ZENKAI GIRL (全開ガール)

Summer 2011

Zenkai Girl stars Aragaki Yui as Ayukawa Wakaba and Nishikido Ryo as Yamada Shota. Wakaba grew up in poverty and resented her father for being harassed by debt collectors. She vowed to learn the ways of the law and to become smarter and stronger, never having to look back at her poor past again. She dreams of making it big one day and according to her plan she is offered a job at a famous law firm, but strangely her main job is to babysit Hinata, the firm director's daughter. To get to the top, she accepts the position. One day she meets Yamada Shota at the same nursery where she dropped off Hinata, but is disgusted by his weakness and lack of future outlook. Hinata on the other hand becomes good friends with Shota's son, Pitaro which complicates things between Wakaba and Shota. Although both Wakaba and Shota have different mind sets on what is important in life, their lives constantly intertwine and Wakaba begins to see more in Shota than meets the eye.

Recommendation: Being Gakky's first major role in a drama, I was curious to see this series. I am a fan of her work, getting to see her in Code Blue and some comedy shows. Before watching it though, I had a bad feeling about the male leading role played by Nishikido Ryo. I think he is a descent actor, but I am not a big fan of his. Anyway, after watching the first few episodes I knew how this one was going to end. It was filled with cliches and lacked any kind of impressive acting. Gakky wasn't that great, but I put more blame on the directing and screenplay as well. It just wasn't exciting and I didn't feel a strong connection between Gakky and Nishikido at all. The two kids who played Hinata and Pitaro were much more engrossing and it was actually funny at times to see them giving advice to their adult counterparts. I was waiting for more drama between Wakaba and Shota which never developed and their love for each other just seemed to come out of nowhere. I kept telling myself, "how can a woman like Wakaba ever fall in love with such a pill bug like Shota?" He's a good, kind man who cares a lot for his kid, but that's it, he was really a lifeless character. I was like, "come on Shota, do something crazy, take a risk!" but it never really happened until the very last episode which was just too late for me. Having invested hours watching all the episodes, I wanted more from this series, but it never really blossomed. In the end, I remember the relationship the two kids had more than the relationship that the main characters tried to create. No need to waste your precious time on this one unless you are a die hard Gakky fan. If I could send a present to the director, it would be a pill bug!

STORY: 0.5
ACTING: 0.5
DIRECTING: 0.5
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 0.5
EMOTIONAL FACTOR: 0.5

2.5 Out Of 5.0 Crowns

NODAME CANTABILE (のだめカンタービレ)

Fall 2006

Nodame Cantabile is about two gifted music students; Noda Megumi or Nodame for short (Ueno Juri) and Chiaki Shinichi (Tamaki Hiroshi) who are vastly different in terms of character, but possess near genius musical talent. At a young age, Chiaki was influenced by classical music when he lived in Europe. Having a famous pianist as a father, he was able to experience many musical events. He met a famous conductor named Vieira who taught him many things as well. Unfortunately, his parents divorced and he moved back to Japan vowing one day to return to Vieira and become his pupil. On the flight back to Japan Chiaki went through a life threatening crash landing. He did grow up to become a dedicated, disciplined, student of music, but due to the horrible flying incident, he could not get himself to fly on a plane. Everyday that passed by seemed useless as he grew unsure of what he was doing with his life in Japan. This is when he meets Nodame who coincidentally happens to be his next door neighbor. He hears her playing the piano at school and first thinks that it is terrible, but realizes that it's actually very good. Nodame is attracted to Chiaki, but he is turned off by her quirky behavior and undisciplined lifestyle. Despite their differences, they develop a strange relationship which changes the course of their lives in a way they never dreamed of.

