JDrama Review: The Memorandum of Okitegami Kyoko

Ooooh boy! It's been AGES since I enjoyed a j-drama as much as I enjoyed this one! In fact, I think the previous one was Legal High 2 (which also starred Okada Masaki and Aragaki Yui, coincidentally). I think I might have a teeny (read huge) crush on Kakushidate Yakusuke (that's a mouthful), the character played by Okada in this drama.

Okitegami Kyoko no biboroku or The memorandum of Okitegami Kyoko as it is called in English tells the story of the unfortunate Kakushidate Yakusuke whose name is derived from "saiyaku" (meaning bad or worst). Yakusuke attributes his misfortune to his name and finds himself always the suspect in one case or another and fired from his job regularly. In one such case when he gets accused of stealing he calls for the "Forgetful Detective", Okitegami Kyoko, who can only retain her memory for one day, i.e. she forgets everything (including who she is) if she falls asleep. She navigates through her everyday life with important things and contacts written on her body in marker. The drama follows the adventures of these two as they get caught in different cases.

Although the drama itself is episodic, just like most detective/police-procedural J-drama, it is charming in its characters, music (OP, ED and the OSTs), the direction even with random words on colored backgrounds (just like the anime adaptation of the original author's other work the Monogatari Series). Frankly, when I heard this was an adaptation of a novel by the author of the Monogatari series, Nisio Isin, I did not have high expectations. Because despite hearing several good things about the Monogatari series, it held no appeal to me. But I digress. Coming back to Okitegami Kyoko, the premise of solving cases was what brought me to the show but I stayed for the charming characters.

The protagonist, Okitegami Kyoko, is a money loving mysterious woman who, for the first seven episodes, is defined by her forgetfulness, her fangirl-ing of her favorite mystery author Sunagawa-san and her incredible ability to solve cases in one day. For the first seven episodes we see the story through Yakusuke's eyes. His misery at being caught in trouble, his fascination with Kyoko's abilities (and Kyoko herself) and his best feature his incredibly kind nature. This character trait is what endeared me to him the most. I have read/watched too many shoujo/josei manga/anime where the lead male is mostly a douche, (but of course, he's a douche with a heart of gold!) that it is nice to see the nice guy as the lead for a change. Although at first glance he seems to resemble Nishikido Ryo's character Yamada Souta from Zenkai Girl, I felt that Souta was too much of a doormat. Yakusuke is a nice guy but he didn't come off as a doormat.

The eighth episode unexpectedly switches to Kyoko's perspective which provides a nice insight into the mind of the woman who wakes up everyday not knowing who she is. The conclusion of the drama does not tie all the loose ends as expected. It feels like only volume 1 of the novels was adapted. But the concluding episodes were pretty good and even brought a little romance into the story which was adorable and believable without deviating from the established character traits.

All in all, it was a fun and enjoyable ride. Both Okada Masaki and Aragaki Yui have done a good job and even the supporting cast were quirky and portrayed well enough for the small roles they had. The supporting cast were not given room for development, as expected, for a 10 episode series but were fun enough that I didn't mind it.

Honestly, it was a J-drama I enjoyed after a really long time. I am now looking forward to the next season. I hope I enjoy Higanbana as much as I did this one.


Ta-ta!

Anime - First Impressions : Akagami no Shirayuki-hime

I am so excited that my favorite shoujo manga is being made into an Anime!! Quick post on my first impressions of the anime adaptation.

Akagami no Shirayuki hime tells the tale of the red-haired Shirayuki who escapes her home country, Tanbarun, to avoid becoming the first Prince Raji's concubine. On her way to the neighboring country, Clarines, she meets the second Prince of Clarines, Zen and his two aides (Mitushide and Kiki) and becomes friends with them. The story is about how Shirayuki finds her place in her new surroundings and becomes the Clarines' palace pharmacist. It's a slow moving tale about a strong female lead. It is mainly a romantic tale on the backdrop of a fantasy world and it is definitely up there as one of my most favorite manga of all time. 

