JDrama: The season wrap up (spring '08)

CHANGE
Seems to be the big thing in this season as it is yet another Kimura Takuya drama. This time he plays the son a member of parliament whose father and brother die in an accident which leaves him as the natural successor. Problem is that he hates politics and wants to continue teaching at an elementary school. But he gets persuaded, wins the by-election and through some misfortunes and accidents becomes the new prime minister of Japan. This is rather unrealistic, of course, and the message the series is trying to bring across is rather blunt. But the way they portray the new prime minister as someone who listens to the people and cares for their sorrows and worries is done very nicely and not too obvious. There are some funny moments as well, and it is especially nice to see some members of the cast of "Hero" act together once again (Kimura Takuya, Abe Hiroshi, Fukatsu Eri). I enjoy watching this. (7,5/10)

Zettai Kareshi
Cyborgs, robots, machines and their quest to become human. Sounds familiar? Well, this isn't a Star Trek Data like story and the Frankenstein moments don't come in that often. Here we have a company who developed a lover robot to please all the needs of young women nowadays. Aibu Saki is a temporary worker at a sweets company who by chance runs into the people of the robot factory after she was rejected by the guy she secretly was in love with. Model 01 turns out to be a rather dumb but nice cyborg who tries to please his girlfriend all the time. This leads to some hilarious situations at her workplace, with her parents, at her favourite bar and so on. A nice manga adaption with nice actors, although at some points it gets a little bit out of hand. Still I liked this series a lot. (7/10)

Muri na Renai
A music business manager (Sakai Masaaki) who just celebrated his 60th birthday falls in love with a younger actress (Natsukawa Yui) who works several part-time jobs to get by. She herself has to look after her wannabe writer ex-boyfriend (Tokui Yoshimi) who just dropped by at her place because he's out of money again. This somehow sounds like a boring story but the way the actors portray their characters really brings this to life. It's not overly chaotic, but the speed and "action" is great and the dialogues are funny. If you are looking for agood laugh you should turn to this one. (6/10)

Osen
Another drama about food. Well, not food in particular, but more about the Japanese way of cherishing and celebrating their way of presenting an consumning food in a nice atmosphere at a traditional restaurant. This story is about a young chef (Uchi Hiroki)who is fed up with modern style cooking and remembers a restaurant from his childhood whose owner invited him to train there. When he arrives at the place he finds out that the owner has changed. The person in charge now is a young proprietress (Aoi Yu) who seems to be very fond of alcohol. But he soon discovers that there's more to good cooking and making great dishes than just skill.
I always like these food orientated dramas because I really get hungry when I watch those. This is one of the better ones as the story is nice, there's some twists and turns and the cast is very good as well. (7/10)

Hokaben
Ueto Aya as a lawyer? Sounds rather strange to me. I always had her filed under young and hip characters who don't really care about rules and norms. Well, there's some of that in this series as well, but she seems to be a little bit more serious here. She plays a lawyer who just got employed by a huge law firm which concentrates on business clients. Ueto's character wants to help the weak and has herself transferred to the "pro bono" section, a rather lowly part of the company. Her boss (Kitamura Kazuki) there seems to be rather unmotivated and lazy, but he comes to help her and is always there to give her important clues and sometimes even teach her a lesson about life.
This falls in the same vein as "Change" as the main message is that there needs to be hope in society and you have to help people in need. But this series being another manga adaption it's also a bit more flashy. I just watched the first couple of episodes, but it looks interesting anough to continue watching it. (6,5/10)

Battery
Hooray, another Baseball drama. I have been waiting for this ever since I finished watching "H2" (and I have watched "H2" over and over again). unfortunately the subs are a bit slow so I was watching this without any translation. This one isn't about a high school team, if I understood it correctly, but these kids are playing in a middle school team. Takada Sho plays a catcher who is fascinated by a young pitcher (played by Nakayama Yuma) who is throwing a very hard fastball. Throwing so hard that noone is able to catch his pitches he gets frustrated and doesn't expect much from the town his parents brought him and his younger brother to. But Takada tries everything to persuade him and together they form the new battery of their school team.
Although the story sounds rather interesting from the outset the actors ruin this a little bit. Everything seems to be rather stiff and there isn't any emotion in it. This looks like a series made for promotional use only and with main actors like this it has to be considered a failure. (4/10)

Puzzle
Puzzle is one of those episodic dramas where there is no story which gets told over all episodes but instead each episode stands for itself. In this one a teacher (Ishihara Satomi) and her students (Yamamoto Yosuke, Kimura Ryo, Nagayama Kento) always set out to solve a riddle which might lead to some money or prize, something very important to the greedy teacher.
The episodes revolve around a classic whodunnit plot with the teacher and the students solving it in the end. Nothing special really, but there are some funny moments and at some points the acting is just hilarious. What makes this rather strange is that a young actress like Ishihara Satomi is supposed to play a teacher in her 30's and this doesn't work out really. (5/10)

Around 40
A slightly more serious story about three women in their mid- to late-thirties. Amami Yuki plays a psychiatrist who always hangs out with her friends, a housewife and mother (Matsushita Yuki) and a journalist (Otsuka Nene). Both of them always talk to her about marrying but she doesn't seem to find the right man. This changes when the character of Fujiki Naohito gets a job at her hospital.
This is a nice difference from all those series aimed at young people. The pace is slow which allows the chracaters to develop nicely. (7/10)


