Aijou Ippon! [愛情イッポン!] Rating: 4/10 | Anego [アネゴ] Rating: 5/10 I was very impressed when I first watched it when it aired, but I don't think this is a rewatchable drama for me. The only novelty upon repeated viewing is the use of type-face to indicate the thoughts of individual characters. The setup of the lead is just so unconvincing! She isn't a career woman at all!! Her job consisted of running errands and making teas, basically a secretary of some sort. The only thing that distinguish her from the other female characters is that she's been there the longest. The title should really read "the love life of an office tea lady in her 30's".
I have seen Shinohara Ryoko in many dramas, and I noticed that her face seems to be getting bigger and wider in recent years. Her face is really big! | At Home Dad [アットホーム・ダッド] Rating: 7/10 It's interesting to see Abe Hiroshi as a house husband. This drama tackled some representative problems, and treated them with a comic twitch. It would have been more enjoyable if Kawashima wasn't in it. Her character was very similar to her roles in other dramas that i have seen: bossy, pretentious and made me want to punch her. |
Bengoshi no Kuzu [弁護士のくず] Rating: 7/10 It's a case-by-case drama, with fairly independent episodes. In each episode there were a good number of scenes involving Itoh Hideki's character and Kuzu, which make up for the somewhat mostly lackluster story development. | Brother Beat [ブラザー☆ビート] Rating: 3/10 for some reason the story line felt very old after the 2nd episode. the plot development is fairly cliche too. | Byakuyakou [白夜行] Rating: 9/10 (Watched) |
CA to Oyobi [CA(シーI−)とお呼び] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) light heart take on an occupation that is usually over-glamorized. Arisa san's face seems to be gaining inches at an incredibly alarming rate! | Dare Yori mo Mama wo Aisu [誰よりもままを愛す] Rating: 4/10 (Watched) plot is somewhat old. What a coincidence, this is another clichie drama with Tamayama in it. | Dragon Zakura [ドラゴン桜] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) like the lines of Abe Hiroshi. don't like YamaP's character in this series. too typical, predictable of a character |
Fuufu [夫婦。] Rating: 7/10 | Gakkou no sensei [ガッコの先生] Rating: 9/10 | Ganbatte Ikimasshoi [がんばっていきまっしょい] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) almost like an girls version of Water Boys. Instead of (a minority sport) of male synchronizing swimming, they are going for a girls rowing team. The only differences in set-up is that there is already a well-establish boys' rowing team in the same school (in WaterBoys the boys had to start from scratch). It is also slightly more serious than waterboys. Maybe to suit the 'femininity' of the drama. The make-up on the girls are awful! I always wondered how much make up they had to wear whenever I see a close-shot. The layer of their foundation is so ridiculously thick! (not to mention that after so much supposed workout under the sun, none of them were tanned at all!) |
Gokusen [ごくせん] Rating: 9/10 (Watched) Even though this drama shares a lot of similarities in settings with GTO, the actual story line is very different. It's a lot more light hearted, and even though the whole drama was shot in a manga-like tone, the lines/dialouges during the more 'moving' parts are more realistic and less cliche than GTO live action.
