This was "only" my 8th Asadora, but compared to all the other ones it didn't feel like one at all to me. Even the Asadoras I didn't like at least gave me the feel of what this format's all about (at least in my opinion), discover a dream/goal and work hard to achieve it. This was more like "I have an idea I'll immediately immerse myself in until it fails or something stops me and then I'll come up with something new". Manpuku was well executed and acted, but I feel like it would've been more fitting to make it into a normal, weekly drama. What I'll probably remember most is going to be the ever repeating dialogue of Manpei's "ah, it's a failure" and Fukuko's "don't mind, I sacrifice everything, you just do your thing".
Another failure in my quest to watch a Japanese drama about an environment of working women only without at least one of the main or supporting cast members being addicted to Goukons and/or super desperate to marry so she can quit her job. Other than that, the drama reminded me a bit of House MD, only without all the illegal methods, a female doctor as main character and a lot more unnecessary power struggle.
Viki says, "This show is not available in your region." Anybody know which region this is available?
I think this is just Viki saying "We removed the show, so let's just use "it's not available in your region" as an excuse". Happened to me a handful of times now with different shows, sometimes even from one day to the next inbetween watching episodes. I'd advise everyone to stay away from Viki if they're not someone who binge watches whole shows in one go.
Really liked the drama, but the last few episodes were just beyond my comprehension and completely ruined the whole premise for me. To cry and agonize over someone who tormented her and basically ruined her whole youth is something I'll never understand. She didn't have one single good memory of her grandmother and after the "she physically and mentally tormented me, but that was actually a show of her kindness and love" monologue under tears I needed to skip through the remainder of the drama.
Japanese dramas idealizing marriage again? Everyone has their own path in life and marriage isn't for everyone.
It's not really the drama writers fault. Unfortunately the majority of Japanese society still thinks marriage is the epitome of happiness, especially for women. It's one of the reasons why Japan is in last place of OECD member countries when it comes to women in leading business positions (in 2020 only 13% of all manager positions were women while it was 42% in the US, just to compare). Let's hope that the millenial generation can slowly but surely distance themselves from that view and we get less J-dramas idealizing marriage.
Loved the first 7/8 of the drama. Overall funny, but at the same time a lot of character growth all around in the more serious parts. It's unfortunate they needed to include an unnecessary and artificial romance just to have romance at all, but if you can overlook that part, I highly recommend it.
Edit after rewatching: I think this is the role model drama of why Japanese men can't get married these days. Every single guy in this drama is just telling a woman that he's going to marry her out of the blue without even being in a relationship before or thinking of asking if she even wants to first. And everyone around them seems to be totally ok with it and happy? It could've been a drama set in the bubble era when every woman just married the richest guy available without the need for feelings so she could become a housewife and I could have comprehended it, but not in 2008 - 2010. To top it off, the men who are already married are like Showa flashbacks, too. Not able to even cook rice even though they basically work from home and trying to control the decisions of their family members because of their insecurities. But the unmarried or not proposing men, as well as most of the women (at least from Osaka) are likeable and/or fun characters most watchers can probably connect with in some way or another.
Someone should either clean up the Tags or change some of the Supporting Roles to Main Roles. I almost didn't watch it because I thought it's another "naive weak female OL always gets in trouble and some guy gets to help her out of it" drama as the Tags suggest. It's the complete opposite of that, so the Tags are pretty misleading.
Super funny drama and one of the better comedy Manga/Anime adaptions. I usually don't say anything bad about subtitles because I really appreciate the people doing them and I know it's hard work, but unfortunately the only available subs I know of are pretty bad, so, in my opinion, to really get all of the humor you either need a basic understanding of Japanese or you need to have watched the Anime.
I should have stopped in the middle of episode 9, then I would have been perfectly happy with this drama. "Homosexuality is only a phase and you're only gay until you find a good partner of the opposite sex" is what a lot of Japanese society still believes and it unfortunately really shows at the end. In my opinion the last one and a half episodes pretty much ruined an otherwise funny and well acted drama.