Kimi Hannin janai yo ne?
Yet another of those episode based dramas, just like "Puzzle". In this one a rookie police officer (Kaname Jun) who has a lot of money from his family and an aspiring crime story writer (Kanjiya Shihori) team up to solve cases. All in all this gets a little bit to chaotic at times and what makes this rather unexciting is that you know right from the start who is the criminal because it's always the person the rookie officer falls in love with at the beginning of each episode. So in that sense it's no classic whodunnit story but rather a "how was it done?". It is a funny series, of course, but not overly funny. One thing that's slightly interesting and what keeps me at watching this is that there seems to be some overriding storyline which tells something about what happened in the past of Kanjiya's character. Flashbacks suggest she might have suffered some kind of trauma or shock.
Average stuff. (5/10)

Rookies
Another baseball drama and this one is way better than "Battery". In this one it's all about a baseball club at a high school who had to pull out because they were involved in a brawl a few months ago when one of their players hit the opposing pitcher with his bat on purpose. Those scenes are rather drastic with blood dripping and so on.
Ever since the team members lost interest in school and sports and are just goofing around at school, creating disturbances and wreaking havoc. Enter Kawato Koichi (Sato Ryuta), a higly motivated teacher who had some troubles in the past himself. He is struggling to convince the team members to get together again and create a goal. He wants them to aim for a spot in the famous Koshien tournament.
This has a lot of the usual teacher-student movies which all seemed to have started with "GTO", but I really like the baseball aspect in this. The students characters are nicely developed, the acting is good and the story is told in a nice pace. It's especially interesting to see Nakao Akiyoshi again since he was in "H2" as well. Although his character is completely different in this series (and that'S not because he was a catcher there and is an outfielder here).
I really like this one. (7/10)

Gokusen 3
Speaking of "GTO", here we go again with what seems like to be one of the most popular television series in Japan in the past few years. I first got in touch with the Gokusen universe when I was watching the anime series and I really liked the first season of the drama series. The second season already felt like a rather lukewarm remake, although the acting really made up for some loopholes in the script. But this one should really be the last one. Nakama Yukie is there for her students again, who sit in the same old dirty classroom all day without any motivation to do anything for their graduation. Hopeless cases all over again. What's slightly different here is that there are two class leaders (Miura Haruma, Takaki Yuya), but that is solved rather quickly. The head teacher (Namase Katsuhisa) is there as well, there's also the Yakuza family and Yankumi's object of desire is played by Koizumi Kotaro this time. If you liked the previous seasons you will definetely like this one again, although it is getting a little rusty. I wonder if they will go for another one or if they will shoot a movie next. (6/10)

Hachi-One Diver
I am not really into chess, although I sometimes watch a special program they show on German TV. So I don't have any clue about shogi, the Japanese version of what in the western world is known as "the royal game". Here we follow the life of a former professional shogi player (Mizobata Junpei) who now roams the streets of Tokyo to make a living by playing for money. When he gets defeated by a girl (Naka Riisa) in Akihabara he is completely devastated and he's in an even greater shock when he finds out she works as a maid who visits her customers to clean their rooms. She helps him to get back on track and to find his own way of playing shogi.
Another manga adaption which you can clearly recognize when you take a look a the costume Naka Riisa has to wear. There are some rather naughty scenes as well, but this makes it a bit more funny as well. I don't know if I miss out on things because I don't know the rules of shogi, but this feels a little bit like a grown up version of "Hikaru no Go". (6,5/10)

Ryokiteki na Kanojo
An adaption of a Korean hit movie remade for Japanese television and they got a big name with Kusanagi Tsuyoshi for this one. He plays a scientist at a marine laboratory at a university who one day runs into a woman (Tanaka Rena) who wants to be a writer. This meeting changes his life as the woman not only turns out to be rather crazy but she also moves into the apartment next to his one and completely turns his calm and relaxed life upside down.
I like the way they start the story on a very funny and happy note and than slowly turn it into a more serious drama. The cast helps to create a nice atmosphere and although there are funny outbursts of comic relief the way the script tells the story of the couple finding their way towards each other is nice. I had fun watching this. (7,5/10)

* Winter 2008 Wrap Up
* Fall 2007 Wrap Up
* Summer 2007 Wrap Up
* Spring 2007 Wrap Up

Bundesliga - Day 30: So that's it then...

Eintracht Frankfurt - Borussia Dortmund 1:1
Hamburger SV - FC Schalke 04 0:1
Karlsruher SC - Werder Bremen 3:3
Hannover 96 - Hertha BSC Berlin 2:2
1. FC Nürnberg - Arminia Bielefeld 2:2
FC Energie Cottbus - FC Hansa Rostock 2:1
VfL Bochum - MSV Duisburg 1:1
Bayern München - VfB Stuttgart 4:1
Bayer Leverkusen - VfL Wolfsburg 2:2

So the german championship seems to be decided by now with Bayern winning comfortably against Stuttgart last Sunday, they now are 12 points ahead of the 2nd place and with only four more games to play they should take the title this year. So a rather boring season is coming to an end, at least when you talk about the top of the table. When you look down to the bottom it's a completely different ballgame. There are still five teams in contention for the three relegation spots and they do everything they can to stay down there. Last weekend Nürnberg looked like they were about to finally leave the cellar of the Bundesliga when they were leading 2-0 against Bielefeld at halftime. Cottbus were 0-1 down against Rostock, Duisburg looked good against Bochum leading 1-0. 45 minutes later the tables had turned and verything was back to take one. This is the only exciting stuff happening in this league at the moment. Funny trivia fact: A few minutes from the final whistle on Saturday all matches expect one (Hamburg vs Schalke) were tied.

