Harekon episodes 1~4

Harems are the staple of Japanese anime. What if the main character of a harem is not the generic guy but the third wife?

That is the story of Harekon about a town where polygamy is allowed. 

Shimazaki Haruka leaves Tokyo and moves back home only to discover that her parents are heavily in debt.

This guy with possibly the worst wig in all of jdoramaland offers to pay her debt but Shimazaki Haruka has to become his 3rd wife.

I was not expecting much from Harekon but there is an obvious lack of fan service and humour.

Harekon is based on a manga and I would expect at least Shimokita Glory days sexual innuendo and humour or least some exciting stuff but Harekon is just sterile and unexciting. What is the point of a midnight dorama being so tame?

There are hints of sensuality from the manga but the dorama is so tame it is boring. What happened to funny midnight doramas like 2nd house?

My expectations were so low and I wanted Harekon to be ok but its soooo boring. Avoid.

Soredemo Ai wo Chikaimasu ka? Episodes 6~10.

 

I really wanted to like Soredemo Ai wo Chikaimasu ka? very much because of the cast. The story had some interesting elements but it was neither funny nor exciting and the half arse no ending just killed it for me.

Since this is base on a manga, surely it did not end in the same way? It feels like someone sprinkled all the elements of an affair dorama but did not know how to write an exciting second half and just did nothing.

I really like it when supporting actors get their chance to shine but Soredemo Ai wo Chikaimasu ka? ends up being a bore and I urge you to stay away. 

Shimobee Episodes 1~4

Shimobee is what happens when you turn Doraemon into Yasuda Ken and Nobita into Shiraishi Sei.

If you are not familiar with Doraemon, its an anime about a magic cat from the future who gives young lad Nobita a bunch gadgets. Nobita always ends up taking shorcuts with the gadgets and learning life lessons by the end of an episode. 

Shimobee is similar to Doraemon with Yasuda Ken being a non verbal guy who gets summoned by an app on Shiraishi Sei's phone who can do some super human stuff. Just like Nobita, Shiraishi Sei learns life lessons about not taking shortcuts, not giving up etc etc as well as your assortment of high school problems.

Shimobee is not particularly funny but I am enjoying the cast, especially with Akiko Yada as Shiraishi's mom. I feel so old now that Akiko Yada is playing mum roles. It seemed like only a few years ago when she was in Yamato Nadeshiko and Last Christmas.

Yasuda Ken is the perfect actor to play the non verbal Shimobee. If there is someone in jdorama land who can emote without talking, it is him.

Of course, the mystery of the show is who is Shimobee's true identity and what is his connection with Shiraishi Sei. Watchable if you like the cast and thanks to Monchi for subbing!

Iribito jdorama review

Iribito is the most beautiful jdorama I can remember the last few years, probably since Kenja no Ai. 

Watching Iribito I am impressed by how much effort has gone into the stunning visuals. 

I must be sad that Kyoto is already beautiful so that's half the work done but the director's use of shadows and some of his camera work were very good, especially making the sinister undertones in the story.

Takahata Mitsuki (Kahogo no Kahoko) plays Naho who is a pregnant deputy director of an art gallery. She leaves Tokyo for Kyoto and there sees a painting by an unknown artist Shirane Tatsuru who turns out to be the only student of the influential Shozan sensei and is drawn to this artist.

Naho wants to help Shirane debut but she soon finds out that people have a way of doing things in Kyoto and the price might be very steep. Naho's husband who runs his own gallery might no be so supportive.

Iribito is a very slow dorama. The visuals kept me entertained until the revelations started happening in the second half of the show.

I like Iribito but I don't really love it. Feels like they could have easily chopped it into a 2 hour movie.

I also didn't really care about the story especially the final twist. I guess that was the whole point of the story but I don't know. I felt like the story didn't need it.

The visuals of Iribito are top class but the storyline is just decent and I am a bit indifferent to it. 

It all adds up to a very watchable WOWOW dorama. Thanks to aoinousagi for subbing! Iribito is a jdorama about paintings that has visuals like a painting.

Mikkoku wa Utau jdorama review

 

The first episode is very confusing. I know its a police show but there is a lot of standing around and stalking people and conversations that I was not sure about. Matsuoka Masahiro's acting also seemed a bit wooden and I thought this might the first meh WOWOW show in a long time.

