Spring 2010 J-Drama Reviews
Reviews for SPRING DRAMAS!^o^
This is my Spring-Drama Watch List:
http://yanie02.livejournal.com/90513.html
Shinzanmono and Tsuki no Koibito aren't finished airing yet, but I'll review them anyway ^_^
1. Keibuho Yabe Kenzo
Rate: A-
Yabe was HILLARIOUS!!!
The director is not the main director of TRICK, Tsutsumi Yukihiko. Yabe spin-off directors are Kimura Hisashi (who did direct a few eps of the TRICK series too) and another one who has never been involved in TRICK. So the directing style quality kinda degraded from the usual TRICK, but it still felt similar with TRICK. Esp. since they still use TRICK background musics.
The scriptwriter is also not the main writer of TRICK series but he managed to write hillarious-worth-to-laugh-out-loud-at lines here and there. Ep1 plot was not too good and it depend too much on Kanjiya Shihori's character to solve the mystery and Yabe, unbelievably, had lack of screentime. But it quickly picks up in Ep2, where Yabe simply solved the case and mystery by pure luck, lol!! That's what Yabe is all about! The rest of the episodes pretty much has the same quality as Ep2, so I'm satisfied. Nakama Yukie's guest appearance in Ep5 was pretty interesting too ^_^
The BEST element of this series is, indeed, the YABE character! Yabe with his legendary wig and the way he boasts his own greatness and all, and some stupid moments really made me laugh out loud. Yabe is still SAIKOU!!!^o^ At first, I felt something's missing without Yamada-Ueda... But I started to get used with the whole new casts. I also like Yabe's superior who also wear a wig, and there are always these strange arrows pointing at their wigs when they were on the same screen, lol.
Kanjiya Shihori is excellent, and as if she replaced Yamada's character, she's the one who solved the case mystery sometimes and she also calls Yabe, "YABE!" just like how Yamada used to call him. I love how everytime she said her own name, "I'm Katsura(wig)! Katsura! Katsura!". Yabe got all paranoid, lol. I think she's a good new character. She should appear in TRICK next movie!! XD
Yabe Kenzo is definitely one of my favorite for this season. Too bad, since the intention of making this spin-off is only to promote TRICK 3rd movie and the 2nd special, it only ran for 6 episodes =(
2. Shinzanmono
Rate: B+ (first 5 eps average)
Ep1 was an A for me. Loved the opening scene, where Kaga walked around the town, the music score was great and the directing as well. Apparently, it's not as dark as I thought. And certain sound effects reminds me of TRICK. But the excitement and curiosity I felt when I watched Ep1 faded away after I watched Ep2 due to this certain same pattern and apparently it continues up to Ep5.
I'm actually liking the daily life little mysteries Kaga trying to solve in each episode that will lead to hints for the main murder case. Just that, it has no excitement anymore.
So far it's good and the pace is stable except for Ep4, the most slow-paced epi.(I fell asleep watching Ep4 XD) The clock man's plot was the least interesting for me^^ Harada Yoshio is one of my fave, so its really too bad, for me, he didn't get a good story.
But Ep5 was very good, coz they finally focused on Kuroki Meisa and Mukai Osamu's characters. But, I think Mukai is quite a miscast for a mystery-humane drama, I'm actually Mukai's fan, but why was his acting in Ep5 looked so bad?? Gladly, Kuroki Meisa's acting is good and her character is lovable.
Kanno Yugo's music score esp. the main theme is awesome and it reminds me of Howl's Moving Castle main theme^^
Will keep watching this to the end.
3. Tsuki no Koibito ~Moon Lovers~
Rate: B+ (first 2 eps average)
This drama went from C+(ep1) to A(ep2) in my card. I'm really looking forward for the later eps to get A plusses!^^
So far, the love story is very intriguing... it is definitely not a pure one but dirtied by so many plottings. Nevertheless, it doesn't turn this drama to dark, but it has a bright, cheerful atmosphere instead and that is what I like about this drama. Especially, the Long Vacation-ly feel of it ^_^
I know many people think Kimura Takuya is playing the same old himself too this time, well... I agree. But I believe, if later Rensuke has scenes where he has to cry or laugh sincerely, it's gonna be awesome! I believe Kimura is just smartly building up his cold character slowly.
Shinohara Ryoko is plain awesome!!!^o^ I've talked so much about Maemi, I don't think I need to repeat that, right? XD
I didn't like Lin Chiling in Red Cliff. But I come to like her more and more when I watch her in interviews, she seem very down-to-earth. And after all the bad critics abt her acting, I was surprised that her acting is very okay, so far. However, I have to say her acting gets bad when she has to do emotional scenes. She has to work on that more.
Lin Chiling is a great talent and hard-worker, but perhaps just a so-so actress. I used to not like her face much, but I come to like her beauty more and more when I watch this drama. Liu Xiu Mei is quite a lovable character too, I like her alot. And I want her to have more scenes with Maemi and the two bald men^^
My only problem is that she has zero chemistry with Kimura, so I just can't root her character much with Rensuke.
Kitagawa Keiko is very cute and I think this is the first time I see her in a cute, feminine, girly role^^ Most of the time, she acted tomboyish roles, no? Can't judge much yet, due to the lack of her screentime.
