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Japanese Drama-a-thon!
Jun. 30th, 2010 11:43 pmI've been bored during my freetime and times where I choose to neglect my job at work. I've just been looking around at some dramas to watch. Like I said before, I "was" watching "Shibatora," but I put it on hold because I can't get the 7th episode. Teppei is so great in that drama. I haven't seen him in anything else lately. Shibatora is an "old" series, so I guess I'm a little behind. But that's just the way I am, I don't always get to watch something the same year it comes out. Sometimes because I haven't heard about it at the time or I'm not familiar with the cast yet.
This will seem a little off topic, but just recently I finished the entire "Meitantei Loki Ragnarok" anime series.
Approximately 26 episodes in total. It's a mystery genre anime about how the Norse "God of Mischief" (Loki) was exiled from Asgard, sent to earth, turned into a child by his father Odin, had his memories wiped, his powers limited, he searches for the truth behind all of it and gathers evil energy on earth in order to return to the realm of the gods so he can face Odin. That was the reason why he opened a detective agency, strange mysteries often result in evil energy. In the first episode, Loki is joined by a human high school girl named Mayura, whom is obsessed with occult and paranormal mysteries. Mayura just ends up stalking Loki the entire series because they always encounter strange mysteries together. Throughout the whole series, Odin sends the other gods to assassinate Loki, but most of them fail and become Loki's friends. For the entire series, Mayura has no idea of Loki's true identity as a Norse god. It wasn't until much later in the series that Mayura begun to question the fact that Loki was different from everyone else, but even then... she still had no clue... part of it was due to the fact that she was always unconscious or not present when Loki used his magical powers to fight.
To sum the anime up... detective mystery + comedy + Norse mythology + Japanese randomness. The first time I saw this series was in English dub. This is my second time watching, but in Japanese this time. Even after watching this for a second time... I still did not understand the series! The reason for Loki's exile still remained unclear no matter how many times I've rewatched it. They kept changing the reasons in the show, all of them proven false too. It's a good anime, watch it. If you get lost in the story like most other people, it's alright, there are plenty of Japanese jokes that will keep you entertained.
Since "I am" supposed to be talking about Japanese dramas, let's get down to what else I've been watching lately...
Okay, so I did mention that I was watching "The Quiz Show 2." I was watching by myself, but then I got Miki into it, so we watched together. I don't care much for Sakurai Sho, I was watching because of Yokoyama Yu. You know... I thought he was going to have another cool yet silly role like in "Yukan Club," but I was totally wrong!!! At first in this drama, he was kind of funny, his character was a cool and persuasive show director. Sakurai Sho's character is apparently kept in a mental institution when he's not hosting the Quiz Show as he suffers from severe amnesia. It was shocking for me to see Yu's character portrayed as the evil villain pulling all the strings on/off the show.
Now remember, the Quiz Show is a somewhat falsely set up gameshow created to lure greedy people in. As innocent as the game questions start off, these contestants are tricked into confessing their own unsolved crimes or guilt until they break down or go insane.
It was convincingly well done to look like a real gameshow spin-off of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." Everything is normal and okay on the set of the Quiz Show. See, Sakurai Sho's character (pictured above), named Kamiyama, looks fine like this, but then...
Yu's character (dressed in black), named Honma, keeps him in the cell of a mental institution and forces Kamiyama (dressed in white) to remember his difficult past that was suppressed by amnesia. Honma basically tortures Kamiyama at the end of each episode, trying to force a memory out of Kamiyama.
I'm not enjoying this evil Yokoyama Yu. I prefer him as that silly guy who keeps the rest of Kanjani 8 laughing with delight. Honma appeared as the one with the mental disorder, not Kamiyama.
It's creepy.
If you're well adjusted to repetition and easily amused by twisted mind bending logic, WATCH THIS DRAMA, it's a power trip. If con-artists, dark secrets, and gameshows bore you, then you will be bored after ten minutes of the first episode. But I thought it was a great drama. Yokoyama Yu crying... the most amusing thing to watch... I'm serious, but you'd need to watch the series all the way through to know what I was talking about.
Next series I started watching is "Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge."
