Fixer season 2 jdorama review

Fixer season 1 was an ok Karasawa Toshiaki show about a political fixer trying to solve the case of how the Prime Minister of Japan got into a car accident which left the Prime Minister in a coma. It was more of an investigative dorama than political fixing but it was an watchable.

Season 2 of Fixer feels different. A lot of times when there is a season 2, you are wondering if they can replicate the feel for season 1 again or if there is more story to tell. It feels like season 1 set up a bunch of characters and season 2 we are seeing where the story is taking them.

In season 2, the reporter Watanabe Tatsuya is framed for attempted murder of the wife of the Tokyo Governor and Karasawa Toshiaki has to bail him out. Joining the cast for season is Suzuki Honami playing the defence lawyer of Watanabe. She acts the same as she did in Suits and I can't complain because I love every moment she is on screen, especially with Uchida Yuki.

There is a lot more political manoeuvring in season 2 although same as season 1 it is a whodunnit but the criminal is obvious and it is more about the court case and Shitara going up against legendary fixer Goichi Hongo played by Nishida Toshiyuki

Where Fixer lets me down is that the writing is not as sharp. The details aren't as good. The attempted murder frame up was way too flimsy. For someone as powerful as Shitara Kenichi having just one bodyguard is not enough. He needs a team to do what he is doing. I guess my complaint about the writing is that the world of Fixer doesn't feel real enough. Maybe its for budget reasons since Fixer has so many great actors but details help ground a story and make it real for the audience.

It is still fun though. Fixer has so many of my favourite actors including Kaname Jun, Kobayashi Kaoru, Ishiguro Ken and Yasuko Tomita. Kobayashi Kaoru is such a good actor that he can play such a conniving politician in Fixer and the warm master in Shinya Shokudo. Yasuko Tomita I have been a fan of since Suzuki sensei and I really like her as the Prime Minister. As for Kaname Jun, I wish I had time to rewatch Akuma no Bengonin because that was such a fun show.

If you are a fan of the actors in Fixer, you should check it out. Season 2 is better than one. Unfortunately only the first episode of season 2 has been subbed but I managed to get Japanese subs from avistaz which made it easy to watch. After the cliffhanger surprise ending of season 2, it is on to season 3!

Ryomaden Episodes 1~9

The Taiga dorama that I am very, very slowly working my way through is Ryomaden. Main reason I am watching is because there is a game coming up soon by Team Ninja called Rise of the Ronin. I am no Team Ninja fan, I thought Nioh was a meh FromSoft clone with a stupid randomly generated loot system but the game is bloody set in the Bakumatsu period with Sakamoto Ryoma in it so fingers and toes crossed it will be a good game!

Sakamoto Ryoma is one of the famous Japanese historical figures that everyone knows by name but no one really can say why he was famous. He was the main character of Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin! but that was more of a Shinsengumi story. Ryomaden was finally enlightened me on why Sakamoto Ryoma is a great man: he has to make a difficult decision between Hirosue Ryoko or Kanjiya Shihori who are throwing themselves at his feet.

I know what you are thinking. With the recent Hirosue Ryoko scandal, surely the answer should be Kanjiya Shihori but Ryomaden came out in 2010, when Hirosue Ryoko was still at the top of her powers.

Joking aside, Ryomaden is about Japan being this isolated country that realised how backwards they were when Commodore Perry and the black ships appeared threatening Japan to open the country to trade. Sakamoto Ryoma realised that the rest of the world had technology that Japan would not even dream of but most of the country wanted to expel the foreigners instead of learning from them because they were scared of being conquered.

Ryomaden shows how feudal society was in that era. In Sakamoto Ryoma's hometown of Tosa, there is even discrimination between different classes of samurai and anyone could get killed at anyone's whim. Samurai lived for the lord and episode 9 you even have a collective responsibility story which reminded me of the case where a school withdrew from Koshien just because on the the students who was not on the team got into a fight.

The thing I am looking forward to in Ryomaden is to see how Kagawa Teruyuki's character goes from super poor samurai selling bird cages to the founder of Mitsubishi. Can't complain, I hope Hirosue Ryoko and Kanjiya Shihori stay in the story until the end! Watchable.