Matsuda Shota gave his usual poker face most of the time but I think his character background would be very interesting to reveal.
For the final grade, I think I'd also decide it based on whom Rensuke will end up with, lol. Coz I'm really obsessed with Rensuke-Maemi pair now!! XD
4. Youkame no Semi
Rate: B
To my surprise, I actually enjoyed this drama. Kiwako (Dan Rei) had an affair with a married man and she got pregnant, but the man's wife is pregnant too. The married man promised her that he will marry her later after his divorce is settled, but for now he wants her to abort the baby. Falling deeply in love with the man, Kiwako got an abortion but apparently, that man lied to her. He had no intention to divorce his wife from the beginning. Kiwako got incredibly upset and abducted the man and his wife's baby. On the way, she started to love the baby like her own daughter and give her name "Kaoru", the name she was going to give to her own baby.
And so, it tells the journey of Kiwako and the baby, on the run. It is very interesting how Kiwako and the baby has to move from one place to another place and met various people. She once reached the Angel Home, like a shelter home for women who has nowhere to go and place to live, it's like a dorm there and the women work growing vegetables and makes pancakes to be sold. But then due to a certain incident, the Angel Home was surrounded by the press, so Kiwako decided to run away from that home together with the now 5-years-old Kaoru.
They ran to Shodo island. I love her story here too, especially because she found love but she kept trying to reject the man thinking she's on the run, so she'd only bring him trouble later. It's also because I really love the island's location and sceneries. Kiwako and Kaoru are so happy and peaceful together here. It's really a lovely story about mother and daughter's bond who are not related by blood. Actually besides Kiwako-Kaoru, there are also other touching mother and child stories here brought by the other characters.
The drama overlaps back and forth between the past and the present time. In the present time, Kaoru, now 20 years old, currently pregnant with his boyfriend's baby. But he is a married man whose wife is also pregnant. The exactly same situation as Kiwako back then, ironically.
When a journalist is going to publish a book about this abduction case, she contacted Kaoru and asked her to go to Shodo island together with her so that Kaoru can remember more things about that time. The journalist showed Kiwako's photo and asked a man in the island, "Do you know this woman? I am currently investigating an old abduction case. This is the crime suspect and the victim is a 5 years old girl.". The man answered, "Yes, I know her. But they don't look like a crime suspect and a victim at all. They look like a normal pair of mother and daughter. Just a normal mother and daughter,". With this somehow, it brings all memories back to Kaoru.
I feel really sorry for little Kaoru =( When she finally goes back to her birth parents, she can only see her birth mother as a stranger and still think of the crime suspect as her mother =(
Adapted from a best-selling novel and the script is re-written by Asano Taeko(who is also currently writing Tsuki no Koibito). I love the musics too.
5. Sunao ni Narenakute ~hard to say I love you~
Rate: C-
Read here: http://yanie02.livejournal.com/100125.html
6. Gegege no Nyoubo - Matsushita Nao, Mukai Osamu
So I downloaded and scanned over the first 5 episodes, but Mukai was nowhere to be found and the story didn't intrigue me at all, then I decided to drop this one immediately, lol.
SPECIALS
1. Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Spring SP - Mitani Koki, Shibasaki Kou, Nishida Toshiyuki, Karina
Rate: C-
The most boring episode ever!!!O_o What happened with the writers?? I always look forward to any Yonimo new installment and at least one of the story is always interesting and good. But this time, they're all boring including the story Mitani Koki written!
2. Wagaya no Rekishi
Rate: B-
It disappointed me. I'm afraid Mitani Koki has lost his touch =( Not bad actually, it's a good heart-warming family drama, but everything were just too futsu for Mitani Koki level. What I love from his works is the hillarious idea of the story, hillarious Mitani Koki-style dialogues and scenes... and I couldn't see all these in Wagaya no Rekishi. Disappointed.
The only story I loved and care about was Taizo (Sato Koichi) and Masako(Shibasaki Kou)'s first met and how Taizo met Masako's family. Taizo and Masako's story was romantic. But after they got "married" (start living together), everything gets more and more draggy. None of the siblings' stories intrigued me.
I finally watched the 3rd part in a fast-fwd mode. Totally not a story I expected from Mitani Koki =( This is just a very futsu family drama, that any other writer can write.
3. TRICK Shinsaku Special 2
Rate: A-
Such an enjoyable episode! It was a nice surprise, coz I thought the 2nd movie in 2006 was kinda bad, the SP1 was just so-so... and now the bad review on 3rd movie... I almost lost all hope for SP2... but it turned out great!!!^^ Yamada-Ueda saikou!!^o^ Their dialogues and scenes together in the first half are just as classic as always. I had a good laugh and laughed out loud a few times. Of course, Yabe's antiques made me laugh too! My most favorite scene was when Yamada, who is sleeping in the same room as Ueda, was mumbling in her sleep and rolling around and she even took Ueda's space, LOL! And then when they found that scary doll and how Ueda fell collapsed, mwahahahaha.... classic Yamada-Ueda!!
However, the 2nd half is not too great anymore as it focuses more on the main plot. The mystery is just okay... not bad, not good. There are many similar stories like this in Kindaichi series(both grandfather and grandson's series) and in the previous TRICK eps.
Yamada-Ueda combi makes it A, but the main plot makes it minus XD