In the 2nd division of german football, the 2. Bundesliga, it seems that no team really wants to get promoted. Borussia Mönchengladbach seem to stay out of trouble at the moment, but they only drew this weekend and Hoffenheim seems to ressurect themselves. Cologne plays their usual up-and-down form which noone seem to understand. They play great matches and then a week later they look like a completely different team. If they manage to get promoted they will go down again at the end of that season. Right now it's M'Gladbach, Hoffenheim and Mainz on the three lucky places at the top of the table.

Way down the slope at Verbandsliga level, Fortuna Cologne finally started a winning streak and is now in third place, only behind local rivals Viktoria Cologne and VfL Leverkusen. It seems that all the promotion for the project www.deinfussbalclub.de finally seems to pay off a little bit as the attendance figures have risen slightly over the past few home games. around 1.000 people showed up which is quite a lot for 5th division football in Germany. The president, Klaus Ulonska and Sönke Wortmann, the man who started the project, have been going to lots of events and talkshows lately. They even have a story in THE german football magazine "11 Freunde" this month. And although I really don't know what to make of the whole thing it still feels good that a club like Fortuna is getting a little more attention. Past weekend's game against Hennef was won 2-0 and seemed to have been a lucky win with the second goal scored in added time.

So with the excitement gone from the Bundesliga the eyes of german football fans turn elsewhere, to England, for example. Last weekend's clash between Chelsea and Manchester United was an interesting one from the german perspective, since Michael Ballack is that captain of the german national team and the audience doesn't get that many chances to see him play over here. Most of the action takes place on pay-per-view TV so the chances to see him on free TV are limited to the top games in the Premier League. The way he presented himself must have been very reassuring for the german fanbase. He scored twice and looked like the "leader" most people expect him to be during this summer's Euro championship in Switzerland and Austria. The 2-1 victory over ManU brought back some excitement to the English championship. Both teams are now level on points and only the goal difference puts ManU up front at the moment.

And while I had the chance to watch a J-League game I really found it interesting of how the fans in Japan participate in the game. They are singing constantly, something which also happens in baseball. This may sound like they are trying to hard and some people might even say that this is all because of the strange discipline and collective thinking of Asians in general, but just to hear the crowd sing in the match between Urawa Red Diamonds and Consadole Sapporo was very refreshing. Urawa was down quickly, then equalized, got behind again, scored another equalizer and finally went in front in the second half and all the time the crowd was there singing and chanting. So there wasn't any real difference from a european game. There was though with the goalkeepers. Both didn't look good at all so it might be a good idea to get someone like Oliver Kahn to go to Japan. Although he already might have abandoned that idea in favour of staying in Germany.
The level of play was rather decent although I have to admit that I am a bit biased when it comes to japanese football. I really like their way of playing a very fast and technical football, they try to play like Arsenal. Something they can't accomplish, that's true, but it's nice to watch. The level is definetely higher than the one played in the american MLS. The season over there is just getting on the way so it might be a little too early to make predictions. The Reds got off to a lousy start and it seemed they were just continuing from where they left off at the end of last season when the suffered a meltdown losing the championship to Kashima Antlers on the last day of play. But they regrouped and now seem to do just fine. The last goal of the match against Sapporo was a wonderful counterattack with former Frankfurt and Hamburg player Takahara Naohiro laying up the ball for teammate Edmilson (4-2).

Hanami - Kirschblüten: A German movie about Japan

Well, not exactly, but it is set in Japan and on a side note it deals with how someone traveling to a completely foreign culture copes with what he experiences abroad.
This movie "Hanami - Kirschblüten" by German director Doris Dörrie tells the story of an old couple living an ordinary life in the middle of nowhere of Bavaria, a very rural and conservative area of Germany. The wife Trudi (Hannelore Elsner) always wanted to visit Japan, since she had a strong interest in the culture and her son is working in Tokyo, and now she is confronted with a diagnosis of her husband's doctors telling her that he only has a few more months to live because he is suffering from cancer. She doesn't know how to cope with this and is not capable of telling him either. The husband Rudi (Elmar Wepper) is a normal civil servant who is afraifd of change and doesn't want to take risks at all, let alone travel to countries which are very far away. So she finally persuades him to visit their other children in Berlin and then take a trip to the Baltic Sea. While staying there Trudi suddenly dies leaving Rudi behind. He is struggling to keep up his daily life but in the end he has to understand that he needs to go to Japan to find out what his wife wanted to see there. Staying at his son's place (Maximillian Brückner) he experiences the vastness of Tokyo's daily (and night) life until he meets a young Butoh dancer, a form of dance his wife loved to do. He and Yu (Irizuki Aya) finally travel to see Mt Fuji, to fulfil the final wish of Rudi's wife.

