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Rivers Edge Okawabata Tanteisha Eps 1-9

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River's Edge is your small town detective helping people with their problems with two differences. The hook is that Odagiri Joe gets a dream about his client before he meets them so you see part of the ending but you have to figure out how it fits.


WHAT I LIKED

+ The episodes are only half an hour but it always feels very lean and impactful. Take for example the very funny idol episode. It says all that needs to be said about the idol industry and the twist is a great analogy to the illusion that idols are.


+ Its very, very funny and quirky. From the love hotel stuff to the manzai episode.



+ The simplicity of the deliheru episode.


+ The receptionist Megumi always provides some fanservice and her side jobs are entertaining.

 I think I know where I want to go next.

+ Love the music.

+ The direction by Hitoshi One (Moteki) is very energetic. 


WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

- Watching episode 1 on an empty stomach. Not that I can't get wan tan here but I was dreaming of getting extra ramen wan tan topping at tokotsu ramen ogi.

- Eps 7 to 9 were kind of meh compared to the first 6. There are only so many times they can go with the find someone from my past who has turned into someone else story.


SUMMARY

Very watchable for me. I originally gave it a must watch for eps 1-6 but later episodes got a bit repetitive.

Black President Eps 5-11

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Ozaki Masaya notches another must watch dorama on his list of great jdorama scripts. Black President was the first jdorama I caught up with after my trip. I'm happy to see that Coffee-ya no Hitobito has been subbed into English but I'm surprised such a great show as Black President hasn't been subbed. Long story short, Black President is the spiritual sequel to KDO with even the same story beats but its oh so smart and funny. Not at the classic level of KDO but still very good and must watch. If you've got basic Japanese, its highly recommended you try.

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT BLACK PRESIDENT.....

Trying to educate Mitamura on sekuhara. lol

Kuninaka Ryoko should have been the lecturer. I like her angry look better and she's got better chemistry with Sawamura Ikki.





Dan Mitsu used only for fan service. Whoever thought it was a good idea to have her try to act in Hanzawa Naoki must have had a great bj from her. Lol at Sawamura Ikki's bulging eyeballs. Pretty sure no acting was needed.

I really enjoyed Yuri's awkwardness and her seeking some sort of direction in life.


Argh, its the girl who ruined Dai Tokyo Toy Box! Love this episode. Its a riff on the everyone thinks Kuwano got a girlfriend episode from KDO but with a different twist.

Kuroki Meisa being so anti black companies but doesn't notice how she treats her assistant.

 Kuninaka Ryoko taking paid vacation episode. Saw the ending coming but it was still funny.

The employer rating website episode. I love how Ozaki Masaya takes all these ideals and pretty words and uses Mitamura to show that things are not so black and white and that people can do bad things in the name of good.

Plenty of eye candy, even among very minor characters. Love that angry face.


Thank goodness the medical misunderstanding episode didn't drag.


Always good to see Toda Keiko, the voice of Matilda as the mother-in-law. How do I know this when I've never watched Gundam?

This should have been the ending to the show. Absolutely hilarious and brings everything full circle. Who gives a crap about Kuroki Meisa.

Jmovie review: Cheers from Heaven

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How could a movie starring Abe Hiroshi, Mimura, Sakuraba Nanami and written by Masaya Ozaki sit in my HDD for 1 1/2 year before I got around to watching it? The answer to that is that my backlog is super long. Anyway, Cheers from Heaven is a story about a bentoya living in a small town in Okinawa who one day decides to build a studio because young people have no place to practice their music.


Cheers from Heaven is a super tearjerker gets very melodramatic but the fact that its based on a true story and has my favourite actors in it made it enjoyable. My biggest complaint is how Sakuraba Nanami's band can do all the public performances with only one song.

Cheers from Heaven is a family movie about dreams and doing things for others etc but Abe's performance really saves this movie from being average movie about a modern saint. Watchable.


The Long Goodbye

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The Long Goodbye is a detective noir series set in post WWII Japan about a private detective called Banji (Asano Tadanobu) who becomes friends with Ayano Gou who is married to a famous actress. Something happens to Ayano Gou and Banji unwittingly becomes involved in something bigger.



WHAT I LIKED

+ Pure detective noir at its finest except for voiceover by the main character, from femme fetales to moody lighting/music to world weary protagonist who must do what he thinks is right. Noir at its finest.

+ Cigarette smoking is not overused like Mozu and there is no unnecessary posturing.


+ Beautifully crafted and shot. They really maximised their budget to recreate 1950s Japan. You can tell a lot of times they couldn't afford to use wide shots but that makes me like it even more.

+ I couldn't help comparing this with Mozu when watching but pacing is so much better and I was eager to find out the truth instead of fearing they would stuff it up.


WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

- Ending kind of left me with a meh. I was hoping for the show to outsmart me at the end but like HBO's True Detective, its more much a character story about the protagonist standing up against those in power. I would have liked to have seen more of the killer's past, especially considering the killer's condition.


SUMMARY

I can't give it a must watch cause it didn't blow me away just like True Detective but its a very well made piece of Japanese dorama. The Long Goodbye did a much better job playing to the strengths of its genre compared to Mozu. Very watchable and high recommended. Great job NHK!

Border eps 3-9

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OMFG. Fark me. WTF did I just watch??!!! My mind is completely blown. How can this be by the same writer who wrote SP? This season is turning out to be better than expected. Mozu was the great hope and it turned out meh. Season 2 might save it but I'm betting on it. The Long Goodbye was pretty good and I only saw Border as another gimmick police show but it has turned out to be such an incredible show. Stop reading and watch it if you haven't.


WHAT I LIKED

+ Oguri Shun's best acting job I have ever seen. Straight up contender for best actor in 2014. He is good. You can feel the emotional weight in his eyes and his sense of desperation. Hopefully he no longer has to do stupid romantic comedies that make no sense.

