A Private Banker, Banker For Money….

Can always count on Toshiaki Karasawa for an enthusiastic performance, so I was looking forward to his new drama PRIVATE BANKER, and at 2 episodes in, is as engaging as hoped!

Karasawa is Koichi Anno a self-professed Private Banker who, for the right amount of money, will step in and protect clients from losing their money due to mismanagement, shady back dealings, and flat out swindlers!

We meet a woman named Kumiko Iida (Honami Suzuki) who has just lost a huge fortune on a bad investment and is on the verge of ending it all- until Anno shows up, and declares there may be more to this case than mere bad investing….

With his trusty assistant Mikoshiba (Shohei Uesugi), Anno researches the case history and the sinister motives behind the culprits, sifting slowly over the facts, getting to know the players involved, and then using the extensive banking knowledge he has to get the optimum results!

Finally, with all the facts before them, the true motives behind the conmen is revealed, and togetehr, they decide on a plan of attack that can bring her back her investment… But when she sees him seemingly working both sides, Iida has to wonder- is this Anno truly a knight in shining armor …or does he have his own personal agenda behind helping her? Only by going through with the case and standing up for herself will Kumiko get back what is rightfully hers!

For good or bad, wherever Anno goes, he produces results!

A fun and entertaining drama with lots of familiar faces from the classic era of J-Dramas, especially Honami Suzuki who is winning brand new fans due to the NETFLIX airing of the classic 1991 TOKYO LOVE STORY!

With classics like GOOD LUCK, ODORU DAISOUSASEN, LONG VACATION and Tokyo Love Story, we may be seeing a whole new renaissance of J-drama popularity- it would be wonderful, and HEY, isn't it TIME?!

Undead And Loving It: My Undead Yokai Girlfriend

Been blazing through the wacky and totally zany Amazon Prime drama series “Boku no Itoshii Yokai Girlfriend”, the story of a hapless gaming dork who summons a youkai from another dimension to be his girlfriend and then has to deal with the fallout as she binds herself to this plane and begins executing the gods who have imprisoned her.

Starring actor Hayato Sano (last seen by me as the humble Manabu Taira in “Trillion Game”) as the unwitting college student Takashi Inukai, this is a guy who'd do ANYTHING for a girlfriend...enough so that when his buddy Tanuki (Anthony) finds a supposed ritual online to supposedly summon some sexy goddess to him, he leaps at the chance!

Haphazardly performing the seance by night according to the vague instructions on the web, he doesn't REALLY think this thing could work...

...but is shocked out of his mind when the next day, a portal opens up in the sky and a commanding warrior woman steps out from the time rip to confront him!

She is IZUNA (Ai Yoshikawa) , a yokai who has travelled across time to this timeline and, as her 
summoner", immediately announces she must "consummate" their bond with him so she can anchor herself to this reality!

Though Tadashi finds this demonic woman attractive indeed, he's too chicken and nervous to pursue any hanky-panky with her, and ultimately thinks it best if h left this girl alone to her devices! But no matter WHAT, Izzy continues to show up in front of him, in school, in his room, at parties....Tadashi has to wonder just WHAT he's gotten himself IN to!

Though Tadashi is the main character of the show, the real star HAS to be the vibrant Ai Yoshikawa as the bloodthirsty demon yokai Izuna “Izzy” Imiki! WOW, Ai really shines here and it’s just fantastic to watch her go through the ropes, seducing her hapless mortal boyfriend, slaying the undead opponents as they appear…and still managing to go on dates and experience the wonderful foods of this time!

Watching her drink Coca-Cola for the first time or experiencing a sugary crepe, there are times Tadashi feels like she could be a regular, human girl suitable for dating....

...But then he'll come home and find her showing off the severed head of her latest KILL!

!!! Things have GOT to change!!!!

LOLOL, Clearly a very lowbrow comedy, I’m actually surprised how many BIG names are attached to this drama, not least Takashi Sorimachi (!) as the detective in charge of investigating Izzy's strange murders…not only is he determined, but we will find that he's also Takashi’s FATHER!

Also featuring Anna Ishii as Sorimachi’s goofy assistant, Nico Suzuki, a real "comedy relief" character if there ever was one! Ishii looks like she's having a BALL here!

We also have Naoto Takenaka as a mysterious billionaire who may have descended from the same demons plaguing Izzy...also Yukiya Kitamura and Yoshihiko Hakayamada as his sinister agents.

Another actress I really love is Yuna Taira, here as an occult specialist named Arisa Renjo. She helps out the boys as they go about the sticky business of taming their resident yokai!

She's very helpful...though it seems even SHE has secrets no one can know about....We'll have to wait to find out more!

Like I said, this drama is off the rails with silliness, yet I just couldn’t stop watching it! As it's an Amazon Prime series, the whole thing is up and ready to watch, so i just DUG IN! And I gotta say, Ai Yoshikawa does it again! SUCH a cutie!!!

PS: By the way, there’s no doubt that this is an Amazon Prime drama, all right- every episode is just PEPPERED with characters talking about all the fun stuff they’re going to order off of AMAZON.com, surely one of the best bits of advertising yet!