At first I didn't really know what to expect since all the movies Doris Dörrie previously made weren't really my cup of tea. And at the beginning of the film I think I saw some tries of applying the technique of slow story telling, which one can find in Japanese cinema very often, to a German landscape and story. But as the movie went on I got sucked into the story more and more and all of a sudden this becomes something everyone can relate to. It's not only a movie which concentrates on the loss of a loved person, but at the same time it shows the difficulties parents and children have as time goes on. There is one scene were Rudi says the should just go back to Bavaria, because his children don't understand him and he doesn't understand them anymore. everything's fine, they are grown up and healthy and happy, that's it. His children take on a similar stance towards their parents, a stance which changes slowly with the death of the mother. And then in the second half of the movie there's the cultural difference between rural Germany and the pulsating metropolis of Tokyo.

This is a great movie with a brilliant cast (Elmar Wepper and Hannelore Elsner are just great) with a very moving story which will get you thinking. I really recommend this one.

JDrama: The season wrap up (winter '08)

Bara no nai Hanaya
A very heartwarming story about the owner of a flower shop who lost his wife when she gave birth to his daughter. The father of the mother seems to hold a grudge against the man and sets up two of his underlings to destroy the quiet but happy life of the florist.
Katori Shingo of SMAP has his funny moments in this one every now and then but all in all his performance is very solid and humble. As for Takeuchi Yuko she as beautiful as she always is. Her smile is one of the prettiest ones in Japanese television. The whole cast is very good, by the way. I really like how they managed to intertwine two basic storylines without getting tangeled up as they follow the quest of the mother's father to bring down the florist and at the same time the story takes time to look into the life of an abused child and the rescue of the child from its parents. This is great stuff with a wonderful soundtrack. (7,5/10)

Hachimitsu to Clover
I already watched the anime version of this story and what I especially liked was the fact that nothing really happened there. Basically this is just following the lives of college students at an arts university and what they do all year long. Sure, there are funny moments, sad moments, happy moments and stuff like that, but you never get the impression that the pace gets out of hand. It always had the feeling of being a story that could easily happen to yourself. Just life, eh?
The cast is brilliant with Narumi Riko leading it off as the shy and quiet Hagu. The trio of male actors inclued Narimiya Hiroki who I always liked for his silly roles in school boy dorama, but here he plays a highly talented slacker with lots of crazy ideas, still he's someone who helps out his friends when in need. As much as I liked the anime I also like this one. (7/10)

Ashita no Kita Yoshio
This is this season's stand out dorama. What a great start to the story. A man decides that he wants to end his life in 11 days. And during the time he has left he has a list of things he wants to do. One of those being a meeting with his ex-wife who divorced him 11 years ago. When coming to Tokyo he meets a lot of different people and experiences a lot of different things.
Might sound a bit boring but in fact this is really great stuff. The cast is excellent with lead actor Kuhinata Fumiyo stealing the show from everyone. But even the supporting roles are high class. The deeper you get into this, the more unexpected twists and turns come up and you will never know which direction this series will take with the next episode. Definetely a must see! (8,5/10)


Koshonin
Another one of those action police doramas, this time the main character being a female officer who is with a special negotiation squad. She's always by looked down upon by her superiors and while she is trying to prove that she has what it takes to fulfil the job she constantly gets herself in trouble.
This is kind of predictable since the episodes all deal with some sort of hostage taking or some madman setting up bombs all over Tokyo and the police are trying to track down his or her whereabouts. And the acting is a little tense. Don't get fooled by the banner, it's not as if Yonekura Ryoko is running around in a catsuit the whole time, the story a little bit more serious. Still this is just average stuff I would watch when there's nothing else on at the moment. (6/10)

Shikaotoko Aoniyoshi
I really liked Tamaki Hiroshi as Chiaki-senpai in "Nodame Cantabile" and here he is again playing a frustrated scientist who is transferred to an all girls school in the city of Nara where his life takes an unexpected turn. Turns out he's the only person who can save the planet. And you thought you had stress in your life, right?
This is a brilliant mistery story which at some points seems to get out of hand but then after a few minutes it gets back on track again smoothly and keeps you stuck in front of the screen. I haven't watched all of the episodes and I still have no clue in what direction this thing is going. All I can say is I really like it when deers talk to humans. Ayase Haruka plays the female lead and the rest of the cast is very good as well. (8/10)

Edison no Haha
Another school dorama and this time we're in elementary school. Ito Misaki plays a teacher who just got dumped by her fiancé and now she has to cope with a wiseguy student at school who is aking questions all the time. And what's even worse, that kid gets the rest of his class to follow his strange experiments.
A nice story about a child prodigy with an everlasting thirst for wisdom and knowledge. The bottom line of this series is that it is okay to ask question and that you shouldn't take no for an answer. Although at some points this gets a little too thick it still is a very good story and I have to admit that I like that kind of messages. Well, most of them. Again, this cast is pretty good and the story has enough lighthearted moments to make you laugh every now and then. (7/10)

1 Pound no Fukuin
Another manga adaption, this one telling the story of a good for nothing boxer who only has food on his mind as is in constant trouble of going to a weigh-in overweight. He meets a nun (a nun in Japan, oh well....) and falls for her, never realizing what it means to stay at a convent.
Another episode-based dorama where the story repeats itself every week. This is kind of funny, but it can be pretty lengthy at times as well. It's always about food - which is nice - and the problems the main character (played by Kamenashi Kazuya of KAT-TUN) has with his very strong appetite. Kuroki Meisa plays the nun and soemtimes she is acting a bit too holy, I think. Still because this is all a bit over the top you can easily recognize that this story was written in a manga. So it's okay, but not great.
On a funny side note, this dorama sees Kobayashi Satomi and Motai Masako team up again. Both were brilliant in the movie "Kamome Shokudo". (6/10)

