This "Kanojo ga Joubutsu Dekinai Riyuu" was a pretty nice surprise for me; consisting of six episodes lasting roughly thirty minutes each, it can be taken as Nth proof that quality trumps quantity (although I did find it a tad too short - more on that in a jiff, bear with me ^__-).
The story was a clean, nice, delicate one - precisely the one you'd expect from an NHK production - and that was comforting in itself. Nevertheless - and without any spoilers, I promise - the conclusion felt a bit rushed to me, so as far as I'm concerned it wouldn't have hurt to have even just one more episode so as to be able to develop it a bit more smoothly. But it's a minor detail, really - and I know I tend to be pretty picky when it comes to scripts, so take it with a grain of salt.
The cast - I'm sorry to confess, totally unknown to me - did very well, and I particularly appreciated that the dreary but alas (stereo)typical portrayal of foreigners as funny weirdos, so common in J-dramas, was mostly absent from this series. Nice one, guys! (BTW, having a burmese-born ML portraying a burmese character was also a nice touch! I wish Hollywood learned to do the same - but then again, who cares, right? I would be none the wiser even if they did, given how I'm completely detoxed from their productions anyway, LOL).
Music and production value might not be top-notch, I'll admit, and that's why I'm not rating this as a perfect 10. But it got really close, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it! ^___-

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Whenever I see Odagiri Joe cast as the lead, I know from the beginning that chances are I'm in for something quirky and funny - and more often than not, outrageously so. And this "Jikou Keisatsu" was no exception, LOL! ^_____^
Indeed, the premise was exactly like that: outrageously quirky and funny (although, the ethically-conscious me was not fully on board with the "culprits get away with it" concept, I must confess >___<). The premise was mostly well developed and the mystery plots mostly well written (though, as it is often, if not always, the case with such episodic mysteries, some episodes were indeed better than others).
The cast did very well (besides, Odagiri Joe + Aso Kumiko are the perfect combo, seriously!!!) and the music was good too (the background music played during the "solution scenes" was particularly nice!); I have mixed feelings about the directing/editing though, as in a coupla episodes those were so chaotic that I got motion sickness! >___<
All in all, a nice dorama; I'm gonna watch the following seasons too! ^___-

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Masterpiece from the Golden Era!

I'll start with a standing ovation for Kimura Takuya.
And given how I've never been a big fan of his, I honestly think this carries a lot more weight than otherwise.
He was simply superb here, period. Well done, man! Chapeau!
But then again, the *whole* cast did marvelously. And what a fantastic cast, by the way! Okamoto Aya, Koyuki, Sakai Masato, Izumiya Shigeru...and then again, Ueno Juri, Kaho, Toda Erika, Oohira Natsumi...wow, just wow!
Of course a big role in this overall superb performance was played by the script, which was basically perfect and worked like a clockwork: *every single character* was tridimensional, *every scene* well thought and well written. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll think...the whole nine yards, seriously!
Some *great* music and a pretty high production value complete the package.
If you're in for a masterpiece from the "Golden Era" (early 90s to late Aughts) of Japanese Drama, give this title a chance. You might end up *loving* it just as I did! ^___-

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I've always loved boxing, so I just *had to* watch this "Mirai e no 10 Count". Upon watching, I have to say it was OK but nothing worth calling home about. But the worst thing is, it could've been so much better!
The script indulges too much on PC and too little on substance (I'm comparing this to "Engine" which I'm watching ATM - same ML, similar premises and settings - and "Engine" wins hands down, seriously!); most of the characters are not really developed but just bidimensionally sketched (for example, I wish the SML and SFL had had much more screentime and relevance!) and I'm not really satisfied with several of the writer's choices (for example - SPOILERS AHEAD!!! Jump to the next paragraph if you wanna avoid them! - I would've shipped the ML with the SFL and the FL with the SML; I wouldn't have had the ML meet his late wife's double - that was some totally unnecesary cruelty from the writer!!! As was Momosuke's life-threatening injury! - and I would've given much more room to the boxing club and the torunament!!!)
The acting was ok, as were the music and the "packaging".
I thought I was gonna give this a "7", but the "missed opportunity" factor made me lower my rating in the end.

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Even better than the drama...perfect10!

