Kiina eps 1-6

I wasn't interested in Kiina last season because I felt it was too soon for another Kanno Miho dorama after Hatarakiman. One look at the synopsis tells me its Hatarakiman as a cop. The chances of a Japanese cop shop turning out to be decent is pretty rare and I doubt they'll be able to produce the magic again so I kinda ignored it, until now.


Actually Kiina has more in common with Galileo than Hatarakiman. She is in charge of a two person unit called bepan and gets all the weird police cases. She's not extremely smart like Galileo but she possesses a photographic memory. She can walk into a crime scene and recall its details later.As she gets strange cases like ghosts, poltergeists, fortune telling and urban myths, she solves them by going to the library and reading 1 book every 20 seconds until she can absorb every information on a particular subject to solve it. With Kiina's great powers of memory she could be like the only person in the world with 20 different degrees but she's just a lowly cop.

Please arrest me!

Every episode starts the same; strange incident occurs and Kiina postulates a theory that the anomalies happened as claimed citing some historical examples. In the middle, she will do an almost complete explanation with leaving the last bit of revelation for the final act. Kiina, is not a mystery dorama. The list of suspects is always very short and the criminal usual evident from the get go. Like Galileo, its about explaining how the strange phenomenons occur which bring us to our main problem; its very inconsistent and if you know the science/reasoning then the episode becomes very boring.

Buta is starting to become the next Kita Yoshio....

Lastly, the final act has this tendency to be melodramatic which really just kills the mood. Its like some stupid producer mandated that they must try to pull at the audience's heartstrings at the end but ultimately it feels too coerced and fake. What's been keeping me watching is Kanno Miho and the slow building background story. Sawamura Ikki is criminally underused. His character needs a bigger role in the series to give the audience reason to care about the brooding Kazuma.

Someone give him a dorama to carry. After all the supporting roles, he deserves it.

Kiina is a barely watchable show that might be saved by its slow cooking background story and Kanno Miho's acting. Stand alone stories are very hard to get consistently good, let alone detective ones. Only watch if you have nothing else to see.

5 thing I learned from Akai Ito

1) All-girls-schools in Japan have better uniforms.

2) Japanese girls will accept violence by their boyfriends.

3) All the moms of middle school girls in Japan are hot.

4) Japanese think all drugs are the same and equally addictive.


5) To high school girls, a relationship is about having a string of coincidences to fool themselves into thinking its destiny and nothing about the substance of the relationship. Just stalk a girl, run into her a few times and claim that you both have the same birthday and she'll think you're her destiny.

Finally got around to watching Akai Ito. Someone posted in the comments that it was not bad but I wasn't that eager for another middle/high school dorama. I'm just so sick of doramas for the sake of pushing talent who can't act and in Akai Ito's case whoring another best selling novel bought by schoolgirls. I did not approach this show with much expectations and was fearing another Tada Hittotsu no Koi.


Lets get the bad stuff out of the way. Akai Ito is about destiny. The lives of Mei and A-kun are bound together in many ways and this show basically throws everything including the kitchen sink at them until of course they find their way to each other. The good news is, this is not a Korean inspired impossible relationship due to illness/sibling complications. Akai Ito is about hatsukoi, which is the basis of most Japanese romance stories. Problem is, there is not much depth. It like your general teen dorama with a cocktail of drugs, car accidents, suicides, bullying and teenage pregnancy but handling the issues half-heartedly.

Best promo pic for Akai Ito IMHO. :)

Akai Ito is basically a delay dorama. We have the beginnings of how Mei and A-kun meet and we have the happy ending. The question is how to pad the story by delaying the inevitable. The sub characters get their own story threads but ultimately like many shoujo type stories, the characters become are generic and paper thin. Characters speak and do certain things all for the plot which is not a problem if the plot is structured well. In other words, the plot doesn't feel organic. Too much time wasting. I can imagine the editor telling the writer that they need more pages and just pad it up with useless scenes. This show would greatly benefit from a much tighter script and a reduction of 3 episodes.

Too be honest, Mami kept me watching through the boring bits.

Despite my complaints with the writing, I managed to finish the show because of two reasons not including perving at the girls. First reason is the acting is solid. I didn't recognise Hachi One as A-kun because he wasn't crying every five minutes. Minamisawa Nao is very good as Mei. She is 100 times the actress Aragaki Yui is. Its unfortunate that she's not as famous just because she doesn't have the look. Generally the acting is above most teen doramas. Maybe it has to do with the lack of Johnnys on this show? hhhmmm.

