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
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
