pash

"Supokon" at its best!!!

As I've already confessed in a previous review, my favorite sport is baseball.
Of all different sorts of baseball, Japanese "yakyuu" is my favorite (in a nutshell: no doping - or at least much much less than in the MLB; less muscles and more brains; nobody munching tobacco and spitting it on the field, etc. etc.).
And of all different types of Japanese "yakyuu", my favorite is precisely high school baseball.
Why? Because it's poetic, pure, epic...it's Sport with a capital "s", sport as it *should* be.
Now, the Japanese have a whole genre dedicated to sports-related stories, called "supokon", and since baseball is (one of) the national sport(s), you can guess that the vast majority of "supokon" are about baseball, and particularly about high school baseball, 'cause Japanese *love* it and the Koushien's final game is basically the Japanese equivalent of the Superbowl in the States!
So does all that mean that there's nothing really new in this story? Could be, yeah.
Does that make it any less fabulous? Hell no!
A good recipe doesn't necessarily need any fancy ingredients to make for a delicious dish; more often than not, it's precisely the simple, good old ones that are the best of the lot!
As is the case with this "Gekokujo Kyuji": all the tropes of the genre are there, but still, you can't help but enjoying *every single minute* of it! Marvelously written, acted, directed. Production value reached Himalayan heights. The message conveyed was simply beautiful.
Jeez, I finished watching it before Christmas, but I'm still getting goosebumps thinking about it now, so good it was!!! ^______^;;;
Highly and wholeheartedly recommended! Perfect 10 all the way!!!

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Very delicate and nicely original take on the old trope "high school student + teacher love", this "Sensei Sayonara" positively surprised me for its beautiful script, the good to great acting performance by the main cast, and a totally decent production value / "packaging" (direction, photography, music commentary etc.).
Hard to explain the originality of this little drama (and most of all, why you might wanna give it a chance even though you might be turned off by the premise) without spoilers, so here we go, consider yourselves warned and if you don't wanna get any of those, stop reading now!
The afore-mentioned originality lies in the fact that the drama constantly juggles two different storylines: on the one hand, in the past, we get to see the beautiful-yet-tragic love between the ML (then a high schooler himself) and his homeroom teacher (played by Kita Kana who's nothing short of brilliant here, her last scene literally gave me goosebumps!); on the other hand, in the present, we see the sweet (and rest assured, completely chaste) love between the FL and the ML, who's now become a homeroom teacher (and a widow). In both cases it's the student who initiates everything, and it both cases the relationships are portrayed in an absolutely pure, not-in-the-least naughty way.
So why don't I give this a perfect 10? Well, honestly, Kita Kana and Watanabe Shota both did really well, whereas the rest of the cast (even more so in comparison to the Himalayan heights reached by those two) was good but nothing more (most, like Hayashi Meari, are pretty young so there's still a lot of room for improvement of course, ganbatte kudasai!)

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This "Kamisan no Waruguchi" is imvho the *perfect* example ("a contrario", as the old Romans would have said) of how PC (Politically Correct) has mostly ruined storytelling (and not only that...).
Back in the Golden Age of J-dramas it was possible to make a drama with such a politically incorrect title (it roughly translates as "Badmouthing the Wives" - but don't get it wrong, at least 80% of the times - if not more - the badmouthing husbands aren't portrayed as being right at all in doing so!) and with such tridimensional characters, so full of faults and yet - or rather, precisely because of that! - so tremendously humane.
The script doesn't take sides "a priori" (OK, today it's Latin Day, bear with me, please), but rather shows two main characters who are right or wrong depending on the situation. They argue, they fight, they yell, but at the end of the day - and that's the lovely message conveyed by this old comedy - both are made better people by being together and learning from each other and from their mistakes, day in and day out. There are no *perfect* couples, but rather *functioning* ones, that are so exactly because they know that they're not perfect and *accept* it! (compare that with the current trend of demanding nothing short of *perfection* from your partner, and any failure to comply to that impossibly unrealistic demand leading to a divorce...>_____<).
Back to the drama: the script is wonderful, managing to be at the same time hilarious and thought-provoking. The acting is top-notch, with virtual standing ovations for both leads. The "packaging" might feel dated to younger viewers, but those who appreciate "oldiesbutgoldies" won't have any problem with that.
No surprise it was so successful it got a second season (alas, not yet subbed, if I'm not mistaken...?), not really a common occurrence for comedies.
Oh, a last side-note for my countrymates - who'll get the reference: this is basically the Japanese version of "Casa Vianello", LOL! ^_^;;;

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Plasticky...watch it only for the cast (they did a good job!)