+ My main concern was how many ways the writer, Kaneshiro Kazuki could use the gimmick to tell stories before it became repetitive, sort of like River Edge but the writer has managed to exploit the gimmick to tell stories in many interesting ways that I did not forsee.



+ The emotional toll that Oguri Shun's character takes throughout the series. Best way to build empathy.

+ During the car bomb scene in episode 4, I was thinking they can't possibly have the budget to blow that car up? lol


+ I love episode 5 aka memory loss episode. Funny as hell.

+ Oguri Shun's monologue in episode 6 and the fact that the villain's argument in that episode made twisted sense. Good villains are the ones who believe in what they are doing.


+ Instead of writing about incompetent colleagues, we have great villains like the political fixer in episode 7. Holy shit, what a badass bad guy that I want to see Oguri Shun defeat. The hero is only as good as the villain and what a villain. Cause Oguri Shun's power can be considered cheating but when you put him against a villain where his powers are of little use? He better come back in season 2!

+ The final villain of the season played brilliantly by Omori Nao. He is the Joker to Oguri Shun's Batman and what a discourse those two have. Very reminiscent of The Dark Knight. Oguri Shun's power allows him to cheat but but its useless against the master criminal with the perfect crime.


+ Oguri Shun smashing his head against the brick wall.

+ The ending. What an ending. Can't believe someone had the balls to do that ending. Kaneshiro Kazuki has been building that up during the series with all the if you become as powerful as the bad guy, you will turn bad talk as well as all the mental pain and anguish that Oguri Shun goes through. I want season 2 now!!!


WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

- Haru being way too young and the exy costumes during the bloodless autopsies.

- Oguri Shun did not need the hackers for simple things like accessing victim's email.

- No announcement of season 2? Someone please give them Hero's huge budget.


SUMMARY

Absolutely must watch jdorama. Strong contender for jdorama of the year. Oguri Shun has always been to me the boy who got abused in GTO. Now he is Ishikawa, the police officer tortured by his gift. Bring on season 2!!!!!

Roosevelt Games Eps 1+2

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If you liked Hanzawa Naoki, this show is more of the same. If you hated Hanzawa Naoki like me, stay away. Its got better actors with Mr Fumo Chitai Karasawa Toshiaki and Eguchi Yosuke but its still the same ham fisted presentation with moustache twirling villains.My mind cannot reconcile the oversentimentality of Roosevelt Game and Hanzawa Naoki that feels so forced and the overacting villains.


I've talked to Japanese who enjoyed the kabuki acting in Hanzawa but to me, its just too unrealistic. Roosevelt Game is not a comedy. Its not a parody. It it in underdog dorama without an inch of subtlety. It tries so effing hard to make me feel for the underdog that I feel the opposite.


If you want a more realistic underdog story, try Soratobu Taiya or a for a more exciting  business dorama, try Hagetaka. There are some Japanese tastes that I can never comprehend. 

Vote for your favourite JAV actresses in the next Ryu ga Gotoku game!

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Only SOD actresses though so no Yoshizawa Akiho, Ayase Ren, Tsubomi, Amami Tsubasa or Arimura Sayo but plenty of actresses to choose from! You can vote for them at this page. You get five votes a day until the 3rd of August and you can even use the five votes on the same actress. There's no way Uehara Ai is not going to get in and they are going to choose 10 girls in the end.

Who am I voting for? I really want to see Nanaumi Nana win. She's been doing a lot of mainstream work including Futari Ecchi and she says that she is secretly a fan of the games on her blog. (I don't understand what she means by secretly 密かに but whatever) I hope Natsume Yuki and Ootsuki Hibiki get in as well. Most importantly, I hope the story is not as stupid as the ending of Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin and the gameplay not as grinding. Ishin to me is the worst in the series, not counting Kurohyou.

Zoku Saigo Kara Nibanme no Koi eps 3-11

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Zoku just feels like a retread of the first season with Wahei once again being trapped in his own harem and like all harem anime, not doing anything about it except being a very nice guy. Okada Yoshikazu tries to fill the series with entertaining storylines until the end but they all just seem like filler. From Kase Ryo to Hasegawa Kyoko's sex friend nothing interesting happens.


One could argue its more of a family comedy than a story about Wahei and Chiaki but the conversations between those two are the only thing that kept me watching until the end and everyone else is just dull. Some may find this show like comfort food but to me it feels like forgettable fluff.

A look at Summer 2014 jdoramas aka the summer of Ozaki Masaya!

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JDORAMAS THAT MUST BE SUBBED


WAKAMONOTACHI 2014

+ OMFG. The talent! Tsumabuki Satoshi, Eita, Mitsushima Hikari, Emoto Tasuku, Aoi Yu, Hashimoto Ai and the kid from Kita no Kuni Kara
+ Producer of Soredemo Ikite Yuki. If you read the interview, he was happy to let Sakamoto Yuji do whatever he wanted.

- Nagasawa Masami
= Writer of Densha, Shibatora, JOKER. Not sure if its a good thing or a bad thing.

Wakamonotachi is the great big hope of this season to be a must watch classic jdorama. If it fails, it will not be because of talent.


TOKUMEI TANTEI Season 2

The PG-13 version of Tadano Hitoshi. Once again written by Ozaki Masaya. (KDO, Black President) I loved season 1, bring on season 2!


PETER NO SORETSU

The sequel to Namonaki Doku which I found interesting. Had a quick look at the cast and there doesn't seem to be any bad actresses to dampen my enthusiasm.


LAST DOCTOR

I'm basing this one Ozaki Masaya's (KDO) writing. Based on the 30 second trailer at the website, it looks like a quirky character medical examiner show. If anyone can pull of quirky characters, its him and how is Ozaki Masaya doing two shows in a season?

