A Quick J-Drama Update!

 Just a quick update on the J-dramas I'm watching right now...

Right now my favorite drama HAS to be the Ayase Haruka/Issei Takahashi thriller  "Tengoku No Jigoku”, the crime drama where a serial killer and the determined detective bent on capturing him switch bodies.

Wasn’t too sure I was going to believe the actors in their new personas, but WOW, after just one episode, I was able to see Takahashi as Ayase and Ayas as Takahashi! Kudos for both of them for doing such a great job!

Throw in an incredibly twisting plot of Cat-and-mouse between the tow misplaced people and the law, that keeps you guessing,and i’m on the edge of my seat throughout! Can’t even BEGIN to guess how this one will all wrap up!

Still at the halfway mark for the awesome mystery “Kiken Na Venus”. It is slow going regarding subtitles for the Yuriko Yoshitaka drama, but whenever they DO upload a new episode, it reminds me why I wait with bated breath for each chapter!

A gripping story of a diabolical family fighting over a fortune which they will happily kill each other for, with the mysterious  Kaede and the estranged son Hakuro (Tsumabuki Satoshi ) caught in the middle!

Another incredible Yuriko Yoshitaka performance which once again remind sme why I love her so much.

Three episodes in to the Fuka Koshiba drama “Mokomi” about an odd girl who speaks to inatimate objects and her attempt to grow out of her introverted shell. SO far a good drama though much more melancholy than I was expecting from such an eccentric set-up.

Fuka is a darling as usual as the shy Mokomi,  I wish that there was a way for them to show how wonderful she is without having to paint the others in a bad light, especially the Mom, who I fell they are really unfairly painting as a nagging tyrant when she seems to truly worry about everyone’s well-being.

Also halfway through "Koisuru no Haha", which, as I said in a previous post, I like mostly for the Yoshino Kimura storyline. The Yoshida Yo storyline of a section chief having an affair with a young charge in her department is OK, but I REALLY can’t stand the Risa Naka character.

We’ll see where this one goes.

Still watching the drama “Shitteru Wife”, which, though it started off promising, has become a very frustrating affair. The plot of a guy who is unhappy in his marriage and then goes back in time to change things sounds interesting enough, but MAN, Okura’s character of Kenzaki has GOT to be the most unlikeable, selfish JERK ever put to screen!

This is a guy who bemoans his marriage to Mio (Alice Hirose) while leaving her to deal with a part time job, two squealing kids AND a Mother with dementia, all so he can sleep in and play video games.

He always wished he’d married his dream girl Sayaka (Miori Takimoto) instead, and when a chance miracle happens and he is able to go back in time and marry her, instead of loving her, he decides he wants Mio after all…and spends his time making SAYAKA miserable instead!

When he realizes he is stuck, Kenzaki gives a half assed attempt to make it work with  Sayaka, but he still ends up lying to her, ignoring her and leaving her alone so he can be with Mio.

 And of course, instead of reflecting on it, the drama starts painting SAYAKA as the evil, manipulative b*tch, so you can root against her. Great.

I REALLY can’t stand the way Kenzaki is treating Sayaka. VERY frustrating to watch, right now I am hanging on SOLELY for the wonderful Alice Hirose goodness and hoping this show smartens up.

In other news, I’ve finished up Beshari Gurashi, the Manzai Comedy drama which was OK, I guess. Seems like every episode where the duo begins to make headway, there’s yet another lame reason for them to fight, til I was just waiting for them to get on with it.

Also finished up Toshi No Sakon, and though my earlier gush about the show might have you thinking i’d be singing its praises, sadly, after episode 3, it drastically changed its style, focusing not on the couple but Maiko’s arrogant and slimy boy friends who want nothing more than to break them up, Thought it would be only for one episode but this lasted for the REST OF THE SERIES. Really ended on a bummer of a note.

Oh Well.  We've got a whole SLEW of new dramas coming up...hope these end up being winners!!!

The Path Not Taken: “Shitteru Wife”

 Motoharu Kenzaki (Tadayoshi Okura) is a young man in an unhappy marriage to his wife Mio (Alice Hirose) waking up to a hectic household with screaming kids and a nagging wife,he sometimes wonders where it all went wrong. At work life isn’t much better, with a dominating supervisor and a job with no promotion in sight.