Black Familia Shindou Ke no Fukushuu review

I like revenge shows because at worst you have fun watching bad guys get what they deserve and once in a blue moon you get something amazing like Samayou Yaiba. Black Familia is a revenge show with a twist: the daughter of the Shindou family Riria falls to her death from her school rooftop and all fingers point to the super rich and powerful Saotome family.

Yes, Black Familia is a family working together to get revenge against a bad family story. It also reminds me of Nagano Mei's Burn the House Down on Netflix which also has the main character work as a maid for revenge as the audience slowly gets to know the bad family. Except of course in Black Familia, you have a hairdresser father, pretending to be a Korean uncle and journalist older sister getting close to the family in their own way.

I really wanted to like Black Familia but the first alarm bell was in episode two when they kidnapped a bad teacher and for some reason all of them decided to interrogate the teacher together. I was watching the scene thinking why not have one person do the talking instead of 4 because the teacher might work out that they are all a family and blow their cover.

After that I skimmed half and watched half of the series to see what happens and I like the ending. I like that Black Familia is about what happens when you stare in the abyss too long. How much would you sacrifice for revenge? Is risking your family worth the price of vengeance for losing your daughter?

The concepts that Black Familia explore are interesting but the execution just wasn't good enough to stop me from fast forwarding here and there. I feel like if Sono Sion had directed it, it would have been much darker and twisted and the ending is just right for him but I am sure he has been cancelled.

Maybe its because I had already seen a much better revenge dorama in Burn the House Down but unfortunately I have to give Black Familia a meh. Really wanted to like it because it is full of supporting actors.

Kaso Girei Episodes 2~8

There are two more episodes left but I am ready to declare Kaso Girei a must watch after the incredible episode 8. If Tokyo Hinkon Joshi is a discourse about how women fall into poverty and get trapped there, Kaso Girei is about the business of religion and why it exists and the good and bad things that people use religion to do.

A jdorama being a discourse about an interesting issue alone does not make an interesting story. A story is nothing without characters and Kaso Girei has a lot of interesting characters. From Shumei who claims to see spirits but has a Madonna complex to Asako who was brainwashed by Eho Sanrinkai and is looking for a place to belong. I really like the line that Hiroe says in the screenshot; the people are the most important part and I really want to see our small band of original Seisen Shinpokai by happy.

Kaso Girei works because Kiryu Ekai is a good guy at heart. Seisen Shinpokai is a sham religion started by two religious otaku for money but Kiryu Ekai has created a place where people can belong. He is a good guy doing a bad thing which produces good results for people.

Makoto is kind of the enigma character of Kaso Girei because the audience is not really sure about his true motives but episode 8 was sad and beautiful. The final two lines by Kiryu Ekai to Makoto's revelation are absolutely beautiful. All the arguments and discourses about religion can be summed up beautifully by those two lines. I can imagine the writers/producers reading the novel and thinking these are the two magic lines we need to put on tv.

Kaso Girei explores the relationship between religion and politics. Politicians need the manpower and votes from religion and recognition from politicians gives a religion legitimacy aka the former Unification Church scandal. Japan has a very low voting rate, 51% at 2021. That means that politicians don't need to appeal to the average joe who doesn't vote and can just rely on votes from certain hardcore or religious groups to stay in power.

SUMMARY

Two more episodes to go. Can't wait. Happy to declare Kaso Girei must watch and I will join Seisen Shinpokai if the last two episodes are good! Maybe.  

Sexy Tanaka Episodes 5-10

The big news from Japan recently besides the LDP fundraising scandal where people actually think dissolving of factions will fix corruption, is the unfortunate passing of Ashihara Hinako from suicide, the mangaka of Sexy Tanaka which I have been enjoying.

I have not read the mangas but apparently she was not happy with the differences with the manga and wrote the scripts of the last two episodes of the dorama. This is very sad because Sexy Tanaka is a positive, feel good show about hope and finding your own things to live for. 

As for the dorama, I enjoyed it and liked the characters but Akari and Konishi had no chemistry and the ending was very abrupt. Kinami Haruka really did a bang up job as Tanaka as she went on this journey. 