If I were their father....

The second reason is the directing. This show looks fucking great. I'm surprised that they managed to get in so many on location shoots and managed to make them look good. Maybe it because they incorporated the budget for the movie into the shoot but it looks as good as Sekachu jdorama. Actually I think its better than the Sekachu dorama on the whole. Compare the outdoor lighting on this show against Shiroi Haru's and you can tell that Shiroi Haru is basically operating on a shoestring budget. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the actors are not getting paid much. In short, Akai Ito has very good production values and admire their effort.

Mami has Kojiharu ears!

For a shoujo style adaptation of a novel, Akai Ito is probably nearly as good as it gets. Technically wise, Akai Ito is good; directing, acting & music. The negatives I described are what I consider features or staples of the shoujo genre; generic female lead and lots of obstacles but a relationship that barely even existed. The whole purpose of the story is not to tell an interesting story but for the young female viewer to imagine themselves as Mei. I'm not trying to bash shoujo stories but rather point out that the script does not rise above mediocrity.


The ultimate question is whether Akai Ito is worth watching? I had fun watching about half of it while the other half consisted of temptations to fast forward and wanting to bang my head against the wall when 16 year olds make stupid decisions. The whole running away from police, picking up the stuffed toys and walking into a drug den in the last episode was too stupid. 16 year old kids can't be that dumb, can they? At the very least its a watchable dorama and goes to show that last season wasn't just about Love Shuffle.

Yako no Kaidan ep 1

Yako no Kaidan is about Michio, (Fujiki Naohito) a man with a murky past who uses women to further his ambition of owning his own hair saloon and seems to have been involved with a murder five years ago. Michio is a man of two faces; a nice and meek person on the outside but ruthless in his decisions. Yako no Kaidan sounds like a winner; an thriller about power, alliances mixed with a murder mystery. Unfortunately ep 1 goes to prove that concept is useless without execution.


There is something very wrong with the narrative in ep 1 and I believe it is because it is too literally based on the novel. Of course I've not read the novel but ep 1 suffers from disjointed scenes and narrative. In a novel, it is easier to explain characters and situations with as many words as necessary. For doramas, it is a mixture of visual and audio clues that allow the viewer to understand what is happening in front of them. The frequent use of an invisible narrator to link seemingly unconnected scenes and characters is further proof of a too literal adaptation.


Its not that I don't understand what's going in. Its more of there isn't a flow in the narrative. I spend too much time thinking WTF is going on and end up not caring about anything in this show. The only reason for me to watch this is Natsukawa Yui but ep 1 to me was so bad that I don't think it can improve much. Avoid.

Shiroi Haru eps 4+5

Don't bother waiting for the subs. If you've got knowledge of basic Japanese, its very easy to understand the dialogue and Shiroi Haru is worth watching a second time anyway when the subs come out. Episodes 4 and 5 feature two of the most heart wrenching scenes you will ever see Abe Hiroshi in, and they are great. If this were a Kdrama or featured a Johnny as the main, they would have milked it to no end. However, Abe is the master of less is more.

Aren't you sorta relieved that Kita Yoshio's not in this show?

Simple is best. Cleaning up Mariko's grave, Haruo comes to accept that he may have made the wrong decision. That he is partly responsible for her death. I just love how episode 5 is structured. In the beginning, he learns that Sachi is his child and gets a renewed sense of purpose, a new lease in life. He goes back to the shop where he ate and ran to repay his debt and the smile on Haruo's face after his good deed is priceless. With Abe Hiroshi, you don't need monologues about how good he felt doing that. Haruo is trying to make peace or seek atonement for his misdeeds so he can look forward to the future.

Albeit Abe probably did this scene more than a few times. :)

He goes about his work as a janitor with gusto but alast his past catches up to him. He is clearly aware that his past can only harm Sachi and it kills him. Again, he has to make the same decision towards Sachi that he made towards Mariko. It is in their best interest for him to go away. This mental conflict and anguish is not expressed through the use of a second character for Haruo to voice his thoughts to but through Abe's acting.


Koji's story is kinda weird. I don't think he and Mariko were ever really involved as a couple. He seemed more like nice guy who's help that she accepted due to her situation. Kanoko and Koji have been living together for how many years and nothing's happened? Its like a purely platonic relationship based on Sachi's welfare. However, their personal lives seem non-existant. Their life seems to be the bakery and the family that's not really a family.


