Tasogare Yusaku Episodes 1~3

Tasogare Yusaku is one of the hardest jdoramas to watch that I can remember. Not because it is an melancholic and funny show about a small time supporting actor played by Kitamura Yukiya but because every episode ends up in a real life food place ala Kodoku no Gurume and the food is amazing.

I always like shows about making doramas and supporting actors and the last one I can remember was Byplayers with the late, great Ohsugi Ren and The Actor Kameoka Takuji starring Yasuda Ken which I need to do a rewatch of one day.

Just want to point out that Tasogare means Twilight and one of my favourite movies ever is Tasogare Seibei which is known in English as Twilight Samurai.

However as a verb it means to be lost in thought or to look melancholic.

At the end of episode, Yusaku will go to his usual bar and the mama will him who are you so lost in thought? Love the wordplay meaning someone who is in the twilight of his career but also refers to the melancholy of the show.

Tasogare Yusaku is basically Otoko wa Tsurai yo with food. 

Otoko wa Tsurai yo was a series of very popular movies where this guy Tora-san would travel around, meet a pretty girl in every town and get rejected in the end. 

Tasogare Yusaku has really good transition scenes where the title of the show will come up.
 

Jdoramas are a visual medium and it is things like this that make a jdorama pop.

We need a jdorama about voice actors. Radio no Jikan in a jdorama format.

Really like Kitamura Yukiya since the feel good Mushoboke. He really is a chameleon actor like Yasuda Ken and he can play tough guy and regular guy easily.
 

The sushi in episode 2 made my stomach rumble like crazy. I want to hop onto a plane to Japan right now.

The little girl who gives Yusaku comments on his acting is funny as.

The yakitori in episode 3 nearly drove me mad.

And the unagi looks so effing good. I was ready to confess to any crime just to eat real unaju.

Thanks to anonymous for recommending this funny and torturous jdorama. I can only watch 1, at most 2 episodes a day because it makes me yearn for real Japanese food! I don't think Tasogare Yusaku has been subbed and thanks to SoulfulSeoul for uploading the JP subs on avistaz.

On an unrelated note, I have finally received by JLPT N2 certificate in the post, 4 months after I took the exam, lol.

Great Gift jdorama review

Sorimachi Takashi (GTO) is a meek doctor at Meikyo Medical University whose wife is currently hospitalised and their relationship is on the rocks. One day while doing an autopsy on the body of a former Prime Minister, he finds a new strain of coccus while can kill without leaving evidence which is dubbed Gift. 

GTO then cultivates gift and then ambitious doctor and evil doctor played by Sasaki Kuranosuke (Giragira) starts using gift as a weapon and blackmails GTO and Haru to continue cultivating the gift. Gift is a suspense dorama about a weapon that can kill people without leaving a trace besides a spot on their neck filled with backstabbing and plenty of twists. There is also the mystery of who create gift in the first place.

Great Gift has an excellent cast. GTO and Giragira are two of my favourite actors as well as favourite doramas. (RIP Ashina Sei) I like Haru and Kurashina Kana is Anri, the owner of this club where rich and famous people make lots of deals and Ono Karin (Hatsukoi Zarari) is also in it as a supporting character who keeps trying to pair GTO with Haru. Perfect casting for me and I was willing to give Great Gift every chance to entertain me.

However the writing and execution is not good. You have to watch Great Gift with your brain turned off and the acting is bad. The best way to describe Great Gift would be trashy. I like trashy shows like Fukushuu no Miboujin but there is a line between trashy and just bad and sometimes Great Gift leans towards bad with the acting. No one would ever accuse GTO for being a good actor but he purposely hams it up as the meek doctor and the show has this hammy, trying to be funny tone.

That said, I was slightly entertained with how bad Great Gift was. What helped was that the pacing of the stories were very fast and lots of people die during the show. I like the pairing of GTO and Haru as two people who do not relate well to others but work well together.

I thought about giving up halfway but managed to finish the series by fast forwarding half the scenes in the second half and the ending got me interested in a sequel. If I have to describe Great Gift as food, it would be cheap and nasty. It doesn't taste the best, is lacking in many areas but it never tried to be anything but trashy fun. Great Gift is not a good show, its a question of whether you will find it trashy fun or just bad and for me it was a bit of both. I enjoyed half of it and the other half I was thinking I should watch something better but I could not hate Great Gift. Thanks to edwardwong for subbing!

