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spsnWell, well, we've come to the end of 2013! What drama have you watched so far? For me, I've watched... a lot. Thanks to the sudden good drama influx in summer (a brutal anomaly! Is the world coming to an end?). To top that, there're also lots of varieties to watch, and I've been randomly watching things nowadays, if I want to sleep more XD. So, in short, here's my list XD, off course there are some dumping bin too.
Summer 2013
Contrary to the 'normal' summer drama selection, Summer 2013 is an anomaly! It has range of serious, intense and dark drama and those are the good ones for me instead of the all fluffy summery drama.
Hanzawa Naoki ~ BEST DRAMA 2013! For Summer season, Woman came close to it in my opinion, but with the grand scale of the drama, Hanzawa Naoki wins. I dub Hanzawa as the Corporate Japan drama because well, it's corporate Japan. Although lots of the scenes are so much dramatized and probably won't really happen in the real life, but the office environments and politics are very real, and that's why salaryman can really relate to this drama, which off course lead to the record breaking ratings. This drama has a very solid script and plot, which is why it makes audience tune in for every single episode. Casting all the veteran actors off course add the spice to this production, Granted, there are some saying that it doesn't matter who's being casted for this drama, it'll be turn out as good because the script is that solid. However, for this kind of intense drama, you really need experience and seasoned actors to bring out all the drama, and I'd think they made the right choice for the casts. Hanzawa's catch phrase,「やられたら 倍返しだ!」~ Yararetara, baigaeshida!, means if you're screwed, payback time is double. What a drama! And the end of this drama, though my friends beg to differ, I'd think it just shows how most of the top management works, and that's reality. In the corporate world, it's the street smart that can get you far, not doing what's right. The success of this drama just screams for a long running franchise, and I totally look forward to it!
Conclusion: A MUST WATCH, especially if you're a salaryman.
Woman~ 2nd runner up of Summer 2013 drama, according to yours trully. I'm a fan of human drama, so off course I'm watching this drama. Having Shun Oguri listed as the cast is a bonus point. But you'll soon forgot about him when you have 2 adorable kids, Riku and Nozomi having fun in the midst of their family situation. Honestly I've never heard of Hikari Matsushima before (I know the group Folder 5, but I have no idea that she's in it), but after this drama, I'll pay more attention to her work. Her acting as the mother, Koharu, is heartbreaking. She's stubborn but strong willed, and you cannot really imagine how harsh reality is when you're a single mother (wait, so what's Shun Oguri doing in the cast?) with 2 kids on your tow and you have low education. What can you do to bring them up properly? What's worse is that you don't really have any close family to turn to. Well, Koharu still has a mother, but this so-called mother has not acknowledging her as her daughter for years. And, that's not it, she's diagnosed with leukemia (probably due to too much hard labor and not eating well). So, what would you do if you're in her position? Koharu's put up strong guard in front of her kids so her kids can live well and enjoying their childhood, but when she's alone, she'd just break down and being fragile (well, the skinny part is really freak me out). This drama is also show the stubborn mother's side of the story (like mother like daughter, actually), how family relationship mend back and restored, and forgiveness and having big heart can liberate people from their dark past.
Conclusion: a must watch if you're a human drama fan (like me), can survive through tear jerker moments (LOTS of it, especially when it comes to Nozomi), and you like a heart warming story (one good point of this drama is that it always leave you with a warm heart after each episode).
Starman ~ Kono Hoshi no Koi ~ I'd think this is the only light drama that I actually watched and looked forward to in Summer season. Lots of LOL moments considering that the storyline is already absurd from the beginning. You have a single mother with 3 boys (the youngest one is very very extremely cute!!) who accidentally found a man, an IKEMEN at that, on the street, and took him in like a strayed puppy and making him a daddy for her 3 boys. Ha! The story doesn't make sense if you use common sense to watch this drama, so might as well just sit back and enjoy the ride and having the latest new rising ikemen, Fukushi Sota (kamen rider alumni, yeah, kamen rider is now catered for ladies, not kids anymore LOL), is an extra bonus. But out of all the absurdness and LOL, there's a love story, what it takes to be a family, and off course Sawa who's a strong lady to begin with.
Conclusion: you'd wanna watch this for something extra light and fluffy, and lots of LOL but at the same time enjoying the dramatic outcome of each episode XD.
Gekiryuu ~ Watashi wo Oboeteimasuka? ~ See? this is a summer anomaly! Too many dark drama for a cheery bright season! This one is another dark drama, lots of emotional turbulence and conflicts. A friend who disappeared 20 years ago suddenly is sending out sms, email, whatever, and this freak the friends that she'd left behind, the survivors. So, why she disappeared? After 20 years, what happened to these 'survivors'? Each one of them (well, probably except one of them) has their own lives and somehow because this is dramaland, they're entangled to each other and it's pretty messy (this is drama! expect people in the land to have a messy past and present). So, how are they going to find out the truth behind their friend's disappearance? I almost skipped this drama until I saw Tanaka Reina was one of the cast, and this drama doesn't disappoint. In this drama, even the class representative's live is screwed up, let alone the talented artist's. Along with Hanzawa Naoki, I can't wait for the next episode because how each of the individual chooses his/her path of self destruction in the name of what they think is right is apparent here. And after the screw up, they need to fight back to get out from the darkness, and that's drama! Bonus point, the OST is Glay's Dark River. The OST is customized for this drama because the lyric is in line with the drama plot, and off course do watch its PV, really beautiful.