Recommendation: Nodame Cantabile is based on a best selling manga and like most dramas based on manga or anime, I always brace myself for some major quirkiness. I wasn't shocked to find some here, but it actually wasn't as bad as say Hana Yori Dango. Masumi, the gay timpani player was the hardest to take, but other than him and maybe Mamoru, the second best conductor in the school, I think everyone else was quite pleasant although I understand that it is probably intended to be like a manga. Ueno Juri was really good playing a weird Nodame and Tamaki Hiroshi was good playing a stern Chiaki. I thought with the other good cast members like Eita, Mizukawa Asami (who are both in Last Friends with Ueno Juri), Takenaka Naoto, and Toyohara Kosuke, the comedy worked well. The story revolving around classical music was not only informative, but I really appreciated the genre more after watching this series. It's probably true that there are many talented musicians out in the world and since I can't play a lick of any instrument, it was quite inspiring. I really enjoyed this series; it was not only funny and uplifting, but I have to give out high marks for originality. It was a creative story about life, friendship, and the love for great music. Bravo!

STORY: 1.0
ACTING: 1.0
DIRECTING: 1.0
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 1.0
EMOTIONAL FACTOR: 1.0

5.0 Out Of 5.0 Crowns

HANA YORI DANGO (花より男子)

Fall 2005

Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers) is about a financially poor girl named Makino Tsukushi (Inoue Mao) who attends a high school for the super rich through the sacrifices made by her family. As she is different from her classmates in terms of status, money, and power, all she wants to do is pass through each day at school without any issues. Unfortunately, she inadvertently gets involved with Domyoji Tsukasa (Matsumoto Jun), the leader of the powerful group, F4 (Flower 4). Domyoji is known to have a bad temper and when he doesn't like a student, a red note is slipped into the student's locker. The student then gets harassed by other students forcing him/her to leave the school. Since the F4 are heirs to powerful Japanese families who donate to the school, they can do whatever they please; even the teachers don't get in the way. But when Domyoji tries to get rid of Makino, she surprisingly stands up to him. Since people usually cower before him, he is startled and actually develops a bit of an affection for Makino. This starts a rocky relationship between the two, but will there be a happy ending?

Recommendation: Okay, so first of all this drama was based on a popular girl's manga. Since I'm a guy, I don't read girl mangas (not saying that all guys don't read girl mangas) so I can't compare the series to the manga version. I do know that it was a very popular manga and actually the drama got really high ratings. Unfortunately, I have to say that it really didn't do much for me. I thought Inoue Mao acted well, but I just couldn't watch the drama without gritting my teeth sometimes. Man, I hated those three annoying rich girls (although they were probably meant to be annoying) and all the F4 members including Matsujun (he was funny at times) made me cringe. Oguri Shun was descent. That said I actually liked Makino's family and Kato Takako who played the dango store owner was funny too. I understand that the directing team may have wanted to make it feel like a manga at times, but sometimes I think the people in charge should think more out of the box and not necessarily try to match how the characters are in the manga exactly. Also, the more episodes I watched, the more I felt like I was watching a drama really for women (obviously because it's based on a manga for girls). Anyhoo, with all the luxurious items from cars to jewelry that they had to use for the series, I think it was quite amazing. Still at the end of the day, I don't think I would go back and watch this one again, even if you bribe me with a dango.

STORY: 1.0
ACTING: 0.5
DIRECTING: 0.5
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 1.0
EMOTIONAL FACTOR: 0.5

3.5 Out Of 5.0 Crowns

LAST FRIENDS

Spring 2008

Last Friends is about six young people who eventually live together in a "share house" or basically a house that is rented by a number of people each with their own rooms but share the living room, kitchen and bathroom etc. Aida Michiru (Nagasawa Masami) is a nice young girl who develops a steady relationship with her boyfriend Oikawa Sosuke (Nishikado Ryo) until she becomes a victim of DV or domestic violence. Michiru coincidentally bumps into her longtime friend Kishimoto Ruka (Ueno Juri) who she hasn't seen in 4 years. Ruka always cherished their friendship and was saddened when Michiru moved away with her mother. Determined to stay in touch with Michiru, Ruka goes out of her way to protect her. Takigawa Eri (Mizukawa Asami) has been a long time tenant at the share house and eventually offers Mizushima Takeru (Eita) and Ogura Tomohiko (Yamazaki Shigenori) to live there. With all the personal issues that these young people face, they somehow find solace in each other and their determination to stay together create lasting bonds that become unbreakable.

