Spring 2015 Drama Review
Jul. 25th, 2015 03:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spsnIt took me so long and I still haven't even gotten to the unfinished Winter season bucket and so another batch on unfinished drama this season too. Regardless, I'm quite happy with the Spring drama, there are drama that keeps me on the edges every week, drama that are just at the right phase for me to pick up, drama that are just simply beautiful and pretty to watch. Quite a diverse variety this time, and for once, no police drama this season! Nevertheless, the drama I picked this season are in general, moderate to heavy theme drama. From historical drama to drama with tons of social issues... yeah pretty heavy, but yet, interesting to watch.
Dr. Rintaro ~ The concept of this drama is to take consideration of your psychiatrist as your partner in crime who'll be there for you guiding you back to the 'right path.' Heck, the drama literally pictures Dr. Rintaro as a shepherd guiding so many lost sheeps. In this drama we have so many lost sheeps from a suicidal depressed lady due to office bullying to the split personality geisha with her gambling addict destructive mother. Sakai Masato is good in pulling off extreme characters. Dr Rintaro here is another extreme different character compared to Legal High's Komikado sensei. Dr Rintaro is not loud and obnoxious like Komikado, but rather, calm and collected, though he has his own bitching private session with his sempai, but his has extreme view when it comes to love and seems to unable to love. It's interesting to watch the way each episodee handle each case, eg. the autistic kid, or the often panicking secretary cabinet. But I have to hand it down to Takahata Atsuko in the acting department. Her performance as that gambling addict destructive mother was superb and seriously I hate her so much in this drama. Overall, I enjoy this drama because while we have the heavy and serious stuffs and that includes the hospital politics, we have the mild humours from the intern interactions, and have Dr Rintaro's big dog is so huggable.
I'm Home ~ This drama sets me off the edges every week itching for the next episode. The drama starts with Ieji with no memory from the last 5 years as a result of an accident and due to that Ieji becomes a totally different person than before he lost his memory. The clues to his memory lies within the stack of keys. Each key unlock portion of his memories within the story. I like how the drama align the chain of events with portion of Ieji's memory which is need to be unlocked for that very episode. And having said that, hands off to Kimutaku's acting for portraying the extreme different personalities of Ieji, the bastard Ieji and the trying to amend what he's done before Ieji, basically the reborn to be a better person Ieji. I totally don't see any trace of Kimutaku, the idol, in this drama. And finally we have Kimutaku not in his molded type of role (those cool kakkoii Getsuku lead roles, plenty of them), and he nailed it. In particular I love both Kimutaku and Ueto Aya's expression on the last episode's scene. The relief and glad expression caught me and off course I couldn't help but teared up. It's a good family drama though it starts off with a broken family premise and lots of outside factors thrown out as well, but throughout the drama we see how the family relationship is getting better and we starting to hope that those masks will dissapear when the episode ends.
Tenno no Ryoriban ~ My favorite drama this season, no doubt. Epi 1 review in here. I'm home come close, but even Kimutaku cannot beat Sato Takeru's portrayal of Akiyama Tokuzo in my book. Off course, I'd think that we have bigger budget for this drama, given the setting etc. The drama taken a true story of Akiyama Tokuzo, his journey, from being a country bumpkin to going to Paris to be apprentice in Hotel Ritz, climbed his way up to the chef position in the very same hotel and came back to Japan as the emperor's cook. If you're used to see Sato Takeru as Kenshin, it'll be so surreal to see him as a country bumpkin, not just a typical country bumpkin, but very 'lost' one at that. Tokuzo is portrayed as easily lost interest toward particular subjects. For example, he got kicked out of monestary after only staying there in a very short period. Out of desperation to set his son straight, his dad forced him to get married to Toshiko. But for all we know, Tokuzo really did love Toshiko and vice versa. So it's really heart breaking that we get to see how Toshiko letting go Tokuzo so that he could do what he aspired to do and not bound by her. And speaking of heart break, prepare lots ot tissues for this drama. Though we have tons heartwarming moments, we also have so much heart breaking moments too. In this drama Tokuzo loved his older brother dearly, and this very older brother was the only one who had faith in him (that even the father didn't understand this) right from the beginning and kept on encouraging and supporting Tokuzo to get to where he was. So, you can imagine the heart breaking scene acted by Sato when Tokuzo lost his dear brother. I'll be honest that I was crying buckets at the half end of the series for the both joyous and down moments. It's that great of drama from both story telling and acting wise, and after the drama ends, you'll miss the cuteness of Tokuzo and Toshiko. One last note, I haven't mentioned about how pretty this drama is, and even the food! They pay attention to the details as in to have the food arrangement is done in traditional style at that period, not the modern style plating. The food in this drama is always look warm and inviting, so be sure to have your tummy full when watching this drama.