Conclusion: watch this if you're feeling for something dark (minus the blood) and tragic drama (the ending is not tragic though, just irony).
Glass no Ie ~ Another dark drama! but only resides in 1 family. I dubbed this as the scandalous drama. Daddy is a model dad. Having the wife died on the plane crash when the kids were young. As a single daddy, he worked hard raising his 2 boys. One day, daddy suddenly introduced a new lady to be his new wife to the now grown up boys. But little did he know that the fateful encounter will shatter the fragile household. The first son fell in love with his new 'mom' *GASP!!! So scandalous* Off course, the drama is much deeper than this. We're seeing the constant lust and jealousy sparks between daddy and first son, while second son always sides with daddy (out of admiration). But if we look at a normal perspective, any normal lady will turn her head to the son... the dad... clearly has serious issue with trust and control. Even without the scandalous aspect, the dad and the lady are just not meant to be because both of them are just too different in principle. So, yeah... DRAMA! The OST is Sayonara by Nishino Kana, totally love this song because it's really heartbreaking especially after the cliff hangers.Conclusion: Watch this if you like scandalous type of drama. It's like a K-drama minus all the noisy elders XD, plus faster plot & phase. Plus point? Even the daddy is actually an ikemen XD.
Nakunaki Doku ~ How much poison within you? This drama looks into how every each one of us have darkness in our hearts. It's just whether the darkness spreads into action or not. All the chain of events in this drama is viewed from a 3rd party, who is the main lead. He only become part of the event towards the end of the drama, which makes it rather confusing at first. I'm not sure what I was watching for the first 3 episodes because I'm not sure of what's the direction of this drama. Things just picked up after the 4th episode and by that time it's a bit too late for me to follow this drama religiously during the season aka I just picked up the drama again few weeks ago.
Conclusion: if you like some to see how twisted human beings can be, this drama may be one of your choice but if you ask me whether this drama is dark, Gekiryuu wins hands down!
Summer Nude ~ I've done quite an amount of screencaps for this drama (here) because... this drama is just so pretty. Nobody here is not good looking, even the uncles are hot. And the beach!!! The location and settings are just warrant for... half naked boys and I still wonder whether they just put a 'no bikini' clause on Toda Erika and Karina's contract for this drama. The drama is just really a standard Gesukyu drama, standard Japanese romance drama (I wouldn't say romcom here, not that many funny LOL kinds of scenes, actually... almost non existence). There's a boy and a girl. Both met, become close but in denial with their own feelings, and in the meantime there're not so aggressive third parties who being there through thick and thin as 'friends' but you'll see the yearning on their eyes. Standard, yes? If you're talking about Yamapi's drama, I'd think Buzzer Beat is better than this, but Pi looks better in here because there's no noodle hair and almost in every episode he's shirtless (hey, FujiTV still needs ratings, yes? though not that helpfulOMG, I'm so mean). And the reason why I stopped half way? Well, I kind of give up capping and watching all together after it's so clear how the drama will end up, not that I don't know, but my tiny little fangirl heart still hope for my ship to sail.
Conclusion: You have to watch this drama if you like Toda Erika because she's fantastic here! Her interpretation of Hanae is just... very natural and human. She's still the best in SPEC, but I totally adore her here and she's one of the reason why I'm not saying this drama is a dumping bean! And off course, if you support Yamapi, you'll watch this till the end. If you're indifferent, I think you'll pass this drama.
The Specials
It's time for SPs when it comes to the season transition and we have a lot, well.. I watched a lot of this as well. I love SPs because 1. short and sweet 2. bigger budget so they'll go beyond what usual drama has 3. lots of interesting stories. So, let's begin XD.
Kaibutsu ~ What intrigues me to watch this drama because it's Mukai's and he's the bad dude here, which is rarity. I must say, he's done quite well portraying to be a cynical lab worker whose side job is to make bodies 'disappear'. With the cast team of all the familiar faces that I also like eg. Sato Koichi, Tabe Mikako and even Kaname Jun (also as the bad dude, a despicable one too), it's a no question why I didn't watch this drama. The story line will keep you on the edge wondering whether or not Kozai (Sato Koichi's character) will fall to the darkness, or how long will it take for Kozai to fall into the darkness, or you'll wonder whether Fujidera (Tabe Mikako's character) is actually that naive or just as screw up as Masaki (Mukai's character).
Conclusion: Overall, it's a good watch. Another dark drama, but it'll make you ponder what would you do if you have the power to make people that you hate disappear without evidence. Any guilt? After all they're all bad guys (criminals in this case). And off course if your image of Mukai is always and forever be a prince charming, you won't see it here. He's totally different here and his laugh is menacingly evil and cynical, which I find it interesting.
