Bloody Monday 2

Being a huge fan of Bloody Monday, I was very excited about Bloody Monday 2. However, it left me very disappointed. The cast was great as usual, especially Haruma Mirura, he really was amazing as a young budding actor. Narimiya Hiroki also never failed to leave a great impression for the show. They were the reason why i continued on with the show. It would have been REALLY dull without both of them.

Seriously, season 2 of Japanese seasons really sucks. They should have just stopped at season 1.

Here's the sypnosis,

After a biological terrorist attack kills off the population of a Russian town; Japan's Public Safety Special Third unit, code name THIRD-i, believes that the terrorist organization responsible plans to unleash the same virus known as Bloody X into Tokyo. Subsequently, THIRD-i recruits the help of genius hacker Takagi Fujimaru to find out what happened in the Russia. However, as Fujimaru becomes involved, he soon finds out that he is in over his head and that the terrorist groups influence reaches not only his school but even the police. Fujimaru must now rely on his skill as a hacker to unravel the organizations sinister plot and find out the truth behind "Bloody Monday."


Really weak terrorist plan, the hacking wasn't exciting anymore. The ultimate bad guy was super random (just like the first season). There wasn't a single exciting episode as compared to Season 1, which I mentioned that every episode was more exciting than a blockbuster movie.


Ratings: 5/10. Blah, still watchable. but nothing that jolted me off my seat.

Tokyo Dogs

I was hesitant to begin this drama because Tokyo Dogs is about police detective blah blah.. boring. I hate police detective stories. The plot is weak, each episode is pretty stale. But because Shun Oguri and Hiro Mizushima is working together again, I thought I had to watch this. And for the first time, I'm actually disappointed with Shun Oguri. he never failed to impress me everytime I watch his shows, but for Tokyo Dogs, I was thoroughly disappointed.

As for Hiro, he did okay but still not impressive yet again. His comedic acts were supposed to make people laugh, but his facial hair and jokes did not impressed me.

Summary from wiki
Takakura So witnessed his father's murder at a young age. Pledging to catch the killer, he grows up to become an elite cop in New York City, where the criminal lives. His character is cool-headed and disciplined, yet adapts well. Because of major drug dealings, he gets sent to Tokyo to conduct a joint investigation with the Japanese police. There, he gets teamed up with, Kudo Maruo, a detective from a special investigative division. Kudo is a hot-blooded fighting expert due to his earlier days as a delinquent, but he makes a strong impression with his stylish appearance and is always interested in going on group dates. His personality, interests, and investigation methods are completely mismatched with Takakura's, but the two somehow work together to crack the case they've been given.

Nevertheless, I made through this drama within 2 days and the best part was the really random bickering between the both of them during the weirdest timings.

Ratings: 5/10. BORING. the romance was sucky!

(ps). on the side note: Narimiya Hiroki did a cameo for like a couple of minutes until he killed himself. The moment he died, i felt like crying. He did such a short appearance!!!

Saru Lock

Any show by Hayato Ichihara rarely disappoints. Unlike the character he did in Rookies, he became a crazy monkey in Saru Lock. I'm not quite sure if I like the serious or the silly him but I really like any characters he portray.

Summary from wiki

Sarumaru Yataro, nicknamed "Saru" is an average high school boy who daydreams about idols but otherwise has no luck with girls. While working at his fathers locksmithing business, Saru uses his genius-like lock picking skills to take on dangerous cases.


So the story revolves around him pick locking, involves abit of hentai (but still PG), breaking criminal cases. The storyline sounded alittle stale, but there wasn't any bad dull moments.


Ratings: 7/10. This drama is a little unrated in Japan, just because it isn't a idol-drama.

Honey and Clover

I never finished this and I don't think I will ever try to. I love two guys in the cast. I was really surprised when I realised it was the two of them! The reason why I watched this because I've always thought Honey and Clover was a popular manga/anime because I've always known the title but had no idea what it was about. I'm into episode 5, and I still have no idea what it is about.

Sypnosis(from dramawiki)
Honey and Clover follows the lives of five college students and their love triangles.


sami's note: zzzzzzzzzzzz. shortest sypnosis ever.



