Friday, January 17, 2025

Double Cheat: Itsuwari no Keikan season 2

 

It has been a while since I watched the first season of Double Cheat. A reskinned version of Kurosagi for an older audience about a police officer who scams the scammers. I had forgotten a lot of the first season by TV Tokyo but I remember the premise and I remember the ending.

Season 2 continues where season 1 left off but the main character is now this scammer Tago Yuto played by Ichihara Hayato who has just been released from jail. Tago does a job for this scammer Kizaki who runs scams on behalf of this mastermind called Kaito Shu. Tago convinces Kizaki to make him his partner and together they do a way too obvious pyramid scam.

At this point I am wondering why should I care about this random bad guy character while I try to remember what happened in season 1. Luckily the episodes are rather short at 25 minutes so I kept going and the show got more interesting as Tago's plan is slowly revealed.

Season 2 got better in the second half and Ichihara Hayato's character turned out to be the most interesting character in the end. After Octo, I am just happy to have a decent police show, though I would say Double Cheat is more of a scam show. 

Just an observation but it was obvious that Double Cheat did not have much of a budget despite being a TV Tokyo and WOWOW collaboration. Scam shows are cheaper than your typical police show to shoot because it is less action and more planning. I am all for collaboration so tv networks can share the cost and tell good stories.

The weakness of season 2 are the same as season 1. Uchida Rio is not the most convincing detective but I guess no one can be as unconvincing as Ueto Aya. In season 1 they had Uchida Rio finishing her calculations asap so she could do investigating but that is forgotten in season 2. Same with S1, you have to turn off your brain a bit for the show to work.

Season 2 of Double Cheat starts out slow but keeps getting better. Thanks to Edward Wong for subbing and I got the raws from his public server. Double Cheat on the whole is a watchable show especially if you like stories about scams and dislike Kurosagi like me but it takes a while to get interesting.

Monday, January 13, 2025

The Great War of Archimedes jmovie review

 

In the 1930s after WW1, there are two camps among the commanding Japanese naval officer. One camp wants Japan to build a the largest and greatest battleship in the world aka Yamato and the second camp sees battleships as a relic of the past and the future of naval warfare are aircraft carriers.

Both camps submit their initial numbers and the estimated cost for the giant battleship is somehow lower than the aircraft carrier. Camp aircraft carriers suspects camp battleship of fudging their numbers and need to prove it. They enlist the help of Kai Tadashi, a university drop out who is supposed one of the smartest mathematicians in Japan to prove that the estimate of battleship is fake.

I normally like stories about people doing interesting work because I enjoy details of a job but The Great War of Archimedes is not a story with good details. Kai Tadashi's fetish is that he likes measuring everything including women and Hamabe Minami. To each his own but Kai spends the story measuring a battleship that is supposedly 2/3 smaller than Yamato plans because he does not have the actual plans of the Yamato to make and estimate.

I was very bored thinking what is so interesting about this story of a mathematician creating an estimate of a battleship where he does not have the actual plans? What details are there of this herculean endeavour that would make it worth watching like Fune wo Amu?

Nothing. Kai is just a super genius who can read all books on ship building in one night to come up with the perfect plans of Yamato based on some rough sketches. That is the whole freaking movie. Super genius pulls a rabbit out of thin air because he is super genius. Yawn. Do not watch.

Wednesday, January 08, 2025

Fukuyadou Honpo Episodes 1~9

Saw this 2016 jdorama on Prime and thought why not? Hayami Akari was great as the sister in Nanyobi ni Umareta no and you can't go wrong with Sasaki Nozomi. Fukuyadou is about 3 sisters who are from a traditional sweets making family in Kyoto. 

The oldest sister played by Sasaki Nozomi is leaving the family, 2nd sister played by Hayami Akari does not want to take over the family business and youngest daughter does not want any part of the family succession drama.

Fukuyadou Honpo is a light hearted romp and the beginning of Fukuyadou Honpo really reminded me of Daisy Luck, a light hearted Sasaki Nozomi and Shokotan romp show that I enjoyed a lot more than I expected. Plus, who doesn't like looking at all the Kyoto scenery and everyone wants to see this traditional sweets shop suceed.

The problem is somehow the story is very, very boring. Sasaki Nozomi's story about her fiance is mind numbingly bad and they have zero chemistry together. Hayami Akari and Ichihara Hayato start off ok with all the bickering but gets boring when the get together. Don't remember anything about the youngest sister except I quit after 9 episode out of sheer boredom.

It's not like Daisy Luck is a KDO and I keep my expectations low but light and fluffy still requires some chemistry and sufficient humour. I would watch Sasaki Nozomi in anything but I can't believe someone made such a boring show that started off promising. Avoid. If you want a light hearted romp, twatch Daisy Luck instead.

On a side note, there is not much Japanese stuff on the Australian Amazon Prime but I know there are plenty of shows on the Japanese Prime. The trailer for Shinya Shokudo 3 showed up on my youtube for some reason but it is not in the Australian Prime. :(

Saturday, January 04, 2025

Eroi Kareshi ga Watashi wo Madowasu Episodes 1~4

 

Since I have been on a Nojima Shinji blitz with Nanyobi ni Umareta No and Takane no Hana, it is time to watch a show that has been sitting in my downloads folder for a very long time, Eroi Kareshi ga Watashi wo Madowasu.

Eroi Kareshi is a comedy about this very rich ojousan Hitomi played by Matsui Airi who has the ideal life being engaged to the ideal partner, a very rich stock trader  called Keigo who her mother likes to call the ideal real estate. Hitomi starts to fall for this labourer Manabu who is with a kyabajou called Mai and is confused by what she wants in life.