Liquid - Oni no Sake, Kiseki no Kura ~ When NHK does a drama, and it touches something to that part of cultural Japan, you can almost expect that it's going to be pretty. As the title suggested, the drama is basically more of a documentary on sake making on all level up to junmai daiginjo, starting from the picking the right rice and water to the rating by the association. The phase of this drama is rather laidback and the story telling is aligned to the process of sake making itself. Bits of drama is added on eg. when they have to troubleshoot the mishaps of temprature, or when Sagara, the brewery (kura) owner, has to deal with the shortage of funds, or the competition between kura to release the best sake. I love this drama and as it's only 3 episode short, you can finish this drama in leisure and no time, plus you get to learn how sake is made, more knowledge and better appreciation to sake drinking (at least for me). And when I say a pretty drama, when it comes to NHK, it's this kind of pretty:
Some unfinished drama, but this is by no means a dumping bucket:
Algernon ni Hanabata o ~ I haven't finished this because I'm waiting for the subs to be completed so that I can marathon the whole series. I like what I saw on the first episode. They change quite a bit compared to the book. Sakuto in the drama is working in the flower shop and the friends are not as nasty as those in the book. I need to watch more episode to know what else that they change, but until then, I'd say it's a good new platform for Yamapi.
Youkoso, Wagaya e ~ Oh, you'd probably wonder why I couldn't finish this drama on time. Even though the subs was quite fast on this and lots of good review and it's Aiba-chan's drama. I'm still on Epi 1 for goodness sake, and struggling to even start Epi 2. I'm not sure I can say that I guess I'm not in the mood for the stalker mystery type of story right now, but from the very beginning, I'm not extremely super excited about this drama. Very different anticipation compared to Last Hope or even Bartender. I may be will finish this drama in the future, but right now it looks like I'll get Algernon or even Zannen no Oto done first.
Not many SP I watched this time, only 2!
Kamoshirenai Joyutachi ~ It's a parallel universe of these 3 actresses, Takeuchi Yuko, Maki Yoko and Mizukawa Asami. In this drama, these 3 actresses is in the world where the what if they failed the audition for the role that was the pivot point of their acting careers. Maki Yoko is working part time while drawing 4 strip manga as her diary. Takeuchi Yuko is quite successful in being an editor. Mizukawa Asami is working hard for extras, not leading roles. For one reason to another these 3 ended up connected, what would happen afterwards, do they end up as famous actresses as they're in the real life? This drama is fun to watch, in particular Takeuchi Yuko and Maki Yoko part (well, you can also say I'm very bias LOL). I'm so so on Mizukawa's part because she just complains and whines around whereas the other 2 are not whining that much about their current circumstances.
Summer List
Arama posted the complete list awhile ago. It's a very long list, but there're not a lot that caught my attention. My list is rather sporadic and I find my stress level plays a very important role this time too in picking what I want to watch. I won't deny that 99.9% of my list are picked out of a very shallow prettiness soft spot. I just need to see lots of prettiness after sinking into the sea of darkness during the day so that I can keep on going for tomorrow. The only one drama picked not because of prettiness is Risk no Kamisama.
Hotel Concierge ~ Miura Shohei, no other much reason for this drama. But I prefer this compared to Ghost Writer. It's light and just pretty with the hotel hospitality, Japanese way. Epi 1 review in here.