YOSHIWARA URA DOSHIN

Wait, Ozaki Masaya has a third jdorama and its about the old red light district in the samurai days? He is the perfect writer for this! Does he even sleep? Will having 3 jdoramas in a season affect the quality of his writing? Samurai action + prostitutes + Oda Kazumasa song + Ozaki Masaya writing = must watch!


MAMA GA IKITA AKASHI

Abe Sadao + Kanjiyani Shihori (who's also in Yoshiwara Ura Doshin) + Ozaki Masaya? He's got 4 jdoramas???!!! Best of all, Mano Erina is in it!!!!!!!! Mano-chan daisuki!!!!!!!!!!! Can't effing wait!


MIGHT NEED TO BE SUBBED

KAZOKU GARI


Murder mystery show starring Matsuyuki Yasuko (Mother) and Endo Kenichi. I will definitely check this out for her.  Trailer looks very good but I'm not so sure about the writers. Based on bestselling novel doesn't mean anything to me after Mozu.

MOZU Season 2

Mozu was the great hope of last season and Border and Black President saved the day. I don't have any faith in the story and I'm just hoping for decent action sequences.

OYAJI NO SENAKA

10 episodes of father daughter doramas by multiple writers including Sakamoto Yuji and Mitani Koki.


HENSHIN

+ WOWOW dorama based on another Higashino Keigo book.
- The writer wrote the god awful Gekiryuu which had some of the stupidest dialogue ever. It was so bad I actually watched the whole thing in disbelief. It was even worse than Triangle, which is pretty hard to do.

My pick for jdorama to go down in flames.


SAILOR FUKU TO UCHUUJIN

Sounds so stupid it might actually be funny. The earth is destroyed and there are only 11 survivors who must choose between leaving earth with the aliens or escaping the spaceship. Plus Yuri from Black President is the main sailor fuku girl. :)


ZAININ NO USO

Just cause its WOWOW. Grrrr, can't watch trailer from website since outside Japan.


HAKUGIN JACK

Watanabe Ken and Hirosue Ryoko in a dorama special about a criminal who takes over a sky resort and seeks tricky ransoms. Could be good.


SHOULDN'T BE SUBBED

Everything else cause most of them are jyannies and Oscar Agency doramas anyway.

Sakamoto Yuji - Soredemo Ikite Yuku interview Part 4

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I sort of finished this before my last trip and was waiting for Chuks to get back to me with some answers but forgot to copy my work to my phone. I'll probably need to go back and clean up the translations but I doubt I'll have time. The way Sakamoto Yuji talks is a pain to translate. Original text can be found here. Corrections and comments are most welcome. Big thanks to Chuks and Satomi for helping with the translation!


Abiko: In a previous review, the scene where the wrong-doer’s family and the victim’s family were eating soumen together. (Episode 6: Uninvited guest)

Sakamoto: Yes.

Abiko: The viewers were always interested in how the mother of the victim (Otake Shinobu) was going to end up meeting the wrong-doer’s family as she did not want to meet them. The cause of the meet up was when the son Eita scolded the mother, “Why are there no teas and cakes?”. I don’t know whether that was real or not and but I thought that it was a good attitude for the promise (to keep it real).

Sakamoto: As I thought. The situation that killer’s and victim’s family are in is an unknown world to me. In the end, I don’t know what’s real or not. In that case, I feel the danger when the two meet. Everytime I write I write this scene, it becomes something ordinary but I wrote with a feeling that it was something that could not be avoided. About that scene, I once wrote a normal scene where Otake-san from the victim’s family spoke her mind while the killer’s family listened and answered. However, that really felt out of place so I took it in a different direction. Even so, it took a lot of courage for me to remove it.

Abiko: Even if you cut that scene, in the end, the characters came to life in your head. The mother’s actions became very natural. Sakamoto-san, don’t you think that was very natural?

Sakamoto: I didn’t want to write it as I one sided scene so they ended up eating soumen together although there was the emotion of hitting something.I think regardless of what happens, those characters have defects. That’s what make a ‘character drama’. There are cases where someone says, “This character say such a thing.” In the past I thought this was strange and couldn’t be helped. “Wouldn’t it be weird if someone said something?” Of course, tone when speaking is a trait of the person expressing his/her feelings. People think about good things and also about bad things as well. People who are calm and composed do lose their temper. If one where to write their characters as if they were real, there is no such thing as there is no way a character would say this.

Abiko: One cannot capture the multifaceted picture of human life without moulding your characters as 3-dimensional. About moulding the characters, was there any feedback from the actors that unfluence the moulding?

Sakamoto: Of course, did not harden in the end? In the planning book, it was always written ‘this character is the mood maker’ or ‘this character can’t stop being angry’  but to follow that absolutely is not interesting. In actual fact, people are not so easily defined.

Abiko: This type of one sided coding is to make it convenient for viewers and readers.  Are you prepared to refuse to follow the pattern and say you don’t care about ratings?

Sakamoto: If I don’t code characters into certain archetypes, there won’t be any ratings. Normally, such a dark protagonist won’t appear on a television dorama. Actually, when I was doing trendy doramas back in the day, it was much more relaxed. During the age of trendy doramas, the characters’ setting was created by one writer but this is the age where even the conclusion of the first episode is written by multiple writers. They can’t write without deciding what their characters are beforehand.


Abiko: The first thing I am most concerned with is how did you set up the criminal's story? There is even talk that although he was rehabilitated, people around him constantly looking at him caused him to return to what he was! There is also the possibly that he was already born with the characteristics of a killer or a psychopath. However, in the end although I felt that it was ambigious,  the modelling of the character could only be done by Sakamoto-san's gaze.