Ryomaden Eps 31-48

Finally finished all 48 episodes of Ryomaden and what a journey it was! I have watched so much bakumatsu stuff especially all the Shinsengumi shows. I knew that Sakamoto Ryoma was the mediator between Satsuma and Choshu and and Shinsengumi was after him but Ryomaden really went into what society was like in this era, how incredibly difficult what Ryoma did, especially with every clan having their own objectives and how forward thinking he was in a society so steeped in tradition.

My favourite line is episode 47 were Kinpachi sensei playing Katsu sensei said that if the shogunate restored the emperor, 20000 people would lose their jobs and Ryoma replied that he could not care less because the 20000 people will just have to work for a living like the merchants, artisans and farmers.

The shogunate was in power for 280 years but society was rigid, people were discriminated based on their birth and Japan had fallen behind the rest of the world. The world of the samurai was over and there were many people who were not happy and Shinsengumi in Ryomaden were not portrayed as honourable people but killers who did not know any other way to live.\

The second half of Ryomaden is so good, watching him convince Satsuma and Choshu to team up and later Tosa to pressure the shogunate. Everything had to be done in secret and Ryoma had to stay alive because he was the witness who could verify the terms of the deal. I liked that everything Ryoma went through allowed him the standing and trust to get the two clans together and the show really showed the difficult steps he had to do getting different clans with their own agendas to work together and getting them to trust him and each other while evading the watchful eyes of the shogunate was very difficult.

The most important thing is that Ryoma did not work towards overthrowing the Shogunate for power. He did seek any positions in the new government nor did he profit from selling weapons when everyone was fearing war. He realised that he could not have any vested interest in what was happening so that everyone from Satsuma to Tosa could trust him.

Ryomaden has been the most educational taiga dorama for me and I loved everything set in Nagasaki with all the merchants local and foreign and the clash of cultures for a country that has been closed off for so long. Unfortunately, I don't Rise of the Ronin has Nagasaki, only Kyoto, Edo and Yokohama. I would definitely like to go to Nagasaki and visit historical sites there.

Ryomaden is a must watch for me, especially from an educational perspective. So many things I like are set in the bakumatsu period like The Last Blade (Gekka no Kenshi). Its such a romantic period because it is the end of the samurai and the beginning of modern Japan and it is such a clash and we all have Sakamoto Ryoma to thank for it.

Ryomaden Eps 16~30

I am more than half way through this 49 episode taiga dorama and I have learned that Sakamoto Ryoma's greatness is that he could have had Hirosue Ryoko or Kanjiya Shihori but gave them up for Maki Yoko as Oryo. It hasn't happened as of episode 30 yet, I only know because they were together in RGG Ishin! and Sakuraba Nanami played Oryo.

If I can be series for a minute, I am glad that all the Takechi Hanpeita is over because the Nagasaki part of this story is where Sakamoto Ryoma is most interesting. This is the Ryoma that I know from Shinsengumi! and I appreciate that Ryomaden has given me a lot of info on the Choshu and Satsuma rivalry and how the Shogunate uses clan rivalries to consolidate their power.

I think episodes 31-49 will be the best parts because this will show Sakamoto Ryoma's contribution to the Meiji Restoration and also how Yataro will finally create Mitsubushi. I enjoyed Kinpachi sensei as the boss of the naval training center. It is a shame that they did all the ground training and did not get much particle sea experience.

Nagasaki is interesting because Japan was a country where samurai lived for their lord and clan and Nagasaki was a port city where there was a clash of cultures and it was about making money instead undying fealty to one's lord like Takechi Hanpeita who would be happy just being acknowledged by his lord.

Japanese at that time placed more importance on clan and did not really identify with being Japanese and Sakamoto thought that nationalism was important to protecting Japan from foreigners. I feel an urge to watch the new Kenshin anime series and to replay RGG Ishin again with Takahashi Katsunori and Takechi Hanpeita.

Edit: Did not realise that John Manjiro was played by Tortoise Matsumoto, the singer of Ulfuls!