Let's start with the voices and the voice acting. Shirayuki is voiced by Saori Hayami, a voice I've been hearing too often recently, but her voice suits Shirayuki so no complaints there. Zen's VA is also a voice I've heard a lot recently and he surprisingly suits Zen even if Ryouta Osaka (VA) 's previous character was a crass talking teenager and not a nobleman. Jun Fukuyama as Raji is hilarious! I am not quite sure of Kiki's VA, so I hope I will get used to her.

The art and animation. I loved the art in the manga! It is different from the usual shoujo manga. The author has such intricate art on clothing, jewelry and backgrounds that I love. I am glad to see the backgrounds are gorgeous, but I am not sure of the character art yet. It feels childish, not as sharp as the original manga and that is disappointing. Bones studio did such a great job with Noragami, so I am disappointed that they haven't done just as well with this too. Animation is so far so good as of the first episode.

I've just heard that there will be a season 2. Super excited!

Finally, to all the people thinking that this is similar to Akatsuki no Yona : stop! It's not the same! It's not even similar. Akatsuki no Yona is more of a political fantasy, but Akagami no Shirayuki-hime is more of a slice-of-life romance story only! 

I can recommend this anime to anyone who likes slow-moving shoujo romance without messy love-triangles and unnecessary melodrama. It's a beautiful story that's well worth a watch!

See ya ~

Anime/Manga review : SKET Dance

For a long time, I've always wondered what my second favorite anime after FMA:B is. I really like a lot of anime but if anyone asked me, "List your top 5 anime", I don't know if I can answer. I like Steins;Gate but number 2 after FMA:B? Not really. I also really liked Hyouka, (even better than Steins;Gate) but even that I'm not sure I'd put it second after FMA:B. Same goes for Detective Conan. (Detective Conan and I have an on-again-off-again relationship. Currently in a semi-off state)

Where does SKET Dance come in all this? I've known about this anime for a while but just in passing, like such an anime exists. But every time I hear the name I think "Oh it must be about a dance club or something". And I finally got around to watching it.

SKET Dance is probably NOT in any "must watch anime" or "top insert-number-here" lists. Simply because unlike FMA:B (and Naruto, One piece etc) it does not have mass appeal. No tale of epic proportions, no awesome fight scenes. Just everyday adventures of ordinary high school students. Yep, that overdone plot. But for some reason, it worked.

Let's start at the beginning :

Story : SKET Dance is a story about three high school students who form a club called SKET-dan with the simple purpose of helping people who ask for it. So the anime is structured as the everyday adventures of these three students and the mostly bizarre/comical requests of help they get from a variety of weird students in their school. On the outset it seems like a typical slice-of-life comedy and yes it is mostly that. But what makes it so much better is, the surprisingly deep/well-thought out character back-stories and awesome character development. Interspersed in the comic setting is some drama that never felt out of place, very interesting myriad set of characters who make this show lovable.