I wonder about how often mangakas are not happy with live action adaptations of their work? Attack of Titan movie was horrible but I loved the I"s dorama because it was so faithful to the manga. Sometimes things have to be changed for budget reasons and turn out fine like Gantz and Koi wa Ameagari no You ni should have been a dorama and not a movie. Rest in peace Ashihara Hinako. Thanks for Luwang for release the hardsubs.

Video in Japanese talking about the situation and talking to a lawyer about writer's rights when talking about adaptations.

Tokyo Hinkon Joshi Ep 6 out!

 

Finally finished all 6 episodes! I nearly burnt myself out doing 3 episodes in a week. Luckily there was more action in the second half of episode 6 and translating debates is a chore! I always wanted good jdoramas on poverty and religion and I am happy I got Tokyo Hinkon Joshi and Kaso Girei this season. Fukakyon did Silent Poor years ago and I even tried to give it a second chance but that show was so bad.

!!SPOILER ALERT!!

What is interesting about Tokyo Hinkon Joshi is that it looks at causes of poverty especially for women. There are people who think everyone who is poor is just lazy because I know someone who came from nothing and got rich and there are people who do not work but working for a minimum wage in Japan is not really surviving. If you go out drinking in Japan, you will meet women who are hairdressers by day and work 3 night shifts a week to survive. Their work ethic is crazy and not to mention unpaid overtime etc etc.

One of my favourite bits of the show is Kariya not wanting to admit that she needs help and that she is on the edge of poverty and her realisation that she is being reflected in the women she interviews. The similarities with her mother putting up with the abuse and Karita not wanting Mone to turn out like her mother.

I also liked that Sakita did not find his ex in the end. I was very worried when his story started happening because I thought it would overshadow the main theme but him not finding her and her seeing his book is a great last image for the show. Sakita is an interesting character who has been eaten by all the guilt, wallowing in all the misery as penance.  

I won't be subbing anything else for a while because Like a Dragon 8 is out but there is one show that I will definitely sub one day. I have a list of shows I would like to sub and of course most of them are WOWOW but I have a favourite show that I will definitely do. 

Fun fact: I tried to sub Ai Nante Irane Yo, Natsu back in the day but there were no Japanese subs and timing your own subs is such a painfully slow process. Glad to see someone subbed it.

Respect everyone subbing jdoramas because subbing takes so much time and stamina I'd rather watch more jdoramas and jmovies.

I passed my JLPT N2!

 

Woot! JLPT results just came out today and I managed to pass JLPT N2 with one week of doing practice exams! N2 is the second hardest level so only N1 left. I barely passed my comprehension which is the biggest jump from N3. FYI if you fail any section of the JLPT, you fail the whole exam. N2 makes N3 look like cakewalk because there was not enough time and you have to speedread like crazy and learn to extract points from skimming

Glad I got perfect for listening which is my strongest point. I need to get my hands on some N1 practice exams and see whether I want to do N1 this year. For reference I don't study, I just watch lots of doramas and play games in Japanese so this was a let's see why far watching Japanese entertainment can take me and I cbf studying.

I think N1 comprehension is going to be killer since the jump from N3 to N2 is huge and the paragraphs are going to be even confusing and dense. Plenty of time to decide. It doesn't help that they moved the exam venue to 1 hour away. 

One thing I learned from the N2 exam is trust your first instinct and do not second guess because there is not enough time for the reading section.

5 things about Nanyoubi ni Umareta no? Episodes 4~9

1. As Hpriest did each episode, I was so scared to declare Nanyoubi ni Umareta a must watch because I did not want to jinx it and am happy to finally to say that Nojima Shinji has once again created a must watch show. 

!!SPOILERS BELOW!!

2. If I were an actor, I would do anything to be in a Nojima Shinji jdorama because the dialogue just sings. Its Nojima Shinji and Sakamoto Yuji who can just create the best dialogue that can be so entertaining and convey so much to the audience. Nanyoubi ni Umareta no? does not reinvent the wheel but the dialogue and writing is so good every episode I am smiling and marveling at the dialogue and how the show so easily flows from comedy to serious talk. Definitely a show worth watching a second time.

3. Iitoyo Marie is perfect as Sui and a strong candidate for Hamsapsukebe 2023 awards. The question is, is this her role of a lifetime or is she that good of an actress?

