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Scandal at Omiya Sonic City

November 25, 2013, 12:52 pm
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What would a Japan holiday be without a Scandal concert? This was on my 2nd last day and the last day was the Ultra SF4 location test. Wish I had time to go 


to the Tokyo Motor Show to check out the girls I mean cars.

Bframe had already gone to the Yokkaichi one two weeks ago so I knew to expect 20 minutes of talking in the middle which I was not looking forward to. I asked him to get me a shirt first so I would not need to queue up and forgot to bring one of my Scandal towels. One can't enjoy a Scandal concert without towel swinging during Doll.

Regardless, I went early to check out asaitama. Venue was close to Omiya Station in Saitama and I went past Saitama Super Arena on the way to the station. Similar to Sendai, it had overhead walkways outside the station connected the buildings nearby.

No more huge venues for me except for maybe Hatsune Miku. After Sambomaster, the smaller the venue the better.


The latest album is ok. My favourite song is Standard but nothing really jumps out. My favourite Scandal song atm is One Piece and was sad to learn from bframe it won't be on the set list.


While the venue is more hall than live house and I was at the 30th row, I could actually finally see them after going to the Budokan and Osaka-jo lives. Not as close as the first time I saw them with bframe at Zepp Nagoya.


Should have looked up the best ramen place on tabelog but ended up at a Coco Ichi next to Omiya Sonic City. Had half a mind to take away the Coco Ichi chicken and nuggets to eat on the way back. According to bframe Scandal only to live house for fan club events but even then there's a lot of talking. They even talk more than Mano Erina and she's the idol.


Crowd ate up 20 minutes of them talking about what's the standard way of cooking eggs and getting the crowd to vote by cheering. Yes, I did time it. Apparently the Yokkaichi segment was about the standard school trip.


I liked that they bookended the new songs with Standard and ended with the good old songs like Shoujo S and Doll. Highlights for me were Mami singing Koe and and I started liking Weather Report. I can watch Mami play her guitar all night.

Used the shinkansen to Omiya instead of the usual train cause of the JR pass. It was funny being on the platform by myself after the concert while everyone used the normal train.

Huge thanks to bframe for the tickets to Scandal and Sambomaster.

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Uehara Ai Calender 2014

November 26, 2013, 7:44 am
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Mano Erina 2014 Calender

November 27, 2013, 8:46 am
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Went to Hello Project Shop building at 11, went up to the 6th floor and found out it opens at 12. WTF.

Had half a mind to go to Shosen Book Tower but I had to buy it straight from the HP! shop. Emded up at Tokyo Chikara Meshi for the lovely gyuyakinikudon which is super cheap and delicious.

Was very surprised at the A3ish size. I was thinking budget cut since she has graduated.

The calender folds out so its not that small.

Best of all, two pages per month instead of the usual one big sheet for every two months.

Mano Erina calenders have always neen consistantly good.

And I will keep buying as long as she keeps making them.

She looks better with long hair but its all for the Patlabor movie.

HP! shop pics to posts behind.

Hope Mano Erina finds success in her acting but I'd rather she be singing.



As bonus I got two photos! Michishige Sayumi! Thank the jpop gods I waited and hour to buy fom the HP! shop.
No idea. Don't care.
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Japan 2013 trip 2 loot

November 28, 2013, 4:19 pm
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Finally got a 3DS LL. Was very tempted last trip but I didn't really need the upgrade for Bravely Default. The Project Mirai 2 demo gave me reason to upsize. 3DS is too uncomfortable for music games. Should receive PD2 on Monday. : )

3DS streetpass makes travelling Japan fun. There's only one region left in Japan on my streetpass map to go. Finally got over 1000 miis in my plaza!

Not a One Piece fan but graphics look good. Plays like Sengoku Musou.

Ended up getting the 3DS slide pad for One Piece. Its uncomfortable cause the second stick is to the right of the buttons instead of above of below it. Tried it with the Bio Hazard demo and it works better with the shoulder buttons. 3DS should have two sticks like the Vita.

Cheap 2nd hand one missing the club Nintendo points. Need to redeem my points before they expire.

I spent over a 100 hours on Zero no Kiseki Evolution. Can't wait for Ao no Kiseki Evolution next year.

Could not stand the pathetic battle system from the first game but I cannot resist being able to walk around a virtual Akiba.

Another generic gimmicky Tony Taka game? cough Shining Ark. After Zero no Kiseki, a need an old school JRPG with simpler dialogue. Unfortunately not fully voiced and its got this stupid kissing element in order to unleash special moves.




Yes, Tony Taka games have gone from pulling swords from breasts to kissing in the midde of battle. The bad news is that there are male party members for female gamers.

At least you can turn off the kissing minigame for dudes. Not sure if it means automatic max damage. As long as I can finish the game without any dude on dude action, who cares.

My first Scandal poster.


Cannot resist polystone figures...


Rakuten Eagles championship shirt.

Shingeki no Kyoujin shirt. Took me a whole day to find the LL brown version in Akiba.


30000円 worth right there. Sony should just release a 128GB card. Considered going digital for my Vita games but I need the space for PS1 and PSP games though now I've got a 32 and 64 Gb card. Having all my games digitally on two cards would be easier than swapping around and be enough in terms of space.

Vita card holder.


And of course my two calenders, Sambomaster, Scandal and Gundam Front shirts which I covered previously.

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JFF 2013: Blindly in Love review

November 29, 2013, 9:54 pm
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35 year old public servant Kentaro, has no friends, lives with his parents and his only hobbies are playing Rumble Fish 2, saving his money and his pet frog. His parents join this matchmaking thing between parents and somehow Kentaro ends up meeting with the blind Naoko (Kaho).

THE GOOD

- Seeing Kaho on the big screen. :)

- Very good supporting cast with Osugi Ren and Kuroki Hitomi playing Kaho's parents.