Sasaki Fusai no Jingi Naki Tatakai
Another lawyer dorama. Or wait, is it a divorce comedy? Well, it has got a bit of both. Koyuki and Inagaki Goro of SMAP play the Ritsuko and Norimichi Sasaki who are not only married but manage their own law firm. But their ways of living their lives couldn't be more different. Ritsuko is sloppy and lazy while Norimichi is correct and disciplined. This leads to various quarrels and they are always on the brink of breaking up. It is only thanks to their friends and co-workers that they always find the way back to each other.
This series is episode based as well meaning that there is one story in each episode, usually a case the law firm takes on. But the quarrels and rants of the couple make this worthwhile. Every now and then I like those simpler things. (6,5/10)

* Fall 2007 Wrap Up
* Summer 2007 Wrap Up
* Spring 2007 Wrap Up

Akiakane @ Sonic Ballroom, Cologne

I have been looking forward to this show ever since I found out about it on punkstelle.de at the end of last year. It's very rare for us to get to see Japanese bands play live in local clubs, so I gave the music of Akiakane a try via their myspace site and I instantly liked it. Very nice melodic punkrock with enough energy and aggressiveness.
Arriving at the "Sonic Ballroom" at around 2115h the place was decently filled but definetely not sold out. First up were a band from Cologne called The Bloody Valentines, a name today often associated with whiny emo bands, but those guys were more into the punkrock kind of things. Well, there were somewhere in the middle between classic 77 styled punkrock and German fun punk gods Die Ärzte, although only on the musical side of things. This was too much cliché. Interestingly though their bassist seemed to be blind, still he was making all the announcements and it seemed that he was writing a lot of the songs. So,w ell, yeah, they played for around 45 minutes which a quarter of an hour too much if you ask me.
When the samurai girls of Akiakane entered the stage the expectations were very high it seemed. There was some kind of strange atmosphere in the room. Noone knew what to expect now. Introduced by what seemed to be their tour driver from England they then went on to absolutely tear down the club. Fast, high energy and aggressive punkrock tunes, not very much talking on stage (maybe due to the lack of English knowledge - which wasn't true as I found out after the show when I talked to singer Moe for a few minutes), that's the way it should be. People seemed to enjoy the show and were dancing around, getting them back on stage for one encore after around 40 minutes. It's a pity the Ballroom wasn't more packed than the ~40 people who turned up on this Sunday night. But I really enjoyed myself and hope that they will return in the future. If not I might go and check them out in Japan. That's what their merchandise girl Nao told me to do. よろしく。

Eating Onigiri for the first time

I always wanted to try お握り (onigiri, japanese rice balls), but i never had the chance. My cooking skills are rather bad and somehow I never found the time to give it a shot. But fortunately a friend of mine had some visitors from Japan and they were kind enough to make some. We also had miso soup with the onigiri and that was all very tasty stuff. What I found very interesting is that I was stuffed after eating only two of those rather small rice balls. I still have some with me at home so I might end up eating them tonight while watching TV.
It's always interesting to try out something different and because I watch so many television series from Japan I became interested in the japanese cuisine. It's fascinating that they show people eating in almost every series and in almost every episode. That's something completely different from German television series. In germany one might see someone eat something occasionally, but then it's not specified what that person is eating. In Japan they always talk about food. Interesting difference in local culture, I think. I wonder what I should try out next...?

A few anime recommendations

I have been watching a little bit more anime recently, because a friend of mine recommended a few series. So this is what I was watching.

Over Drive
I've always liked sports series so I was happy to find this one. This time it's all about cycling. A young student joins a bicycle club at school and turns out to be a very talented rider although he says that he never rode a bike before. The club joins a race in Japan which drags on for almost 10 episodes. That's basically it. It's all about enthusiasm for something and following a dream. The usual anime story line. Because this series is about cycling I thought there might be some hints for performance enhancing drugs but that has been left out completly. Instead the Tour de France is the hot topic here and it's still the pure and marvellous event it used to be.
The character development is hindered by the very short time the series has (it's only 26 episodes) so I have the feeling that there's something missing somewhere. But it's fun to watch when you have nothing else to do. (5/10)

Dennou Coil
This is a strange one. It's about kids in a city where pets go missing. And it's not usual pets, it's cyber pets you can only seee when you wear special glasses. They seem to be hunted by a lifeform called "illegals" who come as some form of computer virus. There's lots of technical things all around and everything's "meta"-this and "meta"-that.
I've only seen two episodes so far but this seems to have the right mixture between funny parts, exciting story lines and mysterious cyberspace stuff. It's no Meccha series, it's more like private eye kids looking into a case which is of no interest to adults. But I might be wrong and the story will take a u-turn in the next episodes. You'll never know. Still I like this very much. The animation is great and the character design is a little different from what you normally get to see. (6/10)

Bamboo Blade
I was always interested in the sport of kendo so when this series came out I gladly took the opportunity to watch it. The main character is a broke teacher who runs the kendo club at his school and who has a bet with his senpai that his girls team will beat his senpai's girls team. At first there are only two girls in the team, one of those is absent all the time. But with time they are able to gather all the members they need.
This is nothing special either but it also has these nice funny moments and super deformed character design at times which I really like. The kendo scenes are not the centre of attention in most of the episodes so the anme takes a little bit more time for character development which I like as well. The previews at the end of each episode are hilarious. This is a series I like. (6,5/10)

