GTO Revival 2024 review

One upon a time in jdoramaland, Kinpachi sensei was the prototypical teacher dorama. The wise grizzled veteran teacher giving advice and helping troubled students. Then came GTO, featuring a former yankee Onizuka who knows nothing about teaching, thinks about sex all the time and is entraped by a female student in the first episode but wins her loyalty by smashing a wall in her house. (It will take too long to explain, just watch GTO ep1 and it will make sense)

To me, GTO popularised the rebel main character  who was also perverted who could say what everyone could not and would solve problem using outrageous means. It started the formula of every teacher being against the main character and every episode he would get a new ally until the last episode would be the assistant principal who of course was after the principal's chair.

The original 1998 jdorama series is legendary. It is one of the top 10 greatest jdoramas over. The dorama SP was not bad, the movie was eh and then they tried a revival in 2012 which was so bad.  Many years later, is Japan ready for more Onizuka or is this Sorimachi role past his due date?

At the start of the dorama SP, Onizuka is now an uber eats driver and I liked how the audience is tricked into thinking he is coming to teach only to be revealed as the food delivery person. 

It is great to see Oguri Shun, Kunozuka Yusuke and Murai Kunio back in their old roles and them talking about what happened in the original series. Its been so long since Oguri Shun was in Summer Snow and GTO.

Wasn't Fujiki Naohito a policeman in GTO?

So how does GTO who still uses a clamshell (garakei) phone connect with students in 2024? They tell him they don't have any dreams and I call bullshit because everyone wants to be TicTocker, youtuber or some sort of influencer.

You have your compensation dating story (enjou kousai) the staple of all teacher jdromas which is now known as papakatsu.

It is very disappointing that Onizuka's solution to papakatsu is to employ an underage student at a bar for above minimum wage? I can hear all the people slaving away at combinis for 1,113 yen an hour crying that this is bullshit! It goes to show its about who you know and now what work experience you have.

The villain for GTO Revival 2024 is a youtuber who exposes people involved with the school. On a side note, the most prolific youtube expose person is GaaSyy ガーシー who become a politician from doing expose videos on the Japanese entertainment industry. He won a seat in parliament representing the anti-NHK party and Japanese politics is something else. 

So happy to see Fuyutsuki sensei!

It was a nice nostalgia trip including callback to a teacher using the word scum (kuzu) but the chainsaw stunt is just not cool.

Ultimately while it was fun to see the old faces, I don't think there is no need to revive GTO for a whole series. Fun nostalgia for fans of the original series but nothing to see here for everyone else. Thanks to skewed translation for the sub. Made me want to rewatch the original series which I can do every year.

Hamsapsukebe Jdorama Awards 2023

Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at that time of the year again. The time when I cbf watching any more jdoramas from 2023 and want to celebrate all the excellent shows from 2023. I think 2023 might be one of the best jdorama years ever because we have more than 5 must watch shows and a few that I would not not mind giving a must watch to like 0.5 no Otoko. So without further ado:

BEST ACTRESS

IITOYO MARIE - NANYOUBI NI UMARETA NO?

The question is Iitoyo Marie that good or is Nojima Shinji's script so magical that anyone could have made the role of Sui sing so well? Who knows but by the jdorama gods, this is the best performance by an actress from 2023. If you said Naka Riisa from Rikon Shiyou yo, I would not disagree.

BEST ACTOR

AOYAGI SHO - KASO GIREI

Aoyagi Sho did such a great job as Kiryu Ekai. He is a swindler who created this religion for money but at his core, he wants to help people and he discovers that the business of religion is a lot more cutthroat than he imagined. Aoyagi Sho made Kiryu Ekai a genuine person in a sea of sharks.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

FUBUKI JUN - 0.5 NO OTOKO

The heart of 0.5 no otoko, a heartwarming family dorama from WOWOW.  I did not give it a must watch but it is such a great feel good show and if anyone from the show deserves an acting award it is Fubuki Jun.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

KITAMURA  YUKIYA - KEIJI TO KENJI, TOKIDOKI HANJI

Not only did Kitamura Yukiya did a good job for Tasogare Yusaku, he was very good as the prosecutor whose ex was Kichise Michiko and who has the hots for Higa Minami.

MOST FUN JDORAMA OF 2023

KENSHIROU NI YOROSHIKU

I know I did not give Kenshirou ni Yoroshiku a must watch but it was such a funny and memorable show for me. I kept waiting for the gimmick to grow stale but the show had me laughing until the end.

GOOD TRY AT GOING A HOME RUN AWARD

KUDO KANKURO FOR RIKON SHIYOU YO

The first half of Rikon Shiyo yo! was so freaking good and funny. The second half was slow and boring. Kudo Kankuro could have gone the easy way out but he wanted to do this meaningful divorce story that was a few episodes too long. I respect Kudo Kankuro's ambition but it could have easily been the best show of 2023 if he did not aim for the stars.

SO BAD THAT I ENJOYED IT

TRILLION GAME

Trillion game is a turn off your brain show about two people who somehow succeed at every get rich quick scheme from creating their own online shopping platform with a fake AI to becoming hosts to creating stupid gatcha games. Trillion Game was so cheesy I could not help enjoying myself. Maybe I should call this is Imada Mio award because I would not have finished Trillion Game and Ichiban Sukina Hana without her. 

BEST 5 JDORAMAS OF 2023

5. TOKYO HINKON JOSHI

It was between Tokyo Hinkon Joshi and Rakujitsu for the final spot and I have to give to Tokyo Hinkon Joshi. I can't remember the last time I had more than 6 must watch shows in a year. Tokyo Hinkon Joshi is the show that shows you sometimes women can ganbatte all they want but the odds can be staked against them and life is never fair.

4. HAYABUSA SHOBODAN

Fun mystery jdorama set in beautiful inaka featuring a band of underdog firefighters. Beautifully shot with a great ending.

3. PARIPI KOMEI

Is Mukai Osamu that good as Komei or is it just the costume? Kamishiraishi Moka is the absolute casting choice for Eiko. I think Paripi Komei does everything very well.

2. FENCE

Fence is a story about a magazine reporter investigating this rape allegation in beautiful Okinawa and what she uncovers is not pretty. Fence gives the audience a breakdown of the politics of Okinawa, race in Japan and the cost of having a foreign military base. 

1. KASO GIREI

Kaso Girei is a jdorama about two people creating a fake religion but it is also a show about people looking for a place to belong. It is a show that examines the value of religion and rituals to our lives and how it gives order and meaning. Kaso Girei also looks at the power of religion and it's connection to politics. Amazing job by NHK.

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!