J-DRAMA REVIEW: Tokyo Tarareba Musume

Alternative Title: Tokyo "What If" Girls

And I'm soooo back from the blazing pit of laziness for another unsolicited opinion about Asian dramas. :D Since Strong Woman Do Bong Soon ended, I've been really in the slumps because I honestly don't know what to do with my life anymore. I've tried watching Chicago Typewriter since I'm all up for the supernatural stuffs. It's also interesting but it's a bit dragging and mind straining for me so I dropped it for now and let's see if I get the urge to continue it. Oh, and I also started watching The Liar and His Lover and I'm pretty much enjoying it at the moment. I'll drop by a quick review about it once it's done. 

So, going back with our main topic. I'm here to share with you this Japanese drama that I just finished watching so without further ado, let's get started!

Plot

30-year-old Rinko Kamata works as an unpopular screenwriter. She doesn't have a boyfriend, but she has two female friends Kaori and Koyuki. They meet regularly at a bar. There, they complain about their situations and go through what if scenarios. One day, Rinko Kamata decides to go for happiness at love and work.

(Credits to: Asianwiki.com)

My Opinion

To be honest, I initially watched it because I'm Sakaguchi Kentaro's (the one playing  the role of Key) fan since Heroine Shikkaku. I wanted to see him rock the blonde hair cause  I seriously hate it but surprisingly, it's tolerable. Lol. It's not that bad since he has the overall feel and he has that face. 

(WARNING: I might spill a bit of spoilers from here on out so forgive me.)

This drama tells about the story of three high school friends: Rinko, Kaori and Koyuki, who are currently on their thirties. They wanted to be stable on both career and relationship department before Tokyo Olympics but instead of going out and meeting people, they spent most of their time having joshikai or girl's night out at the restaurant  that Koyuki's father runs. They have a share of misfortunes in life but their girl bond is what holds them up together. Then comes Key, a young model, who ruthlessly told them that they're just a bunch of "what ifs" women who will never get what they want in life since instead of doing something to get what they want, they'll just run off a talk about their "what ifs." Those words became some sort of a wake up call for all of them. Afterwards, little by little, they started striving to get what they want in a funny, stupid and yet really heartbreaking way.

It's so freaking realistic
Since it's realistic, it's relatable. I'm only on my twenties but the scriptwriter kind of made me want to sympathize with the characters. In real life, my character is really similar to Koyuki so this really hit me in the heart so bad. Although, I definitely won't jump into an affair, I feel like in a few years time, I'll end up just like her personality wise. (Please don't self)

The characters
Tbh, those three girls are all stupid. But that stupidity is what made them human. That made them to be a characters who can really be one of us because come on, nobody's perfect. All of us makes mistakes but it's okay as long as we learn from it. Those bad decisions should've shaped us into a better and wiser person, correct?

I really liked how the story is progressing especially when Hayasaka-san and Rinko finally became a couple but I should've hold on to that thought---because surprise, surprise! They ended up with guys that I don't want them to end up with. Why???? Just whyy??? Up until the end, why didn't you learn? Ugh. This was why I paused before watching the last episode. I had a feeling that this would happen and for the first time, I really hated Sakaguchi for this role.

Why? I mean, I love Sakaguchi but that doesn't make up for how horrible his character was being condescending and all. I also hated Rinko's fickle mindedness mostly because I'm all for Hayasaka-san but girl.... you moron. You deserve to be a "what if" woman forever. Same goes with her other friends. I mean, I kind of understand their life choices but I'm just too dumbfounded on how stupid they could get just because they wanted to escape the loneliness.

Gosh, this was so frustrating. I really liked the drama but this has the worst ending any drama could ever have.

Moving on to the guys, I really liked Hayasaka-san. He was like the only character (and the cute but creepy imaginary friends of Rinko) that I really loved in this series. Gosh, I've been waiting for the time that his love for Rinko would finally be fulfilled but that idiot went ahead and ruined everything. Ryo-chan, Key and Marui are f*cking assholes. Gaad. I want to scratch their faces.

And, oh oh! I forgot about Mami-chan. I really loved her. Her presence and her being a blabbermouth added some sort of comic relief in the series. Plus she's so adorable. 

The character dialogues
These lines totally broke my heart and made me ponder what am I doing with my life right now.

