Abe Hiroshi [阿部寛] This guy is just awesome, probably on the top of the top of japanese acting, i watched hime in Dragon Zakura, Shiroi Haru, Dekichatta Kekkon and Kekkon Dekinai Otoko, and all these doramas(specialy the later one) totally prove my point.
He can play the funny guy(Dekichatta Kekkon), the serious guy(Dragon Zakura, Shiroi Haru) or both(Kekkon Dekinai Otoko).
Can�Lt wait to see him in more lead roles with these weird characters lol.
Akanishi Jin [赤西仁] This is a guy that i can�Lt tell if he�Ls that great of an actor, but the three doramas i watched with him(Gokusen 2, Kurisumasu Nante Dai Kirai and Anego) were much more entretaining because of him. His character in Gokusen 2 was awesome: badass and funny at the same time; and in Anego he made the show watchable for me because the main plot is too woman oriented, so a male presence made it more enjoyable.
Hasegawa Kyoko [長谷川京子] I watched her in Wonderful Life, Dragon Zakura, Rain Fall, Star no Koi, Boku Dake no Madonna and Oishii Puropozuu. Boku Dake no Madonna and Oishii Puropozuu are two very cliche doramas, but Hasegawa made both of them very enjoyable. It�Ls a pity that her character in Dragon Zakura is so useless :(. I liked her personality a lot in Boku Dake no Madonna but the one where she�Ls more cute is Wonderful Life, her haircut made her even more gorgeous. Besides being very beatiful she�Ls full of energy, i�Lve become a fan :).
Itoh Misaki [伊東美咲] I don�Lt care if people say she can�Lt act, i really liked all of her performances and she�Ls super cute. I saw her in Densha Otoko(Hermes-san), Gokusen, Tiger&Dragon, Kiken na Aneki, Itoshi Kimi e, Hotman 2, Yama Onna Kabe Onna, Lotto 6 de San-oku Ni-senman En Ateta Otoko(cameo), Lunch no Joou and Sapuri, my favorite performance was in Sapuri, she was really great with Kamenashi Kazuya.
Kitagawa Keiko [北川景子] I watched her only in Buzzer Beat and Hitsudan Hostess and i really fell in love with her, she�Ls not that good of an actress but she�Ls still young so i hope she improves with time.
Her character in Buzzer Beat was so kawaii and at the same time so mentaly tough, i really like those kind of characters.
I�Lm really hoping to see more leading roles from her :).
Kubozuka Yosuke [窪塚洋介] I watched him in 4 doramas GTO, Long Love Letter, S.O.S., IWGP and in the movie GO, and he really stood out in all the parts he played.
But i only became a fan when i watched him play "The King" Takashi on IWGP, it�Ls by far the best character i ever seen in a j-dorama; his antics, body language, way of talk, everything was off the chart on the King character, Kubozuka really pulled a stelar performance. I found the movie Go a little boring but Kubozuka�Ls performnce was worthid all the awards he won.
Matsushima Nanako [松嶋菜々子] She stars in my favorite Dorama: Majo no Joken, and she was great in it, no one could have played that part better than her. I watched her in Majo no Joken, Beauty or Beast, GTO, Hana Yori Dango and Yamato Nadeshiko. She was really cute in GTO and Hana Yori Dango. Her performance in Yamato Nadeshiko was the best i saw from her, she could make us hate her and at the same time love her, really great and she was so kawaii with short hair.
Miura Haruma [三浦春馬] Such a good actor despite his young age and bishonen looks, all his parts have been impressive so far: Koizora, Gokusen - The Movie, Crows Zero II, Gokusen 3(the only good thing in the whole dorama), Samurai Highschool and Binbou Danshi.
He only had like 8 minutes of screen time in Crows Zero II has the fierce Bitou Tatsuya but he was really awesome and intense, even without fighting one could tell that he was really strong, his conversation alone with Narumi(Kaneko Nobuaki) in Housen�Ls gym was one of my favorite parts from the movie.
Oguri Shun [小栗旬] Great actor, no doubt about it, one of the few guys with "ikemen" look and good acting skills. I watched him in GTO, Azumi, Fire Boys, Hana Kimi, Hana Yori Dango, Densha Otoko(small part), Summer Snow, Binbou Danshi, Ghost Train, Stand Up, Tajomaru, Gokusen - The Movie, Tokyo Dogs, Crows 0/Crows 0 II and Gokusen; but my favorite performance by him is Takya Genji in the movie Crows 0 and Crows 0 II, he was really great in it.
Sawajiri Erika [沢尻エリカ] My favorite actress, she�Ls really beautiful, great acting and her singing his ok. I watched her in 1 Litre of Tears, Taiyou no Uta, Ghost Train, Angels Egg, Closed Note, Sugar&Spice, Shinobi, Hotman and Tegami. Like everyone says her most memorable role was in 1 Litre of Tears but my favorite one was Kaoru Amane in Taiyou no Uta, i really fell in love with that character, such a strong character despite the terminal desease and i loved her singing in the dorama.
It�Ls a pity that the fact that she�Ls a bitch in real life destroyed her career, and at the same time killed some of the mystic i had for some of her characters(1 Litre of Tears and Taiyou no Uta).
But i�Lm still a big fan so i hope she returns some day.
Shaku Yumiko [釈由美子] Alright i admit that she�Ls not that good of an actress, but i really enjoy her presence, i really want to watch her work. She�Ls beautiful and unlike most japanese idols she has a killer body.
When i watched her in Stand Up i thougth she had a great body and i become enloved with her "cuteness" in Hanazono no Himitsu.
I watched her in Stand Up, Hataraki Man, Bara no nai Hanaya, Kiken na Aneki, The Princess Blade and Hanazono no Himitsu.
Shibasaki Kou [柴咲コウ] God i love her "bad girl" looks, most of her characters are badass girls but sweet and cool at the same time, i love those kind of girls and of course all of her characters.
I watched her in Battle Royale, Go, Good Luck and Orange Days.
Her character in Orange Days is so awesome, so cute and yet strong, one of my favorite female characters from j doramas; her character in Good Luck is awesome too, but she has little importance in the story(Kimutaku and planes hog all the time).
It�Ls a pity that she does so few doramas, i guess she�Ls more interested in her music career.
Sorimachi Takashi [反町隆史] Very good actor, i watched him in Wonderful Life, GTO, Cheap Love, Beach Boys, Hotman, Hotman 2, Lotto 6 de San-oku Ni-senman En Ateta Otoko, Virgin Road, BOSS, Sengoku Jietai and Over Time.
I can easily tell how good he really is beacuse he really shined more than anyone else in all these doramas and he really improved over the years.
But he�Lll allways be known as Onizuka Eikichii, i�Lm a big fan of the Onizuka character(read the 3 mangas and watched the 2 animes about him) and imo he�Ls a very difficult character to impersonate but Sorimachi did a great job in his own way: the facial expressions, the antiqs, the way of talking, everything was "Onizuka like" in Sorimachi�Ls unique way, it�Ls like watching a new version of Onizuka with a few changes.
Ueno Juri [上野樹里] I saw her in Engine and Orange Days, but her performance in Last Friends was what maked me notice her, she saved that dorama from being a total desaster. She doesn�Lt have that pretty like doll face(Ueto Aya, Toda Erika, Hirosue Ryoko or Fukada Kyoko) but she�Ls by far the best female actor of her generation(most like Yamada Takayuki is for the young male actors).
This girl is just pure acting talent, it�Ls a pity i hate classical music because that stops me from watching Nodame. Can�Lt wait to see more of Juri-chan.
Yamada Takayuki [山田孝之] My favorite actor. Imo he�Ls the best young actor of his generation, he can play any kind of character with ease, the bigest proof is his performances on 2005 Densha Otoko(where he plays a coward otaku) and 2007 Crows 0(where he plays a fighting gang leader).
Anyway he�Ls awesome in every dorama and movie i saw him(H2, Water Boys, Byakuyakou, Taiyou no Uta, Fire Boys, Long Love Letter, Lunch no Joou, Sekai Chuushin, BOSS, Densha Otoko(movie), Sono toki wa kare ni yoroshiku, MW, Densha Otoko TV(cameo), Crows 0/Crows 0 II and Tegami). IMO his best performance in a jdorama was Saku in Sekai Chuushin, like the character or not, the delivery was great; his second best performance was Ryo from Byakuyakou, that kind of intensity can�Lt be done by a bad actor. My favorite character portrayed by him was the Suzuran Boss, Serizawa Tamao(the King of Beasts), from Crows 0, he looked really badass in the sequel, the kick he used to beat Urushibara Ryo was the "holy shit" momment of the movie.
Sorata's dramas (99)
1 Pound no Fukuin [１ポンドの福音] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) This was one of the most funny doramas i watched, Kame�Ls character was great and even tough he didn�Lt have the shape of a boxer at all he looked credible during the training and that�Ls very impressive, specially for a japanese dorama(cough...Yankumi...cough).
