Saturday, January 12, 2013

PRICELESS



















Fall 2012

Yes I'm back! Actually, just on a little break before my last semester begins so I browsed through some recent shows and was glad to see a new Kimura Takuya one. The drama is called "Priceless" and it's about a salesman named Kindaichi Fumio (Kimura Takuya) who has a cheerful and positive attitude. His carefree life may seem out of ordinary to some, but one of the most important things he cares about is his unwavering loyalty and dedication to the people that he works with. He believes that relationships are the cornerstone to a successful business. Unfortunately he is confronted with unbelievable circumstances in which he ends up losing seemingly priceless possessions; a job, his apartment, and his girlfriend. Having to start from the ground up, he meets two poor boys which jump starts his life towards a path that only he could maneuver through.

Recommendation: So I know that Kimura Takuya is the king of dramas, but it is true that his ratings have gradually decreased over the last few years. Still, compared to others, he can still draw relatively  high ratings. I for one am always happy to see him act. I think there is still no other actor in Japan like him; he's a natural. That said I was a bit disappointed with this drama. The acting is great all around. Kimura, Nakai Kiichi, and Karina have good chemistry, and the subtle comedic scenes worked well for the most part, but the story comes off as a bit trite and pretentious in my opinion. It's subjective obviously and I know some people will love Kindaichi's character and the underdog story-line, but even a drama should be grounded in some reality. The story was too idealistic for me to care. Kindaichi is Mr. Goody Two-Shoes basically and the story falls flat when no matter how difficult a situation may be, he finds a way to succeed. I would have added a back story or a few situations in Kindaichi's past that helped develop his present character. It just felt like he was superhuman and unless the obstacles that a character faces don't inspire growth or change (he does inspire change in others though), it is just a boring character to watch. Oyashiki Toichiro played by Fujiki Naohito was the antagonist trying to take Kindaichi down. Fujiki is a really good actor and I was again disappointed that there wasn't a lot of major interaction between the two. I mean I wanted to see a brawl!...or at least a brawl of words. Anyway, enough of the negativity. I was relatively pleased and you can't go totally wrong with a Kimutaku drama. So Kimutaku fans rejoice! But is it priceless? Um, there's no such thing.

Story: 0.5
Acting: 1.0
Directing: 0.5
Character Development: 0.5
Emotional Factor: 0.5

3.0 Out Of 5.0 Crowns

8 comments:

  1. i left this drama halfway since i got bored...this was the first drama i watched of Kimura Takuya and i think i don't care to watch his other stuff :(

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    1. You may have done the right thing to stop halfway as it was not up to par with Kimura Takuya's other dramas. But if possible, please try his older dramas! He is basically the drama king, hence I've dedicated this blog's title after him.

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  2. but he has a new drama coming this season, he is some kindda AI robot.
    That looks interesting :)

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    1. I am a big fan of Kimura Takuya and I just watched the first episode. Lately, I feel like he's lost some of his luster. Maybe because he's getting older, but I also think the dramas that he stars in aren't very compelling. Ando Lloyd started out well, but I was a bit disappointed because it is starting to look like a knock off of Terminator and The Matrix but with worse computer graphics haha. I'm still going to watch it and see if there are any surprises :)

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  3. i am always surprised that though japan is pretty ahead in technological advancement, this does not reflect in the jdramas. One good example is death note. I loved how the Shinigami looked but the movie itself is suppose to look dark BUT unfortunately the surroundings looked very colorful and merry ...so the whole primise that 'the world is evil' seems almost unbelievable:( You are right about the graphic of Ando Lioyd LOL

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  4. But then again.... i think what i like about jdrama is the imperfect graphics and sometimes the mangaish sortta outlook (like ouran high school host club) i think that is something very unique abt jdramas.... if you know what i mean :)

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  5. Yes, that's true, I think it works at times. I haven't seen Ouran High School Host Club, but I probably got a similar manga-ish vibe from Hanazakari No Kimitachi E or Densha Otoko.

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  6. And also, I've always thought about the same thing in terms of using high quality animation or technology in dramas. Maybe it just has to do with budgets and may be too costly, but I would like to see better quality graphics. I just started watching Miss Pilot and the plane in the first scene seriously looked like anyone with cheap animation software could make!

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