Cast
Ikuta Toma (Hana Kimi 2nd male lead)
*Mukai Osamu (Mei-chan no Shitsuji, Atashinchi no Danshi)
*Narimiya Hiroki (Bloody Monday, Innocent Love)
Narumi Riko (One Litre of Tears- younger sister)

Ratings: 2/10. It was really quite bad. I forced myself to watch till episode 5 because of the two guys.

i just found out there was a taiwanese version. just what is nice about the story?

Orthros no Inu

Another Ryo's drama. Whenever I started watching a Ryo drama because of Ryo, at some point of time I would like another male character. The only time which I solely focused on Ryo was One litre of tears, after that another male character would steal my attention.

If you were to read the storyline of Orthos no Inu, you'd definately be interested.

Sypnosis
Ryuzaki Shinji who possesses a “God Hand”, the power to heal wounds and illnesses just by touching the patient, is in fact a dark introvert who does not reveal his true self to others. Aoi Ryosuke who possesses the “Demon’s Hand”, the power to kill a person just by touching him, is as kind and pure as an angel. When the demon meets the God, a fatal battle begins…
Detective Hasebe Nagisa gets caught by the criminals during a deep cover operation. Ryosuke, a man she does not even know comes to save her and she witnesses his “Demon’s Hand” in action. Thereafter she discovers by coincidence the existence of Shinji’s “God Hand” and brings the two together. Little did she know that this would cause great disorder to the world and even to her own life…


God's hand and the Demon's hand. Takizawa Hideki is hot! i know he's a johnny boy, but who cares. The first couple of episodes were captivating and mysterious. However, the downfall came when it became really repetitive.

Ratings: 6/10

Buzzer Beat

Just finished Buzzer Beat a few minutes ago. Finally I'm over and done with it! Not that it's a bad drama, it's just that I shouldn't have started watching it before it finishes airing in Japan. A drama is best watched when I could go on for more than 5 episodes in one go.

Back to Buzzer Beat, because it's a Yamapi drama, it's a predictable, weak story-lined idol drama. His acting skills did not shine here, i loved him best when he was akira in Nobuta wo Produce and hope he would act crazy instead of trying to be cool in ALL his recent works.

Coach-sama is HOT! Another plus point is the romance in the drama got me tingly, which I haven't felt so in a long time. Good kissing scenes was another major plus point since we RARELY get romantic kisses in jap dramas. sigh, even rare in kdramas too.

But please don't make yamapi wear purple ever again. I know it's the colour of his bball team but the PD really overdid it.

Ratings: I'm going to give a high one for the romance. 7/10. typical and pi wears TOO MUCH PURPLE IS ANNOYING!

Love shuffle

The only reason which I watched this was because of 'chiaki senpai' from Nodame cantabile. Pretty disapponted again because I love to see him cool and smart, not silly and stupid. The storyline of love shuffle is pretty refreshing, but not very entertaining and disappointing for a Japanese drama with a pretty well-known cast.

Sypnosis from wiki
Usami Kei is a salaryman who has risen in status due to his engagement with Mei, the wealthy daughter of his company's president. Shortly after she breaks off the engagement, a power failure leaves him stuck in the elevator of his apartment building. Trapped with him are three others living on the same floor - Airu, a trilingual interpreter, Ojiro, a model photographer, and Masato, a psychiatrist. While waiting, their conversation hits upon their love lives and the question of whether there is truly only one fated partner for everyone. As a result, they decide to try "shuffling" their relationships with each other.

To summarise it, it's about 4 neighbours who came up with the idea of exchanging partners in their relationships. A pretty stupid idea to be the main basis for a drama because I soon got tired of it.

The only person who caught my eye in this drama was Matsuda Shota, a.k.a. Sojiro in Hana yori dango. Though I didn't quite like him in HYD, he was perfect in Love Shuffle. The badboy with a soft side- totally my kind! Plus, his hair in Love shuffle was much better than his weird hair in HYD.


Ratings: 6/10.

I've been hitting the rough patch of terrible dramas this week. aish.

Koizora [movie] +[drama]

Somehow, before I started out on this show, I've seen the posters and was under the impression that this was quite a 'not-bad' show. Throughly disppointed for both drama and movie. The movie fared fairly better than the drama because I think I caught the movie before the drama. The storyline is exactly the same. Which is why I wonder why they made a drama and a movie with different cast plus it wasn't all that nice to begin with.

Koizora means sky of love, and it's a high school teenage love drama. Two teenagers falls in love, got pregnanted, lost the kid, the guy discovered he's down with a terminal disease, blah blah. The story is very typically korean, but it was so predictable, and the romance portion was lacking.