- Pretty funny, especially Kentaro's parents.

- The first half plays like this slow burning character based movie.

THE BAD

- Instead of going the character study route, its goes the more generic romantic comedic/soap opera route. Kaho's character is so underdeveloped and there's a lot that Blindly in Love can talk about in terms of the similarities between the two characters. Can't blame them for going the safe route but meh.

- The Yoshinoya scene should have been the ending but they wanted the pay off for the frog thing which I thought was unnecessary. More character stuff, especially looking at whether both parent's enabled their children's reliance with the Yoshinoya scene would have been better. Even the yariman could have used more screen time.

- Kaho's parents' subplot being unresolved.

THE UGLY

- Having a strong desire to eat some real gyudon and wishing I were back in Japan. I want Tokyo Chikara Meshi gyuyakinikudon right now. :(

SUMMARY

- Crowd pleasing movie with good acting and an uneven third act. I just feel it could have been much more and I'd rather they tried and fail than play safe. Watchable.

Edit: Forgot to mention these two ladies who would not stop talking even when the movie started. Dude next to them told them to be quiet and the women instead of keeping quiet answered him and told him to shut up. Dude overeacted  and got physical, had to be moved to different seat but people who talk in cinemas annoy me.
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JFF 2013: The Apology King and Shield of Straw

December 1, 2013, 3:18 am
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THE APOLOGY KING

The first 2/3rds of The Apology King is freaking brilliant. Abe Sadao steals the show as the guy who runs the Tokyo Apology Center, helping people apologise. The Apology King presents the stories as five separate cases. The first story has Inoue Mao as this Japanese who lived abroad who has trouble apologising and becomes Abe Sadao's right hand woman. The second is a funny sekuhara story with Ono Machiko and the third is about a divorced celebrity couple with the wife played by Matsuyuki Matsuko (Mother). The fourth case, well I won't spoil that.

All three stories were hilariously funny with laughs every minute and event intersected against one another. Then we get to the five story which is about this fictional country of Mantan and that's where the comedy started grinding to a halt for me. First of all, Abe Sadao and Inoue Mao are hardly in the last story. Its their comedic chemistry that is the center of this movie.

Secondly, they could have told the audience the information about what happened and the few jokes as well about Mantan in half the time. This is one of the rare instances I wish someone had gone Harvey Weinstein on a movie. Someone needed to tell the editor that this wasn't a character dorama. If there are hardly any jokes, speed things along and Abe Sadao should never be off screen for more than 3 minutes. They could have easily done most of the Mantan thing in flashback with a lot of fat cut off.

Thirdly, the jokes come from whatever bullshit custom the writers make up about Mantan whereas the first four stories are things that happen, albeit in a much more exaggerated way. The first four stories are taking everyday stuff ie suicides, press conferences are putting them through this absurd microscope. The final Mantan story just drags and drags because really, its only interesting purpose is to tie all five stories together.

Too bad it took what feels like half to movie to get to the end. By the time the music came around, we was dejected. Similar to Blindly in Love, The Apology King is stuck between two movies. Most of the movie is a funny satire on the act of apologising in Japanese society and the third act is trying to be some crowd pleasing generic comedy complete with music video credits. The Apology King makes fun of so much relevant stuff like putting on a show apologising to the general public is more important than the victim. They even made fun of Erika-sama's 'betsu ni' incident although no one in the crowd laughed. We need an Abe Sadao and Inoue Mao Apology King dorama series. In trying to hard to have this great punchline, the writer sort of forgot that its the story leading to the punchline that is more important. Such a waste of potential.

Edit: Fark. Deeply regretting not going to see Mitsushima Hikari and Namakemono in Summer's End instead.


SHIELD OF STRAW

My expectations were low based on comments from those who have seen it. I just wanted to see whether Miike could pull of a modern action movie after butchering Ryu ga Gotoku and he's done a decent job. Its basically the story of Jin sensei and Matsushima Nanako tasked with bringing suspected pedophile killer played by Fujiwara Tatsuya from Fukuoka to Tokyo after the rich grandfather of the victim puts a 1 billion yen bounty of the killer's head.

With so much money at stake, no one is to be trusted and as Jin sensei says, its not random John Doe he fears but people who are have been trained to kill ie police. Dialogue could use some polish but things but quickly enough that I didn't dwell on it too much. The aim of the story is to show the price that people pay to do the right thing and make the audience question what they would have done and it did just that.

There is a scene involving a charging truck that I was happy with cause Miike did not have the money to do a wide money shot so he had to resort to close shots and most importantly he did not use cheap CGI aka Yamato. If you don't have the budget screw money shots as long as the audience can follow the action and things are spatially correct.

There are two things that were too contrived for me. The identity of the driver of the car they hijacked and alarm bells not even going off for Jin sensei at the climax with the dangerous object when he's suppose to this really good SP and not to mention his stupid method of disarming an attacker. Overall it was ok. Needed more Fujiwara Tatsuya as the evil killer. Watchable.

Edit: Two thoughts. Jin sensei probably had the strongest justification to kill Fujiwara Tatsuya near the end but he would have lost himself. I guess SP training is more about protection than neutralising the threat. 

IDOLING!!!


Turns out the song that they sang during their mini-live in Odaiba is I'd Ring not Idoling. lol.
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JFF 2013: The Devil's Path / Kyouaku

December 2, 2013, 5:19 am
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I can't really make up my mind about The Devil's Path. The movie starts off with this yakuza Sudo doing bad things to a few people before he gets captured. One day, reporter Fuji played by Yamada Takayuki receives a letter from Sudo who is one death row. Sudo claims to have commited even more murders for this person called 'Sensei' who is living large while Sudo is awaiting death.