Sakamoto: Although I've watched a lot of movies and read a lot of books, in the end, I could not find out how to illustrate a killer's feelings or his internal thoughts. People kill other people in doramas is usually because of a grudge or an easily understood reason but whichever one chooses, to project the image of a psychopath cannot be done. From the first episode, I was conflicted with how to create the ego of a killer. How do I illustrate something that I do not understand? So as not to write a poor script because of it, I had to procceed carefully and think when I was writing. On that point, when I decided on the second incident, there were objections from the staff and I heard talk that the actors were also uneasy about it....

Abiko: So there was a possibility that the second incident would not happen?

Sakamoto: Yes. At that point I wasn't sure where to take the conflict between the killer's and victim's families to in the end. Nevertheless, I had to do it by force! If I didn't do it, the show would fall into the pattern of a killer regretting his actions and I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to 100% beautify and wanted to avoid creating sympathy for a killer and explained that because a criminal did such a thing that such sorrow was created. However, I had to proceed without knowing how to illustrate such a criminal. And then when I was writing the 7th or 8th episode, I saw Kazama-san's acting which made me think a lot. He wasn't acting acting like a psychopath nor a regular human. Somehow, I felt that he had captured it. When stumped, its a good idea to watch the actors.

Abiko: Its a good thing Kazama-san played his character with ambiguit, isnt' it?

Sakamoto: I decided to write a scene in which his motive of murder is reveled to the extent that satisfies viewers somewhat, in not so explanatory way. But I didn't want the scene on the last episode, so it was on the episode before the last episode. I also didn't want the scene to be too focused either. So my compromise was him making a little confession to his grandparents. However, I myself has no idea why he killed the little girl, and it remains as my assignment (to figure out).


Abiko: Although I am surprised after hearing it, if there was not somekind of will, that certain moulding of the character would not be possible. I think that the acting of the character would not be possible. However, the scriptwriter did not change his mind and the actor had to act it out.... however, when Kazama-san did his blank acting of his character, I don't think there was an ominous rebirth of his character but I think that there was a jolt.

Sakamoto: When there is an incident, everyone tries to read a character's mind , don't they? I find that trying to read a character actually strange.

I myself don't really know what the character is thinking as well so no way can anyone possibly know. So for this type of acting, personally I think it is very good. No matter how I explain it, the viewer will be disappointed.


Abiko: From now one, what other type of doramas are you going to create?

Sakamoto: Whatever I will do depends on the job. Ah, however, have you seen Carnation?

Abiko: I haven't seen Carnation but I've heard good things about it.

Sakamoto: I think that is an excellent dorama. I've seen two weeks worth on NHK's On Demand.

Abiko: That's the so called morning dorama established tendency. Because of that, there is a lot of exposition and the dialogue is very explanatory.

Sakamoto: Carnation probably doesn't have to explain everything. There is narration, but as far as it is neccessary for the creation of the show. Explanatory narration should be omitted as much as possible. I found the directing and acting in Carnation, very interesting.

Abiko: So after this you want to do something completely different? I'm talking about doing something easy to understand.

Sakamoto: As for as it is requested from television doramas, of course something as easily understood as Mito Komon. However, there are people who say its ok to make another Mito Komon and there are people who are motivated to make something that is not made for ratings. Sometimes, the company would say, do something without caring about the ratings! I have encountered this interesting circumstance once in a while.

Abiko: Circumstance, eh. I thought you were going to say something about chemistry.

Sakamoto:This drama born because of the combination of the broadcasting company which was bold enough to make the decision, the producer who is originally from variety shows and has the permission of making as he wishes, and the skillful actors like Eita and Mitsuhima. I guess you can call it chemistry but it happened incidentally. I'm a veteran now and I'm not sure how many more years I get to do serial dramas. Creating such a dorama disqualifies me from being a television scripwriter.

Abiko: Are you saying that because you have previously complied with requests well, once in a while you want to do exactly what you want?

Sakamoto: There is of course an expectation that its something that I should do, but that is viewed as something young people should do. I made my debut earlier than usual, but I am writing scripts while having my keeping the thought that my job could possibly end at the back of my mind. There are basically no veteran writers for 9 o'clock love doramas. From now on, I expect job requests to steadily decrease.

Abiko: Have the requests decreased?

Sakamoto: Occasionally when talk of work comes to me, people come to be with book that they want me to adapt. Recently a lot of books are written about families where there has been a death. (laughs) This label has been stuck to me and I can't go back.    

Mosaic Japan Episode 1 recap

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Sakamoto Yuji + WOWOW + Porn = Not to be missed. I've finished watching all 5 episodes. I don't think its must watch but I had great fun. There are bits of dialogue I didn't get but generally understood everything.

Episode 1 opens with an orgy scene and Riichi meeting the President of  Galaxyz (played by the guy from Gonzo who always looked like he was crying) who explains to him while porn is banned is banned in Japan, because there is mosaic, it is allowed. Prostitution is illegal in Japan so soaplands are created. Gambling is illegal but pachinkos also get around it. Why? Because the most important thing is taxes.

The President equates the AV industry to the helicopter's shadow when shooting Harry Potter flight sequences at a castle. Its something not to be noticed but its what's necessary.

We go a bit back in time to see Riichi coming back to his town. He sees a girl go into a truck and her underwear is thrown out.

Riichi's parents are doing well from working at Galaxyz and his dad got a huge new tv. Grandma urges Riichi to find a job there. Nothing on the Galaxyz Group brochure says porn. Just beauty, dotcom, FX and I'm not sure what the Sanzu means.

Riichi goes to Galaxys where all the OLs are smoking hot.

Riichi meets the president who tells him to throw a burger against the window. Riichi, being our mild mannered protagonist is like WTF. President tells Riichi how you use something is up to you. I don't want anyone here who cannot think of food other than for eating. Riichi is then hired on the spot.

Riichi is given the employment forms by this lady who had some vibrating thing on her.