Well the plot was a little repetitive but i was able to enjoy it, so i think 7 is a pretty good rating for that.
Akihabara@DEEP [アキハバラ＠DEEP] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) This dorama was surprising entertaining, lots of overacting and impossible stuff, but entertaining none the less.
Akira(Kousaka Yuka) was my favorite character, strong, tough and super cute at the same time, i want to marry a girl like her lol.
The rest of the otaku crew was great too, Page(Kazama Shunsuke) was a little annoying sometimes but played his part very well anyway. For the secondary cast i have to take my hat off for Tousaka(Matsuda Satoshi), the genius hacker that worked for Nakagomi(Kitamura Kazuki), Tousaka was a really good secondary character.
Many things made me laugh during this dorama: the cosplays(specialy the Nobita and Cobra ones lol); Akira as Lum was so damn cute, the indian street sellers, the ugly maid(Rui) and Box�Ls(Ikuta Toma) phobia of women.
This is a very funny dorama with some dark parts but overall very entertaing.
Note: Nakagomi�Ls Kaneda Bike from Akira was one of the most awesome things i have ever seen.
Anego [アネゴ] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) Good overall dorama, a bit boring sometimes(maybe because i�Lm a guy), but the story was really good, i loved those monologues they had sometimes when chating with each other(Jin and Ryoko), that really made me laugh lol.
This is the first dorama i watched with Akanishi Jin, he looked pretty good, specially as a love interest for an older woman.
Around 40 [アラウンド40] Rating: 9/10 (Watched) I was really surprised by this, i was expecting an ok dorama and i got an awesome one.
I loved the relationship between Satoko(Amami Yuki) and Keitaro(Fujiki Naohito), they have so much chemestry even though they treated eachother as Ogata-sensei and Okamura-san for the whole dorama. They are from now on my favorite j dorama couple(they just surprassed Teppei and Riko from Love Generation).
The only reason i won�Lt give this a full 10 is because of the end(i hated it) and the last 3-4 slow episodes, if it was only for the first 7 episodes i would give a full 10 to this.
Anyway remember: "it�Ls eco, not stingy" lol.
Bara no nai Hanaya [薔薇のない花屋] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) This dorama was very good, lots of plot twists and some dark stuff. But seriously, Katori Shingo sucks, i don�Lt know if it was the character or the acting but Eiji(Katori Shingo) was probably the most one-sided character i have ever seen, crying or screaming he only have one facial expression and one tone of voice, this was my first dorama with Katori Shingo and it was a really disapointing performance.
Naoya(Matsuda Shota) gave probably the best peace of acting in the entire dorama, when he calls Eiji in episode 10 to say goodbye, that whole scene was really awesome and by far my favorite of the show.
Mio(Takeuchi Yuko) and Ono(Shaku Yumiko) both had really boring characters but at least they were good eye candy :).
Overall it�Ls a good dorama, with good plot but bad acting.
Beach boys [ビーチボーイズ] Rating: 5/10 (Watched) I really can�Lt get into storys with no main plot, like this one, the independent episodes killed the dorama for me.
Anyway i can see why people like this dorama so much, the two main characters are really awesome, especialy Hiromi(Sorimachi�Ls character), he made this dorama much more enjoyable.
And i felt that the Hazuki character was left without a plot of her own, she just appeared in every episode with almost no importance to the "story".
The male friendship is obvious the most cool thing in this, overall it�Ls a very fresh dorama with some comedy and dramatic moments.
Beautiful life [ビューティフルライフ] Rating: 9/10 (Watched) Great dorama with some of the greatest dramatic moments i have ever seen.
Kimura�Ls character here is just like his character in Long Vacation and Love Generation, but i won�Lt criticize this, that character is a winning formula for this kind of doramas.
Tokiwa Takako was really beatiful in this, she is one of the most likeable characters ever, i really cared about her character.
Another great Kimura dorama, but i believe that the plot and Tokiwa Takako were much more important in this than Kimura.
Bijo ka Yajuu [美女か野獣] Rating: 4/10 (Watched) This is another of those unsubstancial doramas(like Hataraki Man or Celeb to Binbo Taro), i really had a hard time finishing this up; not even the beautiful Matsushima Nanako was able to save this for me.
It was supposed to have a romance flick between Makoto(Matsushima Nanako) and Hiromi(Fukuyama Masaharu), but we get nothing on that during the first 10 episodes, only in the last episode you are supposed to "buy" that they love eachother blah.
In conclusion this is boring, boring, boring and boring again.
Binbo Danshi [貧乏男子 (ボンビーメン)] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) Onother one of those comedy oriented doramas, but pretty good anyway. It was the first time i saw Oguri Shun playing such a goofy character and i have to admit i was surprised, he was actually pretty good and i loved all of his Rocky�Ls references(i�Lm a big Rocky fan). The main character himself was way to much of a good person, almost in the impossible realm, so it made the story stupid a couple of times(when he bought a piece of land in Jupiter i think lol).
And i really enjoyed the supportive cast, specially Kamiji Yusuke who played Teruteru
Boku dake no Madonna [僕だけのマドンナ] Rating: 10/10 (Watched) This is my guilty pleasure dorama, i recognize all of the flaws everyone point to it, but i still love it, can�Lt really explain why.
The story has litle of forbiden love so i think it as one of the reasons that made me like it so much, not to mention that Takizawa Hideaki and Hasegawa Kyoko had great chemestry together.
BOSS Rating: 7/10 (Watched) This was an ok dorama, nothing outstanding but nothing really bad at the same time.
The acting was average and the same to the plot; some episodes were better than others, specially 9 and 4-5, those 3 were really great.
Episodes 4-5 were so intense and Yamada Takayuki really brought his A game for the episode 5, the guy just rocks; episode 9 was good too, the plot was a lot like Fight Club but still good.
The female main characters, Eriko(Amami Yuki) and Kimoto(Toda Erika), were really annoying, i love both actress�Ls but i really can�Lt stand their characters in this, they were never funny and when they tried to be serious they failed big time(specialy Kimoto).
I�Lm a guy but i have to say that i enjoyed the male characters much more, all of them even Hanagata(Mizobata Junpei). Yamamura(Nukumizu Youichi), the gay one(can�Lt remember his name and Nodate(Takenouchi Yutaka) allways cracked me up, really funny characters, they made Boss much more enjoyable.
I rate this a 7 because i was entertained, but episodes 4, 5 and 9 deserve more than 7.
Brand [ブランド] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) Despite the rating i gave it, this was a very well played dorama, it probably would have been much more famous if the male lead wasn�Lt Ichikawa Somegoro, if his part was played by Kimura or Sorimachi this dorama would have very high ratings.
This was my first(and probably the last) dorama i watched with Imai Miki and i have to say she was awesome, great acting and such a beauty for a 37 year old woman(real age at the time of this dorama).
Ichikawa Somegoro played his part well, but he looks much more older than 25 and that killed a little the 10 year age diference problem.
I really loved the dialogue, very clever and interesting; the main plot is a lot like Anego, Sapuri and Hataraki Man, if you like those kinds of dorama you will enjoy this.
Buzzer Beat ~ Gakeppuchi no Hero [ブザー・ビート] Rating: 9/10 (Watched) This is another of those guilty pleasure doramas, the plot is very predictable and simple, and the acting is pretty average; but i was highly entertained by this, that�Ls the reason why i rate this so high.
Yamapi is a bad actor and nothing will change that, but at least in Buzzer Beat he found some new facial expressions, which was very refreshing when i remember his past performances. My favorite characters were Riko(Kitagawa Keiko) and Yoyogi(Nobuaki Kaneko); it was my first time seeing Kitagawa Keiko, she�Ls not that great of an actress but i totally fell in love with her; as Nobuaki Kaneko goes i saw him in Crows Zero II and he was one of the best characters in the movie, he really plays a good bad guy, and the Yoyogi character in Buzzer Beat was no diferent, i�Lm really hoping to see more of this guy.
All the other characters were ok, i guess another i really enjoyed was Toru(Nagai Masaru), the typical sportsman guy lol.
One thing i loved about Buzzer Beat was the fact that we had good screen time for all characters and not just Riko and Naoki.
Anyway it�Ls a very entertaining dorama, with good romance and drama; i loved the end when Yoyogi stole the last ball and made the pass to Naoki�Ls Buzzer Beat.
Byakuyakou [白夜行] Rating: 9/10 (Watched) This was just awesome, can�Lt understand why it didn�Lt get higher ratings.
Anyway the cast was just awesome, specialy Yamada Takayuki, Takeda Tetsuya and the 2 kids.
Those 2 kids in the first episode were just awesome; and i thought Takayuki wouldn�Lt be able to top his performance in Sekai Chuushin but this one as Ryo was as good as the one from Sekai Chuushin.