Fuji starts investigating Sudo's claims and this sensei person played awesomely by Lily Franky aka the bad old dude from Moteki. Never realised what his name was until I noticed the name at the credits of this movie despite having seen his work many times. I didn't see no caucasian lady in this movie. The more Fuji investigates, the more we see what Sensei's plans were and be prepared for a morbid movie about people's ability to do evil.

Performances are great especially Lily Franky as sensei and Ikewaki Chizuru too brief appearances as Fuji's wife who has to deal with his elderly mother while Fuji obsesses with the case. The movie feels too long but I never felt bored. It just never brought me to the edge of my seat. Probably because the whole movie can be reduced to a scam and while there may be deeper themes The Devil's Path wants to explore like treatment of the elderly and righteous indignation of others' sins at the expense of one's own, its only skin deep.

The Devil's Path wasn't the gripping dark movie I was hoping but I didn't mind it. Morbidly watchable.
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Fuck Fedex!

December 2, 2013, 9:37 pm
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I need to rant about useless Fedex. Was supposed to receive Project Mirai 2 on Monday from Play-Asia according to tracking. Fedex deliveries usually arrives at my workplace around 2pm. Nothing arrives. Alarm bells start ringing and I give Fedex a call. Assured that it would delivered by 6pm. 5.45 tracking says courier tried to deliver. Fucking bullshit.

I work at a Federal Building and the delivery entrance is always open with a security guard.

Called today after 3 and was told that delivery might have been attempted today and that she would call me back. Guess what? No call back. Called again and after some diging was told that courier tries to deliver at 9.30 today although it doesn't show up on tracking. Worst bullshit I've ever heard.

Worse is the customer service from cue card reading people who aren't even listening. I work at a public building in the CBD with security in front that can get my parcel for me and a delivery entrance at the side. What part of there is no fucking way someone tried to deliver my package do they not understand?

Sounds to me like couriers not doing their jobs and just skipping deliveries but claiming they tried. Fuck Fedex. I remember this happening once before but no more Fedex for me. Used to be able to get stuff from Play-Asia by Fedex in 3 days but I'd rather get Australia Post to deliver rather than getting dicked around by this courier company that has gone from good to bad. Fuck Fedex.

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JFF 2013: Orpheus' Lyre / Sakura Futatabi no Kanako

December 3, 2013, 2:16 am
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At the beginning of Orpheus' Lyre, we see Hirosue Ryoko and Inagaki Goro at their funeral of their daughter. Then we get a 10 minute flashback of this once happy family as we wait to see how their daughter, Kanako meets her demise. Hirosue Ryoko's character has a hard time dealing with the loss and tries to hang herself and the first ever first person suicide attempt I've ever seen on film.

The mother survives and begins to go off the reservation by imagining that Kanako is there. Inagaki Goro tries to get her to see reason, but Hirosue Ryoko is in full denial mode including not going to her daughter's grave. One night, she runs into Fukuda Mayuko who plays a pregnant teenager who is hiding the identity of the father. Hirosue Ryoko befriends this teenager but it seems she has ulterior motives.

First off, happy to finally get a good movie at the Japanese Film Festival. Not must watch but very solid throughout. The acting from Hirosue Ryoko and Fukuda Mayuko is of course excellent. I like that Hirosue Ryoko doesn't play her character as crazy but rather as someone who believes in certain things. Inagaki Goro doesn't do anything bad but he's just there for budget reasons. The camera work is beautiful, inventive and fun. I like how the chapters/time jumps are bookmarked and there are a lot of slow panning camera shots that keep it from looking like a dorama special.

Towards the end, I was thinking it would be better if they had left things for uncertain but the final payoff at the end sealed the deal for me. Solid movie missing something from being a must watch but no complaints from me at all.
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JFF 2013: The Ravine of Goodbye / Sayonara Keikoku

December 4, 2013, 8:05 am
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Let's great straight to the important bits. You get to see a lot of Maki's Yoko's boobs including a very nice sideboobs from behind. No nipples though. Did I mention that there are quiet a few sex scenes? Now that I have convinced most of you to watch this movie, let's take a quick look at what this movie has to offer besides Maki Yoko.

Kanako (Maki Yoko) and Ozaki are a married couple living in this rural town.  One day, their next door neighbour is arrested on suspicion of killing her child and the media descend upon the sleepy town. Among them are reporters played by Omori Nao (Ex-cop from Link which I'll review next week) and Suzuki Anne. The husband Ozaki is suspected by the police of having something to do with the child's death and the two reporters dig into Ozaki's path and find out that Kanako and Ozaki are not your usual couple.

The haunting ending song Saisakizaka written by Shiina Ringo.

The Ravine of Goodbye is an excellent character drama with a dark subject matter. Like The Devil's Path, it is an unfliching look at what people are capable of and explores themes of crime, guilt, forgiveness and other dark emotions. Unlike the Devil's Path, its not just the characters' whose past are being explored that are interesting but also the two reporters themselves who represent the audience's POV.  Instead of being straightforward blank slates, their reactions to the information that they uncover is very powerful. I really love Suzuki Anne's performance when the two reporters have their discussion about crimes and victims at an izakaya.

Compared to Orpheus' Lyre, The Ravine of Goodbye just blows the acting away. Not that Hirosue Ryoko wasn't good but the acting from the four principal actors in The Ravine of Goodbye is just so raw and nuanced. Its like comparing your typical jdorama to a WOWOW production. Maki Yoko's role is the type of meaty role that any actress would gladly show skin to play. Its not often you get to see such a complex character in a difficult relationship.

Riveting movie with great performances that will stay with you past the ending. Hopefully a rip will come out soon cause I want to watch it again, not just for Maki Yoko sex scenes. I want to do a spoiler review because there's so much to talk about in this movie but thete's no point atm as 99% of readers are not able to see it. Must watch from me.


