The Journalist 2019 jmovie review

Netflix's The Journalist is one of my favourite shows of 2022. The exiting show based on the Moritomo Gakuen scandal showed that the quality of Netflix jdoramas was going up with The Journalist and Alice in Borderland.

I wanted to wait until enough time has passed to dive into the movie because I did not want to watch an edited version of something I had just watched. The good news is that the movie which came first is pretty different from the tv series.

Shim Eun Kyung is doing the Yonekura Ryoko role as Yoshioka Erika a reporter for Toto newspaper. Instead of a brother who is comatose,  Erika's father committed suicide. Matsuzaka Tori works for the naicho otherwise known as Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office. Same as the series, the powers of the CIRO are being used to keep the people in power Matsuzaka Tori's conscious is troubled.

So the movie is missing the newspaper delivery boy story ,the finance officer and evil Santamaria Yusuke. Two important elements of the Netflix show. It is just a story about the reporter and CIRO officer. There's no way to compare a 2 hour movie versus a 6 episode series in terms of content so I'll leave it at that.

Of note is Tetsushi Tanaka who plays the same role in the series as the CIRO. The story is similar to the series since it is more of a cover up but the contents are different. The movie is more like a thriller which plays a bit like a horror movie and the tv show is more about the importance of journalism and keeping the bastards honest.

I know The Journalist won picture of the year in 2019 but the directing is not very good. Seriously the tv series looks so much better. Way too dark and cinematography too pedestrian. The shaky cam brought nothing to the movie at all.  

Acting is good but the Netflix series is just so much better it cannot be ignored. I wish I had seen the movie first to be able to form an objective opinion but I wonder if it got best movie more for the subject matter? Meh from me. Go watch the series on Netflix if you haven't.

Mystery to Iu Nakare jdorama review

I had no interest in watching this when I saw the poster with yet another character with super curly hair. I can't remember but there was a dorama or movie about a similar character that I did not like. I decided to give it a chance on a whim and episode 1 started out with university student Totono Kuno being suspected by police of committing a murder.

Totono is brought to the police station and must use his wits to solve the mystery while he is being interrogated at the police station. I thought that was a great idea for a first act because it was fun watching Totono turn his interrogation around to get information for himself.

Mystery to Iu Nakare is a Sherlock Holmes style mystery with the main character being a uni student who has never worked but has great powers of observation and his Watsons are the two police officers who interrogate him in episode 1. The humour is derived from the fact that Totono is otherwise a normal student who like curry but reluctantly keeps getting involved in murder mysteries.

The mysteries are quite interesting and the gimmick of the series is that Totono keeps having to match wits with colourful characters who are equally as smart. The only negative point of the series was the story sort of got slow for me towards the middle.

I enjoyed the humour of the show and the ending sets the story up for a sequel. If you like your mystery doramas, then Mystery to Iu Nakare is worth a peek especially since its not a Higashino Keigo show. Thanks to Blitz fansub for subbing! Watchable.

Roppongi Class Episodes 1~4

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.

The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji jmovie review

Its been a while since I have watched a Miike Takashi movie. Laplace's Witch is one of the worst movies ever and the last third of First Love was crap. Undercover Agent Reiji is the first movie in the Mole Song Trilogy. Its a Trilogy series which means that it was successful enough to have two sequels which means it has a chance to be decent right?

The main reason I took a chance on Undercover Agent Reiji is that it was written by Kudo Kankuro. In the jdorama world, everything Kudo Kankuro touches turns into gold. Even when I don't like everything, I can see purpose in his writing. I thought there is no way Miike Takashi can fuck this up.

Turns out I was wrong. Undercover Agent Reiji is the exact same yakuza slapstick schtick that he did for the Ryu ga Gotoku movie, Yakuza Apocalypse and the last third of First Love. Crazy yakuza doing crazy slapstick violence with story barely held together. This time the story is a policeman Reiji is fired so that he can a mole in the Sukiyakai.

I did not find anything remotely funny in Agent Reiji. Except for the mole song which are the rules about being an undercover mole. It is the best thing about the movie and everything else is boring craziness. Everything feels so tired and I could not feel any Kudo Kankuroness from the script and wish they had made a musical instead.

Maybe I have gotten too old since I became a fan of Miike all those years ago watching Ichi the Killer it he feels like a director who keeps recycling old material but can't make a decent movie anymore. No more Zebraman, Audition and Taiyo no Kizu. The last good Miike movie was Gyakuten Saiben/Ace Attorney and Shield of Straw.

But what do I know? Undercover Agent Reiji must have done well in the Japanese box office and many big names are in this movie so lots of people must like it. If you like unhinged Miike doing whatever he wants, The Mole Song is for you. For me it is sad that a director who has made at least 5 must watch Japanese movies can make so many bad ones. Do no watch unless you are a Miike aficionado.

Unlucky Girl! jdorama review

Unlucky Girl! is kind of different from your usual jdoramas. It is a story of 3 of the most unlucky girls in Japan whose lives become entwined by fate and become friends.

Yabe Kenzo is the fortune teller who goes to the same cafe that the girls frequent and is fascinated but the gathering of 3 people of such bad luck and introduces the audience to some sort of fortune telling every episode.

