Starring:
Katori Shingo as Shiomi Eiji
Takeuchi Yuko as Shirato Mio
Shaku Yumiko as Ono Yuki
Matsuda Shota as Kudo Naoya
Yagi Yuki as Shiomi Shizuku
Motokariya Yuika as Shizuku’s mother
Terajima Susumu as Shijo Kengo
Ikeuchi Junko as Hishida Keiko
Miura Tomokazu as Anzai Teruo
Bitoh Isao as Hirakawa Tatsumi
Tamayama Tetsuji as Kamiyama Shun

Bara no nai Hanaya is a Japanese drama that aired in the winter of 2008. It was 11 episodes long and was one of the more popular dramas of the season, securing an average rating of 18.6%.

The synopses of this drama online are misleading, I tell you! I thought that this drama was just about a single father who owned a flower shop, and so I thought, ‘well, that doesn’t sound too interesting.’ But I noticed that the drama has really high ratings, especially for this season, and kept hearing from others to pick up this drama, so I did. And boy, am I glad I did. So now let me summarize the storyline. Without leaving out the most important part of the series.

Shiomi Eiji is a young single father of a young girl, Shizuku. Unfortunately, Shizuku’s mother passed away during childbirth. He is the owner of a flower shop and one day finds a blind woman, Shirata Mio, outside his shop, taking refuge from the rain. He invites her in, and she eventually gives into his kindness. The two hit it off pretty well and since Mio is new in town, he offers to help her out if she ever needs it. The two become close friends.

What Eiji doesn’t know about Mio is that she actually isn’t blind and isn’t new in town, either. She is a nurse at a reputable hospital. The hospital’s director is the grandfather of Shizuku and believes that Eiji treated his daughter cruelly and wishes to exact revenge for never loving his daughter. What follows is a complicated love story, complete with neighborhood friends and the problems of parenting.

Now see, if I had known about the whole revenge plot beforehand, I would have definitely started this drama earlier. While the storyline is very much the Asian-overly-dramatic type of storyline, it doesn’t really seem that way. This is probably due in part to the many veteran actors and actresses in this series as well as a few new faces. And I have to say that for being so young, the girl who plays Shizuku is great!

It would have been easy to make this storyline into that sort of overly cheesy and ridiculously dramatic show, but the directors and producers took it in a different route. Katori Shingo and Takeuchi Yuko are both brilliant in expressing this type of complicated yet pure relationship, without making you groan.

The minor characters were also fleshed out pretty well and held their own ground, even though there weren’t really any subplots. It’s okay, though, because the main storyline had so much depth to it that there wasn’t any need more side stories.

Overall, this is one series worth watching. It will make you feel every feeling you’ve ever felt in your entire life! Can be a bit of a tearjerker, even if you don’t cry easily to tv and media (like me).

Buy the boxset: Japan Version

New season, new dramas, and a renewed spirit! This’ll be my first drama preview post as just my first impressions on the dramas I’m planning on watching and reviewing.

First Impressions

Shikaotoko Aoiniyoshi

A very unlucky man is forced to move his post at a university lab to a girl’s high school in Nara, where the deer roam around freely. Ogawa Takanobu moves into an apartment/inn of some sorts with a bunch of his co-workers. Life in Nara is quite different from Tokyo and Ogawa has probalem adjusting, including a student who seems to hate him. And not to mention that there seems to be someone tailing him and writing telltale notes on his classroom blackboard. So far, I’ve found Shikaotoko Aoiniyoshi to be quite interesting. Even though, it takes place in Nara that’s depicted as mostly slow-paced and not very exciting, the drama is full of life. I also love that the humor is very dry; there doesn’t seem to be any slapstick to be seen. I also have to mention that Tamaki Hiroshi and Ayase Haruka have pretty unflattering hair compared to their previous hairstyles. Maybe it’s supposed to be reflect on their location.

Hachimitsu to Kuroba (Honey and Clover)

Probably one of the more anticipated drama for overseas watches would be Hachimistsu to Kuroba, more commonly known as Honey and Clover. It’s a story of five college students in art school and the drama and comedy that ensues from college life. The story starts when Hanamoto Hagumi, an amazingly talented painter among other things, starts school. It centers around Takemoto Yuta, though, who is mostly the narrator and falls in love with Hagu. There’s a lot of love triangles, random fun, and all sorts of art. I was really looking forward to this drama, but I was disappointed in the first episode. Some parts were funny, but other parts were just on the boring side and all in all I was not impressed. Fortunately, the second episode redeemed it a bit for me, but it’s still not as good as I had hoped. I have read a few chapters of the manga, and I’ve never watched the anime. I did watch the the movie and thought it was rather boring, though I found the manga to be pretty enjoyable. I just hope the drama will get better soon. But since the third episode’s rating is now below 10%, maybe all there is is hope.

Ashita no Kita Yoshio

I found this story synopsis to be quite intriguing. A man, Kita Yoshio, has always had a strange connection to the number 11. He has lead a life that he regrets and is sad about. He feel that the world hates him and there is nothing left for him to live. He had a wife, but she divorced him 11 years ago. He had one good friend, but he also died. Kita Yoshio decides to end his life 11 days from then, on the anniversary of his one friend’s death. However, fatefully, he meets Yashiro Heita who pulls him into a world he never knew about. This is the start Kita Yoshio’s most eventful 11 days. After being disappointed with Hachimitsu to Kuroba, I watched the first episode of Ashita no Kita Yoshio and was pleasantly surprised. The story is kind of trippy, but is really enjoyable. There’s a morbid side to it, yet it is very funny. Kohinata Fumiyo who plays the titular “hero,” Kita Yoshio is, so far, amazing. His character is really pathetic but at the time can relate to many people. I’m looking forward to watching the rest of this drama.

