characters which include The Cabinet Secretary of Japan, a neurologist who left Japan, a cop, a stewardess, a reporter, a homeless girl, a former political prisoner and a member of the SDF? You'll have to watch Pandora 3 to find out. Yes I've watched the whole thing. The ending of the first episode is so good that I could not wait for the subs. Jdrama Weblog has done a pretty detailed recap of all the episodes to clear up any things I could not understand which helped a lot.

I'm pretty sure if you're familiar with Wowow doramas, the greatest fear is that it does the usual petering off at the end. The answer is, parts of it does because there are a few story threads running through it. Everything is connected of course but some storylines are better than others. There are slight pacing issues but I can't discuss that without going into spoiler territory but suffice to say, I think its a very watchable but flawed dorama.

I'm very impressed with the directing. The scale of story is huge and they've managed to give things a sense of scale with their limited budget. Wowow have really gone all out on this one. Its certainly a lot better than the first two Pandoras which suffered from the fact that parables don't make good tv. Parables are stories to convey a lesson but they don't contain interesting characters. There's a lot of great things about Pandora but its just frustrating how its almost great. Don't expect too much and you're viewing experience will be fine.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The first two pandoras can be summed up as guy who play God/opens the box vs people who want to use it for their personal gain. In the end nothing really happens and its just a parable in how the road to hell can be paved with good intentions. Pandora attempts to fix this by making the story much bigger than the pandora's box of eliminating suicidal tendencies. In fact, the idea of how it will affect free will is hardly touched upon. Pandora III is about society and the blame game. It is about nationhood and finding meaning in one's life. It is about what people will sacrifice for their goals. Actually there are two pandora boxes in this story. Always beware of politicians justifying their actions by saying it is for the country or religion.

The main problem with Pandora III is that there is nothing much for Suzuki (Eguchi Yusuke) to do after the middle. He administers the chip and there's the part about him and his son. I love the scene where Kazumichi (Uchino Masaaki) straight up tells his son the truth. Its such an awesome illustration to show that Kazumichi is now a different person. After that, Suzuki is just a bystander. Sure he wants to remove the chip but he's not actively planning anything. Suzuki is only necessary for the ending but because he has a deeper connection to Kazumichi they give him more screentime. The whole thing of him getting captured, beat up only for Kazumichi to let him go has absolutely zero tension.

What kept Pandora III interesting is Detective Kanbayashi chasing after the person who killed his ex-wife and the reporter Tachikawa slowly uncovering the truth. To me, they are the main characters of this series along with Kazumichi while Suzuki is just needed to open and end the story. The cop and stewardess story is fun is a source of humour and tension. I liked how the cause of the murder ended up being the punchline of the series. The guest star in the final episode was unnecessary though.

Homeless girl and old man are in it too much thanks in part to the Suzuki kidnap story. They are just side characters representing two different generations who are railing against society. There's not much more to their characters and even if there were, it wouldn't serve the story or its pacing.

Oh yes, there is one other thing I felt was bad. Kazumichi's father's death scene was awesome. The wife dying was unnecessary. The SDF going straight choking her to death was extreme. I mean he killed the wife of the Cabinet Secretary who went hysterical but not the woman who knew he was a murderer? Surely SDF guy could have choked her until she fainted and then use restraints on her. I couldn't believe she was dead from that 10 second forearm to the throat.

If I could redo Pandora III, Suzuki goes back to Boston after meeting his son and comes back for the ending. We replace long debates and Suzuki's kidnapping with Kazumichi doing some nice political moves and him rationalising his thoughts to himself in the mirror ala Gollum. Not as disappointing as the middle episodes of Shokuzai but I am so sick of shows starting strong and stuttering to the finish. I have yet to watch the final 2 episodes of Tsumi to Batsu and hopefully it doesn't suffer the same fate. I probably sound too negative about Pandora III. Its pretty good but I want so much for it to be great.

