Hamsapsukebe Jdorama Awards 2017

It is time for this small blog read by 5 people to honour the best that Jdoramas had to offer in 2017. The year started with the incredible Quartet and the whole year has been about whether anything would get close to being as good.

I just want to mention when taking screencaps for Quartet, I realised to my horror that I was missing the final episode of Quartet on both my backup hdds. Always triple check everything before deleting. While jdramacity is no more, through the powers of google I was able to find a working torrent somewhere with the 480 versions. Hhm, maybe I should get this in 720 format since its that good...

If you are new to this, the awards are decided by a one man panel of myself having watched as many jdoramas as I could from 2017. I avoid most if not all johnny and Fukada Kyoko jdoramas so that means no Code Blue and whatever that Kimutaku show is. Its pretty much scientifically guaranteed that those two shows are crap.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

OHSUGI REN FINAL FANTASY DADDY OF LIGHT

Has there been an actor as good at portraying the stubborn dad with a heart of gold? He is dearly missed.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

MITSUSHIMA HIKARI QUARTET

She is almost in a statosphere of her own.

BEST ACTOR

NAKAYAMA YUMA HOKUTO

I never thought the day would come when I would give the award to an aidoru but there you go.

BEST ACTRESS

MATSU TAKAKO QUARTET

I hardly ever get to see her in shows anymore but she shows in Quartet that she is right up there with Mitsushima Hikari.

HONORABLE MENTIONS OF 2017

RAKUEN

PAPAKATSU

MILLION YEN WOMEN

FINAL FANTASY DADDY OF LIGHT

KAHOGO NO KAHOKO

MEISHI GAME 

CHINMOKU HOTEI 

OKAASAN, MUSUME WO YAMETE II DESU KA?


TOP 5 BEST JDORAMAS OF 2017

5) ISHI TSUBUTE

4) HANZAI SHOKUGUN

3) BYPLAYERS

 

2) HOKUTO

1) QUARTET

SUMMARY

While the year started off with a bang, it sort of fizzled out in that the quality was not as strong as in previous years. One could argue that the only true must watch jdorama released in 2017 was Hokuto,  Quartet and Ishi Tsubute.

Hokuto ga Gotoku review

Ryu ga Gotoku Studio's latest game after the disappointing Kiwami 2 is Hokuto ga Gotoku, a mashup of Fist of the North Star and Yakuza series of games. The Yakuza series is no stranger to spin offs set in someone else's story such as Kenzan! which was about the Miyamoto Musashi story and Ishin! which was about Sakamoto Ryoma and the Shinsengumi.

Both Kenzan! and Ishin! featured Yakuza characters as historical characters and it was fun figuring out who was going to play which famous character. Hokuto ga Gotoku has the Yakuza voice actors portraying the famous anime characters without changing their appearance.

Alas Hokuto ga Gotoku happens to be the worst spin off Yakuza game ever, not counting Kurohyou 2 on the PSP. 


THINGS I LIKED
+ Kiryu kills people or rather we have a RGG game where the main character kills.
+ The Bounty Hunter Reaper story.
+ Kenshiro's exploding moves look nice.
+ Befriending the shopkeepers by pouring them drinks though the storylines feel half assed.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE
- The most grindy RGG game ever. There isn't that much content and budget so they made it this super grindy look for parts and bolts festival.
- They've turned the fun cabaret club management sim from Yakuza 0 into a boring grind fest.
- They made it very hard to get skill points which are essential to unlocking moves or rather its not very balanced such as needing to perform poorly during the music game in order to attain them.
- Inability to skip exploding scenes with a button.
- The city of Eden does not feel very alive.
- Stupid ending with twists and turns that defy any logical explanation. If you thought Crystal Skull was bad....

SUMMARY

Disappointing game. I think Nagoshi said they went with the old Yakuza engine cause it was easier and the team was younger but this plays like a game made with no vision that was hastily slapped together. Stay away.

Anone Episodes 1~4

There were quite a few comments about Anone and I was supposed to do the Hamsapsukebe 2017 awards but I could not wait to see what the fuss regarding Sakamoto Yuji's new jdorama was about. It starts off with two characters looking for a place to die and turns into a sort of comedy about fake money.

