Japanese Summer TV Season: Part 1
Jul. 20th, 2010 06:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkwithheroesThe Japanese summer season is shaping up to be one of the best in a long while. There seems to be a little something for everyone: romantic comedies, suspense dramas, school dramas, human dramas, etc. I've decided to give most of the dramas, that are being subbed, a chance by watching the first episode of the shows. So far I've watched three: Mioka, Hammer Sessions!, and Tobo Bengoshi.
Mioka: It's a drama about a terminally ill college student who falls in love with a classmate. Meanwhile, her parents are overly protective of her. It's based on a novel.
What I think is amusing about this drama is the fact that before Mioka enters the lives of the five college students, they have been friends for the last three years; they honestly remind me of the Orange Days gang or some of those earlier 'college friends' type characters from dramas from the mid-to-late 1990s. What's really interesting is that I can see these five people going on with their lives if they had never meet Mioka. Taichi, Mioka's love interest, would have started to date Mari. Maybe they would have married. The other three friends would move in and out of their lives, etc. And yet, Mioka enters and all five of their lives - especially Taichi's - are all twisted and blown about.
The cast is very good: Yoshitaka Yuriko plays the title role of Mioka and Maya Miki plays her overprotective mother. Also, Tanihara Shosuke plays Mioka's doctor. Taichi is played by up and comer Hayashi Kento. His friends are played by Katsuji Ryo, Mizusawa Elena, Yuki Jutta, and Nakamura Shizuka.
So far the cast has good chemistry and their relationships are believable. I can see Maya Miki as Yoshitaka Yuriko's mother. The friendships between the five students seems playful and real.
Mioka is a cool character: she has six months to live and she's going to do what she wants. I like that she's not so much throwing herself a pity party as living everyday as if it is her last. She just doesn't care. If she wants to stay out all night, she's doing. Yes, it is selfish, but I can see it from her point of view. And, it is so refreshing to have a terminally ill character not playing the saint role and not throwing a pity party every ten minutes.
I'll keep watching it, as I did like the first episode. I do have a feeling that things could start going too fast, but I'm keeping an eye on it.
Hammer Session! Is the story of a con-artist who ends up 'hiding out' as a high school teacher. It's based on a manga and has been compared to GTO. The con artist makes a deal with the principal to straighten the students out with "hammer sessions".
I honestly did not think I'd enjoy this show, but I did. It is a bit over the top at times. And, yes, I can see it getting formulaic and cliche, but darn it I liked it. I like that Goro isn't a real bad guy. And, I like that his student side-kick is the daughter of the cop that is after him. That could be really interesting later on. Also, I like the assistant teacher whose lost her will to teach - she had passion at the start, but now the students ignore her and she's lost her self confidence.
Despite really liking the show, I really don't have much to say about. It's a good school comedy with some likable characters. I'll watch it, but I won't be waiting for subtitles or anything.
Oh, the cast is fairly good: Hayami Mokomichi is Goro - he's much less wooden here than he as been in the past. Shida Mirai plays his student, whose sure there is something unusual about him. Higa Manami plays the daughter of the school principal and is also a teacher at the school.
Tobo Bengoshi Is a suspense drama about a lawyer wrongfully ccused of murder, arson, and embezzlement. This one is also based on a manga, but unlike Hammer Session! it's a much more serious drama.
The drama was very suspenseful in the first episode. I was literally on the edge of my seat throughout the whole middle bits of the episode. It's an educational drama, because it does talk about law in Japan quit a bit; I was shocked to learn that only 1% of criminals in Japan are found innocent! Can you image the amount of innocent people sitting in jail? Also, it was utterly fascinating to watch the way people's personalities change in just a short time due to intense situations. How a person whose been your co-worker for years can just turn on you because you might be guilty. Wow!
This is a drama that you really have to pay close attention to, because there is so much going on. There are many complicated relationships and unusual circumstances to look at and understand. Plus, there is the mystery of who set our main character up. I'll admit that in the first episode alone I came up with a few suspects.
The cast is beyond excellent too. Kamiji Yusuke is the accused lawyer. Ishihara Satomi plays the daughter of the man Yusuke's character is accused of murdering; that man was also Yusuke's character's mentor. Kitamura Kazuki plays the lawyer after Yusuke's character. Kyo Nobuo, Sato Jiro, and Toyohara Kosuke are Yusuke's character's co-workers. (And that's not even half the excellent cast!)
I really enjoyed this episode and will be following it. I cannot wait to see what happens next.
Mioka: It's a drama about a terminally ill college student who falls in love with a classmate. Meanwhile, her parents are overly protective of her. It's based on a novel.
What I think is amusing about this drama is the fact that before Mioka enters the lives of the five college students, they have been friends for the last three years; they honestly remind me of the Orange Days gang or some of those earlier 'college friends' type characters from dramas from the mid-to-late 1990s. What's really interesting is that I can see these five people going on with their lives if they had never meet Mioka. Taichi, Mioka's love interest, would have started to date Mari. Maybe they would have married. The other three friends would move in and out of their lives, etc. And yet, Mioka enters and all five of their lives - especially Taichi's - are all twisted and blown about.
