dekatrain

What should've been a by-the-numbers J-drama turned out to be a very interesting portrayal of male/female relationships, due primarily to the quality of acting - Mirai Moriyama is perfectly cast as your average joe, with a sound supporting cast including Rinko Kikuchi (Oscar Winner from "Babel") and Hikari Mitsushima ("Love Exposure) among others such as Arai and Nonami. The other strong point is the music, which strays away from the usual J-POP fanfare, and turns towards indie classics. While music doesn't usually make a great drama, many of these songs are particularly effective in accompanying the drama at given times, and they also change every episode so you don't get that one boring theme song over and over. The only real drawbacks I found from Moteki, were the shortness of episodes (28mins) and a rather vague conclusion, which, while satisfactory, could've been stronger. I would've really liked to know more about the characters and their motives etc., especially the four women and the best friend, but this was understandably restricted due to the time limitations. Unfortunate for such a promising series as this.

Given the ridiculousness and seemingly one-dimensional nature of the synopsis, there is no wonder why this drama may be dismissed on paper as another silly jdrama filled with cliche after cliche. That is, however, until you realize Kudo Kankuro is both director and writer for the series. Fans of Kankuro's previous work will no doubt recognize many faces, almost as if they never left our screens, from titles like Tiger & Dragon and IWPG. Nagase is his usual comic best, with help from Ikuta Toma and Mika Nakashima, whom both surprised me with their valuable contributions. But really, Nishida Toshiyuki is the scene stealer, constantly upping Nagase, especially in the episodes that fall flat. Improving on their screen-time together in Tiger and Dragon, Nagase and Nishida's onscreen relationship really makes this drama for me. It is a joy to watch. While not quite as consistently funny as the likes of Tiger and Dragon, or as emotionally gripping as IWPG or Cats Eye, Unubore still proves why Kudo Kankuro is loved by audiences worldwide.

This drama is 11 episodes of pure tragedy and heartache. The last episode is possibly the most heartbreaking hour I have ever seen in any tv series. It is impeccably written by Kitagawa, as it takes you through the lives of characters unsuspectingly intertwined with each other. Sanma-san is brilliant, and his confrontations with Kimura are some of the best scenes I've seen in JDramas. It's not so much hate for each other that divides them, its something much deeper than that, as we discover through their interactions and as the drama itself progresses. Without the old, cheesy music and some inconsistencies in plot, this could've easily been 10/10. This dark tale surpasses Kou Kou no Kyoushi in its dark eery, nature.

Your typical love story drama. It is fine if you're in the right mood, but it is merely a drama fun of cliches and predominantly uninteresting, cardboard-cutout characters. Aibu Saki was decent as the bitchy girlfriend that doesn't let go of her man, but Yamashita and Kitagawa struggle through a lot of bad acting and not much going on plot-wise. Kitagawa is certainly eyecandy but than cannot make up for a lack of chemistry between her and yamaPi and her acting really is found out here. Not bad, but certainly expected more tension. Too artificial.

At last! God has transcended and given the underrated Sato Ryuta a lead role. After years of hard work (see Ikebukuro WGP, Utahime, or Cats Eye to understand what I mean) it was great to find him in a spotlight with a role that suits him as the overtly dorky yet kind-hearted and inspiring teacher. YES, the idea of a teacher inspiring delinquent students is not new - in fact, it deserves a rest. But I think his character is more realistic than any before in that he is totally fallible - for example, he does not beat up 20 students in a warehouse every week and inexplicably get a way with it (Shame on you Gokusen!). My hat goes off to the very accomplished cast - Hayato at first struggled but I think there was obvious improvement as he progressed through the story. Other standouts were Kiritani Kenta (see him in Crows Zero) who provided some well-needed comic relief and Koide Keisuke who is also much improved. Let-downs included the overuse of flashbacks and that annoying background music (and I hate it when the have to show individual head-shots of everyone everytime Kawato says something, anyone else hate that?! Such a time filler!), and a script which struggled at times. But most of all, it was incredibly frustrating to have the drama delayed for weeks at a time (and for volleyball at that!), meaning important plots points would dissolve once I returned. But a good, promising drama.