Recommendation: Highly recommended! I don't remember seeing a drama that captures the essence of what young people go through these days. Last Friends really is good because it delves into social stigma like domestic violence and homosexuality that people have trouble coming to terms with. The series is a bit extreme on a certain level, but nonetheless most of the episodes weave in and out of complex personal situations between each character almost flawlessly. You can feel Ruka's pain of keeping a long and dreaded secret from her best friend and the powerlessness of Takeru trying to help her. I know that Nagasawa Masami was the lead actress, but Ueno Juri took over this show. It was amazing to see her play a quirky comedic role in Nodame Cantabile and transform herself into a boyish outcast of a character in this series. Mizukawa Asami who played Eri was also delightful as she created a lighter cheery mood in a dark series. I'm not a huge fan of Nishikado Ryo, but he did a good job of representing a creepy and obsessed boyfriend of Michiru. Anyway this drama shouldn't be missed because there are life lessons to be learned here and it teaches us that the world is not always black and white.

P.S. (Spoiler) I also liked the cover image of the series with 5 of the main characters kind of laying next to each other connected by red string. I don't know if it was easy to spot, but if you have some sense of creativity or enjoy symbolism, the image represents the character's issues/dilemmas...or so I think. I guess it can be interpreted in different ways, but this is what I saw. From the left you have Eri facing Takeru because she likes him, but Takeru doesn't see her as a girlfriend and so is looking the other way. Takeru is looking at Ruka with his eyes opened because he knows her secret. He also likes Ruka, but Ruka only likes him as a friend so she is looking the opposite way. Ruka and Michiru are facing each other because they are friends and they like each other, but Ruka is upside down because the way she likes Michiru is "different." Michiru also develops feelings for Takeru and so her hand is extended toward him, but Takeru doesn't have the same feelings and so his hands are tucked away. Then you have Sosuke who is next to Michiru because they are in a relationship, but they are looking away from each other because their relationship is not a wholesome one. The red (blood?) string represents the bond/relationship that the characters have with each other and that they are all connected in some way. I wasn't sure about the white clothing that they were wearing, but it may symbolize the purity of youth in terms of their thoughts and actions. Other than Takeru, everyone's eyes are closed symbolizing the fact that they are obscurred from certain truths about each other. What do you think?

STORY: 1.0
ACTING: 1.0
DIRECTING: 1.0
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 1.0
EMOTIONAL FACTOR: 1.0

5.0 Out Of 5.0 Crowns

GOOD LUCK!!

Winter 2003

Good Luck!! is about a young man named Shinkai Hajime (Kimura Takuya) who dreams of one day becoming a full fledged airline captain. Unfortunately, he encounters a strict, by-the-book captain/trainer named Koda (Tsutsumi Shinichi) who gives him a hard time. He also meets a brash straight talking mechanic named Ogawa (Shibasaki Kou) who believes Shinkai to be another young, popular, playboy pilot. But beneath his spontaneous and sometimes out of line character, Shinkai knows more than anybody else that flying an airliner united with the crew and taking utmost care of the passengers needs are just as important as safety procedures and regulations. With his passion for the skies, he not only gains vital experience, but he motivates and touches the lives of everyone around him.

Recommendation: Who would have thought that a drama about flying airplanes would be a good idea? I actually ignored this series at first because I didn't think it would be exciting to watch. But I was wrong. The ratings for this series hit above 30% at one point. I know that Kimura Takuya's dramas usually are very popular, but this was quite an amazing statistic. I later realized that obviously Kimutaku is a charismatic actor, but the supporting cast was amazing as well. The plot and direction was well focused too. I think the screenplay and chemistry between each character was great especially with Kimura and Shibasaki; the way they bantered back and forth was great. I wholeheartedly recommend this one. The characters are deep and I fell in love with all of them.

STORY: 1.0
ACTING: 1.0
DIRECTING: 1.0
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 1.0
EMOTIONAL FACTOR: 1.0

5.0 Out Of 5.0 Crowns