Once More with the "Ally Of Justice"

 
Avistas recently had their anniversary and to celebrate, had a "freeleech" weekend where you could grab anything without worrying about the size or the burden of reseeding the amount, and I used that opportunity to get a few larger size dramas I've always wanted in more HQ formats, and among them was the excellent "Seigi No Mikata" from 2008!

I've gushed time and time again this drama's virtues, and besides being my #1 drama of the 2000-2014 era, could even possibly place number one bar none, it's THAT good! I've always wanted cleaner files of the show, and wasted no time grabbing that one right up!

With this set of crisp new files now in my possession, I knew it was a PERFECT opportunity to REWATCH the series ALL OVER again! spent the week absolutely BLOWING through it, and HOLY HECK, It's JUST as great and timely as it ever was, despite it being a good 15 years since!

This is  the FOURTH time I am watching the series all the way through again- as I've mentioned in older posts, this is a drama I return to TIME and time again as every episode seems to showcase one scene or another that I've just GOT to see again! I cannot stress how much I adore this drama, though I guess my many, many posts gushing about it makes it clear enough!

My original assessment after watching it for the second time sums it up succinctly:

"...While watching the show all over again, I realized that Seigi No Mikata is probably my FAVORITE drama of my “modern” era!  Besides the clever, witty dialog, the hilarious slapstick scenes and the awesome, awesome acting of Shida Mirai and Yamada Yu, this drama also benefits from having one of the tightest storylines; in its set-up, its consistency and its superb conclusion, one that keeps me coming back for more!

Seigi No Mikata is the story of a young girl named Yoko who has a dominating, bullying older sister named Makiko, whom, though evil, selfish and vain, always seems to come up looking like a savior to everyone around: When her boss chews her out at work, she wrings a moldy washcloth into his tea- when his stomach begins hurting, she orders him to “leave and get to the hospital!”  She is free of him for the rest of the day! Next day, the boss’s wife comes in to gratefully thank Makiko for advising her husband to go to the doctor because they discovered a malady that, since they took care of it so soon, is non-threatening. Makiko has inadvertently saves her boss’s life, and is celebrated for it! 

It’s situations like this that drive little sister Yoko crazy. Only SHE can see her sister’s real, evil intentions, but she seems almost helpless as she watches each person, one by one, get accidentally “saved” by Makiko and praise her as a real “Savior of Justice”! 

This is a title hard for Yoko to take when she is being persecuted every day by Makiko- made to do her chores, run her errands and help her with her selfish pursuits. But when Makiko sets her sights on a new lawyer at the firm (Mukai Osamu) and enlists Yoko to help snag him, Yoko happily realizes if Makiko succeeds and tricks the guy into marrying her, she’ll be free of her sister forever! But will Yoko’s conscious let her stand by while this innocent guy gets deeper and deeper into Makiko’s deceit?

Well, by the last episode, everything has come to a head, everything has been put on the table and, amazingly, everything gets resolved! And for the last chapter of the story, the person who benefits from Makiko’s selfish ways is none other than Yoko herself, who finds that even in the midst of her evil, narcissistic ways, Makiko’s deceptions bring forth true goodness to all those around her!"

Sentiments that I feel even MORE strongly after having finished it up for the fourth time!

i'll say ONE thing in hindsight- It's crazy that actress Mirai Shida hasn't become a BIGGER star than she currently is. Because her skills in Seigi are simply OFF THE CHARTS! I mean, I know she's well-known,but in shows like "Brush Up Life" and such, she's still playing the little sister roles and  more often than not is cast in smaller secondary roles. I remember at the time of Seigi, thinking she was going to DOMINATE the drama scene! Well, she's currently heading her own drama with the recent "Shori no Hoteishiki ", so THAT'S good!!

And as for Yu Yamada, she of the the wonderfully volatile character of Makiko, seems like we haven't seen much of her drama-wise for YEARS... Guess that's what happens when you dedicate yourself to being a mother of four (FOUR!) children, such as she has! Well, she still posts on her instagram and continues to look as commandingly radiant as ever!

Besides the aforementioned lead actresses, we also have others like Osamu Mukai and Hongo Kanata who appeared as the romantic leads, as well as Irie Jingi and Shizuka Nakamura as   Yoko’s school friends… ALL actors who have gone on to bigger status in the dramaworld, such a shock to see them so YOUNG!

And it was most heartwarming to see Yoshiko Tanaka once again! As you know, we lost her in 2011 so it is particularly sweet seeing her interacting with her ‘family” once again! Always the PERFECT TV Mommy, she is still sorely missed...

Yep, ALL these feels and MORE can be experienced time and again thru the magic of rewatching, and I KNOW I'll be rewatching AGAIN  for some time to come! 

Seigi No Mikata Forever!!!

New Season off to a Shaky Start

 Caught two dramas of the new season, and I’m sad to report that neither of them have grabbed me in any real way...First we have “Crime Family” A story of a would-be-criminal (Hongo Kanata) who, upon getting caught trying to con an affluent family, finds out that their OWN criminal tendencies may far eclipse his own, SHOULD have been a fun flick, but somehow seemed so wacky and UNEVEN in its execution that I found the twists more irritating than surprising.

But the real offender here is the new Takuya Kimura crime drama “Kazama Kimichika: Kyojo Zero, a sequel/prequel to the Kyojo specials from past years. Was really looking forward to this one but was completely off-put by it.