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT ANONE
+ The twist regarding Hazure's past is really cool. I feel like Sakamoto Yuji could have milked it even more and turned it to more of a horror show.
+ Any scene between Anone and Hazure.
+ The ghost daughter story.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE ABOUT ANONE
- The kid in the hospital, Kanon. I know he gives Hazure impetus to do things but I don't give a shit about him. Maybe he'll end up not being the person she's been looking at.
- Abe Sadao's character being such a pussy he lets people trample all over him.
- Still haven't figured out where the lawyer guy fits into this.

SUMMARY

Anone still hasn't hooked me yet. I kind of still don't get what this show is about except that its about a bunch of people with problems. Its got the acting and writing pedigree but I can't see the whole picture. I'll keep watching just because its Sakamoto. I've been really busy with Hokuto ga Gotoku so its going to be a while before I get to the awards.

Ishitsubute

Ishitsubute is yet another WOWOW corruption dorama, this time Kitamira Kazuki as the employee from the Ministry of Foreign affairs who is involved in a very interesting corruption case with Sato Koichi and Eguchi Yusuke as the police investigators from the second division.

If you've seen a WOWOW corruption show, you've seen Ishitsubute; the two main investigators who can't get along, the usual Japanese office politics of people applying political pressure and the slight overacting in showing anger when characters get bad news delivered to them.

Ishitsubute was still fun for me because its still an underdog story about investigators trying to go after some very big fish. The step by step investigation into how the corruption was carried out was interesting and how the investigators slowly built their case.

Ishitsubute was really hard for me to watch and was going to drop it until someone suggested I try to look for Japanese subs and to my surprise jpsubbers had the subs! Before this, I could never get Japanese subs for WOWOW shows and its got my wondering what other WOWOW subs I could find. If I can find Japanese subs for Mosaic Japan, I might be tempted to sub it cause I love that show so much.

Anyway, I just want to say Ishitsubete is a pretty standard WOWOW show that doesn't suck but doesn't do anything good either. I had fun learning all the political jargon, most of which I have forgotten.

Shimokita Die Hard

Shimokita Die Hard is a bunch of short stories told by Furuta Arata to Koike Eiko. Unfortunately, there are no voice overs so you only see them before the story is told and after the story. If Shinya Shokudo is about the weird and interesting people who inhabit Kabukicho, Shimokita Die Hard is about what makes Shimokita this weird, funky cultural centre of Tokyo.

I've been to Shimokitazawa quite a few times including twice for plays and its so fun to see landmarks like the Honda gekijou and familiar streets.

Unfortunately after an ok first episode, the next three were very boring and I was close to quitting. Luckily episode 5 about the girlfriend of a musician was really good as well as episode 6 which mixes Terminator with Village Vanguard in Shimokitazawa.

Episodes 7,8 and 9 were ok and I hated episode 10 about the stupid band although it had Kaho. Episode 11 was the final episode and luckily there was a pay off although I was hoping for a better pay off in terms of how Arata knew about the stories. The way they explained it was so lame.

Ultimately, I would describe Shimokita Die Hard as an inconsistent bunch of short stories. I would say just watch episode 5 and 6 as they are the best and skip everything else unless you enjoy going to Shimokitazawa. Meh but do watch episodes 5 and 6. Shimokita Die Hard is unsubbed but someone has retimed the Japanese subs at least to episode 2.

R.I.P. Ohsugi Ren

I just woke up to a message from bframe that one of Japan's greatest actors has passed away. I am at a lost for words. At least he went out on top with the great Byplayers and Final Fantasy Daddy of Light. I doubt they will continue with Byplayers 2 since it can't work without him. I'm glad a lot of the non-Japanese watching people got to see him act in Daddy of Light besides the Beat Takeshi movies.

I'm trying to think of what other memorable roles he had and the one that comes to mind was his role in Boku no Aruku Michi as the kind boss of the zoo. It was probably the Ohsugi's first role where I really noticed him. 大杉連さんありがとうそしてお疲れ様です。

Yocho Sanpo Suru Shinryakusha

Edit: OK, after thinking about the show some more. I think I finally get what its about which isn't that difficult because the alien spells it out in the end. Its about love and what lengths people in love go for each other. I just didn't feel it until a few days after watching. So upgrading to a watchable rating.