37.5°C no Namida ~ The theme is actually interesting by itself. It's about a service company who provides care for sick children who are not fit to go to healthcare for the day. They call the 37.5C as the borderline whereby kids have to be taken back home. This especially creates the burden to the parents, especially single working parents in Japan where work is number 1 priority in their lives and having to take time off to take care of your family is given a side eye. But take a quick look to the drama for a minute, don't you think that there're too many good looking single dads in this drama? Narimiya (gosh how long has it been since his last drama?), Mokomichi. Plus the very strict sachou, Fujiki (he's aged quite a lot here, but nevertheless, still one of my fave ikemen!).
Koinaka ~ Getsuku drama is back to the normal mode and surprisingly, no Johnny's? Interesting. We have Fukushi Sota as the lead now. Epi 1 review in here for all the prettiness.
Omotesando Koukou Gasshoubu! ~ Typical high school drama with the ganbaru spirit lead character. The theme this time is around chorus so we're here for the harmonious group of young song birdsand their pretty hot teacher *cough*. It's about time Shirota Yuu gets a teacher role. He has enough share of being high school student in so many beloved drama (Hana Kimi, Rookies), and I hope he gets to sing here too.
Risk no Kamisama ~ The idea of risk management here is more focus on product recalls and scandals, rather than the prevention route of the actual risk management (there no drama in here and the drama will be very boring). We have one of my fave uncle actor, Tsutsumi Shinichi here as your God of Risk. Toda Erika was brilliant in Epi 1 and I really symphatize her eaten up by her ambition and the big bosses' politics. Having Morita in this drama is a big bonus (the last drama I saw him in was Lunch no Joou... 13 years ago? LOL)
Okasan, Ore wa Daijoubu ~ 24Hr TV drama SP, in a standard way. This is the perfect time to bawl your heart out and I like Yamada :p
Kokoro no Kagaku sha, Narumi Saku no Challenge II ~ I have faith in Yamapi when it's not a romance role. He shows improvement in Algernon.
Dr. Rintaro ~ The concept of this drama is to take consideration of your psychiatrist as your partner in crime who'll be there for you guiding you back to the 'right path.' Heck, the drama literally pictures Dr. Rintaro as a shepherd guiding so many lost sheeps. In this drama we have so many lost sheeps from a suicidal depressed lady due to office bullying to the split personality geisha with her gambling addict destructive mother. Sakai Masato is good in pulling off extreme characters. Dr Rintaro here is another extreme different character compared to Legal High's Komikado sensei. Dr Rintaro is not loud and obnoxious like Komikado, but rather, calm and collected, though he has his own bitching private session with his sempai, but his has extreme view when it comes to love and seems to unable to love. It's interesting to watch the way each episodee handle each case, eg. the autistic kid, or the often panicking secretary cabinet. But I have to hand it down to Takahata Atsuko in the acting department. Her performance as that gambling addict destructive mother was superb and seriously I hate her so much in this drama. Overall, I enjoy this drama because while we have the heavy and serious stuffs and that includes the hospital politics, we have the mild humours from the intern interactions, and have Dr Rintaro's big dog is so huggable.
I'm Home ~ This drama sets me off the edges every week itching for the next episode. The drama starts with Ieji with no memory from the last 5 years as a result of an accident and due to that Ieji becomes a totally different person than before he lost his memory. The clues to his memory lies within the stack of keys. Each key unlock portion of his memories within the story. I like how the drama align the chain of events with portion of Ieji's memory which is need to be unlocked for that very episode. And having said that, hands off to Kimutaku's acting for portraying the extreme different personalities of Ieji, the bastard Ieji and the trying to amend what he's done before Ieji, basically the reborn to be a better person Ieji. I totally don't see any trace of Kimutaku, the idol, in this drama. And finally we have Kimutaku not in his molded type of role (those cool kakkoii Getsuku lead roles, plenty of them), and he nailed it. In particular I love both Kimutaku and Ueto Aya's expression on the last episode's scene. The relief and glad expression caught me and off course I couldn't help but teared up. It's a good family drama though it starts off with a broken family premise and lots of outside factors thrown out as well, but throughout the drama we see how the family relationship is getting better and we starting to hope that those masks will dissapear when the episode ends.
