Five [ファイブ] Rating: 8/10 (Watched) Pretty good mindless spy drama, featuring five escaped female prisoners now doing secretive spy stuff for a Private Investigator/Bounty Hunter. The Bounty Hunter is the boss, and he sends the otherwise innocent looking girls out to do his dirty work. This took Food Fight's time slot on my local station and I don't like it as much, but it's certainly watchable. "Five" doesn't seem to be a very popular show, but I thought it was pretty fun.
Food fight [フードファイト] Rating: 10/10 (Watched) Food Fight is a great show. It was really the first dorama i watched and was the show that basically got me into more mainstream Japanese television. It's about an orphan all grown up that gives back to his old home by being the Food Fight champion. the "Fights" (actually eating contests) are held in the basement of the company where he works as a janitor. The orphanage only knows the man as Matsura the janitor that comes by to visit every now and then. But he is actually the "anonyomous donor" that gives a majority of his earnings from winning the eating contests. The relationship between Matsura and the orphans is very touching and the love/hate relationship between Matsura and a young lady working at the orphange (played by Fukada Kyoko) is added for comedic impact. She "admires" the anonymous donor, not knowing that it is actually Matsura, the man that annoys her endlessly. A fun drama with an action-packed premise. Highly recommended.
Musashi [武蔵] Rating: 10/10 (Watched) The excellent Kyogen stage actor Ichikawa Shinnosuke stars as Miyamoto Musashi, arguably the most famous swordsman in Japanese history. Musashi was a ronin at a time of samurai elitism. He was a painter, author (Book of Five Rings), and is the named creator of the two sword style. Although the series romanticizes and twists plenty of unprovavble tales, the characters are mostly historically acurate.
Of course, I don't really care much about that. I just care that this is one of the best "taiga" dramas to come along in a while. The story centers mostly around Musashi's "journey," although this journey is defined through his personal relationships; the most important being that of him and his childhood friends, Otsu (Yonekura Ryoko) and Matahachi (Tsutsumi Shinichi). This series is a must see. Ichikawa is absolutely riveting as Musashi, and the supporting cast (led by Tsutsumi Shinichi as Matahachi) is fantastic. Entertainment at its finest.
Saimin [催眠] Rating: 6/10 (Watched) Hypnosis stars SMAP guy Inagaki Goro as Dr Saga, a former pyscho-therapist who returns to work to help his pyschologically damaged lover, Yuka Aoi (Seto Asaka). The plot is similar to the film version of the show, and other movies (Angel Dust). The mystery surrounding the "Purple Butterfly Murders" and Seto Asaka's role are very entertaining. I like the eventual connection between the head therapist and Yuka as well. On the other hand, Inagaki Goro just bugs the hell out of me after awhile. Overall, it's entertaining but can be frustrating to watch, particularly since the notion of killing someone with Hypnosis is so rediculous to begin with.
Yome wa mitsuboshi [嫁はミツボシ] Rating: 7/10 (Watched) Perfect Bride was pretty decent. It centers around a recently married woman, Miyuki, who has wedded an architect, Makoto. Makoto is only seen through his emails to Miyuki as he is in Africa on business. Meanwhile Miyuki is dealing with Makoto's disfunctional family and their unending needs. Miyuki is eventually pressured into running her father-in-law's business due to the old man's poor health and crotchity attitude. I enjoyed seeing the whole new-wife-versus-crazy-in-laws relationship. The individual characters in the family are pretty funny and all of the emotion surrounding the eel shop is very interesting. The ending, however, is terribly sad and kind of a let-down after all of the light-heartedness throughout the series.
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Five [ファイブ]