Jmovie review: Jiro Dreams of Sushi

I have been waiting and dreading this movie since I saw the trailer at Twitchfilm. Waiting because I love Japanese food porn. No I am not talking about porn where people eat off naked women. Dreading because I never could finish shota no sushi because it would just make my full stomach rumble. The good news is, Jiro Dreams of Sushi didn't make my stomach growl. The bad news is it didn't make my stomach growl.

He is probably thinking of all the ramen, yakiniku and steak he can eat with that money.

It had a lot to do with the minimum cost of eating there being 30,000 yen. OMFG. Even if it were 10,000 yen I would still need to think twice for the best sushi in Japan. Think about it for a minute. Prices start at 30,000 yen. I know its 3 michelin stars but it would have to be an absolutely godlike mouth watering experience that would surpass eating a decent 1000 yen tonkotsu ramen in Japan many times.

Its just that I approached this documentary with the view of getting tempted and so I can go there on my next trip but now I am not so. The end of the movie shows some patrons going for the omakase course which I'm sure costs more than the minimum amount. 20 individual pieces. They don't come in 2s like your usual sushi train. Let's assume the omakase course is 40,000 yen. One piece is 2000 yen. My stomach is unable to comprehend how the taste can possibly justify the price.

Would you pay 2000 yen for this?

Anyways, expectations aside. Jiro Dreams of Sushi is more about an 85 year old man who has dedicated his life to sushi. The meticulousness. The dedication. The fact that he is still working and has not handed the shop over to his oldest son who is in his 50s. As a former employee said, when Jiro goes, the only way people will consider the son as good as the father is if the sushi becomes twice as delicious. And as seen in the doco, 85% of making sushi is in the preparation which is done by staff.

It is an interesting documentary but on the other hand it doesn't really go anywhere. There is no issue to explore. There is a beauty in the documentary's simplicity like Jiro's sushi but it also feels skin deep. Lots of people talking about how good it is and sellers at the tsukiji fish market talking about how dedicated to quality they are. They talk about how hard the training is to be a sushi chef under Jiro but they don't really show you. Its like an infomercial for Jiro's sushi but it didn't really entice me much.I want to see an average salaryman who is willing to eat at Jiro's every month and hear his testimony about how it is worth it.

Its kind of surreal to see a workplace that is as dedicated in real life as in doramas. Where an apprentice has to work there 10 years before he is allowed to cook tamagoyaki. Even then the poor bugger had to keep practicing for 3-4 months before Jiro was happy with his tamagoyaki and the guy was so happy to finally get approval from his super strict master. Straight out of a food jdorama. Watchable but very pedestrian as a documentary.

If anyone knows how to fix the follower and recent comments widgets, please let me know. Looks like they are not working on Chuks' blog as well. Tried looking for answers but looks like its a common problem with no answer.

Jmovie review: A Ghost of a Chance / Suteki na Kanashibari

I was excited to watch this cause its a Mitani Koki movie. The writer of Shinsengumi, Ai Kotoba wa Yuki, Furuhata Ninzaburo, Souri to Yobanaide, Osama no Restaurant, The Magic Hour and my personal favourite, Radio no Jikan/ Welcome back Mr McDonald. Radio no Jikan is one of my favourite Japanese movies ever and I should have realised it was from the same writer as as Furuhata Ninzaburo cause its got the same theatre feel.

Fukatsu Eri is Emi, the daughter of a very famous lawyer who has been doing pretty badly in her cases and her boss played by Abe Hiroshi gives her this case that no one wants to take as her last chance. The accused, played by Kan who wrote most of my favourite Mano Erina songs stands accused of murdering his wife. However, he has an alibi and the alibi is that he was being held by a ghost at a remote inn. Emi goes off to investigate the inn and runs into a ghost Rokubei and its pretty much about getting a ghost to testify in a murder trial.

Igiari!!! Can't bloody wait for the Phoenix Wright movie. I just finished the first game recently in anticipation.