Riichi has his congratulations party with his old teacher and friends at an izakaya. He sees Momoko, an OL from Galaxyz being harrassed and helps her out.

Riichi who is now working in the FX trading area comes to the general affairs section and witnesses Momoko being spanked because the ink of a ball pen is not coming out. lol

Riichi of course goes to save Momoko only to be told that they are in the middle of shooting and there is a cameraman below the table.

Riichi runs around to find out that he is actually working for an AV company along with everyone in the town.

And his parents are the ones who mosaic the AVs.

Kanpai Senshi After 5

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Kanpai Senshi After 5 is a super sentai parody show that takes place in two places; an izakaya and a karaoke. Some people might know super sentai shows as Power Rangers and After 5 is basically about the heroes having a drink after battle.

In other words, its an after work conversation dorama. Despite their job description being fighting an evil organisation, After 5 do have to deal with a lot of workplace problems. Did I mention former Hello Project soloist Kikkawa Yu is in it? No idea what Tsunku ever saw in her as a soloist but she's not bad as an actress.

After 5 also doesn't fail to make fun of all the Super Sentai conventions like leaving the robot/final weapon for the end and the numerous minions that the bad guys have.

Speaking of the bad guys, the boss of the evil organisation works as the cook at the izakaya where After 5 go.

There are so many funny stories like the twitter episode or trying to get Pink to pay when she always runs away. The ending karaoke song of SharanQ's' Zurui Onna was perfect! In fact, I love the karaoke song choices.

My favourite episodes are the Yellow-chan episodes which made me laugh non-stop. I really felt Red, Blue and Yellow's pain.

After 5 is a very funny parody. While I can't give it a must watch, I've got no complaints. Episodes 1-9 have been subbed by Megabeast Empire and raws can be gotten from nyaa.


REWATCHING GONZO: DENSETSU NO KEIJI

After watching Mosaic Japan with Takahashi Issei as the Galaxyz president, I had a sudden urge to watch Gonzo cause that was the show I most remember him for. One episode turned into two and I ended up rewatching the whole thing again and what a blast! I wanted to write a rewatch review about how good it still is but looking back at my old reviews, I don't think there's anything new for me to say but I had forgotten just how good Gonzo was so I was half rediscovering it and half remembering bits and pieces.

I used to refer to the holy trinity of Gonzo, Gaiji Keisatsu and Rinjo as the best cop jdoramas I've seen but I'm happy to add Border to that group, except its not a trinity anymore. If you haven't seen Gonzo, you owe it to yourself to do so!

BLACK PRESIDENT AND KANATA NO KO ENGLISH SUBS

Both shows have started being subbed. I love Black President though others have commented they don't think its that good. As long as you don't expect another KDO, you'll enjoy the series. I'm looking forward to rewatching Kanata no Ko and understanding everything. Its a bleak show but I felt kind of indifferent so I'm hoping I'll enjoy it more the second time with subs.

NEXT RYU GA GOTOKU SOD ACTRESS VOTING


The top three are currently:

1) Arimura Chika
2) Sakura Mana
3) Uehara Ai

Nanaumi Nana is all the way down at 25th and Natsume Yuuki is 22nd. :( Worst of all I just noticed that Arimoto Sayo is on the list at 28th! I didn't even realise she was on the list because the picture SOD used doesn't even look like her!

 This is her profile picture on the voting page.

And this is what she looks like.

As futile as it is, I shall be using the remainder of my votes of Sayo-chan! Sigh, outside of Uehara Ai and Ootsuki Hibiki, no one else in the top 10 gets me excited.  Come one Sega, I would pay 1000円 for Arimoto Sayo  hostess DLC!

Mosaic Japan Episode 2 recap

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Episode 2 opens with our protagonist Riichi sitting in a 'train' in front of two AV actresses who tell the story of how Galaxyz got started. Too many technical words for me but I wasn't interested in the details.

Bunch of guys enter the train and they start shooting a groping scene.

At an izakaya, Sensei who is the character above says that he has sex 3 days everyday 365 days a year. He says although he was born in the showa era, he gets to hug girls born in the heisei era and he gets 50000 yen per shot.

We transition to the cafeteria at Galaxyz where the director is interviewing aspiring AV actresses. The girl above says that she always wanted to do AV and just turned 18 yesterday. The second girl says that her first time was with the guy that her mom remarried who did iramachio (whatever that means). The third girl says that until her boyfriend graduates, she has to look after him.

 Riichi goes to the toilet but runs away in disgust when he sees them shooting an Av in there thereby destroying any empathy I have for his character.

Riichi was going to hand in his resignation letter but runs into Momoko at the elevator who tells him that up until just now, she was at the surgery room masturbating and after lunch she's going to do a 3P with the patients.

Riichi follows Momoko to the cafeteria and sits with her. Momoko is super polite and apologises for being in his way, bows her head and gets curry on her hair. He offers a handkerchief and she says zenzen sochu mo iro iro kakate desu. I have no idea what sochu she's talking about but she's basically saying there are a lot of things caught in her hair. lol

Momoko asks Riichi whether he knows that bukakke is a word that is understood overseas. Riichi asks Momoko why someone like her is doing AV. He says surely she can make it by working hard at another path. Momoko asks him, "What other path?"

Riichi responds by saying, "Something like an idol?"

Momoko tells Riichi that being an AV actress is harder than being an idol. She says that there are ten thousand AV actresses in Japan or at least in excess of 8 thousand. Out of that number, only a few become tantai (full time?) actresses. She says an ugly girl can become an idol but not a full time AV actress. A full time actress does not get jobs despite being cute but because they are cute. Momoko says that at her level she gets payed 100 000 yen (~ $1000) which is not tantai actress level. (Not sure about this one)

She says there are girls who get paid 30 000 yen one time doing some things which I shall spare the details of.


