Your Custom Text Here
I am a fan of Katori Shingo and there were references to this show in an episode of SMAP X SMAP so I knew I had to watch it. As you should know by now, it took me a long time to get through this series, even though it's only 11 episodes. There just wasn't anything to make me want to watch it. Yes, I loved the playful teachings of Zen (Katori, Taro (Matsuoka), and Ken (Kato) but it wasn't enough. I'm glad I watched it. I think it would have been better if it was a little longer.
The only reason I watched this show is because I have never seen a drama starring Inagaki Goro and I wanted to see what his acting was like. Since this is a comedy, I can forgive the blatant over-acting. It actually goes with the theme of the show quite well. Sadly, it is my beloved Koyuki's character that is difficult to swallow. The writers tried to make the main characters very different people. Norimichi is a responsible clean freak while Ritsuko is an irresponsible slob. When I say slob, I don't mean she is a little messy. If Norimichi doesn't clean up, their apartment is almost floor-to-ceiling trash. While I understand that it is supposed to show how different they are, I really don't think anyone could put up with Ritsuko's sloppy ways. However, in the end, I was interested to see whether they would get divorced or stay together. I'm just glad there isn't a sequel.
I am a big fan of Katori Shingo but I've never really watched any of his dramas. Luckily, I enjoyed it. I thought that all of the main actors did very well. Though, I have to admit that my favorite character was the bumbling Komatsubara Susumu played by Ohkura Koji. I almost wish he was the main characters of the series.
If you do decide to watch the show, keep in mind that it is about relationships. Therefore, the story doesn't progress particularly fast. Also, there are a few throwaway characters that are brought in to either cause problems or just fill some time. Neither of these problems are enough to keep the show from being entertaining.
Also, if you've watched Boss, keep an eye out for the cross-over collaboration. Boss will take over the drama world!
I absolutely loved this show, up until the final episode. Toda's acting as the naive Kanzaki was adorable. She really made you believe that the world would be a better place if everyone was honest with each other. Meanwhile, Matsuda was able to bring forth both the cynical and caring sides of Akiyama. The two of them got me hooked way faster than the plotline, which isn't awful but can get a little tedious at times.
The annoying part was that the final episode was so long. They recapped the entire series and added little snippets of what some of the off-screen characters were doing at the time. The additions made the long episode bearable but I don't think we really needed an entire recap of each level of the game. I wanted to fast forward through most of it but I was afraid I would miss an important piece of information.
In the end, that final episode didn't ruin the whole series for me. Not only did I enjoy it immensely, I am anxiously waiting to watch the second season. I hope it doesn't let me down.
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!
I heard amazing things about this show. Knowing how hardcore fans can get rabid about "awesome" shows, I can reluctant to watch it myself. I'm sorry I waited so long!
The show mostly revolves around Osawa. It flips a little between her personal life and her extraordinary detective skills. I'm happy that they didn't delve too far into either arena. The show would have sucked if it was based on "You can't get a husband." On the other hand, I think it would have been too dry if it focused solely on the detective work. It was a great balance between the two.
I'm not going to go into each of her subordinates individually because that would take way too long. I enjoyed seeing the transformation of Kimoto Mami (Toda) from a stand-offish loner into an actual part of a team. Since there is a second season on the way, I hope to find out a little more about Iwai (Kendo) and Yamamura (Nukumizu). They were great secondary characters but they seemed to get tossed out to make room for everyone else. I'd like to see them make their own transformations.
This is most definitely a must see. Don't wait!
Kawamura Tamaki gets rejected from every job except one. A customer service representative for a travel agency. Basically, she answers the phones and hands out complimentary tissues to passers-by. When her boss tells her that, as a new hire, she needs to learn everything, she mistakenly takes a task as a tour guide. Kawamura receives rave reviews from the customers and, as a result, gets a promotion. One of the perks of her new job is a company cell phone. Shortly after receiving her phone, she bumps into the company's number one employee, Tamaki Saori, and accidentally ends up switching phones with the woman. The company president thinks he is calling Saori to present a tour to an important foreign company when he is actually talking to Tamaki. Tamaki, thinking that he really is calling her, takes on the task.
Saori, on her wedding day, sees an old boyfriend, Kusaba Fumiya (Okada Yoshinori), and spends a majority of the day in her bridal gown running after him. Okada, as a representative for the foreign company, thinks he is supposed to have a business meeting with Saori instead of Tamaki. It all comes to a head when Saori arrives, still in her wedding dress, at the agency and the president rushes her off to the conference room to hold the presentation. Tamaki, knowing that the foreigners will be bored with the current presentation, shows up with a brand new one featuring photos from tour guide, Inoue (Gekidan). Saori hands the reins over to Tamaki, whose presentation is a smashing success. In the end, Saori gets married to her fiance and is about to have a baby, while Tamaki takes over many of Saori's tasks in the company.