Hajimari no Uta ~ No Matsujun drama this year, but at least we have an SP (I seriously demand a new Nino drama!), and a seriously gorgeous and pretty too (Matsujun is very pretty here). The drama is based on the song Furusato, sang by Arashi at any NHK events (eg. Kouhaku). As the song suggests, this drama is all about going back to your hometown, where it'll be always be your home, no matter how long ago you're away. And when we're talking about a rural hometown, there'll always be some underlying message to put across. As most young people will seek for the 'better future, opportunity' at the city, trying their best to succeed in the midst of the concrete jungle, the hometown then will be left with slowly but steadily ageing population. For those are living in the the hometown, seeing this situation, there are certain worries about the future of the town itself, and for those young ones who go off to the city, are they going to come back to their furusato.
Conclusion: If you feel like a heart warming and oh so pretty and light drama, you'll love this drama. It's really beautiful, the panorama, and who looks better holding a DSLR, Matsujun or Yamapi? Hyaaaa... No seriously, even you're not a fangirl, you'll heart will be warmed up with this drama, while at that, let's have some Matsujun appreciation moment XD...
pretty, ne? ne? ne?
Kyou no Hi wa Sayounara ~ 'Shinu koto wa owarukotojanai,' Death is not the end... So you know already where this drama is heading, ha! Arashi is very busy this year, and one of their big activities is the 24HR TV. Off course, as usual, one of them must do the SP drama on top of those darts tabi activities and this time is Ohno's turn. I was a bit disappointed that he just get the standard layout of 24HR TV SP, where a person incurs the fatal illness and then die at the end, off course after all those efforts in treatments, hoping for the better, doctor trying their best to cure etc.The only difference in this story here is that the family was given a hope that the son will be cured, but alas, the illness relapsed and they're back fighting it again. So, what's compelling about this drama then? It's the family! More importantly the parents. I always cry over the parents saying the last goodbye to the sick on these kinds of SPs. Both the mom and the dad's worries and sadness to see their son passed on before them are always get my tears flowing... *reach for tissues*.
Conclusion: if you want to see a laid back standard drama for a tear jerker, this could be one of them. But I'd recommend Nino's Sukoshi wa, Ongaeshi ga Dekitakana in this genre because this one has more impact to your heart.
Jiken Kyuumeii IMAT no Kiseki ~ IMAT is a special team of 'volunteered' doctors from the hospital who're on standby in the case of any accidental events eg. kidnapping, hostage, bombing. The focus is on 2 characters, both affected by a particular bombing incident in an amusement park. One become a doctor, harmless in appearance but quite reliable in terms of his ability. Another one become a police officer who joined the SIT (Japanese's SWAT team). Their career choices are definitely based on their past, but on what motives? This is the interesting part and there're twist and turn along the story, which makes it not boring at all because I almost skip this SP for fear of it being end up to be the standard police drama. From the medical part, it's like Code Blue less bloody because this is not a 100% medical drama. But fear not, it has action, angst, and tension packed in 1 event. And, off course bonus point is you get to see how Tamaki sleeps and drools all over the pillow (it's a quite big of an island XD) hehe...
Conclusion: if you're into police/medical drama, perhaps you'd want to check it out, after all, it's only less than 2 hours!
SPEC ~ Zero~ This drama is here for the obvious reason, to create the hype of the upcoming 2 movies of the never ending franchise. Not sure if the 2 movies will be the last of the franchise, but this is one of the franchise that I don't want it to end. Toda Erika is at her best in this drama as Toma. And in this SP, we get to see why Toma and Ninomae ended up becoming nemesis. And also how Toma get her hand cut (this scene is so sad, I feel for Toma when she realized her hand had been cut *sobs sobs*).
Conclusion: If you're following SPEC franchise, this is a no brainer, must watch. If you're not SPEC fan, you'd need to watch SPEC 2 to appreciate the whole SPEC franchise and why it's interesting.
And with that, we conclude Summer 2013. I don't really have dumping bin for Summer because I just don't follow the rest of the drama so not much trial and error here.
Fall 2013
Fall 2013 is rather interesting because I don't follow that many drama, which is not the norm. But in terms of variety, the season gives quite a wide range so can't complain much.. well, we'll see about that...
Ando Lloyd ~ If you see the review, you'll only see people are saying that this is the fall of Kimutaku because 1. this drama came on the same slot as Hanzawa Naoki, so people are expecting the drama will get the same level of rating (me: HELLO!!! how many people are so delusional here! Hanzawa Naoki script is so much different (AND BETTER) than this one, and are people just expecting it's because Kimutaku, rating must be 20% plus always? This is not 1990s, people have more choice of entertainment media), 2. the drama themed is not Kimutaku stereotyped drama, it's a bloody sci-fi dama, not romance. But is the drama actually that bad? NO, IT'S NOT! In fact, I'm happy to see Kimutaku taking a slightly different role than his usual standard kakkoii guy with love dilemma. Kimutaku is still kakkoii, just that now his expressions are very limited because he's playing a bodyguard terminator here. 'Ando Asahi is prohibited to die', that's his pet phrase, and he's quite detail in acting like a robot breaking down in low bat or broken after the series of fighting scene (which is cool). For a 40 plus idol, still can look good and pull those stunts, Kimutaku still has it! Plot wise, yes, episode 1 is a yawn, things starts to pick up when Lloyd starts to have emotion and the drama reveals more info. And I also like Kiritani Mirei here, she should get more roles as villain because her bitchy stares are winning! How about Kou Shibasaki? I'm not a fan of hers to be honest because to me she looks quite stiff, but she's OK in this drama. Her pouting and pissed off face when Lloyd basically sucked up the whole apartment's electricity to charge his battery are funny. And lastly, I'm glad SMAP didn't do a theme song for this drama (releasing double A side may boost sales, but glad they didn't take this approach).
