sadacori

This is a stalker drama and of course, no stalker drama comes without an insane character, and this one does not disappoint. Sano Shiro was excellent as a man obsessed with his ex-girlfriend. To the point he collected all her old belongings and occassionally pulls them out to gaze at longingly and reminisce.

The madness does not end with him. His equally obsessed wife is just as insane as he is (though much more on the violent side) and his mother-in-law (Nogiwa Yoko, natch) is a fortune-telling junkie who bases all of her business decisions on a psychic.

Though this drama is one of the most intense ones I've ever seen, after the climactic scene, the characters find peace and the ending is quite nice.

Originally I was giving this a 9, but Matsutouya Yumi's wonderful theme song pushed it to a 10.

I watched this drama almost 10 years ago and recently, I had the chance to watch it again and it's still as great as I remembered.

The main story is about a love-triangle drama between two best friends and a guy that they met through the main character, Megumi's mother. Meg's mother, who is a radio talk show host, bases her shows off the love life of her daughter and friends. She tries all sorts of tactics from bugging her daughter's cabinets, bag, and also following her around to various places to get the inside scoop on her daughter's love love for her radio program, but also to lead Meg in the right direction to get her true love.

After all the recent flashy dramas that I've been watching, it's nice to return to a good old-fashion story with no silliness or thrills. This drama almost reminds me of a Korean drama for its simple romantic storytelling, but without the overly melodramatic scenes.

If you want a sweet, but mature romantic drama, this is the one for you.

I have to be honest. This drama didn't catch my attention until the last few episodes. I struggled through it because of all the financial talk, a topic that rarely interests me. That's not to say that this is a bad drama in any way.

Along with the financial storyline, this story basically revolves around the strife between a father and son and their rich, yet dysfunctional family. As each episode goes on, it shows how a seemingly-perfect family also has its flaws and its share of dark and dirty secrets.

Kimura Takuya was excellent as the lead character in this drama. He was dashing and very likeable as Manpyo Teppei, the elder son of the Manpyo clan. Another noteworthy character is Takasu Aiko (Suzuki Kyoka), the scheming mistress of Manpyo Daisuke. She is cool as ice and just the type of character that you love to hate.

With such a grand cast and a great storyline, I wish that this drama was more watchable than people made it seem. Or maybe I watched it when I was in the wrong mood or didn't pay attention to it enough. Whatever the case, I do recommend this, but only if you're into mature storylines. (Fangirls/boys need not apply.)

This drama starts off as a mystery as Kanzaki Nao receives a huge sum of money and is entered into something called a Liar Game, in which you have to lie, cheat, and steal other players' money. So how does the innocent and naive Kanzaki attempt to do this? Enter Akiyama Shinichi, a ex-convict and expert swindler, who agrees to help her.

While the intial first episodes seemed simple enough, the latter games include outsmarting other contestants using mathematical methods to explain how to win, which can get confusing at times.

Towards the end, we find out why this Liar Game came to take place and why certain contestants were chosen. While it was intriguing to find out the reasons, it kind of lost the element of wonder (kind of like how you find out that Santa Clause isn't real), which didn't sit well with me.

Regardless, I found it to be a great drama. However, I don't think it would appeal to everyone, especially those who prefer simple plots.

This drama is about Kuwano, a self-centered, eccentric architect who has borderline OCD and lack of people skills. His frequent encounters with his next door neighbor, a female doctor, and co-workers help pave way to make him more sensitive to the people around him and become more "human."

I really enjoyed that this drama was more laid-back than other comedies. It wasn't flashy, it wasn't trying too hard, it was simply just a drama depicting someone's life and the scatters of humor that came with it. There little moments that almost seemed "Groundhog Day" like (the bar scenes with a rival architect, his konbini and video store trips; his growing affection for Ken, the neighbor's dog), yet it made me laugh.

The drama didn't end with a spectacular moment of Kuwano finally finding the woman of his dreams and having a "just married" scene, but followed the suit of the rest of the drama--a sweet, yet awkward subtle moment. Perfect ending to a wonderfully simple drama.

Though this drama may seem serious at first, it also tends to have hilarious anime-like moments such as amusing sound effects when someone is being hit (gyabooooooooooo!). The characters are colorful as well--Nodame, a piano-playing genius, who can't read music and is a slob of a girl with a disaster area for an apartment; Masumi, an afro-clad guy has the hots for Chiaki (also a male); Mine, a violin player with a wild, but funny side; and 'Stresemann, a perverted orchestra conductor, who is supposedly German (with a cringe-inducing accent) in the show, but looks Japanese, with a bad tan and obviously fake nose and wig. :D The main character Chiaki is the one of the serious players in this drama, but there are times when he has his moments (looks of horror and disbelief when it comes to Nodame's outrageousness).

Most of this drama is about performing in an orchestra and preparing for the future after graduating from their musical college, but because of all the hilarious moments, this drama is really great.

This drama is often compared to Yasashii Jikan (another Nino drama), but there's no comparison--this is the more superb drama. This story is narrated by Ippei, an apprentice cook in a traditional Japanese restaurant, and it is mostly of his views about what goes on around him. He tells of his job at Sakashita and the people who work there; his first love; and especially his curiosity about his father, who he has never met.

The title of this drama, "Haikei, Chichiuesama" (Dear Father,) comes from his conversation with Tokio, his buffoon of a roommate, who mentions that he writes letters to his father, but doesn't mail them. Hence, Ippei's "letters" to his father as he's narrating.

The little quirks of the people (the bartender with his hobby of getting into media pics, the mistress of Sakashita with her secret little excursions to buy red underwear, Hanjiro(?) with his tendency to hiccup when angered) just add to the appeal of this heartwarming drama.

Not to add any fangirlism to it, but in this drama, I can really see why Nino is one of the better actors out there. His acting is quite impressive and made me a fan. The rest of the cast has only added to the appeal of this drama and this drama gets a high rating from me.

Though I originally thought this was a horror drama, this is more like a murder mystery surrounding the unexplained deaths of a few students. These deaths were triggered by an eerie ringtone that signifies a missed call. The phone message is a recording of the few seconds before the person dies, screams and all.

Enter Detective Sendo and Yumi, a sci-fi magazine writer/employee. They pair up to find out what is causing the murders and how they can prevent it from happening.

The body count is high in this drama and there are lots of cheap scares that reminded me of Ringu and my fear of long-haired Japanese girls (heh). And just when you think the mystery is solved, many other twists come your way.

Slow dance? More like a slow crawl. I practically had to drag my way through the first half of this drama. The second half got interesting, but not by much. Though Fukatsu Eri is her usual likeable self in this drama, not even she could save it. I wasn't able to warm up to any of the other characters very much and felt very unattached to everything in general. Well, I guess the only thing that I really cared about was if she ended up with Tsumabuki Satoshi's character Riichi. Other than that, this drama was a bore and I will never waste my time watching it again. I will, however, listen to the soundtrack (I bought this before seeing the drama) and the theme song, which are the only redeeming factors of this bland show.