crystal200

I personally have seen other actors portraying characters who have Savant syndrome and I have to say, Nakai's portrayal of this particular actor is really one of the most convincing I have seen, this is why I am so impressed with his acting in this. When I watch the drama, I don't see a actor portraying Ataru, I see Ataru himself.
If you compare Nakai's acting to his other previous roles (that is if you get the chance to watch his other dramas), then anyone with the degree of familiarity of his acting roles, would probably agree that Ataru is without a doubt one of his most remarkable & commendable roles.
Some of his other acting roles were rather bland in comparison to be perfectly honest.

Ok, I do hope you will change your mind & watch the rest of the drama...but again, it's your choice.

personally, I think you should give this drama another go and watch the rest of it, I think the writing does improve further into the series with more interesting cases and improved chemistry between the main characters. the whole premise with Ataru's character and his past and relationship with his parents was very well written. The complexity of his character and the bond he has with his parents is really one of the main aspects of this drama that draws you in. However the writers deliberately piece together his past slowly little by little until it was fully explored in later episodes.

Of course it's up to you whether you want to watch the rest of the drama or not...I'm just recommending you to continue with the drama because I think things do become more interesting in later episodes and the writing eventually becomes more substantial.

if you've only watched the first episode, then you've only barely scratched the surface of this drama.
Yes the idea of a savant being involved in police investigations is unconvincing, just about everyone who has watched the drama feel the same way, that's why it's 'fiction'. But for me, what really makes this drama work is not really the concept, but the main characters & their chemistry, and if you had watched more then you would've come to understand the complexity of Ataru's character. Some of the cases are were also very interesting.
I think the cast did a good job portraying their characters in the ways they were written. Nakai's acting in particular is just superb, portraying a person who has Savant syndrome without any prior knowledge or understanding of the disease whatsoever, yet he was able portray such characteristics so convincingly.

I'm curious, what do you think was lacking in this drama?

I think it's great; interesting characters, Ataru is quite a complex character in this, interesting cases, a good mixture of comedy & depth, complexity in human emotions for the people who were involved in each case. And the acting from Nakai is superb.

at least this shows all those ignorant people that not all Jdramas are about light-hearted naive high-school romances. Which many people have ignorantly generalized romance Jdramas with.

I'm glad this is a more serious, dark & depressing story, this is just as much a human drama as it is a romance drama, and this is a drama that deals with mature & complex feelings.

Also, many of the old romance Jdramas actually deals with mature romances & complex feelings. even now there are a few good mature & complex romance Jdramas like 'Hatsukoi', they are different to the more light-hearted & naive romance Jdramas. But unfortunately these more serious & complex romance Jdramas are now being overshadowed by the light-hearted naive romance Jdramas that so many people are ignorantly generalizing romance Jdramas with.
Sorry for posting so much, but I felt I just needed to point out this very important fact about romance Jdramas. Because I have seen all too well of the ignorance many people have about romance Jdramas...these people seem to think there's only 1 style of filming romance dramas in Japan, when this is really not true at all.
Many of the old mature romance Jdramas are actually even more complex than their Korean counterparts.

with your comments, to be honest I'm not convinced you are that familiar with Jdramas, even though you claim to have watched more Jdramas than Kdramas. You say that Jdramas always delivers with comedy & light-hearted romance, but the truth is, only 20% of Jdramas are actually about romance, and about 50% of Jdramas have comedy. So your comment just gave me the impression that although you may have watched more Jdramas than Kdramas, but you probably mainly just watched the romance & comedy Jdramas, and very little of the other genre & more serious Jdramas.
Without watching enough Jdramas of other genres and those which are more serious & complex, it's hard to really gain a real understanding of Jdramas if you mainly just watch 1 genre or style of Jdrama.

the thing is, Jdramas are so very different to Kdramas in the sense that unlike Kdramas, Jdramas have so much diversity, they focus on so many different genres & filmed with so many different styles. many times when I see people generalize Jdramas, it's mainly from pure ignorance they have about Jdramas. I have seen so many people generalizing Jdramas & comparing them to Kdramas in terms of the romance genre & comparing them in terms of the style, quality & budget used to film these romance Jdramas, when in reality, about 80% of Jdramas are not even about the romance genre. So really, these people are just looking at only the 20% of Jdramas which are actually about romance, yet they generalize all Jdramas with this rather ignorant mentality they have about Jdramas. It's very unfair.
And only about 50% of Jdramas have comedy, the other half are serious & complex Jdramas.

hey, no hard feelings...I do seem to notice that my intentions sometimes gets misinterpreted by others...I don't know if it's just the way I express my feelings or opinions, or when I correct others that sounds a bit "harsh" maybe? I'm not sure...but I really don't mean to be harsh...it's just that when I see a comment that is untrue about something, I just have the urge to correct them on it, either it's a negative or positive comment, if it's untrue, then I like to correct them.
Of course I do understand that everyone also has different opinions & sometimes I like to respond to others with my own opinions too.