Were I to use only one word to describe this "Please Classmate", that word would be "plasticky".
Fake and shallow as a tv commercial. But at least, those last 30", tops. This, instead, 24 looong episodes.
But, first things first - what I DID like, i.e.:

The Cast
True, a coupla actors were below par imho, but overall, the whole cast did a good job (heck, in some cases even a very good job, given the material they had to work with!). I have watched this for Dai Lu Wa and she didn't let me down. Honorable mentions also for Siwaige and Gao Xuan Ming.

The Music
Not really my cup of tea, but I'll admit it's mostly catchy, and it goes well with the genre, so all in all it gets the passing grade.

And now on to what I did NOT like:

The Story
Sorry to sound so harsh, but to me the writer didn't do a decent job, like, *at all*. It felt like an Asian-drama version of the meta-soap from the movie "Pleasantville". Take all the clichés of the genre, mix them together, and what you get is a cheesy, obnoxiously unoriginal, indeed plasticky yawnfest.

The "Packaging"
Photography, editing etc. contributed highly to that "tv commercial" feeling. The always tremendously fake lighting most of all!

In all fairness, though, even without the packaging, it would have given the same fake vibes, due to the script's faults. Again, if you've watched "Pleasantville", this is really like that "meta-soap": everything feels fake, whatever problems the characters face, they're not realistic at all. A coupla examples? (spoilers ahead, consider yourselves warned and jump to the conclusion if you want to avoid those)
In this drama the characters have to face the Gaokao, but it's all done in a few minutes with a few scenes edited together, and boom! they all got good grades apparently, like that, magically.
The FL thinks she might be suffering from leukemia, like her late father? Don't worry, it's just anemia.
The ML bombs the race upon which lies his future? Don't worry, someone retires last minute and he'll get another chance.
The SML misses his programming contest, gets found out, and is set to change schools? Don't worry, everything sorts out, his father does a U-turn and becomes suddenly reasonable, and a "flash-mob" by his school-mates will convince his icy mom too.
The love triangle isn't enough to run for 24 episodes? Don't worry, the lousy scriptwriter will add a third male lead who's a long-lost childhood friend of the FL and a teen idol on top of that.
Seriously, 24 episodes of this. It took me *ages* to finish it. I should've dropped it and forget all about it (matter of fact, that's precisely what I've done with many dramas; my "Dropped" list containing but a tiny minority of the dramas I actually dropped - normally, those that I felt were so bad that they deserved a mention for future reference) but I kept hoping it would get better at some point. It didn't.

Conclusion
I noticed that my opinion differs from that of basically everyone else here, so take it for what it is: my humble opinion an nothing more. Perhaps I'm too old for this kind of things (if the world doesn't end in the the next coupla years, I might even turn 50, LOL). Or maybe it's just that I really dislike dramas giving these überfake, plasticky vibes (hence my lack of interest for K-dramas, for example: I tried watching a few, they all gave me that feeling, I dropped them all and didn't even include them in my list - sorry K-fans, that's my personal experience and opinion - although I might not be absolutely alone there, as I've read several comments of people who've abandoned K-dramas and moved on to C- and J-dramas, apparently for precisely that reason - but anyway, as I said, only my humble .02, which might not mean much - if anything at all! - to most of the rest, so take no offense, peace! ^___-)

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Nao deserves a standing ovation, WOW!

First things first: Nao alone would've deserved a "perfect 10" with a standing ovation on top.
I'm impressed, seriously. I had already appreciated her talent and beauty in the movie "Mio's Cookbook", but getting the leading role here really allowed her to shine; such a magnificent actress!

Unfortunately, there were a coupla details about this drama that I personally found a bit "meh", which explains why I'm not giving this the afore-mentioned "perfect 10"; it's still a pretty solid 8, though! ^___-

Considering the similar premise (a group of weird avengers à la "Leverage") and the identical last name of both FLs (Honda Tsubasa there, Honda Nao here - although she goes by first name), it was pretty obvious for me to compare this with "Cheat", and I'd sum it up as "this is, like, the more adult version of that one".