I loved how everything was unexpected in this dorama, it�Ls not like the main characters were that sick but they just put themselves to a world of lies that they couldn�Lt return.
The whole dorama was so intense, from the begining to the end, pure intensity.
Celeb to Binbo Taro [セレブと貧乏太郎] Rating: 5/10 (Watched) I was very disapointed with this dorama, the synopsis looked pretty good, but the dorama developed very bad; the main characters, Taro(Kamiji Yusuke) and Alice(Ueto Aya) were really annoying and boring.
The plot had tons of flaws, for example, Taro was working for a year as Alice�Ls driver with a good salary but at home his kids were still eating crap and living with the kids in the street just because of pride was really stupid.
The romance part in this is almost zero and the secondary characters were all crap too, the only one i liked was Sachiko(Kuninaka Ryoko).
It�Ls hard to understand how a dorama like this can be created in 2008 :(
Cheap Love [チープラブ] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) Another great Sorimachi dorama with a crappy ending(cough**Over Time*Cough**).
The first 8 episodes are like a romance-drama with some dark comedy and the last 2 are more like some policial thriller.
I like sad endings, but a sad ending(unlike a happy ending) needs a good build up and not something out of nowhere and the build up of Cheap�Ls Love ending is horrible.
If it wasn�Lt for the ending i would give 8 to this.
Anyway Sorimachi was gold(as allways) and the rest of the cast wasn�Lt that great but they weren�Lt that bad either.
Dekichatta Kekkon [できちゃった結婚] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) Well the first 5 episode of this are pure gold, super funny and entertaining, one can really watch without noticing the time passing.
But it looses a lot during the last 6 episodes, but it�Ls still entertaining.
The cast is pretty good, specialy Abe Hiroshi who plays Eitaro and Ishida Yuriko who plays Aki, they are by far the best thing in this dorama. Ryunosuke(Takenouchi Yutaka) and Takumi(Tsumabuki Satoshi) are good characters but they just can�Lt compare to Eitaro.
I laugh really loud when Eitaro was explaining the 4 times he got beaten up by Aki�Ls father and his marriage proposal ideas, specially the one: "do you wanna be the woman who�Ls gonna wash my underwear for the rest of my life?" lolol.
Didn�Lt like Chiyo(Hirosue Ryoko), the character was annoying and the acting had some bad parts, the only thing that saved this character was Ryoko�Ls cutness.
Densha Otoko [電車男] Rating: 10/10 (Watched) One of my favorite doramas, i loved the movie but the dorama is much better, Yamada Takayuki is my favorite actor but he just isn�Lt a good otaku, after he "took care of himself" he looked cool while Itoh Atsushi even after the transformation he still looks dorky and uncool and Itoh Misaki is just...deslumbrant.
This dorama made laugh very hard and the drama part is very well played, it really made me care about the characters and all the guys in the forum are funny as hell.
The 2006 special Deluxe was a failed attempt of squeezing more money from this franchise, it makes no sense what so ever, it�Ls like all growing Densha had during the dorama lead to nowhere. I think mos people would be happy of not watching the Deluxe.
Dragon Zakura [ドラゴン桜] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) The main theme of this dorama is awesome, and this is the first dorama i watched with Abe Hiroshi and he was great, he made this dorama an above average story imo.
I love Hasegawa Kyoko but her character here is just useless, i was a bit dispointed because of that.
The cast for the students was really good but they had no chemestry what so ever, Mizuno and Yajima were really boring characters.
Anyway i loved the way Sakuragi handled the students and all his speechs were very touching and most important meaningful.
Great dorama with a great character in Sakuragi Kenji.
Engine [エンジン] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) I would love to live in the same orphanage as Juri-chan and Toda Erika :).
This dorama was the exact copy of 2004 Wonderful Life, you just trade Kimutaku with Sorimachi Takashi; Koyuki with Hasegawa Kyoko and racing with baseball; even the main plot was the same: washed up athlete with a bad attitude who doesn�Lt like kids is thrown in an enviroment full of kids, then he starts changing his attitude, begins to like the kids, fall in love with the female lead who likes kids and end up a professional athlete again(racing and baseball). And i take Sorimachi and Hasekyo any day of the year over Kimutaku and Koyuki.
But even if this was a copy i really enjoyed it and the kids were really awesome, the fat one made me laugh a lot of times and Juri-chan and Toda Erika are so cute in this, poor Ishigaki Yuma that got such a secondary part :(.
Overall it�Ls nothing new but pretty enjoyable.
Fire Boys [ファイアーボーイズ 〜め組の大吾〜] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) A very good dorama, lacked a bit of romance but overall was pretty good, good acting and interesting characters.
Yamada Takayuki was good as usual, Mahiru(Uchiyama Rina) and Amakasu(Tsukamoto Takashi) were pretty good characters too.
I loved the scenes of Amakatsu and Daigo competing during training to enter the Rescue team.
At the begining Daigo(Yamada Takayuki) is a little annoying but then you grow to like the character.
The ending was cool but i expected more interaction between Daigo and Jun(Mimura) and not just a quick one sided confession.
Friends [フレンズ] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) For such a short dorama i found it very enjoyable, the story was very well played on screen without those stupid situations that romance doramas usually have.
It was cool to see some of the South Korean culture(i don�Lt watch kdramas), Fukada Kyoko was really good in this, i love the way she talks korean, really cute.
The korean guy(Won Bin) was ok i guess, but koreans all sound bad on screen(at least in the movies i watch).
Anyway it�Ls an ok story about forbiden love between two people from diferent countries and with diferent cultures.
Gokusen [ごくせん] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) In my humble opinion i hated the Yankumi character, she was boring and unrealistic, unlike Kawato(Rookies) and Onizuka(GTO). This dorama is not that great overall(imo), but unlike most of other "teacher/student" school doramas, the students really did a great job: Oguri Shun, Narimiya Hiroki and Ishigaki Yuma were all awesome, and even tough i don�Lt like Matsumoto Jun i have to admit that he was really cool as the silent Sawada Shin.
Gokusen Season 2 [ごくせん２] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) I read that this had the exact same plot as the first one, but i was shocked when i discovered that "it was really" the exact same plot, even the side stories were the same. And once again i hated the Yankumi character, 9 out of 10 episodes she saved her students from beatings with the same line:
Thug: Who are you?
Yankumi: Me? I�Lm their homeroom teacher!
I still gave 6 to this because i loved the first 30 minutes of every episode(ended with the Kizuna song) and hated the last 15(started with the Yankumi theme song).
I really prefered this class instead of the first one, Akanishi Jin played the most cool Gokusen character from both shows, Kame and Hayami Mokomichi were good too, Koide Keisuke and Koike Teppei don�Lt look like bad ass yankees at all lolol.
It has tons of flaws but i love stories about deliquents so i was entertained by this.
Gokusen Season 3 [ごくせん 3] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) After watching the 3 Gokusen�Ls one can conclude that warehouses in Japan are better than K1, a Jet Li movie and Crows 0 combined(*sarcasm*).
This one is imo the best Gokusen, the guys in here are much more badass than the ones from 1 and 2, they hit cops, family and fight their own fights many times; the only thing they lack are looks, since most don�Lt look like yankees at all.
Once again Yankumi is as annoying as ever and i don�Lt understand why everyone compares Takaki Yuya�Ls character with Akanishi Jin�Ls character from Gokusen 2, Jin�Ls character was a funny type of guy while Yuya�Ls character is more the lone wolf type of guy like Matsumoto Jun(1) and Kamenashi Kazuya(2).
But the best thing about this dorama was Kazama Ren(Miura Haruma), he saved Gokusen 3; he was badass and funny at the same time, he really made this a more enjoyable watch, but they choose to give him a stupid hair cut and a stupid outfit, they should have given him the same look he has on Crows 0 2, where he looks really badass.
The Gokusen Movie was super lame and corny, it was like a 2 hour version of the 11 episodes each season had, the only thing i liked about it was the special appearences from the characters from seasons 1 and 2.
Golden Bowl [ゴールデンボウル] Rating: 9/10 (Watched) The great thing about this dorama was the chemestry between Akutagawa(Kaneshiro Takeshi) and Hitomi(Kuroki Hitomi), despite their age diference they were great together and the ending was really sweet(specialy the last scene).
The other characters weren�Lt that great but i could care less, Akutagawa and Hitomi relationship made up for everything the secondary characters lacked.
The soundtrack was the worst i ever saw in a j-dorama, but it didn�Lt kill any of the fun from the dorama.
It has comedy but not the kind of comedy i like, but the romance part was awesome, really great.
Kudos to the two leads.
Good Luck !! [グッドラック！！] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) This dorama was really good but i was expecting more of a romance, instead we got a dorama about a pilot and his life, that made me drop a few points on this one.
Ogawa(Shibasaki Kou) was by far my favorite character, i love this tough girl routine, but she was relegated to like the third most important character of the show, and the big time storylines only envolved Shinkai(Kimutaku) and Koda(Tsutsumi Shinichi).