It looks like my guess that Shiori has a link to the main characters may turn out to be false. She's is more of plot device to connect Haruo to Sachi. She deserves a side story with some sort of resolution as nothing is happening between her and Haruo. The preview of ep 6 shows Haruo's new job which is very interesting.

Why does ojisan always wear the same clothes? Does he think he's Kazuma Kiryu?

The big elephant in the room is where did Mariko's money go? Its obviously been stolen by his friend and may play a big part in the ending. Question is, Haruo is trying to move on. He has something to live for now. Would he jeopardize that for vengeance? Can't wait for next episode!

Shiroi Haru eps 2+3

Where's your hentai ojisan alarm?

The first episode had me keeping my expectations low. The second episode had me clamouring for the third. The third episode has me now getting the raw so I can see what happens next. The last show that had me watching it raw was KDO. Shiroi Haru is not on KDO's level, at least not on the technical side of the show. The visual problems that I complained about for ep 1 still persist but there are some elements that just make me smile.


Like the scenes of Koji, the baker dragging the heavy stuff back. The first time two schoolgirls giggle as they pass him, and the second time they lol and stomp their feet after passing him by. Its small attention to details like this that make me impressed and I'm pretty sure it due to the script. Its what separates Shiroi Haru from the rest of the crappy doramas whose sole reason of existence is to promote idols.

Sexy lips...

In his feud with Haruo, Koji has become a fleshed out character. He engages in a test of will partly because he feels guilt towards Haruo and oartly because he doesn't like conflict as evidenced in him using money to get Haruo away and his uneasiness in confronting the teacher over Sachi's bullying problems. Yet he is man, who has done the right thing and is always trying to do right by Sachi. He desperately wants to be the father that Sachi deserves but the truth is always haunting him.

Good thing Sachi doesn't look like Haruo.

Watching eps 2 and 3, it is clear that this is not a yakuza dorama. Its a ningen kankei show; a show about how different people relate to each other in different situations. I can't wait to see what the writer has in store for Kanako and Shiori. From the previews for episode 4, it seems like Shiori may have some ties to the main story after all.

Kawaii~~~~~~~

Sachi is a delight to watch. Sometimes her smiles seem forced but as a character she has the audience's empathy like when she puts premium on her promises with Haruo. Sachi is Koji's reason for existence and Haruo is finding himself drawn to her as she is his only link to the happiest time in his life. Can't wait to watch episode 4 when the truth about Sachi is finally revealed!

Hhhmm, schoolgirls holding hands...

Ep 3 was subbed by SMP subs and there was an outcry over someone coming in and starting from ep 3 thereby undermining Timelessub's work. It is unfortunately a rule that has been in d-addicts for a long time now and I can understand why it is in place. Jdorama subbing is not as big as anime subbing and it is protect the subber from having their work 'hijacked'. As a leecher however, I was hoping that someone would do softsubs when I heard that Timelessub was doing Shiroi Haru. They take on a lot of jdoramas and Kaze no Garden is still stuck at ep 7. This is where the subs must start at ep 1 rule rears its ugly head as a group may lock up the subbing of a few doramas but not able to sub in a timely fashion.

The best solution would be dinosaurkun doing the rest of the series as a joint project with Timelessub so we can get our Shiroi Haru fix faster.

Love Shuffle 9+10

Good news is, my biggest fear of the Usa-tan and Kame story dragging down the ending did not happen. Kame was just a plot device to give Ai-ai some screen time. In the end, it was about Usa-tan shedding the remnants of his past life and forging ahead with his new one. The only question was whether Ai-ai would sort out her feelings and join him. If only Abe Hiroshi had a cameo as Usa-tan's campaign manager. Their relationship is the lynchpin of the series and I'm glad the ending was done well.


Bad news is the other endings are pretty lame. The Ojiro and Kairi ending was supposed to be sweet but the fact that he was going to a war zone was really fucking stupid. Who in their freaking right mind would drag Yoshitaka Yuriko to places of violence where the getting blown up is not the worst thing that could happen to her? This is worse than committing suicide together. I'd rather that ending than this. Sure Ojiro can risk his life all he wants but he must surely know the dangers that await Kairi.