"Compared to that, we’re just always on the bench. We never participate on the game. While people are trying hard, we watch from the bench, and just say self-important stuff from afar. And like that, we’re very confident that if we had the chance it would happen, and believed that we could hit a home run. But, in reality… we stand on the batter’s box, but without a scratch, we get 3 strikes. That’s who I am today.” - Kamata Rinko 

“And just like that, I fooled myself counting “the good enoughs”. But in reality I know the truth. No matter how many “good enoughs” I can count, my life isn’t happy right now. With just good enough situations, there’s one thing that won’t happen. What I want. A very cliche word, very obvious and simple. I’m sorry to say, but that word probably is “love”." - Kamata Rinko

“I think I can hear the voice of my own self in ten years saying, “Chase him and grab his hand! If not, you will be alone in 10 years. You’ll be lonely and regret this.” But my feet won’t move. My hand that should be trying to grasp happiness won’t move as if it was frozen.” - Kamata Rinko

Most of the lines that I liked is from Rinko, obviously, because she was the main narrator of the story.

The song
I specifically liked Tokyo Girls by Perfume. It's so catchy.

The Tara and Reba Pair...
I don't know what should I call them because I seriously don't know what they are. Lol. They're the perfect way to slap those idiots' faces when they're making bad decisions in life. 

My Final Verdict
I can totally see a lot of people being disappointed about how this drama turned out because this was really good if you omit the horrible ending. I'm a Tarareba woman too and I don't want to end up like them in the future so I need to get a hold of myself. This could be one of my favorites if the ending turned out differently. I'll try to read the manga and hope that this didn't end this way there because seriously, this was just so wrong.

Rating: 3/5

xxx

Janey

Credits to: bean5spilled.wordpress.com for the quotes

You can view the compilation of the memorable quotes here

K-DRAMA REVIEW: Signal

Title: Signal
Alternate Title: 시그널, Sigeuneol, Memories Of Murder, Salineui Chueog
Writer: Kim Eun-Hee
Director: Kim Won-Suk
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Fantasy, Supernatural
Episodes: 16

So I finally got a day off, (yaas) so I’m back for another review!

I got a number of underrated Korean drama in my list and today, I’ll be giving you an overview about the KDrama titled, “Signal” which I believe was aired along with DOTS (?) or another popular drama that was why it didn’t get the attention that this series deserves.

Plot

Hae-Young (Lee Je-Hoon) works as a criminal profiler and is also a police lieutenant. Even though he is a cop, he doesn’t trust cops due to his own past experience. Back in 2000, when Hae-Young was in elementary school, his classmate Yoon-Jung was kidnapped and later found dead. Hae-Young saw a woman taking Yoon-Jung from school that day, but the police announced that the suspect was a man. Hae-Young even went to the police station and told the police officers that he saw the kidnapper and she was a woman. The police officers though didn’t pay attention to him. The killer was never caught and her case remains unsolved to this day.

Hae-Young meets a reporter at a cafe to reveal bombshells about a celebrity scandal. Meanwhile, veteran detective Soo-Hyun (Kim Hye-Soo) is at the cafe staking out the meeting, unaware that Hae-Young is a cop. She arrests Hae-Young for stalking celebrities. While leaving the police station (the same police station he went to as a kid), Hae-Young hears someone talking to him. He looks around to find a walkie-talkie. The man who is talking to Hae-Young is Detective Jae-Han (Cho Jin-Woong). The detective though is from the year 2000 and he is investigating the disappearance of Hae-Young’s elementary school classmate. Hae-Young and Detective Jae-Han begin to communicate via the walkie-talkie.

(Source: Asianwiki.com)

My Review

I’m a sucker for dramas with Supernatural genre that is why when I saw this, I immediately watched it. Honestly, I didn’t expect much from this series but hell! This is so freaking good! I love how the story progressed and I specifically loved the thrill whenever a new case was introduced. Sorry for Park Hae Young but I personally prefer Detective Lee Jae Han even if he’s too old for me. Lol. His acting is superb and I was completely sold to him. The writer is a genius in cliff hanging the episodes that is why you cannot not watch the next episode. My favorite case was probably the case of Hae Young’s brother, Park Sun Woo. Gosh, I loved his brother Sun Woo. He was such a sweetheart. I also loved watching Cha Soo Hyun’s unrequited love towards Lee Jae Han, their backstory was magnificently delivered and I felt so bad for her because she waited for ten freaking years for Detective Lee but… damn, that moment was too heartbreaking.

I’m actually impressed on how the writer pulled this series off because this plot could have gone very badly if it wasn’t delivered right. So great job, Kim Eun Hee-nim!