PROJECT MIRAI 2

Fedex finally delivered. Got a call from complaints guy saying its their busy period and the bullshit attempted deliveries were done by contracted couriers which I suspected. If their cue card reading customer support would have told me that, I would not have been pissed off. I in fact asked customer service whether it was a contract driver that attempted my delivery and was told no.

Came with bonus study book for me to practice my kanji writing.

Included are a bunch of AR cards.



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JFF 2013: A Story of Yonosuke and The Great Passage

December 7, 2013, 5:06 am
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A STORY OF YONOSUKE

As the title suggests its the story of Yokomichi Yonosuke (Kora Kengo), this earnest, carefree and awkward university student from Kyushu and the various people he had an impact on during his uni days. He is, as Yoshitaka Yuriko's character Shoko puts it,

WHAT I LIKED

- Kora Kengo not playing a serial killer for once.
- Awesome cast and acting. Yoshitaka Yuriko, Ito Ayumi, Ayano Gou and Asakura Aki. Kora Kengo really becomes Yonosuke through his posture, awkward mannerisms and very obvious facial expression. Very different from his usual characters.
- Yoshitaka Yuriko as the truly kawaii and pure ojousan. Moe~~~~~~
- Pretty funny movie.
- Did I mention Yoshitaka Yuriko is so cute?
- Ito Ayumi as the mysterious older woman.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

- There wasn't really a conclusion or a point to the story for me.  Its like the movie is saying Yonosuke had a positive influence on all these people's lives and that's it.

OVERALL

Enjoyable but forgettable.


THE GREAT PASSAGE

I actually fell asleep and missed the showing. Luckily I already had the 8thsin subbed version. At least I already bought the tickets to clear what little there is left of my conscience. The Great Passage reminds me of one of the reasons why I started watching jdoramas in the first place; when they take a seemingly menial job and show you how difficult and important it is and in this movie's case its the making of a dictionary.


Its not something that I think about though I use Japanese to English dictionaries on a daily basis and there are a bunch of mistakes and explanations can be a bit vague and I have trouble discerning multiple words with the same meaning. The most striking thing from The Great Passage is how difficult it is and how much time it takes to compile and edit a dictionary, especially one on paper where you can update or correct it. Not to mention the ever changing Japanese language and slangs that continue to pop up.


Don't need to rave about the steller cast as you can already see it from the poster. The Great Passage is a great feel good, crowd pleasing movie about the unappreciated department of a publishing company that never gets oversentimental. A must watch movie.


So ends the Japanese Film Festival for me and I'm going to get Library Wars from the interwebs. My only regret is not watching Summer's End instead of The Apology King. Mitsushima Hikari, I'm sorry for choosing Abe Sadao over you. :( Hope Summer's End shows up online soon. Ayano Gou and Namakemono-san who are in Summer's End are in the two movies I watched today. Thanks to the JFF people for organising such a great line up. The only other movie on my list to watch is Koreeda's Like Father, Like Son.

KANATA NO KO

OMFG. The director of The Ravine of Goodbye in a WOWOW series with Arata and Matsushima Hikari!!! Not familiar with the main actress Sakai Maki. Looks like she was in Big Wing but I've exorcised all memory of that horrible dorama from my memory. Looks like its hasn't been torrented at d-addicts yet.
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Link

December 9, 2013, 7:05 am
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Link is an ambitious WOWOW dorama about a bunch of people who are connected to bank robbery. You have Omori Nao (who was awesome in The Ravine of Goodbye) as a former policeman now bodyguard, Tanaka Rena as an OL working for said bank, Mimura as a nurse, Tamayama Tetsuji as a teacher, Kinpachi sensei as a politician aspiring to be the Prime Minister and Ayano Gou as the mysterious Sean.

Link starts off really interesting as we slowly get to see how the various characters connect to one another. The only thing I wasn't sure of was the Ayano Gou character and his mumbo jumbo about creating another facebook and how his weird storyline would link everyone together.


WHAT I LIKED

- All the characters having to make tough decisions of doing the right thing and the personal sacrifices that it cost them.

- Did I mention OL Tanaka Rena and Mimura as a nurse? I really liked Mimura's performance. Tanaka Rena not so much. I used to think she was a good actress but all the dorama acting has been mediocre to bad.

- The final Kinpachi sensei politician twist. Would have been even better twist if the dorama didn't hinge on Ayano Gou's character. Kinpachi sensei's character needed a lot more screentime.


WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

- Way too preachy. Some of the lines are way to expositionary and spell everything out matter of factly. Obvious lack of invisible exposition is a sure sign of a bad writer.  

- Ayano Gou should not have been the connecting character so to speak. Everyone on this show makes difficult life changing decisions and the star should have been Kinpachi sensei's politician. This show should have been more about him doing whatever is necessary because the ends justifies the means versus the other characters who are about doing the right thing regardless of cost.

This should have been the crux of the dorama instead of the people are connected sos facebook wannabe crap. Link tries to present it that way but it could have been done way better especially without the emphasis on Ayano Gou. In the end, he was only connected to three characters.

- Don't security guards have a code of ethics in regards to client privacy? Its not like Kinpachi sensei killed anyone or molested a child. Is anyone surprised a politician accepts illegal loans?


SUMMARY

Link shot for the stars like Lady Joker but the script is not smart enough and falters. I enjoyed most of it until the last episode when it fell apart though Ayano Gou's shadow hung like guillotine over the series' ending from the get go. I'd rather watch WOWOW try and fail than another idoru dorama though. Watchable up to last episode.
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Fruits of Faith / Kiseki no Ringo

December 13, 2013, 6:07 pm
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Abe Sadao grew up in Aomori as a child who loved disassembling things to see how they worked and wanted to work continue living in Tokyo until he had an omiai with old classmate Kanno Miho. Anyone would forget Tokyo to live as an apple farmer with Kanno Miho. Turns out that Kanno Miho has allergic reactions to pesticide used on the apple trees and Abe Sadao begins his quest to find a way to grow apples without pesticides.