Characters: I am only going to talk a bit about the three main characters without spoiling anything. The leader of SKET-dan is Fujisaki Yusuke AKA Bossun. Bossun is a classic shounen hero archetype with positive attitude, his kindness, his clown-like personality and perfect can-do-anything type but then again he is not and that is the difference between him and any other classic shounen hero. What's different is despite all this, Bossun is always realistic in serious situations. He does not believe people can "saved" by talking/befriending them. He knows that all he can do is "support" people as they try to overcome things themselves. And the situations the characters in this anime face are mostly realistic to teenagers (with only slight exaggeration and use of cliches).The only girl and vice-president of SKET-dan is Onizuka Hime AKA Himeko. Himeko is a kansai spouting former "yankee" or delinquent girl who is very strong and typically the muscle of the trio. Yes this is also an overused trope, but despite this Himeko is given a good back-story (on why she became a yankee) and is very normal girl super-strength non withstanding. Her friendship with Bossun is strong and the two share a great chemistry because of her past. Finally, the last member and secretary of the club is Usui Kazuyoshi or Switch. Of all the three characters, I felt Switch had the saddest back story, the result of which leaves him mute so he speaks using a laptop. Despite not being able to talk or show any expressions (Switch is always stoic) and having been a hikkikomori (or shut-in) for a while, Switch is a myriad of contradictions. He's extremely good-looking (voted Mr. Popular in class) yet an otaku, popular yet nerdy, stoic yet hilarious. One of my favorite scene's comes from Switch's past. Without spoiling too much, when Bossun and Himeko first befriend Switch, he comes out of his room, but says he needs time to come back to school and he wants to do it by himself, which I thought was very well done. Bossun does not magically cure Switch of his hikkikomori-ness (I just made up that word)  but Switch does it himself with help from his friends. This was surprisingly realistic and good character growth that I was impressed. Little things like this mean a lot to me. That's why this anime made such an impression.

As for the supporting characters, some of them were interesting and funny, some not so much. There are definitely ups and downs in this anime. One of my biggest issues is the ending of the manga. For such a good story, I wanted a longer/detailed ending than the one we got. Which is why I am sort of glad the anime just ended abruptly (even if I wished they animated more of Switch's past than they did) than adapting that awful ending from the manga.

Will I recommend this to anyone? No. Not really. It worked for me. But SKET Dance is not for everyone. But if you liked Gintama and want to watch something tamer still just as funny, I highly recommend this anime.

SKET Dance contains a lot of shounen elements, the upbeat hero, tragic pasts, friendship but it's execution is better, the comedy actually works and that's what makes it worthwhile and earned it the position of my second most favorite anime after FMA:B. Not everyone will agree, but hey, it's my list!

See ya ~

Anime Review : Steins;Gate

Hi all ~

Finally, it's summer! Vacations!!! No more deadlines!!...okay, so not that. Anyway, to commemorate the beginning of summer, I am going to post a review of the anime I just finished watching : Steins;Gate (I wonder why it's a semicolon o_O)

The main reason I watched Steins;Gate was for one, it was ranked number two only after Fullmetal Alchemist : Brotherhood (on myanimelist) which as obvious from my previous post is my one true love and secondly there are no good jdrama to watch. Atleast not good enough for me to rant and make a post about anyway. Going off topic, I heard that Hero (KimuTaku Jdrama) season 2 is coming this summer. For those of you who do not know Hero, please skip the next few lines :). When I first heard about the Hero sequel I went: WHAAAAAAAAAAAAATT? a Hero sequel without Matsu Takako and Abe Hiroshi?! This is a disaster. That said, I will watch it, but I am not expecting too much. End of Hero rant.

Back to the point, Steins;Gate for me is a big leap from the genre I usually watch. I have not ventured much into the sci-fi world (unless you count Detective Conan which I don't because it is more mystery/crime/detective than sci-fi), atleast not pure sci-fi without action/detective or any other such tag also attached. It was surprisingly captivating. Was it on par with Fullmetal Alchemist : Brotherhood? I think not. But it really is very good in its own way.
Steins;Gate is basically about university student and self-proclaimed "mad scientist" Okabe Rintaro AKA Okarin AKA Hououin Kyoma who spends his days in his "Future Gadget" laborotary with fellow lab members his ditsy, cosplay-loving childhood friend Shiina Mayuri (AKA Mayushi) and the token perverted "Super Hacker" with a love for Maid Cafes, Hashida Itaru (AKA Daru). Okabe is not without his own quirks, prone to loud proclamations of scientific babble, talking to no one in his phone about some organization that is out to take over the world and tops it all with his evil laughter. They are joined by 18 year old genius scientist with an academic publication to her name, Makise Kurisu (AKA Assistant AKA Kurustina AKA Zombie AKA whatever other nicknames Okabe comes up with), and a few others When Okabe and the others build a time machine that can send texts to the past, they recklessly use it and finally have to face the consequences of their actions.
In detail,