I really laugh my ass with Shinkai�Ls crazy neighbour and Naito�Ls(Takenaka Naoto) "cool" personality(allways speaking english and flirting with the girls).
The ending on the beach with Ogawa and Shinkai was really cute and warm.
Overall a good dorama but nothing new, Shibasaki Kou�Ls fans will probably enjoy this because she was the star of the show.
GTO [麻辣教師] Rating: 9/10 (Watched) IMO this is an almost flawless story, without slow boring parts and funny&dramatic at the same time.
Most of the actors who played the students were just rookies, so they didn�Lt do a good job imo, but Sorimachi was great as Onizuka, him alone make up for all the flaws of the rookies, and an honor mention for Matsushima Nanako as Fuyutsiki.
I just don�Lt give 10 to this because i�Lm a huge fan of the character Onizuka, i saw the anime version of GTO and Shounan Jou�LNai Gumi and their manga versions plus Bad Company, and Sorimachi just don�Lt have the "Onizuka look", he was a good Onizuka in his own way, but not quiet as good as the original one: blonde, 22 year old, virgin, black belt karate, 150kg bench press, otaku and pervert lolol.
H2~Kimi to itahibi [２〜君といた日々] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) I�Lm a huge fan of Mitsuru Adachi�Ls mangas and i think this portraied the story very good(overall); but the greatest thing about it was Yamada Takayuki, he really did an awesome job, the way he run, talk or express himself everything was really like the Kunimi from the manga, and outstanding performance by Takayuki.
Hana Yori Dango [花より男子] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) I really couldn�Lt get into it, the two main characters were the most annoying one can be, specially Domyouji(played by Matsumoto Jun), he was really an awful character imo. The story has all those cliches about rich/poor and ugly/beatiful relationships, i really on�Lt understand how this is so high rated.
The only good things were the rest of the F4 characters who are much more entertaining.
Hana Yori Dango Season 2 [花より男子] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) I only watched this second season because i wanted to know how the story ends after season 01. And imo this was a slight better than season 01; Tsukasa changed a little and wasn�Lt as annoying as in the first one. The other 3 F4 members are still as entertaining as ever, specially Hanazawa Rui(played by Oguri Shun), he�Ls by far the best character of this dorama.
Maybe i didn�Lt enjoy the two main characters because i�Lm a guy and i can�Lt stand the way the two of them interact with each other(typical shoujo manga relationship).
Hanazakari no Kimitachi e [花ざかりの君たちへ] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) Well this is a funny dorama with tons of comedy and with a good story, but the drama prts are just boring, i was much more into the three dorm leaders(Ishigaki Yuma, Mizushima Hiro and Kyou Nobuo) than the 3 main characters, the dorm leaders were allways cool and funny while the leads were too meh...
Anyway it was a good dorama but only to watch one time and that�Ls it.
Hataraki Man [働きマン] Rating: 5/10 (Watched) This was probably the most unsubstancial dorama i have watched, mostly because i�Lm a guy and this is too woman oriented just like Anego for example, but much more boring.
The first 6 episodes are completly useless stroywise, if you really want to enjoy this dorama watch the first episode then skip from 2 to 6, watch 7 and 8, skip 9 and watch 10 and 11, i garantee that you won�Lt miss anything.
Tanaka(Hayami Mokomichi) had this "big important character" aura but he never did everything meaningful, he didn�Lt even had his own episode like Sugawara, Nagisa and Shinji had.
I was exoecting some kind of romance between Tanaka and Hiroko down the line, but it never happen(it will probably happen in the manga).
Overall it�Ls a pretty boring dorama, maybe a woman will enjoy some of it(which i doubt) but for a guy with my tastes this was unbearable.
Himitsu no Hanazono [ヒミツの花園] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) Such a simple but yet enjoyable dorama. The stars of this dorama are the 4 brothers that make Hanazono Yuriko, Osamu(Ikeda Tetsuhiro) allways cracked me up, especially his fights with Satoshi(Kaname Jun). Tsukyiama(Shaku Yumiko) was a bit overshadowed by the 4 brothers but i still liked her character, she was really cute.
My favorite episode was the one when Tsukyiama had to play Hanazono Yuriko in the sign event, i laugh almost the entire episode.
From the 4 brothers only the 2 i didn�Lt want to end up with Tsukyiama really loved her, i would prefer her to end up with Osamu or Hinata(Hongo Kanata).
One weird thing about this dorama is how can a 18 year old boy with zero life experience and no knogledge about love write such a famous shoujo manga...that�Ls a bit weird.
Anyway it�Ls a good dorama with very entertaining moments.
Hotaru no Hikari [ホタルノヒカリ] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) This is one of those doramas with ligh comedy and light romance story, while watching this i got the same feeling i had while watching Hana Kimi or 1 Pound no Fukuin. I was highly entertained by this but it�Ls the kind of dorama i won�Lt watch again.
Only Hotaru(Ayase Haruka) and Seiichi(Fujiki Naohito) had character development, all the other character had almost zero character development, specialy Teshima(Kato Kazuki) who was such an important secondary character, he would deserve more development.
I really laugh on every funny conversation between Seiichi and Hotaru, the Himono-onna jokes were really funny.
If you like this kind fresh and light doramas then you can watch this one without fear.
Hotman [ホットマン] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) Well i�Lm usually not a big fan of family doramas but this one was really good, really addicting story and the plot unfolds very nice.
At first i tought Sorimachi�Ls performance was good but then he spent the entire dorama averacting, it was awful sometimes; but overall wasn�Lt that bad.
Loved the cast for the family: the cuteness of Nanami(Yamauchi Nana) and Hinata(Ichikawa Yui), the love crush of Haiji(Saito Shota) for Misuzu(Yada Akiko) and the silent love quest of Ryunosuke(Saito Keita) for Akikawa Satsuki(Sawajiri Erika).
When i first saw her i didn�Lt even recognize Sawajiri Erika, she�Ls so young in this one.
The most touching scene was really when Nanami started asking her friends to eat Enzo�Ls(Sorimachi Takashi) cake instead of the chocolate cake that Shima�Ls(Konishi Manami) boyfriend bought.
Anyway overall the acting isn�Lt that great but the chemestry between the Furiya family members is 5 stars.
Hotman Season 2 [ホットマン2] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) Alright Hotman 2 was really good as the first one but the reason why i don�Lt rate this as higher as the first one is because this one has many Nanami episodes and she�Ls too young to carry a show by herself, being kawaii is not enough.
I really liked the new Shima(Itoh Misaki), in Hotman 2 she has much more personality and isn�Lt just the perfect housekeeper like in Hotman 1.
It was good to see a development in Hinata and the twins personality too, they really evolved since the first one.
Enzo(Sorimachi Takashi) continued with the overacting but at least his overall acting got better.
As far as the teacher/Enzo�Ls "love interest", Ayame(Shiraishi Miho) was a much better character then Misuzu from the first Hotman, she had like that tsundere personality that i love so much, really good character.
I loved all the comedy scenes in this, particulary the one when Enzo found the twins with their grilfriends at home lol.
The only crappy thing about this was the end where Enzo refuses Ayame�Ls love confession in a very idiotic way.
Ichi Ritoru no Namida [１リットルの涙] Rating: 9/10 (Watched) This is by far the most dramatic dorama i watched, in fact my top 2 drama doramas are with Erika Sawajiri(this and Taiyou no Uta). The fact that this is based on a real story is even more touching ans the acting for all the cast was really good, specially Erika.
Sawajiri Erika is my favorite actress and she was really good in this dorama, is a pity that she ruined her career for bad mouthing her fans:(
Ikebukuro West Gate Park [池袋ウエストゲートパーク] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) One of the best doramas i watched, the most impressive thing in this is the cast: Nagase Tomoya, Watanabe Ken, Kubozuka Yosuke, Sato Ryuta, Yamashita Tomohisa, Koyuki and all the others were all very impressive. I love stories about yankees and delinquents, but as far as j-dorama is concerned this is the best concerning that matter, i loved every second of it and the last 4 episodes were pure gold.
But the one thing that i really loved in this was Kubozuka Yosuke�Ls performance as "The King" Takashi, he�Ls one of the greatest characters i have ever witnessed in a j-dorama, a stelar performance by Kubozuka as the awesome "King".
Itoshi Kimie [愛し君へ] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) SLOWWWWWW...this dorama is so slow, 11 episodes of the same thing, only the last episode saved it.
I hated how they had potencial good secondary characters: Ai(Itoh Misaki) and Shingo(Tamaki Hiroshi), both had like 2 minutes of lines in each episode, and they didn�Lt do anything with them.
Kanno Miho�Ls acting as Shiki was so bland and boring.
But this dorama was saved by Fujiki Naohito(Shunsuku) and Izumiya Shigeru(Tetsuo), great acting by both man.
