jedrama

[jedrama]

Risou no Musuko (2012)

Risou no Musuko / Perfect Son : Review

Ayume’s Rating: ★ ★ ★

Ayume’s Summary:

“I’m not a mama’s boy. I just love my mum.” ...

Family drama about a mother, who really, reaaaally wants her son to love her enough that he will buy her a house when he’s older and she won’t have to rely on another man. Her son (Yamachan) reaaaally loves his mother and doesn’t ever want to leave her. Because they are poor (obviously) the boy transfers himself to a school with a bad reputation as it’s cheaper. There he meets another ‘mama’s boy’ (Yuto), and together they get beaten up. Yay! Because he (Yamachan) loves his mum so much, the bullies become his friends. (Yeah, I didn’t really understand the logic here, but ok, let’s just go along with it.)

Together with the bullies, and the leader of the schools’ beautiful face (Taipi - I may have not been paying attention to the story line during these moments so much), they overcome various hurdles. Such as; swapping families, worries about homosexuality (this would totally not pass in the UK), gaining random fiance’s, issues of mother abandonment etc etc etc... Oh yeah, and Kuma from Gokusen (Season 1) appears a lot and forces some gender-bending cosplaying. Yay!

Starring:

Yamada Ryosuke (Hey! Say! JUMP)

Nakajima Yuto (Hey! Say! JUMP)

Fujigaya Taisuke (Kis-My-Ft2)

Ayume’s Quick Review:

This drama was reaaaally easy to watch. Also, I liked all the random appearances by actors who I only know of as a particular character. e.g - Kuma and the attractive policeman who Yankumi has a crush on in Gokusen.

I didn’t quite get the random CG spirit animal each ‘fighter’ sort-of summoned, I don’t remember this being explained as such, but it looked anime-esque cool. ^^/

Acting was pretty consistent with the whole ‘delinquent school’ style, though the weird pale white guys with blonde hair from the rival school kinda freaked me out - I’m not sure if they were supposed to be foreign (?), or maybe they just sit indoors too much?

Oh yeah, and Taipi was beautiful. That’s to be expected though. ^___¬ ... I somehow ended up shipping him with the mother though. That was weird. Like, he’d become the step-dad of Yamachan at only 2 years senior. Actually, I would totally watch that as a drama!!

I gave the drama 3 out of 5 stars; acting was good, story was interesting, CG graphics were cool too .... but of course, there are other drama’s which I think are better (and this one did feel like it was kinda jumping onto the Gokusen bandwagon...)

[jedrama]

Summer Nude (2013)

Summer Nude : A Review

Ayume’s Rating: ★ ★

Ayume’s Summary:

Romance with a million-sided love triangle...

Boy is in love with Girl who disappeared 3 years ago and can’t get over her. Other girl has been in love with boy for 10 years. Girl who was ditched by fiance at wedding enters into the friendship group and boy who was in love with 3-year-missing-girl begins to fall for her. Geeky friend of group is in love with girl who has been in love with main boy for 10 years. New arrival pretty model girl is in love with geeky friend. Comic relief friend is in love with girl who was ditched by fiance and pretty model girl .... or is he really? Maybe he just doesn’t want to be left out...

By the end, everyone just needs to play a round of musical chairs to sort out their love life.

Starring:

Tomohisa Yamashita

Shori Sato (Sexy Zone)

Ayume’s Quick Review:

If you like confusing, frustrating love triangle dramas; this is the drama for you. If you don’t, I wouldn’t recommend watching this unless Yamapi’s face alone is enough to keep you captivated... (it clearly is for me.)

To be fair, after the first 5 or so episodes, this drama does pick up a bit. There are a fair few funny moments too and the actors are all pretty sound too. I just felt the storyline was weak, unrealistic and, above all, plain confusing. I often didn’t know who was together with who, and who was in love with who, and why they even were in love.

If you’re watching this for Yamapi, どうぞ～ He’s in it pretty much all the time and has many shirtless beach scenes... ^___¬ Recently I read that many people find Yamapi a bad actor, this surprised me as I think he’s probably one of the best JE actors! I’m seriously not a big fan of Yamapi in general, but I like watching him in dramas and films as I find him very genuine and his characterisation is always believable to me. But to each their own~

If you’re watching this for Shori....don’t. He’s barely in it and I feel his character adds nothing to the drama. Maybe they just wanted to use this opportunity to debut him as an actor alongside a strong sempai. I -think- he plays the girl who’s been in love with Yamapi’s character for 10 years’ little brother...but this drama confused me so much I can’t really be sure anymore.

I gave the drama 2 out of 5 stars. 1 star purely for Yamapi. 1/2 a star for setting (it was nice to see seaside countryside  ☀) and 1/2 star for all the other actors acting ability in such an irritating storyline.

[jedrama]

Dokushin Kizoku (2013)

Dokushin Kizoku / A Swinging Single : Review

Ayume’s Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Ayume’s Summary:

Rich man, poor girl. Rich man is socially awkward. Rich man gets pushed towards marriage by overbearing Aunt, but falls in love with poor girl who understands him when no-one else seems to. Poor girl however is dating Rich man’s brother, while Rich man has a fiance. - at it’s base, this is Hana Yori Dango but with adults rather than high school kids.

Starring: 

Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (SMAP)

Taisuke Fujigaya (Kis-My-Ft2)

With a special appearance by Yamapi!

Ayume’s Quick Review:

Okay, so I originally watched this because of Taipi, who has a much bigger role than I anticipated, so yay! I’ve never watched a drama with Kusanagi in before, but I was pleasantly surprised by his acting skills (As much as I love Matsujun, I think Kusanagi plays this type of character much more convincingly!) Even though I started watching due to Taipi, by the end of the first episode I was watching because of Kusanagi. (Taipi is still nice eye-candy though ^__¬)

This drama had me hooked pretty much from the start and by the end I didn’t want it to stop, (although some parts in the middle got me frustrated at the character’s actions, but I think that shows how much I was able to throw myself into this drama.) It’s funny, light-hearted but also quite mature and does deal real-life issues.

Yamapi appearing is also a fantastic bonus. He just plays himself, but that’s cute enough! Somehow I find his voice always very calming...

I gave the drama 5 stars out of 5, I’m honestly not a very lenient person, but this drama definitely ranks as one of my faves!

[jedrama]

ようこそへ、みんな～ ♔

I’ve been watching JE drama’s for over 10 years now and noticed there are still so many JE drama’s out there I haven’t watched - purely because I didn’t even know of their existence! So, as I make my way through one’s I’ve missed out on, and new ones, I want to share them with everyone and let them break out into the world! Let’s share the joy of pretty JE Boys!  ❤

よろしくお願いします！ ☀