Jdorama ramblings 23/1/11

NAGAREBOSHI ep 3-8

The tale of the aquarium worker Kengo who, after his fiancee declined to the donor for decides that its time to kill to birds with one stone: save his sister and in the process get married to a young wife. He finds a prostitute Risa and pays her money for her to marry him and be his sister's donor. Kengo relies on the fact that Risa will feel sorry for his family's plight and pretends to be a nice guy by not bedding her. Any guy who pays a prostitute to be his wife would at least take the opportunity to sample her professional skills.

However, Kengo is smart because girls like having a relationship with guys who do not look at them without thinking about sex. I know it doesn't make sense but whoever said women did? Kengo's ingenious plan worked and finally at the end of ep 8, they hugged. Aaawwww. Along the way we have such exciting subplots such as Kengo's sister refusing the surgery because it would make the brother a criminal for deceiving the system and her crush in the same hospital who eventually dies. Doesn't it warm your heart? Throw in Risa's boring brother who keeps being a thorn in the side of our protagonists and we have an afternoon soap opera.

She looks so familiar but I can't recall what dorama I've seen her in. Is she the idol from Densha?

Sigh. I thought the synopsis said Kengo had a secret that that he would sacrifice everything to protect. I've been fast forwarding certain scenes in Nagareboshi but there is no way I could have missed a revelation so big. This is the first Ueto Aya role I like in ages but the whole dorama just gets bogged down in predictable over-sentimentality. I am so happy the sick boy died so that storyline is over. Strangely, I feel compelled to finish the show despite its flaws.

Q10

I couldn't bear even finishing the first episode. Its got Renbutsu Misako who I haven't seen since Nanase Futatabi but I'm better off rewatching Air Doll or Chobits if I feel a need for a generic guy meets robot girl story.

FACE MAKER ep 1-3

I'm pretty sure all Japanese women would love to look like Fujii Mina.

Face Maker is basically short stories about what happens when people change their face for one reason or another. In 3 episodes, its all about normal looking women changing their face to look like idorus. Its sort of fun to watch but I didn't like how much time they spent on the mysterious doctor with his posturing and cryptic talk. Having Hinata Chiho as the nurse helps but the doctor is just a mcguffin and the less time spent on the mcguffin the better.

Ueto Aya syndrome: casting someone who looks like a schoolgirl as a nurse. Maybe the doctor changed her face....

FUYU NO SAKURA ep 1

Housewife goes to rural area, loses memory and ends up staying with nice country dude who lives with his sick mom. Housewife is afraid of regaining memories because she is afraid of something in her past and we need no greater hint than a bird in a cage in her flashbacks. Most likely evil husband and loveless marriage. End of first episode, we find housewife is going to die. Yawn. Fuyu no Sakura screams by the numbers housewife fantasy. If you want housewife in countryside fantasy, you're better off watching Aoi Tori. This is Imai Miki's first dorama since Brand, which was 10 years ago.

CONTROL ep 1+2

Matsushita Nao as the annoying(uzai) iron lady detective Segawa Rio, a fact that the series keeps telling the audience in a ham fisted way during the course of the first episode that makes me wonder whether the writer knows the meaning of the word subtlety. Fujiki Naohito is the very straightforward uni psychologist  Nagumo Jun. Control is trying to the Trick formula of having two flawed characters who complement each other skill wise as protagonists but the chemistry isn't there because its Control is too.... unrefined. Its just a generic cop show with the usual Japanese cliche I hate of the other cops being incompetent loud mouths who take credit for the protagonists' work. I can never understand the stupid need for inept colleagues in cop shows to serve as antagonists when the crime and criminal(s) is enough. If its for comedy reasons I understand but most Japanese cop doramas straddle the world between ineffective comedy and pretentious seriousness with in adequate realism. Control is a watchable generic police dorama but I'd rather spend my time watching older doramas that I missed out on.

LADY ~ SAIGO NO HANZAI PROFILE ep 1

That over the top 'profiling simulation' scene in the beginning of episode 1 was so bad I don't where to start. I wonder how many years of profiling experience Kitagawa Keiko's character has had? Out of interest, I did a little research and this is what I found:

In order to get into the FBI Academy, one must be at least 23, a U.S. citizen or a citizen of the Northern Mariana Islands, four year degree, three years professional work experience, valid driver's license, available for assignment anywhere the FBI has jurisdiction. Must qualify in one of the following - Accounting, Law, Language, Computer Science/IT, Diversified.

