Starring:
Hayami Mokomichi as Tenjo Night
Aibu Saki as Izawa Riiko
Mizushima Hiro as Asamoto Soushi
Sasaki Kuranosuke as Namikiri Gaku
Maya Miki as Wakabayashi Fujiko
Nakamura Shunsuke as Asamoto Masashi
Ueno Natsuhi as Ito Mika
Sasai Eisuke as Shirasagi Yuki
Satoi Kenta as Hirata Hajime
Nekoze Tsubaki as Adachi Kyoko
Lomoto Maki as Sato Nozomi
Kaji Masaki as Tanaka Yoichiro

Zettai Kareshi is the story of Izawa Riiko, a temp working at Asamoto, a pastry company. One day, she meets Namikiri Gaku from a company called Kronos Heaven who asks her what her ideal boyfriend would be like. She visits their company and answers a questionnaire and doesn’t think much of it. That is until the next day a giant package from Kronos Heaven arrives with a guy inside. He’s a lover robot customized to fit Riiko’s ideals, as listed in her questionnaire.

I’ll be really honest. I only started watching this drama because they cast Mizushima Hiro as a main character and I’m semi-obsessed with him lately. I read a lot of the manga this drama was based on and when it was announced there was going to be a drama adaption, I thought to myself that it wasn’t going to be worth watching. I guess I had to take back my words. (although I’m still not sure if the drama itself is worth watching, it is if you’re just watching for Hiro.)

Usually I complain about the changes writers made to the story, but here I have to commend them. They changed it from a weird and annoying high romance with a lover robot (how wrong is that?) with no good (or any, I can’t remember) side plots to still a weird romance with a lover robot with side plots of business and pastry-making.

The romance was the least interesting thing for me. I don’t know if this was intentional on the producers’ part to make Night less like a human and more like a robot, like how he’s very stilted. It’s kind of nice, because you really get the feeling that he’s a robot. The worst thing about Night is that he is so annoying! I don’t understand how Riiko even puts up with him, and then they suddenly become all close. If it was me, I probably would have returned him about the first day. Actually, if it was me, I wouldn’t have been as naive as Riiko was to just go to some random company, which I’ve never heard of, to complete some weird survey on my ideal boyfriend. But whatever. Anyway, I was annoyed by Night for the better half of the series.

As for Aibu Saki as Riiko, it was also annoying to see how naive and indecisive she was. Later on in the series, it became a little less annoying and a little more endearing, but still, not would I call a favorite character. Anyway, onto Mizushima Hiro as Soushi. It’s a little bit similar to Nanba Minami in Hana Kimi, except maybe slightly more matured. I did like the change from childhood friend to superior at the office and making him more charismatic was also nice. I think my favorite character in this series would have to be Sasaki Kuranosuke as Namikiri Gaku. He was quite funny and as a CS student myself, I enjoyed the little bits of programming talk (though I can’t wrap my head around something running on a program and then suddenly have a mind of its own). Maya Miki was also a nice addition; anything I watch her in, I always like her character.

I also enjoyed the patisserie side story (maybe that’s just because I love food), which was rather charming, although it was pretty much your average underdog story. At times, I would think, “enough of this crappy romance story! Give me more pastries!” Also, the character of Mika is just your typical backstabbing ‘best friend’ who gets semi-redeemed at the end.

Generally, if I’m not really into the main storyline but there are side plots worth watching, I’ll still keep watching. That’s the case with Zettai Kareshi. The main storyline is your average over-the-top backdrop for some weird romance story with average characters. The side stories are better and worth watching, but side stories shouldn’t be carrying the entire drama. The idea of robots being integrated in regular society is very interesting and definitely worth pursuing, but not in this shoujo-manga romance way (though there was no getting around that because of the manga tie-in). It would be interesting to see a drama or movie about robots in everyday life without the whole “perfect lover robot” theme in it.

New season, new dramas! Here are my first and pre-impressions for some of the dramas this season.