I would suggest you watch this movie only *after* the dorama ("Eizouken ni wa Te o Dasu na!" - which is basically the same title as this movie's - only, in Japanese), as you'd miss out on a tremendously witty and funny series otherwise! Nevertheless, the movie can stand by itself, and since the first twenty minutes or so are basically a recap of the drama's most important moments, even those who haven't watched the drama can appreciate the flick.
I normally am a bit wary of movies following dramas, as it's been my experience that most of those can't keep up the original quality and end up being a let down; but it certainly isn't the case of this "Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!"....quite the opposite, I personally found it even better than the drama itself - which it's quite a feat, given how the drama had already been almost perfect!
A solid script, some great acting, nice music, himalayan-high production value...what's not to like? Perfect 10!

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I must confess having been taken quite aback by this drama's first episode. In short, and trying to avoid spoilers, it wasn't what I had expected. But after the initial surprise, I recalibrated my expectations and in the end I was utterly satisfied by this show! ^____-
The script is as crazy and quirky as they come, being a perfect example of the typically Japanese paradoxical comedy - a genre at which they excel, indeed! Expect lots and lots of wild fantasy (such a refreshing contrast to the ever-surging wave of bland, neutered, politically-correct homogeneity which has laid waste to the Western scriptwriting world, and has started attacking Japan as well, alas). Dialogues are witty and funny.
The acting is mostly superb (apart from one or two minor characters; but the three leads are all impeccable - a virtual standing ovation to them! Oh, and to the lovely Konishi Sakurako as well - too bad her role is not a leading one T__T).
Some pretty nice music and a tremendously high production value complete the package.
Highly recommended! Oh, and be sure to watch the following movie as well!

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Interesting premise, totally ruined by a lousy script

Apart from the cheesy title, this "Zambi" had a pretty interesting premise, with a first episode full of eery atmosphere. But from them on, unfortunately (and particularly from the start of the zombie outbreak - pardon, "zambi" outbreak ^_^;...), the whole thing was completely ruined by one of the lousiest scripts I've ever seen, filled to the brim with inconsistencies, plotholes, horribly poor dialogues, and idiotic scenes (just a few examples - SPOILERS AHEAD, jump to the next paragraph if you want to avoid them! - out of all the teens in the dormitory, apparently only one had her phone with her - like, seriously?!? - but then when the FL awakes inside the coffin, she has a lighter with her - and when another girl is stuck climbing outside a window, she repels a "zambi" using a big spray can - where did she find it? and where had she hidden it until then?!?...as for the dialogues, a memorable example is when one of the girls gets killed - UNMISTAKENLY killed, what with the knife stuck in her heart, the eyes wide open and dead - and in the next scene, a girl asks "Was she really dead?" - Duh! Whaddaya think, girl?!? >_____<)
The acting was quite poor, but with that script, there's nothing they could have done about that - and some of the girls showed how well they can act in another drama, "Eizouken ni wa Te wo Dasu na!" (more on that in my upcoming review of that title).
The music was nothing worth calling hoe about it, either.
Summing it all up: watch it only if you're a Nogizaka fan.

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Hidden gem, highly recommended!

This dorama is yet another example of how many Japanese masterpieces are out there, vastly ignored by the Western audience.
Now, since it's unsubbed, I've watched this by helping my little more than basic knowledge of Japanese with self-made machine-translated subs (nothing too complicated: you just take the Japanese subs, run them through a machine-translation site, and then retime them to the RAWs by removing the commercial breaks gaps).
And I'm so happy I did, 'cause this is the very definition of "hidden gem", seriously!

A marvelous script, mixing quirky and lovable characters with hilarious comedy elements and deeply humane moments.
A great performance by the main cast (kudos to all four of them! I wanted to watch it 'cause my beloved Moririn and Sakai Wakana are in it - the former is not only such a marvelous actress, but also at the top of her beauty in this; and the latter is always a pleasure to watch, period. But both Mikami Hiroshi and Toyohara Kosuke were *absolutely* great too! Well done, guys!).
Some *fantastic* music (some of the OST reminds a lot the best Goran Bregovic tunes from Kusturica's movies!), great direction/editing/photography complete the package.
Perfect 10!