Here you go, a better summary from wiki
Tahara Mika is an ordinary high school girl. One day, out of the blue, one of her classmates kisses her. His name is Sakurai Hiroki also known as Hiro. Hiro stands out because of his bleached hair and piercing. Apparently he is also dating someone. Mika is shocked and hurt that her first kiss had to happen this way. She desperately tries to forget about it. Then, her friend tells her that she should find somebody else and suggests Tatsuya, another boy in their class. However, before she even realizes it, Mika is already in love..Tahara Mika is an ordinary high school girl. One day, out of the blue, one of her classmates kisses her. His name is Sakurai Hiroki also known as Hiro. Hiro stands out because of his bleached hair and piercing. Apparently he is also dating someone. Mika is shocked and hurt that her first kiss had to happen this way. She desperately tries to forget about it. Then, her friend tells her that she should find somebody else and suggests Tatsuya, another boy in their class. However, before she even realizes it, Mika is already in love..

Anyway, the male lead in the movie was Haruma Miura, the amazing kid from bloody monday.

Ratings: 5/10

Bloody Monday

My luck had been running really well. The past few dramas which I've caught were excellent! Nodame and now Bloody Monday. It's one of the best, if not the best Japanese drama ever. Think along MR BRAIN, but now the police seemed so darn stupid.

The cast seemed rather boring, but now I understand why they did not require a star-studded cast. It is because the storyline is terrific! For 11 episodes, it felt like every episode was an action-packed movie filled with intense suspense and drama. There was absolutely not a single dull moment but really good enough not to give me serious heartattack for each episode.

Bloody monday is damn bloody nice that I'm even downloading the manga now.

To think I was still rather reluctant to start because of the cast, sigh. I did not know what I missed out for that year, deprived of such a good drama.

Sypnosis:
After a biological terrorist attack kills off the population of a Russian town; Japan's Public Safety Special Third unit, code name THIRD-i, believes that the terrorist organization responsible plans to unleash the same virus known as Bloody X into Tokyo. Subsequently, THIRD-i recruits the help of genius hacker Takagi Fujimaru to find out what happened in the Russia. However, as Fujimaru becomes involved, he soon finds out that he is in over his head and that the terrorist groups influence reaches not only his school but even the police. Fujimaru must now rely on his skill as a hacker to unravel the organizations sinister plot and find out the truth behind "Bloody Monday."


Here's the sypnosis, I'm not a fan of these kind of storyline, but the first minute the show started, i was HOOKED.


Ratings: 100/10. YOU JUST ABSOLUTELY CANNOT MISS THIS.

p.s the evil guy is Narimiya Hiroki, who looked so hot that i absolutely could not bring myself to hate him a single ounce.

Nodame Cantabile + Europe special

Just right after I watched Last friends, I watched Nodame Cantabile. Wrong move though, because I would have appreciated Last friends more since majority of the cast appeared in both dramas.

Nodame Cantabile is an excellent, classic show. I'm surprised I did not catch it sooner. I've always known the title of this show, always seen the soundtrack in almost all major music stores. I didn't know it was THAT GOOD. IT'S A BIG SHOW. Like one of the few good Japanese shows to make it to the theatres (SOON!), the SP episode did not disappoint unlike MOST of the SP of other shows.

The lead actress, Ueno Juri is amazingly cute and hillarious. You just could not believe she is the same person in Last Friend where she acted as a Tomboy about to under sexual change. She is the same person in Rainbow song! She's currently on top of my list of favourite actresses. As Nodame, she's so much like me.... in the mess department. My room would probably end up like hers if I don't have a neat-freak sister, still my territory is very very much like Nodame's. Even though I bathe every single day, I hate washing my hair, -so very Nodame. =).... so where's my Chiaki Senpai?


The storyline is very much like Beethoven virus (korean), but obviously Beethoven virus tried to copy Nodame Cantabile but they failed. I couldn't even finish Beethoven virus. I've always thought orchestra music and conducting is extremely boring, but in Nodame Cantabile, the orchestra gave me goosebumps. It is no wonder that why the OST is in major stores.


Ratings: 9.5/10 Hillarious, romantic, extremely exciting.

Last Friends

Managed to finish this drama within 2 days. Not because it was a really nice one, but because I was fastforwarding it so much that I finished it in such a short time. A total of 11 episodes, I was actually wishing for more twist and excitement.

