Minna! Esper Dayo! ep 5

Here comes the weekly gallery of pantsu shots. :) I should seek out the Japanese Mano Erina boards and find out her fans' reactions to this dorama. I can't imagine many of them being familiar with Sono Sion.

A good drinking game for Minna Esper is chug everytime a we get a pantsu shot or hear the word onani.  Thanks to this episode, I will forever remember the world yariman.

At the beginning we are introduced to yet another esper Hideo and I wondering why doesn't Sono Sion just get to the story already? Interesting to note that the kanji for Hideo is 英雄 which is eiyuu/hero. Bloody Japanese with its multiple pronunciations.

Turns out the new psychometry guy has a nice story to tell and it gave our gang a mission to accomplish. Watching them working together with their powers is awesome.

Yoshio runs around saying he wants to save the world every episode and in this episode, he has the chance to make it slightly better. As always, Yoshio's relationship with Kaho is always the heart of this series.

Really fun episode. There's not much backstory to the characters but their chemistry as a whole is starting to grow on me. Normally I would be very happy noticing something white in this screencap... who am I kidding, I still am. :)

Kinda disappointed Sono Sion didn't do slow motion Mano Erina rubbing the bowling bowl...

.. and he didn't do a camera view from the back either. Standards are slipping. Maybe Mano Erina's contract states that Sono Sion can only do a limited amount of pantsu shots.

I wonder whether Kaho's agent told her she would have to do 100 pantsu shots in this dorama. No one else but Sono Sion can get good actresses to do perverted stuff just for kicks.

I am also disappointed after 5 episodes and 50 pantsu shots that we have not had shimapan.

Kaho and the 4, soon to be 5 boners. I'm feeling the need for the group to have a hot and sexy esper.

Nice reveal at the end. Looks like we're finally getting to the main story next episode. Can't wait. Also love the promo bit at the end where the psychometry guy finds out who Sergei is, lol.

Kirishima, Bukatsu Yamerutteyo

Kirishima, Bukatsu Yamerutteyo is one weird artistic movie. The title character Kirishima, captain of the volleyball team and most popular dude in the school never appears but what we get are all the other characters in the school trying to deal with Kirishimas absence. He permeates every conversation in this movie but only his absence is felt.

Kirishima, Bukatsu Yamerutteyo is a high school movie about the various characters that we always see; the popular girls group, the athletes, the lone musician girl and the nerds. The story is also told from multiple point of views though there are not interesting revelations.

So I'm watching this movie thinking I've seen all the characters and nothing much is happening. Its cool it has multiple viewpoints but when is the payoff coming? There's a non-climatic scuffle in the end that confused the hell out of me. Have I been watching 1 1/2 hours of nothing?

Then the 'true climax' of the movie happens when the camera is pointed at the head nerd and he has an answer for why he does what he does and Kirishima's best friend runs off crying because he is living life of no meaning. He is near the top in the school hierachy yet he has no purpose. That's the only thing I got from this movie.

To summarise, there's no plot in Kirishima, Bukatsu Yamerutteyo. Nothing really happens that we've not seen before and it doesn't lead anywhere interesting. I'm always complaining about jdoramas telling instead of showing but this movie isn't showing me anything new or interesting about Japanese high school life. I just don't get the praise for this movie.

Like the popular girl group. You've got the Queen-bitch, Kirishima's girlfriend with her best friend who is more like a slave and the two girls who don't really like her but hang around her because she's dating Kirishima and because they don't want to be hated by other girls. Ho-hum. I've seen this so many times in other doramas already and they actually lead somewhere.

Usually for movies that I don't get like No Country for Old Men, at least I can understand what they were trying to do. With Kirishima, Bukatsu Yamerutteyo, I have no idea what its trying to achieve. Nice to see Ohgo Suzuka again but she doesn't get to do anything with her character.