I can see what the director and producers were thinking by bringing Narumi Riko (16) - a talented young actor - into the role of Hagumi. However, that lively youthfulness they were hoping to transfer onto screen in reality was contrastively replaced by a dull, lifeless perfomance. Anybody who has seen Aoi Yuu as Hagumi (probably in her best performance) in the movie version (worth a watch by the way) will know what I'm talking about. Imagine what the likes of Ueno Juri could've done with this role. She would've nailed it out of the park. Apart from that, the story is also incredibly slow, despite the lovely, laidback setting of artschool. Narimiya Hiroki is excellent as always and frustratingly so, because he is ALWAYS the standout in his dramas (stand up, kou kou no kyoshi etc.) and is somehow unable to get a proper gig as a main character in a drama. Overall, a bit disappointing and could've explored much greater territory as both a love story and a rite-of-passage drama.

I remember watching the first episode and being like "wow, this is intense" - great selection of cast, excellent choice of theme song, original storyline - it seemed like it was going to be memorable. But it all ended up as one big melodramatic mess. My hat goes off to nishikido - he was genuinely terrifying and believable as the psychopathic lover (so different from ichi littoru), but im sick to death of nagasawa masami. She bores me and her acting is often cringeworthy, weighing down what is otherwise an excellent cast - juri, eita (excellent as usual) and mizukawa is a breath of fresh air. I've decided after watching her other shows that seka chuu was somewhat of a fluke (although ayase haruka was better) because she just seems lost on screen and her expressions are limited and predictable. Maybe she needs to make a few more movies and stop the j-dramas cos shes just so mediocre. But its not all her fault - the dialogue gets very predictable, and we never really get to explore the inner depths of mizukawa or eita, which was disappointing. So quite disappointing.

After seeing him in this drama, I must say, it's hard to see him not doing this when he's 80 years old. He's seems to just hold his own so well on camera, perhaps even more confidently than Kimura Takuya (although many fangirls may not like to agree and dramas like this one, aren't as glossed up like KimuTaku's). The drama's plot is quite complex and this is largely due to the excellent work done by the screenwriters. Admittedly, at times I thought the detectives spent whole episodes unravelling the simplest of discoveries and although this could get quite frustrating for the viewer, it did add the overall feel of the drama. The main problem I felt was the actual portrayal of the crime, as it just seemed so unnatural to me - when I saw it I thought I was watching a children's play, it was that bad. But the cast is excellent, the way in which the stories intertwine is also commendable, especially in a time where the trend is that drama producers go for style over substance. A must watch for a drama lover with a keen eye for crime mysteries.

Firstly, everything about Liar game is over the top, and perhaps appropriately so as the dialogue/acting is so miniscule you barely think that they're playing for ridiculous amounts of money. While I think Erika Toda did an OK job, I still merely see her as something pretty to look at and I believe she would progress better as an actress in a more serious role or a uni-type drama like orange days/honey clover where she can utilize her beauty, so to speak. Matsuda Shota mildly impressed me and I appreciate the fact that he's looking for different sorts of roles post-Hana Yori Dango (Oguri Shun, take note of this!) Overall though, a good drama that has entertaining moments that keep you guessing and confused.

My reaction to the ending:
"Oh, thank god for that...so? Ok, slight pause, nothing wrong with that...a causual smile, ok yeh, so its finally gonna happen now! Cool...wait...huh?! You smarmy piece of..."

11 episodes and I get that? pfft...
One more observation:
Why does Ken have all the responsibility of confessing? There's to sides to the coin. I understand that he personally let his opportunity go past him but, the girl similarly had the same opportunity and let it go and yet somehow the guilt only rests with Ken.
One more: I have never seen anyone, I mean ANYONE, have such trouble in saying that they like someone. Just say it Dude! Geez...

A little disappointing but still full of somewhat calculated surprises, HYD2 ensures its audience is in for a few (or many) ups and downs as it begins with its stars in New York and generates a casual pace from there. The generic plot then develops giving Matsumoto many girls to sift through and Inoue...well, she just has her usual sulking to attend to. If only people would talk to each other? No really, if they did that in this drama, the show would be over after one episode.