Okay, so this series is about these four handsome guys (F4 rip-off? I'm kidding) which all comfortably live together in a nice big mansion. Living in the mansion with them is the mansion owner's son. One day they get a video call from the mansion owner saying that the four guys will be forced to pay rent(which had always been free) or if they couldn't pay, they'd be evicted. However, the mansion owner negotiates a deal with the guys if they wish to remain in the mansion free of charge... The deal was, if they can transform the mansion owner's niece into the perfect proper lady, then they would be allowed to continue living in the mansion. The biggest problem is... the so-called-niece is far off from being a "proper lady." The niece has an interest in darkness, anatomic plastic models, skulls, and all things death related. Looks like the boys have one tough mission ahead.
Kame has the lead role in this one. He always gets all the major roles, it can't be helped... he's a good actor afterall. In this drama, Kame seems very straight-forward. He's ill-tempered and impatient, but you can tell his intentions are good. He tries his best everyday, even after many failed attempts. He'll do anything to maintain his "free rent." However... if Kame used the same training method from "Nobuta wo Produce," I bet the drama would end too quickly.
But also co-starring a few other Johnnys as well, Tegoshi and Uchi. Oh wow, the triple threat.
I remember how awesome Tegoshi was in "My Boss, My Hero." I haven't seen Tegoshi actually act very much in a while. In this drama, his character was super feminine for a guy. As a matter of fact, he looked stunningly gorgeous in drag with that cute pink dress and hair extensions in this first episode. I had no idea his figure actually suited him well as a girl too. His reputation has apparently gone downhill, so I don't know what the situation with his popularity is anymore. I still think you're awesome (as an actor).
As for Uchi... he was demoted and on the verge of getting fired the last time I saw him. So Uchi is making a comeback in the drama world huh? Well, the first time I noticed his comeback was in "Osen," ah the wonderful drama about old style food. In this drama, Uchi plays the ONLY responsible/mature guy in the household, everybody else in the house doesn't exactly think straight... Uchi's plans and reasoning actually works, while the other three guys' logic always seem to end in disaster. Miki finds Uchi to be attractive and she claims he's hot. Really? Uhh... Miki... I'm not seeing it... I don't know, I'm not into Uchi. But I loved his role in Osen. Ohh... that OP... Uchi crashing into the floor in slow motion... EPIC!!!!!!!!!!
Anyways... Yamato is by far excellent. It's funny and cute and therefore awesome. I'd recommend this! It has so many cliches but you can't help but want to watch for the pure enjoyment of the cheesiness factor. You wanna know what I think about this drama? "I think it's t-t-t... too... too... DAZZLING!!!!!!" *hiss, run away from brightness* But seriously, this drama is good.
That's all I got for now, I might find some more dramas to watch in the near future.
Until next time, see you again later.
This will seem a little off topic, but just recently I finished the entire "Meitantei Loki Ragnarok" anime series.
Approximately 26 episodes in total. It's a mystery genre anime about how the Norse "God of Mischief" (Loki) was exiled from Asgard, sent to earth, turned into a child by his father Odin, had his memories wiped, his powers limited, he searches for the truth behind all of it and gathers evil energy on earth in order to return to the realm of the gods so he can face Odin. That was the reason why he opened a detective agency, strange mysteries often result in evil energy. In the first episode, Loki is joined by a human high school girl named Mayura, whom is obsessed with occult and paranormal mysteries. Mayura just ends up stalking Loki the entire series because they always encounter strange mysteries together. Throughout the whole series, Odin sends the other gods to assassinate Loki, but most of them fail and become Loki's friends. For the entire series, Mayura has no idea of Loki's true identity as a Norse god. It wasn't until much later in the series that Mayura begun to question the fact that Loki was different from everyone else, but even then... she still had no clue... part of it was due to the fact that she was always unconscious or not present when Loki used his magical powers to fight.
To sum the anime up... detective mystery + comedy + Norse mythology + Japanese randomness. The first time I saw this series was in English dub. This is my second time watching, but in Japanese this time. Even after watching this for a second time... I still did not understand the series! The reason for Loki's exile still remained unclear no matter how many times I've rewatched it. They kept changing the reasons in the show, all of them proven false too. It's a good anime, watch it. If you get lost in the story like most other people, it's alright, there are plenty of Japanese jokes that will keep you entertained.
Since "I am" supposed to be talking about Japanese dramas, let's get down to what else I've been watching lately...