Kumo no Kaidan eps 1-4

Kumo no Kaidan starts out with a very interesting premise. Saburo (Suzuki sensei) who works in a one doctor clinic on a small island in admin, is not a qualified doctor but is so talented that Dr. Muraki gets him to do operations much to the chagrin of everyone else except of course the hot older nurse. Normally I dislike those living a lie doramas because its just heaping one lie after another until the second last episode where its a confession in front of everyone but Kumo no Kaidan starts out different.

The main difference is that the people on the island know that Saburo is not a real doctor and acknowledge his skills. As Dr. Muraki tells him, on this island, Saburo is a real doctor. Saburo is living a lie, but its for the good of the people and everyone knows to keep this from outsiders. One day, a young girl who happens to be the daughter of the director of a big hospital in Tokyo comes to the island and Sabura saves her life in a very bloody operation. She develops the hots for him and this dorama becomes your typical hospital soap opera.

Suzuki sensei's acting is not up to snuff. He looks like he is walking around in a daze after smoking some hash except when he is at the operating table. The writing breaks the writing code of show and not tell by having way too many voice overs by the older nurse that Saburo gets involved with. How many times do we have to be told something is going to happen or what Saburo may be thinking instead of showing us the moment?

Kumo no Kaidan is Breaking Bad written and directed by soap opera people. For those who have not seen it, it is the story of a good man's descent into being a drug lord. Kumo no Kaidan wants to be about this pretend doctor who is actually very good slowly lose his soul but we do not even see his soul to begin with. The writing and acting for Saburo is not good enough to support this dorama.

I don't see Kumo no Kaidan turning a corner. The dialogue is stilted and cheesy and acting non-existent. Is Hasegawa Hiroki a one note actor (Suzuki sensei) or is he a prisoner of poor writing (Kaseifu no Mita)? Could have been a great character drama. I wasn't expecting Breaking Bad level badness but Kumo no Kaiden stays within the confines of jdorama cliches instead of letting the characters act the story. So disappointing after a good first episode.

I highly recommend jadefrost's write up of this seasons' doramas. Very well written. I'm definitely going to watch Lady Joker. Too bad there are no Japanese subs for WOWOW doramas.

Lastly, for preserving precious doramas on HD, I recommend I recommend HD utilities like like CrystalDiskInfo. Apparently it can tell you when your HD is close to dying so you can back things up beforehand.

Minna! Esper Dayo! ep 4

Episode 4 is here and this episode is about two things; introducing a new character who can see through things and finding out the colour of Mano Erina's nipples.

While I'll never get tired of seeing Mano Erina's pantsu, Minna! Esper Dayo needs to start getting into some character stuff soon.

Right now, its still a high school gag drama and hasn't done anything interesting with the powers aside from Yoshio and Kaho reading each other's minds.

WTF. Kyo mo?

Hottest shorts I've ever seen.

Gaaaaaaaahhhhhh... so ero-kawaii~~~~~~

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo....... Not with an alien looking guy who wears make up!

I really want to see whether Mano Erina can do more than just be idol cute. Hopefully things ramp up in the next episode and Sono Sion can take us to interesting places.

Things of note in Jdorama-land 5/5/13

1. D-addicts is down for the second time this week. :(

2. Looks like the fallout from Furransu 'I won't upload more episodes until it gets subbed' stance is that he's moved over to his own page, jdramacity so make sure its in your bookmarks.

Last I checked, the whole conversation about the issue was deleted from the thread.

3. Furransu has uploaded high res versions of the latest Minna, Esper Dayo! episode cause Subtle Reality has English subbed it up to episode 3! If you love pantsu, this is the dorama for you!

Need d-addicts back so I can download Japanese subs for episode 4 which hopefully Furransu has uploaded.

Tsuma wa Kunoichi eps 1-4

When I first read about this, the first thing that came to mind was a ninja version of My Wife is a Gangster. The dorama starts off with our simple-minded husband getting married to his ninja wife and then she disappears after one month of marital bliss. Husbands quits his job as travels around looking for his missing wife eventually ending up in Edo.

