Winter 2009 JDrama Awards

Instead of end-of-season reviews, I decided that I’d rather do awards! But they are rather limiting awards because they’ll only be based on dramas that I have watched. But all the same, they should be loads of fun for me!

Favorite Drama: Tie between Voice and Triangle
Voice was not was I was expecting, but I still really liked it. It’s actually not mysteries but more of a human drama with each episode focusing on a different guest. Although a lot of dramas with a different guest star per episode can have trouble with character development, Voice didn’t suffer from that problem at all, since the stories managed to weave into their personal lives as well. Plus Eita, Ishihara Satomi, Ikuta Toma, Endo Yuya, and Sato Tomohito were great as the five seminar students, starting out from a group of random students into their own little circle of close friends.

Triangle was definitely a treat for any mystery fan. There are plenty of twists and turns but not ones that come from nowhere and just the right amount of conspiracy, and the cast is filled with veterans, really drawing you into their world. It seems like there aren’t many long-running mystery series, most of them Yare one-episodes mysteries, like for every 10 Kiina/Yon Shimai tantei Dan/Galileo/etc-type mysteries, there’s only 1 Triangle / Unfair -type mystery series. But if they’re all like Triangle, it would be worth the wait. Eguchi Yosuke really impressed me; he’s quite amazing.

Winter 2009 J-drama Previews

Happy late Chinese New Years! Unfortunately, no one gave me a red envelope this year. =( But I have my dramas to comfort me. =)

Akai Ito

Starring: Minamisawa Nao, Mizubata Junpei, Kimura Ryo
Akai Ito follows the story of Mei and Atsushi (A-kun) who are kind of like star-crossed lovers. They first met as children on their very unusual birthday, February 29 and later unknowingly become high school classmates. And even though fate seems to be bringing them together, it’s also pulling them apart.

This drama also has tie-ins to the movie; the drama starts the story off, and then the movie and drama are intertwined. I don’t know if you have to watch the movie to understand the rest of the drama, though. But so far I have been enjoying this one – it’s a young cast and it’s set in high school, but not crazy like Hana Kimi’s production. It’s a sweet young love story, so if you like innocent love type stories, this would be a good pick.

Summer 2008 Drama Previews

I have a love-hate relationship with new drama season. On one hand, new dramas starting are always exciting and there’s plenty to sample from. On the other hand, the previous season has ended and now you’re in this kind of withdrawal from your favorite of the previous season. Sometimes it helps if there wasn’t anything too good last season, but usually, there’s one drama that I just need more of. Well, anyway, I’ve definitely been sampling quite a few of the dramas from this season and here they are:

[Jdrama] Puzzle (2008)

Starring:
Ishihara Satomi as Ayukawa Misako
Yamamoto Yusuke as Imamura Shinichi
Kimura Ryo as Kanzaki Akira
Nagayama Kento as Tsukamoto Yoshio
Iwata Sayuri as Matsuo Yuko
Sato Chiaki as Takamura Michiru
Asakura Aki as Wada Hitomi
Tsujimoto Hiromasa as Nagatsuka Kenichi
Kaneko Norihito as Daido Gorou
Shiomi Sansei as Kamata Torahiko

Puzzle stars Ishihara Satomi as Ayukawa Misako, an English teacher at a prestigious boys’ high school. At first sight, she seems to be a meek and humble teacher, but in reality, she’s arrogant, greedy, and terrible at English. Her students know this, but the rest of the world has yet to catch on. Each episode is done pretty much the same way. Three of her students find out about some competition where you have to solve puzzles and riddle and if you win, you get some big expensive prize. She finds out about it and comes with them, intent on winning and becoming rich. After they get there, it later turns into a murder mystery of sorts. Even though her English is atrocious, she’s actually very clever and can solve the riddles easily.

Spring 2008 Drama Previews

New season, new dramas! Here are my first and pre-impressions for some of the dramas this season.

Last Friends
It’s the story of people who have been hurt and how they are coping with it. It deals with many issues such as domestic violence and sexuality, so needless to say, this series is rather mature and serious. Not only does it have an amazing cast with Nagasawa Manami, Ueno Juri, and Eita, the story is interesting and compelling. Add to that a GREAT OP sequence and I think I’ve already decided that Last Friends is going to be my favorite of the season. And isn’t that promo images so beautiful?