WHAT I LIKED

- Abe Sadao and Kanno Miho. I'd watch anything with them on it.

- You can't really go wrong with the underdog story.


WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

- Despite Kiseki no Ringo being the closing movie of JFF2013, I had a feeling that it was going to be one of those by the numbers movies. The story beats, the dialogue, the challenges all seem so familiar and uninspired. They've taken an interesting story and 'Disneyfied' it turning it into a fairy tale.

Comparing this with The Great Passage, feels inspired while one feels overly manipulative with constant use of rising ochestral soundtrack. Both admittedly have perfect wives but The Great Passage is exciting because it shows you the mundane while Kiseki no Ringo is mundane because it tries too hard to make it exciting.


SUMMARY

A jmovie aiming for to be a feelgood movie the lowerst common denominator. Meh. I wouldn't have watched it if not for the Japanese subs cause the Aomori-ben is so thick.
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Dandarin eps 4-11

December 16, 2013, 4:31 am
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Since I've been back, this is the only dorama that I've been making time for. Looking back at the series, its interesting how Dandarin basically follows the rules of the GTO conventions yet it never felt like it was ticking the convention boxes ala Fruits of Faith. This led me to pondering whether the cause was the unique subject matter, writing or a combination of both?

I think it has partly to do with the backbone of the individual episodes being about a certain aspect of labour standards rather than being about each colleagues' backstory. In your typical GTO clone, its basically about one colleagues sob story and they turn over a new leaf at the end whereas in Dandarin in not an open and shut case.


Secondly, its has to do with the parady nature of Dandarin. Its a super hero comedy that pokes fun at so many elements of Japanese working life issues and bureaucracy that it feels true despite not being realistic. Contrast that with Hanzawa Naoki which plays up the issues of corruption and bureaucracy in banking  with a seriousness but acting like a comedy.

I had only two concerns with Dandarin. Firstly, that it would not be able to sustain the momentum and that the Dandarin backstory which hung over every episode threatening to derail it from a must watch to a watchable dorama. Good news is there are so many labour law issues for Dandarin to explore. Plus its based on a manga so I'd imagine the writer can cherry pick the best stories.


The Dandarin sob story didn't turn out to be a dud. It gave a nice explanation for who Dandaring is and her catchphrase but it did threathen to descend into too much moral argument though I suppose the last episode is more about talking to Japanese society about the country's ideas about what working life is about and why labour standards are important versus excuses that humane working hours and conditions are to the detriment of Japanese society.


THINGS I LIKED

- Episode 4. The human resource manager taking the fall and Dandarin feeling angry because the true decision maker escapes unscathed. Dandarin may be a comedy but its not a fairy tale.

- Episode 5 about the sweets shop. Issues of cutting corners and maintaining standards once a shop has become famous and seeking a satisfactory outcome for both parties.

- Caring about foreign workers in Japan. Lol. As if but that's what makes Dandarin a super hero. I love how the Thai and Vietnamese workers speak English when probably they would communicating in Japanese.


- Episode 7 about the factory worker who died on the way home from work. Its not just an interesting legal conundrum, I'm glad that it didn't have a happy ending plus it looks at Japanese aversion to doing autopsies as well.

- Episode 8. Promoting workers to managers running understaffed shops so that they have no choice but to work long hours and using excuses like training to cover up what is abuse of workers. I'm betting this probably happens a lot in Japan. Also looks at the fact that finding employment is difficult and many people feel like they have no choice.


- Episode 9. The Doteyama episode and sneaky turn employees into contractors so you pay them less issue. Sometimes its less how will Dandarin solve this and more what type of ingenious labour abuse will the killer brother from Soredemo come up with? Did I mention Doteyama is one of the most entertaining bosses since GTO's principal.


- Episode 10 and 11. Minamisanjo-san's relationship with Dandarin never feels like a tacked on older actress with Johnny thing. (He's not a Johnny but you get my point) Its more about colleagues who have grown to respect each other.


THING I DIDN'T LIKE

Kazama Shunsuke's acting as smart lawyer who looks like a 19 year old. I loved his performance in Soredemo but his wide eyed trying to be evil overacting is a complete failure of channeling King Joffrey. I don't hate his character but rather I hate his overacting. I wonder whether the director or he is to blame.

That's the problem with Johnnys and Ueto Aya type 'actresses'. They can hit 30 but they can't or are unable to convincingly play that age. Kurimizawa's tacked on redemption ending just doesn't work for me.


SUMMARY

Must watch. Very sad that its rated poorly. I guess Japanese audiences look at it and say what a load of fiction.



JDORAMA TOP EARNERS LIST

Its going to take me a while to get back into the jdorama groove but I just noticed jadefrost has two really good posts and top money makers in Jdoramas here and here. Its kind of a depressing list. Those who I think deserve to be on the list are bolded.

WARNING: Reading the lists below may cause depression and destroy whatever interest you may have for the Japanese entertainment industry.