Some things i really liked were: the song the hospital kids sang to Shunsuke and the father/son fights between Tetsuo and Mitsuo(Moriyama Mirai).
Overall the dorama isn�Lt bad but it�Ls too slow for my taste.
JIN [JIN-仁-] Rating: 9/10 (Watched) I was really surprised with JIN, i never thought i could enjoy a medical dorama as much as i enjoyed this one.
The whole return to the past and using the 21st century medical knowledge on Edo was really awesome, how he cured cholera and teach Peninciln to the peolple of Edo, everything was really cool.
The acting was top notch, specially from the male cast: Osawa Takao(Jin) and Uchino Masaaki(Ryoma), they were really the stars of this dorama.
Nakatani Miki(Nokaze), Takeda Tetsuya(Ogata) and Hayase Haruka(Saki) were good too, but their characters had much less depth than Jin and Ryoma�Ls characters.
I don�Lt know if this is going to have a second season but i really hope so :).
Kamisama mou sukoshi dake [神様、もう少しだけ] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) This dorama started in avery awesome away and the first half was great, but the later half was a litle boring and Masaki(Fukada Kyoko) became really annoying.
Fukada Kyoko�Ls performance wasn�Lt that good, but for a 16 year old girl and playing a character with a terminal desease she was very good, every 16 year old actor in my country are really awufull.
Kaneshiro Takeshi did a good job and Nakama Yukie is like Eita in my books, great actress but allways apointed to the most annoying and stupid parts.
The dorama was really good, i just don�Lt rate it higher because the last episodes weren�Lt that good and the ending was a bit overdramatic.
Kekkon Dekinai Otoko [結婚できない男] Rating: 9/10 (Watched) Great dorama, i can�Lt believe how long i neglected this one.
Abe Hiroshi is the king, enough said, stelar performance, the other actors were good too(specialy Natsukawa Yui) but they were completly overshadowed by Abe.
The story really adicting with Kuwano(Abe Hiroshi) allways saying and doing weird things with his "i don�Lt want to get married" policy lolol.
I loved the episode with the fake girlfriend, my favorite one, i loved how everyone was shocked because Kuwano had a younger and hot girlfriend lolol.
This is a must see for all dorama fans and specialy Abe Hiroshi�Ls fans(well if you�Lre a fan of him you probably already watched it :p).
Kiken na Aneki [危険なアネキ] Rating: 5/10 (Watched) I can�Lt believe i have to rate 5 a dorama with 3 of my favorite actors(Itoh Misaki, Hiraoka Yuta and Shaku Yumiko), but even their presence wasn�Lt able to save this dorama for me.
The thing is that every episode is the same: Hiroko(Itoh Misaki) does something that pisses off his brother, Yutaro(Moriyama Mirai), but at the end of the episode he starts to warm up to his sister and end up by her side...now you have 11 episodes of this, with cheesy comedy and a complete lack o sub-plot. There was the thing about Saori(Shaku Yumiko) and Takumi(Hiraoka Yuta) but both characters only have like 4 minutes of screen time in each episode(and i�Lm being generous).
I love Itoh Misaki but her character was super annoying, i was really getting tired of her.
Anyway this is suposed to be a light comedy but i didnt find it any funny, maybe it�Ls not my kind of comedy.
Kimi wa Petto [きみはペット] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) I was expecting more of this dorama, the first 3 episodes were boring as hell and the last one wasn�Lt as good as i was expecting, but the other 6 episodes were all very enjoyable.
I don�Lt know what to say about the performances of both leads(Koyuki and Matsumoto Jun), i tought they were good but at the same time they are the kind of characters that i�Lll easily forget in the future.
Overall it�Ls a good dorama about forbiden love relationship, the dependence between both of them was the best part of the dorama.
Kisarazu Cat's Eye [木更津キャッツアイ] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) Alright this was a pretty good dorama and i totally understand all the praise it gets, but it�Ls just not my type, no main plot and some of the stories just didn�Lt make sense.
One thing that�Ls awesome in this is the characters: Bussan(Okada Junichi), Uchie(Okada Yoshinori), Master(Sato Ryuta), Bambi(Sakurai Shou) and Ani(Tsukamoto Takashi); all of them in their own way were great, the virgin jokes about Bambi allways cracked me up, the acting from the 5 man was awesome, most of times i really don�Lt care about the acting as long as i�Lm entertained but this guys were awesome.
Overall this is a great dorama, very funny with awesome acting so i think most people will enjoy this a lot.
Koishite Shinitai [恋して死にたい] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) Overall this is a good dorama with bad acting from Fukada Kyoko and Dohmoto Tsuyoshi.
The story is a little over the top and lacks credibility but i still enjoyed it despite all it�Ls flaws.
The boxing part is just awfull, they could had at least teach some boxing to the actors like they did in 1 Pound no Fukuin.
The most weird thing about this was the way Toko(Fukada Kyoko) fell in love with Yuji(Dohmoto Tsuyoshi), she saw him training once and that�Ls it...pretty weird and after that she becomes a stalker...well weirdness asside this is a pretty good dorama.
Kou Kou Kyoushi 2003 [高校教師 2003] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) I enjoyed this dorama very much, even if most of the characters have mental issues it was a good dorama. The only sane person in this dorama is Hina and probably Koga(we need to gime a discount since he has a brain tumor). But the host Yuji, Fujimura sensei, the doctor Yuriko, Beniko and Mami all had some loose screws in their heads.
Anyway it was a very dramatic dorama but with some unrealistic plot twists.
Kurisumasu Nante Dai Kirai Rating: 3/10 (Watched) This is the worst dorama i have ever watched, the acting is horrible, the story is boring and the characters are annoying, specially Fukada�Ls character, i really can�Lt understand how someone can fall in love with a woman like that.
Jin�Ls character was pretty useless, so if you�Lre hoping for a lot of Jin don�Lt watch this.
Many say that a 4 episode of 25 minutes each dorama is the reason why this sucks so much, but that�Ls nothing to do with that, there are short good doramas.
Last Christmas [ラストクリスマス] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) Good dorama but i just couldn�Lt get into it, the characters are boring and sometimes the interaction between them is obnoxious, i can�Lt swallow that two people dating still sleep in separated rooms, specially when their rooms are just across the hall.
The only characters i really cared about were Tappei(Moriyama Mirai) and Ritsuko(Katase Nana), but their screen time was really small, i loved the last scene between them at the restaurant with everyone claping.
Anyway to me this dorama was slow and boring, i can understand why people like it so much but i just couldn�Lt get into it.
Last Friends [ラスト・フレンズ] Rating: 9/10 (Watched) First of all i have to say that this dorama has tons a plot holes, i think that the writers were on crack while writing this, i was really pissed because they messed up a story with huge potencial. I rate this with a 9 because even with all it�Ls flaws i was highly entertained, because if i was impartial about this i would rate it a 5 or a 6.
The first 3-4 episodes were great and i tought i was in for a classic, but after that it really didn�Lt live up to other episodes quality.
Sousuke(Nishikido Ryou) was an ok character and i think he did well in his finality has a over jealous guy and all the beating and rage fealings were all very well played but the character lacked some development and his second face(the good guy one) was very bad played by Ryou with his one sided expressions, a better actor could have done much better with character; Michiru(Nagasawa Masami) was the worst character, i think Masami did her best with it but the character was just awuful.
Ueno Juri and Eita saved this dorama and made it enjoyable till the last episode(at least for me); i allways said that Eita was a good actor but allways chosed to do the most ediotic and boring parts, and now he finally showed his great hability.
And it�Ls hard to believe that 3 people in their twentys agree to live a platonic relationship for the rest of their lifes.
Overall it wasn�Lt a great dorama but if you are a fan of Eita or Ueno Juri you have to watch this.
LIFE [ライフ] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) This was probably the darkest dorama i have seen so far(even darker than Byakuyakou and IWGP), sometimes i really wished i was there to kick Manami(Fukuda Saki) in the head, never found such an obnoxious character, i really hated how Ayumu(Kitano Kii) was so friendly to her in the last episode.
It�Ls hard for me to understand how people let themselves get bullied like that, Ayumu was able to wrestle a guy for a camera and kicked a badass yankee twice, but was unable to get free of a group of girls :s...
Overall the dorama is awesome, really good pace and ok acting; the only bad thing i have to say about the acting is Fukuda Saki, she was supposed to be daddy�Ls litle girl all the time, but every sane person would understand that she was some sick human being, she was allways with that fake smile and look in her face, you need to be really dumb not to see that, Hosoda Yoshihiko did the same thing but not so bad.
Long Love Letter [ロング・ラブレター〜漂流教室] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) It was an ok dorama, with very cool parts but same pointless and boring ones too, and this sci-fi kind of thing is just not my type.
But the cast helped a lot to get trough this dorama: Yamada Takayuki and Kubozuka Yosuke specially.