I have mixed feelings about this drama...on one hand, its different and nothing like any j-drama I've ever seen and for its exactly that reason, I thought it was a bit pedestrian in the possibilities the plot presented. With such important themes such as how we use resources, the inability of man to live beside each other, conservation etc, it seemed a waste to not extend these themes. Also, it was simply depressing to have so little communication between the "now" and the "future" people because had there been a stronger link, it would've given more hope and comfort to both sides. Also, talent went unused - Kubosuka, usually an intimidating tough guy was given little room to really let go and barely did anything to really motivate his students - this coming from a guy who jumped from a building in real life! Tokiwa upstaged him easily. I'd choose Battle Royale over this survival-of-the-fittest drama any day.

I wish they made more dramas like this now days rather than just plain old slapstick and silly teen dramas. While taking the same plot structure and template from the first series, Trick 2 sees the maturation and a slightly more free-flowing atitude taken by Hiroshi and Yukie in their roles. Ueda, now with his own tv show and popular book, loves the attention he is now getting and even has his own hilarious motto. Yamada, on the hand, the more talented of the two, still struggles to find a regular job and even food to eat. The police detectives are more hilarious than ever...just a joy to watch. Namase Katsuhisa needs his own show, or two, or three - he is a genius, nailing every nuance and improvisation he takes on. I now have higher respect for Nakama, whom I thought fluked her way through Trick 1. Abe Hiroshi is, well...Hiroshi - the best j-actor I've seen. The plot, which in many dramas would act as the centerpiece of the story, merely serves as a stage through which Abe Hiroshi and Nakama Yukie are able to romp around like 10 year olds, and what a glorious acting romp it is.

Thank god there's a few people out there that wish to stir the boat and stop modern day j-doromas from spiralling into the waters of cliche after cliche - that's what the people from Sexy Voice and Robo attempt to do and full credit to them. Despite the badly translated english title, an at-sometimes frustratingly simple and dull script, this drama survives via the undeniable quirkyness of its plot and the vivacity and spirit given by the two main actors (both of whom are quite excellent) to their characters. People will be frustrated by this drama because it lacks any real plot development, and on the surface the characters each seem restricted as a result. But if you attempt to read between the lines, you'll find a terrified young girl fighting against her parents, friends - basically everyone she knows, and yet somehow she finds peace with an odd, otaku boy who has no special gifts, but somehow is able to understand her. Their relationship is amazingly pure and as deep as any one you'll see in a j-dorama, period. Matsuyama is a star

Having breifly watched waterboys 2, and before that the movie, I was pretty skeptical about this drama, but i think that this one might be the best out of all of them. the reason for this is the strong cast led by yamada and mirai, as well as eita, whom i personally think deserves a stronger reputation for his onscreen work. There were a few cheesy bits and a few hiccups in the script (I kept telling myself "how come all these guys can just enter the syncro club about a week before the festival? Was was the point of the last 8 weeks then? Like why was Kankuro's friend suddenly able to practise syncro when he seemed so devoted to study?") Apart from these questions, I really enjoyed it...

What can one say about Trick that hasn't been said before? An intelligent, quick-witted (and low-brow when it wants to be) comedy about two completely different people who find themselves digging around to expose hoaxes behind proclaimed magical phenomena. Sound a bit tedious? It is, but the acting is phenomenal in itself. Having found Nakama playing annoying and overwrought characters in the past (Gokusen and the horrible sequel that followed) she finally (even though Trick began before it) really nails her character. As always, Mr. reliable and in my opinion Mr J-dorama himself, Abe Hiroshi is brilliant, bringing his comedic A-game to this somewhat plot-deprived yet unique show. The drama hits a perplexing situation at its end, but all in all, an excellent beginning to a drama franchise that excels in leaps and comedic bounds.