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Similarly to "Tsumari Suki tte iitai n Dakedo", I've watched this drama because of the FL, despite the fact that it's not really my genre, normally...and surprisingly ended up liking it quite a lot!
True, the premise is as weird as they come, let's face it; but they managed to develop it in a quirky-but-funny way (LOL, those *literally* steamy scenes! ^__^;;;...), and apart from that, the story itself is a lot more wholesome than one would expect at first (heck, it's a lot more wholesome than 90% of other romance dramas, as far as I'm concerned! >__<).
Two nice characters that it's impossible not to root for, in a sweet, healthy relationship (yep, they share a...ehm...unusual fetish which I honestly would've done better without...but hey, they're consenting adults and nobody gets hurt in the process, so, like, why not...?) that advances through mutual selflessness, love, respect and honest communication.
The leads both delivered very convincing performances (besides, Ohara Yuno here is the very definition of a perfect GF! - and I suppose Sato Kanta will have the same effect on the female audience), the music is nice too, and so is the production value.
It gets a lot better after a few episodes, so my suggestion is, if you feel like giving it a try, don't stop at the first episode(s) but watch a few more! ^___-

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I've watched this for Kubo Shiori, and I'm happy to confirm that at least she didn't let me down; on the contrary, I've found her acting (but honestly, the rest of the cast did well too) the best part of this drama (and BTW I find her particularly gorgeous here, what with the pale moon face, the jet-black hair and the red lipstick and cloak, and the tsundere character....but that's another story entirely, sorry).
Unfortunately, I'm not really happy about the script; the series consists of eight episodes and four unrelated stories, taking two episodes each; no explanation whatsoever is given about the main character, her origins and/or goals; she appears as a cruel, damning devil in one story, and as a kind Deus ex machina in another one. I'd sum up the script as "chaotic, inconsistent and ethically questionable", honestly. All imho, I'm sure many will love it precisely for that.
The music, which would befit a 90's videogame, despite not being my favorite genre (like, not in the least), is nonetheless catchy and adequate for the show's atmosphere.
Production value is pretty good too.
Personally, another detail that made the series lose points in my eyes is the typical abuse of English terms - employed in the same way as pseudolatin is in young adults' novels - a kind of "mumbo jumbo" that reminded me of an Italian comedian (Mago Forest, for those who know) and his old skits filled with silly inventions which were given an English (or rather, English-sounding) name for pseudomarketing reasons (like the small pair of strainers to be worn around one's neck, so as to catch the eventual falling earring during a night out - and accordingly called by the comedian as the "No More Lost Orecchin In The Night ©" - with "orecchin" being the macaronic English from "orecchino" - 'cause the average Italian Joe might know the words "no", "more", "lost", "in", "the" and "night", but might actually struggle remembering "earring", LOL. Well, that's how all the psychological "English" mumbo-jumbo used in this series sounded to my ears...^__^;;;

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If you love mahjong, you're gonna love this!

First things first: if you don't know the game, I'd suggest you skip this. Honestly, chances are, you'll find it boring and/or simply incomprehensible.
BUT. If you play, know and love the game (the three things are interconnected: you can't play it if you don't know it, and you can't but love it if you know and play it), then you'll be able to understand all its intricacies. And you're just gonna love this drama! ^______^
The script is close to being perfect: the authors' love for mahjong transpires from every scene, the characters are written tridimensionally (quite a feat, given how they're stitting at a mahjong table the whole time!), and the "villains" are not so villainy after all, but rather opponents who could end up being friends under different circumstances (Harada is imho the kind of "villain" - again, quotation marks - that every writer would love to create!).
Although they also play several episodes by "house rules", those are still totally realistic or at least plausible, The moves, the strategies, the discards...all of them are realistically depicted, and as a player myself I'd almost always play exactly as the characters do, discarding the same tiles etc. - sign that it's well done (true, their discard-reading skills are sometimes a bit more than normal, but it's ok, seriously).
The cast did a marvelous job as a whole; just as in "Akagi" script and cast had gone hand in hand (unfortunately, in that case, being both lousy!), the same happened here, but in this case it meant that a great script was performed very well; kudos to all of them.
Some nice music, direction, editing and photography complete the package.
Perfect 10, as far as I'm concerned.