Long vacation [ロングバケーション] Rating: 10/10 (Watched) I really loved this story, very adictive. Takuya was impressive(as allways) and Yamaguchi Tomoko as well, she isn�Lt that beatifull but she made us care for her character. Everything in this dorama was awesome(even the sub-plots), imo the begining was a little slow but after that it really picked up the pace.
Lotto 6 de San-oku Ni-senman En Ateta Otoko [ロト6で3億2千万円当てた男] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) The first half of this dorama was cool and interesting, but the later half was 5 episodes of the same boring thing, a 7 for the first half and a 5 for the second half(equals 6).
Sorimachi normally plays very confident guys so it was somewhat fresh to see him play such a dull character and i think he did very well, it�Ls obvious how much he improved over the years, his character here was really stupid(it�Ls hard to believe he�Ls based on a true person), he was allways messing up his own money money, sometimes i thought of him like a kid because of some of his actions.
The plot was very predictable and onesided, even the last twist with Kakei(Toyohara Kosuke) was predictable; the female characters had no personality what so ever.
Concluding: this isn�Lt a bad dorama but it�Ls by far the worst Sorimachi dorama i watched.
PS: The cameo appearence of Itoh Misaki in the first episode was really a treat :p.
Love and Eros [ラブとエロス] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) I was really disapointed with this, after reading the review it seemed a great dorama and the first half was really good, but after that it dragged a lot and become boring.
The characters were all well played specially Kasumi(Asano Atsuko), i didn�Lt like Ryuichi(Fujii Fumiya) and Jiro(Nagase Tomoya) but i they delivered very well.
The ending was unexpected and emotional which was really good for me.
Overall it was a good dorama but easily forgetable...and what was wrong with Nagase Tomoya, he looked like one of those african kids with no food, i know japanese women like thin guys but this was too extreme.
Love generation [ラブジェネレーション] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) Teppei and Riko are the most funny couple i have seen so far in a jdorama, the "sukebe" jokes never got old lolol.
This dorama is a lot like Long Vacation( not has good of course), Kimura�Ls character is the same as the pianist from Long Vacation(the only diference is that Teppei is a sukebe lol) and the plot overall is very alike. Anyway it�Ls a great dorama, lot�Ls of romance, drama and some comedy.
The ending was very good, a very refreshing ending for a jdorama.
Love Revolution [ラブレボリューション] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) Good acting and solid plot but i just couldn�Lt care less about all of the characters, there wasn�Lt a single character i liked in this dorama and that�Ls the reason why i don�Lt rate this dorama higher.
I hated the changes in Yabuki�Ls(Oshio Manabu) character after he became rich, he was a cool character(when compared with the others) until then.
And Suga(Fujiki Naohito) was a weird character, at first he looks like a player with the women and sudenly he became this romantic serious guy...
Anyway don�Lt get fooled by my coment, this is actually a good dorama but not my kind of thing.
Love Shuffle [ラブシャッフル] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) First of all and most important this dorama has amazing writing, the dialogues are really great and the plot well constructed, lots of plot twists and good characters.
The cast was really good, my favorite characters were Ojiro(Matsuda Shota), Kairi(Yoshitaka Yuriko) and Airu(Karina). I really loved the end between Ojiro and Kairi, really sweet and romantic. Airu was such a great female character, i would choose her on a heartbeat just based on her awesome personality, her ending was really sweet too with the slap and shoving Kei(Tamaki Hiroshi) with authority against the car lolol.
All the times between the four in the hall of their houses was really cool and it was there that the best dialogues were used, i allways laugh with those Panda "puns"(Lupin da, Japan da, etc).
I�Lm not a big fan of happy endings but this one i really liked, it�Ls like everyone lived happy ever after...
Lunch no Joou [ランチの女王] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) A beatiful girl starts living in a house just with man, this is a story bound to be funny. And it was really a funny dorama, the brothers fighting for Mugita(Takeuchi Yuko) was helarious and i drool all over the omurice they made all the time.
Junzaburo(Tsumabuki Satoshi) and Yujiro(Eguchi Yosuke) were annoying some times and it was funny too see Yamada and Yamapi so young playing supportive roles lolol.
It was funny how hard they tried to make Itoh Misaki look ugly with that stupid hair cut and loose clothes, but they still fail miserably lol.
Shuuji(Morita Go) was my favorite character and his story was the best(imo), when he was been taken away by the cops was awesome.
Anyway, it was a good dorama overall, nothing bad but nothing outstanding at the same time.
Majo no jouken [魔女の条件] Rating: 10/10 (Watched) My number one dorama, GTO and Densha Otoko intruduced me to jdoramas but Majo no Joken made me love it. This dorama is really great, i love this forbiden love stories and this one has everyting i want in a dorama.
Many people don�Lt like it because of the contorversy(teacher/student relatioship), but that�Ls one of the things that i found appeling in this dorama, and the acting was very good by both leads, a must watch for people with "open mind".
10 points right away for this one :)
Mukodono 2003 [ムコ殿２００３] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) If while rating this i was impartial i would rate this as higher as the first one, but i was much more entertained by the first one.
In terms of comedy both are equally good, but the drama parts seems a bit too forced in the 2003 version.
Other thing i didn�Lt like in this one was the family, much worst than the first one, the only member from this family that i liked instead of the last one was Sakai Noriko, much better than Takeuchi Yuko; Sakai is really beatiful, that angel like kind of beauty.
The high point from this dorama was the kid who played Minami�Ls son, i don�Lt know who he is, but he was awesome, the crying scene between Minami and him was unbelievable, i was like: "how can such a young kid do this!?"; it�Ls a very awesome scene.
Anyway it�Ls a good dorama, not that much worst than the first one, once again Tomoya�Ls character is overacting full time while trying to solve his family troubles.
Mukodono! [ムコ殿/女婿大人] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) This is a great dorama, every episode Tomoya helps a member of his "new" family to solve their problems and deepens the bounds with them. Very well balanced between comedy and drama, a must watch to everyone.
IMO Nagase Tomoya is that kind of actor that actually makes a big diference, his screen presence and acting are just...diferent, unlike most actors not everyone could play his parts like him.
My Boss, My Hero [マイボスマイヒロ] Rating: 10/10 (Watched) This is by far the most funny dorama i watched, like i say all the time Nagase Tomoya was born to play funny Yakuza parts, he just do it better than anyone else(watch Tiger&Dragon as well).
But if you like the Yakuza kind of comedy(which i like), you will love this dorama. All the cast was good but Tomoya�Ls antics and facial expressions overshadow all their performances lol. The Sorafune song is awesome, i never get tired of listening to it.
Nobuta wo Produce [野ブタ。をプロデュース] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) I loved this dorama because of the relationship between the 3 leads, Kame played my favorite character, much because i can relate a lot to that character and Horikita Maki did a good job too; but the best was by far Yamashita Tomohisa, at first he�Ls a little annoying, but then we can see how his weird way of acting his really meaningful, he�Ls the best character of this dorama by far(i think he received an award in Japan for his performance in this).
Ohitorisama [おひとりさま] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) I love the older woman/younger guy story�Ls, but this one was a disapointment in that field, i try but i just can�Lt take Koike Teppei serious, he�Ls an awful actor with an awful look, i can�Lt believe he�Ls from the same species has myself lol.
He had no chemestry at all with Mizuki Arisa and that really killed the mood of the dorama. Anyway despite the awful performance by Koike Teppei i still enjoyed this dorama, mostly because of Mizuki Arisa�Ls character, it was my first time seeing a dorama with her so i can�Lt really make any comparisons, but her character here was really good and i love those king of female characters.
An enjoyable dorama but really forgetable.
Oishii puropozu [おいしいプロポーズ] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) This is another of my guilty pleasure doramas, it has tons and tons of cliches and besides Hasegawa Kyoko the rest of the cast isn�Lt that impressive, but for some reason i really loved this dorama. The old woman/young guy relationship was very well played and i think that made this dorama much more enjoyable.
Anyways kudos to Hasegawa Kyoko but Koide Keisuke should stay away from this kind of roles, he was good in Rookies but not that good here.
Orange Days [オレンジデイズ] Rating: 9/10 (Watched) I loved this dorama, it was so well played by all characters. I love when Sae gets pissed and starts doing sign language really fast, she�Ls really cute:).
For the first time ever i saw Eita playing a good character instead of annoying sotb characters(WB, Sapuri, Kimi wa Petto).
At the begining i didn�Lt like Kai, but he kept growing on me through out the story. I didn�Lt even notice the passing of time during this(big proof of how much i enjoyed thus), i was really into the plot, very very good dorama.
And the ending was really awesome and sweet, this dorama is a must see for sure.
Orthros no Inu [オルトロスの犬] Rating: 9/10 (Watched) Despite all the bad reviews this had i was absolutly overwhelmed by this dorama, maybe because i�Lm a huge anime/manga fan, and this story is much more anime like than dorama like.