Main reason of watching: RYO-chan

Sypnosis for Last Friends from wiki
Last Friends tackles issues that afflict the current generation. Michiru's mother has brought a man back to their home and she is bullied at her workplace where she works as a beauty parlour assistant. She starts cohabiting with her boyfriend, a good young man who works at the Child Welfare Division and the only person who can give her emotional support, but ends up the victim of domestic violence and becomes fearful of love. The boyishly charming Ruka was a classmate of Michiru's in junior high school. She has performed brilliantly as a motocross racer and aims to win the national championship, but as the story progresses, a deep worry that she can neither confide in her parents or close friends grows evident. Takeru is a hair and makeup artist acquainted with Ruka. He is a good confidant to females due to his kindness and perceptiveness, and finds himself attracted to Ruka but has a phobia of sex as a result of a past trauma. The three of them become house mates and through their associations with others, gain the capacity to be positive about life.

Yup, it all revolves about domestic violence. I'm currently in the midst of waiting for Orthros no Inu to finish airing and Ryo looked so good in there! Ryo looked good in Last friends, but i ended up hating his character and that is so unhealthy! It totally spoilt his image (for me that is).

Overall, this drama is weird. I think its from the same production as Innocent Love which is why I didn't quite like this.

edit:
I just realised that one of the female lead, Ueno Juri (the boyish girl) is actually the girl from Rainbow song with Hayato Ichihara and I totally loved her in that movie!

Rating: 4/10. no romance. boring plot. violent ryo =(

Innocent Love

I have absolutely no idea what made me started this drama and what was it that I was able to finish it. This is one of the worst Japanese drama ever.

It should have been Maki Horikita show which made me start to download this series. Thinking that she had ALWAYS acted with cute/hot guys, i presumed that Innocent Love might have a cute guy. Okay, the cute guy existed, but no the main lead.

The only kind of cute guy in this drama was Narimiya Hiroki as Segawa Subaru. And he's gay.. zzzzzz. Nevertheless, he was the main factor that made me started watching NANA. He was amazing in there! (will post NANA in the next post)

The title of the series titled Innocent Love is nowhere near innocent love. Which is why I couldn't quite understand from the start almost to the end.

Sypnosis from dramawiki
An arson took it all away from Akiyama Kanon seven years ago. Her parents died in that fire, her brother was arrested as the prime suspect and her carefree life disappeared from that instant. She was shunned by the town as the sister of a murderer, yet she believes in her brother's innocence and often pays him visits with words of encouragement. As life gets harder when nobody is willing to give her a job, Kanon decides to try her luck in the city and there she meets the man of her destiny...


Ratings: 4/10. waste of time. waste of time. waste of time.

Kami no Shizuku

Kami no Shizuku is all about wine. Nothing else, just wine. Main reason for watching this, KAME. he's gained abit of weight over the years and he looked really good in here!

The cast was pretty unknown. So I'm not going to talk about the cast.

Sypnosis: (credits- wiki)
The story revolves around Kanzuki Shizuku, a young man who was estranged from his father, a world-famous wine critic. When his father passed away, he left behind a wine collection worth a fortune, but in order to inherit it, Shizuku must solve a series of puzzles left by his father to identify 6 wines. His competitor was Tomine Issei, a prominent wine critic, whom his father adopted before his death.

Sounds pretty interesting, but it got really boring after the first two episodes. It's more of like a repetition and it's easy to predict what might happen next.

I'll keep this short because there's really nothing I could talk about. It's all about wine. Okay, there's slight romance but the last part was darn ackward.


Ratings: 5/10 Watch if only you really like Kame.

MR BRAIN

My first drama with Kimura Takuya. I know he's really popular and despite watching so many Japanese drama, this is seriously my first with him.

He's really good looking but he reminds me of Yamapi.

Sypnosis: (credits wiki)
Tsukumo Ryusuke is a quirky, yet brilliant neuroscientist working for the National Research Institute of Police Science. Wielding a unique perspective and psychology, Tsukumo tackles the nation's most baffling crimes and scandals, going head-to-head with the most brilliant and twisted criminal minds. But his eccentricities and poor social timing can also aggravate people and circumstances, further complicating matters.

Just think CSI in Japanese form. This show emphasises on the human brain and scientific stuff, so there wasn't a moment of boredom. (I did not fastforward!)