“I want a divorce!” he complains to his co-workers, who are surprised since Mio used to be such a happy girl. "You make us happy we're single!" they observe.

He has no idea why Mio became such a nag, but he doesn't realize Mio has troubles of her own. Besides juggling taking care of the kids and a part-time job waitressing, she also has to deal with an elderly mother in the early stages of dementia. If only her no-good husband would take the lead and support her. But the two cannot see eye to eye.

With all this turmoil going on, Kenzaki happens to cross a former classmate of his, the dazzling Sayaka Egawa (Miori Takimoto). Over lunch, she confesses that she had a huge crush on him in college, and, with this knowledge, Kenzaki realizes this moment was the turning point of his life.

Back in their college days, Sayaka was easily the prettiest girl in school, and even then he found himself attracted to her, so when she invites Kenzaki to accompany her to a classic music concert one day, he eagerly accepts! 

The day of the concert, Kenzaki makes his way to the event on pins and needles, in anticipation of what could be. But fate steps in and while on the bus, notices a high school girl getting off and leaving her wallet. This girl, of course, is Mio, the first time she appears in his life. 

Trying to be a good samaritan, he gets off the bus and chases after her, but by the time he catches up to her, she has reported the wallet missing and he has to stay and fill a report. So much for his good intentions.

After all the paperwork, Kenzaki is utterly late for the concert, and the next time he sees Sayaka, it is with a frosty reception, believing he had stood her up. 

He is already regretting helping the girl on the bus, when who should appear but Mio herself, delighted to have found him. Grateful for his earlier deed, she is excited to repay his favor, but the morose Kenzaki only wants her to leave him alone.

But the young Mio is am optimistic and genki girl, and she won’t let up, even bothering him at his workplace. She tells him if he wants a good paying job, he can be her tutor, which he reluctantly accepts. 

Eventually this move is what would end up with the two married with children! “If only I didn’t meet Mio on the bus. If only I kept my date with Sayaka. My life might have been so much better!” Kenzaki sadly broods.

On a nearby bench, a crackpot scientist is telling the neighborhood children about a phenomenon happening. There appears to be two moons in the sky, and this, muses the man (Namase Katsuhisa) signifies a portal where one could travel back in time.

“Travel back in time.” Kenzaki mutters. “If only I COULD.”

That evening, when he is driving home, he passes through a gate and observes the two moons up above. And as he drives through, he experiences a shift in reality and he blacks out…

When he comes to , he is stunned to find himself back in his old college dorm bed. What’s going on?  His little sister Nagisa (Rina Kawaei) drops by and it’s here he realizes he has slipped back in time to his college days in 2010! What is going ON? Is it a dream?

Running to school, he experiences deja vu when is once again confronted by Sayaka who once again offers him tickets to the classic concert. He once again accepts and is determined to make sure he makes the date!

He is then rudely awakened back in 2020, where he figures it was just a dream. But he begins to notice subtle things are different. He slowly realizes that the slip was no dream, and that he can actually CHANGE things!  

Driving back to the pass that night, Kenzaki observes the two moons glowing in the sky and, with a  determined will, floors the accelerator and speeds through the gates once more, this time intent on correcting all the missteps in his life!

But will he find happiness or will he realize that the grass is always greener on the other side….

WOW! What a GREAT first episode, already amped up for MORE! I initially grabbed this one because of Alice Hirose, a new big favorite of mine, but didn’t realize Miori Takimoto was ALSO in it!

Gotta say, when I originally read the synopsis that Ohkura was gonna be a husband dissatisfied with his wife, and that the wife was gonna be Alice Hirose, i thought, there ain't’  NO ONE who would regret marrying THAT fine gal! But HOLY TOLEDO, Miroi pulls out ALL the stops here- I’m telling you, she is flat-out GORGEOUS in the role if the svelte and accomplished Sayaka!

Like, DEVASTATINGLY beautiful, so stunning and charismatic that you could see why a man like Kenzaki would spend his life second guessing his choices!

But Alice Hirose is pretty too, and in fact, most of her gloominess comes from the lack of support and sympathy from her uncooperative husband! If Kenzaki was a kind and caring partner, MOST of what makes Mio "unattractive (at least in the story narrative) would be nonexistent!

But with this newfangled time-jumping Kenzaki has acquired, I guess he’ll see if the "path not chosen" really turns out to be the one for him...or if the right girl was with him all along!