Personally, I think Lee Je-Hoon’s acting here was a bit lacking but nevertheless, this series is the bomb. This freaking needs a season 2 because the major conflict (case) is actually not resolved until the end. I heard that the writer will work on this after her current project so I’m definitely waiting for it. Cliff hanging aside, the resolution is awesome! *singing tone*

If you’re skeptical on watching Signal, don’t be. Watch it. Now. You definitely won’t regret it.

Rating: 4.5/5

(the .5 is for the cliff hanging. Lol)

xxx

Janey

MOVIE REVIEW: Zutto Mae Kara Suki Deshita: Kokuhaku Jikkou Iinkai

Zutto Mae Kara Suki Deshita: Kokuhaku Jikkou Iinkai

Alternate Title: I've Always Liked You

Duration: 1 hr and 30 mins

Genre: Romance, School

Summary

Natsuki Enomoto, a third-year student at Sakuragaoka High School, has feelings of unrequited love for her childhood friend, Yuu Setoguchi. Unable to be true to her own feelings, Natsuki tells Yuu that she is merely using him as a stand-in to practice confessing her love to. As Natsuki continues to pretend not having any feelings for Yuu, her classmate Koyuki Ayase asks her out on a date. Will Natsuki ever be able to stop “practicing” and actually confess her love to Yuu?

(Source: Aniplex USA)

Review

I’ve been wanting to watch this for quite a long time now. I got addicted to Honeyworks a few months back but English subs for this movie still wasn’t available then. I forgot about the movie and only remembered watching it because one of my Facebook friends, Vianna, mentioned it on her recent Facebook status. So yey! Finally got the chance to watch it.

The story was about a set of high school friends that were secretly in love with each other.

This movie was cute. Yes, cute. It’s not something spectacular since you probably watched this kind of plot mostly on other animes but if you’re looking for something that has doki doki / fuwa fuwa feels, you’ll definitely like this. I’m a sucker for pure (lol) kind of romance lately so this was a good watch for me. The movie got its own charm despite the cliche plot. Animation was great, too! The art was aesthetically pleasing. And I’m so digging their seiyuu choice! Kaji Yuuki and Kamiya Hiroshi are like one of my favorite male seiyuus so that was totally a bonus point!

Overall, this a good watch if you want to pass time. And oh! I forgot to mention about the soundtrack! I’m loving Byoumei Koi Wazurai these days. It’s so cute and catchy.

Rating: 4/5

Watch Zutto Mae Kara Suki Deshita HERE

MOVIE REVIEW: Chihayafuru Second Verse Live Action

Title: Chihayafuru Second Verse

Alternate Title: Chihayafuru: Shimo no Ku

Original Work: Yuki Suetsugu

Genre: Sports, Shoujo, School Life

Summary:

Sixth grader Ayase Chihaya, a tomboy with no ambitions or goals of her own, gets to know Wataya Arata, a transfer student at Chihaya's elementary school and an outcast. Through Arata, Chihaya picks up karuta and they form a team with their other friend and classmate Mashima Taichi. After graduating elementary school, Chihaya continues to play karuta hoping for a chance to meet Arata again after he went back to Fukui to take care of his sick grandfather. As time passed and Chihaya enters high school, she starts a karuta club with Taichi so that they can finally meet Arata again.

Source: KissAsian (kissasian.com)

Review:

Since Heroine Shikkaku, this was one live action adaptation that I really enjoyed. Honestly, I had second thoughts about Chihayafuru having a live action movie. If you’ve seen the anime, you might get what I mean. The way how they take cards during plays was really epic. I was hesitant to give the live action movie a try but for the love of Arata, I watched it and thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed.

Chihayafuru Second Verse was a feel-good movie to watch. I thought they did great choosing the characters for this adaptation. Suzu Hirose was perfect as Chihaya. I rarely like Japanese actresses because I prefer the actors, lol, but as of now, the only Japanese actresses that I like are these three: Ayase Haruka, Kiritani Mirei and Nagano Mei. But Suzu effortlessly joined the bandwagon by making me instantly like her. The way how she acts was refreshing. I could really see Chihaya while watching her. And may I add that she is so freaking pretty! I couldn’t think of anything bad about her. Lol.

As for Shuhei Nomura, he’s great, too. Only, I liked Taichi 2D more. Not because Taichi 2D was way hotter (lol) but because I prefer the way how transparent Taichi was in the anime. I loved watching his unrequited love towards Chihaya. This was probably just me being too biased, don’t mind me. Shuhei did a pretty great job.