Hatsukoi Zarari jdorama review

WHAT IS HATSUKOI ZARARI ABOUT?

Hatsukoi Zarari is a feel good boy meets girl jdorama except in this case the girl Arisa played by Ono Karin has mild intellectual disability and autism. In the beginning of the first episode, we see she works as a hostess and is easy manipulated by men for sex. It is also a workplace dorama since they are colleagues. 

WHAT IS GOOD?

+ Ono Karin and Kazama Shunsuke are good actors and forever in my good books because of Suzuki sensei and Soredemo Ikite Yuku. They have decent chemistry.

+ Ono Karin is positively adorable and you will want to cheer her on.

+ Wayamura Mayumi as Arisa's mom.

+ It is an absolutely sweet romance dorama.

+ I like the workplace side of teaching people with autism how to work. I saw a news report recently about autistic people being trained to work and I think helping autistic people being able to work is an interest topic. I would like to think you can teach anyone how to do a job as long as they have work hard.

+ Shows the struggle people with autism have in their day to day life and that autism exists on a spectrum.

WHAT IS NOT SO GOOD?

- The main characters have an age gap and with Arisa's low IQ and autism, there is this feeling of is he manipulating Arisa behind the sweet romantic facade that this show has? It doesn't help Ono Karin plays her Arisa like a child. There is a bit too much of a power/mental imbalance that it made me slightly uncomfortable. On the other hand, autism exists on a spectrum and Arisa exists at the top of it and who am I as the audience able to deny a character's feelings just because she has low IQ?

SUMMARY

Really love the casting. Not so sure about the power imbalance in the relationship. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more as a workplace dorama with a bit of romance. If you like the two main actors might be worth checking out. Thanks to kayatoast subs for subbing.

Ryomaden Episodes 12~15

Maybe I just want to post screencaps of Hirosue Ryoko because she is so damn good! Episode 12 finally gets to the meat of the problem when Ryoma finally goes to Choshu to Kusaka Genzui and ask the obvious question, why do they want to joi or expel the foreigners? The answer is that the Shogunate signed a deal that was very unfair for Japan.

So the joi people are blaming the Shogunate not thinking maybe having more advanced weaponry pointed at you has something with signing a one sided deal. It is easy to say that from a modern perspective because Japan in those days was so rigid. The whole country was divided into clans and everyone lived and died for their lord and the Shogunate guaranteed loyalty by getting their families to live in Kyoto. Everyone was rigid in their thinking.

For a second I thought this was Imada Mio but obviously it was not.

2 second cameo from Usuda Asami when she had her natural face. Guessing she might be an important supporting character going forward?

Have to mention Sato Takeru playing a Kenshin like assassin for Takechi Hanpeita right before he played the Kenshin role. Almost as if it were a deliberate audition for Kenshin.

My favourite line is when Ryoma says it is natural that everyone has different opinions but no one wants the foreigners to take over Japan. Takechi Hanpeitai and the joi people are just killing everyone who disagrees with them using the cause to gain power.

Hirosue Ryoko at the height of her powers is amazing and Ryomaden is finally moving to 5th gear! On a related note since I am watching Ryomaden for Rise of the Ronin, finally preordered the Cero Z version of Rise of the Ronin. The game is coming out in Japan with 2 versions, Cero D which is for for 17 year olds and above and Cero Z which is for 18+. The problem with Cero Z is that you can't buy from the PSN store with PSN money and you need a Japanese credit card which of course I don't have and I just but PSN money for the Jp store online.

I tried googling for information about differences and I am pretty sure there would be minimal differences but I can't stand censorship. Same with this game called Genei Ibunroku #FE which I liked on the WiiU but goddamn Nintendo had to censor the game on the Switch. It is so much cheaper to buy the Cero D game digitally compared to getting a hardcopy and shipping it but I can't enjoy a game when I know I am playing a censored version. 

RIP Toriyama Akira

 

Toriyama Akira is probably the most important mangaka when you think about how manga and anime has become sort of mainstream especially with Dragonball. I am continually surprised when meeting people who are not anime people but know and love Dragonball Z. So many people all over the world grew up with Dragonball that it is normal.