ACTOR LIST

1. Sakai Masato (13.2％) (3 million yen/hr)
2. Fukuyama Masaharu (12.9％) (3 million yen/hr)
3. Mizutani Yutaka (12.5％) (4 million yen/hr)
4. Kagawa Teruyuki (12.3％) (2.5 million yen/hr)Sometimes he overacts but he can be very good.
5. Kataoka Ainosuke (12.0％) (1.6 million yen/hr)
6. Nishijima Hidetoshi (11.8％) (2 million yen/hr)
7. Yakusho Koji (11.6％) (4 million yen/hr)Best actor on this list.
8. Watanabe Ken (11.2％) (5 million yen/hr)
9. Kimura Takuya (10.9％) (5 million yen/hr)
10. Sato Koichi (10.7％) (3 million yen/hr)
11. Matsumoto Jun (10.3％) (3 million yen/hr)
12. Oikawa Mitsuhiro (10.0％) (2 million yen/hr)
13. Oda Yuji (9.8％) (3 million yen/hr)
14. Ayano Go (9.6％) (1.5 million yen/hr) I'm starting to think he's way overrated for the amount of money he's pulling.
15. Okada Masaki (9.2％) (1.3 million yen/hr)
16. Mizobata Junpei (9.0％) (1.5 million yen/hr) Why is Hachi-One on this list?

As dgundam said, wtf is Abe Hiroshi and Moteki?

ACTRESS LIST aka THE INVERSE ACTING ABILITY LIST

1. Yonekura Ryoko (13.5％) (3 million yen/hr)
2. Anne (13.0％) (1.1 million yen/hr)
3. Ayase Haruka (12.7％) (2.5 million yen/hr)
4. Ueto Aya (12.5％) (2 million yen/hr)
5. Mitsushima Hikari (12.3％) (1.5 million yen/hr)Should be no.1 but at least she's making money.
6. Kanno Miho (12.0％) (2 million yen/hr)
7. Aragaki Yui (11.8％) (1.2 million yen/hr)
8. Nounen Rena (11.4％) (1.2 million yen/hr) I still haven't watched Amachan.
9. Koizumi Kyoko (11.1％) (3 million yen/hr)One of the best ever.
10. Shibasaki Kou (10.9％) (1.6 million yen/hr)
11. Dan Mitsu (10.6％) (0.7 million yen/hr) WTF is she doing here?
12. Horikita Maki (10.4％) (1.6 million yen/hr)
13. Nagasawa Masami (10.2％) (1.4 million yen/hr)
14. Yoshitaka Yuriko (10.0％) (1.4 million yen/hr)
15. Honda Tsubasa (9.8％) (0.6 million yen/hr)

No Hirosue Ryoko on the list but then her dorama choices have been bad. Where's Takeuchi Yuko?
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Kanata no Ko ep 1-3

December 19, 2013, 5:55 am
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Kanata no Ko was the next dorama on my to watch list after Dandarin based on the fact that its directed by Omori Tatsushi who directed The Ravine of Goodbye and of course its a WOWOW show which means no Japanese subs. :(


STORY ONE - THE MUMMY

I had problems understanding this episode and had to watch it three times to understand. In the beginning of episode, we see a flashback of Sakai Maki as Hitoko who we see running out in public with her sick/dead daughter in her arms. Moving on, we have Hitoko trekking up Mount Fuji with 4 other people lead by Arata as the guide. Hitoko is struggling at the back when she sees a mirage of her dead daughter.

It seems like everyone on this climb up Mount Fuji has some dark secret. We've got an old lady who just wants to fill out her lottery numbers at the top facing the sun so she can have enough money to lay her husband's ashes to rest. We've also got an old guy carrying a 10 year old disposable camera that his wife who died in an accident once used.


There are flashbacks to Hitoko's childhood. Her mother's left her with her grandmother and the kids tell her about this mummy at a temple. The grandmother says that priest was buried alive to save the village. Flashback to grandmother being brought to the temple when she was young by her mother. There's a bamboo tube sticking from the ground which and Mitoko's great grandmother gets her answer from the priest though the bamboo. No idea why they don't just visit the priest in the morning when its a lot less scary.

Mitoko's mother walks out on her and leaves Hitoko with her grandmother. Back to grandmother flashback and the villagers have dug up the priest. Grandmother goes to temple and finds the people who dug up the priest. It seems that the priest was actually a criminal, probably a murderer. Mitoko goes to temple and finds the priest's mummy still there. Grandmother voiceover saying that the the priest can't even run from his sins in the ground or at the temple. I guess the theme of this series is running away from one's guilt or sins.


STORY TWO - FATE IS MORE UNBELIEVABLE THAN LOVE

I really love story two. On the way up Mount Fuji, our travellers encounter this dude who looks like he's in shock and we get flashbacks of his story with Mitsushima Hikari as his creepy, possessive ex-girlfriend and Tsurata Mayu, who doesn't look like she's aged at all as his woman of fate. Basically he dumps Mitsushima Hikari for Tsurata Mayu which causes her to go a bit psycho and then he finds out Tsurata Mayu is not a one man woman. That's what he gets for believing her fate muumbo jumbo. Shocked dude enters an unhappy marriage and stuff happens when Mitsushima Hikari reappears in his life. Looks like dude hasn't learned his lesson about mumbo jumbo and joins a religious sect.


Episode two is so much easier to understand including all the mail messages compared to ep 1. I enjoyed Mitsushima Hikari's performance as she doesn't overact as much as all the yandere's in jdoramas. Despite the performances, its missing this haunting quality that Kurosawa Kiyoshi's Shokuzai had. It nearly gets there though. I guess the story is people will do anything to escape their guilt. Wait, was the 'priest' a prisoner or did he go under voluntarily? Can't be stuffed rewatching again. Anyone can clarify for me?


STORY THREE - KIDS DO THE DARNDEST THINGS

The story of Arata's character and the one eyed dude who runs the cabin at the top of Fuji. Flashback to one eyed dude's photo exhibition/ class reunion where we get a sense that there is a dark secret between Arata, one eye and two other friends. The two of the friends want to ignore what happened and live life as normal while Arata and one eyed dude continue to be tormented by the secret which led to them being on Mount Fuji.