And here comes indeed my main problem with "Enjiya": I think the serious parts were by far the best ones (for example, the second story - episodes 3 and 4 - and its terrible, yet so powerful, ending), whereas the "comic relief" was at times excessive and felt out of place here and there (I hope Kasahara Shinji's fans won't resent me for this, but I really think the drama would've worked better without him, sorry...).
The other thing that disturbed me was the CEO's character; I didn't pay him too much attention the first time he appeared, as it was part of the whole "let's start with a BANG!" strategy, and I honestly couldn't say that it didn't work (quite the opposite!), so I was more than willing to overlook the (imho) disturbing detail. But since they chose to have him back for the finale, I couldn't overlook it anymore; even more so as the series had shown, as I mentioned above, to really shine at being more serious, adult and mature (both in the plots and in the delicate topics touched); given all that, I couldn't help but think that the guy shouldn't be indulged, but rather put away: sorry for not being a fan of the whole "he's loaded, so he can afford to hire people to enact his homicidal fantasies without actually hurting anybody". What will happen when he runs out of money? Or if the urge strikes him while he's thousands of miles away? Or when the act won't satisfy him anymore?
Sorry, but that guy's a ticking bomb and, as far as I'm concerned, he belong to an asylum.

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Loved the first episodes, hated the second half

I have mixed feelings regarding this "Edo-moiselle". I loved some things, and hated others, to be honest. Okay, let's start with the things I liked: I found the first episodes really, really good; I loved the FL's character (masterfully portrayed by Okada Yui, who's BTW secured herself a place in my personal top5 ^_^), who acted in my eyes as the perfect representation of the things I like about Japan (a sometimes chaotic mix of tradition and modernity, but with the head firmly set in the past - the Edo hairstyle! ^__^ - and with a simple yet refined philosophy that can still be very useful even nowadays - just like how Senka would at first solve Reiwa people's problems or dilemmas with her Edo wisdom!). And I really liked also the CEO's character (which is something I wouldn't have expected, given how classist I am, LOL), thanks to the brilliant performance by Maeda Goki. Lastly, another character I liked (although horribly underdeveloped!) was the one played by Yamaguchi Mayu, whom I had already appreciated for her beauty and talent in "Mango no Ki no Shita de" (I wish she'll get to lead in a dorama soon, not only in movies or SP!).
After the first 3 or 4 episodes, I really thought I was gonna give this a full "10".
But then came the second half, and with it so many thinks I didn't like: first and foremost, how the focus suddenly shifted from "Edo character teaching precious life lessons to Reiwa people" to the Nth, stale, unbearable (all imho of course!) love triangle/square that I honestly could very well do without! I also really hated how the spotlight shifted to the ML (I totally disliked that character, his undecisiveness, his fashion sense - or rather lack thereof!...painful to look at, seriously!).
The ending too (no spoilers, I promise!) felt way too forced to me. This is a perfect example of "lazy writing", as far as I'm concerned.
Too bad, it could've been waaaaay better than this.../.___.\

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Differently from the first installment in the "Ring" series, this time around they were much more faithful to the book ("Rasen" being the best of the lot, imho). Of course, minus the changes that had already been previously done and thus needed to be kept for coherence. I know that most people tend to overlook this "Spiral" or to underscore it , but I beg to differ. Consider this: the two movies were brought to the public's attention at the same time. Why? Simple: they're to be seen as a whole. The first part was just the introduction, THIS is were the story gets interesting, and all the pieces of the puzzle finally come together to show a picture which is terrifying not because of easy horror-clichés, no...this time the horror is much more psychological, and it comes from the realization that, in the main character's shoes, we might have done just the same. Superb performance by Sato Koichi! As for Nakatani Miki, she's just perfect for this part. Impossible not be charmed. And impossible not be terrified, all things considered. I don't give it a 10 because of the small changes they did to the original story. But it's close...^__-

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After the first few minutes, I was expecting it to be one of those awfully hollywoodian stories where an incident occurs and, scratching the surface, all the characters are revealed to be rotten to the core (typically hollywoodian, corruptive, luciferian message, btw). I was underestimating Japan, of course (my bad, as having watched more or less hundreds of J-doramas + dozens of J-movies, I should have known better!), and at the end of this dorama (alas, too short and a bit confused) the message conveyed was very different! Very good performances by Morikawa Aoi and Matsuoka Mayu!