Touch
This seems to be a classic and I only started to watch it because I really like the drama version of "H2". I don't know if "Touch" was done before "H2" or if it was the other way around. Anyway, the story seems to be very similar. When in "H2" there were three childhood friends from different families here we have two families and their kids are friends since they were born. There's is one girl and two twin boys, one of them is a slacker, the other one an outstanding athlete and student. Sounds familiar? Well, it does to me. So the talented guy plays on the baseball team at high school and that's what caught my attention. I've only seen the first two episodes here as well, but because it looks rather oldfashioned (the anime is from 1985) it has this nostalgic feeling to it. All in all it's over 100 episodes so there should be a lot of time for character development. I'm looking forward to watch this. (7/10)

Shigurui
A samurai anime which looks very mature and suited for older people rather than children or kids. It starts out with a duel between to crippled fighters, one being blind and the other one having lost an arm or a leg. From there on the story goes back a few years and tells what happened between those two men.
The whole set up is very dark, there aren't really any bright colours in this series. The violence is very explicit and very well drawn. Now, I always like to watch historic anime or drama series because I take an interest in how historic events or eras are portrayed in popular culture. This seems to be very accurate from what I can see but my knowledge of Japanese history is limited as well, so I might be wrong. This is definetely not like "Rurouni Kenshin" or "Samurai Champloo", it's way darker and gloomier. And much more gory, that's true. (6/10)

Byousoku 5 Centimeter
Another great movie by Shinkai Mikoto who also made stuff like "Hoshi no Koe" or "Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho". this time the story is about two kids who were friends in scholl but who were seperated when they had to go to high school. One day the boy travels to the countryside to meet the girl. When they meet he tells her he has to move further away from her. The next episode deals with what the boy is doing in his new home and the last episode shows what happened to both of them after they finished school.
What Shinkai always manages to do is to create a wonderful atmosphere with the pictures we draws. Although there might be a landscape covered in snow or just a scenery of a village at night it's always very colourful and because of that powerful. His stories are also very wonderful. Although they are everyday stories and nothing really happens (you are always waiting for a climax to appear) they leave you with a very calm and satisfied feeling. This one really is a must see. (8,5/10)

I will look into Blue Drop, Ghost Hound, Sketchbook - full color's, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and Genshiken 2 when I find the time time to do so.

JDrama: The season wrap up (fall)

Is it just me or was this season just a little boring. There weren't those blockbuster star-packed series' which usually are shown. Although one or two good ones emerged the overall impression is that this one was a let down.

Galileo
A detective/mystery series about a young detective (Shibasaki Kou) who has been assigned to solve very difficult cases which go beyond the normal imagination. She teams up with a weird scientist who helped her predescessor in his work. The setup usually is the same in each episode: there's a mysterous killing which cannot be explained reasonably. The detective will meet with the scientist and he will come up with a rational explanation of the case. This may sound boring but because of the great acting actually it's very funny. I always like to watch Shibasaki Kou act in dramas and this one is no exception. She really fills the screen with her presence. her counterpart is brilliantly cast with Fukuyama Masaharu who wonderfully displays the weird and rational scientist who only believes in what he sees and what he can explain reasonably. A must see! (8/10)

Abarenbo Mama
Yet another drama starring Ueto Aya and this time she plays a mother who has to come to terms with the kid her husband brings into the new family. Personally I think that her acting is way too childish for her to portray a responsible mother, but since this is a comedy it might work out. The series follows her problems with all the other mothers from the kindergarten and stuff like that. it feels a little bit like "At Home Dad". Her husband is played by Oizumi Yo who was very funny in "Haken no Hinkaku". This is lighthearted and funny, but it's not brilliant. (5/10)

Yukan Club
Take six goodlooking young and promising stars (like Akanashi Jin, Kashii Yu or Suzuki Emi), some of whom might even be singers, put them alltogether in a series with a lousy script and this is what you get. Although there are dramas with every singkle one of the main cast actors this is just disappointing. The story is a bout six filthily rich students who in their free time solve criminal cases. It has its moments but overall this is aimed at a far too young audience. Maybe that's why I just didn't get into it. (2/10)

Iryu Team Medical Dragon (2nd Season)
I really liked the first season and this one follows the original series where it left off. Asada-sensei is back to save a lot of patients with the most frightening heart diseases. Honestly I would consider this to be "Schwarzwaldklinik" ("Black Forest Clinic") on speed with those fast cut and highly dramatic operation room scenes. The episodes are mostly the same, there is always a hopeless case which by the hand of Team Dragon is helped to survive and to live on. But there is also the overriding theme, this time it's the conversion of a hospital into a high tech medical centre for rich people. This keeps the pace high and this has kept me watching it. A good manga adaption with a great cast which has too many good actors to single out a few. (6/10)

Joshi Deka!
Another detective drama this one tells the story of a veteran offiver and her new apprentice who came straight out of the police school. I've only watched to episodes but this looks interesting. true, sometimes it's a little bit too silly, but the main Story about a serial murder case is very interesting and serious and it seems that there is something happening in future episodes since the first episode started with a flashback. Nakama Yukie starrs as the apprentice and Izumi Pinko as the veteran. They make a great team and it's fun to watch them when they interact. Nice one (7/10)