I don't jump on people's throats everytime someone says something bad about Jdramas, I merely 'correct' them because some of the comments (either negative or positive) I have seen being made about Jdramas are just untrue & I merely take the liberty of correcting them & if that constitutes as "jumping on other people's throats", then I apologize for that, that's just how I am. Sometimes I even correct people who weren't even criticizing Jdramas, that's just how I am.
It's 1 thing to voice your opinion & another thing to be just downright wrong about something.
and believe me, I've had my own fair share of Kdrama fanatics giving me alot of hate when I say something bad about Kdramas, this is why I stay away from sites about Korean stuff nowadays. It's part of being humans, like I said, everyone is a critic & everyone can become defensive about something.

I don't disagree with you about everyone having their different opinions, I was also merely giving my own opinion about Jdramas & Kdramas, just like other people here are.
I am the kind of person who prefers variety & diversity, and that is why I prefer Jdramas over the repetitive romance Kdramas. and that's just my preference.
Sure comparisons are not always a good thing because Jdramas & Kdramas both have their strengths & weaknesses and they both have fans who prefer one over the other.
But the reality is, comparisons are inevitable, you can't avoid it. Even if I don't compare them, other people will, virtually everywhere you see there are comparisons made. this whole 'Jdramas vs Kdramas' comparisons have been going on for years & I doubt it'll end anytime soon. Everyone is a critic afterall.

have you watched any of the old jdramas from the 90's? If not, then I suggest you watch them because then you will know where the Kdramas got many of their romance ideas from. Nowadays alot of romance jdramas are more on the comedy, but there are also some very good romance jdramas which really addresses some raw emotions.
The thing is, Japan is not like Korea where 90% of their dramas are just about romance. Japan is about variety, and romance only accounts to about 20% of all jdramas.
If you want to watch some deeper, more serious & "pure emotions", then I suggest you watch some of the old romance jdramas and jdramas which are not romance based, and there are heaps of fantastic non-romance jdramas.
Overall, for me Jdramas are MUCH better than Kdramas hands down, because unlike the Koreans, the Japanese have a lot of talent in producing very solid dramas of different genres.

@sommer:<br />let me ask you...have you mainly just been focusing on the romance genre of jdramas? If so, then please do not generalize jdramas the way you have...japan is not like Korea where its dramas are mainly just about romance. Japan is about variety, and sure many of the more recent romance jdramas have not been particularly well developed story wise. BUT, jdramas is famous for its variety and there has been plenty of very good jdramas in recent years which are of other genres besides romance...and alot of them are not even about the actors, but have very strong storylines & characters. I can think of plenty of very good recent crime, medical and family jdramas. <br />Seeing you generalizing jdramas the way you did really annoys me...tell me, just which recent jdramas have you watched exactly? Mainly the romance ones? Or others too?

because of their ratings? My goodness, how long have you been out of the loop? There has been quite alot of jdramas which have had good ratings.
Wait, are you both referring to romance dramas specifically or what? If you're just refering to romance dramas then I can understand because romance dramas are not that popular in Japan anymore...hence there has not been many romance jdramas in recent years...and those romance jdramas which have been made didn't do particularly well in ratings.
Japan is mainly into crime & medical dramas nowadays...and some other genres...but not really romance anymore.

the lead actor's name is Oguri Shun, not Jun...I think you probably confused Shun with Matsumoto Jun.

the lead actor's name is Oguri Shun, not Jun...I think you probably confused Shun with Matsumoto Jun.

wtf? Japan has always made good dramas...perhaps it's just you who failed to pick out the 'good' ones to watch...

wtf? Japan has always made good dramas...perhaps it's just you who failed to pick out the 'good' ones all this time...don't blame Japan for your own ignorance.