Monday, June 28, 2010

Romaji lyrics of "don't cry anymore" by miwa (Theme song of Nakanai to Kimeta Hi)

Title: don't cry anymore
Artiste: miwa
Lyrics & Melody: miwa

Theme song of Nakanai to Kimeta Hi

giri giri datte hitori kiri datte
maketakunaino joudan janai wa
I don't cry anymore I don't cry anymore
donna toki demo nakanai kara

nukumori kanji nemuru to shiawase datta sore ga
eien ni tsuzuku to omotteta nanoni
doushite nandarou shinjiteta mono wa uso datta no
konna toki soba ni itekuretara ii no ni

furueru ashi de ima fumi dashitai yo

giri giri datte hitori kiri datte
maketakunaino joudan janai wa
I don't cry anymore I don't cry anymore
tsuyoku naranakya iikikaseteru
donna toki demo nakanai kara

doko wo sagashitemo watashi no ibasho ga mitsukaranai
koe ga kikitai yo honto wa aitai kedo

furi kaerazu ni aruite ikanakucha

giri giri datte kagayakitakute
watashi nara mada yareru hazu dawa
I don't cry anymore I don't cry anymore
namida koraete kao wo agetara
daijoubu dayotte tsubuyaite miru

nani wo shinjitara ii no kamo
wakaranakute mogaite mayotte
tsukamitai ima kanaetai
chiisana kono te ni takushite nigiri shimeru no

giri giri datte hitori kiri datte
maketakunaino joudan janai wa
I don't cry anymore I don't cry anymore
tsuyoku naranakya iikikaseteru

muri yari datte gamushara ni natte
ikite yukunda owari janai wa
I don't cry anymore I don't cry anymore
anata no koe wo omoi dashiteru
donna toki demo nakanai kara
itsuka kitto waraeru kara

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Preview of JOKER Yurusarezaru Sousakan - Summer 2010

Title: JOKER Yurusarezaru Sousakan
Official website: here
O.A. Start Date: 13 July 2010
Timeslot: Tuesdays, 9pm
Cast: Sakai Masato, Nishikido Ryou, Anne, Hirayama Hiroyuki, Ryou, Oosugi Ren

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Top 10 movies ranking (20 June 10)

1) Kokuhaku

2) Kamen Rider x Kamen Rider x Kamen Rider THE MOVIE Chou Denou Trilogy EPISODE YELLOW

3) Ironman 2

4) Sex And The City 2

5) The Book of Eli

6) Outrage

7) Alice in Wonderland

8) FLOWERS

9) Matataki

10) Kouko no Mesu

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Preview of GOLD - Summer 2010

Title: GOLD
O.A. Start Date: 8 July 2010
Timeslot: Thursdays, 10pm
Scriptwriter: Nojima Shinji
Theme song: Wildflower by Superfly
Cast: Amami Yuki, Sorimachi Takashi, Nagasawa Masami, Terajima Susumu, Edo Harumi etc.
Official website: here

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Review of Nakanai to Kimeta Hi

Among the winter 2010 offerings, I must admit that I didn't have high expectations of this drama at the beginning. What drew me to watch this was the theme: workplace bullying. There have been numerous dramas on bullying in schools but I don't remember any which focuses entirely on workplace bullying. Of course, there were many dramas which touched on this issue but they were most restricted to one-time events in the stories. Unlike the rest, Nakanai to Kimeta Hi promises to offer a more "updated" version of ijime and show us an heroine who can stand up to the challenge.

However, things did not go as well as I thought.