Utahime
This is this season's winner to me. Another great show starring Nagase Tomoya who despite being a rockstar with his band "Tokio" delivers another wonderful performance. This time he plays a war veteran who was washed ashore a small village on the southern coast of Japan. When he strands there his memory is erased and he becomes a helper to the local cinema owner. Things evolve from there. What makes this very good is first and foremost that all actors speak some kind of dialect. This is a nice expection and really sounds interesting. Then I think that either the scriptwriters, the producers or the directors had something to do with classic series' like "Ikebukoro West Gate Park", "Kisarazu Cat's Eye" or "Tiger & Dragon". They way the dialogue flows and the way some jokes are introduced is very similar. And some of the actors are featured in the aforementioned dramas as well. I really liked this one (8/10)

Mop Girl
Another winner. This is about a girl who is demoted from her job as a wedding planer to a company which cleans up crime scenes and prepares for funerals. The lead character, played by former "Sailor Moon" Kitagawa Keiko, has the strange ability to travel back in time when she touches the belongings of recently deceased people. So you get the picture of what happens in every episode. What I really liked was the very comicbook-ish facial expressions of Kitagawa and the supporting cast. Above average. (6/10)

Dream Again
I originally started watching this because it was about baseball, but then again baseball is just a side story here. Sorimachi Takashi plays a professional baseball player who loses his place in the first string team of the Yomiuri Giants and tries to get back to the big leagues. Just when he makes his decision to work harder he gets struck by a lightning and dies. But this was a mistake and so he is given a second chance. He enters the body of a business man and has to cope with all the faults of a ruthless broker. Adding up to his problems is a daughter who he never heard of and trouble with a law firm who is represented by his former girlfriend. This is a little bit over the top and we all know those "dead people return in another body" stories. It's fun to watch, but it's nothing special. (5/10)

SP (Special Police)
A drama about a special squad which is assigned to protect important people. You might say it's a bodyguard unit in the metropolitan police. I've only seen one episode, but it looks interesting, because it has Okada Junichi and Tsutsumi Shinichi in it, two actors I really like. The first episode looked very promising and this didn't seem to be a case-by-case approach but there seems to be an overlaying storyline as well, something I always like because there is an end you can look forward to. From what I've seen one of the better dramas in this season. (6/10)

* Summer 2007 Wrap Up
* Spring 2007 Wrap Up

Campaigning for election in Japan: A documentary

I zapped into a documentary by chance last night which was shown on the German-French culture channel Arte. It was about some guy named Yamauchi Kazuhiko who was told by his party to run for a post in the local city council in Kawasaki. I don't really know if the constituancy he was running for was named Miyabae or not, as I said, I joined the program as it was already running.
So this poor Yamauchi-san tries the best he can to get the best resuult for his party and the documentary accompanies him on his way. He's meeting up with old friends of his at a hotel room. The friends are very confused when Yamauchi-san's wife tells them that she has to refer to herself as "kanai" (housewife) instead of "tsuma" (wife) because some party officials told her so. Yamauchi-san's party is the LDP, the governing party in Japan. They have been in power for almost all the time after the 2nd World War and this documentary is set during a time when Koizumi Junichiro was still prime minister. They seemed to have quite a few elections going on their, so when the prime minister was joining the campaign the main candidate - I presume she ran for a place in parliament - poor Yamauchi-san had to stand a whole lot lower than the other candidates.
Also what was very confusing was that there was almost no talk about the program the guy was standing for. It seemed like he had none. He had to built up a base of supporters from out of nowhere (something which was done by supporters of another candidate from the same party) and he had to pay for the campaign all by himself. There's one scene when he and his wife are driving home and she complains that some old guys of the party told her to quit her job. She's afraid that they won't have any money left if Yamauchi-san fails to win the seat in the city council.
There seems to big a huge difference in how both political systems of elections work in Germany and Japan. the Japanese way looked rather loud and colourful when the German way of campaigning relies mostly on speeched and arguments. Perhaps that's because there is proportional representation in Germany. Well, I've never seen a candidate standing in front of the train station wishing each passenger who enters the station a good morning and a safe travel. This was very interesting.
The original title is "Campaign" and the film was done by Soda Kazuhiro, a filmmaker born Japan who is now living in New York.

JDrama: The season wrap up (summer)

Well, well, well, I don't know what to make of this season. Sure, there were your usual top class series with lots of stars in the leading roles, but it seems that the big shot drama with a good story was missing this time. A bit too much humour, I think. Let's wrap it up anyway...

First Kiss
This is your typical heart warming drama in which the little sister, who has a heart disease which causes her to have an operation at the end of the summer, goes back to Japan to visit her brother who sought out to become a photographer but ended up to be a lousy assistant. Inoue Mao, who was so good in both "Hana Yori Dango" seasons, plays the little sister and she does it with style. Always badmouthing people and blabbering about all kinds of stuff which pisses people of. Ito Hideaki plays the brother who keeps her company and tries to find her a lover so at least before she has surgery she might be able to experience love for the first time in her life.
The comedy in this series is quite good but the actual story lacks something. I still can't quite figure out what it is, but somehow it just doesn't get moving. Still this was one of the better dramas this summer. (7/10)