Yocho Sanpo Suru Shinryakusha is a horror/monster movie about an alien is walks around stealing human notions (gainen) such as family and fear. Directed by the talented Kurosawa Kiyoshi (Shokuzai), Yocho Sanpo Suru Shinryakushua is based on a play, which is evident from watching it and I think would have been better if it were shot as a play. Not that it doesn't look beautiful but the story's DNA seems more suited for the stage rather than the screen.

I don't really know what to think of the story. Sometani Shota plays Kaho's husband is was selected by the alien as a guide to provide victims for the alien in exchange for not hurting Kaho and in the process does some very bad things. Kaho meanwhile turns out to be special as she can tell something is wrong and is immune from getting her gainen stolen.

The story is about how this couple would do anything to save each other, even betraying humanity even in the face of earth facing extinction. However, at the end of the movie I just hollow. I just don't get this series and the purpose of the movie. Meh from me. Must be one of those plays where everything is a metaphor . Only Kaho and Kurosawa Kiyoshi fans should check this out but please keep your expectations low.

Looks like Kurosawa Kiyoshi has released a movie version of this story with a different cast including Matsuda Ryuhei, Nagasawa Masami and Hasegawa Hiroki. Seems like the story is different although the setting is the same. Might give it a shot.

Byplayers Episodes 8-12

Really fun dorama with a great ending that is unfortunately very similar to another jdorama that I recently watched. My only criticism of Byplayers is episode 9 where they visit the village filled with lookalike supporting actors. 

In all the other episodes, Byplayers was seemingly set in the real world albeit and then jarringly we have a gag episode making it more anime-like. Completely out of left field weird episodes are not uncommon in Japanese entertainment, especially anime but it just left me cold to the point of considering dropping the series, which I am glad I didn't.

Besides episode 9 which saved itself with a nice cliffhanger, Byplayers is a wonderfully written and acted show about acting. There are plenty of memorable episodes including Terajima Susumu's promise to the kids, the musical episode, the Natsukawa Yui episode etc. Speaking of Natsukawa Yui, the list of guest stars is freaking awesome and you'll never guess who the final one is. :)

One of the best shows of 2017 and must watch. Even if you don't know Japanese, at least watch the first 7 episodes which was been subbed. I'm not really looking forward to season 2 because its going to be hard to top the writing for this one. I also can't wait to do the Hamsapsukebe 2017 awards so I can watch Anone but I've got a few other shows to finish including Yocho Sanpo Suru Shinryakusha.

Passed my JLPT N4!

JLPT is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test which goes from N5 (easiest) to N1 (hardest). Since I started learning to read Japanese after I first went to Japan a lifetime ago, taking the JLPT has been on my to-do list and after giving myself too many excuses to not do the exam, I got inspired last year to get off my ass and just do it.

I bought an N3 sample exam book and found the grammar questions way too hard. Even looking for answers online was difficult. I could get half of the grammar questions right based on 'this sounds right' but I chickened out and decided to go for the much easier N4. At least get a pass first before I get a possible fail.

That being said, there were a lot of N4 grammar things that I did not and still do not know. My grammar knowledge is practically zero being a self-taught student of the language. I learn Japanese from reading manga, playing games, and watching movies and jdoramas. I know lots of useless in real life words like 初陣 (first battle), 帰還 (return to base) or 召喚 (summon) which will never come up in exams.

There is a part of me that feels like just doing mock exams will not level up my Japanese as a whole or make me understand movies more but there is one thing I realised when taking the JLPT; that its not an exam of filed with trick questions (although there are plenty), its more an exam to confirm the general level of one's Japanese. Though in my case, my vocabulary is a lot better than my grammar.

We only get one JLPT exam a year in December so I got 8 months to start going through the JLPT N3 books I got in Japan during the last trip. I'm feeling very lazy because I have plenty of games to play and mangas to read. In the end, I'm going to be doing the N3 for the sense of achievement and a piece of paper that says my Japanese is at a certain level. In the end, the road to being fluent in Japanese is a never ending one. Will I ever get there, I don't know.

On a side note, anyone have anymore 2017 jdoramas to recommend? The only ones on my to watch list now are Shimokita Die Hard, ByPlayers and Ishitsubute.