4. Perfect supporting characters with the editor, Jinnai Takanori and Hayami Akari. I normally dislike Jinnai Takanori because he overacts in everything but his chemistry with Sui is good and he does his job well as the punch line guy. Hayami Akari steals her scenes with her energy as Kumon Ryuen's cat.

4. If there is one thing that bugs me about Nanyoubi ni Umareta no? its the whole gain fame and fortune without breaking a sweat by being a model. This is a shoujo-esque dorama and this is the equivalent of me complaining about the main character in a shonen anime beating everyone with ease but as much as I enjoyed the characters, it takes the show out of reality a bit for me.

5. Am I the only one who thought about Love Exposure minus Ando Sakura while watching Nanyoubi ni Umareta no? There are many similarities with both main characters having trauma, the guy saving the girl only to be saved by the girl to even a car being involved in the final scene?

Subs for Tokyo Hinkon Joshi Episodes 3+4 are out and thank you

Subs are out for 3+4. Thanks for all the words of support. Really means a lot to me because it made me question my subs and it made think why do I want to contribute to a community that is toxic to relatively new subbers? Subbing when I am very angry is not a good feeling. Its a fuel that feeds of itself but it is better to sub because I enjoy the show and I think people should watch it. Thanks again for the support because I don't want to hate jdoramas which have given me much enjoyment.

From what jeff-tiger is saying this thing is continuing on twitter. I wonder if amrayu is the person who posted the hateful comment in the sub post? Good thing I am ignorant of jdorama twitter and live mostly in the d-addicts fansub forum. 2 more episodes to go!

Accused of posting machine translated subs for Tokyo Hinkon Joshi

 

After I posted the first episode of Tokyo Hinkon Joshi at d-addicts, I was contacted by someone from drama-otaku, given fansubber status and was told that I could upload my subs there so I uploaded episode.

I wrote on my on the subtitle page at d-addicts:

Translated from Jp subs from jptv.club which I retimed. Apologies for any mistakes as I translate based on facial expressions.

Someone did not see the joke in that and I actually stole that joke from an anime I saw a lifetime ago.

When I finished episode 2 of Tokyo Hinkon Joshi I uploaded it to d-addicts and when I tried to upload it to drama-otaku, I noticed that my subs had disappeared. I messaged the person from drama-otaku and the reply I got was:




Sorry for late reply. I saw your comments on the thread on DA and it made me a little concerned that the subs might not have been genuine. I haven't had the chance to verify them yet, but once we have checked them to make sure of their quality I'll restore them. Sorry for the inconvenience, your comment about subbing on facial expressions worried me as we don't really allow people to upload subs without a genuine grasp of Japanese (for example, machine translations are not allowed on the site)




I replied to show that I have done subbing and translating before:

No worries.

I have subbed an episode of Mosaic Japan before (I think ep 2) and I once translated an interview series with Sakamoto Yuji.

https://hamsapsukebe.blogspot.com/searc ... +interview




The next day I got the message:

Hi, my friend (head admin) looked at the subs as we tend to monitor to check if they've been machine translated if we don't know the subber etc. It seems there's a lot of signs that yours may have been ran through a machine translation so unfortunately it didn't pass the test. There was also a lot of words / symbols left over from the jp text. I understand subbing is a long process so I'm not trying to diminish any of the hard work you did, but we don't really accept subs that have potentially been machine translated unfortunately.




Suffice to say I am effing pissed off being accused of machine translating I did not clean up the -> arrows and symbols from the Jp subs. I spent so much time working on the first two episodes and I actually cleaned up the symbols on episode 2. On top of that SARS fansub have uploaded their subs for episode 1 of Tokyo Hinkon Joshi at drama-otaku. Now this feels like an attack to replace my 'machine translated subs'. There is no rule subbing rule that two different subbers can't work on the same subs but it rarely happens for jdoramas and has never happened for WOWOW shows.

How do I prove that my subs were not machine translated? Do a 4 hour video of me subbing episode 3 and upload it to youtube? Do I want to waste my time proving I actually did those hours of work when I could have been watching more stuff/gaming?

I know the people from drama-otaku mean well but I am very not happy being accused of machine translating. I don't care if streaming sites use my subs to make money but my integrity and my Japanese language skills being questioned is another thing altogether.