Assuming Kitagawa Keiko got in through some US-Japan exchange program, how old must she be in order to have the qualifications to be sent to the US, representing japan to be trained in profiling? How old is Kitagawa Keiko again? It wasn't that long ago when I first saw her in Sailor Moon. This is the fucking Ueto Aya syndrome of miscasting a young actress in a role that should go to someone in their 30s. Would the audience care that Lady is saying Japan would send a fresh graduate with no experience for profiling training so that she can be one of the founding members of this profiling group? This whole trained by FBI thing in jdoramas is as cliched as Steven Seagle's cook/policeman who used to be in the navy seals/marines/power rangers storylines. If I were Prime Minister of Japan, the first bill I would pass would be to ban all tv stations except for Wowow to produce any more police shows.

GOLD ep 4

The subbing may be slow but Nojima Shinji's writing and Amami Yuki's acting makes it worth watching no matter how flawed the concept and in episode 4, we get a huge revelation which will threaten to tear the walls of the Saotome family down. Nojima Shinji is a writing god. Funny enough, his lists of credits in his dramawiki has Koinu no Waltz but the page has someone else as the writer.

Aikurushii

 During the course of filling up missing episodes in my jdorama collection, I have come across many shows that for some reason I have ignored, or not heard about and Aikurushii was one of them. I'm pretty sure I've seen the torrent at d-addicts before and the reason I didn't want to watch it was probably me not being interested in a dorama with the bald dude from Shall we Dance (Takenaka Naoto), Ayase Haruka and Saru Lock from the emo crying show Rookies.

 Actually I probably couldn't imagine Takenaka Naoto playing the father in a family dorama after watching him as the overacting comedy relief character in so many shows. His overacting has become an unfunny parody of itself in shows like Tsuki no Koibito and I didn't have the confidence that he could carry the role of a serious father.

Smart women like this are a rare breed...

I decided to give it go and Aikurushii starts off like your typical family in the countryside story. You have your noisy father and son fighting and about someone who took a big dump that couldn't flush. Ugh. Then it leads to a 3 minute lecture about feces and a misunderstanding joke. I was not laughing. For me, if a writer has to resort to such dirty jokes to get a laugh then its just pandering to the lowest common denominator.

Someone obviously forgot this was a dorama, not a photoshoot.

I decided to look up the wiki and the writer was Nojima Shinji! OMFG! I had to stick this dorama for at least a few episodes. The heart of this dorama is Horo (Kamiki Ryunosuke) the second youngest child who is unable to cry. I think it would a futile to try to do a synopsis of the show because there are many characters and it doesn't really break the mold of country family doramas.

A smile that can melt the hardest of hearts, before Japan found out what a diva she was.

However, just when I thought that things could not get more cliched or hokey, the characters would say some really awesome line to set up an amazing scene and I'd just think Nojima Shinji is awesome. The man can just write great dialogue that really brings the characters to life. Like Bara no nai Hanaya which had such a soap opera-ish concept and yet he managed to make it work, he does the same with Aikurushii.

The best side story of the series.

Aikurushii is a very busy dorama. There are a lot of storylines running concurrently like Horo's search for the his fellow 'rainbow warriors' which sounds very stupid but it actually becomes a unifying thread for all the stories. Because there are so many characters, he has to put in storylines that really feel tacked on just to give certain characters something to do. In other words its not as focused which is not a bad thing since Nojima Shinji manages to make the storylines work but to me it does affect the overall quality of the dorama.

The acting and casting is awesome. While Takenaka Naoto does not do dramatic scenes as well, he doesn't stink it up. Ayase Haruka is perfectly cast as the responsible older sister and Saru Lock fits as the hotheaded older brother with his shouting and screaming. Oguri Shun and Sawajiri Erika play minor supporting roles but they have the weakest storylines.
 

Sawajiri's attempted rape scene. WTF is she wearing a t-shirt underneath??!!!!