A VERY slow drama about a son who has been emotionally distanced from his father, although actually living physically right beside him since their falling out. To be honest, I was a little disappointed and annoyed with this drama - while the ending was predictable and satisfying, I wasn't moved by it in the way I originally thought I was going to be. And now thinking about it, there really wasn't much of a plot involved but rather a gradual revealing of the son and father's past. It was quite frustratingly slow, and although I usually have the tendency to forgive such slow paced dramas if they finish well, I don't believe the end of the drama justifies the sometimes painful process it took to get there. I felt Nagasawa's performance was incredibly strained and she didn't seem very comfortable portraying her role. While Ninomiya did a competent job, he seems a bit lacking not only in his own input into the character, but the character itself which lacked charm and warmness. The exquisite scenery and the father's acting presence saved the drama from falling into a melodramatic mess. 6.5/10

A cute little drama that is small on story, but big on emotional pull, or at least thats what it was trying to be. I thought the four brothers did an excellent job - neither of them tried to out-act each other or take the spotlight, and they all had different interesting personalities for Shaku to fend off (which is a rare-fete now days as J-dramas seem to be getting shallower and shallower). Watch out for the otaku-brother and the manager-brother - both of whom stood out, actually all the brothers did, even the younger one did a good job with his coming-of-age role. The main disappointment was Yumiko Shaku who I thought majorly struggled through her role - she just lacked expressions on her face. It seemed she had a happy/sad/confused face but could not combine or easily alter between those emotions on screen, which really showed i thought. She's cute, but in this drama, which relied heavily on emotional input, she was caught out through her inability to draw out her own character's personality. The characters still had me grinning all the way through and the whole manga-concept was excellent and well concieved.

Very enjoyable drama, that is definitely one thing people can say about this drama. It's also good to see this drama stem away from the university love story type dramas and in that sense it creates its own genre. I really loved it - the leads were perfect, and they were backed with a very strong support headed by eita (who is getting better and better as an actor himself). I havent read the manga, but even so its obvious that this drama pays it respects to the manga very closely as the characters are portrayed as almost comic or cartoon-like. Very watchable and memorable!

An average, pretty routine story with a recycled plot. Aragaki fans will see plenty of her, but this drama is one you'll forget the day after you finish it (as i'm struggling to remember it now!). Its not all bad - i think the dad did a reasonable job playing a teenage girl. You're not missing much.

Stupid? Yes...But funny? Hell yes. Well, thats not completely true, as the girls' stories tended to bore the help out of me.It was like they left all the creativity in the hands of the whole "cowboy and indians" plot (whether a story about a japanese cowboy in the centre of tokyo is a sign of creativity or not is also worthy of debate). But this drama has its moments, and they lie solely with naohito's cowboy, geronimo the indian (don't know why he's called geronimo, probably best not to know), and ryuuta's police officer character. A lot of people were talking of the cute girls in this drama, and to an extent this true, but some of them look seriously unwell - almost anorexic, especially emi suzuki and erika toda. Anyway, the plot is ridiculous, but the drama satisfies, suprising i must admit, even just due to naohito's woeful attempts at english ("shitttt!.." and "whaat?"). Hahah...ahhh, good times.

Not a bad drama, a little repetitive if anything. Matsumoto does a resonable job with a strong support cast, but what weighs down its respectability is that cliche that if you "believe in yourself, and you can do anything". If those types of dramas put you off, you may want to stay away from this one. But I enjoyed it, if a little weary of the fact that the plot is oh so familiar. Watch it if you're a Matsumoto Jun fan or just love food (like I do).

Personally, I believe this drama should be up in the top 10 dramas list, because it is a hard, no-balls type of drama which profoundly exceeded my original expectations of it. It is an excellent drama that combines a strong plot, with an excellent, star-studded young cast including nagase, kubozuka, kato ai, sato ryuta (who is a seriously underrated actor) - all of which can be seen here during the early part of their careers. This drama is never boring, and although some of the middle episode may seem like fillers, the end of the story is satisfying and realistic.