The cast is very good: Yoshitaka Yuriko plays the title role of Mioka and Maya Miki plays her overprotective mother. Also, Tanihara Shosuke plays Mioka's doctor. Taichi is played by up and comer Hayashi Kento. His friends are played by Katsuji Ryo, Mizusawa Elena, Yuki Jutta, and Nakamura Shizuka.
So far the cast has good chemistry and their relationships are believable. I can see Maya Miki as Yoshitaka Yuriko's mother. The friendships between the five students seems playful and real.
Mioka is a cool character: she has six months to live and she's going to do what she wants. I like that she's not so much throwing herself a pity party as living everyday as if it is her last. She just doesn't care. If she wants to stay out all night, she's doing. Yes, it is selfish, but I can see it from her point of view. And, it is so refreshing to have a terminally ill character not playing the saint role and not throwing a pity party every ten minutes.
I'll keep watching it, as I did like the first episode. I do have a feeling that things could start going too fast, but I'm keeping an eye on it.
Hammer Session! Is the story of a con-artist who ends up 'hiding out' as a high school teacher. It's based on a manga and has been compared to GTO. The con artist makes a deal with the principal to straighten the students out with "hammer sessions".
I honestly did not think I'd enjoy this show, but I did. It is a bit over the top at times. And, yes, I can see it getting formulaic and cliche, but darn it I liked it. I like that Goro isn't a real bad guy. And, I like that his student side-kick is the daughter of the cop that is after him. That could be really interesting later on. Also, I like the assistant teacher whose lost her will to teach - she had passion at the start, but now the students ignore her and she's lost her self confidence.
Despite really liking the show, I really don't have much to say about. It's a good school comedy with some likable characters. I'll watch it, but I won't be waiting for subtitles or anything.
Oh, the cast is fairly good: Hayami Mokomichi is Goro - he's much less wooden here than he as been in the past. Shida Mirai plays his student, whose sure there is something unusual about him. Higa Manami plays the daughter of the school principal and is also a teacher at the school.
Tobo Bengoshi Is a suspense drama about a lawyer wrongfully ccused of murder, arson, and embezzlement. This one is also based on a manga, but unlike Hammer Session! it's a much more serious drama.
The drama was very suspenseful in the first episode. I was literally on the edge of my seat throughout the whole middle bits of the episode. It's an educational drama, because it does talk about law in Japan quit a bit; I was shocked to learn that only 1% of criminals in Japan are found innocent! Can you image the amount of innocent people sitting in jail? Also, it was utterly fascinating to watch the way people's personalities change in just a short time due to intense situations. How a person whose been your co-worker for years can just turn on you because you might be guilty. Wow!
This is a drama that you really have to pay close attention to, because there is so much going on. There are many complicated relationships and unusual circumstances to look at and understand. Plus, there is the mystery of who set our main character up. I'll admit that in the first episode alone I came up with a few suspects.
The cast is beyond excellent too. Kamiji Yusuke is the accused lawyer. Ishihara Satomi plays the daughter of the man Yusuke's character is accused of murdering; that man was also Yusuke's character's mentor. Kitamura Kazuki plays the lawyer after Yusuke's character. Kyo Nobuo, Sato Jiro, and Toyohara Kosuke are Yusuke's character's co-workers. (And that's not even half the excellent cast!)
I really enjoyed this episode and will be following it. I cannot wait to see what happens next.
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 12:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 01:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 01:03 am (UTC)Have you seen Joker yet? It's another one that makes me crave next week like crazy.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 01:17 am (UTC)I completely agree! I didn't think I'd like it, but it was so suspenseful and it really blew me away. I cannot wait to see what happens next.
(I wanted to smack the kid with his first-world problems, oh my god)
Oh, I'm with you. That student - whose name I can't remember - needed a good smack. But, that's the thing with a lot of these school dramas - the students' "problems" are not really that terrible. They are just spoiled brats. Rarely do the students have real, serious, problems. Still, I like the show.
Joker has subs? I want to watch it, but I admit I'm slightly scared. I hear it's a bit dark.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 01:57 am (UTC)No kidding. I'm used to a certain amount of "wah, my parents make me go to cram school" but being humiliated that your father's putting food on the table?! Because you don't like his minimum wage job? SERIOUSLY, kid?!
Joker has subs? I want to watch it, but I admit I'm slightly scared. I hear it's a bit dark.
It's definitely dark (the protagonist is a serial killer) but the characters and their relationships are fascinating. They're like puzzles waiting to be solved. It reminds me a lot of Maou.
http://newshfan.livejournal.com/201107.html
no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 03:59 am (UTC)Thanks for the link. I downloaded it and will watch tomorrow. I watched the first episode Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo, and. . .eh. It was alright. Breezy but a bit forgettable.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 04:09 am (UTC)I'm gonna try Gakeppuchi no Eri next, I've heard the heroine is good.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 05:41 am (UTC)I nearly forgot about Gakeppuchi no Eri. It looks like it will be good. I'll have to watch that tomorrow.