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.

Onna no Sensou: Bachelor Satsujin Jiken

 Binged the 2021 drama series “Onna no Sensou: Bachelor Satsujin Jiken” this past weekend and what a ride it was!!! 

Telling the story of seven women of all different types and occupations who participate in a reality show called “Get The Bachelor” in hopes of winning the eligible billionaire heir’s hand in marriage…only for the bachelor himself to end up stabbed to death…by one of the contestants!!!

Yuta Furukawa stars as Tetsuya Naruto, the “prize” bachelor the hopefuls hope to snag in holy matrimony, and along for the challenge are:

Wakana Shizuka (Wakana Aoi), A Sales Clerk

Reina Kawahara (Reina Triendl), A violinist

Rio Ichinose (Rio Teramoto), An ex-Idol

Ichika Morishita (Ichika Osaki), A Student

Rie Shimada (Rie Kitahara), a Nurse

Riko Suzuka (Riko Narumi), A Lawyer

and Sei Endo (Sei Matobu) as a Company President.

PS: I thought it was hilarious that the girls all share the same first name with their actress counterparts!
The drama begins with the Bachelor Naruto being murdered, but we must go back three days to when the girls first arrived to see exactly what has transpired. And over the course of the days, we see the fun, the talks and ALL the treachery that inevitably leads to the Heir’s untimely demise!

This was a gripping mystery that I couldn’t stop watching and plowed right through, strangely, I thought it was going to be funnier than it was. I mean, I know it’s surrounded by a cold-blooded murder, but the way it was set up was so wacky and the characters so eccentric!  But it actually ended up being way more serious than I’d thought, which is fine but MAN they could have done so much comedy with this material! Still, a FINE way to while away a weekend!

Anata No Ban Desu 終

After weeks and weeks of turbulent situations where the series switched hands between several different subtitlers, the entire 20-episode drama ANATA NO BAN DESU has finally ended and I JUST finished watching it tonight!

 As expected, I knew it couldn’t have ended as great as I was building it up to be…up until the 13th episode, it was just about the most insanely AMAZING show, with every minute filled with intriguing scenes and captivating characters. But from then they began to break down the suspects one by one, and though they did an excellent job of answering most of the questions and resolving the mysteries they put forth, there were so many characters you were led to believe was the killer, that by the time they ACTUALLY revealed the true murderer, I was exhausted!

Still, I love the way that it wasn’t just one killer doing one thing- it was one event that sparked DOZENS of mini-mysteries of their own, and by the end, you realized that in the end, there was no one who was truly “innocent” of any wrongdoing.

Though the ending didn’t “blow me away”, I was relieved that they didn’t pull and M. Night Shyamalan “twist” on me and instead gave me a good story with real detective crime solving and ultimately, Anata No Ban Desu is still a solid 10/10 show for me!

PS: I just have to mention how much I LOVE, LOVE, LOVED Actress Miwako Kakei in this drama!

Her role of nurse Ruri Sakuragi was easily the most charismatic, vibrant and so, so COOL that I WISH they had MORE of her in the show!!!! Made me a BIG fan of hers, and even had to go run off and read up on her later!

Besides being the most captivating character on the show, I suspected that under that prim and proper nurse outfit was a VERY amply endowed gal, and looking up gravure shots of her later, WOW was I right!

 DEFINITELY a gal to keep TRACK OF!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com