Tsuma wa Kunoichi has three parts. The first is the husband who though simple-minded, is an astrology freak and is science smart. He ends up being a school teacher and every episode ends up solving some sort of problem using science/logic. This part basically plays like a feel good comedy especially with the kids.

Then there is Romeo and Juliet part of the story. This is not like Basilisk where its ninjas from warring families. The husband knows she is close by cause she saves his bacon twice but if she's found out, she'll get killed by this former feudal lord Matsuura Seizan.

The third component of Tsuma wa Kunoichi is the historical part with forces in Japan not wanting to open its borders and using kunoichi to spy on people, especially people who come into contact with foreigners. There's this part toward to end of episode 4 that takes this dorama into a dark place which is very jarring compared to the bright story of the teacher husband.

The story is intriguing with a Romeo and Juliet who cannot meet because it would mean their deaths and all that historical stuff and not to mention some nice ninja fighting. What pulls this dorama down is that the tone is uneven. It has a bright family drama look and yet the story can be serious and mature. Acting is pedestrian.

I'm sticking with this dorama for the story and ninja fighting despite my misgivings about the tone and acting. Watchable.

Furuhata Ninzaburo season 2 eps 1+2

Took me a while to realise that Fansubs by Us have subbed two episodes of the second season of Furuhata Ninzaburo. Loved the first season and hopefully the second season is as consistently good as the first one. The first episode is a battle of wits between Furuhata and Akashiya Sanma's lawyer character.

Really enjoyed Furuhata turning the lawyer's excuse against him. The ending got a bit far fetched and while Furuhata did prove something the lawyer could have just denied it. The murderers in this show all have some honour code where when Furuhata pokes a hole in their denial, they will give up. The alternative is that it would take more than an episode for each story.

The fun as always, is the cat and mouse game between Furuhata and the suspects as Furuhata never completely masks his suspicions and always irritates the suspects. Must watch.

Minna Esper Dayo! eps 3

As mentioned in the previous post, I found another source for this dorama which was pandora tv. The bad news is that you need to pay money to watch it in normal resolution. I don't mind paying money but this doesn't go to Sono Sion's pocket. Maybe Furransu pays for the premium and uploads to d-addicts since it allows HD download of the videos or maybe he gets them Japanese P2P programs. I've been reading up on Japanese P2P programs and the new ones require a 100kb/s upload. If Furransu's uploads haven't caught up by the end, I might consider getting the premium since it lasts for 30 days to get all the episodes. At least Furransu uploaded the Japanese subs for ep 3. :)

I actually started subbing ep 1 but gave up after subbing the first 5 minutes cause its so much work. I found myself translating stuff literally cause trying to translate the meanings is a pain. On the Furransu not uploading doramas unless there are English subs thing, it is sad but beggers can't be choosers. There's an alternate rip by \( -o _ o- )/ but its Chinese hardsubbed which I dislike cause its so distracting. If Furransu's prerogative is to try to get as many Jdoramas subbed that's fine but it disregards people who know Japanese, not that he owes us anything.

So now we have two mind readers and a telekinetic who can only move things when there is a sexual motivation, as we find out in this episode. Kamogawa Yoshio (Sometani Shota) and Hirano Miyuki (Kaho) both being able to mind read leads to a lot of humour, especially in relation to his obsession with Asami (Mano Erina). Who can blame him really.

Screencap of the year and an actual confirmed non-stunt-pantsu Mano Erina shot!

The third episode is about the fourth esper of the group, Enomoto who discovers at the end of the last episode that he can teleport, just that his clothes do not teleport with him. Enomoto sets his sights on Asami and this leads to the most disgusting phone sex scene ever. Can't wait for episode 4 cause everything else this season just screams generic except Kumo no Kaidan. This would be a good chance to start going through my jmovies backlog.

OMG, she said it again.