pash

Kamiji Yusuke is funny. Aya Ueto is beautiful, and so is Kuninaka Ryoko (though I must confess having been eerily attracted by Wakamura Mayumi and her impeccable blonde bob, here). The story is the Nth retelling of Cinderella's tale (or maybe I should write "stale", heh), this time with a coupla twists that actually made it a little less annoying than usual, for this humble reviewer: 1) he's poor, and she's loaded; 2) being loaded isn't the goal here - as a matter of fact, the dorama conveys the message that being loaded and being a decent human being are pretty much mutually exclusive (something that I appreciated - what with the "it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven" and all that, you know). Unfortunately most of the dorama is just "meh", often being silly rather than funny. Still, differently from other reviewers, I liked the last episodes a lot better than the previous ones, and as far as I'm concerned those last eps and the afore-mentioned message are the reasons why this gets a passing grade.

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I could only find this unsubbed (and without the Special, BTW), but I still just HAD TO watch it, since it's based on one of my all-time favorite manga (published in English as "Steaming Sniper"). Unfortunately, my understanding of Japanese is limited to the simplest sentences, although I could still follow some eps - those which were (loosely) based on chapters from the original manga so with those I already knew more or less what was going on - and the 2-out-of-10 words I could grasp here and there also helped a bit; so all in all I won't comment on the dialogues, as it'd be unfair of me to do so. I'll still comment on the script, though, albeit admitting that, given the complexity (and the length) of the manga, there was no way one could manage to squeeze it into 12 short eps. (less than 30 minutes each, minus the opening and ending credits and the preview of next episode, let's say around 25 minutes each, actually). The only way one could have done justice to "Steaming Sniper" would have been to make an AsaDora out of it. Now, if you watch this dorama you'll think that it'd be absolutely impossible, given the sex and the violence which are in it! Well, this is where, fluency in Japanese aside, I have a real beef with whoever scripted this abomination, as it has very little to do with the original story, and that showed a lack of respect which I can't forgive. For instance, although targeted at a more grown-up audience, the manga ain't no freaking hentai nor a frigging gangster story "à la John Woo", for crying out loud! It's a "slice of life" story, dammit! Still, the dorama writer(s) specifically selected the manga chapters containing some sex & violence (which are minor ingredients in the manga chapters themselves, but became, like, the main dish here!) and even went the extra mile and added more sex and violence which weren't anywhere in the manga - and all this really pissed me off, to be honest. So, I'll stand by my opinion that this could've worked as an asadora, since "Steaming Sniper" doesn't revolve around sex and violence, and 99% of that could be expunged from the story without affecting its value at all (and as for the remaining 1%? Well, what's so bad in a good old fadeout here and there?), and with 16 volumes, each consisting of 10 or 11 chapters, there would have been enough material to write the around 150 eps. of an asadora. Had they done that, maybe they could've also afforded a better cast - and look, I'm not discussing the acting skills of the actors/actresses chosen for this; I'll only say they have very little - and in some case nothing at all! - in common with the manga characters! I particularly disagreed with the casting choices regarding Gen-san, the Okami and Tomoyo-san! (Ooohhh, that lazy and silly decision of using two different actresses for Tomoyo-san with or without makeup! Aaaargh...) Okay, I've written too much already: considering all of the above, I couldn't possibly give this a passing grade. The beautiful, jazzy musical score still managed to sweeten the pill up a bit, so I'll give this "only" 5 out of 10 and not 4 or even 3 as I was tempted to...

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While looking for the right words to comment on this dorama, I'm wondering whether I should copy&paste the review I wrote on another site for "Kanojotachi No Jidai" ("Scriptwriting 101: the ideal script should have great characters and a great plot; you can still write something nice with a weak (or even no) plot but at least great characters, and you can still come up with something watchable with weak characters but at least a great plot. But if you write something with no plot and dull characters, what you'll get in the end is just a waste of film. Uninspiring.") or if I'd rather take inspiration from what a fellow reviewer wrote on that very same site ("...I didn't really care for the characters, which is not a good thing for a character-based drama"). Or maybe I should be less lazy and, instead of copying&pasting something previously written, I should try writing something new? Then a possibility could be the "Christmas Present Metaphor": you know how some Christmas presents look so beautiful all wrapped up nicely and whatnot (just like the photography, editing and directing in this dorama) but when you finally unwrap and open them up you realize they may have looked beautiful from the outside, but actually there's just a totally plain, dull and uninspiring thing inside? I'll let you pick the approach that you'll find more appropriate. As for me, even taking into consideration the great performances by Tsumabuki Satoshi, Eita and Aoi Yu - BTW, what a waste of acting talent, casting them for this poor script! - and also the lovely opening credit song....still, I can't possibly give this waste of film anything higher than a 4/10. Boring, uninspiring and horribly, painstakingly, intolerably verbose!

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There's an Italian idiom ("senza infamia e senza lode") which would apply perfectly to this dorama. In English it would mean, literally, "without infamy nor praise", and in a less literal and therefore better translation, it would sound as "not particularly worth of praise, nor of criticism". The dorama has its moments and the main actors (Kanno Miho, Amami Yuki, Tamaki Hiroshi, Koichi Mantaro and Miyoshi Ayaka) all deliver solid performances. Unfortunately, the script is a bit plain, so it ends up been watchable and even quite enjoyable, but at the same time not particularly remarkable.