SUMMARY

Right now, the thread of this series is each of the main characters did something bad and are at Mount Fuji to escape it though I would not say story 2 guy really did anything wrong besides choose Tsurata Mayu over Mitsushima Hikari. Episode four seems to be about what really happened to Hiyako and her daughter. As much as I like dark and depressing stories, right now I'm pretty indifferent to the characters and story. I'm not sure if English subs came out for Ep 1 that it would completely change my opinion of the series like Lady Joker. Possibly I've been too preoccupied with making sure I understand this dorama since its a lot harder without Japanese subs and can't see the forest for the tress. Let's wait for episode 4 and see how it ties everything up.

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No Con Kid eps 1-4

December 21, 2013, 5:43 am
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While Yuusha Yoshihiko was a great love letter to Japanese RPGs, No Con Kid is a love letter to Japanese gaming in the 80s. While I did not grow up in Japan, Japanese games and 80s anime and tv shows like Ultraman were such an influencial part of my childhood and this child is pure nostalgia for me. While there's no anime and tokusatsu in No Con Kid, its the whole pop culture vibe that permeates this show that makes it so nostalgic.

Hottest thing a girl can say to a gamer in the 80s.

Haru says, "Then I will level up while you guys study."

" Don't worry, I won't move the story forward." RPGs back in the day require a lot of grinding. I remember my cousin taping a button down to auto grind in Phantasy Star 2. Nowadays I find grinding stupid and one should be able to finish RPGs with just the correct tactics.

No Con Kid which is short for No Continue Kid, tells the story of three friends; Kid the best player at this game center, Reiji the son of the owner of the game center played by Hotoke from Yuusha Yoshihiko and Haru, a girl who is the second best Xevious player at the game center. It was a time when games were about high scores and no internet to share hints and tips. A time where fellow arcade gamers shared tips in a notebook at the game center.

The Xevious face off.




I love how they use actual games in this dorama not just as a backdrop but also to tell stories with a couple of game face offs. Street Fighter 2 better be in future episodes because that game really changed arcade gaming. Episode three with the line about the pacman safe spot is so kokoii! Watching this show is just 80s nostalgia porn.

I am listening to Ito Tsukasa as I type this. :)


I look at all the games and props and think how much fun it must have been being the set decorator in this dorama. They even managed to procure the manual for Pole Position. I like how No Con Kid talks about the advent of the Famicom and whether it would threaten the arcade business as people could play Xevious in the comfort of their own home.



Episode 4 is about DragonQuest II being on sale with our two dudes having exams coming out. Best episode so far and I just want to blog about this series before I continue watching. I can talk more about the story after I finish watching.



No Con Kid is a dorama for people who grew up in a time when politicians used Game Centers as an easy target to get in the news. Its a show  for people who have marathoned RPGs at a friend's place by taking turns because games are not cheap. Its a show for people who've played games again and again until they got good enough to easy clear the game. No Con Kid is a show for gamers who look back with fondness at a time when unlimited continues and regen health did not exist.

What is your Dorakue (DragonQuest) command?

Reiji has leveled up!

I have no idea how No Con Kid would play to people who aren't old school gamers. There are so many gaming references that make this story about 3 friends so enjoyable for me. If you think Game Center CX is one of Japan's greatest programs, this dorama is for you. I think basic Japanese is enough to watch this show so I encourage everyone to give it a try.


PATLABOR: THE NEXT GENERATION


Mano Erina + Patlabor = Wet Dream. Teaser trailer is out. So far so good. Hopefully it doesn't turn into another Yamato. Hopefully Oshii Mamoru will keep the CG shots to a minimum like Gantz since it only has a budget of $20 million.


Mano Erina + Sono Sion didn't turn out as good as I hoped but it feels like a godsend with my favourite idoru first working with my favourite director and now acting in a movie sequel to one of my favourite old school animes directed by the dude who directed GiTS. Its coming out in Japan as a seven part movie series starting in April. I'm sad Mano-chan quit singing but its worth it for Sono Sion and now Patlabor!
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No Con Kid eps 8 and 9

December 22, 2013, 5:49 am
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OMFG, there is so much I want to write about this dorama. No Con Kid is a story of friendship using the history of gaming in Japan to tell the stories. There are just too many gaming references that make me mark out so I have to confine this post to just episodes 8 and 9 which are the Virtua Fighter 2 episodes.


I was expecting Street Fighter 2 to appear in No Con Kidsince its started the fighting game boom. Arcades were slowly declining to due home consoles but fighting games brought an element that gamers could not get at home. The ability to challenge anyone or be challenged anytime with one's skills determining whether they got to continue playing. I love how they shoot ep 8 like a Western cause fighting games are the modern equivalent of a Western shootout.



I'm happy Virtua Fighter 2 got to feature in No Con Kid cause I was a huge VF fan and VF2 was to my knowledge actually incredibly popular in Japan. The story in episode 8 is that Watanabe game center has a strong VF2 player called Riman and people from other arcades come to challenge him to no avail. It was the start of a revolution because before then, games were about high scores or co-operative play. Then the 3 Heavenly Kings come to challenge to top player and they kicked his ass.



The 3 Heavenly Gods are based on the Tetsujins back in the VF2 days. I was not in Japan but I knew the names of Bunbunmaru, Shinjuku Jacky and Ikebukuro Sarah. VF2 was so popular and these players so good that I remembered reading Sega had them do 100 people kumites. This was back in the day before the idea of a professional gamer even existed. I remember reading online that Sega even made Shinjuku Jacky a replica of the Jacky's jacket. There were little or no videos at this time. The only thing available was information from the net and it made me love VF2 that much more.


The above youtube clip is legendary story of Bunbunmaru vs Daimon Lau. The Tetsujins from Tokyo had heard of this strong player in Kyoto called Daimon Lau and they went down to challenge him and got their asses kicked. Bunbunmaru wins the first match but apparently they Tetsujins lose the next 60 matches. Compared to nowadays where videos of top players were readily available and information sharing (and whinging) is easily done online.