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It has *nothing* to do with real mahjong...this is so unrealistic it hurts! >_____<

As I've mentioned here and there in my reviews, my "Dropped" list is anything but complete (if anything, let's say that it represents but a tiny fraction of the dramas I've actually dropped!). I should also add that even out of the minority of dropped dramas which I bother to include in that list, it's again just a tiny fraction that gets the questionable "honor" of a review; on the one hand, I prefer reviewing titles I've completed (as it seems more sensible and fair); on the other hand, though, I can make the occasional exception for titles which I deem so terrible that they deserve a bad review both for personal future reference and as a warning for my fellow dramophiles.
And, well, this is precisely one of those exceptions.
So, why is it so terrible imho?
Firstly, the script has *nothing* to do with mahjong (and indeed, I noticed positive reviews/comments by people who admit not knowing the slightest thing about mahjong - which is totally understandable). But if you, like me, are a big fan of this game, steer clear of this. It's so unrealistic it hurts.
Secondly, the acting follows the script in being absolutely ridiculous. Not sure how much of it depends on the actors themselves, though possibly litle, given the awfully poor material they had to work with (I'd normally speak of *bidimensional characters* at this point, but seriously, guys, these are so terrible, they're more like *monodimensional*...>____<)
So, if you're a mahjong fan, I'd recommend avoiding this completely and spending your time on "Ten - Tenwa Doori no Kaidanji" instead (I'm watching it these days and if they haven't ruined it in the very last episodes, expect a very positive review about it coming soon ^___-)

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I hope you will forgive the (by now, totally abused) pun, but this is the Nth case of a special...which was actually
*nothing special* at all! On the contrary, it was actually a *huge* let down, given how the original series, so brilliant as it was, had set of course the expectations bar pretty high. Unfortunately, it couldn't live up to that.
The script was but a pale shadow of what it used to be during the series: the once complex machinations became an idiotic and dull plan, and the once hilarious comedy relief scenes became ridiculous, embarrassing and not-funny-in-the-least moments; "cherry" on top, the usual (and oh-so-satisfying) final retribution to the villain lacked almost completely here.
The acting was also negatively influenced by the poor script, resulting in a barely ok performance.
The music is the only thing that remained at the top-notch level of the original series.
All in all, this doesn't bode well at all for the second season...>____<

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M-A-S-T-E-R-P-I-E-C-E !!! ^________^

Every now and then, the J-dramas scene comes out with what can only be described as "a total masterpiece", and this is precisely one of those instances! ^_________^
This "Oi, Handsome!" is, in my humble opinion, up there in the same (Champions') league as previous masterpieces like "Ore no Hanashi wa Nagai", "Saigo Kara Nibanme no Koi" or, to name also some movies, "Our Little Sister" and the fantastic "Kazoku wa Tsurai Yo!" Trilogy. All marvelous examples of the Himalayan heights that can be reached by the best of the best of the "family / slice-of-life" genre!
Seriously, I've finished watching this series twenty minutes ago, and I still have goosebumps thinking about it, so good it was! Wow, guys. Just wow. *Every single scene* is, imho, *simply perfect*. Perfectly scripted, acted, directed. The music commentary is perfect. The message is perfect.
Standing ovation.
Thanks for such gems, Japan! Arigatou!!!

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This "Shoujiki Fudousan" was an entertaining watch altogether, with some good points and some minor problems though. All imho, as always.

First things first, what I've liked:

- The story was a clean one, with a nicely proper, ethical message (exactly what I would expect from an NHK production, and that was comforting in itself ^__-)
- The female cast was very good; I'm quite a fan of Fukuhara Haruka so I knew I was gonna get a great performance from her, but also Kurashina Kana and Daichi Mao were great, not to mention the lovely Izumi Rika!)
- The music and the "packaging" were totally OK too

On to the things I wasn't enthusiastic about:

- The male cast; I must confess not being a big fan of Yamashita Tomohisa, but I'll say this: he still was, like, the only male who gets a passing grade here, imho; the rest were all below par (though in all fairness, I couldn't say how much of that was the actors' own fault and how much actually depended on the script - I'm willing to give the actors the benefit of the doubt and blame it on the scriptwriter and/or on the original manga authors
- The hair stylists; this is a problem this drama shares with many other J-dramas adapted from a manga: crazy hairstyles that work on paper get too faithfully portrayed in the live-action, resulting simply too weird; take for example this drama's villain, he was supposed to be scary and all, but due to the hairstyle being a kinda mix between Elvis and a Leningrad Cowboy, the guy ended up looking just ridiculous, imho. (oh, and that hairstyle on Kurashina Kana was a crime against humanity, seriously...T_____T)

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