Tenno no Ryoriban ~ My favorite drama this season, no doubt. Epi 1 review in here. I'm home come close, but even Kimutaku cannot beat Sato Takeru's portrayal of Akiyama Tokuzo in my book. Off course, I'd think that we have bigger budget for this drama, given the setting etc. The drama taken a true story of Akiyama Tokuzo, his journey, from being a country bumpkin to going to Paris to be apprentice in Hotel Ritz, climbed his way up to the chef position in the very same hotel and came back to Japan as the emperor's cook. If you're used to see Sato Takeru as Kenshin, it'll be so surreal to see him as a country bumpkin, not just a typical country bumpkin, but very 'lost' one at that. Tokuzo is portrayed as easily lost interest toward particular subjects. For example, he got kicked out of monestary after only staying there in a very short period. Out of desperation to set his son straight, his dad forced him to get married to Toshiko. But for all we know, Tokuzo really did love Toshiko and vice versa. So it's really heart breaking that we get to see how Toshiko letting go Tokuzo so that he could do what he aspired to do and not bound by her. And speaking of heart break, prepare lots ot tissues for this drama. Though we have tons heartwarming moments, we also have so much heart breaking moments too. In this drama Tokuzo loved his older brother dearly, and this very older brother was the only one who had faith in him (that even the father didn't understand this) right from the beginning and kept on encouraging and supporting Tokuzo to get to where he was. So, you can imagine the heart breaking scene acted by Sato when Tokuzo lost his dear brother. I'll be honest that I was crying buckets at the half end of the series for the both joyous and down moments. It's that great of drama from both story telling and acting wise, and after the drama ends, you'll miss the cuteness of Tokuzo and Toshiko. One last note, I haven't mentioned about how pretty this drama is, and even the food! They pay attention to the details as in to have the food arrangement is done in traditional style at that period, not the modern style plating. The food in this drama is always look warm and inviting, so be sure to have your tummy full when watching this drama.
Liquid - Oni no Sake, Kiseki no Kura ~ When NHK does a drama, and it touches something to that part of cultural Japan, you can almost expect that it's going to be pretty. As the title suggested, the drama is basically more of a documentary on sake making on all level up to junmai daiginjo, starting from the picking the right rice and water to the rating by the association. The phase of this drama is rather laidback and the story telling is aligned to the process of sake making itself. Bits of drama is added on eg. when they have to troubleshoot the mishaps of temprature, or when Sagara, the brewery (kura) owner, has to deal with the shortage of funds, or the competition between kura to release the best sake. I love this drama and as it's only 3 episode short, you can finish this drama in leisure and no time, plus you get to learn how sake is made, more knowledge and better appreciation to sake drinking (at least for me). And when I say a pretty drama, when it comes to NHK, it's this kind of pretty:
If this is not pretty, I don't know what is.
Some unfinished drama, but this is by no means a dumping bucket:
Algernon ni Hanabata o ~ I haven't finished this because I'm waiting for the subs to be completed so that I can marathon the whole series. I like what I saw on the first episode. They change quite a bit compared to the book. Sakuto in the drama is working in the flower shop and the friends are not as nasty as those in the book. I need to watch more episode to know what else that they change, but until then, I'd say it's a good new platform for Yamapi.
Youkoso, Wagaya e ~ Oh, you'd probably wonder why I couldn't finish this drama on time. Even though the subs was quite fast on this and lots of good review and it's Aiba-chan's drama. I'm still on Epi 1 for goodness sake, and struggling to even start Epi 2. I'm not sure I can say that I guess I'm not in the mood for the stalker mystery type of story right now, but from the very beginning, I'm not extremely super excited about this drama. Very different anticipation compared to Last Hope or even Bartender. I may be will finish this drama in the future, but right now it looks like I'll get Algernon or even Zannen no Oto done first.
Not many SP I watched this time, only 2!