Conclusion: if you feel for something different, not a standard J-drama theme, you should consider watching this. Overall, it's a good watch.
Dokushin Kizoku ~ Another SMAP drama, with Tsuyoppon as the lead. I almost skip this drama because, well, not a fan of Tsuyoppon. But I ended up picking this up because the OST oh so catchy, Shareotsu is my song of 2013 (who could resist winking contest fan service at each performance). The drama itself? It's quite standard actually, pleasant to watch. They took reference of classic Hollywood movies (those old romantic ones, like Breakfast at Tiffany's types of movies), and spin it to the more modern mood of a Tokyo movie production company, run by 2 filthy rich bachelors. The heroine here is just a 'plain' (I put '' here because since when Kitagawa Keiko is plain? LOL) poor aspiring script writer, waiting to hit big. Their encounter happened with the heroine's script August's Ballero. For this drama my ship goes to Mamoru and Reiko, and the heroine can snag the brother for all I care LOL. Still thankful that Fujigaya didn't have lots of screen time because his character is annoying and only get a tiny bit of spotlight at episode 9.
Conclusion: A j-dorama with standard K-drama plot but minus all the bitchy second lady, annoying family (Dewi Soekarno as the aunty is funny, not annoying, and her costumes rocks!). Phase definitely faster than K-drama and the beating around the bush on Mamoru part is not annoying, it's just his character, too objective to the point that he thinks of sacrificing his own feeling for the greater good.
Legal High 2 ~ 2013 is Sakai Masato's year, ne? After Hanzawa, he went back to be Komikado sensei, the obnoxious money hungry lawyer. I love Legal High because of all the guaranteed logical LOL from Komikado sensei's naggy arguments and antics. Season 1 is still the better one, but season 2 still holds its own charm. Meet the new character, Hanyu-kun, Mr. Win win. His philosophy is to have everybody involved happy (win win situation), which annoyed the hell out of Komikado sensei. Hence, whenever Hanyu-kun lost against Komikado sensei, the later will rub the wound with salt and cutter. And same as season one, don't skip the opening even though it's just a slow motion because they're continuous throughout the series haha...
Conclusion: if there's no Hanzawa Naoki, I'll put this as the best drama of 2013... same as 2012 haha... and I hope there's season 3, 4, 5 or until Mayuzumi sensei or the asa dora lawyer defeat Komikado sensei.
49 ~ Junior drama! It's a high school drama full of Juniors, period. But much better acting chops than their senpai's junior drama. I don't think this is classified as a full fledged drama because I find that this is just a pure Johnny's Jr drama, but done better. It has all adolescence issues, relationship problem, bullying problem, family problem, friendship problem. Being teenager is complicated ne? It becomes more complicated if your dad's soul borrow your body and sort of re live his high school life glory while solving all your problems, and the family problem, and other people's problem too. Plus point, a more current junior drama will have the cross dressing scenes, Chicken Basket should do a separate single as special unit!
Conclusion: You'll watch if the junior you like is in it (I like Jinguji, though he's stiff, and Shori, so... yeah XD)
Dumping gound:
Tokyo Bandwagon ~ I was expecting this drama because it's Kame's drama! and Tabe Mikako's in it too. But it's just so boring that I couldn't even finish Episode 1. The plot is not clear and, I just drifted away as the episode went on, so I put a stop to it.
Oh hold:
Umi no Ue no Shinryojo ~ Again, I was expecting this drama because it's Matsuda Shota's and was disappointed with the first episode because I didn't find it very interesting. However, my brother watched it and he's raving about it. So, I'm putting this on hold for now, not a priority (after all we have Arashi TV brainwash session for New Year)
Now, what is to expect for Winter 2014?
Gunshi Kanbee ~ Okada's taiga drama, and Ikuta Toma is also in it, yeah, I'll watch for the whole year. If I watch Yoshitsune, I'll watch this one as well.
Shitsuren Chocolatier ~ Finally, Matsujun's drama! The manga is quite good, and there'll be tons of chocolate dessert & confectionery, so pretty drama with pretty food, I'm in!
Kagi no Kakatta Heya SP ~ Finally it becomes a franchise. The awkward relationship between Enomoto & Junko continues. I like this one better than NazoDi (I don't mind getting bricked because I can't find anything so special about NazoDi besides it's Sho's drama)
Musashi Miyamoto ~ Taiga SP. Kimutaku in hakama? Yes, I'll watch.
Dr DMAT ~ I don't think it'll be as intense as IMAT, but it's Ohkura's and it's been awhile that I watch Ohkura's drama, probably I'll just re-watch ROMES.