Pre-season summaries gave me the wrong idea or I had assumed too much. I was thinking that the storyline would go like this: newbie gets bullied, she refuses to bow down and would fight back, gets everyone on her side by the end. I was under the impression that the lead character Tsunoda Miki played Eikura Nana would be another tough nut like Tsukushi (Inoue Mao) in Hana Yori Dango. However, Tsunoda was weak, in fact too weak for my liking. I'm sure everyone has had enough of stories where the ones who get bullied wallow in self-pity and keep crying. That gets on my nerves. When someone bullies you, you make yourself stronger to stop anyone from being able to hurt you. That's what I firmly believe in. I never believe that crying solves anything. It's fine to cry if you want to let off steam but tears in the workplace definitely won't help. It only gives those bullies a reason to take advantage of your weakness.

When I saw the title which literally means "the day I decided not to cry", I expected this drama to show me something different from the norm. Although Tsunoda did toughen up at the end, it was far too late. Believe it or not, I was expecting to see her not crying anymore from an early stage in the story. Alas, I was disappointed. The enjoyment in watching such good vs. evil stories is seeing how the heroine gets back at those who bully her and the evil getting their just desserts. This part about Tsunoda striking back should have started in the middle of the drama. You don't need three-quarters of the story to show the impact of the bullying. It merely reinforces the impression that those bullies are only capable of deriving strength in numbers and can do nothing on their own.

In such bullying dramas, the pepertrators are usually potrayed in a sympathetic light. Something must have happened for them to behave this way. However, I can't bring myself to pity any of them. If there was a conflict of interest, if the heroine's presence was a threat to any of them, if the heroine had intended to hurt them in any way, at least this can convince the viewer that these people have an legitimate agenda or reason to bully the heroine. At least Tachibana Marika (Anne) was threatened by Tsunoda's presence because the latter was dating a man she loved. Moreover, the initial cause of the bullying was just something really petty: covering up one's mistake. The rest of the colleagues who had nothing to do with it at that point in time automatically go into bully-mode and start picking on the heroine? That just reeks of childish behaviour shown in school bullying and seems to suggest no matter where you go, bullying always has the same distinct trait of trouble arising from something small and being blown out of proporation as people gain strength in numbers and show that they are in the majority. It pins the blame on the person who cannot fit in. Coupled with a superior who jumps into conclusions and automatically believes that the seniors can never be wrong, it means that the heroine is stuck in a neverending spiral of trouble. In the end, Tsunoda can only depend on herself to strike back, with a little encouragement from Kirino (Fujiki Naohito). I don't think that Kirino had any feelings for Tsunoda, it's more of an understanding of her circumstances because he had to leave HQ for a long time possibly due to a similar situation. That's why he had the intention to make her more independent instead of only blaming the bullies for what happened.

One particular point in the ending which I didn't like was Nakahara forgiving his wife for what she had done. I guess he did have some feelings towards her or else he wouldn't have done this. Then again, for viewers who are looking for Marika to suffer for her wrongdoings, they will be very disappointed to know that she got her man, no matter what bad things she did.

I don't see enough of Eikura Nana's works to form an opinion of her performance. I think the last time I saw her was in Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru which was quite some years back. I was expecting her to show a tougher side of her character but she's still not convincing enough to show the contrast between the weak and strong sides. Although it appears that Tsunoda has gained confidence at the end of the story, I felt that it was more of others giving her the belief to carry on rather than Tsunoda herself changing her mindset. Hopefully, with the upcoming SP, she can show that Tsunoda has really changed, for the better.

Compared to Eikura, Anne's performance was more eye-catching. At least she showed a difference between the nice rich girl and evil scheming witch sides of Tachibana. It's just that she tends to get carried away when she plays the evil side especially the sniggering so I hope that she can get better with more exposure and practice.