I’ve always hated these set-ups where there is an arrogant anti-social and bossy genius senpai who is suddenly saddled with a green newbie. In this set-up, the newbie (Eiji Akaso) is always treated like a clueless moron,  getting NO HELP instruction-wise from ANYONE, and when he inevitably fails, makes mistakes, etc, is harshly scolded that he should have known better.

In the end,  it is HIS fault that he didn’t pick up on the VAGUE clues given him by his boss, who of course already knew the culprit but decided to play mind-games instead of straight-forward direction. Very aggravating to watch.

Coming up next is the Haru comedy drama “Watashi no Oyome-kun”, which I hope will be more fulfilling….crossing fingers.

Duty, Now For The Future: Fun Futuristic Antics in "Mirai-San"

Just started watching the wildly wacky hijinks of Rena "Amachan" Nounen's new mini-drama "Mirai-san" about a rambunctious (if hilariously lazy) schoolgirl of the near-future who uses her older brother's inventions to get out of doing work, getting into trouble, etc...SO FUNNY!

Rena Nounen is in top form here, freaking out so spastically it's like you're watching a manga character come to life! Reminds me of Shida Mirai (no pun intended) on speed!

too bad this series is only a mere 5 episodes, I could watch these forever!!!

Timeslipping with Shihori Kanjiya in "Repeat"

Shihori Kanjiya and Hongo Kanata in REPEAT

Ayumi Shinozaki (Shihori Kanjiya) lives a quiet life as a librarian, where she dutifully waits for her boyfriend Kazuki (Satoshi Matsuda) to return home from a months long trip. 

She is a shy and reserved person, and it was only through her love of books that she even had the courage to talk to and eventually date him, and is excited at the prospect of becoming his wife.

One night home from work, Ayumi receives a strange phone call, telling her that there will be an earthquake in Tokyo in a few hours. She doesn’t know who the caller is, and decides that it must be a prank of some kind.

But that evening, she is shocked when there is indeed an earthquake in Tokyo, at the exact time the caller predicted. She then gets a call from the mystery man who tells her that he told her his predication so she’d believe him when he said he could time jump from the future to the past via an experience he calls REPEAT. If she’s interested, she is told to meet up at a certain restaurant  in a few days where all the other recipients (who, like Ayumi, seem to have been chosen at random) where she will learn more.

Meanwhile, a moody man named Keisuke Mori (Kanata Hongo) is having an equally undesirable life. He works as a waiter at a Hostess bar and returns home to a deluded and sadistic girlfriend (gleefully played by Haruka Shimazaki). When the tremors hit, he asks no one in particular, “Hey…did you feel that? Was that an earthquake?” Clearly HE’s gotten the call, too.

The day of the meetup happens and Ayumi and Keisuke are the last of the guests to arrive. They don’t get off on the right foot, with Keisuke bumping into Ayumi and grumbling that she’s in the way. 

They make their way to the table, where they see six other guests of all different walks of life waiting...

There is Tendo (Gori), a Cafe Owner.

There is Takahashi, a truckdriver, and Yokozawa, a Housewife (Satomi Tezuka).

There is elegant Omori (Yumi Adachi), a Food Chemist. 

There is Gohara, a businessman.

 There is Tsuboi, a Prep Student. 

And finally, there is the mystery phone predicter himself, Kazama (Seiji Rokkaku), who makes his grand entrance once everyone is seated!

Kazama explains to the eight guests that his “Repeat” system is not so much Time Traveling  back and forth, but the ability to jump your MIND back into your past self. Thus you can’t bring along anything with you. Furthermore, it is a set time frame of 10 months you can go back! Some complain that that isn’t enough time to do anything worthwhile, but Kazama points out the benefits.

He says he will give them one more proof of his abilities: one more earthquake prediction, due to hit in 7 days. If they are convinced and ultimately decide they want to timeslip back, he will call with the details.

On the way out, Ayumi admits that she doesn’t have any need to time jump back to her past, as she is completely satisfied with her life, and most likely won’t return. But when her boyfriend arrives home from his trip. she changes her mind. She’d thought he was going to propose to her on  his return…instead he’s come to dump her!

He says that he feels the “timing just wasn’t ever right” for them, and confesses that he’d even planned on proposing to her some time ago…but she didn’t show up and after that things went south. Ayumi remembers that day. She’d had to deal with a bratty child who caused her to drop her phone in the water and then hurt himself running away. Oh, if only she could go back and change that…

That night, the earthquake hits as predicated, and Ayumi makes the decision to join the others and make the jump to the past. But will changing things that already happened make things better? Can she mold events to give herself a perfect life? Or is one’s life planned out fo them and will fate step in to keep what has already transpired as fact...and what PRICE will they ultimately PAY for this gift? Only by jumping will she learn!

Aw man, I really, really love Kanjiya Shihori, and it’s great to see her headlining a show again (well, with a ensemble cast, but still…). Her drama “Kimi Hannin Janai yo ne?” is still one of my all-time favorite dramas and REPEAT looks like yet another awesome show!

Also bonus points for Tezuka Satomi, whom I has a severe crush on once upon a time (back when she was playing the frustrated mother of twins in the NHK Asadora “Futarikko”) and always love seeing, and former child-actress Yumi Adachi, who seems to be getting prettier and prettier as time goes on!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com