Tenchu ~ looks dark and screwed up
Ashita, Mama ga Inai ~ this one looks dark and is that Momoko-chan?
Boku no Ita Jikan ~ Miura Haruma & Tabe Mikako, looks like a tear jerker, but that's okay
Lots of duplicating police drama (the one with Sorimachi & Goro, looks like BOSS but it's not BOSS and it has Mokomichi, Tamaki's detective drama, Mukai's police drama with Go Ayano) --> too many!
Lots of duplicating medical drama (iryu sousa, team batista... I thought these 2 are the same drama... it's not)
2014 is coming!!!!
Summer 2013
Contrary to the 'normal' summer drama selection, Summer 2013 is an anomaly! It has range of serious, intense and dark drama and those are the good ones for me instead of the all fluffy summery drama.
Hanzawa Naoki ~ BEST DRAMA 2013! For Summer season, Woman came close to it in my opinion, but with the grand scale of the drama, Hanzawa Naoki wins. I dub Hanzawa as the Corporate Japan drama because well, it's corporate Japan. Although lots of the scenes are so much dramatized and probably won't really happen in the real life, but the office environments and politics are very real, and that's why salaryman can really relate to this drama, which off course lead to the record breaking ratings. This drama has a very solid script and plot, which is why it makes audience tune in for every single episode. Casting all the veteran actors off course add the spice to this production, Granted, there are some saying that it doesn't matter who's being casted for this drama, it'll be turn out as good because the script is that solid. However, for this kind of intense drama, you really need experience and seasoned actors to bring out all the drama, and I'd think they made the right choice for the casts. Hanzawa's catch phrase,「やられたら 倍返しだ!」~ Yararetara, baigaeshida!, means if you're screwed, payback time is double. What a drama! And the end of this drama, though my friends beg to differ, I'd think it just shows how most of the top management works, and that's reality. In the corporate world, it's the street smart that can get you far, not doing what's right. The success of this drama just screams for a long running franchise, and I totally look forward to it!
Conclusion: A MUST WATCH, especially if you're a salaryman.
Woman~ 2nd runner up of Summer 2013 drama, according to yours trully. I'm a fan of human drama, so off course I'm watching this drama. Having Shun Oguri listed as the cast is a bonus point. But you'll soon forgot about him when you have 2 adorable kids, Riku and Nozomi having fun in the midst of their family situation. Honestly I've never heard of Hikari Matsushima before (I know the group Folder 5, but I have no idea that she's in it), but after this drama, I'll pay more attention to her work. Her acting as the mother, Koharu, is heartbreaking. She's stubborn but strong willed, and you cannot really imagine how harsh reality is when you're a single mother (wait, so what's Shun Oguri doing in the cast?) with 2 kids on your tow and you have low education. What can you do to bring them up properly? What's worse is that you don't really have any close family to turn to. Well, Koharu still has a mother, but this so-called mother has not acknowledging her as her daughter for years. And, that's not it, she's diagnosed with leukemia (probably due to too much hard labor and not eating well). So, what would you do if you're in her position? Koharu's put up strong guard in front of her kids so her kids can live well and enjoying their childhood, but when she's alone, she'd just break down and being fragile (well, the skinny part is really freak me out). This drama is also show the stubborn mother's side of the story (like mother like daughter, actually), how family relationship mend back and restored, and forgiveness and having big heart can liberate people from their dark past.
Conclusion: a must watch if you're a human drama fan (like me), can survive through tear jerker moments (LOTS of it, especially when it comes to Nozomi), and you like a heart warming story (one good point of this drama is that it always leave you with a warm heart after each episode).
Starman ~ Kono Hoshi no Koi ~ I'd think this is the only light drama that I actually watched and looked forward to in Summer season. Lots of LOL moments considering that the storyline is already absurd from the beginning. You have a single mother with 3 boys (the youngest one is very very extremely cute!!) who accidentally found a man, an IKEMEN at that, on the street, and took him in like a strayed puppy and making him a daddy for her 3 boys. Ha! The story doesn't make sense if you use common sense to watch this drama, so might as well just sit back and enjoy the ride and having the latest new rising ikemen, Fukushi Sota (kamen rider alumni, yeah, kamen rider is now catered for ladies, not kids anymore LOL), is an extra bonus. But out of all the absurdness and LOL, there's a love story, what it takes to be a family, and off course Sawa who's a strong lady to begin with.
Conclusion: you'd wanna watch this for something extra light and fluffy, and lots of LOL but at the same time enjoying the dramatic outcome of each episode XD.
Gekiryuu ~ Watashi wo Oboeteimasuka? ~ See? this is a summer anomaly! Too many dark drama for a cheery bright season! This one is another dark drama, lots of emotional turbulence and conflicts. A friend who disappeared 20 years ago suddenly is sending out sms, email, whatever, and this freak the friends that she'd left behind, the survivors. So, why she disappeared? After 20 years, what happened to these 'survivors'? Each one of them (well, probably except one of them) has their own lives and somehow because this is dramaland, they're entangled to each other and it's pretty messy (this is drama! expect people in the land to have a messy past and present). So, how are they going to find out the truth behind their friend's disappearance? I almost skipped this drama until I saw Tanaka Reina was one of the cast, and this drama doesn't disappoint. In this drama, even the class representative's live is screwed up, let alone the talented artist's. Along with Hanzawa Naoki, I can't wait for the next episode because how each of the individual chooses his/her path of self destruction in the name of what they think is right is apparent here. And after the screw up, they need to fight back to get out from the darkness, and that's drama! Bonus point, the OST is Glay's Dark River. The OST is customized for this drama because the lyric is in line with the drama plot, and off course do watch its PV, really beautiful.