Momoko asks Riichi if he knows what the highest selling genre is and she tells him its the newbies/debut. The first one will sell the most and the numbers sold will decrease quickly. AV is a difficult world. Finally, Momoko tells the stupid Riichi not to put AV actresses together with idols! Momoko says that she is going to continue until she can sell some AVs, even to the point of not eating curry that she likes.

(I love this scene, I love Momoko and I love how Sakamoto Yuji wrote it. Now I feel like giving Mosaic Japan a must watch)

Riichi is told by the President of Galaxyz to drive two schoolgirls to some location. The girls are told not to turn on the lights and not to look at the guy's face.

Riichi notices a politician's badge on a jacket and is pissed off. He goes back to Galaxyz and finds Momoko ready to shoot a scene and interrupts the job.

Momoko tells Riichi that if he wants to do it with her, he can just join in.

Riichi sees his friends and he goes off on them with the why are you doing this? Aren't you a bus driver, teacher, beautician etc? He goes off against Sensei who is married with two kids and asks him how can he be doing AV with his former students? Get a proper job, blah blah. Rightfully Riichi gets beat up and we found out everyone in the town would be jobless without Galaxyz.

Riichi wakes up to find himself being used to serve sushi. At the end of the episode we find out that the President of Galaxyz wants to make Riichi together with the one-eyed chinese dude, the president of an uncensored AV company!

Tokusou

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Last season is turning out to be a very good season with two must watch shows (Border & Black President) and a bunch of pretty good shows (Long Goodbye, Mosaic Japan, River's Edge) and now we can add Tokusou to that pretty good list.


Tokusou at the beginning seems like yet another corruption dorama but it turns out to be less about corruption and more about the people with the power to expose corruption and the price and responsibility that goes with it.


Yoshioka Hidetaka aka the kid from Kita no Kuni Kara plays the prosecutor who has been newly assigned to this tokusou/special unit Miura Tomozaku's character to investigate corruption between this construction company and the governor. Our babyface protagonist starts finding that all is not so kosher with the investigation details and some facts are being ignored.


Being a WOWOW shows, there is of course, a journalist character played by Motobu Sei who seems to have some sort of connection with the head of the tokusou and things aren't so black and white.


I won't spoil much but will say that Tokusou is about the price innocent people pay when power is abused by people trying to do the right thing and the relationship between the prosecutors and the media and the dangers of that relationship. There is also a whodunit in the second half that kept me guessing with a nice twist..


The only overacting in the show is by Saiki Shigeru (above), the boss from Kanpai Senshi After 5. His overactive facial expressions are the same whether he's in a sentai parody or a serious WOWOW show. He certainly rivals the bad guy from Hanzawa Naoki in his overacting. Luckily his role is limited and I love After 5 so I didn't mind.


Japanese level-wise, Tokusou was difficult to watch without subtitles but once I got past the first episode, it was relatively straightforward. Words you will need are kensatsuchou (Public Prosecutor's office), oshoku (corruption), zouwai (giving bribes) and shuuwai (accepting bribes).


Two pretty good jdoramas from WOWOW last season. They don't have to hit a home run ala Lady Joker everytime. As long as they consistently make interesting and thoughtful shows like Tokusou and Mosaic Japan, I'm a happy jdorama addict. Very watchable dorama.

Mosaic Japan Episode 3 recap

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So our main character Riichi is now running his own uncensored AV company and he's reading a book about adult site management. Japan must have that many adult sites that its worth selling a book like this.

Sensei is having problems getting work because his hobbit cannot become the lord of the ring.

We have this funny scene where Riichi is interviewing AV actresses. In this one he's asking this girl whether she can do 3P and she gives him this smile. :)

He asks the second girl whether she can do gansha and she doesn't give a response.

Third girl gets asks whether she can do gokkun and Riichi gets an enthusiastic smile.

Riichi: Can you do 3P?
Fourth girl: What is 3P?
Riichi: Doing it with two male actors.
Fourth girl: Yes.

Riichi: Can you do gansha?
Fourth girl: Gansha?

Fourth girl walks away with ponytail dude so we can assume everything has been explained and she said yes and Riichi runs into Momoko.

Momoko: I'm playing a secret investigator who is captured although its not really a secret here. (she pulls down the zip at the back.

Momoko congratulates Riichi on becoming president although he just arrived.

I love this scene. Riichi is on a plane with his Chinese partner and the Chinese dude tells the air stewardess that they are going to Los Angelas to create an ero video company before telling the two people in the back to shut up.

Chinese partner: This has nothing to do with Japanese law. Japanese people watch a lot of ero videos. Do you understand?

Stewardess nodes.

Chinese partner: If you understand then please bring me a bottle of Jack Daniels and water.

Stewardess nodes and leaves: Sumimasen.

Chinese partner: President, let's scout that girl. She's got a nice ass.

We have a scene where Riichi is meeting up with a lawyer, advertising guy (I think) and a guy who is introducing him to idols who don't sell. Riichi is at a guy with the idol manager guy who tells him about this girl who he raised for two years who is working at a girl's bar. The manager then asks for twenty million yen for the girl ($20000) and manager fee of thirty million yen. ($30000).

We see the Galaxyz President Kui being nice to an old lady working at the mosaic section and the mosaic people having a nice lunch outside.

We get this scene where the woman who is always with the President Kui is stepping on Riichi's dick as she tells him why he was chosen to be president of the uncensored company. Its because uncensored AV is a dangerous job and if anything happens Riichi will take the fall. Riichi was chosen because he is the most earnest and stupid person.

Sensei is still having problems getting his hobbit to turn into LOTR and another actor who just finished work is called back to replace him.

The director is telling Momoko all the details of what she needs to do while Riichi is listening uncomfortably. Riichi decides to pay 5 million yen for the idol Yurika.

