Category: watching

GYABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~

There’s not a single show on this earth that makes me as happy as “Nodame Cantabile” (Fuji TV / 2006). This is one of those lucky dramas that strikes gold; not only did it make a seemingly dull topic (classical music, bleh) fun, but it filled it with heart and did so with one of the best ensemble casts in any drama. I could say a lot about Nodame Cantabile, but the moment that made me happiest from this show was the S-Oke v. A-Oke arc! Their performance had me feeling like…

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Sometimes the protagonists in female-lead dramas are hapless and lacking in some quality, usually having to do with their inability to attract males. Even if you have a female lead in a drama, I bet you there will be constant insults angled at her lack of a love life. In “BOSS” (Fuji TV / 2009), not so much (thank goodness). We got the fakeout with rumors that she lost her job and had to move to America because of a man, but it was much more serious than just romantic entanglements.

This is a perfect example of a typical detective/cop show. A new team is assembled for a specific reason: an outcast leader, a group of misfits, with odds all against them. As typical as the formula was, Osawa Eriko was the character to win me over. (more…)

Set in the sleepy city of Nara, “Shikaotoko Aoniyoshi” (Fuji TV / 2008) is a drama about a couple key things:

1. A talking deer.
2. A talking deer who tasks a human (“deliverer”) with completing a sacred rite in order prevent the destruction of Japan.
3. (Japan’s destruction is also being expedited by a giant catfish casually resting among some tectonic plates, causing a ton of earthquakes. Or in a fault. I’m not a geologist!)
4. In order to complete the sacred rite, the deliverer must find the “Eye”, and that’s how our story begins..

It sounds super cray on paper: a talking deer is asking you to save your country and it’s like, “bruh, I JUST moved here!”

What’s nice about it is that it could have been so much worse, but it actually ended up being better than average as an overall drama. What’s nice about is that not only was a very deft and tightly-wound “mystery”, it could have been that much worse, especially with the concept. And it wasn’t! Shikaotoko Aoniyoshi is very (read: very) slow paced, but not a single episode goes to waste in telling the story of Chiaki-senpai our hero trying to unravel these mysterious happenings around him. And despite the inherent crazy, the slow pace and whimsy is what keeps it down to earth. Somehow!

P.S. There are more talking animals.

Honorable Mention: King of Dramas (SBS / 2012). Hella meta drama about dramas with an awesome lead character.

I think any drama who models themselves after a popular role playing game (Dragon Quest) is going to be an instant winner, and luckily enough the “Yuusha Yoshihiko” series is one that did it and did it well! It basically takes RPG conventions and amplifies them to the nth degree. (more…)

“I really wished… I really wished for a quiet life. Then I got involved in their game.”

Makino Tsukushi

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