Yukichi and Mei's ending is ok. Nothing special. They are the throw-away couple. No one cares even if they decided to go to a war zone. As for Kikuta, part of me is glad that they didn't go darker but part of me feels like his ending is a wrapped up a little too nicely in a bow. I don't hate it, its just indifference. Him holding hands with Reiko at the hospital symbolising their future of raising the child together just felt weird. In a way it is appropriate as the child gives Kikuta and Reiko something to live for. Unlike Usa-tan and Ai-ai who made a conscious decision about their future, Kikuta and Reiko's was more like making something out of the remnants of Rabusha.

moe~~~~~!!!!!!!

Despite my indifference, I can't really think of a better way to end the show. That's because I've grown attached to the characters and the story is inconsequential as long as it is true to the characters. Best show of last season but lacking something in order to make it into my top 10. Still it is one of the most memorable and fun series in a long time. Definitely a must watch.

Rinjo ep 1

Kono sekai ai wa aru no?

Gonzo is back! I wish they'd do a second season of Gonzo but this is probably the next best thing. Uchino Masaaki plays Kuraishi Yoshio, a character similar to his half carefree/half serious Gonzo without the unforgettable past. Except this time, instead of being a cop, Kuraishi is the police in charge of investigating crime scenes. Yes, CSI Tokyo is here.

Am I going to be typecast as the carefree but cool police dude now?

Playing the role of Kuraishi's antagonist is Tachihara (Takashima Masanobu), the police investigator who dislikes Kuraishi meddling into his investigations. He believes that Kuraishi's job is to examine the crime scene and determine the cause of death but to leave the investigating to him. Takashima Masanobu always had a tendency to be very wooden in his acting. He is always playing nice boring characters and its good to see that he can act more naturally.

Kuraishi obviously liking what he's seeing.

Matsushita Yuki plays Kosaka Rumi, a subordinate who looks up to Kuraishi. She's his only ally in the police and will go to great lengths for him. Watanabe Ken's son plays he other subordinate who is placed in forensics by Tachihara. His acting doesn't stand out but lets see how he goes in this series before determining whether he got acting jobs cause of his dad or his talent. Added to the mix is the reporter Ai-chan who uses her feminine charms to get info from Kuraishi. Her presence as fanservice is very important and I hope her role will be expanded later.

You may not be as robotic as Sakuma but you're not as interesting.

Rinjo seems to be more of an episodic series instead of having an overarching story like Gonzo so the quality of the series will be judged based on how interesting the murder mysteries are. Having seen my fair share of Japanese cop shows, I'm not keeping my hopes up. As long as nothing is laughably bad like 100 police officers pointing their guns at one suspect, Kuraishi's antics will be enough to entertain me. A must watch for Gonzo fans and a decent show to to try out. Time will tell how good Rinjo is.

Shiroi Haru ep 1

My most anticipated jdorama of the season. Anything with Abe Hiroshi is a must watch for me. Not to mention a storyline which is sort of similar to ryuga gotoku? Knowing how jdoramas turn out, I'm keeping my expectations low for this one and would be happy if the show was watchable. Abe plays Haruo, a yakuza who went to jail for 9 years in order to pay the medical bills for his girlfriend. Sounds like one of those old hong kong gangster movies. Putting up with 9 years of jail time = instant empathy from audience.

Abe + Shinobu = win!

Haruo gets released and is shocked to discover that his ex girlfriend Mariko died and his 9 years were all for nothing. Everything that he did for her was for naught. He finds out that Mariko had a boyfriend, Murakami Koji before she died who is now a successful baker and Haruo suspects that he used her to get the money that Haruo went to jail for.

Whoever is responsible for this horrible shot should be banned from jdoramas or be forced to watch endless repeats of Tatta Hitotsu no Koi.

Its very obvious that the little girl in the series will be revealed to be Haruo's daughter. The other question marks would be Kanako's (Shiraishi Miho) past relationship with her sister Mariko and whether Koji did it for the money. Again, its pretty certain that Koji probably promised Mariko to use the money to raise Sachi. The sub story of the show is about Shiori (Yoshitaka Yuriko) who seems to be wandering through life and my bet is would have a past connection with Haruo.