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e
The big names drama of this season. Almost all of the male super idols were in this, I guess. The story follows Horikita Maki as she tries to get in to an all boys' school in Osaka to get close to Oguri Shun, who plays a track and field athlete who is doing high jump. As you might expect this leads to all kinds of complicated situations for the girl as she is surrounded by boys all the time. Luckily the most obvious jokes about going to the toilet or changing clothes before P.E. or taking a shower were dealt with in the first few episodes.
What's really great about this series is the cast. The crazy dorm heads with their underlings get the action going and are always in for a good laugh. Apart from that this drama was rather shallow and didn't offer much. (6/10)

Ushi ni negai wo: Love & Farm
Interesting, because this wasn't set in a big city. Set in the lovely scenery of Hokkaido this drama follows six university students who take on the adventure of spending some time of ther agricultural studies right where it matters: in a small village with lots of farms. This leads to some funny scenes were the people from the city can't quite keep up with the rural life, but the story still shows the problems the rural population faces today. The cast is wonderful with lots of familiar faces and the six students were cast very well as well. Tamayama Tetsuji plays the leading role as a farm boy who went to Tokyo to get rid off his rural heritage but eventually comes back to help with his parents' struggling farming business. I really liked this one because of the different setting and the unusual topic of the story. (8/10)

Tantei Gakuen Q
Yet another manga adaption and you can really see that this one was done on paper first. It's a typical crime comic story with six young detectives trying to solve difficult cases. The whole series looks rather cheap and I wonder if it really has cost a lot of money. The special FX don't look very expensive. There are soem nice jokes but all in all this one is rather disappointing. Well, maybe I'm not the target group as this looks like it is aiming at school children. (4/10)

Hotaru no Hikari
A bureau mid 20s drama about a young woman who is liked at her company by her colleagues but leads a completely different life when she is at home. In the office she is smart and efficient, at home she likes to drink lots of beer and hang around in her trainers. Suddenly her boss moves in because his wife left their home and so both of them have to cope with each other for the next few weeks. Ayase Haruka plays Hotaru, a "himono onna", a dried up woman who just isn't fit for love anymore. She falls in love with a co-worker but is totally puzzled and just doesn't know what to do.
A funny and smart comedy with very good actors, one of my favourites in this season. (8/10)

Yama Onna Kabe Onna
This one was absolutely hilarious. Now in Europe veryone is making jokes about the obsession of Japanese man with female breasts, but I never had imagined that they would make a drama series out if this topic. The story shows the life of Aoyagi Megumi (Ito Misaki) who works in the handbag section of a huge department store and is the ace seller there. At one day she gets a new co-worker, busty Mariya Marie (Fukada Kyoko), who wins over customers with her natural charm. This leads Aoyagi to think over her complex of being flat-chested, a topic that surfaces every now and then during the course of the series.
I really liked this series and not because it had this sexual undertone. Ito Misaki was wonderful and the rest of the cast was so great that it really was a pleasure to watch this. (8/10)

Katagoshi no Koibito
A "30 year old women gets her midlife crisis" drama which centres around two friends, one of whom just recently married the ex-boyfriend of the other one. Yonekura Ryoko and Takaoka Saki play the two friends who seem to do everything together although at some points you'll get the impression they can't stand each other. But when tough times come they get their act together and help each other out, be it problems on the job or the husband having an affair. In all this chaos enters a young student who ran away from home to get away from his over anxious family.
I really liked the rants both women let go in every episode, they just can't seem to stop. This actually is very funny and it has great actors as well. The sidestory with the young boy who ran away from home seemed to be a little bit out of place, but apart from that this was a really good drama series. (8/10)

Yamada Taro Monogatari
Two members of Arashi starr in this series which tells the story of poor student Yamada Taro (Ninomiya Kazunori) who goes to an elite school in which he enters a special class for outstanding students. There he meets Mimura Takuya (Sakurai Sho), a very rich guy who soon gets behind the secret of Taro. But he never really made a secret out of where he comes from or what he is doing, it is more that people assume that because of his good looks he must be very rich. Which is what his classmate Ikegami Takako (Tabe Mikako) is thinking. She always says that she will only marry a rich guy and so she is very surprised when she finds out about the living conditions of Taro...
This is a very lighthearted drama about a poor family who despite all misfortune and need never gives up hope and always tries to lead a life with dignity. (7/10)

Juken no Kamisama
A "God of the Exams" who helps rather hopeless students with their entrance exams for there preferred school is ust what little Hiroshi (Nagashima Mitsuki) needs. He wants to follow his friend into a well known baseball school, but his grades are way too bad to get in their. So he gets his father to get him the so called "God of the Exams" who garantuees that every student of this "God" will make it through the exams of the school. It turns out that the "God" is a middle school girl named Sugawara Michiko (Narumi Riko) who is very arrogant. She takes charge of Hiroshi's life immediately after arriving at his home. Will he make it through her rigorous training camp?
Another school based drama with some well known faces, but this didn't really get through to me. Maybe it's because I haven't seen so many episodes yet because some of the subtitles are still missing, but this hasn't really been convincing. Good still. (6/10)

Sushi Oji!
This is a hilarious story about a sushi chef turned martial arts master who has a fish phobia. Sounds carzy? It is. Domoto Koichi of Kinki Kids is the maing character Maizu Tsukasa, who travels around teh country to find out more about the secret art of sushi making martial arts. This seems to be another rather cheap drama filmed in style of the 70s Eastern movies but they managa to do it really well. The episodes are all funny and the actors seem to enjoy themselves as well. You might need a special kind of humour to get into this series, but once you're in you just can't stop watching. (7,5/10)

* Spring 2007 Wrap Up