49-A Review
two posts in one day~~!! woah, when was the last time i did that? like...maybe 2 or 3 years ago haha. so in the past, you can usually tell when i really like a drama, because i would blog about every single episode as it aired, but i just didn't have time to do that for 49, and i thought i would just take some time to write a post on what i thought of 49. and if i'm taking time to write about it, it means i really liked it xD if i had the time, this would've been one of those dramas where i wrote about every single episode.
so first of all, i just have a lot of positive things to say about 49. first of all, the plot itself was really interesting. it wasn't even a detective or suspense or mystery drama, but after every episode ended, it left me wanting more. the end of each episode left me with a "that was too short!" kind of feeling. it wasn't boring at all, and it definitely brought something new to this time slot. we've had a lot of delinquent high school student dramas, which i do love, but since we just got so many of them, i got a bit tired of it and wanted something new xD in my personal opinion, i think 49 has the best story line out of all the other ones that i have seen in this time slot. it tops even Bakaleya for me, and i really liked Bakaleya. but 49 was interesting because it was a father and son sharing one body, and it was quite interesting to watch the character growth for not only the two of them, but also the other characters that they encounter, such as the basketball team captain.
and then there's the cast. despite most of them being relatively newbie actors and actresses, i thought they all did a wonderful job, and i would have to give the reward to my baby Shori. i had seen Shori do small roles in dramas such as Hungry! and Summer Nude, and to be honest, as much as i love him, he did not impress me in those small roles that he had, so i really didn't expect much of him when i heard he was going to be the main character for 49. i mean i was happy, and i was gonna watch it anyway, because there was so much eye candy (not to mention the interesting poster with them all dressed as girls xD), and i like all of the Jrs, but i was beyond impressed. he amazed me with how great he was in this drama. sure there's probably greater actors out there, but for Shori i thought it was absolutely amazing acting. i mean it's his first starring role, and he plays 2 completely opposite characters in one body, and he made it believable. and i always say, a good actor makes me forget who he is in real life, and i never once saw him as Shori as i watched the drama, whether he played the confident dad, or the sulky pessimistic son. and he made the switches between the characters believable too, so i really am amazed and proud of my baby :D he totally blew me away, and i hope 49 will open up more chances for him to act in dramas.
and the other reward would go to Yasui-kun :D i mean i've said it before, but i find Yasui-kun to be just a really natural actor, and i love his character so much. well, i pretty much love the entire basketball team haha, they're all so funny, but Yasui-kun, he just has a lot of presence. i just love the way he portrayed Kenta, the slightly idiotic, but passionate leader of the rebels xD but they were good rebels, and i kind of don't see why others are afraid of them haha, cuz they're all really dumb and don't even look scary lol, but i love them haha.
and then there was the really newbie Jr actor, Teranishi Takuto~~! i don't know if it's because his role was really small, but i feel like i haven't seen his true potential as an actor yet, just like how i didn't really know Shori's real potential until i saw this drama. his role was really small, and there were times when Tera impressed me, but also times when he didn't throughout his appearances in this drama. i thought he did better towards the beginning of the drama, but maybe that was because i was excited that he is finally getting screen time haha. i kind of wish that they did a whole episode on his character, Shogo though. they only revealed his background at the very last episode, and i feel like there could've been an entire episode focusing on just his story. it was totally unexpected that he was actually the eldest of 5 siblings living in a shack hut. they should've totally done an episode with that and build sort of a good rivalry kind of relationship between Shogo and Dan (or at least the dad Dan lol, cuz that's where the real rivalry was)
and the girls, Yamamoto Maika as Sachi. Maika is pretty much a rising young actress right now. i've seen her in Kasuka na Kanojo (which i argue was her best role in there), and Kamen Teacher, and i think she could have done better, but she wasn't horrible or anything. i like Maika, she's really cute. her character annoyed me half-way through though, with the way she treated the real Dan and saying such cruel things to him. it still irks me that she still didn't apologize in the end when Dan could've died because of her words. i mean i get that she fell in love with papa-san, but just, ugh, you don't say things like that to people! i wanted to slap her xD but just the character though haha, not Maika herself.
then there was Mana, the popular pretty rich girl at school. i later found out that she was from Nogizaka46 when i watched the Nogi46-themed episode of R no Housoku lol. should've figured, since JE have been collaborating with the 48 families in this time slot. for Mana though, i wish she had a back story. i mean like the way that she kept standing up guys after agreeing to go out with them, there has to be a reason, because money doesn't necessarily bring happiness, like Dan's father later learned, and it seems like she might have done that to test just how real someone's feelings were. because obviously those "friends" that she had in class were probably not real friends, they probably just hung around her because she was rich and pretty. it would've made her character a lot more interesting and a lot more deep if they had a story for her. i loved the scenes where Mana and Sachi fought over Dan though xD
so yup, overall, as you can see, i thought 49 was pretty good, and it would have been even better if certain characters were developed even more, but i loved how this was a story of youth, but it wasn't some super cheesy love story, like Sprout orz...i am still so disappointed with Sprout, but that's another story haha~. bottom line is, 49 was awesome, and i would watch this drama over and over again, and it's been a long time since i came across a drama like that.
and the CMs are already out for the next late-night drama, and i cannot wait! :D don't know if i want to take on the task of subbing it, since i'll be in my last semester of college, so i really need to work hard, but it's called SHARK and it's a story about a band. i don't quite know the details yet haha, but i love the Johnny's Jr cast already, and they've got Kansai Jrs for once~! and the main is one of my current favorite KanJu's, Hirano Sho :D and other Kansai Jrs include Hama-chan, Kami-chan, and Fujii Ryusei. and then there's also Hokuto and IwaHika as well, so i just cannot wait. i hope the story will excite me just as much as this cast. otherwise, i'll end up watching just for eye candy again lol. but i'm hoping that it'll be good.