Ryuzaki Shinji(Takizawa Hideaki) is now my favorite dorama character, it used to be the King Takashi from IWGP, i loved everything about him the manerisms, the way of talk, of walking, everything, i think Taki stinks as an overall actor but he pulled this character really well.
Nishikado Ryo on the other hand once again ruined a perfect good character(coufh*Last Friends*coufh), the guy seems to have only one facial expression, his performance was really bad but didn�Lt ruin the dorama for me.
This dorama has so many memorable momments: the trade that Ryuzaki made with Aoi, that Aoi would kill the drunk guy and Ryuzaki would heal the kid who was about to die; the scene at the hospital when Ryuzaki forced the patients to choose the order they wanted to be healed and of course my favorite one when Ryuzaki was in the hospital and all the kids refused to be healed by him just so he could heal the teacher and then he went and healed all of them, pretty awesome.
The only thing this lacked was more on the romance situation between Ryuzaki and Nagisa(Mizukawa Asami); anyway this is a pretty good dorama i recomend it.
Over Time [オーバー・タイム] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) I loved the first 11 episodes but hated the last one, by far one of the worst endings i have seen so far.
The characters were all very enjoyable, specially the relationship between Endo and Fuyumi and Kaede and Natsuki had great moments too(damn stupid ending :( ).
Anyway a very good dorama if you like the likes of Long Vacation and Boku dake no Madonna.
Pride [プライド] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) Great dorama and for those who think this is a sports dorama, you are wrong, the hockey is secondary, this is a romance with some dorama.
The first 5 episodes were a litle boring, but after that it really picked up, all the four male characters from the team were awesome: Halu, Tomo, Makoto and Yamato. Yamato�Ls story with the love-money-Yuri was really enjoyable so was of course Halu and Aki�Ls boyfriend-girlfriend game.
From what i watched from Takuya, this was his best performance, he really sold his character(Halu) very well, not my favorite dorama with him but it was his best performance.
Proposal Daisakusen [プロポーズ大作戦] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) I don�Lt dislike Yamapi but he was awful in this, he looked so fake in his exagerating reactions, it was really a disapointing performance by Yamapi after his awesome delivery in Nobuta wa Produce.
The main plot of this dorama had tons of potencial but was ruined with meaningless and boring episodes, Rei(Nagasawa Masami) was a really boring character and joined with Yamapi�Ls terrible acting...
I really enjoyed the side story of Tsuru and Eri, much better than the main plot. And once again i was amazed with Hiraoka Yuuta, he was by far the best character in this dorama, it�Ls the second time i�Lm ipressed by this guy in a secondary part(thank god he�Ls already playing lead parts).
Anyway it was a very disapointiong dorama.
ROOKIES [ルーキーズ] Rating: 9/10 (Watched) One of my favorite doramas, the same kind of GTO and Gokusen, i rate it above Gokusen and below GTO, but it got something that the other two don�Lt have: GTO has a good teacher but crappy students; Gokusen has good students and a crappy teacher but ROOKIES has good teacher and students.
I�Lm a big fan of yankee storys and the Rookies manga, and i have to say that Sato Ryuta played a great Kawato. Ichihara Hayato was the worst of the students since he doesn�Lt resemble Hanya at all and the best of the students were Takaoka Sousuke(the best one) as Wakana and Nakao Akiyoshi as Sekikawa. But overall all the cast was good.
If you like sports, deliquents and a good drama, then Rookies is your thing.
Sapuri [サプリ] Rating: 9/10 (Watched) This dorama is nothing new but was very well played, Kamenashi Kazuya was cool and this was the best performance i witnessed from Misaki Itoh(watched her in Tiger&Dragon, Densha Otoko, Gokusen and Yama Onna Kabe Onna), most people said that Misaki and Kame didn�Lt have chemestry(which was true) but for some reason i really enjoyed their relationship.
And the "enjoy" guy was really funny. I really can�Lt stand Dunbo... i mean Eita, i don�Lt have anything against the actor, but he allways plays the most boring and idiotic characters in all the doramas i watched him.
Anyway if you like love storys about young guy/old woman - Rich/poor forbidden love you will enjoy this.
Sekai no chuushin de, ai wo sakebu [世界の中心で、愛をさけぶ] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) This dorama is too too heavy emotionaly, the story it�Ls a lot like 1 Litre of Tears and Taiyou no Uta, but even if those two are very dramatic doramas they still got some fresh moments; but Sekai no Chuusin doesn�Lt have any of those moments, it�Ls like they are trying to make the viewer sad for life.
It�Ls a great dorama but unlike the other two i mention i can�Lt make myself watch this a second time, it�Ls a very sufocating dorama.
Yamada Takyuki was briliant in this, Ayase Haruka was very good too but Takayuki was stelar, you like his character Saku or not(i�Lm not very found of it) one have to admit that the delivey was awesome, best performance from Takayuki in a dorama imo.
Shimokita GLORY DAYS [下北GLORY DAYS] Rating: 4/10 (Watched) This is just about naked woman and boobs, i�Lm a man so i like the ocasional fan service, but this is just too much and sometimes it takes out the few seriousness that the plot have.
But the worst thing about this is the main male lead, he�Ls just awful, by far the worst character i watched in a dorama.
Well if you are looking to see some boobs and have some good laughs this is the dorama for you.
Shiroi Haru [白い春] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) Another Abe Hiroshi dorama with great cast and great acting...as usual. The pace of this dorama is really good, in every episode something happens, and Sakura(Abe Hiroshi) really is a peculiar character, he really looks like an hobo in the first episodes, great acting by Abe Hiroshi.
I loved how we saw him change and turn his life around during the show, even his character changed, great character development; but we can�Lt forget Endo Kenichi, he was great playing Koji, all his interactions with Haruo had great chemestry.
And of course Yoshitaka Yuriko and Shiraishi Mio were my eye candy during the dorama, i really liked Yuriko in Love Shuffle but she�Ls really beautiful in this and her character has more lines lolol.
The ending was a little cliché but i didn�Lt dislike it(because i like sad endings), if we stop and think it�Ls the most natural thing to happen, Haruo would have to spend his entire life alone without Sachi, so he died to protect Sachi�Ls father and went on to the other life to be with Mariko(Konno Mahiru).
Slow Dance [スローダンス] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) When i watched the begining of the first episode i recognized the words Isaki(Fukatsu Eri) said on her class from Slam Dunk(i�Lm a huge Slam Dunk fan) and i tought: "this is the exact same words Anzai-sensei said to Mitsui in middle school, the author must be a big Slam Dunk fan"; and then at the end of the episode she admits that she used the line from the manga Slam Dunk, i was really surprised by that.
Anyway i loved this dorama, but mostly because of the main plot, Isaki/Reach(Tsumabuki Satoshi) they were really a cute couple with good on-screen chemestry. But all the other characters were a bit useless and had almost no development.
If it wasn�Lt for the lack o good sub-plots i would give this a 9.
Bottom line it�Ls a great dorama but fans of Fujiki Naohito and Hirosue Ryoko are going to be desapointed.
Sore wa, Totsuzen, Arashi no you ni... [それは、突然、嵐のように…] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) I didn�Lt gave 8 to this because i hated the ending, but the dorama overall was good.
It�Ls the tipical young guy/old woman story but this time both of them have great partners: she has a good husband and he has a great girlfriend so it�Ls hard for you us to side with them, that�Ls one of the things i loved in this dorama. Well if you like forbidden love storys you won�Lt be disapointed.
Stand UP!! Rating: 7/10 (Watched) I didn�Lt find it as funny as many people claim it to be, but i found interesting to see the point of view of the japanese for all those "american teen storys", and it�Ls really good, not the usual "i�Lm gonna bang a girl before i graduate and live happy ever after", it�Ls a more serious way to put the thing with lots of comedy combined.
Shaku Yumiko is very beatiful and has a very hot body for a japanese woman...great eye candy.
Star no Koi [スタアの恋] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) Why would someone in their perfect state of mind trade Hasegawa Kyoko for Fujiwara Norika...i know i know this is just a fictional work lol...end of rant.
Anyway this was a pretty good dorama, but i didn�Lt like the two leads, Hikaruko(Fujiwara Norika) had no character development whatsoever, it�Ls hard to swallow that Sousuke(Kusanagi Tsuyoshi) felt so hard in love with her, she was like an emotionless doll, pretty dull character, Sousuke had character development but was a character boring has hell.
The best thing about this dorama were the guys from the ham store and the beautiful Hasegawa Kyoko, they were all really funny.
In conclusion this is a very generic love story about a salariman who falls in love with an idol, full of cliches and generic dialogues.
Strawberry on the shortcake [ストロベリー・オンザ・ショートケーキ] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) I�Lm not the biggest fan o Takizawa Hideaki but all the doramas i watched with him never fail to entertain me and this one is no diferent.
Manato�Ls(Hideaki) obsession with Yui(Fukada Kyoko) was very well played, i loved how he took to the extreme that old cliché of "it�Ls an impossible love so i�Lll never confess"(especialy in the last episode).