Last Friends
It’s the story of people who have been hurt and how they are coping with it. It deals with many issues such as domestic violence and sexuality, so needless to say, this series is rather mature and serious. Not only does it have an amazing cast with Nagasawa Manami, Ueno Juri, and Eita, the story is interesting and compelling. Add to that a GREAT OP sequence and I think I’ve already decided that Last Friends is going to be my favorite of the season. And isn’t that promo images so beautiful?

Zettai Kareshi
I was pretty hesitant to pick this up mainly because I have read enough of the manga to know that I don’t really like it. But then they cast Mizushima Hiro and I really like him, so now I’m watching it. And Maya Miki also plays a role in it, which is definitely a nice addition because I have always enjoyed watching her. The writers have changed the setting from high school to a cake company, which was probably smart, considering the nature of the show. Don’t know how long I’m going to keep watching it because it’s kind of bothering me right now.

Around 40
As the title implies, it’s the story of people who around 40. And as series a series with older actors and actress just means that it’s the veterans of the business who are again taking leading roles (as opposed to mother/father to leading roles). Basically the story of three women, one who wants to get married, but has high standards, so she has a lot trouble (also because she is very intelligent). Another is a housewife who is tired of just staying at home and wants to get back into society again. The last is a fashionable magazine editor who vowed never to get married, but did anyway. Stars Fujiki Naohito as the love interest of the main character

Kimi Hannin Janai yo ne?
Every mystery series is pretty similar, but they each have different gimmicks. In Kimi Hannin Janai yo ne? (You’re not a criminal, right?), the leading girl, Morita Sakura, has an amazing memory and can remember the tiniest details. She happens to get caught up with Usagawa Kyosei, an detective who is pretty crappy and falls in love with female suspects. The male lead is played by Kaname Jun, who was the villain in last season’s Ashita no Kita Yoshio. His character here is very comedic, so it’s strange for me to watch him here. Also because, he was also in the Taiyou no Uta drama where he played another very series character. And as I’ve said before, I can never resist a good mystery!

Ryokiteki na Kanojo
Based on the South Korean movie, this drama pretty much follows the same formula of the movie (or at least as far as I’ve watched to far). I’m not really a big fan of the movie…I could never understand why the guy just took all of her abuse. I am interested to see how the writers are going to stretch a movie into an entire drama, though. And how they integrate the change in setting from college students to working people. But actually, I never finished the first episode, so…

Hokaben
A lawyer drama with Ueto Aya starring as a rookie lawyer who wants to help the weak and works for the pro bono section. Her law firm is the largest in the nation, but the pro bono section only has one other lawyer - her boss. So far, it seems like this drama is going to focus on some heavy subjects and the first case is separated into two episodes (which she’ll probably win). Also stars Kato Shigeaki for Johnny’s fans.

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Puzzle
This one is like a mystery, but not exactly. It starts Ishihara Satomi (who I’ve always thought is really beautiful) as an English teacher who isn’t really very proficient at English. She’s selfish and arrogant in front her students, but acts meek and kind in front of her coworkers and the rest of the work. But she’s really smart and can solve puzzles and ends up solving various mysterious things with three of her students. And speaking of her students, is this a HanaKimi reunion or something? Because 2/3 of her students are from the main student cast… So far, though, it’s really fun and Ishihara Satomi is great.

Starring:
Horikita Maki as Ashiya Mizuki
Oguri Shun as Sano Izumi
Ikuta Toma as Nakatsu Shuiichi
Kono Mahiru as Hara Akiha
Kamikawa Takaya as Umedo Hokuto
Yamamoto Yusuke as Kayashima Taiki
Mizushima Hiro as Nanba Minami
Okada Masaki as Sekime Kyougo
Kimura Ryou as Senri Nakao
Ishigaki Yuma as Tennouoji Megumi
Kyo Nobuo as Himejima Masao (Oscar)
Iwasa Mayuko as Hanayashiki Hibari

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (roughly translating into For You in Full Blossom, nicknamed Hana Kimi) is a Japanese dorama that aired in the summer of 2007 on Fuji TV. It aired on Tuesday nights at 9:00 PM. Its average ratings were 17.3%, though the finale hit 21%. Hana Kimi is one of the few dramas that has both an opening and ending theme song. The opening is Ikenai Taiyou by ORANGE RANGE and the ending is PEACH by Otsuka Ai.