ps now that i have seen the anime, i am immensely impressed by the Nakayama Yukie and the wadrobe dept of this drama - she really brought Yangumi to life!! from her appearnce, dress, right down to the way she talks, it's a very good translation from anime to live action. | Hero Rating: 7/10 (Watched) i am not really a fan of Kimura Takuya, but there is something about him in this drama that got me very hooked. there is no over emphasis on romantic relations (as most of kimura's dramas tend to be), and the tone on the individual cases is pretty light. There isn't much links between sucessive episodes except the last two, and it seems that the aim is to extract as much 'human story' as possible out of even the most trivial of a case. | Hikari to Tomo ni [光とともに] Rating: 7/10 I like Kobayashi in this series. She seems to be very good at playing quirky and intelligent characters. Yamagushi from TOKIO over acts in too many scenes. |
Hotaru no haka [蛍の墓] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) | Ichi Ritoru no Namida [1リットルの涙] Rating: 8/10 pretty realistic protrayal of a rare disease, based on a real story | Jikou Keisatsu [時効警察] Rating: 9/10 Kiriyama kun is so cool! This is a keji drama with a very innovative twist! |
Jyoou no Kyoushitsu [女王の教室] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) started out well, but bulked in the middle and ended flat. | Kekkon Dekinai Otoko [結婚できない男] Rating: 10/10 Abe Hiroshi at his best! A very well written drama that reflects the mentalities of the current (japanese) society. After watching Abe Hiroshi's character, it confirms my belief that kekkon is only for the amai (naive) people. | Kou Kou Kyoushi 2003 [高校教師 2003] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) |
LIFE [ライフ] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) well-paced late night drama. The main character is a bit wossy at times. Hattori is a cool supporting character, and the main male character did a good a job protraying a two-faced psycho. | Magari Kado no Kanojyo [曲がり角の彼女] Rating: 4/10 | Medaka [めだか] Rating: 5/10 |
Miseinen [未成年] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) When I first watched a Nojima Shinji drama (koukou kyoshi 2003) i was very impressed by the dramatic plot. However by the time I come to watch Miseninen, it seems that Nojima adds those ridiculous plot development just so that he has a context to deliver his messages on social unjustice and human failiures. It gets a bit tiring after you realize that the drama is just a vehicle for his personal opinions. Ishidas Isssei was very good though. It's a pity that he hasn't acted recently. | Moto Kare [元カレ] Rating: 7/10 | Nobuta wo Produce [野ブタ。をプロデュース] Rating: 10/10 (Watched) |
Odoru Daisousasen [踊る大捜査線] Rating: 8/10 | Okusama wa Majo [奥さまは魔女] Rating: 5/10 (Watched) A Japanese version of the classic, however i find Ryoko san's japanese samantha to be extremely annoying. in the original series, samantha is fun to watch, but in this re-vamped version, Ryoko san was trying to act 'cute' all the time. i don't know if it's a fault of the actress or just the japanese script, but it got on to my nerves after a few episodes. | Ooku [大奥] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) surprisingly good. maybe due to the background of this series, the plot touches many more aspects than the later Ooku's, which tend to focus solely on the man-woman interactions. i would have given an 9 or 9.5 had it not be the content of the last episode - which has very little substance. half of it was a recap of the prevous episodes, which is probabily fine for someone who watches this once every week, but a bit repetitive and annoying for someone watching all episodes in the spaces of a few days. |
Ooku Dai-ishou [大奧第一章] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) I saw some episodes of Narita Rikon and I can't believe Sato Asaka was in it!! She seems to be another one of these actresses whose face gains significant inches and area with time. (another representative is Shinohara Ryoko) | Oyaji~ [オヤジぃ] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) | Ruri no shima [瑠璃の島] Rating: 7/10 |
Satorare [サトラレ] Rating: 5/10 plot is silly but entertaining | Style! [スタイル!] Rating: 7/10 | Suekko chounan ane san nin [末っ子長男姉三人] Rating: 8/10 Okada didn't seem to be the main focus of this drama except to fufill the 'suekko' part of the drama title. The varying personalities of the three sistes and the situational comedy they produced were pretty funny. I felt the pace was intended so that the drama ended in a cresendo. |
Summer snow Rating: 8/10 (Watched) a bit formulatic but overall a heart-warming story. find that Yuki character's temper annoying at times. | Tiger & Dragon [タイガー&ドラゴン] Rating: 9/10 the use of rakuten (sp?) as the story setting is original and delivers a bit of nostalgic feeling. Okada and Nagase both did a wonderful job!
I love their portrayal of the yakuza! | Water Boys Season 2 [ウォーターボーイズ2] Rating: 7/10 |
Wedding Planner [ウエディングプランナー] Rating: 10/10 (Bought & Watched) the story might not be original, but the presto pace and light heart approach makes it fairly entertaining. Yasuke Santamaria is hilarious! the theme songs are very fitting as well. | Yasashii Jikan [優しい時間] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) beautiful sceneries, but very slow at times. Nino was very good in this one, Masami's charater is annoying at times. | |