He also created Chrono Trigger, one of the greatest JRPGs ever as well as art for the DragonQuest games. One day I will do a replay of Chrono Trigger and I can't wait for DQ12 as long as they have not changed it to an action game like Final Fantasy. Rest in peace Toriyama Akira sensei. Japan and the world has just lost a giant of a man.

EVOL jdorama review

Superhero jdoramas are not common in Japanese entertainment. It is more of an American thing and Japan has tokusatsu shows like Kamen Rider and Rangers shows with 5 people each representing a different colour. A lot of times superpowers are an allegory for going through puberty and the closest jdorama we got was Sono Sion's Minna Esper Da yo! which was more a sex comedy.

EVOL is a dark superhero movie about 3 teenagers who find themselves in a hospital after attempting suicide and finding out they have powers. The only superheroes in this small town are Lightning Bolt and Thunder Girl who protect the town but are actually thugs for hire for the evil mayor played by Yasuda Ken. Our three protagonists find out that having superpowers does not make your life better.

The first noticeable thing is that EVOL is that it is not a kids show. Besides dealing with heavy issues like suicide and abuse, people get killed and there is a lot of violence. The second thing is that the VFX are pretty good. The first DMM dorama I saw was Kenshirou ni Yoroshiku which had no buget so I was expecting the same but the early collapsing bridge seen and hospital escape was better than anything that I had seen in any tokusatsu show!

I thought episode 1 was alright but as I kept watching, it became very noticeable how much better Evol was visually. Evol does not have the budget of a TBS dorama but by the jdorama gods, the director knows how to use shadows very well and dynamic cameras and it looks better than any TBS dorama could. The second half of the show has some very haunting, scary yet beautiful visuals.

There is  the Hayabusa Shobodan 'Japanese countryside is so beautiful to look at' visual beauty but for Evol it is about the visual composition that is a feast for the eyes. Evol is right up there with Kenja no Ai where I am watching and thinking they must have storyboarded the hell out of the story and spent so much time on colour and shadows and light. Evol maximises every single yen of its budget and I am very impressed.

The writing is very good, especially with regards to the 3 main characters and about being teenagers and forming one's identity. The skateboard episode is really good, especially the visual representation of being an outcast. I effing love that two characters get killed at the end. Too many jdoramas are about understanding and forgiveness blah blah blah but people who deserve to get killed should get killed. The only negative thing about the story is that it ends abruptly but I want season 2.

The only question is, is Evol a must watch? I was going to award a must watch but the abrupt ending kind of put me off. The VFX and visual composition is enough to give it a very watchable rating. I think I will leave it at very watchable for now and see what happens in season 2. Great job by the director Yamagishi Santa who did Video Girl Mai. Is he the new Sato Shinsuke? Huge thanks to HPriest for subbing and providing the raws. You won't regret watching Evol!

Ichiban Sukina Hana 6~11

Finally finished Ichiban Sukina Hana and I did not enjoy the 2nd half of the series as much as the first half of this show about 4 people who who meet up at Tsubaki's house. One thing that bugged me was the lack of detail in regards to Tsubaki's home loan. 

Everyone in the show is super nice and considerate and they love hanging out at Tsubaki's house but no one asked how he was paying for this gigantic house with his single income when he bought it together with his ex-fiance. I have to give points to the writer for giving a reason why the previous owner of the house was able the afford it which was a divorce settlement because I was thinking how does a teacher afford such a big house? On a side note, Tabe Mikako's face looks like she is closed to being mummified.

The other thing about Ichiban Sukina Hana is that it is about four very nice people being friends and there is basically no climax to the series. There are feel good funny moments and probably the most exciting thing was the revelation of this person who had ties to everyone in the group and I liked who they cast as the person but ultimately the ending left me with a meh feeling. The show made me laugh out loud a few times and I really liked the grumpy version of the 5th member but it did not feel worth watching in the end.

Ichiban Sukina Hana is not Quartet and I enjoyed the first half but the lack of anything happening in the second half just makes me want to delete it despite having Tabe Mikako and Imada Mio. Meh from me. Go watch Quartet for a second time if you want a fun show about 4 people living together unless you really want a show about whether guys and girls can be just friends. 7 episodes have been subbed so far and I watched the rest with Jp subs from jptv.