Time Spiral Gettin' Good!

Kuroki Meisa as Natsuki in Time Spiral

 We’re coming into the homestretch for the Meisa Kuroki/Gackt sci-fi drama Time Spiral, and it’s become a favorite show of mine to watch! This tale of the time-jumping adversary Tatsumi Sensei (Gackt) who’s manipulating time and events for his own  plans pays homage/steals from just about every time travelling movie out there, but it still somehow manages to seem original and exciting enough to grab my interest!

A Directive from the Future

* * * *ATTENTION: SPOILERS AHEAD  * * * *

The show uses a lot of elements from other time tales, but I’ve been mulling it over in my head, and the time traveling story that Time Spiral seems most like to me is the absoluetly awesome 1988 Dean R. Koontz tale “Lightning”. 
  In that story, a Time Jumper named Stefan comes upon a crippled woman named Laura who captivates him by how strong and passionate she is despite her handicap. Watching over her from afar, he falls in love with her and decides to use his Time-Jumping skills to”fix” her life. He learns that she was handicapped during a botched delivery by a drunken doctor, and jumps to her time of birth to replace the inebriated surgeon with a capable one, thus sparing her handicapped future...But each time he moves towards the future, he finds that some OTHER malady has once again robbed her use of legs. It seems that no matter what he does, FATE keeps trying to “correct” what should have been in the first place.

  By the halfway point of Time Spiral, we now know that all of Dr. Tatsumi’s (Gackt) interventions have been for the welfare of his beloved younger sister Mami (played by adorable Taketomi Seika). Somehow, in the future, Mami is deceased, and Tatsumi has been jumping into the past to try and "correct" events so she'll come out alive, but sadly, no matter what he alters in the past, he keeps returning to the present to find she has died. 

Dr. Tatsumi: Making Plans

Little Sister Mami (Seika Taketomi)

Somehow Mami's fate depends on Natsuki (Meisa Kuroki) and Kentaro's (Hiraoka Yuta) relationship. Tatsumi realizes that his sister's life is intertwined with those two, but each time he tinkers with their destinies to try to get a favorable outcome for Mami's future, he keeps harming and weakening the foundation of love and friendship Natsuki and Kentaro have. Soon they don't even feel like they know each other anymore. When will Dr. Tatsumi cease his manipulations on them...and to what EXTREMES is he willing to go to? Scary!

Confusion as  Natsuki and Kentaro's lives get tossed.

 Man, only two more episodes to go, damn this is such a GREAT drama!! At first I was worried because it was only 8 episodes long, but I’m realizing that the drama has the same amount of content as a regular 11 episode drama, except with the side stories and filler CUT OUT! Time Spiral is a lean, right-to-the-point show, and the only sad thing is about how soon it’s going to come to an end!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Days Of Future Passed with Kuroki Meisa in "Time Spiral"

  Started watching the new show Time Spiral starring the ultra-luscious Meisa Kuroki in the lead role of Aizawa Natsuki, a teaching assistant who has begun to experience unsettling slippage of time: from times where she finds herself experiencing situations TWICE, to situations that seems to have not happened at ALL, what she perceives as her "reality" seems to be twisting around her!

Kuroki Meisa as Aizawa Natsuki

Gackt as Tatsumi Shuya

 In the center of all of this is a mysterious new teacher named Tatsumi Shuya (played by Gackt) who not only is aware of what is happening to Natsuki, but may be the cause of it, as well! Add to this the fact that this newcomer is using the time distortions she's experiencing to bend her affections away from her childhood friend Kentaro (played by Yuta Hiraoka) and onto him, for whatever sinister plan he has in store!

Childhood Friends: Kentaro and Natsuki

Hiroaki Yuta as Kentaro and Kuroki Meisa as Natsuki

  I checked this drama out purely for the sweet Meisa Kuroki goodness, but right away it reminded me of the Kitagawa Keiko drama from last year "Akumu-Chan" with its similar feel for the uncanny as well as its direction and flavor. And with Gackt once again playing the same kind of uber-creepy dude he played in Akumu-Chan, we may be in for the same kind of ride! Only time will tell...

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Sleeper Agents of Another Kind

Yuiko (Kimura Manatsu) and Mutoi (Kitagawa Keiko) in Akumu-Chan

 Just finished watching the latest episode of Akumu-Chan, and was once again properly blown away! I could say that the show is getting better and better, but even more than that, with episode 5, the show has moved up into another gear COMPLETELY! With its beginnings as a "Teacher/Problem Students" format, this drama has revved up into a real sci-fi action flick, with teacher Ayami Mutoi (Kitagawa Keiko) and student Koto Yuiko (Kimura Manatsu) using their dream precognition abilities like freakin' SUPER-POWERS!

Each Episode begins with Mutoi not wanting to get involved...

But when things get serious, she's determined to help!

  When two of the school's students have gone missing without a trace, it is up to Mutoi and Yuiko to find out what happened, and watching them run to the Health room and get into sleep position was as exciting as watching Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson slide down the pole to the Batcave, it was like, "Aw, HELL YEAH, they're bustin' out the POWERS NOW!

Ayami goes into Sleep Mode...

...and Jumps Into the Dream State!

 No good superhero action drama would be complete without its villains, and Gackt as the sinister Dr. Shiki and his unwitting accessory to the crime, Health Aide Hirashima (Yuka) fit the bill perfectly! At this pivotal point, Shiki has split from the "Good Guys" and has gone on solo to become the enemy!

Shiki (Gackt) and Hirashima (Yuka)

 Throw in Fumiyo Kohinata as a wizened Commissioner Gordon/Alfred the Butler type Dr. Koto, and you've got yourself another traditional Super-Hero masterpiece complete with all the trappings!!!!! School is now in session!

Kitagawa, Kohinata and Kimura

Another Problem Averted thanks to the Dynamic Dream Duo

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com