Pretty conventional love story - man without money falls in love with girl who has money, its been done a thousands times before...so what's so good about this drama? Well, it not even that good, saying that though it has two up-and-coming talents in Ayase and Kamenashi who both do a reasonable job but fail to lift the drama from being ordinary. Personally, I think they lacked chemistry - which doesn't help when you've got Kame being all "im so poor so i'm allowed to be sad" all the time combined with Ayase's slightly "im a bimbo but its okay" sort of appearance, and its hard to produce a descent drama. Their were moments, however, where I could see Kame's acting improving gradually, especially from the middle-half of the series onwards. The drama itself probably needed one more episode to fully end on the right terms (and a better screenwriter), but instead it was rushed and things were solved way to easily in about the last 10 minutes of the drama. Overall, slightly disappointing...

This is a very coming-of-age type story that blends family drama with fantasy producing a combined concept that is quite unique in its own way. Although it is not for everyone and is not even that entertaining, I must admit that is it very well done within its own genre. I found myself wanting to watch more and more, and the story gradually unfolded as it progressed much to my delight. Thus, persistence is the key to enjoying this drama, and to admire the acting talents of the new-comer kurokawa - she seems to handle her main role with precision and emotional balance when sometimes she could easily go over-to-top like other teenage actors (eg. Dandori Drill). Anyway, I quite enjoyed it, and the town in which the drama was based within really appealled to me. A good story for casual viewing, on say, a saturday or sunday afternoon?

Abe Hiroshi's portrayal of Kuwano is brilliant; one of the best you'll see in any type of drama - western or from asia. It is the subtle qualities that he combines in his character that really make you egg for this guy - his slanting-over posture, anti-social skills (none at all!), his classic interactions with ken-chan, his mouth-twitcing, his attempts to smile early on (soo funny!), his glass of milk everynight with his classical music - the list goes on and its just hilarious! Of course some of the credit must go to director and screenwriter in particular to keep the story alive and well for 11 episodes - its never boring and the material is always fresh. But you should watch this for Hiroshi, it'll open you up to the OTHER side of japanese society!

This drama seems to be drained of emotion of something - it just seemed really boring, and anne suzuki is better than that as an actress. Of course uchi horoki's sudden departure would attribute to some of the conflicts apparent in the story's flow of events. What I mean is, it sort of skips time here and there and you sort of lose your way through the story. And then, every episode of the girls will run away crying for some reason, then anne suzuki would make an emotional speech saying how important every member is, followed by "let's work hard together" etc. and then suddenly everything is forgiven. Maybe I'm just being too cynical because I've seen too many of these types of dramas, but its just a bit dull...If you want a decent anne suzuki drama see "Stand up".

To me, waterboys 2 is a much more polished sequel to its predecessor, if a bit superficial in its actual characters. The music updated with strings and piano, there's breathtaking scenery, two promising leads in hayato and satomi - but the supporting cast just didn't match up against that of series one. Nevertheless, it keeps you thoroughly entertained, even when you sense a bit of deja vu. In general, I do think it's a worthy secessor of the previous series, even though its obviously been revamped and possibly lost a bit of its original image.

This is an intriguing story; although the concept was centred around a teacher's love for a student and vise versa, for me it was the psychological aspect of the story that I became soon drawn too. Taken at face value as another "forbidden love"-type romance this will not satisfy you, as it is too dark in terms of its theme to allow you to enjoy it as that sort of drama. However, I think the unique twists that come about, although perhaps slightly incomprehendable, bring up strong questions about love as a virtue - is it based on need? Can it be overshadowed by guilt? Can those suffering a terrible past come to resolution? But perhaps one of the most interesting characters you'll see and the most brilliantly portrayed is Fujimura-sensei - a man with a terrible past, facing a life of guilt and covering his true persona with a "mask". You also see that his protection of Sonim's character brings dangerously closer to the horrids of his past, and it was this guy's character that kept me on the edge of my seat.

Okay, firstly, as an 18 year old male myself, I find Nana Eikura one of the cutest girls I've ever seen. But as a drama, this is pretty lame. Obviously attempting to steal some of the "Waterboysish" spotlight of the past, this cheerleading drama (yes, you heard me right) throws up all sorts of mini-concoctions to make it last 10 or so episodes. But hey, who cares? It's got Nana and Rosa in it and that was good enough for me to watch it and besides, its cleverly directed at its intended audience being the teenage demographic.