Anyway, got to episode 2 and the story was clearer. Mikkoku wa Utau is an infernal affairs show. The tension of the show is who can you really trust and who is telling the truth. The only character we know is clean is Sara played by Matsuoka Masahiro.

There's this story about how everyone blames Sara for his colleague's death blah blah but because no one says why you know its your typical Japanese bullying storyline. Even when the truth was revealed I kept thinking why would anyone think it is Sara's fault anyway?

I enjoyed the tension as Sara's investigation got deeper and watching him slowly put all the clues together.

Another thing I enjoyed was Ikeda Tetsuhiro as Suga, Sara's partner in internal affairs. We always see him play silly characters and it fun to see him play a completely serious one. I also enjoyed how we are slowly feed Suga's backstory without any confirmation whether they are true.

Internal affair stories are not that common in jdoramas and I enjoyed the tension of this whodunnit and the pacing of the revelations as opposed to something like Shinhannin Flag which just drags on and on and gets sillier by the episode.

Mikkoku wa Utau starts of confusing but by the end I enjoyed the ending and hope WOWOW can do a sequel. Watchable and thanks to HPriest for subbing and uploading the raws!

13 (Thirteen) Jdorama review

Need more Sakuraba Nanami jdoramas but she doesn't seem the be in many shows. Last show I saw her in was the meh Dream Team. 13 is a remake of a BBC show about a girl who was kidnapped and then turns up 13 years later with lots of unanswered questions about her disappearance. I have not seen the BBC original so I can't comment how good it is.

Subject matter wise, 13 an interesting show. How does a family reintegrate someone who was taken from them as a child and is now an adult. How does a woman who has PTSD and respond to her family and normal life? The police are unable to get much information from Sakuraba Nanami and is it PTSD or is she hiding something?

Execution-wise, 13 is a big flat. Acting quality is up and down. Directing is pedestrian. I can't help thinking WOWOW would have done a much better job. I also didn't like that the police seemed too incompetant.

Thanks to Irozuku fansubs for subbing and you can get the hardsubs from their website here. Meh from me and only for fans of Sakuraba Nanami. The four episodes pass pretty quick so if you want a quick mini series to watch that doesn't suck, 13 might just be for you.

Boku no Satsui ga Koi wo Shitai Episodes 1~3

Boku no Satsui is a romance comedy about about this guy Shu who's adopted father played by Fujiki Naohito is killed. 

Shu learns from Mizuno Miki that his Fujiki Naohito is really an assassin and he was killed by Araki Yuko who is a famous mangaka.

Shu sets off to fulfill his destiny and revenge his father. One of the things that could have been funny was Fujiki Naohito was subliminally training Shu to be an assassin.

Shu of course cannot kill Araki Yuko and instead ends up protecting her from assassination attempts.

Boku no Satsui ga Koi wo Shitai could have been a decently funny show but the script is just so bad.

Its barely even funny and feels like a boy band cosplay show. The rival assassin is just so cringey bad. 

Don't watch this. I gave up halfway through episode 3. There is nothing redeeming about this. 

Avalance Episodes 1~8 jdorama review

 

WHAT IS AVALANCE?

Avalance is an Ayano Go action jdorama about a gang of vigilantes led by Kimura Yoshino who expose corrupt people by streaming on the internet. Yes, Avalance is about a bunch of youtubers with action.

WHAT IS GOOD ABOUT IT

+ Ayano Go is a decent action hero. Who would have guessed? But then I never would have guessed Tsuchiya Tao would make a good action hero either.

+ The Bourne inspired action is not too bad. Promising change from the usual sentai style action.

+ Watabe Atsuro as the bad guy as usual.

+ There is nothing I hate about it and I am just glad it does not suck like Taiyou wa Ugokanai and Mozu.

WHAT IS NOT GOOD

- Takahashi Maryjun cleary cannot do action. Why did you not cast Takeda Rina? FFS Fuji TV, this is an action jdorama so cast the one jdorama actress who can fight onscreen!

- They have a bullshit hacker guy with the most punchable face in the world

- There's a sense of unreality with Avalance that I don't like.

- The police guy doesn't bring anything to the group besides being a cop.

- Watabe Atsuro reminding me how much better Gaiji Keisatsu is.

SUMMARY

Decent budget action jdorama that is ok but could have been pretty good. Looking at action jdoramas in general, the fact that it does not suck is a good thing. You can get the English subs from subscene here.