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jdrama 2009 winter season (part B)
20 Jan 2009 12:42 amIs Japan in the middle of the Japanese Bicentennial Baseball Cup or something? This week's episodes all had dismal ratings except for Mei-chan (normal-ish) and Voice (normal for a 1st episode Gekku) and the random dramas that never end. The average rating for every other drama is about 10.5... usually season premieres get at least a 12 =/
Love Shuffle
Four neighbours in a high-class apartment (it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL OMG) are each running into a wall in their romantic relationships. Variously disillusioned, disappointed or depressed, they propose to play a game - for the following three months, they will rotate partners every week until they find "happiness". I'm generally not into romantic dramas so I'm not likely to keep watching, but the first episode started solidly, although it's quite obvious it's not aimed at the same age audience as, say, Mei-chan no Shitsuji. Surprisingly, the female characters are all strong and independent-minded (I guess it would take one to join this game), and by comparison some of the guys are quite useless though adorable LOL. Tamaki Hiroshi is still looking disturbingly gaunt after his murderer role in MW, but he brings such an adorable goofiness to the role that one could forget how AWESOMELY COOL he was in Nodame Cantabile. Nevertheless, I couldn't help laughing at the irony when he stood like a drenched puppy in their crystalline indoor swimming pool and proclaimed, "I'll become KIRAKIRA. I swear I'll outshine all of you!" OhChiaki-sama Tamaki, we know how kirakira you are ♥ (If you still haven't watched Nodame you should hit your head against the wall and start downloading now)
Uta no Oniisan
Obviously nothing after Maou was going to measure up to the intensity that Naruse-sensei's role commanded, but Ohno still manages to make Kenta sufficiently believable in a half-hearted script. Disillusioned and suddenly unemployed, Kenta accidentally gets himself hired as a stage extra on a children's singing show. His lack of enthusiasm and his cynicism get in the way of his work relationships until he becomes motivated to change his attitude. Unfortunately, due to a dubious script with some very awkward plot manoeuvres, I find myself sympathising far too much with Kenta's attitude (seriously, an ugly ojisan who thinks that a children's program exists to promote his own ego? Pfft, I'd be out of there in 2 minutes as well) to actually feel he's in any wrong or that he needs to change. Uplifting dramas about the virtues of working hard for your money is a trademark of many Jdramas, but this one is missing the mark. Why does the producer demand Kenta change his attitude and through that change the program? Why doesn't SHE do anything to change things, especially since she's the superior? What does that say about her organisational and leadership skills? Why does she encourage the ridiculous self-centered antics of the lead actor? I totally sympathise with Kenta's expression as he stormed out of the studio when the idiotic lead actor got into a row with 10-year-old children for stealing his screen time - "What a bunch of bloody losers."
Zeni Geba
I was wondering why the guy looked so much like L from Death Note when I realised that he WAS L from Death Note. This is for people who like some good drama that isn't police procedurals. The son of an alcoholic abusive father who only ever came back to home demand money, and a mother who died of illness because they were too poor to afford treatment, he has since become obsessive about money and will do anything to get it - including, in the first episode, bludgeoning two people who got in his way to death. He's now bent on doing everything to acquire the large shipping company of a girl he once met as a child - who helped him and then kicked him out of the house after mistaking him for a thief. Although, one wondered, with a face like his, why he hasn't gotten a job at a host club in Shinjuku and earn thousands of yen per night rather than working his ass off in factories and getting fired all the time, but that's a minor trifle LOL. And I also realised that Matsuyama Kenichi is so bloody TALL. It's hard to tell when he was all hunched up in a sofa as L. A drama with great potential, but as I said...I'm over the Maou and Death Note style tragedies.
PS: Love Shuffle had The Bangle's "Eternal Flame" as insert song. Wow. Haven't heard that song since high school. Didn't think it'll turn up in a J-drama XD
Love Shuffle
Four neighbours in a high-class apartment (it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL OMG) are each running into a wall in their romantic relationships. Variously disillusioned, disappointed or depressed, they propose to play a game - for the following three months, they will rotate partners every week until they find "happiness". I'm generally not into romantic dramas so I'm not likely to keep watching, but the first episode started solidly, although it's quite obvious it's not aimed at the same age audience as, say, Mei-chan no Shitsuji. Surprisingly, the female characters are all strong and independent-minded (I guess it would take one to join this game), and by comparison some of the guys are quite useless though adorable LOL. Tamaki Hiroshi is still looking disturbingly gaunt after his murderer role in MW, but he brings such an adorable goofiness to the role that one could forget how AWESOMELY COOL he was in Nodame Cantabile. Nevertheless, I couldn't help laughing at the irony when he stood like a drenched puppy in their crystalline indoor swimming pool and proclaimed, "I'll become KIRAKIRA. I swear I'll outshine all of you!" Oh
Uta no Oniisan
Obviously nothing after Maou was going to measure up to the intensity that Naruse-sensei's role commanded, but Ohno still manages to make Kenta sufficiently believable in a half-hearted script. Disillusioned and suddenly unemployed, Kenta accidentally gets himself hired as a stage extra on a children's singing show. His lack of enthusiasm and his cynicism get in the way of his work relationships until he becomes motivated to change his attitude. Unfortunately, due to a dubious script with some very awkward plot manoeuvres, I find myself sympathising far too much with Kenta's attitude (seriously, an ugly ojisan who thinks that a children's program exists to promote his own ego? Pfft, I'd be out of there in 2 minutes as well) to actually feel he's in any wrong or that he needs to change. Uplifting dramas about the virtues of working hard for your money is a trademark of many Jdramas, but this one is missing the mark. Why does the producer demand Kenta change his attitude and through that change the program? Why doesn't SHE do anything to change things, especially since she's the superior? What does that say about her organisational and leadership skills? Why does she encourage the ridiculous self-centered antics of the lead actor? I totally sympathise with Kenta's expression as he stormed out of the studio when the idiotic lead actor got into a row with 10-year-old children for stealing his screen time - "What a bunch of bloody losers."
Zeni Geba
I was wondering why the guy looked so much like L from Death Note when I realised that he WAS L from Death Note. This is for people who like some good drama that isn't police procedurals. The son of an alcoholic abusive father who only ever came back to home demand money, and a mother who died of illness because they were too poor to afford treatment, he has since become obsessive about money and will do anything to get it - including, in the first episode, bludgeoning two people who got in his way to death. He's now bent on doing everything to acquire the large shipping company of a girl he once met as a child - who helped him and then kicked him out of the house after mistaking him for a thief. Although, one wondered, with a face like his, why he hasn't gotten a job at a host club in Shinjuku and earn thousands of yen per night rather than working his ass off in factories and getting fired all the time, but that's a minor trifle LOL. And I also realised that Matsuyama Kenichi is so bloody TALL. It's hard to tell when he was all hunched up in a sofa as L. A drama with great potential, but as I said...I'm over the Maou and Death Note style tragedies.
PS: Love Shuffle had The Bangle's "Eternal Flame" as insert song. Wow. Haven't heard that song since high school. Didn't think it'll turn up in a J-drama XD
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