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In my very humble opinion, Japan produces every year (and even more so did in the past) a very decent number of good to great manga. It is therefore quite frustrating, to this humble reviewer, to constantly see how so many dramas decide instead to adapt a manga which doesn't belong to the aforementioned "good to great" category, but rather to the "meh to nope" one, as is the case of this "WataOji".
A bunch of tremendously immature adults who keep acting in a tremendously immature way 99% of the time for what is supposed to be "comedic effect" but instead ends up being just embarassangly annoying - as I always put it in such cases: ridiculous rather than hilarious.
The other 1% of the time, the script pretends to go deeper but again fails miserably, resulting instead in an awful "going through the motions of getting deeper, all while remaining as shallow as your regular poodle instead".
The acting also suffered from the terribly poor script, and even actors I like (as Okada and Endou) got negatively affected - and as for the rest of the cast, sorry but they were mostly abysmal imho.
The music is the only very good thing in this drama, but that ain't of course enough to grant it a passing grade, alas.

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I couldn't help comparing this "Itoshi no Nina" with "Kakafukaka", given how both dramas belong to the "romance" genre and (sort of) deal with the (very difficult) topic of sexual assaults; whereas "Kakafukaka" (which I tend to call "Kakà, fa kakà" in my head - Italians will get the pun better, it roughly translates as "It Sucks") did the most idiotic thing possible, that is, glamourized the whole thing, at least "Itoshi no Nina" attempted to face the topic more seriously, and managed to be a lot deeper - not such a feat per se, as the other one had been the paragon of shallowness!
Unfortunately, the result is still a bit half-baked, imho mostly due to the fact that it's not so easy to treat such a topic, within such a genre, in such a short series. And indeed, the characters' development often felt way too fast and abrupt; had the writer had more room to work with, she might have accomplished it better. As is, we have a very solidly written ML and a mostly well written FL, with the other characters being only roughly sketched and therefore often behaving inconsistently. Thusly, the story barely manages to get the passing grade, imho.
The cast did very well though, particularly the two leads, Hotta Mayu and Okada Kenshi, both delivering a very good and touching performance! Standing ovation for both!
A pretty high production value and a very nice and catchy song complete the package.
p.s.
Sorry for the following rant, but I just HAVE TO add this (WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD): I've noticed comments describing the ML as "one of the perpetrators", much to my astonishment! >____<
The guy had NO FOREKNOWLEDGE WHATSOEVER of the kidnapping, and when he found out he took action and set the girl free, fleeing with her and bringing her to safety. Considering him "a perpetrator" means either NOT HAVING WATCHED THE DRAMA AT ALL or else BEING A SEXIST WHO THINKS HE'S GUILTY BY DEFINITION BECAUSE HE'S A MALE. Whichever is UTTERLY WRONG imho.

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I liked all but the last episode

Given how I am quite a fan of the genre (meaning, Japanese horror), I just *had to* watch this "Kotodamasou".
And upon completion, I'm happy to announce it was quite a satisfying watch, except for the very last episode, which left me with a bitter aftertaste - more on that later).
First things first, what I liked:

1) The script (again, apart from the 10th ep.) was of pretty high quality; no cheap tricks, intriguing and subtly scary without being obnoxiously trying too much (if you're reading this while being in California and you hear a giant sneeze, well, it's because I'm thinking about Hollywood right now, LOL)

2) The cast: in all fairness, I bet most of the male audience would move to that residence right away, regardless of the fact that's haunted; I mean, Nishino Nanase, Hotta Mayu, Miyoshi Ayaka, Ishii Anna, Uchida Rio, Nakamura Yurika and Morita Misato all under the same roof? Count me in! Right? ^__^;;;
Honorable mention also for Eita's younger brother, here blissful among women...^_^

3) The production value: definitely pretty high! Directing, editing, photography, music...all very nice!

So, back to what I *didn't* like - namely, the last episode:

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(WARNING: huge spoilers ahead, ignore what follows if you don't wanna see them! ^___-)
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I know it's so common in horror stories, but the last twist, used to give that last cheap scare (and possibly *cough! cough!* to leave the door open for a second season?), was imvho not only unnecessary but also detrimental to the story itself, as was part of the explanation and of the solution of the haunting (I didn't like how the owner was portrayed - a ridiculous villain - nor how Sugai-san's deeds were so easily forgiven at the end - I could sum up the whole episode saying that it seemed written in Hollywood, indeed, as it had all the typical faults of a Western production - lousy wrap-up, morally questionable message, etc.)


