Hamsapsukebe 2016 jdorama awards

Welcome to the annual Hamsapsukebe awards, the only jdorama award that will never be given to Aragaki Yui just because her show is popular because a Hamsapsukebe award is about excellence in jdorama and not making talent agencies happy. However, I am willing to sell my soul and give her an award if her agency will give me two tickets to Japan every year. :)

MOST BEAUTIFUL JDORAMA

KENJA NO AI

TV is a visual medium and unfortunately not much emphasis is given to the visuals, colours or the camera placement. A lot of it is due to the fact that there is not much time and money so its about shooting 10 episodes as efficiently as possible. That's why so many jdoramas feel like someone built three sets, lit everything up with the force of a thousand suns and used the same three camera placements all throughout the shoot.  Plus most of the people who watch jdoramas don't really care whether a show used too much fuzzy lighting or knows how to use shadows to accentuate the foreground. They just want to look at beautiful people instead of beautiful images.

So when a jdorama strives to achieve excellence in its visuals, it must be praised and Kenja no Ai has achieved something even most movies cannot match. The sumptuous visuals serve to dress up the great acting to provide and absolute feast for your eyes.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (TIED)

YAMAGUCHI SAYAKA - UNMEI NI, NITA KOI

TAKAOKA SAKI - KENJA NO AI

Very, very close race between Yamaguchi Sayaka and Takaoka Saki from Kenja no Ai. Both giving great performances as the jealous antagonist. I was bouncing back and forth between both, slept on it and then skimmed though both shows. Debated making it a tie and changed my mind a few times. You know what, these two gave the best performances of 2016 and both of them deserved to be recognised.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

SANTAMARIA YUSUKE - COLD CASE

A much version of his character from Hi no Ko. I know he's more guest star than supporting act but the two episodes he is in are so good and basically saved the show. Its incredible how he can excel in both comedies and serious stuff.

BEST ACTRESS

NAKAYAMA MIHO - KENJA NO AI

If you told me Aso Kumiko deserves this I won't argue with you.

BEST ACTOR

MINETA KAZUNOBU - KISEKI NO HITO

I was going to give it to Kamikawa Takaya for Shizumanu Taiyo but then there's something to be said about playing a simpleton and the balancing act of making him likeable and not letting the audience dislike his straightforwardness. I can't think of anyone else who could have done Mineta Kazunobu's job as well.


ALMOST MUST WATCH JDORAMA AWARD

I've never given this out but this year had a huge lot of shows that were very good, but just stopped short of being must watch in my book but I need to give these shows some love.

KISEKI NO HITO

I bloody love this show and its killing me not giving it a must watch.

JUKEN NO CINDERELLA

It never reached that level of greatness but it was so fun to watch.

KIBOUGAOKA NO HITOBITO

Need Sawamura Ikki to do more WOWOW shows instead of more crap like Rental Kyuuseishu. The pay is probably a lot less but he'll get to actually act and say great lines.

KUROI 10-NIN NO ONNA

Bakarythm almost made a classic jdorama which is more than what most jdoramas can say.

ARECHI NO KOI

Great acting from Toyokawa Etsushi and Suzuki Kyoka.


BEST 5 JDORAMAS OF 2016

UNMEI NI NITA KOI

I  didn't give it a must watch but that's because the degree of difficulty to pull off a really good older woman younger man jdorama that does not become a stereotypical housewife fantasy is very high. If the chemistry were better, it would have challenged Kenja no Ai for best show of 2016.

Actually, fuck it. I'm retroactively awarding it a must watch cause of Yamaguchi Sayaka. Its not like they had negative chemistry anyway.

JUHAN SHUTTAI!

I hated the first episode, kept watching and everything after that was perfect.

SHIZUMANU TAIYO

Not as good as the classic Fumo Chitai but still a good enough show about the good guy trying to do the right thing.

MIDNIGHT DINER TOKYO STORIES

Shinya Shokudo is back to form after a so so season 3 and movie.

KENJA NO AI

Why hasn't this WOWOW masterpiece been English subbed? The fact it hasn't been subbed is a crime against humanity! Looks like Kenja no Ai is being subbed at http://kataomoinoaji.livejournal.com. Thanks to anonymous for the info. Everyone needs to watch this! Its such an incredible show about friendship, revenge and jealousy.

5 reason Kenja no Ai might be this year's best jdorama

1) KENJA NO AI IS A VISUAL FEAST FOR THE EYES.

Jdoramas usually light everything up and look like a crappy soap opera. WOWOW and NHK shows usually have a grittier more movie like look. Ken no Ai reminds you that this is a visual medium and creates so many stunning images.

2) GREAT MOVIE LIKE SOUNDTRACK

I'm not talking about memorable tunes cause there are non in Kenja no Ai. I'm talking about how the music doesn't overpower the scenes but rather enhances them.

3) DARK STORY ABOUT REVENGE AND FRIENDSHIP.

Every single revelation instead of being just a twist for the sake of a twist adds another complicated layer to the relationship between Mayuk-chan and Yuri-chan.

4) ITS NOT A SHOW ABOUT HOW COMPLICATED AND SOMETIMES ILLOGICAL HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS ARE.

Sick of the 'hey let's just all get along and be nice to each other' jdoramas? Kenja no Ai is about how a lot of times in real life, we have to pretend to get along. My favourite character is Yuri-chan. She's the bad guy but I can't hate her because how damaged she is. Everyone in this show is kind of trapped by past sins and don't know how to set themselves free and instead smile and pretend to be happy while living with great burdens.

5) GREAT ACTING BY EVERYONE INVOLVED.

I was expecting to hate Naomi but I didn't mind his acting.