With only two episodes, I figured Chance! would either be amazingly awesome or completely awful. Luckily, it is not awful. Horikita Maki plays the clumsy newbie very well. There wasn't a single moment where I didn't believe her circumstances, no matter how unlikely they were. Kuroki Meisa's character, Tamaki Saori, is very important to the story but she spends most of it running around in a wedding dress. Though, I suppose, we don't really need to know a lot about her since the story is all about Kawamura Tamaki. Fortunately, comic genius Gekidan Hitori is along for the ride as tour guide Inoue. Despite being a very short show, I found it extremely enjoyable. This is definitely something you should watch.
I was definitely excited when I heard that Shun, Mao, and Hiroki were doing a drama together. They are so awesome. Considering it had the "Dolittle" title, I expected some sort of animal talking thing. There wasn't any. It's simply a nickname because Tottori is good with animals and his name kinda sounds like Dolittle. Ah, well. Onto the review:
I have to admit that, for the most part, I enjoyed the series. It took me a long time to warm up to Tottori but, if you pay close attention, you can see that he's an ass because he cares for the animals so much. He thinks that their human caretakers are idiots and, most of the time, he's right. In one episode, a girl allowed her ferret to run free in the house. The ferret chewed on her slippers, swallowed some rubber and almost died. Yet the girl refused to take responsibility for it and when the ferret was well enough to go home.....yup, she let him run free again and the ferret got sick again. It wasn't until the ferret almost died a second time that she realized her selfishness. So, yeah, I felt that he had every right to be an ass to her.
On the other side, you have Hanabishi. He is very popular and works well with people. Yet he can't overcome a past trauma, stopping him from being able to operate. He does get along with Tottori so I'm not sure why the two of them didn't form a partnership. Hanabishi could diagnose the problem and deal with the customer, while Tottori operated and cared for the animals. I think that if they joined forces, they could have been way more successful than they would be separately. Instead, Hanabishi keeps shipping animals off secretly to Tottori's clinic to be operated on. The whole thing kinda makes me want to bang my head on the table.
Tajima is right in the middle of this. In the first episode, Tottori heals her prized horse. She can't afford his fee so, after failing to get hired for any of the jobs she applied for, she goes to work for him to pay off the debt. During her tenure at the clinic, she finds her purpose in life. Of all of the characters, she is the one that grows the most throughout the series. To be honest, without her, the show wouldn't have been nearly as good. There is a hint of romance between her and Tottori but not enough to overwhelm the series. At the end, I was glad that she realized that she wanted to go to school to become an animal nurse.
As a whole, the show is a little slow. There are a variety of animal patients so it was nice to see them work on more than just dogs and cats. However, there is a ton of politicking going on. That part annoyed me. Everyone was all "Let's help the animals!" but then would stop something because it was against an agenda. Granted, that is how things can be in real life. But this is a television show. It's not supposed to be too real!
Anyway, if you can look past Tottori's arrogance and Hanabishi's want to please everyone, it's a decent series. It's more about conservation and helping animals than it is about the humans. The best part is that it's different from most of the other shows I've watched lately. It was refreshing.
Yes, I watched another KimuTaku show. Sometimes I think these will kill me.
Once again, parts of the series are awesome. The final two episodes had me hanging on the edge of my seat. (Even though I really knew deep down that Takuya wouldn't lose.) Unfortunately, out of 10 episodes, at least 6 of them are completely unnecessary. The information has already been given to us but the story takes forever to relay it to the important characters. I would have liked the show better if they took the final two episodes and made those the focus of the show. Instead, we get way too many scenes of Shinkai wandering around the hangars' metal buildings. I get that Ayumi works there and he wants to see her. But you don't go wandering around those places!
ARGH. I need a break from KimuTaku for awhile. Hopefully, Oguri Shun will help ease my pain.
I was really hoping for some real closure with this movie. The boys would make it to Koshien and we'd see them kick everyone's butts in the tournament. Alas, we don't get to see that. We see the boys make it to Koshien but then the movie skips to their graduation. We never really find out how they performed.
That doesn't mean it was a bad movie. The two new characters, Akahoshi Shoji and Hamanaka Taiyo, are great additions to the cast. Without them, I think the movie would have felt repetitive since the team pretty much does the same thing over and over. I also enjoyed the actual graduation of the senior players. It was extremely heartwarming. There was more than one tear that came to my eye.
If you watched the drama, then you should watch this. It won't give you a ton of closure, but you will get some. However, if the drama wasn't your cup of tea, then you should be fine skipping this entirely.