 Goddamit, I had forgotten how pleasing to the eye Sawajiri is. It is the reason why she continues to be hounded by the media despite not doing anything in ages and why I put up with boring soap opera-ish crap like Ichi Litre and Taiyo no Uta. Oh yes, A very young Ohgo Suzuka is in Aikurushii as well so more reasons to watch it.

Sexy voice!

I would classify Aikurushii as a must watch show. Its below Kita no kuni kara, Oyaji and Hitotsu Yane no Shita in the pantheon of family doramas but its better than everything else. It has lot of great moments but I'm not as enamoured with Aikurushii as the above shows because it tries to do too much. I think Nojima Shinji should have placed the 'rainbow warriors' story as the centerpiece and cut down on the side stories. Still, I had a great time watching it and I think you will too. The abundance of  eye candy doesn't hurt as well.

Yes, Sawajiri is holding a bra in this screencap.

Guilty Akuma to Keiyakushita Onna eps 3-11

I'm not going to bother writing a long rambling post about what is wrong with Guilty. Instead, lets look at one scene from this dorama which illustrates the inability of jdoramas to even do even a simple action scene.

In this scene in ep 10, Kanno Miho goes to meet evil police chief in a car park. Obviously Japanese cops need special training on how to hide in plain sight, maybe by playing Metal Gear Solid. Someone needs to tell Michiko that wearing a black leather jacket and standing next to a black car in broad daylight does not make one invisible. It would be forgivable if she were trying to get a shot at evil police chief but clearly her gun is not aimed at him.

Kichise Michiko is shot in her LEFT shoulder.

She appears on the other side of the car POINTING HER GUN which she is holding with her right hand DOWNWARDS....

.. and proceeds to shoot at the foot of evil police chief who just attempted to shoot her! Maybe I'm just an ignorant gaijin and maybe police procedures for Japanese police state that officers who have been threatened and shot at must disable the assailant by shooting their foot because putting a bullet in their foot somehow makes them incapable of firing another shot and killing the officer.

Michiko jumps out of her cover to shield Kanno Miho and enable her to escape. Notice Michiko and evil police chief's guns pointing at each other.

Evil police chief can't resist monologing and then proceeds to point his own gun at own head. I can hear the collective screams of all dorama addicts when they saw this scene.

 

SHOOT THE FUCKING GUN YOU IDIOT OF A MODEL PRETENDING TO BE A POLICE OFFICER!

Of course Michiko playing a character who doesn't even do any police work throughout the course of the series lets the villain get into his car and drive off without firing a single shot besides trying to take out the villain's toe. Here is an offer to TBS, Fuji Telebi and TV-Asahi; hire me so that scenes like this never have to pollute Japanese tv ever again. Wowow doesn't need me cause they make awesome doramas. I may not have experience in the dorama business but I'm pretty sure I have a brain.

Iryu 3 ep 7-10

Just when I thought Iryu 3 had finally found its legs, it stumbles yet again with the lame and utterly pointless Asada PTSD story. Fair enough if the writers wanted to do an Asada story but the whole link with the past incident that put the dragon on his back was so lame, even by Iryu standards. Not to mention the whole falling down scene was shot in such a way that it didn't look like it was possible for Asada to accidentally fall. It reminds me of the stabbing scene at the end of Shiroi Haru.

Somehow, jdorama cameramen/directors cannot utilise the camera properly to make an 'action' scene look plausible. Look at the above picture. Kid was standing on the ledge, slips down and somehow forces Asada on top the ledge only for him to let go of the kid's hand which would have kept him from falling. This fucking amateurishly done scene completely destroyed the awesome ending of episode 6. Didn't someone have the fucking balls to tell the director that hang on, that particular sequence of events does not look right? If they didn't have time to plan such a simple but important scene properly then the director should have just done quick close up shots without having to expose the stupidity of Asada pulling a kid down and jumping off the roof for no reason.

First rule of working in hospitals; always walk in a V formation. Bonus points if you can walk like you're going to a fight.

The fact that they went the amnesia and ptsd storyline tells me they had no idea what to do with Asada. The answer is simple. Asada is the constant of the show. He does not need 'depth'. This series has always been about people changing through their interaction with Asada. If the writers were so desperate as to use an amnesia story, why not write an episode for the nurse who no one cares about because the audience does not know anything about her?!