Riichi runs into Momoko in the lift and says asks her not to go to the onsen for the AV shoot. He says he will make her a star and she will be able to get on tv, even on Waratte Iitomo or Tetsuko no Heya. Momoko says that Waratte Iitomo is no more. Riichi pleads with Momoko not to go to the onsen and she says hai.

Momoko's Miku is sooooo cute.

Fallen idol Yurika is getting her picture taken before the shooting of her first video.

Riichi runs into the depressed sensei and makes him the actor for Yurika's video.

Sensei's hobbit is not working and Yurika wants to go home. How will Riichi solve this problem?

 Riichi takes a video camera and runs after Yurika before falling down in front of her.

We get this slow first person camera scene where Riichi is walking behind Yurika at the carpark as they get into the van with the mirror walls.

Hot fps action scene as Riichi takes matters into his own hands while carrying a camera.

Everyone has an orgy to celebrate!

Momoko is watching Riichi's sex scene with Yurika on her phone and Yurika looks like she's enjoying herself. Remember, Riichi just got Momoko to pull out from doing the onsen AV.

Riichi throws rocks at Momoko's window after his orgy and says he is going on board that company. Although he is being used by the Galaxyz president, Riichi is going to make the company his own.

Momoko invites Riichi in and serves him water in a pudding cup and apologises for not having juice. Riichi says its ok cause he didn't come for juice anyway.

Momoko: Of course! You can to do it, didn't you. I'll get ready.

Riichi: Please don't do it.

Momoko: I don't but juice but at the very least I can offer fellatio...

Riichi: Its all right.

Momoko: Mr President is where but I can't do anything.

Riichi: Are you stupid?

Momoko: Eh?

Riichi: I'm asking if you are stupid?

Momoko: Sumimasen, I'm not smart.

Riichi: Why don't you value yourself more highly?

Momoko: Hai.

Riichi: You do not belong at the place where you are now. You're being dirtied. Although I have to dirty myself, I will save you. Do you understand?


Momoko: Excuse me, what do you mean by save?

Riichi: I want to take care of you. Do you understand? I think of you..

Momoko: People who are smart..

Riichi: Yes?

Momoko: When people who are smart see people who are not smart, they think this person is stupid but when people who are not smart see people who are smart, they also think they are stupid.

Riichi: Eh?

Momoko: I understand what you are saying but what Tsunematsu-san (d-addicts wiki has his name as Tsunezue) is saying in the end is that you want to do it, don't you. Anyhow you put it, you want to do it, don't you? Uumm, you are saying you don't want me having sex in AV but I also don't want to have sex with Tsunematsu-san.

Riichi: Eh? Ah.... Eh?!!


Momoko: Tsunematsu-san, do you know the difference between a woman who is feeling it and a woman who is crying? Do you know the difference between the voice of a woman who is feeling pleasure or who is enduring the pain? I can't get wet. Even if I'm touched (don't there) or not touched, I can't get wet. It's painful. I can't do it without using lotion. Even if I do it with Tsunematsu-san, it will be painful. Is that ok. Although I've gotten a lot of sympathy from you, is that ok with you?

Momoko: Sorry for being impertinent.

Riichi: Eh. You've not even gotten wet once?


Momoko: Yes I have. Only with President Kui.

Riichi: Eh. (Pained look on his face and he starts to leave)

Momoko: I'll prepare juice for when you drop in next. What drink do you want?

Riichi: Ah, then bayari (?)

Post orgy at Galaxyz and President Kui takes a whole lot of cash out. Riichi comes back and does it with President Kui's woman asking her who is better but gets no response.

Riichi interrupts an AV shoot and says we don't need stylish actresses having cool looking sex. He wants them to shoot sex where everything can be seen.

If WOWOW had Japanese subs, I would sub this show. Its not a must watch series but I love this episode, especially the dynamic between Riichi and Momoko. This episode has got the right balance between humour, ecchi and character dialogue. The more I do the recaps, the more I like the series.

Carnation eps 1-48

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Carnation is the second asadora I've attempted, the first being Amachan.So far, the story about a girl who loved sewing and making western clothes has been fun to watch. One of the funny things about Japan for me is how even today, 'youfuku' or western clothes is used to refer to what we wear everday now and its interesting to see a time in history where western clothing and influences were seeping into Japanese culture. As long as the main character of Carnation Itoko does not embark on a different quest and become an idol, I think Carnation is a watchable show.


While I've somehow gone though 48 episodes which is not that long considering each episode is only 15 minutes and when you take away the intro song and recaps, you're left with only 10 its hard for me to continue watching with the prospect of another 100 episodes.


I like everything about Carnation. Ono Machiko absolutely kills it as Itoko and Kobayashi Kaoru is fun to watch as the stubborn dad who inflicts domestic violence on his family but is quickly forgiven. 151 episodes to tell this story is just way too long for me or rather I can't continue marathoning this show.


Asadoras should be watched one episode a day and I really can't see myself trying out another one. I think girls would absolutely love this show with all the dressmaking and I enjoyed watching Itoko overcome her challenges but the pacing does not make for continuous watching. No more asadoras for me.

Mama ga Ikita Akashi

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I usually avoid the fatal disease dorama specials except Mama ga Ikita Akashi doesn't have any jyannies or overpushed idols in it. Its got Abe Sadao, Kanjiya Shihori, Tsutsui Michitaka aka Sakuma from Gonzo and Mano Erina. Not to mention the writer is Ozaki Masaya.


The title pretty much gives away the story. Kanjiya Shihori is pregnant and discovers that she has stage 4 breast cancer. The show then deals with the question of whether to abort the baby. The doctor tells them of this new drug that is more effective but might effect the fetus.