so first of all, i just have a lot of positive things to say about 49. first of all, the plot itself was really interesting. it wasn't even a detective or suspense or mystery drama, but after every episode ended, it left me wanting more. the end of each episode left me with a "that was too short!" kind of feeling. it wasn't boring at all, and it definitely brought something new to this time slot. we've had a lot of delinquent high school student dramas, which i do love, but since we just got so many of them, i got a bit tired of it and wanted something new xD in my personal opinion, i think 49 has the best story line out of all the other ones that i have seen in this time slot. it tops even Bakaleya for me, and i really liked Bakaleya. but 49 was interesting because it was a father and son sharing one body, and it was quite interesting to watch the character growth for not only the two of them, but also the other characters that they encounter, such as the basketball team captain.
and then there's the cast. despite most of them being relatively newbie actors and actresses, i thought they all did a wonderful job, and i would have to give the reward to my baby Shori. i had seen Shori do small roles in dramas such as Hungry! and Summer Nude, and to be honest, as much as i love him, he did not impress me in those small roles that he had, so i really didn't expect much of him when i heard he was going to be the main character for 49. i mean i was happy, and i was gonna watch it anyway, because there was so much eye candy (not to mention the interesting poster with them all dressed as girls xD), and i like all of the Jrs, but i was beyond impressed. he amazed me with how great he was in this drama. sure there's probably greater actors out there, but for Shori i thought it was absolutely amazing acting. i mean it's his first starring role, and he plays 2 completely opposite characters in one body, and he made it believable. and i always say, a good actor makes me forget who he is in real life, and i never once saw him as Shori as i watched the drama, whether he played the confident dad, or the sulky pessimistic son. and he made the switches between the characters believable too, so i really am amazed and proud of my baby :D he totally blew me away, and i hope 49 will open up more chances for him to act in dramas.
and the other reward would go to Yasui-kun :D i mean i've said it before, but i find Yasui-kun to be just a really natural actor, and i love his character so much. well, i pretty much love the entire basketball team haha, they're all so funny, but Yasui-kun, he just has a lot of presence. i just love the way he portrayed Kenta, the slightly idiotic, but passionate leader of the rebels xD but they were good rebels, and i kind of don't see why others are afraid of them haha, cuz they're all really dumb and don't even look scary lol, but i love them haha.
and then there was the really newbie Jr actor, Teranishi Takuto~~! i don't know if it's because his role was really small, but i feel like i haven't seen his true potential as an actor yet, just like how i didn't really know Shori's real potential until i saw this drama. his role was really small, and there were times when Tera impressed me, but also times when he didn't throughout his appearances in this drama. i thought he did better towards the beginning of the drama, but maybe that was because i was excited that he is finally getting screen time haha. i kind of wish that they did a whole episode on his character, Shogo though. they only revealed his background at the very last episode, and i feel like there could've been an entire episode focusing on just his story. it was totally unexpected that he was actually the eldest of 5 siblings living in a shack hut. they should've totally done an episode with that and build sort of a good rivalry kind of relationship between Shogo and Dan (or at least the dad Dan lol, cuz that's where the real rivalry was)
and the girls, Yamamoto Maika as Sachi. Maika is pretty much a rising young actress right now. i've seen her in Kasuka na Kanojo (which i argue was her best role in there), and Kamen Teacher, and i think she could have done better, but she wasn't horrible or anything. i like Maika, she's really cute. her character annoyed me half-way through though, with the way she treated the real Dan and saying such cruel things to him. it still irks me that she still didn't apologize in the end when Dan could've died because of her words. i mean i get that she fell in love with papa-san, but just, ugh, you don't say things like that to people! i wanted to slap her xD but just the character though haha, not Maika herself.
then there was Mana, the popular pretty rich girl at school. i later found out that she was from Nogizaka46 when i watched the Nogi46-themed episode of R no Housoku lol. should've figured, since JE have been collaborating with the 48 families in this time slot. for Mana though, i wish she had a back story. i mean like the way that she kept standing up guys after agreeing to go out with them, there has to be a reason, because money doesn't necessarily bring happiness, like Dan's father later learned, and it seems like she might have done that to test just how real someone's feelings were. because obviously those "friends" that she had in class were probably not real friends, they probably just hung around her because she was rich and pretty. it would've made her character a lot more interesting and a lot more deep if they had a story for her. i loved the scenes where Mana and Sachi fought over Dan though xD
so yup, overall, as you can see, i thought 49 was pretty good, and it would have been even better if certain characters were developed even more, but i loved how this was a story of youth, but it wasn't some super cheesy love story, like Sprout orz...i am still so disappointed with Sprout, but that's another story haha~. bottom line is, 49 was awesome, and i would watch this drama over and over again, and it's been a long time since i came across a drama like that.
and the CMs are already out for the next late-night drama, and i cannot wait! :D don't know if i want to take on the task of subbing it, since i'll be in my last semester of college, so i really need to work hard, but it's called SHARK and it's a story about a band. i don't quite know the details yet haha, but i love the Johnny's Jr cast already, and they've got Kansai Jrs for once~! and the main is one of my current favorite KanJu's, Hirano Sho :D and other Kansai Jrs include Hama-chan, Kami-chan, and Fujii Ryusei. and then there's also Hokuto and IwaHika as well, so i just cannot wait. i hope the story will excite me just as much as this cast. otherwise, i'll end up watching just for eye candy again lol. but i'm hoping that it'll be good.