Conclusion: watch this if you're feeling for something dark (minus the blood) and tragic drama (the ending is not tragic though, just irony).
Glass no Ie ~ Another dark drama! but only resides in 1 family. I dubbed this as the scandalous drama. Daddy is a model dad. Having the wife died on the plane crash when the kids were young. As a single daddy, he worked hard raising his 2 boys. One day, daddy suddenly introduced a new lady to be his new wife to the now grown up boys. But little did he know that the fateful encounter will shatter the fragile household. The first son fell in love with his new 'mom' *GASP!!! So scandalous* Off course, the drama is much deeper than this. We're seeing the constant lust and jealousy sparks between daddy and first son, while second son always sides with daddy (out of admiration). But if we look at a normal perspective, any normal lady will turn her head to the son... the dad... clearly has serious issue with trust and control. Even without the scandalous aspect, the dad and the lady are just not meant to be because both of them are just too different in principle. So, yeah... DRAMA! The OST is Sayonara by Nishino Kana, totally love this song because it's really heartbreaking especially after the cliff hangers.
Nakunaki Doku ~ How much poison within you? This drama looks into how every each one of us have darkness in our hearts. It's just whether the darkness spreads into action or not. All the chain of events in this drama is viewed from a 3rd party, who is the main lead. He only become part of the event towards the end of the drama, which makes it rather confusing at first. I'm not sure what I was watching for the first 3 episodes because I'm not sure of what's the direction of this drama. Things just picked up after the 4th episode and by that time it's a bit too late for me to follow this drama religiously during the season aka I just picked up the drama again few weeks ago.
Conclusion: if you like some to see how twisted human beings can be, this drama may be one of your choice but if you ask me whether this drama is dark, Gekiryuu wins hands down!
Summer Nude ~ I've done quite an amount of screencaps for this drama (here) because... this drama is just so pretty. Nobody here is not good looking, even the uncles are hot. And the beach!!! The location and settings are just warrant for... half naked boys and I still wonder whether they just put a 'no bikini' clause on Toda Erika and Karina's contract for this drama. The drama is just really a standard Gesukyu drama, standard Japanese romance drama (I wouldn't say romcom here, not that many funny LOL kinds of scenes, actually... almost non existence). There's a boy and a girl. Both met, become close but in denial with their own feelings, and in the meantime there're not so aggressive third parties who being there through thick and thin as 'friends' but you'll see the yearning on their eyes. Standard, yes? If you're talking about Yamapi's drama, I'd think Buzzer Beat is better than this, but Pi looks better in here because there's no noodle hair and almost in every episode he's shirtless (hey, FujiTV still needs ratings, yes? though not that helpful
Conclusion: You have to watch this drama if you like Toda Erika because she's fantastic here! Her interpretation of Hanae is just... very natural and human. She's still the best in SPEC, but I totally adore her here and she's one of the reason why I'm not saying this drama is a dumping bean! And off course, if you support Yamapi, you'll watch this till the end. If you're indifferent, I think you'll pass this drama.
The Specials
It's time for SPs when it comes to the season transition and we have a lot, well.. I watched a lot of this as well. I love SPs because 1. short and sweet 2. bigger budget so they'll go beyond what usual drama has 3. lots of interesting stories. So, let's begin XD.
Kaibutsu ~ What intrigues me to watch this drama because it's Mukai's and he's the bad dude here, which is rarity. I must say, he's done quite well portraying to be a cynical lab worker whose side job is to make bodies 'disappear'. With the cast team of all the familiar faces that I also like eg. Sato Koichi, Tabe Mikako and even Kaname Jun (also as the bad dude, a despicable one too), it's a no question why I didn't watch this drama. The story line will keep you on the edge wondering whether or not Kozai (Sato Koichi's character) will fall to the darkness, or how long will it take for Kozai to fall into the darkness, or you'll wonder whether Fujidera (Tabe Mikako's character) is actually that naive or just as screw up as Masaki (Mukai's character).
Conclusion: Overall, it's a good watch. Another dark drama, but it'll make you ponder what would you do if you have the power to make people that you hate disappear without evidence. Any guilt? After all they're all bad guys (criminals in this case). And off course if your image of Mukai is always and forever be a prince charming, you won't see it here. He's totally different here and his laugh is menacingly evil and cynical, which I find it interesting.