Its not all bad. The last episode features the most absurd multiple surgeries ever to be done in the series and I love it. One of the keys to Iryu is carefully pushing the envelope in regards to bullshit surgeries and have Asada perform miracles. Asada is the Superman of surgeons and thus he requires super-surgeries.  The awesome soundtrack will take care of the rest.

The writing in Iryu 3 is horribly all over the place. It jumps from one theme to another without any strong sense of build up. The end story of the series is about Kuroki and yet he is given a poor excuse of a back story and has not been given character development time. They want to make him the cool villain who turns out not to be the final boss and that should have been the focal point of the series. He's supposed to be Ashram to Asada's Parn for those who have seen Record of Lodoss War.

Actually come to think of it, I think I've realised what's been missing from Kuroki. Asada is Parn, the bland good guy protagonist but is supported by Miki, who is his Deedlit. Yes I know Miki is not in season 3 but bear with me. Asada is the constant and doesn't talk much but Miki was the connection between him and the team and his proxy by which his problems can be verbalised while he can still look cool. What Kuroki lacked was his own Pirotess.

Ashram was cool not just because he wore black but because he had his own Pirotess. Kuroki just needed some hot assistant who is very loyal to him to give him a stronger aura and make the audience realise that there is something more to this catheter dude than just being Noguchi's lackey. Kuroki's Pirotess would allow him to interact with the team while staying cool and mysterious in the shadows. Pirotess would be able to give hints about Kuroki's past without him having to do to exposition and the scene at the end with Asada holding Kuroki should have been hers. The writers introduced a nurse that they did nothing with who would have been served so much better as Kuroki's right hand woman. Then we can have her trying to seduce Ijyuiin to Kuroki's side while he runs away like a pansy.

Iryu 3 is a dorama that has a mishmash of ideas but clearly lacks focus. Maybe the writers didn't have enough time but clearly the script needs to be rewritten many times and refocused. If your main ending is Kuroki's redemption then the main priority is to set it up. If your secondary story is to show that Team Dragon can work without Asada, then do so without wasting people's time with and amnesia and revisiting his magical tattoo story. And probably devote an episode to each of the team members instead of making their stories a footnote. If you're a fan of Iryu, there's enough good parts to make it watchable but if someone asks me for a medical jdorama to watch, I'll pass the person Iryu 1& 2 and never mention 3.

Marks no Yama ep 1

The subs for the great hope to save last season is finally here! Its based on an award winning novel which was turned into a movie in 1995. Unfortunately, I've not been able to track down the movie. The first episode is very hectic as it introduces a lot of characters and the pacing never lets up but its easy to keep abreast of who's who as I eagerly anticipated learning what the main story actually is and how all the characters are connected.

There's Kamikawa Takaya as this dedicated cop Goda Yuichiro. The coach from Pro Golfer Hana as his best friend and former brother in law who works for the Ministry of Justice. Kora Kengo aka the guy from Solanin is Mizusawa and Tado Naho is a nurse who takes care of him after he is released from prison. Mizusawa seems to have some mental problems, maybe short term memory loss as he has to write reminders in his notebook. Konishi Manami is a reporter who is looking into connections between politicians and yakuza and of course, what dorama would be complete without Kita Yoshio as lawyer who represents yakuza.

The first half of the series is mainly about a 3 police investigations. Cop shows are all about procedures and Marks no Yama does it very well. I don't understand why crap shows like Zettai Reido have to add some stupid morality angle to police investigations and make it boring. There must be some stupid law that says mainstream doramas not on Wowow cannot be realistic and gritty for fear of corrupting society or something. In short, I was very impressed by the police investigation parts and it bodes well for the series.

The first episode gives us some background information on the numerous characters, gives us two murders and finally the big hook at the end of the episode. We find out that the murders were done by Mizusawa. Why reveal who the villain is at the end of the first episode? Because it seems like Mizusawa is committing the crimes based on orders written into his notebook! A most interesting concept! A series of murders being done by someone who may not know what he is doing. It begs the question of who the mastermind is and the purpose of the killings. (Most likely revenge)

Thank the jdorama gods for Wowow and the subbers for doing this series. I am so tempted to watch the series raw. Anytime I come across a series this good, it makes smile all the bad doramas worth it. Definitely a must watch show.