The first thing that struck me about Shiroi Haru is that it has the look of a generic jdorama. Typical bar and bakery sets and usual boring camera shots. Don't expect a yakuza movie feel. The only scene that feels different is one flashback with Haruo bleeding all over. Some idiot decided that all Haruo's happy flashbacks would have brightness of 200% but all it did was make it look unreal, especially compared to the other flashbacks. Messing around with brightness and filters to convey emotion does not work in this show. It just feels disjointed, like a jdorama that wants to be everything. Instead of three directors directing three sets of episodes, it feels like 3 different people directing different parts of 1 episode.

Now, this is how a jdorama with a yakuza should look like.

This is only the first episode. Can't be too hasty. Plus Abe is great to watch, especially when he has his first beer in 9 years. Watching Haruo living day by day is interesting and the ending of ep 1 can only increase audience empathy for his character. When I finally go to Japan, I'm not getting within 3 meters of kids with stupid alarms. Can't believe that Shiraishi Miho is now playing a mom. I still remember when she debuted in Bijo ka Yajuu as the weatherwoman.

What happened to me Jinkama Misuzu????

Shiroi Haru is not the dark yakuza type story I was hoping for but I have faith in the writer of KDO and Tadano Hitoshi. While the revelations in Shiroi Haru are clear can write great dialogue and set up interesting situations as in KDO, we'll be in for a fun ride. If not, we can blame the shoddy directing and pathetic cinematography.

Boku to Kanojo to Kanojo no Ikiru Michi eps 1-4

Your mission today is to hook me a hot chick using the mum ran off sob story!

Boku to Kanoko to Kanojo no Ikiru Michi is the second in the Boku series. I reviewed the third one, Boku no Aruku Michi when it came out in 2006 here and here and it is certainly a must watch jdorama. I highly recommend you seek it out if you have not. SARS has kindly gotten their hands on BKKIM and are hardsubbing it. I love it when fansub groups seek out classic stuff and sub it for people to watch. There's probably a treasure trove of classic shows that have never been English subbed.

Kawaii kodomo + sympathetic dad = win!

Kusanagi Tsuyoshi plays Koyanagi Tetsura, a 29 year old salaryman who seemingly has it made. He has a house, nice family and good job with career prospects. He has achieved the ideal Japanese life until one day his wife packs her bags and just runs off leaving their daughter Rin behind. It is then that we begin to discover large cracks in Koyanagi's picture perfect life.

Kids are spoiled rotten cause crying now works on today's parents.

Koyanagi goes to work early and comes back late so he has had barely little contact with his daughter. He says and does what he thinks is the proper thing in front of people but does not know how to have real human interaction. He lives in his own personal universe and is not sensitive to others. Koyanagi puts himself first and other people are just a burden. Most like he just got married for his job.

Any night is okay!

Yes, Koyanagi is a fuckwit but Kusanagi Tsuyoshi makes him an interesting one. There is no doubt that he is the best actor in SMAP (which isn't saying much). Lesser actors would have failed to make Koyanagi an intriguing character. He is an adult but in terms of human relations he is but a child. We see him take baby steps in trying to establish a connection with his daughter, Rin and the show explores his relationship with his father and how it stunted his emotional growth. Boku no Aruku Michi was about how people grow through interacting with Kusanagi's character and BKKIM is about how Koyanagi grows through connecting with his daughter.

With such a kawaii musume, I am the ultimate chick magnet!

Koyuki is in the show as Rin's English tutor Yura who becomes a bridge between father and daughter. A cynical person could rename the dorama, 'how to pick up a hot tutor using your daughter'. Rin continuously calls Yura for all sorts of reasons and Yura has no contact for a day, she is continously thinking about Rin and her father. Plus appealing to her maternal instinct makes Koyanagi's quest to bed Yura (if he so desired) a sure thing.

Why does Kusanagi always acts with actresses who are taller than him?

As with Boku no Aruku Michi, BKKIM has a slow deliberate pace that is never boring. You get to see them do their routines day in day out but its the changes in the routine that makes it interesting. Honestly, the four episodes went by without me realising it. It is only with great acting and script that this show can achieve such an interesting tempo and make it work. There's so many little touches that make BKKIM great. Like how father and daughter were laughing while eating pizza and then there's this ackward silence when they realised that it was not normal behaviour in their relationship.


Boku to Kanojo to Kanojo no Ikiri Michi is definitely a must watch in my book. It is more than just a father daughter jdorama. It is about how people relate to each other and about how different goals and aims in life are always at odds with each other. A big thank you to SARS for subbing this show.