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Being quite a big fan of Japanese mystery comics (Meitantei Conan) and novels (namely, Higashino!), I really enjoyed this anthology series! True, a coupla episodes are only so-and-so imho (#3,4,7), but several others are absolutely brilliant (#1,2,5,6,8,11), and the average quality is therefore pretty damn good imho. The frame story being played for a few seconds before and after each episode and reaching the climax at the end of the series is also enjoyable (making constant fun of mystery tropes in a very fast-paced and minimal way - kind of like a 4-koma manga, if you know what I mean - adds some nice comic relief). A well-deserved "8", as far as I'm concerned! ;)

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This dorama gets a full 10/10 for its many merits (very interesting plot, beautiful message, great performances by the leads - Aoi Yu and Sakurai Sho - and by part of the supporting cast - most of all, Kazama Morio and Kinami Haruka - btw, too bad Morikawa Aoi's role is so small T__T) and despite its flaws (the naiveté of some details - active learning is indeed a great tool, but it's not so easy to implement it, particularly in a high school environment, as shown here; the ridiculously terrible performances given by Arakawa Yoshiyoshi - the guy can "play" only ONE character, and that's what he does *every single time* in *every single drama*...SO ANNOYING!!! - and by Takashima Masanobu - compared to him, even Dick Dastardly from "Wacky Races" was a credible, realistic and sober villain!!! >__<

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First things first: if I were to make an actual average of my ratings for the different categories, this drama would get an overall grade of 6/10...so why am I rating it a 1/10 instead? Very simply put, because, a) it was such a huge let down and b) it pissed me off so royally in the second half.
I have myself to blame for it though, as I started watching this "Hirowareta Otoko" without realizing that it's actually an AMERICAN-Japanese production - and indeed, after a few episodes consistent with a typical J-drama, the second half of the series is unfortunately filled with all the stuff that eventually led me to abandon American productions altogether eight years ago, after having watched them all my life. No offense meant, I'm sure most people would disagree and start the flag-waving, star-spangled cheers right away. This is just my personal opinion, so take it for what it is, and if you disagree, just ignore my rant. Thanks.
If you happen to agree with me on the disdain for hollywoodian crap, though, heed my warning and steer clear of this. Luckily for us there's plenty of Asian dramas still not affected by contemporary American "culture".
Nakano Taiga is such a great actor, and there are some wonderful actresses in the cast too (Ito Sairi, Yakushimaru Hitoko, Suzuki Anne, Kaho, Tanabe Momoko, Sato Megumi etc. etc.). The "behind the scenes" glimpse into a supporting actor's life is indeed a tremendously interesting premise. The "packaging" (direction, photography, editing, OST) is also top-notch.
But it all gets utterly ruined by the lousy propaganda it contains, sorry.
Just one example - take this dialogue between the ML and his brother:

"Why did you come to America?"
[...]
"World peace...different people getting along together...[...]...I thought I would find all that..."
"If that's the case, then you did find it."

...'cause yeah, America is so star-spangled awesome, right? >____<
Who in his right mind wouldn't want to go find "world peace" in a country that has been AT WAR for about 228 of the 246 years since its inception in 1776, right? Or to go find "different people getting along together" in a country where racism is literally *everywhere*?
Seriously...>_______<

p.s.
Again, pardon my rant. And please note that I have *nothing* against the American people. I know many, and the vast majority of them are good people. Just not a fan of the government, nor of the media, for the terribly evil effect they have on people both in and outside of the US. Peace!

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This "Borderless" is a joint production (in the American comics I'd sometimes read when I was a kid - thus wasting time and money on horribly poorly written cr@p, but that's another story - it'd be called a "Team Up") between the three Sakamichi idol groups: Nogizaka46, Hinatazaka46 (formerly known as "Hiragana Keyakizaka46") and Sakurazaka46 (ex- Kanji Keyakizaka46).
The main cast is composed of seven members of the different groups, namely two each from Nogizaka and Hinatazaka, and three from Sakurazaka. Fans of any of those groups will surely find some added value in seeing how some of their favorite idols performed as actresses. For example, being a fan of Hinatazaka and Sakurazaka, I knew I was gonna get some good acting by Saito Kyoko and Kobayashi Yui, but I wasn't honestly expecting much from the other girls, and was therefore positively surprised by their performances - particularly by Hamagishi's - whom I hadn't pegged for one capable of acting as she did here. Kudos, Hiyotan! ^__-
Now, not being a Nogizaka fan I had no idea what to expect from Hayakawa Seira and Endo Sakura, but they did quite well too, especially the latter. All in all, the idol main cast was more than okay; alas, the same can't be said of all the supporting actors and actresses, from whom we got mixed performances instead.
The production value of this dorama is pretty high, even more so for Japanese standards.
The real problem - and the reason behind the low rating I'm giving it - lies in the script.
Although it has some (rare!) good moments, those are literally drowned in an abundance of mediocrity; the dialogues are often unnaturally verbose and the scenes frequently boring (weren't it for the musical score keeping up the tension, I would've fallen asleep more than once!) or even nonsensical - as is, for example, the way the different storylines are brought together: a moment I was looking forward to, but that instead let me down completely. Just as the "mystery" solution, which was plainly terrible imho. But the worst thing was, for me, the ending: when you write your villain as such a despicable person, the viewers deserve to see him/her *punished* at the end, NOT *rewarded* with a happy ending!!! >______<
5/10 because I don't want to be too hard, given how the girls performed.
But I'm personally blacklisting the writer as we speak.
p.s.
The best part (BY FAR) are imho the 10' or so of "Making Of" scenes, shown at the end of each episode! (LOL at least the writer couldn't ruin those! ^__-)

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