Kamoshirenai Joyutachi ~ It's a parallel universe of these 3 actresses, Takeuchi Yuko, Maki Yoko and Mizukawa Asami. In this drama, these 3 actresses is in the world where the what if they failed the audition for the role that was the pivot point of their acting careers. Maki Yoko is working part time while drawing 4 strip manga as her diary. Takeuchi Yuko is quite successful in being an editor. Mizukawa Asami is working hard for extras, not leading roles. For one reason to another these 3 ended up connected, what would happen afterwards, do they end up as famous actresses as they're in the real life? This drama is fun to watch, in particular Takeuchi Yuko and Maki Yoko part (well, you can also say I'm very bias LOL). I'm so so on Mizukawa's part because she just complains and whines around whereas the other 2 are not whining that much about their current circumstances.
Okujou no Aru Apaato ~ This drama is in similar laid back pattern as SP drama such as Koko ni Aru Shiawase. The storyline is about a lady after being laid off trying to live independently. Her living alone in her own apartment moment is shortlifted by her best friend who ran away from her own marriage. In her new place, the lady develops the vague not clear relationship with the boss. All chain of events that seems mundane but made her life complicated is the drama. To me it's something to watch when you just want to watch with no concentration and just have indifferent feeling. It has some heartwarming towards the end, but not particular special feeling after that.
Summer List
Arama posted the complete list awhile ago. It's a very long list, but there're not a lot that caught my attention. My list is rather sporadic and I find my stress level plays a very important role this time too in picking what I want to watch. I won't deny that 99.9% of my list are picked out of a very shallow prettiness soft spot. I just need to see lots of prettiness after sinking into the sea of darkness during the day so that I can keep on going for tomorrow. The only one drama picked not because of prettiness is Risk no Kamisama.
Hotel Concierge ~ Miura Shohei, no other much reason for this drama. But I prefer this compared to Ghost Writer. It's light and just pretty with the hotel hospitality, Japanese way. Epi 1 review in here.
37.5°C no Namida ~ The theme is actually interesting by itself. It's about a service company who provides care for sick children who are not fit to go to healthcare for the day. They call the 37.5C as the borderline whereby kids have to be taken back home. This especially creates the burden to the parents, especially single working parents in Japan where work is number 1 priority in their lives and having to take time off to take care of your family is given a side eye. But take a quick look to the drama for a minute, don't you think that there're too many good looking single dads in this drama? Narimiya (gosh how long has it been since his last drama?), Mokomichi. Plus the very strict sachou, Fujiki (he's aged quite a lot here, but nevertheless, still one of my fave ikemen!).
Koinaka ~ Getsuku drama is back to the normal mode and surprisingly, no Johnny's? Interesting. We have Fukushi Sota as the lead now. Epi 1 review in here for all the prettiness.
Omotesando Koukou Gasshoubu! ~ Typical high school drama with the ganbaru spirit lead character. The theme this time is around chorus so we're here for the harmonious group of young song birds
Risk no Kamisama ~ The idea of risk management here is more focus on product recalls and scandals, rather than the prevention route of the actual risk management (there no drama in here and the drama will be very boring). We have one of my fave uncle actor, Tsutsumi Shinichi here as your God of Risk. Toda Erika was brilliant in Epi 1 and I really symphatize her eaten up by her ambition and the big bosses' politics. Having Morita in this drama is a big bonus (the last drama I saw him in was Lunch no Joou... 13 years ago? LOL)
Okasan, Ore wa Daijoubu ~ 24Hr TV drama SP, in a standard way. This is the perfect time to bawl your heart out and I like Yamada :p
Kokoro no Kagaku sha, Narumi Saku no Challenge II ~ I have faith in Yamapi when it's not a romance role. He shows improvement in Algernon.
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Date: 2015-07-25 08:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-07-26 11:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-11 05:17 pm (UTC)i love kimutaku i'm home too..and for his role at getsuku, i had some kind of debate or discussion with my friend about kimutaku roles, when i sadi his role many of them are essentially is same then he didnt agree and said they are different and etc... and we went for that discussion for hours..lol
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Date: 2015-09-12 11:03 am (UTC)i knowww, funny right? i finally finished it couple weeks ago, but that's after forcing myself to sit and watch. i think it's the theme itself, not the cast definitely. i think the current kimutaku already broke through the typical getsuku lead box, which is great! i look forward what drama he'll be in next, yey!