 WHAT I HATED

There is one thing I hate about Kenja no Ai and that is the fight scene in the last episode. The music and shot composition was great but the fight itself was so fake. It was like those sentai shows where the bad guys just throw themselves on the ground. How could the director be satisfied with that crappy performance. It felt like the two actors were so scared of physical contact and I'm not talking about the fake ass punching.

SUMMARY

I do not have enough superlatives to describe Kenja no Ai. I'm just sad that it so much better than most jdoramas but not many people have seen it. Definitely deserves to be subbed.

Kenja no Ai Eps 1+2

There are many mysteries in the world; How were the pyramids actually built? Why do SMAP always appear on Kohaku when they can't even sing? Why is Goriki getting pushed like she has acting talent? How the hell does Nakayama Miho look the same as I saw her in Home & Away so many years ago? (No, not the Aussie soap and the answer is plastic surgery)

I know its way to freaking early but two episodes in, Kenja no Ai is contender not just for best show this season over Shizumanu Taiyo which is spending a lot of the second half with moustache twirling villains but might be best show this year.

Now why this proclamation so early when Kenja no Ai could easily fall apart? Because even if it did, the first two episodes of Kenja no Ai are still must watch for one simple reason; it does so many things better than most jdoramas.

I'm talking images, colours, camera and shockingly, score. It feels like someone is scoring this tv show instead of someone writing a couple of musical pieces and letting the editor insert the music here and there.

There's this scene in episode 2 where this character is walking up the stairs, the camera following her and there's this small piece of music which slowly helps build up the uneasiness and sense of dread. I was thinking this is the type of stuff that movies do but doramas don't even try to do.

Which brings me to the no.1 thing Kenja no Ai has; atmosphere. All the things I mentioned comes together to create this dark and uneasily atmosphere.

Up until now, I have not mentioned the plot. It starts off with Nakayama Miho with a very young man in a hotel. I'm thinking generic obasan fantasy dorama that doesn't lead anyway. Then we flashback to Nakayama Miho's childhood and her very demanding best friend.

I had no idea where the story was going but I could not tear away from the sumptuous visuals and lapped everything up.

When the dinner scene happened (which I won't spoil) then everything started to make sense. Wait til you see the big reveal in episode 2! OMFG. I need to do a spoiler review cause I love how the show never explains anything directly.

I am pretty confident the remaining episodes won't be a disaster because I can see how carefully each scene is crafted and the story has the balls to go dark, well figuratively since the two main characters are female and I forsee it taking the audience to some interesting places.

Kenja no Ai is available at many streaming sites as well as doramax265. Highly effing recommended and someone needs to sub this! WOWOW has done it again!

10 greatest jdoramas of all time

 

It is finally time to put pen to paper for this list. Since I started this blog a lifetime ago, I have always had this list in my head with the intention of doing this list one day. I roughly knew roughly the 6 that I wanted in but it is hard to narrow down the other 4 after years of watching jdoramas. There are way too many shows to wither it down to 10 and I feel like if I rewatch some old shows I will end up changing the list again. Here are my top 10 greatest jdoramas of all time in no particular order.

1. GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka (1998)

The original is the best. Sorimachi Takashi's charisma along with the chemistry with Matsushima Nanako and one of the best student talents ever. I could watch this every year and not get bored.

2. SOREDEMO IKITE YUKU

The Sakamoto Yuji masterpiece is so perfect, so good I've written so many posts about it and translated his interview.

3. OYAJI

The perfect family jdorama. Yes, even more than Kita no Kuni Kara. Tamura Masakazu is the perfect entertaining stubborn dad. The talent in this show is crazy and the theme song so good. Every family jdorama I compare to Oyaji. They tried to capture lightning in a bottle again with Otousan which sucked but I think Oi Handsome!! did a pretty decent job.

4. LOVE GENERATION

If I had to choose one dorama from the golden era, it would be Love Generation over Long Vacation and 101 Proposals. Kimutaku and Matsu Takako and Uchino Masaaki. Maybe Ozaki Masaya's second greatest work.

5. KEKKON DEKINAI OTOKO

Ozaki Masaya's masterpiece and Abe Hiroshi's greatest acting job ever. Everything is perfect from chemistry with Natsukawa Yui and Kuninaka Ryoko to Ken-chan. The easiest dorama to write reviews for because it is so fun to dissect the story and dialogue.

6. IRYU TEAM MEDICAL DRAGON

Greatest surgery jdorama ever. The greatest jdorama soundtrack ever. The amazing thing is they have  mostly kept the quality for all 4 seasons except season 3 was a bit meh. This show is so bullshit but its so cool. You will remember and love every character. Entlassen!

7. SHINYA SHOKUDO AKA MIDNIGHT DINER

The ultimate slow burn feel good show. The chicken soup of jdoramas.

8. SUZUKI SENSEI

The smartest teacher jdorama ever. I wrote 7 reviews for the whole series or rather the reviews wrote themselves because the dorama is just so well written. I need to do a rewatch one day.

9. LADY JOKER

The best WOWOW show? I actually place Samayou Yaiba pretty high up there as well along with Kenja no Ai. However when I think of WOWOW excellence, the first show that comes to my mind is Lady Joker. I think I have rewatched this 3 times already.

10. GAIJI KEISATU

Best terrorist/police thriller jdorama in a sea of crappy terrorist shows like Bloody Monday and Rondo. It is so good I wrote about what it does so well that other jdoramas don't. Watabe Atsuro at his best.

After thoughts: I really wanted to put in Manhattan Love Story/Tiger & Dragon and Mosaic Japan, The Journalist and Love Shuffle. Maybe one day I will revise the list. Maybe I should make put 20 shows in because there are too many good shows like Liar Game, Quartet, Kenja no Ai, Kita no Kuni Kara, Shiroi Kyoto etc.