Fujiki Naohito and Kimura Yoshino are back again TOGETHER. I couldn't finish their last drama Yakou no Kaidan because the story wasn't that appealing and I didn't like seeing Fujiki behaving like a gigolo. This time, he gets to play the cool, serious and a tad mysterious Kirino. It does remind me a bit of his days in Love Revolution. Frankly speaking, don't fix something if it ain't spoilt. If Fujiki is good at playing a cool professional, continue refining and strengthening your position in such roles. Sometimes, his choice of roles in an attempt to seek a breakthrough backfire. Not that he's not suited for comedies or other genres, I just feel that he didn't capitalise on his fame gained through Love Revolution and simply slipped into oblivion after that. As for Kimura Yoshino, does anyone also feel that she's getting too thin for her own good? I first noticed that she had lost a lot of weight when I watched Uta no Oniisan but this time, she seemed too haggard. Since it's been said that she will get married soon, hopefully she can do something about her image because it really makes her look sickly. If you are waiting for sparks to fly between their characters, you will be very disappointed. Other than the love triangle between Tsunoda, Nakahara (Kaname Jun) and Tachibana, romance is lacking in this drama.

One particular point of interest I discovered was the presence of Hasegawa Jun in the cast. He played that geek who was spying on Tsunoda with a hidden video cam. I remember seeing him during his Johnny's Juniors days but it's been quite some time since I heard anything from him. I'm no longer an avid Johnny's fan now, in fact I was never a fanatic. Just that I feel that the current generation of Johnny's guys aren't as good as before. By that I mean those after Arashi, you should know what I mean. Coming back to Hasegawa, he wasn't particularly eye-catching (at least I didn't recognise him until I checked the cast list) but in a way, that's good because people will not be prejudiced against him because of his background and will probably look at his performance in a fairer way. A lot of people immediately strike a JE artiste off just because of his background. There are some good actors in JE but their agency label can work against them at times.

Overall, if you are looking for something which isn't adapted from manga, anime or novel, this could be a refreshing change since you don't have any original works to form an impression on. If you are also prepared to overlook some of the clique developments in the story, this drama is still worth watching. Just don't expect too much.

And my ratings for this drama...
Story: 5 out of 10 (Keep your expectations manageable and you should be able to finish this)
Acting: 6.5 out of 10 (Hits and misses)
Theme song: 7 out of 10 (Easy to remember and lyrics fit the theme of the drama)
Visual effects / Scenery: 5 out of 10 (Most of the scenes are within the company.)
Teamwork / Chemistry: 4 out of 10 (Lacking in one way or another. There wasn't any pair which really got my attention.)

Total: 27.5 out of 50

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Top 10 movies ranking (13 June 2010)

1) Kokuhaku

2) Ironman 2

3) Sex and the City 2

4) Outrage

5) Kamen Rider x Kamen Rider x Kamen Rider The Movie Chou Denou Trilogy / Episode Blue

6) Alice in Wonderland

7) Kouko no Mesu

8) FLOWERS

9) Prince of Persia

10) RAILWAYS

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Top 10 movies ranking (6 June 10)

1) Kokuhaku

2) Kamen Rider x Kamen Rider x Kamen Rider The Movie Chou Denou Trilogy / Episode Blue Haken Imagine wa New Total

3) Sex and The City 2

4) Alice in Wonderland

5) Kouko no Mesu

6) Prince of Persia

7) Gekijoban Trick Chounoryokusha Battle Royale

8) RAILWAYS

9) Zatoichi The Last

10) Box!

Sunday, June 06, 2010

Review of Zerogo Shitsu no Kyaku Ep 1 to 4 (The Guest in Room Zero)

This review is not about the entire drama since I finished the first four episodes only which made up the first story, "Akogare no Otoko" (The Desirable Guy). As to why I didn't continue with this series, the main reason lies in the story. However, before I get to that, allow me to go through the setting briefly.

There is this Western-style hotel named HOTEL POINT which has a special room called Room Zero. What's so special about this room is a machine which determines a person's worth by putting a strand of hair inside the receptacle. There are six groups of people who visit this hotel manned by a mysterious man and the stories begin after they get the assessment of their worth from the machine.

Although the idea of this drama is quite unique (at least on paper), the concept gets stale after some time. Luckily, each episode is just 10 minutes or I would not have even finished one episode. Personally, the predictability was what killed the enjoyment for me. It certainly doesn't take a genius to guess what's going to happen next.