Plot : The plot was probably the best part of the series. It was pretty slow in the beginning. Although I have heard people say it gets better after episode 4, I didn't think there was such a clear demarcation. It just gradually got captivating and by about 10th or 11th episode you are at the edge of your seat. The whole series tied into a nice loop with an amazing ending despite a confusing first episode. Steins;Gate is basically about time-travel. It starts off with a bunch of eccentric nerds wasting time in nerdy ventures in their dusty, run-down lab which results in disastrous consequences which they may or may not be able to undo. Their time machine initially can only send texts to the past which convinces the reciever of the text to take a different course of action that results in a different future. Starting with silly stuff like the number of the winning lottery ticket, they eventually realize that changing the past changes a lot more than they are aware of. I expected the time-travel to cause a very confusing and convoluted plot where the direction it veers into is so different that you forget how the story started. (one good example for a confusing plot was Tsubasa Chronicles. I still don't fully understand it and I don't think I ever will), but that is not the case here. All in all, the plot is the most definitely what kept me glued to this series.

Characters: At one look, the main character Okabe Rintaro is probably just another eccentric guy you've seen in many other anime and similarly voiced by the GOD of voice actors : Mamoru Miyano. But then again he is not. And that made him interesting. Despite being annoying initially Okabe becomes so endearing that I missed his stupid conspiracy babbles after the series took a serious turn. The side characters, individually, also appear like copies from other anime but it is their interaction that made them better. The downside for me was that I could not connect with even one of the side characters even though they made a fun bunch together. Separately, they were just that : characters. And since Okabe is the only character who retains his memories after a time-leap (everyone else forgets), he's the character with the most growth and obvious character development. Of course this means less character development for the rest of the characters which is to be expected as from their point of view, it's the same day only Okabe knows it's the same day but different things happen. The two best parts about the character design was. 1. Okabe's relationship with Mayuri. It was nice to see someone would go so far to save someone else who was neither family nor a lover. It spoke volumes about Okabe as a person, that underneath all that mad-scientist bluster was a kind and caring person. Unfortunately, there was no explanation given as to what formed this strong bond between Okabe and Mayuri. The fact that they were childhood friends was just thrown at us viewers. I would have liked to have seen some flashback that caused such a strong friendship between two seemingly very different individuals.  2. The chemistry between Okabe and Kurisu (romance non-withstanding). I loved that no matter how many times Okabe time-leapt and everyone lost their memories, Kurisu always believed what he said (even if it would have seemed unrealistic or far-fetched) and had his back. That she was his one constant. Their constant arguments surprisingly endeared them to me and I usually dislike tsundere characters because they always end up hitting/punching/thrashing other characters (mostly the love interest). And my favourite character was definitely Okabe.

Overall Steins;Gate was a very interesting (albeit a bit short) anime. Would I rank it number two after Fullmetal Alchemist : Brotherhood? I don't know. I am not fully happy with the any other character except the main character and their development was minimum if there was any at all.

Special mention : I usually watch anime in the original language as I can understand most of the Japanese and I am a huge fan of Mamoru Miyano (Voice actor of Okabe) but I have to mention that the English dub by Funimation was really good. More than the voices of the characters, I thought the English script was excellent. Usually a lot is lost in translation and cultural references, but despite that, Funimation has done a brilliant job.

Recommended if you like anime with good plots and/or are bored like I am with nothing to watch!


El  Psy Congroo!!

~Charana

Anime/Manga : Reminiscing FullMetal Alchemist

Hi all ~

For a change, I'm going to talk about anime/manga today. Please note that there will be some SPOILERS in this article! And, everything written in this article is strictly my opinion, please do not take offense if you don't like what I'm writing!! You are entitled to your own opinion and I respect that. I am mostly going to be talking about the characters in the manga, so I will not be talking about how the anime is fast-paced/ruined the first half of the first series etc etc.