First off, there are many funny gags and a whole line of famous cameos. There is your typical Mitani Koki feel good story about the underdog. The bad thing is that it is held together by a very flimsy story because the ghost, Rokubei is merely a witness to prove the defendant's alibi and most of the second half is about getting the court to accept his testimony.

The other bad thing is the same problem I had with Ano Hana. This ghost can blow and pin people down yet the script resorts to funny stuff for him to prove his existence. I understand budgetary limitations but there are no scenes where people go through him. There's this scene with a historian where they are sort of next to each other but not because the movie has established that he can have physical form and yet play it as if he is corporeal but they don't have money for the effects.

Nitpicking? Yes but for the premise of an old ghost to work, everything that follows must make sense. Its not really the main reason why A Ghost of a Chance fails though. Its overly long and too disconnected. Its got interesting side stories but the main story is not strong enough to support them all.

Did Mitani Koki peak with Radio no Jikan? Even for Mitani Koki fans, I would suggest avoiding this. Scabbard Samurai does a much better job with putting more subdued gags together with a strong story that build up to a great finish. Everything in A Ghost of a Chance feels tacked on, including the ending.

Edit: Why the change in template? The recent comments wasn't working and because I was using a really old template, I could not modify the widget under the new interface. Changed to a new template and guess what? The follower widget doesn't show up as well! Gah, this is doing my head in!

37-sai de Isha ni Natta Boku eps 1-8

- There's something about Kusanagi Tsuyoshi playing the everyman underdog feel good doramas like the Boku series. However Isha ni Natta Boku is not quite as good.

- Kusanagi plays Konno, a 37 year old who quit his job at age 30 and went into medical school and is now an intern. So now we have established that it it takes 7 years to reach internship in Japan. What does it say about the kid doctors in Code Blue?

- Konno is the super idealistic intern who works at a hospital where the director just cares about bed ratios/profits etc. Isha ni Natta Boku is like a mix between the GTO doctor genre with the Boku series with a heavy dose of soap opera.

- The only moustache twirling character is the director which is a good thing. The bad thing is that Konno's ideals and methods are very extreme, especially for an intern. For example him treating a patient without consulting the assigned doctor in a case where it was not an emergency. Rules are there for a reason and it was not a life and death situation.

- Konno's super idealism would work better if the dorama were grey instead of more black and white. Him taking that risk at the end of episode 1 was crazy, especially without explaining to the patient the details of the risk. (at least not on camera)

- Kusanagi has a great supporting cast with Nurse Miki from Iryu as the doctor who sees things logically and Mimura as Konno's girlfriend who is unable to speak and is ill. Yup, super soap opera story warning, not that I'm complaining since its Mimura after all.

- I love the humour of which there is limited quantity. Special mention to Mimura's dad. His deadpan delivery of his response to catching former Nurse Miki coming out of Konno's apartment was awesome.

- I enjoyed the first 4 episodes, especially episode 3 I think when a death happens. Thank the dorama gods they didn't let Konno get away with it. A lot of medical issues presented in this dorama are grey which is good. The bad thing is that the people who usually oppose Konno are the baddies and he blatantly ignores the other side of the coin.

- Episode 4 with the actress and the suicidal chick was pretty good.

- If other characters in the show did not state that Konno was a good doctor who did his job properly, Konno would seem to be someone who does a lot of 'special projects' to avoid doing his job. They are already pretty overworked and he has so much time for his extra curricular activities....

- I got really sick of Konno and Miki turning to the idealistic side was a bad idea cause she balanced him out in the beginning. The other characters were more interesting but they were mostly there for their story arcs.

- I had a hard time watching after episode 5 and just skimmed the rest. The nagging weaknesses in the beginning just amplified and Isha ni Natta Boku just tries to do to much that I get fatigued and I lost all interest.

- Its supposed to be based on about a doctor who became an intern at 37 and you can see ideas and arguments about the medical profession and hospitals but it just became too doramatised.