I loved Yui during almost all the dorama but at the end she become really annoying, i didn�Lt like her obsession with Saeki(Kubozuka Yousuke) during the later half of the dorama.
Saeki was by far the best character in this, i�Lm just 22 but i would choose Ishida Yuriko over Uchiyama Rina any time, i loved how Saeki and Manato gradually became best friends, it was a very cool transformation for both characters.
Anyway this is a good love story but a bit extreme some times(probably the reason why so much people hate this).
Summer snow Rating: 8/10 (Watched) This dorama is just great, imo it�Ls the kind of dorama that everyone will like, it can please almost every j dorama fan.
Natsuo(Dohmoto Tsuyoshi) was really a funny character, he made me laugh a lot of times, Jun(Oguri Shun) and Yuki(Hirosue Ryoko) were two very good dramatic characters; they made me care about the two of them.
And the ending was awesome, great build up and shocking ending, e bet no one predicted something like that during the dorama.
Anyway it�Ls a must see to everyone.
Taiyo no Kisetsu [太陽の季節] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) Well this dorama is not bad, far from that imo, but it�Ls to slow for my taste and Takisawa�Ls character confuses me sometimes, it�Ls hard to understand if he�Ls a good person or just an idiot prick.
The acting was good, but Takahashi Hitomi�Ls character was soooooo annoying, i wanted to slap her in many ocasions(well i guess then she was doing a good job lol).
Anyway the story is good and dark(for those who like that), the acting is good, the only problem(imo) is just the slow pace.
Taiyou no uta [タイヨのうた] Rating: 10/10 (Watched) This is my second favorite dorama, first it�Ls played by my favorite male and female actors(Takayuki and Erika) and it got romance plus a tragic story and i really loved it.
I loved when Kaoru asked Kouji: "What are you gonna do after i die?" and he answers: "First i�Lm gonna cry a lot, then i�Lm gonna curse God for being so unfair and then i�Lm gonna cry again".
The thing that IMO destinguish this from other doramas about terminal desiases(Beatiful Life, 1 litre of Tears, Kami Sama Mou Sukoshi Dake, Sekai Chuushin) is the fact that Kaoru�Ls character was really strong with great will and spirit, and that really touched me even though this is fictional(unlike 1 Litre of Tears for example).
Both Takayuki and Erika were superb in this, they couldn�Lt be better imo, and Kaouru�Ls songs really gave a lot of meening to the story.
I loved everything about it:the beggining, the middle and specially the ending. I watched the whole thing in one day, i couldn�Lt go to sleep without watching the end lol.
Tatta Hitotsu no Koi [たったひとつの恋] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) This dorama resembles Hana Yori Dango a lot, but instead of rich guy/poor girl it�Ls rich girl/poor guy, but IMO this is much much better than HYD, first the two main leads are much more enjoyable and the plot itself is not as boring or repetitive as HYD.
And the suport cast was good too with Toda Erika and Tanaka Koki, but my favorite character was Ayuta played by Hiraoka Yuuta, he was really funny and allways complaining about being the better looking one of the three but the only one who can�Lt get a girlfriend lol.
Good drama, some comedy and good acting; nothing outstanding but pretty enjoyable.
Tiger & Dragon [タイガー＆ドラゴン] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) This is really a funny show with tons of funny characters specialy Itoh Misaki and the chemestry between Tomoya and Okada Junichi, Tomoya was born to play funny Yakuza parts, no one does it better than him.
I just don�Lt rate this higher because i really can�Lt find Rakugo funny and the dorama has tons of Rakugo, so it kills a little of the enjoyment for me.
Tokyo DOGS ~ Saiaku de Saiko no Partner [東京DOGS] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) Tokyo Dogs was really entertaining, much better than BOSS imo; first and most important: the characters were really awesome and funny; Oguri Shun is allways gold playing the silent-cool guy and he was no diferent in his portrayal of Takakura So; Mizushima Hiro was really funny has Maruo, his obsession for Yuki(Yoshitaka Yuriko) was one of the funniest things in the dorama; Yoshitaka Yuriko was really cute but her character was a little dull.
The plot was a little crappy crappy but the cool characters really made it much more enjoyable. It�Ls not a great dorama, but it�Ls pretty good for a Sunday afternoon.
Virgin Road [バージンロード] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) I was really surprised by his dorama, from the review it seemed pretty weak but instead it was really awesome.
The male leads are just awesome: Sakurai(Takeda Tetsuya) and Kaoru(Sorimachi Takachi) were really good, i loved in the begining when Kaoru was trying to convince Sakurai to let him marry Kazumi(Wakui Emi).
Kazumi was such a boring character and her surprise expressions all seemed so fake. It�Ls the first time i saw Wakui Emi so i don�Lt know if she�Ls like this in every dorama.
The last 3 episodes draged a lot, but that didn�Lt ruin the first 8 episodes.
Anyway another great dorama with Takashi "The Great" Sorimachi with a stellar perfromance by Takeda Tetsuya.
Water Boys [ウォーターボーイズ] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) Very refreshing dorama about friendship and hardwork, Yamada Takuyuki and Ishigaki Yuma were really good, they made the show much more enjoyable.
And i think i never laugh as loud as i did during the last episode lololol.
Water Boys Season 2 [ウォーターボーイズ2] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) Well like most people said this is the same plot as the original(of course not a copy like Gokusen for example), i was entertained by this one, but it wasn�Lt as good as the first one.
First the cast was much weaker, the characters tried very hard to be funny but they failed and they were annoying specially Koike Teppei; the story was way over the top and the constant overacting was annoying.
Well it�Ls good to spent some time but not has good as the first one.
Wonderful Life [ワンダフルライフ] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) Another great Sorimachi dorama, the plot is very predictible but at the same time very enjoyable, specially the later half of the dorama, the Shynia story was really good even with the cliche ending.
Hasegawa Kyoko was really really cute in here, her facial expression when Kirishima tell�Ls her that he�Ls going back to the Pirates is priceless, it could melt any heart(except the heart of the dull and slow Kirishima lol), even with her hair destroyed after bath she�Ls still dead gorgeous.
Another great dorama for those who like heart warming stories about hard work and friendship.
Yama Onna Kabe Onna [山おんな壁おんな] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) i started watching this because Itoh Misaki was in it, but the lack of plot really killed a little of the enjoyment of this dorama. I really enjoyed the jokes and the characters, but since it lacked a solid main plot the viewers have nothing to look forward during the dorama. Itoh Misaki was really good in this but her Tsugaru-ben accent sounded really fake and Fukada Kyoko�Ls character was funny and kawaii sometimes but very annoying at the same time. And poor Koike Eiko it�Ls the second dorama i watched with her and she allways ends up with the fat ugly guys with no money lol.
Anyway if you like light comedy with lots of boob jokes watch this.
Yamato Nadeshiko [やまとなでしこ【大和撫子】] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) I was really involved while watching this dorama, i don�Lt remeber ho wmany times i call Sakurako b****, but even with her trying her best to make us hate her i just couldn�Lt, i was always thinking she had some sort of reason in her actions and her actions in the end were really cute. I found the male lead really boring so it kill a lot of the fun to me. But the comedy moments with Kazuya were gold, specialy when he tried to kill Hanabusa in Sakuma�Ls house, i laugh really hard.
A very cool dorama with a good pace, Matsushima Nanako is so cute here that you almost forget how much of a b**** Sakurako is lol.
Yankee Bokou ni Kaeru [ヤンキー母校に帰る] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) This dorama was awesome, if it wasn�Lt for the last 3 boring episodes(the marijuana ones) i would give this a 9.
I was shocked when i watched the special and discovered that this was based in a true story(at the end of the special we get a footage from the real teacher while retiring from education).
Yoshimori(Takenouchi Yutaka) was awesome, i loved the ways he used to take the place of Iwasaki sensei(Harada Yoshio) as the homeroom teacher.
I hated Kanae�Ls character, i was really pissed off when everyone forgave her after all she did to Nanae, and after that she allways acted as the class leader and that really pissed me off.
It was funny to watch japanese young actors in their young days, actors like: Hayami Mokomichi, Ichihara Hayato, Ichikawa Yui, Ishigaki Yuma and Koike Teppei.
The special was really awesome, better than the dorama itself imo, it stars Sakurai Shou and Matsuda Shota, a really yankee story.
Zettai Kareshi [絶対彼氏] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) Well i really enjoed this dorama, but i don�Lt rate it higher because even with all the drama around the robot i really couldn�Lt make myself care about him, i was allways rooting that Mizushima Hiro�Ls character would end up with Riko(Aibu Saki).
Anyway it�Ls a very funny dorama with good drama parts, if the main character weren�Lt a robot maybe i would had enjoyed more of this dorama.
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Around 40 [アラウンド40]
Abe Hiroshi [阿部寛]