Hana Kimi is a live-action adaptation of the popular manga of the same name. Though the drama uses the same storyline as the manga, the scriptwriters modified a few key point and a few minor characters. It chronicles the high school life of Ashiya Mizuki, a Japanese-American girl who admires a Japanese youth athlete, Sano Izumi. He was injured and quit high jump. Mizuki is determined to change his mind, so she decided to study abroad in Japan and tranfers to his high school, Osaka Gakuen. The only problem with this is that Osaka Gakuen is a boys’ boarding school.

So that’s the basic premise for the show. Mizuki is hiding her true gender from her classmates while trying to become friends with Sano, so she can convince him to start jumping again. While she is trying to accomplish this, she comes across various problems - her identity almost being exposed, unexpected family visits, rivalries, etc.

Watching Hana Kimi feels very much like a manga. Effects such as little hearts, flowers, special framing give the entire show an overdone comedic feeling. It makes the series very fun to watch and it’s hard to not to laugh out loud at certain points. As funny as some portions are, there are very dramatic moments as well that sometime come right after the high comedy parts. So, comedy and drama are written really well.

One big problem I had with the changes made to the script was the seemingly lack of friendship between Sano and Mizuki. In the manga, they were very clearly best friends. (So why are they always saying Mizuki and Nakatsu are best friends?) Mizuki helped Sano train; they were very comfortable with each other. Halfway into the dorama series, Sano and Mizuki still didn’t seem to be friends yet. Other characters would say things like “Mizuki is the one who made Sano start jumping again,” but it sure wasn’t shown. It wasn’t really until the eighth episode that Sano started being overprotective of Mizuki.

Plus, Sano’s character is kind of moody. I like Oguri Shun, but it’s hard to say if I liked him in this particular role, since the way his character was written is sort of iffy. I also didn’t like how Sano was written to be so aloof and not friendly with anyone. It made his character a lot harder to like and relate to, which definitely does not add to the drama. I began to like his character in the last third of the series, since his role became less moody and stand-offish and more friendly like Sano was in the manga. Well, in the end I liked him.

I did like the way Mizuki’s character was portrayed, though it got pretty cheesy at times. I also really enjoyed the Nakatsu falling in love with Mizuki storyline. The comedy was really well done and Ikuta Toma did a fantastic job with that portion. Well, he did a great job with the whole thing. Nakatsu could easily be my favorite character in the drama. The special framing of Mizuki in Nakatsu’s thoughts was a little over the top, though, as was many portions of the series (like with Umeda and Hara and the school events).

One of the things I missed most about the manga was the ending; I really liked the way the series ended in the manga. There were a lot of elements that were the same, but the key things I loved about the end were changed.

While Hana Kimi was not the best drama of the season, it was really entertaining. High in comedy but not lacking in drama, it’s something that can make you laugh out loud and pull on your heartstrings. I liked some of the changes the scriptwriters made to the series, but there were also a lot of things I really appreciate in the manga that weren’t present in the drama. Unless you hate over the top comedy, you’ll mostly likely enjoy this one.

Buy the boxset: Japan Version - Part 1 | Japan Version - Part 2

Starring:
Kanno Miho as Tsumiki Tamako
Itoh Atsushi as Kaji Kohei
Tanihara Shosuke as Seri Naoyuki
Shida Mirai as Aizawa Asuka
Maki Yoko as Oshiro Saki
Fubuki Jun as Ameki Masumi
Sakai Wakana as Yoshikoshi Nozomi
Ohkura Koji as Toita Atsuhiko
Sato Jiro as Kumazawa Shigeichi
Mizushima Hiro as Yahata Daisuke
Tomiura Satoshi as Kaneyoshi Riku
Tanimura Mitsuki as Nishina Tomomi
Suzuki Kasumi as Yamada Kazuko

Watashitachi no Kyokasho (translating into ‘Our Textbook’) is a Japanese drama that aired in the spring of 2007. There were 12 episodes (the first being an hour long) and received average ratings of 11.2%. The show’s theme song was Water Me sung by BONNIE PINK. At the 53rd Television Drama Academy Awards, Kanno Miho won Best Actress and Sakamoto Yuji won Best Scriptwriter for their work in the show.

