This isn't the first "regional dorama" I've watched, and just like the others, this one too is set in a beautiful scenery and has a deep, heartwarming story. Another big plus, at least for me - I love the Tōhoku accent, seriously! - is that this "Watashi no Ao Oni" is set in Yamagata Prefecture. But the biggest plus, as far as I'm concerned, is that the main role is played by the lovely Murakawa Eri (I found her positively radiant in everything I've seen her in so far, and I keep asking myself why they don't cast her more often!) - oh, and I also like a lot Kamishiraishi Moka! Anyway: a solid plot, with flashbacks intertwining with a fairy tale written by a local author and ending up with a poetic story and a lovely message; some very good acting; last but not least, some nice music. What more can you ask for?

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Hitsudan Hostess is a short dorama which brings on the screen the life of Saito Rie, who managed to become Ginza's (and therefore, Japan's) number one hostess despite being deaf since age 2, wrote a bestselling autobiography and later (though this has happened after the dorama was made) became the first hearing-impaired person ever to be elected as a local assemblywoman in Tokyo. The story is really moving, the acting very good (particular praises to Kitagawa Keiko, the late Tanaka Yoshiko and Sasano Takashi - plus, it's always a pleasure to see Toda Naho) and the message conveyed so heartwarming.

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Wakui Emi (as soon as she cuts that dreadful "ramen hair" she sports at the beginning of the series ^_-) goes back to being the same, absolutely adorable actress who had previously graced the audience in "Pure", and she delivers a solid performance throughout the entire dorama. Talking about great performances, Takeda Testsuya's would deserve a standing ovation, period. The problems lie with Sorimachi (who seems a bit out of place here, imho), with Hosho Mai (I liked her a lot in "Shomuni", but here she's just irritating, sorry), and most of all with the scriptwriting, which has its moments but also many faults - particularly the last episodes which are imho plainly silly. Too bad, it could've been much better than this...:/

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One of the best doramas I've seen, unfortunately partially tainted by an unispired last episode; without giving anything away, let's just say that after a 10-eps-long emotional rollercoaster (you laugh, you smile, you think, you cry...the whole 9 yards, really! Huge congrats to the writers!), the ending feels suprisingly plain, flat and dull. Too bad, 'cause it would have deserved a full 10/10 otherwise. Who does deserve a perfect 10 anyway is the lead (seriously, Nakayama Miho could make even reciting a shopping list an interesting watch; when, instead of a shopping list, there's a beautifully written script, the result is just superb of course) as well as the supporting cast (those adorably funny scenes portraying the trio of brother+kohais!). Solid score, great scenery. A must watch! :)

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Kanno Miho's performance was very good, but not even that is enough to save this dorama. Poorly scripted, unoriginal, predictable, cheesy. In a romantic drama the audience is supposed to root for the leads, but that's very hard to do here since the main male character is such a selfish, weak, spoilt and despicable 1st-class a-hole. And the way the elderly characters are written is just a disgrace: bidimensional characters, almost caricatures...one is little more than an ornament, always wearing a traditional dress and a faint smile and watering flowers or serving tea or such things, the other's a drunkard who speaks like a punk (those family scenes are supposed to add some comic relief, but they're just embarassingly bad). What a waste of Kanno Miho's talent! :/

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Having watched this while I was finishing watching "Chiritotechin" - and since both shows focus on rakugo - it would have been hard for me not to compare the two. And what can I say? "Tiger & Dragon" wins hands down!!! Not only is this hilarious (a very short synopsis could be: "Nagase Tomoya plays a yakuza who wants to become a rakugoka - hilarity ensues"), but moreover I think that the whole concept of intertwining the original rakugo stories with funny events - reminiscing of those very same original stories - involving the characters of this brilliant dorama, thus presenting us viewers with a very original take on the classics, well, is simply put a fantastic idea! Apart from being brilliantly written, this dorama is then equally brilliantly acted by the always über funny Nagase Tomoya - with honorable mentions also for Nishida Toshiyuki and Kiritani Kenta. Furthermore, Ito Misaki and Aoi Yu are both as gorgeous as they come (too bad the latter doesn't get enough screentime here!). Oh, and last but not least, "Crazy Ken Band" play the opening credits song! All in all, a perfect 10!

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Very interesting concept, and I want to praise the writers for managing to squeeze some deep, thought-provoking stories in those tiny 35' eps.! Unfortunately, as far as I'm concerned, the last two episodes ended up being just so-and-so (due to main characters I had a hard time relating to, and also due to endings I didn't really like), and that was quite a bit of a let-down after the first two eps. which were instead absolutely great. So, the first 2 would deserve a 10, the last 2 a 6...let's meet in the middle: 8/10 ^__- p.s. the 2nd season, not having imho any weaker ep., gets a full 10/10

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This could've been a great movie (yep, I meant "movie" indeed, you'll see why right away), on par with "The Magic Hour" and such. How? They should've: 1) gotten rid of 4/5 of the dorama (which imho is filled with useless characters - the innkeeper, the onee-san and her husband, the fisherman, the japanese-guy-with-dyed-hair-pretending-to-be-Russian and so on); 2) re-written Aibu Saki's character as something else than this childish, selfish, insufferably spoiled brat; 3) added some scenes from Golden Era movies (either from real movies, like they did in "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", or if that hadn't been possible, at least with re-shot b/w scenes reminiscent of those old cinematic gems). Unfortunately they didn't do that, and what we're left with here is - once again, as I always point out in my reviews: IMHO - a waste of film (not to mention, an unforgivable waste of Nagase Tomoya's, Koike Eiko's and Fubuki Jun's acting talent!

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Those like me who are big fans of Higashino Keigo and Meitantei Conan will surely like this. Nice plots, funny, non-intrusive comic relief...too bad they tried to really screw everything up with the last episode (so bad it hurts, seriously!), but they recovered well with the very nice special. Apart from the aforementioned crappy episode 10, the only thing that really bothered me was the absurdity of the "Galileo-starts-writing-formulas-on-some-crazy-surfaces" scenes, present in each ep.; c'mon guys, I understand that a bloc-notes and a pen would have been less dramatic, but there's a fine line between dramatism and idiocy, and those scenes went too far imho...

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The main issue I have with this dorama is that, until ep.8, the only interesting things about it were the scenes with Romaya-sensei and the ever-changing BTS clips shown during the closing credits (BTW, great song, seriously!). Dull script, unappealing characters and an annoying plot (or rather lack thereof) made it a real pain in the you-know-what to keep on watching until that point. Luckily, though, I didn't give up, as things picked up very quickly from then on and the last episodes were like a fireworks display reaching its climax. Now, how to grade something like that? Seven painfully slow and uninspiring episodes would deserve a "3" or "4", 4 very good episodes could get an "8" or even a "9"...I'll go with something in between and give it a "6". Self-reminder in case I'll ever decide to rewatch it: watch the first ep., skip the next 6, and enjoy the rest! :)

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