In this story, Ohno Satoshi and Tanaka Miho are the main characters where he plays an elite salaryman Hiroyuki while she plays a hostess Miyuki. On the surface, most people would have assumed that Hiroyuki would be rated higher than Miyuki and they are a terribly-mismatched pair. And that's exactly what Hiroyuki was thinking when he brought Miyuki to Room Zero. He wanted to make use of this to show that they are incompatible and she doesn't deserve him. However, the results turn out to be contrary to what Hiroyuki expected. From then on, the truth unravels as to why he is ranked much lower than Miyuki who seems like a dimwit on the surface.

I expected that Hiroyuki was going to ranked lower or else the story wouldn't have been able to develop. However, the story is too simple and stretching it over four episodes is truly too much. Maybe it was the fact that the TV station changed leads for the drama on a monthly basis so they had to stick it out for four episodes. Actually, three episodes would have been enough to wrap out the whole story. Episode 1 gives us the premise and the rating result, episode 2 shows the conflict between both of them as they grapple with the results and episode 3 could be used as the ending. Too much of anything is not good. If they want to keep things short and sweet, make sure the story doesn't go around the bush.

Actually, what sparked my interest in watching this drama was Ohno. After Maou, I was hoping that he can do another "serious" drama to show that he can act. However, Uta no Oniisan, this drama and the current Kaibutsu-kun are not really what I want to see. Maybe it's the genre of the dramas which is not my cup of tea but I do think his talent is being under-utilised these days. He deserves a better script which will capture the attention of people like what he did in Maou. As for Tanaka Miho, I'm not that familiar with her other than the fact that she was romantically-linked to Oguri Shun. Besides this, I do remember that she's a model but I didn't know that she acts as well. Her role is not that appealing and memorable, as expected. Nonetheless, I think I can only judge whether her acting is good after I see another drama from her.

With regards to Yokoyama Yu, I just can't help but see a striking resemblance between his image here and Johnny Depp's image from Alice in Wonderland. No doubt this drama was released before the movie, I was wondering if it was that suit and the hat which caused me to feel this way. Anyway, since he's the narrator and hotel manager in the story, you will see a lot of him in this drama (I suppose so for the remaining stories as well). This will be good news for his fans. However, the narrations do get on my nerves because they sound more like preaching to me. Narrations aren't supposed to take centrestage in this drama but unfortunately, they did.

I am very reluctant to continue watching the other stories because of two reasons:

1) If the same cycle of events happen i.e. characters test their worth --> results differ from expectations --> conflict --> happily ever after?, I don't think I want to go through five more times of the same thing.

2) The remaining cast members aren't appealing to me. Essentially, all the main characters are played by Johnny Jimusho members. The problem is, I do not have any interest in their younger groups. By that, I mean groups who debuted after Arashi. If you are a Johnny's fan, you know which groups I'm referring to. As such, there are insufficient pull factors to draw me into continuing the drama. Sometimes, I do continue with dramas for the sake of certain cast members despite hating the story. In this case, I can't.

Since I didn't finish this drama, I'll refrain from rating it. I would have given ratings if I finished at least half of it. From now on, this will be my guiding principle for unfinished dramas. If you've watched this and find that this drama is not as bad as I think of, do drop me a comment. As to whether I can be convinced to continue, that remains to be seen. ^__^

Saturday, June 05, 2010

Top 10 movies ranking (30 May 10)

1) Alice in Wonderland

2) Prince of Persia

3) Gekijoban TRICK Reinouryokusha Battle Royale

4) Kamen Rider x Kamen Rider x Kamen Rider THE MOVIE Chou Denou Trilogy Episode Red

5) RAILWAYS

6) Zatoichi THE LAST

7) Box

8) Nodame Cantabile Saishugakusho Gohen

9) Green Zone

10) Meitantei Conan Lost Ship