ANDO LLOYD

Fall 2013

Ando Lloyd is a new drama starring Takuya Kimura and Kou Shibasaki. Kimura plays a genius physicist named Matsushima Reiji who is employed as a professor/researcher at Tokyo Imperial University. He has been studying about wormhole theories and one day tells his fiance that, based on a "kill list" circulating on the internet, he will be next in line to be killed. He also states that she will be targeted as well, but he will do everything in his power to protect her. His fiance, Asahi Ando, played by Kou Shibasaki first thinks that Reiji is fooling around, but soon realizes that someone is definitely coming after her. Just when she is about to be killed, someone that looks just like Reiji swoops into the rescue. At first she is happy to see him, but soon realizes that he is not Reiji. He explains that he is an android sent by a "client" from the year 2113 with one sole mission; to protect her from being killed no matter what. Who is the client? Who is trying to kill her and why does this android look like Reiji?

Recommendation: After I watched the first episode of this drama I was curious to know who the director was because the style seemed very familiar to a drama called "SP - Security Police" which I just posted a review about. Lo and behold, one of the directors (probably the main one) was Takafumi Hatano the director of "SP". Just realizing this made me cringe and boy did I cringe throughout this drama. I will give him and his team credit for trying to create a descent science fiction story, but in my opinion science fiction is one of the hardest genre's to work in. More importantly though, I just don't understand why Kimutaku agreed to work with Hatano (maybe he had no choice). If he was working in Hollywood, I would compare Hatano to Michael Bay; someone who loves intense action scenes and CG, but everything else is sub par. This was the case with "Ando Lloyd". Kimutaku and Shibasaki do their best with what they could work with. Kimutaku does a good job playing two different characters, but there are SO many holes in the plot and it doesn't slow down enough to have a chance to develop any of these characters. Even the supporting cast was hollow. The only scene that I felt emotionally drawn in was in episode 4 when Lloyd had to kill Navier. Why couldn't they have more androids like him? What gets to me the most is that, overall, this wasn't a smart drama and as a sci-fi story, if it isn't smart, it's less intriguing and becomes pointless to watch. Are these androids seriously from the future? I would definitely have a better plan of disposing one human being than what these 'droids thought up of. Who came up with adding English phrases? There was no need to do that and it just came off as uncool. The director is clueless here. What kind of story does he want to tell? The focus shifts from sci-fi to romance to social issues, but doesn't develop them nearly enough. It was low and uninspiring to steal from "The Terminator," "The Matrix," and even "Dragonball". I seriously got tired of constantly seeing the same action scenes that start out with the initiation of the Asura OS and then seeing Lloyd stagger and fall (I seriously think Lloyd staggers and falls to the ground in every episode). Also, the sappiness of protecting a loved one and over preaching of societal issues caused by humans was overkill; it just starts to come off as disingenuous.  Finally, as I mentioned in my "SP" post, the worst (and I would like to emphasize the word WORST) fight/action/kill scenes are the ones that end with characters fighting to the death but suddenly when one character is about to be killed...they have a conversation! (Yes, I would like one cup of coffee with a crumpet before I kill this guy...really?). I would like to mention that this type of scene occurs in EVERY single episode in this drama. Hatano also recreates the final scene from "SP" and just seems to copy and paste it into this drama. I'm talking about the part when The Last Queen shoots and "kills" a few main characters, but they miraculously survive. That was just offensive.

I would like to apologize for my rant above, but as a huge Takuya Kimura fan, I'm just disappointed with his recent dramas and sadly, it seems like his days of posting high TV ratings may have come to an end. Obviously I am not a director or actor so I will never know how much work it takes to develop and produce a drama series, but I'm a die hard fan of dramas and sometimes I wonder if he has a say in what kind of drama he wants to be involved in. Recently, I've been thinking about some reasons why Kimutaku is posting lower ratings. Yes, I do think one reason is that he is getting old, but I also think that he is not marketing himself to the audience that grew up with him. I feel like he is still trying to appeal to a younger, "popular" crowd and in this drama, there are some up and coming young and beautiful stars that he surrounds himself in and it doesn't look right. I would hope to see him solely in another love story/family drama in the role of a father or any drama that can focus on his abilities as an actor instead of being involved with a team focusing on glitz and glam. If you like Kimutaku or Kou Shibasaki and don't mind watching a drama that doesn't require much thinking then I would recommend this one for you. For everyone else, steer clear from this one because you will only be left frustrated. A.I. knows love? Yes, A.I. knows love! But please show it and not just say it!

Story: 0.5
Acting: 1.0
Directing: 0.5
Character Development: 0.5
Emotional Factor: 0.0

2.5 Out Of 5.0 Crowns