Tonbi is really growing on me. My initial impressions were of a watchable crying porn dorama and it had a lot of crying in the first two episodes. The crying became less and it became more about the characters and more showa type slapstick humour for lack of a better term. Its a father son dorama set in the past and present about how this emotional block-headed father managed to raise his son to be so well mannered everyone thinks he is gay.
I really liked episode 4. Its my favourite form of Japanese sentimentality, where people are trying to say something without saying it and drying damn hard to be stoic. Contrast that with the always gushing Beautiful Rain.
Episode 5 sees Kenshin in high school and his acting is pretty decent. The whole looking into Kenshin's past and its relevance to his current situation with the hot MILF has really kept Tonbi from becoming a moral lesson of the week series. My opinion on Tonbi has changed from watchable to good. If the quality holds up, it might go to must watch.
I'm looking forward to finishing this series so I can watch the NHK's Tonbi special. Can't wait to see Tsutsumi Shinichi's Yasuo who will no doubt be less slapstick. My guess is its going to be like the movie Densha Otoko vs the dorama series.