Okay, so I did mention that I was watching "The Quiz Show 2." I was watching by myself, but then I got Miki into it, so we watched together. I don't care much for Sakurai Sho, I was watching because of Yokoyama Yu. You know... I thought he was going to have another cool yet silly role like in "Yukan Club," but I was totally wrong!!! At first in this drama, he was kind of funny, his character was a cool and persuasive show director. Sakurai Sho's character is apparently kept in a mental institution when he's not hosting the Quiz Show as he suffers from severe amnesia. It was shocking for me to see Yu's character portrayed as the evil villain pulling all the strings on/off the show.
Now remember, the Quiz Show is a somewhat falsely set up gameshow created to lure greedy people in. As innocent as the game questions start off, these contestants are tricked into confessing their own unsolved crimes or guilt until they break down or go insane.
It was convincingly well done to look like a real gameshow spin-off of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." Everything is normal and okay on the set of the Quiz Show. See, Sakurai Sho's character (pictured above), named Kamiyama, looks fine like this, but then...
Yu's character (dressed in black), named Honma, keeps him in the cell of a mental institution and forces Kamiyama (dressed in white) to remember his difficult past that was suppressed by amnesia. Honma basically tortures Kamiyama at the end of each episode, trying to force a memory out of Kamiyama.
I'm not enjoying this evil Yokoyama Yu. I prefer him as that silly guy who keeps the rest of Kanjani 8 laughing with delight. Honma appeared as the one with the mental disorder, not Kamiyama.
It's creepy.
If you're well adjusted to repetition and easily amused by twisted mind bending logic, WATCH THIS DRAMA, it's a power trip. If con-artists, dark secrets, and gameshows bore you, then you will be bored after ten minutes of the first episode. But I thought it was a great drama. Yokoyama Yu crying... the most amusing thing to watch... I'm serious, but you'd need to watch the series all the way through to know what I was talking about.
Next series I started watching is "Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge."
Okay, so this series is about these four handsome guys (F4 rip-off? I'm kidding) which all comfortably live together in a nice big mansion. Living in the mansion with them is the mansion owner's son. One day they get a video call from the mansion owner saying that the four guys will be forced to pay rent(which had always been free) or if they couldn't pay, they'd be evicted. However, the mansion owner negotiates a deal with the guys if they wish to remain in the mansion free of charge... The deal was, if they can transform the mansion owner's niece into the perfect proper lady, then they would be allowed to continue living in the mansion. The biggest problem is... the so-called-niece is far off from being a "proper lady." The niece has an interest in darkness, anatomic plastic models, skulls, and all things death related. Looks like the boys have one tough mission ahead.
Kame has the lead role in this one. He always gets all the major roles, it can't be helped... he's a good actor afterall. In this drama, Kame seems very straight-forward. He's ill-tempered and impatient, but you can tell his intentions are good. He tries his best everyday, even after many failed attempts. He'll do anything to maintain his "free rent." However... if Kame used the same training method from "Nobuta wo Produce," I bet the drama would end too quickly.
But also co-starring a few other Johnnys as well, Tegoshi and Uchi. Oh wow, the triple threat.
I remember how awesome Tegoshi was in "My Boss, My Hero." I haven't seen Tegoshi actually act very much in a while. In this drama, his character was super feminine for a guy. As a matter of fact, he looked stunningly gorgeous in drag with that cute pink dress and hair extensions in this first episode. I had no idea his figure actually suited him well as a girl too. His reputation has apparently gone downhill, so I don't know what the situation with his popularity is anymore. I still think you're awesome (as an actor).
As for Uchi... he was demoted and on the verge of getting fired the last time I saw him. So Uchi is making a comeback in the drama world huh? Well, the first time I noticed his comeback was in "Osen," ah the wonderful drama about old style food. In this drama, Uchi plays the ONLY responsible/mature guy in the household, everybody else in the house doesn't exactly think straight... Uchi's plans and reasoning actually works, while the other three guys' logic always seem to end in disaster. Miki finds Uchi to be attractive and she claims he's hot. Really? Uhh... Miki... I'm not seeing it... I don't know, I'm not into Uchi. But I loved his role in Osen. Ohh... that OP... Uchi crashing into the floor in slow motion... EPIC!!!!!!!!!!
Anyways... Yamato is by far excellent. It's funny and cute and therefore awesome. I'd recommend this! It has so many cliches but you can't help but want to watch for the pure enjoyment of the cheesiness factor. You wanna know what I think about this drama? "I think it's t-t-t... too... too... DAZZLING!!!!!!" *hiss, run away from brightness* But seriously, this drama is good.
That's all I got for now, I might find some more dramas to watch in the near future.
Until next time, see you again later.