What follows is Hitomi being honest to her fiancĂ© and then Hitomi's mom and sister using Mai as a honey trap for Keigo and Keigo falling into said trap despite knowing the truth. It is bloody confusing and I don't get what Nojima Shinji is doing because the main character Hitomi, played by Matsui Airi is so stupidly nice that she is boring. 

There is something here about class as Manaby and Mai are being looked down by Matsui Airi's family but there is nothing funny to keep my interest. After 4 episodes, I still don't care about any of the characters, except maybe the kyabajou Mai. Everyone else is so boring. Do not watch.

Sasagawa Miwa: Tsuzuku

 

After rewatching Takane no Hana in glorious 1080 on prime, I knew it was time to do something I had been procrastinating on; redownload/update my jdorama collection. I have over 5TB of jdoramas but a lot of them were 480p or less ie not watchable quality. 

So I downloaded Takane no Hana and went looking for Salaryman Kintaro and surprisingly I had downloaded 720p versions of Kintaro except for season 4 way back in the day. I don't remember doing it but glad I don't need to download everything except there is a 1080i version of season 1 which is 34gb! Hhhmm. 

Next show on my list was Coffee-ya no Hitobito. Most of what I had was 720p except I was stupid enough to download 480p for the last 2 episodes. What the hell was I thinking? I will not accept anything less than 1080p for Coffee-ya no Hitobito and it got my listening to the ending song, Sasagawa Miwa's Tsuzuku which I discovered was officially uploaded to youtube 9 months ago. 

Love Tsuzuku. It goes perfectly with the Coffee-ya no Hitobito. I don't know any of her other songs but Tsuzuku is just amazing and 8.1k views is too little for such a beautiful song.

It is going to be a slow and steady trip redownloaded and maybe rewatching old shows. On my list is Suzuki sensei, Love Shuffle and maybe Golden Bowl.

Monday, December 30, 2024

Rewatching Takane no Hana

 

I sat down to rewatch Takane no Hana on prime and could not stop watching. Nojima Shinji's dialogue is amazing. The dialogue literally sings. It not only looks beautiful, but I am captivated by every single spoken word in Takane no Hana. It is the type of dialogue you'd imagine every actor in Japan would kill to be able to speak the words on tv.

Mineta Kazunobu was at the peak of his powers after Kiseki no Hito. Nojima Shinji was a genius naming the main character Pooh and talking about how girls would have a teddy bear covered with saliva only to be tossed aside once they grow up. All teddy bear allegories correspond with Pooh's role as the bear to heal Momo's heart.

Is this Ishihara Satomi's best acting job ever? Was this her career defining role? Tsukishima Momo, the untouchable flower recovering from being left at the altar is a character that is not easily forgotten. 

I think Yoshine Kyoko is perfectly cast as the younger sister who is a lot more innocent. Kohinata Fumiyo did an excellent job as the evil dad. I finished 10 episodes in no time. 

My only complaint is Karina was a waste of space and time. Her being a test for Pooh after he had been dumped was stupid. Karina was a time wasting side trip that messed up an otherwise immaculate pacing of the show. If she were that important of a friend, Karina would have been in the story since the beginning.

I did not give Takane no Hana a must watch last time but on a second rewatch, Takane no Hana is an amazing show. My copy of the show is only a 480p so I am going to go look for a quality rip after this. Must watch! Interesting to note the prime version is missing the ending song that was present in the original Japan version. On a side note, maybe it is time to download at least 720p version of jdoramas that I really like instead of watching new ones.

Sunday, December 29, 2024

Jmovie review: Karaoke Iko! / Let's go karaoke!

 

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

Karaoke Iko! is a bout a kid, Oka who is in final year of his junior high choir group, facing the prospect of his voice breaking and not being able to sing the soprano part anymore. Oka runs into Narita Kyoji played by Ayano Go, a yakuza who needs to improve his singing so that he does not get last in his boss's annual birthday karaoke event and gets tattooed.

THE GOOD

+ Karaoke Iko! is a feel good music jmovie by director Yamashita Nobuhiro who also directed Linda Linda Linda.

+ You can tell Ayano Go is having a great time hamming up for the camera!

+ Love the choice of music in the movie and the scene with all the yakuza purposely butchering all the famous songs is funny.

+ Yoshine Kyoko is in it as the music teacher.

+ It is a beautiful coming of age story with heart.

+ I love who they cast as Ayano Go's boss.

+ I was wondering how the movie would do an ending with two different performances and then I realised that this movie has been all about making me want to see that one performance.

THE BAD

- Nothing

SUMMARY

Karaoke Iko! is not cinematic perfection like Swing Girls was but it is feel good fun. I guarantee you will be looking for the Little Glee Monster cover of the song as the credits roll. Very watchable. Easily found on the high seas on torrent galaxy etc.

Friday, December 27, 2024

Octo: Kanjo Sosakan Shinno Akari Episodes 3~6

The one good thing I can say about Octo is that I liked the ending of episode 4. Similar to the ending of episode. I like my stories a bit twisted.

That being said, I am dropping Octo because I can't stand the gimmick. Iitoyo Marie drawing emotions every time they interview a suspect is just annoying instead of focusing on clues or their reactions. 

Watching Octo is a chore. I would rather watch any episode of Aibo. Hell, I would watch any episode of Shinzanmono. I just wanted Octo to be a police procedural that did not bore me and it turned out to be exactly that. 

Obviously something worked because there is a second season of Octo but as soon as I publish this, I am deleting the whole thing from my HD. I don't care about who killed Iitoyo's family. I just want to be free from this utterly boring police procedural relying on a one trick gimmick. Do not watch.