This Week in Dramas: Following the Idols
It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these post. Has my drama watching changed very much? Definitely. I’ve picked up a lot of dramas and many of the dramas I’ve mentioned in the previous post have now ended. Plus I’ve actually had to drop a drama (PS Man), and I hate leaving things unfinished. But as the summer hits its high point our, or rather my (I wouldn't want to force Matsudrama love on anyone), idols have come out in full force to do some interesting or the usual drama work and I'm following them like a child follows the Pied Piper (not a very light analogy, but I can totally see MatsuJun as the Pied Piper).
First we have a Matsumoto Jun as the hapless Taigo. I want to love Natsu no Koi wa Nijiiro ni Kagayaku, from the same writer as Kimi wa Petto and Buzzer Beat, she always manages to do emotional yet funny romance (or human connection) well. A romantic comedy drama was what I was having a taste for, but this isn’t reaching the taste buds like I would want. It isn’t that he’s doing a bad job, but MatsuJun has done this type of work before (Doumiyogi in Hana Yori Dango) Taigo is like an older bit less spoiled Doumiyogi which in some ways works against Matsumoto. While his character is growing on me, it’ll be some time before I can really appreciate him in this drama. In the mean time I’m captivated by Takeuchi Yuko as the single mother Shiori. She’s funny in a quirky way while at the same time stoic. While she also has some points against her, it’s still too early in the drama for me to quiet the storyline and the characters. I’ll be putting this one caution pile.
On the other hand, a drama that was on the caution pile, but now is sitting nicely in the green, is Joker. It took three episodes for the drama to get going, but I think it should pace a bit better from now on. Nishikido Ryo is running around as the dark slightly troubled yet charismatic forensic scientist side kick to Date who is a vigilante of the night and upstanding official of the law during the day. I had trouble getting into this drama. The cases are not different or unique (when compared to dramas like Boss and Mr. Brain) and the rookie investigator Miyagi is annoying in that she isn’t smart and has a tendency to pop off too early in the case (she always starts a fight or yells at suspects which last time a checked was a sure fired way of getting that person off the hook for police brutality)…these are characteristics that often get you killed. Once I started watching it, I noticed that the last 15 minutes where usually the best part and wished they’d spend more time on that, but I doubt that will change. In the end, Joker is something of Batman (with Ryo as Robin...no wonder people are shipping *sigh*) who actually doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty.
Turning to my super light super fun A list drama, Hotaru no Hikari 2, is running pretty smoothily. If you’re a fan of the first season, you’ll like this one. It has a way of being different from any other romantic comedy dramas without being drastic or unrealistic. Amemiya who was at one point not a favored character for me is now one of my favorite female characters in dramas and it’s not just because she likes to sit at
home in track pants like I do…a lot. But I like Amemiya for not being interested in being conniving. She may be naïve but I like that this means she doesn’t want to commit girl on girl crimes over a man and neither do many of the other women in this drama. For all the women here there are more important things then bullying someone to keep your boyfriend or to get a guy’s attention, which is why I’ve come to love this drama as my super A lister this season.
Besides these I haven’t picked up anything new or anything Korean (and not gonna lie I kind of miss the Korean crazy of the romantic drama) I hope to rectify this when Playful Kiss starts September 1 but I had hoped to start something sooner. I loved/hated the Taiwanese’s It Started With a Kiss, so I wonder if I’ll feel the same watching this drama (hating most of it til the very end when it comes together).
Bad Guy is still running smoothly and wonderfully and brings back fond memories of my American daytime soap opera days when the storylines moved along quickly and the cliffhangers were significant and the characters (especially the women) where glamorous and crazy and wonderful. Not gonna lie after watching Bad Guy I kind of want to advocate American television moving to the short drama formula for day time television instead of sinking money into reoccurring storylines that veteran audiences know by heart (like the Latino Telenovella have done).
So this is what I’ve been up to, I’ve watched some older dramas and of course I’m constantly on the prowl for a drama to satisfy my hunger and interest, but right now things have been pretty sparce. I feel like I've seen everything and what I want is just a simple RomCom where I don't hate the characters in the first ten minutes. Oh well, at least I can say it's forcing me to branch out and watch more serious dramas and such, and that is hardly a bad thing.
Until the next post, have a fun week with dramas.
PS: What is everyone watching right now? I'm always curious.