I smell another "naive, pure and helpless without a man" Fukuhara Haruka drama. I hope I'll be wrong and she's playing a different rom-com character for once because I actually like her when she's playing something normal/realistic.
I really liked the first season, but the second was a bit too over the top for me when it comes to the hospital boss, which is essentially the main antagonist. I know that 98% of Japanese men in power (in dramas) are scumbags, especially to women, but an extremely corrupt, self-absorbed and useless (as a doctor) 70-ish year old head of a big, famous hospital who openly chases every nurse, secrety and woman in general to grab a feel while his wife is terrorizing the wives of all the other staff members is something I can't really stomach nor believe. I know it's, unfortunately, normal in Japan as a man (especially in power) to have 10 affairs at a time, but it's just too much for me to believe that any general public would tolerate behaviour like this from a man of standing.
I skipped through most of the season because I found most of the characters just stupid and it's basically the same procedure as season 1.
Usually I love these "school club dramas". Especially when it's about music. Omotesando Koukou Gasshoubu, Swing Girls or Linda Linda Linda for example. But I couldn't get into this one, regardless of how good the acting or how well thought out the story is. I don't even dislike stories with problem kids or Yankiis, but this one is just way too far fetched for me. They go around and randomly punch people, destroy property left and right, gamble and smoke in plain view, etc. It's supposed to be a more or less realistic drama, so even if I turn off rational thinking they should be in juvenile detention, not still at school where teachers tell them "I believe in you" and "join the brass band". I think I could've really enjoyed the drama if they would've either lessened the crime spree or if the Yankii build up would've been no more than 2 episodes.
I really like these slow paced slice of life "detective" dramas. And it has a nice twist because they don't try to find a culprit but a recipe the customer wants to remember. The main story was also pretty interesting and Kutsuna Shiori does a great job as usual, she's one of my favorite Japanese actresses (it's a shame she went to Hollywood). But I really didn't like the acting of the male lead, Hagiwara Kenichi, who plays her father. He probably acts out the character how it was designed, but always using the most polite way to speak possible combined with the excrutiating slow pace he talks at kind of made me lose interest in what he was even talking about most of the time.
Good movie. If I hadn't seen the anime I would've probably given it a better score than 7.5, but there's just no way to get this story into a 2 hour movie without skipping important plot points. If you liked the movie, you should definitely watch both anime seasons. The in my opinion best parts of the series, the character development of everyone aswell as the friendships in class and especially between the 3 girls, was almost completely cut and the movie's basically only about the romance between the two main characters.
What I'll probably remember most is going to be the ever repeating dialogue of Manpei's "ah, it's a failure" and Fukuko's "don't mind, I sacrifice everything, you just do your thing".
Edit after rewatching: I think this is the role model drama of why Japanese men can't get married these days. Every single guy in this drama is just telling a woman that he's going to marry her out of the blue without even being in a relationship before or thinking of asking if she even wants to first. And everyone around them seems to be totally ok with it and happy? It could've been a drama set in the bubble era when every woman just married the richest guy available without the need for feelings so she could become a housewife and I could have comprehended it, but not in 2008 - 2010. To top it off, the men who are already married are like Showa flashbacks, too. Not able to even cook rice even though they basically work from home and trying to control the decisions of their family members because of their insecurities. But the unmarried or not proposing men, as well as most of the women (at least from Osaka) are likeable and/or fun characters most watchers can probably connect with in some way or another.
I usually don't say anything bad about subtitles because I really appreciate the people doing them and I know it's hard work, but unfortunately the only available subs I know of are pretty bad, so, in my opinion, to really get all of the humor you either need a basic understanding of Japanese or you need to have watched the Anime.
I skipped through most of the season because I found most of the characters just stupid and it's basically the same procedure as season 1.