Hajimari no Uta ~ No Matsujun drama this year, but at least we have an SP (I seriously demand a new Nino drama!), and a seriously gorgeous and pretty too (Matsujun is very pretty here). The drama is based on the song Furusato, sang by Arashi at any NHK events (eg. Kouhaku). As the song suggests, this drama is all about going back to your hometown, where it'll be always be your home, no matter how long ago you're away. And when we're talking about a rural hometown, there'll always be some underlying message to put across. As most young people will seek for the 'better future, opportunity' at the city, trying their best to succeed in the midst of the concrete jungle, the hometown then will be left with slowly but steadily ageing population. For those are living in the the hometown, seeing this situation, there are certain worries about the future of the town itself, and for those young ones who go off to the city, are they going to come back to their furusato.
Conclusion: If you feel like a heart warming and oh so pretty and light drama, you'll love this drama. It's really beautiful, the panorama, and who looks better holding a DSLR, Matsujun or Yamapi? Hyaaaa... No seriously, even you're not a fangirl, you'll heart will be warmed up with this drama, while at that, let's have some Matsujun appreciation moment XD...
pretty, ne? ne? ne?
Conclusion: if you want to see a laid back standard drama for a tear jerker, this could be one of them. But I'd recommend Nino's Sukoshi wa, Ongaeshi ga Dekitakana in this genre because this one has more impact to your heart.
Jiken Kyuumeii IMAT no Kiseki ~ IMAT is a special team of 'volunteered' doctors from the hospital who're on standby in the case of any accidental events eg. kidnapping, hostage, bombing. The focus is on 2 characters, both affected by a particular bombing incident in an amusement park. One become a doctor, harmless in appearance but quite reliable in terms of his ability. Another one become a police officer who joined the SIT (Japanese's SWAT team). Their career choices are definitely based on their past, but on what motives? This is the interesting part and there're twist and turn along the story, which makes it not boring at all because I almost skip this SP for fear of it being end up to be the standard police drama. From the medical part, it's like Code Blue less bloody because this is not a 100% medical drama. But fear not, it has action, angst, and tension packed in 1 event. And, off course bonus point is you get to see how Tamaki sleeps and drools all over the pillow (it's a quite big of an island XD) hehe...
Conclusion: if you're into police/medical drama, perhaps you'd want to check it out, after all, it's only less than 2 hours!
Conclusion: If you're following SPEC franchise, this is a no brainer, must watch. If you're not SPEC fan, you'd need to watch SPEC 2 to appreciate the whole SPEC franchise and why it's interesting.
And with that, we conclude Summer 2013. I don't really have dumping bin for Summer because I just don't follow the rest of the drama so not much trial and error here.
Fall 2013
Fall 2013 is rather interesting because I don't follow that many drama, which is not the norm. But in terms of variety, the season gives quite a wide range so can't complain much.. well, we'll see about that...
Ando Lloyd ~ If you see the review, you'll only see people are saying that this is the fall of Kimutaku because 1. this drama came on the same slot as Hanzawa Naoki, so people are expecting the drama will get the same level of rating (me: HELLO!!! how many people are so delusional here! Hanzawa Naoki script is so much different (AND BETTER) than this one, and are people just expecting it's because Kimutaku, rating must be 20% plus always? This is not 1990s, people have more choice of entertainment media), 2. the drama themed is not Kimutaku stereotyped drama, it's a bloody sci-fi dama, not romance. But is the drama actually that bad? NO, IT'S NOT! In fact, I'm happy to see Kimutaku taking a slightly different role than his usual standard kakkoii guy with love dilemma. Kimutaku is still kakkoii, just that now his expressions are very limited because he's playing a bodyguard terminator here. 'Ando Asahi is prohibited to die', that's his pet phrase, and he's quite detail in acting like a robot breaking down in low bat or broken after the series of fighting scene (which is cool). For a 40 plus idol, still can look good and pull those stunts, Kimutaku still has it! Plot wise, yes, episode 1 is a yawn, things starts to pick up when Lloyd starts to have emotion and the drama reveals more info. And I also like Kiritani Mirei here, she should get more roles as villain because her bitchy stares are winning! How about Kou Shibasaki? I'm not a fan of hers to be honest because to me she looks quite stiff, but she's OK in this drama. Her pouting and pissed off face when Lloyd basically sucked up the whole apartment's electricity to charge his battery are funny. And lastly, I'm glad SMAP didn't do a theme song for this drama (releasing double A side may boost sales, but glad they didn't take this approach).
Conclusion: if you feel for something different, not a standard J-drama theme, you should consider watching this. Overall, it's a good watch.
Dokushin Kizoku ~ Another SMAP drama, with Tsuyoppon as the lead. I almost skip this drama because, well, not a fan of Tsuyoppon. But I ended up picking this up because the OST oh so catchy, Shareotsu is my song of 2013 (who could resist winking contest fan service at each performance). The drama itself? It's quite standard actually, pleasant to watch. They took reference of classic Hollywood movies (those old romantic ones, like Breakfast at Tiffany's types of movies), and spin it to the more modern mood of a Tokyo movie production company, run by 2 filthy rich bachelors. The heroine here is just a 'plain' (I put '' here because since when Kitagawa Keiko is plain? LOL) poor aspiring script writer, waiting to hit big. Their encounter happened with the heroine's script August's Ballero. For this drama my ship goes to Mamoru and Reiko, and the heroine can snag the brother for all I care LOL. Still thankful that Fujigaya didn't have lots of screen time because his character is annoying and only get a tiny bit of spotlight at episode 9.
