JDorama review: Manhattan Love Story

Title: Manhattan Love Story Broadcast dates: 10/9/03 - 12/18/03 Number of episodes: 11 Genre: Romantic Comedy Cast: Matsuoka Masahiro, Koizumi Kyoko, Oikawa Mitsuhiro, Morishita Aiko, Matsuo Suzuki, Sakai Wakana, Funakoshi Eiichiro, Tsukamoto Takashi Plot: A rag-tag group of customers that frequent a cafe called Manhattan fall in and out of love with each other. What is good: Matsuoka can be hysterical as Tencho, the owner of Manhattan. What is bad: The show doesn't really get good until about episode 4. Letter rating: C

This show both annoyed and amused me. Parts of it were absolutely awesome. Unfortunately, most of the beginning episodes are terrible. Also, the show could have ended at episode 7 with no problems. Instead, they dragged it on for another four episodes. The ending was still surprising and funny but it seemed tacked on. Would I watch it again? No. But I'm definitely going to try to track down more of Matsuoka's dramas!

JDorama review: Kisarazu Cat's Eye: The Movie

Title: Kisarazu Cat's Eye: The Movie Release date: 11/2003 Genre: Comedy Cast: Okada Junichi, Sakurai Sho, Okada Yoshinori, Sato Ryuta, Tsukamoto Takashi Plot: Bussan (Junichi) is dying. His doctors continually tell him that he has six months left to live. Instead of being depressed, he lives life normally with his friends. What is good: There are some very funny moments. What is bad: The beginning of the movie is rather confusing. Letter rating: C+ Overall: I should start out by confessing that I have not watched the 9-episode drama that goes with the movie. This was just something I plucked off of Netflix without any expectations. As such, I was terribly confused for the first 45 minutes. Perhaps, if I was familiar with the series, I might have understood what was going on. Either way, the movie really picks up in the last half of the film. Once you can piece everything together and see how each event relates to other events, the movie is quite fun! I actually found myself staying up way past my bedtime just to find out how it ends. (I rarely stay up past my bedtime. I like sleep.) Now I need to track down the series so I can see what other adventurous mishaps this gang gets into!

JDorama review: Tokkyu Tanaka San Go

Title: Tokkyu Tanaka San Go Also known as: Tanaka Express 3 Broadcast date: 4/13/07 - 6/22/07 Number of episodes: 11 Genre: Romantic comedy Cast: Tanaka Koki, Kuriyama Chiaki, Tsukamoto Takashi, Akiyama Ryuji, Kato Rosa, Hiraiwa Kami Plot: Tanaka Ichiro (Tanaka Koki) is a big talker. While he claims to be a "big shot," he is, in fact, a ronin-turned-freshman at a third-rate university. He accidentally meets Meguro Terumi (Kuriyama Chiaki) and declares her his "personal heroine." After befriending two tetsu (train fanatics), the three men find themselves trying their best to romance Terumi and her friends while finding their way in life. What is good: The writing was excellent. You learn a bit about the tetsu way without going completely overboard. What is bad: The first episode is pretty terrible. Letter rating: B+ Overall: This show was recommended to me by a friend. After watching the first episode, I thought maybe she had lost her mind or something. However, from the second episode on, I fell in love with the characters and their personalities. At first, Ichiro is extremely annoying but once you learn why he acts the way he does, it's difficult to dislike the guy. I'd love to really talk more about the show and why I enjoyed it but that really requires a lot of spoilers since the show revolves around the relationships of the three main characters. All I can say is watch it. Don't let the first episode fool you. This really is a great series.