For Mackenyu… Oh, hell, I loved him. Haha! I’m a huge fangirl of Arata 2D. Gosh, I love his Fukui-ben on the anime adaptation (All hail Hosoyan!) that was why I was really excited to hear Mackenyu speak. I was so glad because Mackenyu didn’t disappoint. I couldn’t picture any other Arata than him. Okay, this blogpost might be just an outlet for me to fangirl over Mackenyu. Lol. I got addicted to his voice, too. I have this fascination towards Japanese accents because of Hatori Heiji from Detective Conan and Arata. It was really wonderful how Mackenyu pulled this off. I love him! Haha!

For other characters, Shinobu (Mayu Matsuoka) was perfect, too. I could’ve shipped him and Arata but I’m pinning for Arata to be with Chihaya. Besides, Shinobu 2D was not even interested in Arata that way so whatever. The one who played Ooe was cute, too.   

If there’s something that I’m not satisfied with, it was that they changed the characterization for Tsukue-kun and Nikuman-kun. They were better in anime. Period.

My Personal Thoughts:

You might be wondering why I reviewed this one instead of the first installation, Chihayafuru Kami no Ku. Well for one reason, I never really got the chance to properly watch Kami no Ku. What I did when I watched the first movie was scan it and skip on the parts where Arata (Mackenyu) appeared. Sorry not sorry for loving Arata this hard. Lol. Nevertheless, this was an example of a splendidly made live action.

Rating: 4/5

Watch Chihayafuru Second Verse HERE

MOVIE REVIEW: Heroine Shikkaku Live Action

Title: Heroine Shikkaku

Alternate Title: Heroine Disqualified, No Longer Heroine

Original Work: Momoko Kouda

Runtime: 112 minutes

Genre: Rom-Com

Plot

Hatori Matsuzaki is a female high school student. She has a crush on her childhood friend Rita Terasaka and believes he will eventually choose her as her heroine, but Rita Terasaka begins dating Miho Adachi. Meanwhile, the most popular male student, Kosuke Hiromitsu takes an interest in Hatori Matsuzaki.

Review

If someone asks me to pick one live action movie and live with it forever, I'll definitely choose Heroine Shikkaku. I loved and continously love everything about the live action movie. 

 Let's start with the characters:

Terasaka Rita

I liked Yamazaki Kento since his role in L-DK and watched him silently (lol. Hardly. I fangirl-ed so hard especially during L-DK era. :D) as he began to dominate the live action scene. Everything about Yamaken was perfect for Terasaka Rita's role, except for the fact that he didn't make me hate Rita as much as I hated him in the manga. The 2D Rita was a fickle-minded jerk and I hated him as much as I hated 2D Mabuchi Kou in Aoharaido. Rita and Kou are like my most hated heros ever. Haha! What Rita always did was to hurt Hatori because he was so indecisive. But the Rita 3D was not as bad as Rita 2D. It was established nicely that he had feelings for Hatori ever since their childhood days. He just didn't realized that he was in love with her until Hiromitsu, my bae, entered the scene. I loved the part where he kept Hatori's photos with or without him. That was really sweet and I'm completely sold to him because of that. 

Matsuzaki Hatori

Hatori's character was far from your beta-shoujo manga heroine type. She had a rotten personality and liked to look down on people. She strongly believed that Rita was only destined to be with her in the end until Adachi happened. Kiritani Mirei's portrayal of Hatori was superb. She was hilarious and I couldn't ask more from her. She nailed Hatori's facial expressions. It was as if Hatori was created specifically for Mirei. 

Hiromitsu Kousuke

Oh, my oh-so favorite Hiromitsu! You have no idea how much I loved Hiromisu 2D. He is my favorite second lead ever. He was really charming and perfect and Hatori was such an idiot for choosing Rita over him! Sakaguchi Kentarou was the perfect Hiromitsu. And I don't think that I could ever move on from Hiromitsu for life. You don't have any idea how crazy I am for Sakaguchi because of this. My fangirl heart fainted whenever he did squeal-worthy gestures. I was crying with so much feels because my heart broke for him. I fell in love with Hiromitsu completely the moment Hatori bumped into her in the cafeteria. Hiromitsu is my ichiban in my second lead harem. :D 

Overall, I my heart yearns for Hiromitsu but I don't have any objections. Because for me, the purpose of Heroine Shikkaku is to let us know that no one is perfect. No matter how lacking you are, there will always be someone who will accept you just the way you are and wouldn't want you any other way. Just like Hatori and Rita with each other.

