Shitsuren Chocolatier Review

Title: Shitsuren Chocolatier

AKA: Heartbroken Chocolatier

Genre: Romance

Episodes: 11

Broadcast period: 2013-Jan to 2013-Mar

Theme song: Bittersweet by Arashi

Cast: Matsumoto Jun, Ishihara Satomi, Mizukawa Asami, Mizuhara Kiko, Mizobata Junpei, Kato Shigeaki, Sato Ryuta and Arimura Kasumi.

Falling in love at first sight, Koyurugi Souta (Matsumoto Jun) spends most of his time around her because it makes him happy and he wants to make her his girlfriend. And after more than three years of courting he finally manages to date her for two months. But after being dumped, Takahashi Saeko (Ishihara Satomi), tells him that she never even thought of him as a boyfriend. When he comes home he spends days in his room, and while continuously thinking about her, he is reminded that she likes a special sort of chocolate which is only made in Paris, France. He then decides to leave Japan in order to work at the store making that very type of chocolate, so he can bring it back and make it for her.

Six years later he returns to Japan, looking forward to seeing her again, opening up his own chocolate store, only to find out that she is engaged to get married. But still he is not able to stop loving her, and when Saeko keeps sending mixed signals, Souta is getting confused. So he decides to change his personality in order to make her fall in love with him: to become a bad boy, which he believes is her type.

But when he meets Elena (Mizuhara Kiko) he is surprised to find out that he isn’t the only one with unrequited feelings, and for some reason he is able to talk to Elena like he never was able to do before.

Will his heart change for Elena, or will he make Saeko fall in love with him?

Another drama like Summer Nude, except this one made me hungry. The concept of being heartbroken was so deep in this drama I still am stunned that they had it go through all 11 episodes. I mean the beginning was kind of funny, but not only did they drag it on, they honestly made me dislike the main couple. I heard people disliked the main actress in the beginning and liked her later on. I did not like her AT ALL. I felt she was a brat from beginning to end. Matsumoto’s character was kind of okay in the first few episodes, but he got on my nerves. Honestly at the end, everyone got on my nerves. The entire drama did. Like a bunch of people not knowing what they want and having weird ideas of how to fix things or make others like them. Oh man. Though I liked the more realistic view of how these couples behave. Like no over protective personalities, or just simple kisses.

To sum up, I wouldn’t watch it again.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Hanawake no Yon Shimai Review

Title: Hanawake no Yon Shimai

AKA: The Four Hanawake Sisters

Genre: Family, Comedy, Romance

Episodes: 11

Broadcast period: 2011-Jul to 2011-Sep

Cast: Mizuki Alisa, Kanjiya Shiroi, Kawashima Umika, Kichise Michiko and Kato Shigeaki.

This story is about the four sisters of the Hanawake household as the second oldest sister returns to the house with her three children after third failed marriage.

Hanawake Takemi (Mizuki Alisa) is the second oldest of the Hanawake sisters and has three smaller children. She is beautiful, smart, open, and can get every man to do what she wants. This is also her problem: her husband gets jealous the moment she speaks with another man. After finding out that her current fiancé didn’t divorce his previous wife she decides to go home to her parents’ house. The three sisters on the other hand are not too pleased with that: all three hate her and refer her as “The Devil” especially the second youngest since she had lost several boyfriends due to her sister’s beauty. The oldest daughter is Hanawake Fujiko (Kischise Michiko) who doesn’t have time for men, mainly because she loves her job. The second youngest Hanawake Sakurako (Kanjiya Shiroi) has zero luck in men, meets a photographer Mashiko Shozaburo (Kato Shigeaki) who is somewhat a player. And the youngest Hanawake Ume (Kawashima Umika) starts to hate men after seeing how her sisters lead life.

Even though the sisters protest Takemi moves in and makes havoc wherever she goes, and everything starts get really messy when Mashiko gets interested in Takemi, and Takemi doesn’t seem to mind…

Hmm, when I started I really liked it since I didn’t know what to expect, but as I continued I had issues being satisfied, because I really was let down most of the time. Not that I was disappointed, but I had a hard time relating to the characters as they kind of made unreasonable choices and statements. Even though I like serious dramas, this kind of story with sister feuds and seducing I kind of lose my base, mainly because it doesn’t make sense to me. The cast is generally great with good actors, but when you make characters that are unlikeable, you would usually give them at least one decent quality instead of trying to make them sympathetic. But I guess they didn’t think of that.

So not to spoil anything I would say a okay drama with good moments.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Blackboard Part 3 - Yume SP Review

Title: Blackboard part 3 - Yume

AKA: Blackboard: Dream

Genre: School, Dreams

Broadcast date: 07 Apr 2012

Cast: Matsushita Nao, Kamiki Ryunosuke, Kato Shigeaki and Matsui Jurina.

This is the last one out of 3 stories about the school system changing in Japan.

Takizawa Momoko (Matsushita Nao), on the verge of a breakdown, runs home in tears after her pupils make a fool out of her. She has been bullied by her pupils ever since a student named Omiya Masaki (Kamiki Ryunosuke) begun to ridicule her and effecting the class. As she feels cornered and decides to jump from her terrace, but is pulled back by her mother, who talks sense into her. Not wanting to give up, she gets her act together and hits hard on the pupils actions. This she succeeds by intimidating the students with point loss and adding bad resumes if they don’t listen. Every student complies, except Masaki who says his famous line “I don’t understand”. When in class he refuses to do his assignment, Momoko notices that something isn’t right.

Maybe Masaki really doesn’t understand? This becomes the start of a row of misunderstandings…

Despite the fact that it reminds me of all other Japanese high school dramas, this one is much more a realistic story with the actual student issues. And the teacher really shows the hardships of being a teacher vividly. On the other hand the ending seemed a bit too cliché-ish, but that’s Japan for you. The characters, young and old, were portrayed well and show the growth of a young actor (Kamiki) which I enjoyed a lot.

That said, this is probably the one everyone would see considering the time.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

TROUBLE MAN Review

Title: TROUBLE MAN
Genre: Comedy
Episodes: 12
Broadcast period: 2010-Apr 2010-Jun
Theme song: BE FUNKY! by NEWS
Cast: Kato Shigeaki, Takezai Terunosuke, Iwasa Mayuko, Nakayama Yuichiro, Riju Go and Kino Hana.

Six people; Tokuda Kazuo (Kato Shigeaki) a mysterious man who sells insurance, Ozaki Tokio (Takezai Terunosuke) a yakuza who looks for his girlfriends killer, Ohi Makiko (Iwasa Mayuko) a gypsy who believes she can find the person responsible for her boyfriend’s death, Kameda Taichi (Nakayama Yuichiro) a geek with abilities, Tagawa (Riju Go) a weird man who lost his memory and Sasaki Tamiko (Kino Hana) a old woman who was once a robber, all living in the same resident, end up together in a huge mess, apparently be accident. But as they spend time together it seems that it’s not so ‘accidently’ at all.
All six are related to one another, by one person: the TROUBLE MAN.

I don’t really know about this one. It’s fun, but weird. It’s sweet, but awkward, so yeah unexplainable. But the idea was good, I mean the thought of all six being involved with each other and that you can’t face your demons, you have to live with them. Though I think it’s REALLY silly that there isn’t any real theme here. If you want to watch it, watch it so you don’t have to think nor have any concerns during the drama, it doesn’t really shake you nor hurt you. Watch it if you’ve watched an emotional drama, and want to slow down your beating heart and messy gut.

☆☆ / 2 out of 5 stars

♥♥ / 2 out of 5 hearts