The humour of the show is can be summed up as what can go wrong will go wrong. The humour is dry and the first few episodes were hard for me to get into. I persisted and I started to find the characters appealing and there is a certain charm to watching the 3 girls try their best when things don't go well all the time.

Things really pick up in the middle of the series when we are introduced to a lucky girl, someone who good things just happen to and the incidents that the 3 unlucky girls get involved with get funnier. I started to understand that this was a show about 3 girls who were underdogs in life whereas the lucky girl was someone who has plenty of advantages in life. That's my working class reading of what Unlucky Girl! is about.

Ultimately I think Unlucky Girl! is watchable because it is a show about friendship and trying even when the odds are against you. Definitely not for everyone but if you like dry humour and characters going from one misfortune to another, Unlucky Girl! is a watchable series. Thanks to karaihabu for subbing!

5 reasons to watch Fukushuu no Miboujin Episodes 1~5

Fukushuu no Miboujin is revenge jdorama about a widow played by Matsumoto Wakana getting revenge for her husband's death and here are 5 reasons you should watch it:

1. It is fun and trashy.

2. It is a workplace revenge show against the deceased husband's colleagues who are bullies and useless at their jobs. Who doesn't want to watch a show where useless workers are disposed off without HR?

3. There are plenty of sex scenes. 

4. And eye candy including Adachi Rika and Kobayashi Ryoko.

5. It hasn't gone full trashy/stupid like Black Scandal/Black Revenge, two other female revenge jdoramas.

SUMMARY

If you enjoy female revenge shows and watching bad people getting their just deserts, Fukushuu no Miboujin is for made for you. Thanks to blitzfansubs for subbing!

Ishiko to Haneo Episodes 1~3 jdorama review

Ishiko to Haneo uses the Trick formula; put two flawed people who don't like each other but can form a perfect team together to solve cases and add in a dash of humour.

Arimura Kasumi is Ishiko, a paralegal who is smart but cannot pass the bar exam. Haneo (Nakamura Tomoya) is not a good lawyer but possesses a photographic memory so he easily passed the exam on the first try. Ishiko to Haneo sounds like a slam dunk with the acting talent and concept but there are two problems.

First is no chemistry between the two leads. Not even half the chemistry that Abe Hiroshi and Nakama Yukie had. Which is made worse because of a third wheel joins the team at the end of episode 1. Way too crowded and just destroys any chance of building some chemistry. I think Nakamura Tomoya is the wrong guy to put next to Arimura Kasumi.

Second problem is that first two stories are meh and there was nothing in the first two episodes that showed any promising signs for me. Looks like Arimura Kasumi's amazing run of good jdoramas has ended at the hands of TBS.  Avoid unless you have trouble falling sleep. 

Ame ni Kieta Himawari Episodes 1+2

It is time for dark and depressing WOWOW jdorama after the fun and feelgood of Isekai Izakaya Nobu. I am most excited by Muro Tsuyoshi in the lead role as the police investigator. Usually when comedians play serious roles, it leads to good things. 

Ame ni Kieta Himawari is about a primary school girl Aoi who disappears on her way home from school. Her father played by Sato Ryuta has been separated from the mother for two years and the older sister is getting bullied at school.

The police are having problems locating Aoi's whereabouts and as Nara (Muro Tsuyoshi) tries to find more clues about Aoi's disappearance, we also learn more about why Nara became a police officer for his sister.

One thing that struck me about Ame ni Kieta Himawari is that the directing is not to your usual WOWOW standards. Usually the framing and camera movements in WOWOW shows more cinematic instead of giving off a shot in studio feel. Of course its all WOWOW doramas have the same director but they always have a certain movie feel and quality. Ame ni Kieta Himawari looks like someone who was trained to shoot doramas like in other stations. 

Its hard to explain but the directing just looks cheap. I find myself trying to analyse the framing and camera movement asking myself what is the difference between what I am watching and the usual WOWOW directing I am accustomed to. I am not expecting Samayoi Yaiba quality directing but its not up to the usual WOWOW quality.

Story I can't really comment only that there are a couple of angry scenes which felt meh. Not sure whether it was the directing or writing. The first two episodes are nothing special. I will keep watching but my feeling is it will be a subpar WOWOW show.

I hope I get proven wrong and the next three episodes kick the story into high gear. Thanks to taabou for subbing and raw can be gotten from jraws.

Pandora no Kajitsu Episode 1

I have no idea why Dean Fujioka keeps getting main roles. Nothing that I have seen him in has made me think 'hey, this guy can act'. In fact its the opposite, I just keep wondering why this guy keeps getting pushed all the time.

Pandora no Kajitsu is a science based investigation series about a division to investigate crimes using cutting edge technology. Santamaria Yusuke is your everyman cop and Dean Fujioka is his wooden partner.

There is also a genius super young scientist who I feel gets too involved and is too young. Episode 1 was felt completely flat. No chemistry at all between the characters despite Santamaria Yusuke's best efforts. 

Despite the appearance of Uchida Rio, there was nothing positive about this show to convince me to give episode 2 a try. IPandora no Kajita was trying to be cool and funny and intriguing but ended up being bland and dry. Avoid.