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

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

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

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

JDrama: The season wrap up (spring)

So the current season is coming to an end this week and it's time to get in shape for the next one, the summer season.

I wasn't really thrilled with what was shown in the past three months, maybe I am a bit spoiled by what was offered in the past seasons. There was so much quality that there had to be a letdown sooner or later. Let's face it, you won't get series like "Hana Yori Dango" or "Haikei, Chichiue-sama" in every season. So this is what I thought of the past one:


Watashitachi no Kyoukashou
Not that bad, since Kanno Miho and Ito Atsushi were starring in the leading roles. It's yet another school drama, but this time not with an ex-gangster-turned-teacher type of story but with an attorney filing a suit against a school in which a student supposedly killed herself. This drama looks into the darker sides of school, although it has its funny moments every here and then. I'm not quite sure what to make of it, since the polt has way too many obscure turns and twits that are a little bit too unlogical when they occur. But it's decent. Not a classic, but good.
(6/10)


Hanayome to Papa
A father who is a little too caring for his daughter who just wishes to break free from the rules of her home. The father always causes trouble, be it at her new workplace or when interfering with her love life. Ishihara Satomi is always fun to watch and the whole cast is really fun to watch. Still I have the feeling that those boygroup brats are just not born to be actors. Sometimes those guys just seem to be too ... well, in German one would say "wooden", if you know what I mean. Taguchi Junnosuke just can't keep up with the rest of the cast, I think.
This one's your average happy-go-lucky drama with a few nice ideas here and there.
(7/10)


Tokkyu Tanaka San Go
I liked this one and the cast totally contradicts what I wrote previously. Tanaka Kouki is really good in this drama. He plays Tanaka Ichirou, a guy with an overwhelming self esteem who causes trouble whereever he goes. But he's a good pal and always cares about his friends. At his third rate university he meets up with two train fans, played by Tsukamoto Takashi (of Kisarazu Cat's Eye) and Akiyama Ryuji. Those two are just hilarious with their excitement for everything that's involved with trains. The bar they use to visit is a theme styled train bar with seats in a model of a train waggon. Extremely funny.
The love story is fun to watch with Kuriyama Chiaki playing the female leading role. She gets stalked by Tanaka and he is really getting on her nerves. But during the course of the series she finds out what a nice guy he is and blah blah blah. Still it's very funny, I was laughing out loud at some points. The train scenery is perfect and I can totally relate to that since I really like to travel by train. Although I wouldn't go so far to memorize timetables or make models of trains.
(8/10)



Seito Shokun!
Yet another school drama and this time there she is again. The vigilant teacher who faces all the hardships of here students with a lot of energy. Uchiyama Rina plays the teacher who goes up against a class of students who lost their faith in the teaching personel (once again). Horikita Maki and Hongo Kanata play the students who as "3TD" terrorize every new teacher for their class since they think they don't need teachers anymore. I haven't watched this to the end up until now since the subs are not there yet, but I guess it will end as always (a.k.a. GTO- or Gokusen-style). The teacher will win over the class one by one and in the end they will be the best of friends. This one has also a slightly darker touch than the other series, so I think I'll see it through to the end.
(6/10)


Proposal Daisakusen
The best drama of this season. Yamashita Tomohisa plays a miserable guy who has to attend his childhood friend's (Nagasawa Masami) wedding who he is still in love with. While watching a slideshow of pictures from memorable moments of the bride's life a fairy appears and offers him to go back in time to change his fate. Of course he fails in his first attempt, but there are a lot more chances because there are a lot more pictures in the slide show.
This drama has a good story and great actors. The supporting roles (Eikura Nana, Hiraoka Yuuta, Hamada Gaku)are wonderful and the ideas the writers had with the timetraveling are not as worn out as one would suppose they are. It was fun watching this series until the end.
(8/10)


Kaette Kita Jikou Keisatsu
The sequel to Jikou Keisatsu starring Odagiri Joe once again. There isn't that much progress in the series since every episode covers one story at a time. Kiriyama-kun is still researching old and closed cases as his hobby and he is still giving out his "I won't tell anyone" card at the end of each episode. This drama is just hilarious with so many unexpected ideas that just leave you laughing and laughing. And I am still convinced I have seen Asou Kumiko in some other drama, I just can't remember which one it was...
(7/10)


Hotelier
Hm, a story based around a hotel (a remake of a Korean drama, it seems) and the staff who work there. Ueda Aya is the main character and has to confront the looming takeover bid by an opposing invenstment group. The cast is huge but there were only 9 episodes. Seems like this series didn't get that many viewers in front of the screen. I think it's because the story is a bit off. It's a little too cliché. The main characters fall in love, then find out they are syblings and in the end they are not? Give me a break, that's a little bit too much. Nice scenery, but I'd trade a good script for an uglier scenery anytime.
(5/10)


Bambino
Matsumoto Jun as a chef in an Italian restaurant in Roppongi Hills? Why not. Seems to be yet another manga-turned-drama and I like it. The kitchen action look thrilling and you can get hungry easily watching the crew make a lot of delicious meals. Still sometimes Matsumoto goes a little bit over board with his acting. That was okay in "Hana Yori Dango", but here it feels like it's a bit out of place.
The rest of the cast is decent with the different level of telling the story from the point of view of the top staff of the restaurant like the chief waiter (Kitamura Kazuki), the manager (Uchida Yuki) or the kitchen chef (Sasaki Kuranosuke).
Still there was something missing but I haven't figured out what just yet.
(6/10)


Sexy Voice And Robo
Wonderful drama with a little girl at the centre and lots of strange things that happen around her. Hayashi Niko (Ohgo Suzuka) has the talent of mimicking voices and also of telling apart different sounds and voices. She meets Sudo Ichiro/Robo (Matsuyama Kenichi), an otaku who collects figurines and all sorts of stuff of one particular anime series. Somehow they get involved in strange cases and become "spies" for a lady who owns an antiquities shop.
This drama is very strange and has lots of Japanese styled jokes. I really like to watch it but then again it becomes very exhausting to watch because you have to pay attantion all the time and some jokes get missing because they can't be translated, I think. Still I'd really recommend this one, especially because of the otaku-factor. It's not as high as in "Densha Otoko", but then again, who cares anyway...
(7/10)

Two dramas I only watched the first two episodes of were "Joudan Janai!" and "Liar Game". Both seem to be too cliché with "Liar Game" clearly being aimed at a younger audience (Toda Erika and Matsuda Shota starring as the main characters). Toda is way too afraid and Matsuda is way too cool. It's all a little bit too much. maybe I'll give it a second try when there is another season break.
"Joudan Janai!" looked very promising at first with almost all of the first episode being set in southern France. But I can't help it, it just looks like another triangle love comedy thing to me.

So that's it for the spring season 2007. Let's enjoy the summer.