The best part of this drama was the appearance of SOOO MANY GUESTS.
Main cast- Hiro Mizushima

Guests- (I recognised alot of people, but i'll just mention the more popular ones)
Kame from Kat-tun
Gackt
Nakama Yukie (the Gokusen lady)


Once again, Hiro was disappointing. Kame looked abit strange. The guest appearance I was more shocked/pleased was Gackt. I'm not a fan of his music, but i'm still really pleased to see him in there.

Ratings: 9/10. A MUST WATCH.

Mei-chan no Shitsuji

Here's a drama which I randomly chanced upon on. Well, actually I saw that Hiro Mizushima was the main character. He's married already, can you believe it?!?!

But anyway, remember Zettai Kareshi, the robot story. No robots this time. It's BUTLERS. I don't have to say how cheesy the storyline is built on, but the butlers are good-looking and does whatever the master orders them to, perfect. (almost like robots?)

Mei-chan no Shitsuji sypnosis (from wiki)

The story revolves around a young woman named Mei, who was rescued as a young girl by someone calling himself her "butler." With only a vague memory, though, the experience seems like just a dream. But one day, after her parents' accidental death, he appears: Rihito comes from a line of outstanding butlers, and he has been appointed to serve her! Now her ordinary life has completely flipped, as she discovers that she's actually the heiress to a fortune, and is forced to transfer to St. Lucia Girls' Academy, where all the students have butlers! As a result, her childhood friend Kento decides to enroll in a butler school so that he can stay close to her.

Overall, the cast was pretty new to me. Only for a few exceptions, the leader in Hibari 4 (hana kimi), dorm head 1 (hana kimi). PLUS the guy with dreadlocks in ROOKIES. He was actually quite good, but I was pretty put off by his crooked front tooth and height, not mentioning how tall Osamu and Hiro are (THEY'RE TALL BASED ON JAP'S STANDARD HEIGHT). And if you notice, the banner of the drama is so similar to Hana Kimi. But I'm glad it isn't as overrated as Hana Kimi.

The main female wasn't excellent, but I would definately choose her over Maki.

And, Osamu Mukai, I was screaming when I saw him! He looked too cool! And then, I realised he's the villian. But still hot. Almost overshadowing Hiro.

Hiro was amazing at first, but then I started to realise how stiff is his acting. He was frowning most of the time. Still forgivable for being so dreamy.

Each episode almost always ended with a cliff hanger so I managed to finish it within 2 days. I'm sad over how fast it is over. The sad thing about good Japanese dramas is the number of episodes are too little.

Ratings: 9.5/10 MUST WATCH!

Atashinchi no Danshi

I almost gave up this show when I was halfway watching through episode 2. Glad I did not stop! Aside from the really cheesy storyline, it was a really terrific show despite the fact that I do not like Maki Horikita(The main female in Kurosagi and Hana Kimi). I simply couldn't quite understand why she gets really good roles when she's acts as stiff as a wooden puppet and she isn't really pretty to begin with. Yet again, this is another show with Kaname Jun.

Atashinchi No Danshi summary (from wiki)

Maki Horikita stars as Chisato Mineta, a 20-year-old homeless girl who moves about from parks to net cafes. Her mother died due to an illness, and because of her father's disappearance after earning an incredible 100 million yen debt, she is chased out of her home. Every day, Chisato must fight a battle with this debt, until one day she meets the president of a huge toy company, who agrees to pay off her debts if she marries him. Chisato now finds herself as the young mother of six eccentric sons, all adopted by the head of the company as successors to the company. However, each son has had experiences in the past that caused them to trap themselves in their own worlds. Will Chisato be able to open up their hearts and turn these strangers into a loving family?

Just like any other good Japanese drama, there's a twist in it. And most importantly, there's romance!!! *notice the 3 exclaimation points* We seldom find romance in Japanese dramas, so extra points for this.

I'm not gonna spoil the show by saying who she'll end up with, but actually almost all of them actually felt something for her. But, here are my favourites...

Osamu Mukai!

and here, a sneak picture of him in Mei-chan no Shitsuji. Love his hair here..

My first time seeing him, and he appeared in my next drama, Mei-chan no Shitsuji! (posting it next) He's really tall with a cute smile, though he is quite old in my range of pretty boys, he still qualifies.

Mukai Osamu as Sho Okura

25 years old.