In No Con Kid, Kid defeats the best player of the 3 Heavenly Kings so that his young friend can play Xevious cause everyone was placing their belongings on the game table. With the VF2 boom at Watanabe game center, the other customers' are unable to enjoy the other games because of the huge number of onlookers. Kid's only intention was to clear space around the Xevious machine so he could teach the kid but he ends up becoming the default best VF2 player in the country by defeating the 3 Heavenly Kings. Sniff, such a beautiful story.


In episode 9, Reiji does a tournament where the winner gets to challenge Kid. This is similar to the above youtube clip from a Japanese tv show where players fight for to challenge Bunbunmaru. Think about how popular VF2 must have been to get tv airtime. At least Taiko Drum Master seems to be a staple of Japanese variety shows. Nowadays even Daigo can only get a documentary on tv. There's no way a Street Fighter tournament will be shown on free to air although its the most popular game in the world. Starcraft and Korea are another thing altogether.



Kid no shows the tournament, and he and Reiji end up fighting over the direction of the Watanabe game center. Reiji realises that fighting games are the money makers and an the arcade needs strong players to attract people. Kid says that Reiji is doing this at the expense of their core customers, people who love retro games as Reiji has gotten rid of Xevious. Its keep the core customers happy because they will be loyal versus try to get as popular as possible.


Fumi can see both sides of the argument and can only watch on as Reiji challenges Kid at VF for Kid's name. Kid throws the game and Reiji tries to take Kid's place as the top VF2 player but the 3 Heavenly Kings don't acknowledge him and walk away. For a 1am dorama, No Con Kid is one of the most lovingly crafted jdoramas I've ever seen. The Bunbunmaru vs Daimon Lau info was taken from this post at VFDC.
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WTF Iryu 4 is coming?

December 24, 2013, 2:48 am
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I can't believe Fuji TV is making another Iryu after the haphazard 3rd series. Having an original story by the writer of the very boring Zettai Reido series is not a good sign. I think I have Perfect Report sitting on my hd somewhere. Are they trying to destroy my great memories of seasons 1 and 2? Zettai Reido was a sterile Monday afternoon Police series. Have they run out of manga stories to adapt?

As much as I love the cast, I have very little faith its going to be a decent series. Well as long as Hiroyuki Sawano is still doing the music. I'm listening to the awesome Iryu soundtrack and looking up the composer. I knew that he was the same dude who did Triangle but I didn't realise he also did the music of Marks no Yama, Lady Joker, Suitei Yuuzai, Link, Hachi-One Diver and Shingeki no Kyoujin!

Good on WOWOW on getting him to do their jdoramas. Nice to know the composer of the greatest Jdorama soundtrack ever also did two of the best jdoramas ever in Marks no Yama and Lady Joker. I guess anytime a dorama ends with super powerful and exciting music, its probably Hiroyuki Sawano.
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Otto no Kanojo 1-5

December 28, 2013, 5:29 pm
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Wife thinks husband is cheating on her with younger girl but husband is actually helping the girl who is his colleague with her exam to be a full time employee. Wife and girl meet up, get into an argument and some random witch makes them switch bodies. I remember reading about how Otto no Kanojo's ratings were so bad that they cut the episodes short and how the stations do not like publicizing the number of episodes before hand.


Body swapping doramas always pop up every so often and to me its almost a bulletproof concept as long as they hit the right notes and keep both role swaps equally interesting. Unfortunately, in Jdoramaland casting people people who cannot act happens all the time and this time we have Kawaguchi Haruna as the wife in the young body role. She just doesn't give out the feeling that there's a 40 year old woman in that body somewhere.

Out next overpushed Ueto Aya Jr once she gets her lips to Ishihara Satomi size.

Its not really her fault though. While there are funny bits, especially with the continued misunderstanding, Otto no Kanojo feels so boringly by the numbers as if designed to safely appeal to everyone that its a lifeless husk of a comedy wannabee. I basically skimmed through the series after the first two episodes and the only thing keeping the skimming was the continued misunderstanding by the wife about the affair which the writer. Stay away.


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Amachan eps 1-12

December 30, 2013, 5:49 am
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I finally got started on Amachan, my first asadora after all the recommendations. Its the story of a young girl, Aki who for some reason doesn't enjoy living in Tokyo and begins to fall in love with her mother's rural hometown of Kitasanriku after her mom played by Koizumi Kyoko is called there on the pretense that Aki's grandmother was sick.


The Amachan in the title refers to female divers of the village who Aki's grandmother is the head of. All the divers/ama are in their 50s and 60s and they are a dying breed but Aki thinks that diving for sea urchins is pretty cool and enjoys hanging out with old ladies living without a fibre optic net connection.


Written by Kudo Kankuro (Manhattan Love Story, Tiger & Dragon), Amachan is a breeze to watch. It never feels like its wasting time. I've been rewatching Patlabor and that show is not made to be binged. The story in Amachan is simple and its about country life and the effects of young people leaving but it never feels contrived and the dialogue and people feel real. *cough* Umi no Ue Shinryoko *cough*


The 156 episode count is still pretty intimidating though. Can Kudo Kankuro sustain my interest for another 142 episodes about this cheery girl and the colourful cast of characters? Will the storylines become more complicated soap opera-like or will Amachan maintain its fun innocence? Why didn't the snack's business boom after Koizumi Kyoko became the mama? How the hell did the snack survive without some decent looking women?


Please don't tell me Ijyuiin becomes Aki's love interest because that is so wrong. I know he looks 18 but after years of playing Ijyuiin in Iryu, I can't imagine Ijyuiin with a high school girl. I enjoyed the 12 episodes but its way too early to give it a must watch considering how much further we have to go.
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