Kurohyo Ryu ga Gotoku Shinsho

 I think I've mentioned a few times that I was a big fan of Ryu ga Gotoku series which is known in the West as Yakuza. The Takashi Miike movie was just an excuse for him to go nuts while ignoring the main story from the first game. Kurohyo is based on the psp spin off game which I have not played. When I first saw pictures of the game, I was not interested because its a young protagonist and they are clearly trying to go after the Monster Hunter crowd. After playing 5 games using Kiryu Kazuma, I don't think I can accept a young punk as the new protagonist. The only possible spin off I would love to see would be a grown up Haruka.

Saito Takumi aka the rich kid from Chase plays Tatsuya, the hero of the series. It is interesting to note that Takumi is 29 while the Tatsuya is supposed to be 18, which is a good thing. An 18 year old johnny would have doomed the series from the start. Tatsuya is this jobless bum who has a hot sister, wears the same tracksuit every single day and does not know how to zip his top up. Oh yeah, he's pretty good at fighting too.

One day, one of his friends gets into trouble and he has to rescue him from some yakuza. There is a huge fight and Tatsuya blacks out. When he comes to, he discovers that all the yakuza have been killed but he doesn't remember doing it. A short time later, he is blackmailed to enter this tournament called Dragon Heat as they have footage of him killing the yakuza. Fans of Ryu ga gotoku would know that Dragon Heat refers to Kiryu Kazuma's finishing moves.

Saishoku, jan ken....

Yes, Kurohyo is a martial arts dorama in the vein of old school B grade movies like American Kickboxer 2. Its even got the stupid all loser will be killed by the yakuza organisers story. With the mystery of who set Tatsuya up, the cute daughter of a yakuza boss, a hostess who has a thing for Tatsuya and lots of blood and MMA style fighting and you have the formula for what makes Ryu ga gotoku such an awesome series.

Ah, Jewel. I have spent so many hours and virtual money so that I can go karaoke and ping pong with the hostesses in Ryu ga gotoku.

The fighting in Kurohyo is pretty good. For some reason, we can only see good fighting in low budget shows like Kurohyo and Holyland and not in the more expensive mainstream doramas. Actually, for a low budget mightnight dorama, Kurohyo looks very good. There's lots of blood and the fighters end up with bruised faces which is something you don't usually see because censors are always ok with violence as long as the effects of it are not shown. Of course, Tatsuya gets a magical doctor who can heal his wounds quickly which is a necessary evil considering the amount of fights he gets into throughout the series. It is interesting to note that Iwagi Koichi and Haru play the same characters in the game and dorama.

I pretty much enjoyed the first 10 episodes of Kurohyo. Some minor plot holes did not detract from the awesome fighting, humour and eye candy. This was the world of Ryu ga gotoku. Guys being macho and cool, cute girls and lots of violence. If it were any manlier, I would have grown chest hair from watching it. It was really fun to see Kabukicho and recognise all the places from the game series. I never got around to going there when I was in Japan but it is an absolute must for my next trip. The shops and small alleyways in Champion district really do look the same in real life!

Is he going to turn on the water, untie her or touch her someplace other than her heart?

I was ready to declare Kurohyo a must watch when the big stupid twist is revealed at the end of episode 10. A twist so stupid and useless that I was praying that there would be a good explanation and pay off in the final episode. Sadly that didn't happen and then the climax of the final confrontation in the last episode was so fucking retarding that I am convinced it was the result of the writers not taking their happy pills. It so goes against the tone of the series. Why couldn't they have kept things simple?!!

This overtanned dude is Nagoshi, the producer of Ryu ga gotoku series.

Sigh. For Ryu ga gotoku fans and jdorama fans who are looking for some violence, this show is worth watching. Just make sure to prepare yourself for the last episode which will leave a bitter taste. Or better yet, don't watch the last episode. Hope the story of the game is different but with my backlog of games at the moment, it'll be a long while before I find out.

Why the long face when surrounded by two beauties? Probably because he's underaged and can't drink under Japanese laws.

Tatsuya's probably got a closet full of the same clothes.