Here's how *I* would've written the last episode:

a) I would've removed the owner's role altogether;

b) I would've had Sugai-san commit suicide right after Mitsuba-san's death (perhaps by jumping off a cliff or something, anything that might have explained how her body hadn't been found immediately - it could've been found later on, not recognized, and therefore she would've been considered to be still at large);

c) Sugai-san'd deeds shouldn't have been so easily pardoned in the end; she had still killed three people, hardly a behavior deserving of "and they lived happily ever after in the afterlife"!!!

d) instead of Ayaka-san coming back as a new evil spirit, I'd have written the last scene like this: the car stops at the seaside, the FL turns and sees Ayaka-san's ghost in the backseat, smiling and pointing towards a small house on a cliff; while the ML's busy with the engine, the FL leaves the car, follows Ayaka-san's hint and checks the house, which ends up being for sale/rent. The FL decides to take it and they move in; a few quickly edited scenes then show glimpses of the future, with the leads having a daughter and calling it Ayaka.
And THEY lived happily ever after, 'cause THEY deserved it.
Not the dangerous psychopath.

All imvho. Peace! ^___-

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This "Kanojo ga Joubutsu Dekinai Riyuu" was a pretty nice surprise for me; consisting of six episodes lasting roughly thirty minutes each, it can be taken as Nth proof that quality trumps quantity (although I did find it a tad too short - more on that in a jiff, bear with me ^__-).
The story was a clean, nice, delicate one - precisely the one you'd expect from an NHK production - and that was comforting in itself. Nevertheless - and without any spoilers, I promise - the conclusion felt a bit rushed to me, so as far as I'm concerned it wouldn't have hurt to have even just one more episode so as to be able to develop it a bit more smoothly. But it's a minor detail, really - and I know I tend to be pretty picky when it comes to scripts, so take it with a grain of salt.
The cast - I'm sorry to confess, totally unknown to me - did very well, and I particularly appreciated that the dreary but alas (stereo)typical portrayal of foreigners as funny weirdos, so common in J-dramas, was mostly absent from this series. Nice one, guys! (BTW, having a burmese-born ML portraying a burmese character was also a nice touch! I wish Hollywood learned to do the same - but then again, who cares, right? I would be none the wiser even if they did, given how I'm completely detoxed from their productions anyway, LOL).
Music and production value might not be top-notch, I'll admit, and that's why I'm not rating this as a perfect 10. But it got really close, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it! ^___-

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Similarly to "Tsumari Suki tte iitai n Dakedo", I've watched this drama because of the FL, despite the fact that it's not really my genre, normally...and surprisingly ended up liking it quite a lot!
True, the premise is as weird as they come, let's face it; but they managed to develop it in a quirky-but-funny way (LOL, those *literally* steamy scenes! ^__^;;;...), and apart from that, the story itself is a lot more wholesome than one would expect at first (heck, it's a lot more wholesome than 90% of other romance dramas, as far as I'm concerned! >__<).
Two nice characters that it's impossible not to root for, in a sweet, healthy relationship (yep, they share a...ehm...unusual fetish which I honestly would've done better without...but hey, they're consenting adults and nobody gets hurt in the process, so, like, why not...?) that advances through mutual selflessness, love, respect and honest communication.
The leads both delivered very convincing performances (besides, Ohara Yuno here is the very definition of a perfect GF! - and I suppose Sato Kanta will have the same effect on the female audience), the music is nice too, and so is the production value.
It gets a lot better after a few episodes, so my suggestion is, if you feel like giving it a try, don't stop at the first episode(s) but watch a few more! ^___-

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What a lovely gem!!!

Right from the first few seconds of this "Nihon Boro Yado Kido", I was captured by the tremendously interesting concept: enough with the Tokyoite settings, filled with skyscrapers and modernity, let's show instead a much lesser known Japan, one more true to itself, with all its small towns and its "shabby hotels/pensions" filled with memories of the past and personality!
What followed was a delightfully written, masterfully acted, and very aptly directed little masterpiece!
The music added some more value to the enchantingly catchy atmosphere, and I'm not referring exclusively to the wonderful enka song "Traveler", but to the whole musical score that so nicely accompanied the entire watching experience.
I think even Fellini would've been totally satisfied by the profound humaneness that oozes from every scene!
A particular praise to the leads: Takahashi Kazuya reminded me a lot of a young(er) Takenaka Naoto, so good and funny he was! And as for Fukagawa Mai, well, what can I say? I desperately fell in love with her already at the first episode! Not only is she absolutely gorgeous, but she possesses such a great acting talent!!!
The only thing I'm unhappy about? LOL, that's that I wish I could give this more than 10, seriously! ^__^;
Instant top10 of all time, as far as I'm concerned!!!
Arigatou, Nihon! ^_____^

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