Saikou no Jinsei no Owarikata~Ending Planner~ Review

Title: Saikou no Jinsei no Owarikata
AKA: Ending Planner
Genre: Family
Episodes: 10
Broadcast period: 2012-Jan-12 to 2012-Mar-15
Cast: Yamashita Tomohisa, Eikura Nana, Maeda Atsuko, Chinen Yuri, Ono Ito, Mikami Kensei, Hashimoto Mami, Okamoto Rei, Otomo Kohei, Isono Kiriko, Kikawada Masaya, Shiomo Sansei, Kanie Keizo, Sorimachi Takashi, Yamazaki Tsutomu, Tamamori Yuta, Anne ...

Ihara Masato has never really liked his family, or his family's business. He is the older brother of two girls and a boy, and has a stepbrother. His father own a funeral service shop which has always caused trouble for Masato. He moved out, started to work on his own, and cut off all connection to his family. One day his father dies and the business is left to him. His father told him to close down the business but as he takes on one case he starts seeing the business in a new perspective. He decides to continue with the business and tries his best to support his family while his older step-brother is away.

It is the very typical kind of drama. And I dont mean the story but just the way it is. It wasnt amazingly interesting to watch it was just okay. Not bad but not that interesting theme either. I mean, yeah it has a great message and all but I wasnt laughing nor crying or anything at all throughout the drama, maybe it's just me though. Of course I just watched because "hey yamapi made a new drama" . Yamapi was okay, there was one scene which made me think he's a bad actor but the other scenes I was probably fan-blinded hah. So, good drama if you're up for funerals and yamapi.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

GOLD Review

Title: GOLD
Genre: Drama, Family, Sport
Episodes: 11
Broadcast period: 2010-Jul to 2010-Sep
Cast: Amami Yuki, Nagasawa Masami, Mikami Kensei, Matsuzaka Tori, Takei Emi and Sorimachi .

Saotome Yuri (Amami Yuki) owns a major sports gym and aesthetic salon. She is famous for the way she raises her children and is often called on TV shows to talk about her point of view, which are also written in books that she writes. Her older brother was an athlete, almost going to the Olympics, but unfortunately ends up in an accident. This leaves Yuri with the desire to fulfill his greatest wish to get gold, so she raises all her children to become athletes, be it swimming or running, just so that they can get gold. This sounds rough said so bluntly, but the wish to get gold is not only Yuri’s dream, it became the dream of her children as they grew up under her strict rules and ways of living.
Their lives change when suddenly situations happen of which they had not expected…

I started this drama mainly because of the cast: Amami Yuki (BOSS, Queens Classroom, Kaiji) and Sorimachi Takashi (GTO) are two of my favorite ‘non-idol’ celebs and actors. It was like those typical Japanese dramas with the typical touching speeches occasionally, so didn’t really expect much of it. Seriously, this drama caught me off guard. It really didn’t expect it to be so mature and tough, like really. It’s very serious, and very harsh sometimes, made me go like ‘whaaaat?’. On the other hand, it had its downs, like sometimes the actors weren’t really expressing the character that mainly happened in the beginning, but towards the end it became somewhat crazy. I mean wow, I thought they would all end up in some mental institution if they continued… I actually am not sure whether or not to recommend this, because the drama is, especially for j-dorama fans, very serious (like Last Friends kind of serious, maybe one or two inches more). And if you don’t have patients you’ll stop watching it, like immediately.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts