There's an old italian saying (based on a real historical anecdote) which goes like this: "Paganini non ripete" (Paganini - a very famous violinist - doesn't repeat, doesn't play an "encore"), and one of the meanings of that saying is that perfection, once attained, cannot be repeated nor copied. Perfection may happen, but you can't expect perfection to repeat itself over and over again. That's why, while thinking about how to comment on "Churasan 2", that old italian saying came to my mind: "Paganini non ripete"! The original "asadora" was pretty much perfect; there shouldn't have been any "encore". This sequel sports the same writer (although this script is surprisingly bad!) and the same cast, but the magic isn't repeated, and it ends up being nothing but a faint copy...:/

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Wakui Emi is absolutely PERFECT (no surprise here, LOL), but also most of the remaining supporting cast did a wonderful job, from Matsushige Yutaka to Sato Megumi, from Watase Tsunehiko to Katsura Kichiya, from the lovely Miyajima Mai to Kato Toranosuke, from Kabira Jay to Kimura Yuichi etc. etc. - seriously, it's easier to name the very few exceptions, i.e. the moronic uncle (Kyomoto Masaki is 20 years older than Hara Sachie and the layers of makeup and flashy clothes he wears are supposed to make him look younger, but he ends up giving a strong 50-something-drag-queen vibe; you'll forgive me if I don't find realistic that Natsuko-san falls for him, ne?), the clichè-but-mostly-useless-grandma (I don't like when the elderly are written in scripts as mere ornaments, really; compare this with Churasan's obaa-san and you'll see the difference: now, THAT's an obaa-san, not this ghostly presence!) and the annoying new apprentice, Kososo. Furthermore, rakugo makes for a very interesting and refreshingly original topic (though "Tiger & Dragon" wins hands down there...but that's another story) and throughout the whole dorama, music is an extremely pleasant accompaniment ("Furusato" and the opening credits music most of all!). So why "only" 7/10? Well, sorry if I'm too blunt, but I found both Kanjiya Shihori (whom I also didn't like in the otherwise great movie "Swing Girls") and Aoki Munetaka extremely annoying - and as much as it pains me to write this (me being a Hanshin-fan and whatnot), I have to admit that so was the constant use of Kansai-ben (seriously, now that I've finished watching this, I don't wanna hear another "-hen" nor "-han" for at least six months, LOL!). Anyway, Aoki's character's stage name happens to be perfect for summing up 151-episodes worth of dorama in just two syllables: So-So! :/

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In my experience, a good WOWOW noir is a quite effective way to keep one's mind off the heat and the humidity of a scorching summer night. It was with that spirit that I decided to watch this, and indeed I was granted my fair share of thrills - thanks to a superb photography, to some extremely eery music, and to those über-creepy, flickering shadows on the walls which are a constant presence in this dorama. The problem is, though, that this story is waaay too dark and disturbing for my taste!!! Still, the great cast did, as one would expect, a great job, and I have to admit that, had the last episode been differently developed, and had the most disturbing scenes and details been expunged from the whole story, this could've been a perfect noir indeed. Hence my not too harsh vote.

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I had great expectations for this dorama, given it starred Nakai Kiichi and Ijima Naoko (both of whom I'd really liked in "Saigo kara Nibanme no Koi" and its sequel) and also taking into account the synopsis which made it sound really interesting. Unfortunately, there's waaaaay too much focus on form (i.e. photography, music, editing, camera movements/angles, "coolness" - Gods, I hate that word! - etc.) and waaaaaay too little focus on substance (as in, a decent script, totally lacking here!). As far as I'm concerned, it really seems like one of those crappy tv series mass-produced in Hollywood, the only relevant difference being that instead of American actors, we have Japanese ones here. Total let down imho.

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Great premise, ruined by an artsy approach

The true story of the "Phone of the Wind", which this movie is roughly based on, sure is a lovely, extremely moving and interesting one! And the Touhoku Tsunami and all the tragedy and loss that it caused are incredibly touching, of course. Unfortunately, the screenwriter and the director of this "Kaze no Denwa" - Nth victims of what I call "the nefarious influence of 'Cahiers du Cinéma' and Nouvelle Vague" - decided to ruin all that by having the part of the movie about Touhoku and the phonebooth (basically, the last 50', more or less) preceded by almost 90' of mostly useless and painfully boring scenes. Just one example so as not to spoil anything: at the beginning of the movie, the main character takes a ferry; ok, anybody with even just an ounce of respect for the viewers would have simply shot two/three short sequences, and with some editing the scene would have been done (and it would have lasted, like 10 seconds, tops). But here instead they went with an *interminable* sequence shot of her slowly approaching the dock, then waiting for the ferry, then the ferry slowly approaching the dock, then the few people on the dock slowly boarding the ferry, then the ferry finally (and yeah, you guessed it correctly: *SLOWLY*) leaving the dock: 180, *endless* seconds which add *nothing* to the story - quite the opposite, really! >____<
Seriously, the first 80+ minutes could be reduced to 10'/15' tops, keeping only the relevant scenes and cutting all the useless, artsy cr*p...=___=
Too bad...if this story had been written and directed by a decent writer/director team, this could've been a true masterpiece!
As is, it's mostly a yawnfest; and it's such a pity, considering that this story - and all the Tsunami victims and their relatives - would've deserved much more than this, imho! /.___.\

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I picked this up because I found the premise interesting and most of all because I'm a fan of Ito Sairi, whom I find both a very good actress and a beautiful woman - though I understand that whereas *subjectively* I find her very attractive, probably *objectively* she isn't considered a beauty in Japan...therefore the fact that her appearance was constantly belittled in the dorama, though annoying and even insulting as I have felt it, still wasn't enough to completely inhibit my "suspension of disbelief" - as anyone who has read a little about literature/theater/cinema/scriptwriting surely knows, a *vital* process in the consumption of fiction. Unfortunately, the ML instead made the afore-mentioned "suspension of disbelief" absolutely impossible for me, considered that the viewer is supposed to believe he's a playboy and skirt-chaser from the Heian Period, while the guy - sorry to be so blunt - doesn't have an ounce of manliness in him; not in the way he looks (those Bambi eyes, those constantly pouting lips, those puffy cheeks...everything screams "pre-school kid" to me!), not in the way he moves (gestures, body language etc.). Adding insult to injury, the interesting premise wasn't actually developed, making it a missed opportunity as far as I'm concerned. What a waste of Ito Sairi's talent! p.s. I liked the opening credits song, though!

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As far as I'm concerned, the best aspect of this "Percent" was the fact that the topic was taken seriously, not in the shallow, sugarcoated and honestly silly way that has characterized other recent dramas (to name but two, I recall Sugisaki Hana playing a blind girl working in a kitchen in "Koi Desu" - as if that would ever happen in ultra-regulated Japan! - and Emoto Tokio portraying a paraplegic character working as a cleaner in "Kinshicho Paradise" - two series I dropped precisely 'cause I felt kinda insulted by that unrealistic approach to this topic!).
Another thing I appreciated here was the cast performance, pretty damn good, kudos to them, particularly to Ito Marika and Wago Yui who get a special mention!
The OST and the rest of the "packaging" (direction, photography, editing) were also totally OK.
On the other hand, I wasn't fully convinced by the script; I think they had good intentions but the terribly short length of the series (only 4 episodes!) meant they ended up cutting corners here and there and either left details hanging (like, what happened to the producer FL and her BF? Did they get back together?) or else failed at portraying a smooth character development (like, the director was portrayed as an A-hole until *bang*, complete U-turn in one single scene - that's sloppy writing, sorry...>___<).
Still, a solid 8/10.

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I had really enjoyed the two seasons plus SP of "Yuru Camp", and I honestly expected this to be, like, the more mature version of that one. But it was quite the let down, as far as I'm concerned.
First things first, what I liked: namely, the settings (that goes without saying!), the OST, the cast (both leads did a good job).
Alas, the script was the weak point of this drama, in my humble opinion.
With this kind of episodic structure, it was to be expected that some episodes were going to be better than others, but it honestly was worse than expected. I think the biggest problem lies with the FL character having been written that way (as a mostly grumpy and not-so-kind person, wary of others - particularly when they're males. I found that quite offensive, sorry).

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Sometimes dramas perfectly match our expectations, and sometimes they end up being the complete opposite. And sometimes, as it's been the case of this "No Side Game", there's a bit of both, actually.
So, where did this series surprise me?
In all fairness, being quite the "supokon" aficionado, while at the same time not caring much (if anything at all!) for company-themed power struggles, I started watching this thinking I was gonna like the sports part and not so much the company one....instead it was basically the other way around, and I enjoyed the intrigues more than the sports.
Where it did match my expectations, instead, was for all regarding rugby. I must confess not being a fan (at all) of this sport, and this was confirmed, sorry but it's way too violent for my taste (I'm a baseball fan, 'nuff said, LOL) - although I know that there's a lot of good things in rugby: I remember they used to describe the two most popular English sports as "football is a game designed for gentlemen but played by thugs, while rugby is a sport designed for thugs but played by gentlemen". There's some truth in there, honestly...^__^
Anyway, the script is okay, the acting pretty good, and the "packaging" definitely above average. So even if you don't like rugby, this still makes for a pleasant watch! 7/10

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Unsatisfied with the vast majority of the current season's J-dramas, I decided to go and try one of the many "Golden Age" ones I still hadn't watched, and picked this "Aishiteiru to Itte Kure".
Well, sometimes even older dramas can be a real let down, as it was the case here, alas.

First things first, what I liked: namely, the *marvelous* OST (WOW, seriously, perfect 10 there!), the unmistakable "90's Flavor", and the always good performance by Tokiwa Takako - whereas the rest of the cast, imho, didn't do so well; most were sub-par, but I don't think it's entirely their fault, as the material they had to work with was the real problem.
In a scriptwriter's career (even when we're talking of someone like Kitagawa Eriko who's done some real masterpieces!) there's bound to be the occasional lousy work, and this was precisely such a case.
It started quite well, except for the honestly annoying subplot involving the stepsis; but then in the second half it became more and more trite and poorly written, with the last episode being particularly terrible, to the point it ended up being involuntarily ridiculous. HUGE spoilers ahead so stop reading NOW if you wanna avoid those!

*****SPOILERS*****

Misunderstanding after misunderstanding, the FL convinces herself (and wrongly so) that the ML has cheated on her, so she goes and cheats on him with her childhood friend, the 2nd ML (who took advantage of the situation, ok, but then again she had been taking advantage of his kindness for the whole series, so hard to cast the blame there, imho). Even after the misunderstanding got cleared, FL and ML still break up, she has apparently realized that it's better to be loved than to chase after someone rather cold (which might have been less romantic, but I was still fine with such a development, it would have been mature and adult and realistic and honestly quite a nice change after all). So she's bound to move back to Sendai to marry the 2nd ML and help him run the family inn. All fine and dandy, right?
But then the Nth set of coincidences unleash (seriously, the way the characters keep running into each other by chance, you'd think this series was set in a small village, rather than in the tentacular metropolis, LOL) and she runs into the ML, goes with him to an apartment/villa at the seaside ('cause yeah, what normal Japanese wouldn't have a seaside house with a fireplace, right? Mattaku...), where they open up a bottle of champagne ('cause yeah, the house is uninhabited, but of course there's a fine bottle on hand just in case!), almost have sex but stop midway after he picks up her keys ('cause yeah, what normal dude wouldn't pick up some keys while going at it, right?) and she notices the keychain belonging to the 2nd ML, thusly bursting in tears.
Come dawn, a *ridiculous* scene on the beach ensues, where we discover that deaf people apparently have the superpower of being able to understand what you say if you just put your throat on their shoulder (seriously, Kitagawa-san?!? Or was it Stan Lee who wrote that scene? Who knows, maybe the ML got bitten by a radioactive mosquito? Again, mattaku...)
Then she gets back to the 2nd ML, who's the usual, understanding nitwit and leaves alone, brokenhearted but with a big smile (oh, boy) while she stays in the Big City to pursue her acting career.
Three years later, she's been so "successful" that her single-line scene gets cut, but apparently that pays well enough that she's dressed all in style with Italian/French designer's clothes. And then the leads meet again by chance in front of an apple tree (more like, a completely different plant to which some poor sap of AD has glued half a dozen apples bought in the closest supermarket!!!), and so they can live happily ever after. *BARFS!*
Wasn't it for the OST and for Tokiwa, the grade would be even lower. 4/10

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I liked this so much, I'd want to give it more than "just" 10/10!!!

Seriously, there are times when you watch something so tremendously satisfying, that you kinda feel bad for not being able to rate it more than "just" the top grade, and it is precisely the case with this fabulous "River, Nagarenaide yo"!
Hard to explain why it hit me so much without giving anything away (and that'd be a pity 'cause it would deprive you of the pleasure of finding out by yourselves!), I'll just say this: the premise is as interesting as they come; the way they actually made it work was nothing short of a serious stroke of genius; the technical difficulties I can only imagine but must have been something indeed, chapeau for the way they brilliantly overcame them; the cast did *marvelously*, with a special mention for the amazing, lovely, gorgeous (I could go on and on!) Fujitani Riko; the setting is simply F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S; the "packaging" absolutely top-notch (I normally am not really a fan of hand-held cameras, but there was no other way to make this work!).
What are you waiting for? Go watch this *now*! You'll thank me later! ^____-
10/10 and instant top10 of all times, as far as I'm concerned!

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I've watched this "Tasogare Yusaku" intrigued by the lead, whose tremendous acting talent I had previously admired in "Mushoboke", and despite the synopsis that didn't make it sound that interesting (but I soon realized that the synopsis was really inaccurate and terribly misleading - BTW, I submitted a new one, hopefully it'll get approved soon).
Anyway, I'm happy to say that this drama has surprised me very positively; it reminded me a lot of "Tokyo Sentimental" and of the various "...no Satsukyu" dramas. It's part slice-of-life, part "iyashikei", part food drama, with a pinch of comedy and a healthy dose of "mono no aware".
The acting is top-notch, the production value very high, the music superb.
The only reason I'm not giving this a "perfect 10" is that, as it's to be expected with most dramas having an episodic formula, a coupla episodes were a bit weaker, imho. Still, it got very close! 9/10

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