Kaji Kouhei is a new substitute teacher at Kirioka Middle School. He was inspired by Kinpachi-sensei from the long running school drama and wanted to become a teacher like him. On his first day there, a student is skipping class - Aizawa Asuka.

Tsumiki Tamako is a lawyer in a reputable law firm, quickly making her way up to the top. She is given a case on bullying at a school, but declines it since uncovering the truth in a school is very difficult and will most likely lose if accepted. She is engaged to the president’s son, Seri Naoyuki and they are next in line to succeed the firm.

Asuka goes to Tamako, but Tamako refuses to see her. When Tamako leaves the firm, Asuka follows her from a short distance. Kaji-sensei, looking for Asuka, catches her and the three end up going to eat together. Later, Kaji-sensei offers Asuka encouragement and asks her to start attending classes again. She cheers up and entrusts a key to Kaji-sensei and runs back home.

The next day, Asuka comes to class. However, during the day, a school-wide fight breaks out and the majority of students run outside to see the commotion, leaving Asuka by herself in the classroom. Presumable, she was trying to see what was going on outside through the classroom window and fell. After sustaining serious injuries, she died.

Kaji-sensei and Tamako meet up again and he remembers the key Asuka has given to him. The two search for the locker in the train station and find Asuka’s schoolbag and vandalized notebooks and textbooks in it. Tamako, remembering previous strange comments and actions by Asuka, comes to the conclusion that Asuka was being bullied in school and thus prompted her to commit suicide. She starts investigating the matter with the intention of suing the school.

After hearing word the Tamako’s intentions of suing, the school brings the case to her law firm and asks for representation. The firm accepts the case with the defending lawyer being Seri Naoyuki, Tamako’s fiance. Since Tamako was not asked to be representation on the opposing side, Seri requests her to withdraw her lawsuit or leave the firm. She refuses and subsequently, he breaks off their engagement saying that they were never in love, they just thought that they would logically make the best partners.

Thus starts a series of events that last for two years in the courtroom.

I really enjoyed this series; I thought the writing and acting was excellent. Kanno Miho was really believable as a compassionate but at times ruthless lawyer. One thing I didn’t understand was that her character was get so emotional at critical times. If she’s really an elite lawyer, wouldn’t she have learned to keep her eyes from getting teary? Perhaps the situation was too personal, but I don’t quite get it.

I liked Itoh Atsushi in his role, but he’s kind of a pushover at times. He did a really good job as a new naive and eager to please teacher. I thought all the teachers and the vice-principal were really rounded out characters - everyone had their back story. Mizushima Hiro, who played Yahata-sensei, really surprised me - at first I didn’t recognize him, then I finally did as the same guy who was Nanba Minami in HanaKimi! He looks so different in this one! The four main student characters are also really well developed. I have a hard time finding any faults with the character development in this series.

The plot is great, and I thought the writers did an excellent job of piecing the evidence together. I also thought the way the effects of bullying were really well portrayed and how the students, teachers, and administration reacted to it. There were a few parts in the series where I was kind of confused about what had happened - but this was mostly all after the time jumps. I also wished that at the end, we could find out what happened to all the characters, not just a few.

I’m personally really glad I watched it all after the series finished because there are some killer cliffhangers at the end of most episodes. It’s not happy or very romantic and neither is it comedic, but this drama is so damn good. People who haven’t seen it are seriously missing out. Watch this drama!!

Buy the boxset: Japan Version