Honestly, it's been ages since I last watched an anime. None of the recent anime seem to hold any interest for me. In my opinion, now-a-days,the genre of anime being released seems to hold no interest for me. I guess my standards for anime to be qualified as "good" is a well-rounded plot, (even if it contains some unbelievable aspects such as fantasy genre), solid characters and character development. Off-late, Anime/manga that I was once a (huge) fan of, are all starting to annoy me. For example, recent developments in Naruto (manga : the war arc) and Skip Beat! (manga: Cain heel arc) are starting to seem senseless and dragged out to me. When I say huge fan, I mean really really really obsessed, re-reading/watching favourite parts countless times, watching/(sometimes making) random fan-made music videos, writing/reading fan-fics, discussing spoilers and going hopping-mad waiting for next chapter etc etc. Yes, I was THAT crazy about some anime/manga. Seriously, I was starting to think something was wrong with me and not the anime/manga in question.

So, while I wait idly with nothing to watch, I decided to re-watch (and reread the manga) my OBSESSION, my one-and-only, my answer to what-would-you-want-if-you-were-stranded-on-a-deserted-island-? : FullMetal Alchemist : Brotherhood (henceforth known as FMA:B). And I've reached this conclusion : I have REALLY high standards.

I know many people liked the first series of FMA and felt that the initial parts of the second series, FMA:B, were an unnecessary repetition, I (humbly) disagree. From the beginning, we knew that the first series initially followed the manga and later changed into a different direction. So it should not be surprising if the initial parts of FMA:B were also the same. It was quite obvious they tried not to repeat as much as possible, which resulted in some of my favourite parts from the manga being omitted/modified.

Frankly, I did not like the first series as much as I liked the manga/FMA:B. Yes, they'd maintained the humor, most of the characters and yes, it did have a solid plot but for some reason it left-me feeling hollow. The end did not make me feel like, "Yes! That's how an epic series should end!" My first reason for that was Ed and Al getting separated. After all they'd been through, they deserved a happy ending. From the beginning, in the manga (and earlier episodes of FMA), the author built a premise for a positive future, at-least that's the feeling I got!

1. The plot: As I said before, I like a well-rounded plot (which I love about the Harry Potter series as well). I love that we got to know about Xerxes, that Amestris was born out of the greed of one tiny "Homunculus" in a flask. That every war, every blood-shed, was all the work of this greedy, prideful creature with a god-complex. And all that was blown-apart by the very humans, the homunculus-in-the-flask looks down upon so disdainfully. "Humans are violent, miserable fools" (~ Lust), this is absolutely true because humans are not perfect, but they still managed to put aside hatred and come together to save the entire country. The whole concept of how the "Truth" takes away what you want the most was brilliant, how Ed and Al want to see their mother and feel her warmth ends up with one losing his only remaining family and the other losing the ability to feel warmth, how all Izumi ever wanted was a baby but loses the organs to have a baby ever and finally how Mustang who has a vision to lead his country loses his eyesight. Arakawa-sensei dealt with several issues such as politics, human psychology, war etc very neatly. The premise of the story, lead me to believe that the series would have a dark, tragic undertone (as is common in anime/manga with the "tragedy" tag/ tragic summary) but despite that Arakawa-sensei manages to give the series a humorous and positive feel, which impressed me the most!