Conclusion: A j-dorama with standard K-drama plot but minus all the bitchy second lady, annoying family (Dewi Soekarno as the aunty is funny, not annoying, and her costumes rocks!). Phase definitely faster than K-drama and the beating around the bush on Mamoru part is not annoying, it's just his character, too objective to the point that he thinks of sacrificing his own feeling for the greater good.
Doctor-X Season 2 ~ 'Watashi wa shippai shinai de' I won't fail. Is this pet phrase going to be another franchise? I think general public loves this drama because... it's a medical drama with no blood (only at the last episode that they finally show something red color... the organs). This is just like Hanzawa Naoki but in hospital setting and patients' lives get entangled in the middle of it. That's why the rating is high. This season is more intense in a sense because the head of the surgical department, Hiruma, is a worse asshole than the one in the first episode. Plus, this season we have Fujiki(!) as Kondo-sensei, an ambitious young professor who climbed up the corporate ladder by not so honest way (that probably including sleeping with the auntie, sleeping with the nurses, stealing Michiko's idea), but somehow still had some conscience.
Conclusion: If you like to watch people bickering over office politics and some medical terms thrown along the line, you'll probably want to watch this one and off course, if you already watched season 1, you'll watch this too.
Conclusion: If you like to watch people bickering over office politics and some medical terms thrown along the line, you'll probably want to watch this one and off course, if you already watched season 1, you'll watch this too.
Legal High 2 ~ 2013 is Sakai Masato's year, ne? After Hanzawa, he went back to be Komikado sensei, the obnoxious money hungry lawyer. I love Legal High because of all the guaranteed logical LOL from Komikado sensei's naggy arguments and antics. Season 1 is still the better one, but season 2 still holds its own charm. Meet the new character, Hanyu-kun, Mr. Win win. His philosophy is to have everybody involved happy (win win situation), which annoyed the hell out of Komikado sensei. Hence, whenever Hanyu-kun lost against Komikado sensei, the later will rub the wound with salt and cutter. And same as season one, don't skip the opening even though it's just a slow motion because they're continuous throughout the series haha...
Conclusion: if there's no Hanzawa Naoki, I'll put this as the best drama of 2013... same as 2012 haha... and I hope there's season 3, 4, 5 or until Mayuzumi sensei or the asa dora lawyer defeat Komikado sensei.
49 ~ Junior drama! It's a high school drama full of Juniors, period. But much better acting chops than their senpai's junior drama. I don't think this is classified as a full fledged drama because I find that this is just a pure Johnny's Jr drama, but done better. It has all adolescence issues, relationship problem, bullying problem, family problem, friendship problem. Being teenager is complicated ne? It becomes more complicated if your dad's soul borrow your body and sort of re live his high school life glory while solving all your problems, and the family problem, and other people's problem too. Plus point, a more current junior drama will have the cross dressing scenes, Chicken Basket should do a separate single as special unit!
Conclusion: You'll watch if the junior you like is in it (I like Jinguji, though he's stiff, and Shori, so... yeah XD)
Dumping gound:
Tokyo Bandwagon ~ I was expecting this drama because it's Kame's drama! and Tabe Mikako's in it too. But it's just so boring that I couldn't even finish Episode 1. The plot is not clear and, I just drifted away as the episode went on, so I put a stop to it.
Oh hold:
Umi no Ue no Shinryojo ~ Again, I was expecting this drama because it's Matsuda Shota's and was disappointed with the first episode because I didn't find it very interesting. However, my brother watched it and he's raving about it. So, I'm putting this on hold for now, not a priority (after all we have Arashi TV brainwash session for New Year)
Now, what is to expect for Winter 2014?
Gunshi Kanbee ~ Okada's taiga drama, and Ikuta Toma is also in it, yeah, I'll watch for the whole year. If I watch Yoshitsune, I'll watch this one as well.
Shitsuren Chocolatier ~ Finally, Matsujun's drama! The manga is quite good, and there'll be tons of chocolate dessert & confectionery, so pretty drama with pretty food, I'm in!
Kagi no Kakatta Heya SP ~ Finally it becomes a franchise. The awkward relationship between Enomoto & Junko continues. I like this one better than NazoDi (I don't mind getting bricked because I can't find anything so special about NazoDi besides it's Sho's drama)
Musashi Miyamoto ~ Taiga SP. Kimutaku in hakama? Yes, I'll watch.
Dr DMAT ~ I don't think it'll be as intense as IMAT, but it's Ohkura's and it's been awhile that I watch Ohkura's drama, probably I'll just re-watch ROMES.
Tenchu ~ looks dark and screwed up
Ashita, Mama ga Inai ~ this one looks dark and is that Momoko-chan?
Boku no Ita Jikan ~ Miura Haruma & Tabe Mikako, looks like a tear jerker, but that's okay
Lots of duplicating police drama (the one with Sorimachi & Goro, looks like BOSS but it's not BOSS and it has Mokomichi, Tamaki's detective drama, Mukai's police drama with Go Ayano) --> too many!
Lots of duplicating medical drama (iryu sousa, team batista... I thought these 2 are the same drama... it's not)
2014 is coming!!!!