The Third son of the Ookura family.His occupation is that of a host.The establishment he works in moves from place to place, but he constantly stays the number 1 host due to his outward appearance and art of conversation.Shou grew up in an orphanage and got adopted when he was 10 years old.He never had a family and therefore he respected his new benefactor a lot.However, something caused a breach in their relationship when he was 18, so big that he left from home.After that he started to make a living by working as a host.On the surface he seems like a cheerful character who is easy to make happy, but he's actually a realist.He's working recklessly, because he believes that all he needs is money.What he hates the most, is when somebody makes fun of him by calling him Ookurashou (former Ministry of Finance).He became an assertive man with his motto, "If you have time to do it, do it."
credits: crunchyroll forum

Yamamoto Yusuke

The really cute ghost guy in Hana Kimi. The cool guy in Rescue, and now, the gay in Atashinchi no Danshi. I can't say he's gay, he just have a phobia with female and he wears blue eyeshadow. Not my favourite role of him, he had some cute moments but the blue eyeshadow killed it. ARGHHHHHHHH!

Yamamoto Yusuke as Masaru Okura 22-years-old,

The Okura family’s fourth son.He's an exclusive model for fashion magazines and very charismatic.His popularity is really incredible and yet he's still a virgin...At work he's the cool and attractive man, but in reality he's indecisive and a man of gentle manners.He's really shy, especially of other people and panics, if a woman comes within a 1m radius around him.Masaru got treated really cruelly during his first love and that experience left him with a trauma.It's also rumored that he only became a model to take revenge on that girl...He basically has no self-confidence at all and sometimes can be really menial.Both of his parents died very early and he was left in the custody of his grandmother.His grandmother also died when he was 8 and that's when get adopted by Shinzo.He's now living in the "Trick Heart Castle."At first glimpse he really seems like a gentle person, but he's actually very egoistic and unsocial.He doesn't have any friends either.
Credits: crunchyroll forums

Ratings: 8/10. Kinda draggy in the beginning and I still do not like Maki Horikita *don't you think her smile is really annoying?*

Ryusei no Kizuna

This show was lying around untouched in my harddisk for more than 3 months and I thought I would never watch it. But i'm sure glad I did because i found my love for Ryo again! It's strange how I could like Ryo everytime I watch a drama he's in. Which is why one of the main reason I watched this.

Ryusei no Kizuna Summary(From wiki):
When we grow up… We’ll kill him together”. Koichi, Taisuke, and Shizuna are three siblings whose parents had been brutally murdered when they were just in elementary school, and they vowed to avenge their death. Fourteen years later, their vengeful plan unravels countless new facts. A shocking revelation leads to an overwhelmingly emotional ending. What will become of the siblings who have lived their lives solely in reliance of their bond alone?

Not a really good summary from wiki. But that's the storyline- seemed predictable and cheesy. However, the ending was very shocking and all in all it was an excellent jdrama. Another thing that was more shocking to me was the appearance of the very very cool singer Mika Nakashima (known for her role in NANA). Though her role was terrible- one who appears at the strangest timing (for ratings? nah guess not, they have Arashi!)

And the main lead, sadly wasn't Ryo... was one of the Arashi's guy- Nino something. He was darn cute! Why hadn't I noticed his existence when i was busy criticising Arashi? *sry fangirls* I thought Nino wasn't a very good actor but in one scene when he burst out at Ryo, it gave me goosebumps, so he's fairly good i guess?- Good at making the pathetic look which was so cute..

Lastly, this is another show Kaname Jun acted in. My least favourite role out of the three shows I've watched this month. Downright annoying and too clingy.

I must say it was a really good show, better than I've expected. With a huge cast- Ryo, Toda Erika, Nino, Mika, I'm sure many wouldn't want to miss this.

Ratings: 8/10. There were some parts which I fastforwarded.

Rescue

Had been awhile since I watched any drama and since recent korean drama had been disappointing, I decided to start on Japanese dramas.

This was quite a bad choice, but I still managed to finish it since japanese dramas are short. The story line is similar to Code Blue, but more amaturely done. The cast wasn't very impressive and there wasn't any very memorable scenes.

The reason why I decided to watch Rescue was the cast of the main characters of Masuda(NEWS), Nakamuru(Kat-tun) and Yusuke (ghost guy from hana kimi). Masuda and Yusuke were alright, but Nakamuru was downright annoying. *sorry to kat-tun fans, but i'm a fan too* He was constantly overacting and he looked comical to me when he was supposed to be very serious.