1 Pound no Fukuin

This is the story of a boxer who absolutely loves to eat. However this always gets into trouble since he needs to keep a close watch on his weight to stay in his weight class. One day, he meets a fledging nun, Sister Angela, and feels a strange pull towards her. I don’t know. The nun thing is really weird, but the juxtaposition of a nun and boxer is quite interesting. It’s weird, though, having Kame as the boxer cause he’s so skinny. Generally, it’s a little cheesy and dramatic (but what sports drama isn’t?). But Kame is nice to look at and Kuroki Meisa is really pretty.

Koshonin

I cannot resist a crime drama. Seriously. Koshonin is about the Special Investigation Team unit of the police. This team goes directly to the front line of a crime to negotiate with the criminals. The story focuses on Usagi Reiko, a new trainee in the SIT. She is the only woman on the team and the leader of the team lets her know straight up that she is not welcome. After watching the first episode, it seems that this drama is not about the crimes, but really mostly about police hierarchies and internal politics. Actually, I don’t find the actual case to be very interesting or engaging; what is interesting is the internal politics, perhaps the drama is a commentary on the rigidness of the system?

Still to start

Binbo Danshi

Two words: Oguri Shun! It’s the story of a poor college student who always lends a helping hand with other people’s debts, even though it always lands him into trouble (and he’s already dirt poor). This drama is either really good or really cheesy. I think I’ll watch it no matter what. That promo image is gold. Plus, it’ll also be an interesting ride to see him in a purely comedic role (a nice departure from Hanazawa Rui and Sano Izumi).

4 Shimai Tantei Dan

Yeah, just can’t resist mystery. It revolves around a team of 4 sisters who solves crimes. I’m interested to see what kind of mysteries the sisters will solve….Yukan Club-esque mysteries? (please, no more of those) or Galileo-esque mysteries? Hopefully this won’t disappoint. Also interesting to note that the abbreviation is 4STD.

Bara no nai Hanaya

I’m still not sure if I want to watch this drama. But it does have rather high ratings, I think the highest of the season so far. I dunno. Maybe. I do want to watch Matsuda Shota in a lighter role, though, since his recent leads have been rather dark characters (though he’s not the leading role in this one). What I gather about the story is that it’s about a single father running a flower shop and the people that he meets.

Starring:
Fukuyama Masaharu as Yukawa Manabu
Shibasaki Kou as Utsumi Kaoru
Watanabe Ikkei as Kuribayashi Hiromi
Maya Miki as Jonouchi Sakurako
Shinagawa Hiroshi as Yuge Shiro
Kitamura Kazuki as Kusanagi Shunpei
Hayashi Tsuyoshi as Murase Kensuke
Aoi as Taniguchi Saeko
Fukui Hiroaki as Kobuchizawa Takashi
Takayama Miyako as Watanabe Miyuki
Ito Takahiro as Mori Eita

Galileo is a Japanese drama that aired in the fall of 2007. It was broadcasted by Fuji TV on Monday nights and ran 10 episodes long. Galileo was the most anticipated drama for the fall season and secured averages ratings of 22%. The drama was based on the novels Tantei Galileo and Yochimu. The theme song was KISS Shite by KOH+, a collaboration consisting of the two leads, Fukuyama Masaharu and Shibasaki Kou.

Yukawa Manabu is a physic professor at a Teito University. He is very logical and relies on science to solve any problems he may have. Opposite of him is Utsumi Kaoru, a rookie detective who is quick to believe in the impossible. A seasoned detective, Kusanagi Shunpei, is being transferred to the central police station; he is known for being the ‘mystery hunter’ and solving all sorts of strange cases. He tells Utsumi a secret: he has always had help on these cases from an old college buddy of his, Yukawa. Because of this, she starts going to Yukawa for help. Though he may initially resist, the interesting, and often seeming impossible, circumstances interest him and he lends a helping hand. And maybe his assistant and students are sometimes annoyed by his lack of attention to school things, but once his becomes interesting in a subject, he must see it out until the end.

Unlike most mystery dramas, there is no overarching plot, so you can watch individual episodes and not miss anything (except for the last two episodes, a two-parter). If you’re a science geek, there’s no way you can miss this drama because it is pure physics fun (and out of all the sciences, physics is my personal favorite). Galileo can really appeal to almost anyone. People who enjoy mysterious will find all the cases interesting and different, even though every mystery involves a murder of some sort. People who like science and particularly physics will enjoy Yukawa-sensei’s experiments and his way of investigating. And for the rest who just want a good drama, the interaction between Yukawa-sensei and Utsumi is hilarious, as well as the possible…romance?? No one really knows…

Even though Galileo is pretty much stand-alone stories, you can see changes in the leads, and the way that Yukawa talks has such a dry sense of humor to it. Plus, Shibasaki Kou was really excellent in this role….don’t know who could have been better.

Oh, and another interesting thing about the show is all the guest stars. There were a bunch of big names including Horikita Maki, Fukada Kyoko, Honjou Manami, and Katori Shingo (from SMAP).

Basically Galileo is your usual cop show with some extra science twists. I personally really liked it, and it’s definitely an interesting watch. There’s a reason that the ratings were so high, you know.

Buy the boxset: Japan Version