I am effing pissed being accused of a crime I did commit and will finish subbing Tokyo Hinkon Joshi before SARS. There goes my free time for the next 2 weeks and I was planning to ease up on the subbing for RGG8.

10 things about Ichiban Sukina Hana Episodes 1~5

1. I am a simple man; if I see a jdorama with Tabe Mikako and Imada Mio in it, I am biologically and scientifically compelled to watch it.

2. The beginning of episode 1 introduces us to our 4 main characters; the cram school teacher played by Tabe Mikako, publishing company played by Matsushita Kouhei, Imada Mio who is a hairdresser Momiji who works at a combini all declaring that they are not going at facing people one and for some reason there is rousing music before the title.

3. Tabe Mikako's problem is that she has a male best friend who is getting married who is a bit worried about the best friend thing. I must say the chemistry between Tabe Mikako and Nakano Taiga is very good.

4. There is no way to say this politely so I will just say it. Tabe Mikako's face is in danger of turning plastic and losing her ability to do facial expressions. I know no one has a natural face in jdoramas but why is everyone turning into frozen faces? The face is such an important acting tool and it is like an athelete reducing their range of motion for the sake of not looking normal.

5. Did I mention how good it is to see Tabe Mikako and Imada Mio in the same show?

6. The only thing I don't like besides the overuse of rousing music while people are doing normal things is I don't get the konbini guy at all and his story bored me.

7. Does Imada Mio have the biggest eyes in all of jdorama-land since Kobayashi Ryoko? I know I should not be admiring her eyes after complaining about plastic faces but there is a Japanese saying 'kore wa kore, are wa are'.

8. Main dude's story is that he gets dumped by Usuda Asami who is turning very plastic as well and somehow he is able to keep paying the house mortgage by himself while his 3 new friends turn the house into their own clubhouse.

9. Ichiban Sukina Hana is a show about friendship among 4 people and its a game of who is going to get with who or are they going to stay friends?

10. Thanks to Harunotakee for subbing. If you like the actresses like I do then there is no reason not to watch. It was been a fun 5 episodes so far.

Yukionna to Kani wo Kuu episodes 1~4

 

Yukionna to Kani wo Kuu means going to eat crabs with the Snow Woman. At the beginning of the show, main character Kita is at his lowest point. He was falsely accused of molesting and has lost everything, has no money and suicide is the only way out.

However Kita sees a program on tv about crabs and realised that he has never eaten crab before and decides that he will die after eating crab in Hokkaido. However as he has no money he attempts to rob this housewife who lives in an expensive home. The housewife submits easily and somehow Kita and the housewife end up going on a trip together to Hokkaido to eat crab.

Yukionna to Kano wo Kuu feels like a travel food show wrapped up in mystery and misery. Think Izakaya Shinkansen and instead of feel good, there is more depression and sex. 

I enjoy the two main character going up Touhoku on their way to Hokkaido cause I like that area and seeing all the food and scenery is great but the story is so freaking slow and I could not care about either of the characters.

The mystery of the show is what is the true identity of the housewife and why does she want to commit suicide but I was pretty bored with the main story for the first 5 episodes. The 30 minute runtime definitely does not help. 5 less minutes every episode would have improved the pacing.

I want to see the ending and see all the Hokkaido food but there is too much fluff to slog through. Maybe episode 6 is when it will get exciting? I can't be stuffed finding out because there is too much to watch and I originally wanted to stop at episode 3. Meh. Only watch if you like the two main actors.

Tokyo Hinkon Joshi Episode 1 subs are out

I have subbed the first episode of Tokyo Hinkon Joshi which you can find at d-addicts. Luckily jptv.club had the Jp subs which were easy to retime. Each episode is about 25 minutes which takes about half a day to do and I don't have the time to do 45 minute episodes like Mosaic Japan.

Tokyo Hinkon Joshi is an interesting discourse about poverty which makes translating the lines quite enjoyable and gives me plenty to think about. Plenty of depth in the dialogue, I like a dorama that looks at real life issues in depth and I foresee an spoiler review in the end. 

No guarantees with release schedule because I'd rather be watching more shows but I think jdorama with brains deserve to be subbed.