The only person who caught my eye was Kaname Jun (Top second from right) and he happened to be the main cast of the past 3 consequtive Jdrama I watched. Talk about coincidence- who watches three consequtive dramas with the same actor without realising he is casted.

Ratings: 4.5/10 waste of time.

Code Blue

Code blue, like any other Japanese drama, it doesn't disappoint in the area of storyline. However, since I'm a sucker for romance, the show doesn't satisfy me very much. Nevertheless, every episode just draws you in and there is never a dull moment.


Yet another Yamapi film. He gets all the really suave and heroic roles which brings him up to fame despite his lack of musical talents. He's such a cool man with few words that I don't think he exceeds 10 lines in every episode, yet he still shone brightly in this show.

Here comes the cool part,

sypnosis from wiki:
The "Doctor Helicopter" system was legalized in Japan in June 2007. A medical team is dispatched to the patients on a helicopter to provide medical care in the field as soon as possible. One day, four young physicians are assigned to this latest medical system. The doctors experience traumatic medical situations, deal with personal ambitions, witness the fragility of life, and they grow personally and professionally.

Doctors on a helicopter. Now wouldn't that be exciting enough. But, I've got to mentioned that this show is not recommended for the faint hearts. They operates on the patient right at the accident site. Several times I had to close my eyes despite knowing that they're just cutting rubber, it just seemed too real.


Trust me, this would not disappoint.

Popolo TV Grand Prix 2008

BEST DRAMA
1. Gokusen (1083 votes)
2. Code Blue (975 votes)
3. Ryusei no Kizuna (828 votes)
4. CHANGE (797 votes)
5. Scrap Teacher (685 votes)
6. Maou (579 votes)
7. Last Friends (558 votes)
8. 1 Pound Gospel (502 votes)
9. Rookies (498 votes)
10. 33-pun Tantei (431 votes)

BEST ACTOR
1. Yamashita Tomohisa (Code Blue, 1096 votes)
2. Ninomiya Kazunari (Ryuusei no Kizuna, 997 votes)
3. Kimura Takuya (CHANGE, 903 votes)
4. Ohno Satoshi (Maou, 883 votes)
5. Kamenashi Kazuya (1 Pound Gospel votes)

BEST ACTRESS
1. Nakama Yukie (Gokusen, 1208 votes)
2. Ueto Aya (Celeb to Binbou Tarou, 918 votes)
3. Horikita Maki (Innocent Love, 874 votes)
4. Aragaki Yui (Code Blue, 725 votes)
5. Ueno Juri (Last Friends, 697 votes)

Source: JpopAsia


Ratings: 9.5/10 too short for such a good show.

Kurosagi

Good o' Yamapi, He's awesome with creating trademark poses for almost all his dramas.

In Nobuta Wo Produce, it was "kon-kon".
In Proposal, it was "hallelujah chance"
In Kurosagi, it was " bang!"

Summary:

Kurosaki is a young man whose family was destroyed by swindlers. Despite that, Kurosaki grows up to become a con artist known as Kurosagi. As Kurosagi, he swindles other con artists and returns the money to the original victim. He works with the master swindler Katsuragi Toshio even though Toshio had a hand in the destruction of Kurosaki’s family. Kurosaki's life begins to change when he meets Yoshikawa Tsurara, a young law student who disapproves of his disrespect of the law. Can she persuade Kurosaki to give up swindling and his quest for revenge?

I find it pretty endearing. His cool, mysterious vibe was perfect for his character in every episode. Still, you'd spot his cuteness here and there. Admitedly, he's not the best actors out there but still you'd still LOVE to watch him.

One thing notable in this drama was the acting skills of the dying old man. - Katsuragi Toshio

He was deathly sick in one moment, then deathly evil in another but really cute at times.


Once again, I think Horikita Maki seriously can't act. In Hana Kimi and Nobuta, alike, she's wooden-ly stiff, pretty to look at but shallow character. Terrible acting which is why I wonder why does she gets REALLY good roles.

Another annoying factor in this series was the useless, act all-knowing policeman evil chuckle. His voice is just too squeky for an old unattractive man.

Watch for:
-Yamapi showing the finger to the cops.
my jaw dropped at the scene.


Ratings: 7.5/10. Wished they would develop the romance bit in the movie.