2. The characters : One word : Brilliant. Every character in this manga/anime had depth, they were believable. I loved how Ed and Al, retained their naivete despite everything they'd been through. I cannot talk about the characters in general when talking about FMA, so I will give each character a special mention. Let's start with the series protagonist and everyone's favorite (mine included) :
Edward Elric : An amazing lead character, Ed may come-off as the classic arrogant, rude genius but ruins any "coolness" factor associated with such shounen-manga heroes by not only being short but also reacting badly whenever said height is mentioned turning any situation into a humorous one; without seeming misplaced.
Alphonse Elric :  I agree with the popular opinion, that Al made a very good balance to Ed, character wise. Calm and kind-hearted are Al's most obvious traits but, like every character in FMA, there's more to Al than just that. I like how the mangaka depicted Al's inner fortitude (like giving up his body to save his friends) and his ability to accept people as they are.
Mustang and crew : Fangirl Alert! I love Mustang ~ he's insanely cool!! -Ahem- In my opinion, Mustang is similar to the Elric brothers in his naive notions but unlike them in his willingness to dirty his hands/use underhanded tactics to get things done and this difference marks a maturity in him (as compared to the Elric Brothers) that comes with both age & experience. Sly and manipulative, Mustang appears almost-perfect in terms of his ability as a Military officer as well as an alchemist. His fight with Envy, however, proved that he can also be reduced to blind rage and hate, which I think was needed to show that despite his "perfect-ness" he is also human. As for the rest of his subordinates, I liked their staunch loyality to Mustang. I loved Riza's relationship with him. There was obvious affection without being overdone or out of character. Speaking of Riza as a character, she is one of my all-time favourite characters both personality and strength-wise. The good thing about the manga/FMA:B is that the rest of his crew had more/better roles than the first series. I loved how Arakawa linked Havoc's general store with Maria Ross's return from Xing so beautifully! This is what I mean by a well-rounded plot!
Winry Rockbell : I'm only mentioning Winry because I've seen her being called goody-two shoes/ Mary Sue but that's not true. Yeah Winry cannot do alchemy, fight, jump from one rooftop to another but that doesn't make her a weak doormat! She is cool! She's an amazing automail mechanic and has been since age 11! Ok, so Ed and Winry get marries and happily-ever-after (blah, blah) but that's beside the point. I didn't care what happy ending Arakawa-sensei gave them as long it was a happy ending! That doesn't mean I was against Ed and Winry, they make a cute couple but I'm glad the story did not focus too much on that. The moments they had through the story were good enough.
Xing crew : A nice addition to the manga/FMA:B was the presence of Xing and the characters, Ling Yao, Ran Fan, Fuu and Mei Chang (I know not many people were not fond of her, as they thought of her as the usual annoying girl-type but I disagree. My most favourite role of hers was saving Hawkeye). Of course Ling (with and without Greed) is a fantastic character, and I feel his presence opened some insight to Greed, my favorite Homunculi. But even individually Ling was a strong character and added a good flow to the story.
The Briggs crew : Once again a very good addition to the series. Headed by Olivier Mira Armstrong, the entire Briggs crew made a strong impression in me and definitely deserve a special mention. Strong, ruthless and defiant, Olivier is a stark contrast to her more soft-hearted brother Alex Louis Armstrong. She held her own in a fight against the Homunculi. I'm impressed how Arakawa-sensei managed to depict several female characters each with different personality but still strong, independent and not with the usual whiny, crying and love-sick/boy-crazy personality as many authors tend to do. When I say strong, I don't mean physically (like being able to throw trees or something), I mean strength in personality. It's ok if there are weak characters as long as they show some growth during the course of the series. (Like Kanzaki Nao from Liar Game) It's also ok to be in love as long that doesn't make said character weak, annoying or a nuisance to other characters.
And finally, The antagonists
The Homunculi and Father : I did not like the concept of Homunculi being failed human transmutations, to be honest (it could probably be my bias because I loved the manga and was not very enthusiastic about the original story-line, no offense to fans of the original series) somehow it made everything sadder, like seeing someone resemble Trisha so much but not actually her, so near yet so far. Like with every other character, Arakawa-sensei had once again given each of the Homunculi a personality besides their namesake, which made them all the more interesting.


Alright-y! This post has become long enough. A quick conclusion : I absolutely loved FullMetal Alchemist. They're just not making such good stuff anymore! Maybe I should just re-watch it! (Again). Once again, I apologize to fans of the first-series of FMA as well as Naruto and Skip Beat!, I'm not saying that these shows are horrible, just that I've lost interest in the them. You have every right to be as crazy about them as I am about FMA (manga and Brotherhood) This is just my humble opinion, that needed an outlet.