Mama ga Ikita Akashi becomes a do you want to reduce your rate of survival for the baby show. Of course for the husband Abe Sadao, the wife's life is more important than the unborn baby and the final decision is obvious from the title.


Its a typical sob story but I enjoyed the cast. Too bad Mano Erina has so little to do. Watchable.

Japanese subs aren't available from jpsubbers. Besides the medical terms, its a pretty easy show to understand.



Yoshiwara Uradoushin Eps 1-5

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Yoshiwara Uradoushin is my favourite show this season along with Petro no Souretsu and surprisingly both remain unsubbed. Yoshiwara is the famous red light district from the Edo period that jdoramas fans would have seen in Jin and also in the movie Sakuran. Watching Yoshiwara Uradoshin makes me want to replay Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! but I've got to finish Ao no Kiseki before Sen no Kiseki II comes out end of September on top of watching all the interesting jdoramas this season.


Koide Keisuke and Kanjiya Shihori play childhood friends Kamimori and Teijo. Teijo's dad got into gambling debt and had to marry her off to an abusive husband. Shades of a Yamada Yoji movie, Kamimori runs off with Teijo and they end up going to Yoshiwara for Teijo's brother. I was getting a strong OMFG it feels like a Yamada Yoji dorama from episode 1! Something happens in Yoshiwara and Kamimori ends up working at there as a doushin or policeman.


Yoshiwara Uradoushin is just right up Ozaki Masaya's alley and plays to his writing strengths. Similar to his Tokumei Kakaricho Tadano Hitoshi and Tokumei Tantei series, its basically short stories about beautiful women living in a harsh world and a hero or in Uradoushin's case a couple who help these women.


Its a bleak world where girls are sold to brothels at a young age to pay their fathers' debts and must work of their contracts with most dying of disease. Its a world where women are used as property and are never to leave Yoshiwara until they pay off their debts or get bought by a rich dude. Uradoushin is not a gritty realistic show though it still portrays things from the Edo period like any suspect is bound to get tortured. Its a feel good show with equal parts comedy and drama that is set against a harsh backdrop and that makes for interesting stories.


I love the casting and how beautifully its shot. The only complaint I have is the fighting which can be pretty bad. We have stupid unnecessary wirework in the first episode and the group fight in episode 5 was poorly choreographed with boring camera angles and people waiting their turn to run at our hero with arms in the air. The swordplay can look very fake at times and I'm not talking about the lack of blood. If only the fighting were more consistent..


Ability to read simple kanji is a must for Uradoushin. Its all in old Japanese and they've got words that I could not even find in my Japanese to English dictionaries like 妻敵討ち (megatakyuchi) which doesn't sound like what the onyomi is suppose to but you can get the idea from the individual kanjis.


I really love watching Yoshiwara Uradoushin. The stories for 5 episodes have been great fun. You can't go wrong with a feel good show about a cop working in a prostitution zone and the various characters that live in it. I love this show more than I should but I'm usually partial to Ozaki Masaya's writing. Plus one cannot have enought Kanjiya Shihori. :)


Hopefully the 2nd half of the show is just as good and the fighting gets better.




Petero no Souretsu Eps 1-4

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My other favourite show this season which is surprisingly unsubbed. Petero no Souretsu is the sequel to Namonaki Doku.which was an interesting story about this very nice vanilla character called Sugimura who gets involved in certain incidents and acts more like a detective rather than a publisher. At the end of Namonaki Doku was pushed to the point where he forgot himself, which I guess was what the writer was aiming for.


Suginuma is back in Petero no Souretsu and this time he gets caught up in a bus jacking incident. While he is still Mr. Nice Guy, Suginuma is a nice guy who has been through a lot and is able to think with a clear head in pressure situations.


Episode 1 deals with the tense bus jack where the hijacker's motives are unknown. We have an assortment of various characters in the bus and the hijacker seems to be in full control of the situation and knows what he is doing. The hijacker requests that 3 evil people be brought to him also promises the hostages one million yen in compensation.


The busjack ends in episode 1 but we are left with more questions than answers as the former hostages try to find out the truth and what to do with the money. At the beginning of episode 1, Suginuma says that evil is contagious and the root cause is a crime committed 30 years ago.


As with Namonaki Doku, the pacing in Petero no Souretsu is deliberate but engaging. Its a mystery dorama that knews how to constantly feed the viewer information but without repeating things ad nauseum (Triangle) or has really inane dialogue (Gekiryuu). There are a lot of unknowns such as Hasegawa Kyoko's character or the useless new transfer colleague but I look forward to see how it all comes together.


Ep 4 is interesting as it looks into the Head Editor's past but also links it to the busjack and gives us a nice mini resolution at the end. I really like the 4 episodes so far but I can't give it a must watch until the end. Very good series so far. The retimed Japanese subs are available here.

Fukuie Keibuho no Aisatsu

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I've been watching Fukuie here and there one episode at a time and I've finally finished it. Its basically an attempt to create a new Furuhata Ninzaburo. Let's get the things I dislike out of the way, for which they are two. Firstly, there's the jdorama cliche that makes no sense of this Assistant Inspector who has solved multiple cases yet her colleagues grow and abuse her as if she is standing in the way of justice.


The second thing I dislike is that I just want to tell the killer to shut the hell up. Its something that I never got from Furuhata and I think its because Furuhata is a more playful and theatrical jdorama and it usually takes place on the same day so there's no time for the killer to calm down and think "wait a minute, I'll just shut up cause they've got no case against me anyway." This is probably Fukuie's Achilles heel IMO.


I like the effort in Fukuie Keibuho no Aisatsu, especially with Fukuie ending every episode with a good line. They also do the Furuhata thing of revealing little bits about Fukuie but not giving you the details though things get a bit personal in the end. Good try. A watchable but forgettable show that lives under the shadow of Furuhata Ninzaburo.
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