- Its time to bury the salaryman who has to inform a subcontractor that his services are terminated but is blamed when the subcontractor commits suicide plot. How can a story about the suicide's family shooting the messenger draw any pity from the audience?

- In summary, I liked the flawed first half but its really lost me. I will skim till the end just for Miki and Mimura but all I could think of watching this dorama, especially episode 5 was how good Doctors was.

Mou Ichido, Kimi ni Propose eps 1-4

Wakui Emi the lead actress of a dorama alongside Takenouchi Yutaka? I had to see this for myself. At the start of the show, I thought it would be a break up and then get back together show because the husband Miyamoto Haru (Takenouchi Yutaka) stands up his wife Kanako (Wakui Emi) just to fix a kid's broken toy car. It probably never occured to Haru he could have asked the kid to leave the toy with him and he would have a look at it tomorrow.

She hasn't aged much since Love Generation.

There's a saying that all comedies end with a marriage and all tragedies start with one. Well, we quickly get to the tragedy and the premise of the series which is Kanako suffers a brain hemorrhage and loses her memory of the last years; the time whole period of meeting and marrying Haru.

Sounds very soapie to me but there are times in Mou Ichido when I feel there's something interesting to explore. Instead of going about it from the husband's point of view, it Kanako's view is interesting. Suddenly waking up and being told that a total stranger is her husband. Seeing a little kid that she used to know as a 5 year old and who is now a 10 year old brother to a younger sister.

Being afraid to go back to work because the workplace has changed. There's this untapped horror element here that I like. There are questions of identity. Kanako is not the person who lived the past 5 years. Can and should she try to become this person? Questions about causation. The fact she she fell in love and married Haru doesn't mean that it will happen again. Can Kanako be attracted to someone just because she was told she once was? It goes to show it doesn't matter how outrageous the premise, only what type of story or what themes and issues the premise can be used to explore.

How can anyone say no to that?

Yet there are times, Mou Ichido seems so generic. Non worse than the ending of episode 4. Kanako's brother goes to visit Haru and asks him, what if Kanako wasn't really happy during the marriage and says that she had someone who was a better match for her. Cue cliffhanger music with Haru's worried face.

Problem is, during the four episodes Haru has been reading excerpts from Kanako's diary and its evident she was pretty happy. Why doesn't Haru just do a Phoenix Wright objection and produce the evidence for the brother who has no interest in his girlfriend played by Ichikawa Yui? Its a lameass cliffhanger trying to tie in with Kanako meeting her ex-boyfriend.

I like the psychological elements but dislike the bits that are too soapie and generic like the ex-boyfriend or Haru's colleagues who seem to be high on something all the time. I would probably drop Mou Ichido if Kurashina Kana were not in it. She plays Haru's colleague who picks up guys by playing MMOs. Watchable.

Kagi no Kakkata Heya ep 7

Noticed something interesting in the above screencap from episode 7. The jumbled up names of NBA players!

David Roman - Never heard the name. Probably random.

Dirk Nowitzki - Last year's champ and his correct spelling.

Gilbert Stackhouse and Jerry Darnell Arenas - supposed to be Gilbert Arenas and Jerry Stackhouse.

Joe Johnson - Former Phoenix Suns :( and now Atlanta Hawks player who is very overpaid.

Happy to see some sort of NBA easter eggs, in a Japanese dorama no less. Someone working on this show is a fan or just looked up random NBA players for English names. The Japanese names might mean something but it hard to see some of the kanji and chances are I wouldn't know who the names refer to.

Kazoku no uta eps 1-2

Kazoku no Uta is a mess of a dorama. Odagiri Joe plays a washed uprock musician Hayakawa Seigi who is pampered by his manager and has no redeemable qualities. Despite not making any money for his agency for many years, he has been able to live in a big house. Like a lot of stars, he had his groupies in his prime and one day fruits of heyday appear to haunt him.