~Charana

Fall 2013 JDrama - The ups and downs

This is not a review for any one jdrama but just my random thoughts on all the jdramas that I watched (completed/dropped) this last season while I wait (not very eagerly) for the start of the next season. And it's not (hopefully) going to be me gushing/fan-girling about Sakai Masato-san, my current most favourite j-actor (as much as I want to).

Anyway to start off, the drama that really made me want to bang my head against the wall this season was (no offense to fans) Ando Lloyd. Not that I was really anticipating the drama or anything because I've been wary about everything KimuTaku's acted in after Mr. Brain plus the cheesy title (AI knows love? Seriously?? Ando Lloyd..ugh an awful pun) and the overdone plot line did little to inspire me. Despite this, I did watch the first episode the moment it was out but it did nothing to encourage any interest in me. Watching the rest of the series was just mechanical for me, just because I had nothing else to do. There were several aspects that disappointed me to the point that later in the series even the simple things like the endless repeatition of the dialogue "Ando Asahi is prohibited from dying"  began to grate on my nerves. Speaking of Ando Asahi, I really didn't like her character. Shibasaki Kou is a beautiful actress and extremely talented (she was amazing in Galileo) but Ando Asahi was just not good enough to be portrayed by her. Asahi is introduced as a career-woman in her 30s who is working in a huge IT firm. But to me she looked like a spoiled little child especially when she pouted.
I am a fan of KimuTaku as well, I really liked him as Kuryu-kenji in Hero but the robot role was really just bland and boring. The plotline was messed up, out of nowhere we find out that Matsushima Reiji's younger sister has split personality and what was the point of Kiritani Mirei anyway? And God, Honda Tsubasa really needs to chose her roles better cause Suppli was pretty damn (excuse me) annoying. The only thing that was glaringly obvious was the huge amount invested in the project because the CGI was good. Besides that it was nothing but the same old overdone story line of how a robot develops feelings after it meets a woman/human or some such variation.

Although it had all the elements for  hit, a love story bordering on tragedy, awesome CGI action sequences, KimuTaku, sci-fi etc etc, it performed pretty poorly. I don't know why Hanzawa Naoki became such a huge hit (even though, I did enjoy it a lot) but I think if some other people felt the same as me about Ando Lloyd then I'm not surprised it flopped so badly.

Moving on to the next j-drama on my list, Miss Pilot. It was exactly as I expected. An uninspired heroine tries something new, gets interested, meets/overcomes challenges, makes friends and they all live happily ever after. Not that I hate such a storyline, I'm a always cheering for the underdog. But Miss Pilot did not have lead or supporting characters that made me want to cheer for them. The heroine was bland and all her friends were forgettable. I don't know why Aibu Saki has recently only gotten roles of annoying side characters, she's pretty and talented too.

Tokyo bandwagon was really boring. I liked the Hotta Family but the plot was not strong enough to support an entire series. Otto no Kanojo was meh too. Dokushin Kizoku had a different setting of movie producers and scriptwriters but take that away and it's the classic girl and guy being pulled apart by circumstances/annoying boyfriends/girlfriends and fiance(e)s.

At this point, it seems like I hated all j-dramas this season but that's not true. I did enjoy Yorozu Uranaidokoro Onmyoya e Yokoso, despite the episodic setting although I have not been able to complete watching it.
And the only drama that made this season worthwhile was Legal High 2. I'm not going rehash what I already said about Legal High (my previous post) but I've noticed a lot of people complaining that season 2 was not as good as 1 due to the absence of the Namase Katsuhisa-san and the introduction of the classic good-looking love-interest (not really) Hanyu Haruki (Okada Masaki) but that's not true (No, it's the not the Sakai-Masato-fan-girl in me talking) On the surface it seems like Hanyu is just that, but he's also twisted and weird just like the rest of the cast and what ensues is a hilarious but cut-throat battle between Komikado and Hanyu and is definitely a must-watch!