My Personal Thoughts

Heroine Shikkaku is something really special to me. I've read the manga during the times that I was going through the shittiest phase of my life. Heroine Shikkaku made me realize that it is okay to not be heroine-like. That it is okay to be yourself, no matter how twisted you are. Because someday, someone will come along who would accept you--all of you--imperfections and all. I just hoped that Hiromitsu ended up with someone else. How I wish I meet my very own Hiromitsu. :P

Rating: 5/5

Watch Heroine Shikkaku Live Action HERE

MOVIE REVIEW: Kimi no Na wa (Your Name)

Title: Kimi no Na wa

Written and Directed: Makoto Shinkai

Animation: CoMix Wave Films

Distributed: Toho

Running Time: 107 minutes

Plot

The story is set one month after a comet has fallen for the first time in a thousand years in Japan. Mitsuha, a high school girl living in the countryside, wants to live in the city because she is tired of life in the country. Then, there's Taki. He's a high school student living in Tokyo with his friends while working as a part-timer at an Italian restaurant. He also has a strong interest in fine arts involving architecture. One day, Mitsuha dreams of herself as a young man. On the other hand, Taki also has a dream where he is a female student attending high school in the countryside. What's the secret behind their dreams?

Review

Genre: Drama, Romance, School, Supernatural, SciFi

        Is there any Japanese culture enthusiast that hasn't watched this movie? I bet none. The movie is a 14.56 billion yen ($140.3 million dollars) box office hit. The rave about this movie was extreme. Upon watching it, I immediately realized why. Makoto Shinkai's "Kimi no Na wa" or "Your Name" is a masterpiece. I can say that it is on par with Ghibli Films that I utterly loved since I was young. 

       Kimi no Na wa was skillyfully delivered. Everything about this movie was perfect. The characters, the phasing, the story, the animation, the soundtrack---everything. I emphatized with the characters throughout the movie. It was a roller-coaster ride feels. It was my first time watching a Makoto Shinkai film and it didn't disappoint. 

       Watching the movie makes me want to read the novel, too. But it's a shame that it's only available in Japan and I can't read Japanese.

Rating: 5/5 

Watch Kimi no Na wa HERE

K-DRAMA REVIEW: Cinderella and Four Knights

Cinderella and Four Knights

# of Episodes: 16

Network: TvN

Synopsis:

A spirited, smart and nice teenage girl, good at sports, hates her home life due to her new stepmother and stepsister. She dreams of escaping her home where she’s treated as an outsider, and one day she helps out an old man and he extends an unusual offer to her. She’s invited to come live in a giant mansion and attend a prestigious high school, where she gets to pursue her dream of becoming a veterinarian. There are four other inhabitants in this house — three beautiful brothers and one bodyguard — who are stubborn and free to do as they please. She opens their frigid hearts and they become their own little family, and find love along the way.

My Review:

At first glance, Cinderella and Four Knights looked like just any KDrama with cliché plot. True. But what made this special were its casts. Come on! Any Kdrama addict would definitely be tempted to check this one out. Who wouldn’t want to watch the four oh-so gorgeous boys?

Despite the cliché plot, the casts did a pretty great job portraying their respective characters. I loved the four guys, hated Son Na Eun for her role and squealed whenever the guys did sweet things to Eun Ha Won.

        This is a great watch if you ask me but there were some things that kept on bugging me whenever I remember that it ended.

What happened with Eun Ha Won going to college? Lol. It seemed her life revolved around her mission for the Chairman that everyone forgot about her going to college. I mean, the reason why she wanted to work was because she wanted to raise funds for her tuition, correct? It would have been great if they at least showed her going to the entrance ceremony or first day of college, just to fulfill one of her character’s purpose/goal.

Other than that, I think it’s a really good show. Kang Ji Woon and Eun Ha Won’s chemistry is superb and they look absolutely cute! Kang Hyun Min’s character is also adorable but it’s such a shame that he ended up with Park Hye Ji because I hate her. Hahaha! I wanted Hyun Min to mess more between Ha Won and Ji Woon but unfortunately, that was a short fight. And of course, the scarred, snobbish guy won her heart.

I feel so bad for Kang Seo Woo but what can I say? He and Ja Young were a good pair. Plus if they ended up going out, it would be like a string of hope to us fans that someday, our biases will notice us. (Someday, Oppa. Someday. Lol)

But I felt worst for Secretary! Why didn’t he end up with anyone? That’s such a shame! But oh, well. Guess he’s too busy and cool for love. Lol.

          Overall, this is a great show.

Rate: 3.5/5

Watch Cinderella and Four Knights HERE