WHAT I LIKED

- nothing.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

- Odagiri Joe as overacting rocker is not a good idea. They needed someone who could make Seigi interesting and Odagiri is not the larger than life guy to do it.

- Not one, not two but three kids. WTF. Add in an old man. Why am I suppose to care about these many characters? If this were about an aging alcoholic rocker and just one kid with a more serious tone, I would buy into that. However, it would not be called kazoku no uta since it wants to be a huge pseudo-family with 3 kids, old dude and a bunch of supporting characters.

- I like light hearted big family shows with lots of fighting and redemption like Hitotsu Yane no Shita and Oyaji but Kazoku no Uta tries to hard to set it up that it feels forced.

- What a waste of good supporting actors in Santamaria Yusuke, Shihori Kanjiya and Otsuka Nene.

SUMMARY

- This is suppose to be a light hearted, big family dorama about redemption but I just feel like its all over the place. Avoid.

Kagi no Kakatta Heiya eps 1-6

I had no expectations for this dorama since it was a johnny one but Kagi no Kakatta Heiya was been a pleasant surprise. Kind of reminds me of Furuhata Ninzaburo except the the hook this time is that they are all locked room mysteries and  you don't find out who the killer is until the end.

What is similar to Furuhata is that its mostly about the case and the main character Enomoto breaks the fourth wall at the beginning of the episode to give the viewer a hint to solving the crime. No waste of time characters. No lame attempts at doing 'touching' stories and some of the methods to produce a locked room are quite ingenious.

Besides watching to see what new ways to produce a locked room the writer can come up with (its apparently based on novels), the three main characters have great chemistry. You've got the expressionless Enomoto so the guy doesn't have to act. There's a Toda Erika as Aoto, who functions as Enomoto's sidekick and finally  there's Serizawa (Sato Koichi) Aoto's boss and a partner in a law firm that specialises in corporate law who somehow gets involved with in locked room crimes.

Serizawa is the comedy relief of the series and he does so without resorting to the usual overacting. He is petty, pretentious, reluctant to get involve unless there's a beautiful woman and is willing to take all the credit. The chemistry is great and all three characters play their role perfectly; the problem solver, the sidekick/audience view character and the comedy guy.

 
The best way to put it is that the characters don't overwhelm the mystery but rather enhance it. Really solid dorama and it was fun to watch, especially with the bevy of guest stars. On par with Furuhata Ninzaburo IMO.

Furuhata Ninzaburo season 1 eps 1-3

Furuhata Ninzaburo is a breath of fresh air for me. A detective series concentrating on the detective and how he uncovers the criminal. No oversized police team doing the jobs of 3 people. No inept colleagues wasting screen time. Not stupid trying to be cool by walking in a V formation scenes. Just basic detective work masterfully written by Mitani Koki. (Shinsengumi, Ai Kotoba wa Yuki, Osama no Restaurant)

The first three episodes have all started with a crime and it seems to be the formula of the series. You know who the murderer is and how he/she covers the crime out. The fun is watching how the idiosyncratic Furuhata Ninzaburo put the pieces together and proves the suspect is the murderer. This isn't a whodunit dorama but a who do you prove it.

There is an element of gentlemanly competition. The killers know they are being suspected but yet engage in a verbal duel with Furuhata, almost as if he must leave them alone if they can stop him from connecting all the dots and they confess willingly when Furuhata wins. At the beginning of every episode Furuhata does a small quote which has bearing on the how he will solve the crime at the end and he does break the fourth wall right before showing his hand to give the audience who may not have come up with the answer another hint.

Even when I had guessed the how, it was still fun. Its sort of like watching a play where the audience encouraged to participate and try to gather enough evidence to pinpoint the murderer before he does. So far so good. Let's see how well the rest of the episodes holds up. Thanks to Kazuya_ for subbing this gem. Looks like there are plenty of good oldies left to watch!