That's all the j-drama I watched this season. Hopefully the next season j-drama will be better than my expectations.

~Charana

Legal High and Legal High 2 review

It is probably too late to put up a review of Legal High now, considering the drama aired more than one year ago. However the airing of the second season of Legal High prompted me to write a review. Plus I was unable to find a detailed review (good or bad) about Legal High.

To be completely honest, when Legal High aired last year, I had no intention of watching it. Something about the poster (and Sakai Masato's hairstyle) put me off. Seriously Aragaki Yui looks weird! I watched it for the sole reason that I had nothing else to watch. The japanese dramas of the last few seasons have not piqued my interest at all. Almost to the point, I began to feel that the quality of Japanese dramas are declining off late.

Anyway, ramblings aside, let's get down to business. Legal High is about a money/women-loving, winning-obsessed, fast-talking, rude, extravagant and spend-thrift genius lawyer Komikado Kensuke (Sakai Masato) who, besides all these adjectives has peculiar quirks (fear of heights, tone-deaf, etc). Calling him rude is actually being polite. He has absolutely no qualms demanding exhorbitant payment for his services and always wins cases. Justice is the winner, according to him.
Of course, in such scenarios there always is a do-gooder, hardworking lawyer who believes in helping people get justice (or some such naive notion) and in Legal High that person is Mayuzumi Machiko (Aragaki Yui). 

Surprisingly, Mayuzumi was not as annoying as I expected her to be and the arguments between her and Komikado are extremely hilarious. Each episode contains a case which Komikado defeats the opposing lawyer who is usually appointed by the Miki Law Firm headed by Miki Choichiro (Namase Katsuhisa). Miki-sensei's aim in life is to defeat Komikado for some unknown/mysterious reason.

Although the writers have done an excellent job, the prize (for keeping me hooked to this drama) goes hands-down to Sakai Masato. He is absolutely brilliant as Komikado Kensuke (bizzare side-swept hairstyle and all). His dialogue delivery at break-neck speed, skipping and twirling about, exaggerated facial expressions are all hilariously done without seeming as over-acting. I have heard complaints about Aragkai Yui's acting before, but personally, in this drama I think she has done well and her character balances the weirdness of Komikado very well. Namase Katsuhisa rocks the villain role as usual (even if his villainy is not so comical in this as it was in Gokusen). Even Taguchi Junnosuke performs well in the small role he has.

Moving on to Legal High 2, the summary did not explain much so I started watching with the expectation that it would not be as good as season 1. Second seasons usually make me wary and eager at the same time (Gokusen 2 just didn't measure up to Gokusen. Although Trick 2 was better than Trick). Legal High 2, thankfully, is as good as/almost better (I can't decide. I love both so far) than Legal High. 

There is a new character Hanyu Haruki (Okada Masaki), a charming young lawyer from a rich family who wants to settle cases peacefully with both parties happy or "win-win" in his words. Always sporting a smile (refreshing or creepy, depends on your opinion), he opposes Komikado's way of thinking. Hanyu (or as Komikado calls him, "Useless Prince of a jobless country") is enticing Mayuzumi to switch to his firm, which she refuses.

Six episodes of season 2 are out and I'm looking forward to how this will be concluded. Koyuki's character Ando Kiwa has built up a premise for a spectacular legal battle which will most-likely be the last episode of this season.

To summarize, yes I recommend Legal High to those who watch detective/police/mystery/suspense drama and in general to everyone who like good performances! Sakai Masato may have become an absolute hit with Hanzawa Naoki, but his acting in Legal High cannot be discounted.

Compared to other drama this fall 2013 (Ando LLoyd, which I really don't like. Kimutaku's dramas after Hero somehow have lost its charm), Legal High 2 is definitely a must-watch.

-Charana