Meishi Game episodes 2-4 spoiler review

I really enjoyed Meishi Game. Its about a life or death game show but its more about people getting chewed out from the entertainment industry; the caterer, director, gravure idoru, manager and aspiring writer. They all tried very hard to succeed and they all got screwed by a power crazy producer which I think is something that is not uncommon in the industry.

The one hook that really got my reason was why the director covered up for Tsutsumi Shinichi. I was expecting a twist whereby Tsutsumi Shinichi wasn't as bad as expected or that the director had done something wrong with the gravure idoru.

Initially I was disappointed with the reveal of the reason why he covered for Tsutsumi Shinichi; that the director had begun to hate the industry that he had once loved. I think most people would have elected to take out the abusive producer in the process of quiting anyway.

However. the more I thought about it, the more I could see how the director was a defeated man. Rather than hating the producer for turning him into a scapegoat he was sad that he had lost the motivation to direct. I also did not figure that the director would turn out to be the person pulling the strings. I was so sure it was going to be the producer's ex-wife.

I was really sad when the idoru Ohara Maika finally decided to do AV. Being a talento is a cutthroat business where gravure idorus are dime a dozen. However, it is because of her hard work that in the end she could get as money as she did from AV. One of the sad realities of the Japanese entertainment industry.

So what was Meishi Game about? It's about how an industry as tough as the entertainment industry can create monsters of the best people. Its about how hard work may not be necessarily rewarded and how when the door to success is closed sometimes you have to climb through the back window.

Lastly I loved the hint that Tsutsumi Shinichi knew what was going on and played along to give himself an out. After all, he is a veteran television producer and would know the ins and outs of a gameshow and how to stage a good one.

Very enjoyable. Not must watch but very good.

Byplayers Episodes 1-7

I wasn't that interested in Byplayers when I first read about it despite the fact that it had some of my favourite actors. I show about 6 actors living in the same house so they bond before shooting a big movie? How interesting would that be? Since Byplayers got subbed or at least the first 7 episodes, I decided to give it a go and so far its been a fun ride.

Its so much fun watching actors that I've seen in so many shows playing themselves, especially Endo Kenichi, Osugi Ren, Matsushige Yutaka (Kodoku no Gurume) and Terajima Susume (Every Beat Takeshi movie).

To me, its less about 6 people living in the same house but more about the world of acting. About how its like any other job where various people with their own idiosyncrasies have to work together. About how actors feel about the public perception of their roles. About how a scandal can derail a supporting actors career. (If you are a Johnny, scandals are like water over a ducks back) About how actors give it their all even for tokusatsu shows.

Byplayers is a love letter to doramas and movies and the actors that entertain us and support whichever unworthy idoru the tv stations want to use as a ratings grab. Featuring a myriad of cameos, Byplayers is a strong contender to be a must watch show.

With five episodes to go and the big reveal already done in episode 7, lets see whether it can maintain its quality and surely Kita Yoshio has to make an appearance. Thanks to jc1782 for subbing the first 7 episodes and f u to the streamers who took his/her subs and removed all credit. Very watchable.

Kangoku no Ohimesama Episodes 6-10

Kangoku no Ohimesama greatest weakness is that it spends most of its time in unnecessary flashbacks that detail every single thing about their characters' past. However, this is Kudo Kankuro writing here so every trip to the past in funny and touching.

Still, when a show uses the flashback technique, its keep the audience guessing how the characters got from point A to point B, which is the beginning of the show and every nugget of revelation keeps the audience guessing. In Kangoku no Ohimesama, we the audience can pretty much fill in the blanks and while there are some potential twists, they never happen and in the end it ends up being a straight forward journey.

I've always said not to judge a jdorama but what I think it should be but what its trying to be. Kudo Kankuro wants Kangoko no Ohimesama to be a comedy about friendship and about how a bunch of criminals can band together and risk their futures for the himesama. In that sense he has succeeded. Kudo Kankuro has created a memorable cast of characters especially Baba Kayo. There are so many funny and interesting details in the dialogue.

At the same time, I just hate the pacing and the narrative flow. If only it were 6 episodes, the pacing would be perfect or if Kudo Kankuro did it as a straightforward show instead of a flashback story. Watchable but infuriatingly flawed.