Mop Girl Review

Title: Mop Girl

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy

Episodes: 10

Broadcast period: 2007-Oct to 2007-Dec

Cast: Kitagawa Keiko, Tanihara Shosuke, Asami Rein and Takaoka Sousuke.

“The day someone dies... the moment I touch their things; I go back in time. It's happened ever since I went into the special cleaning service. I have to do something, or else the person in front of me will die. That's the truth. I was able to go into the past and save the people who shouldn't have died. When time goes backwards, I get a ringing in my ears. I think back to the time when that woman died in front of me. Now, I'm always wondering what's happening? Why am I able to go back in time?” (intro of drama)

Hasegawa Momoko (Kitagawa Keiko) is a staff member at a wedding preparation company, but due to a mishap from her side, she is demoted and transferred to sub branch of the company called Little Angels. As it turns out the sub branch is a funeral home which specializes in cleaning. Being the hardworking girl as she is, Momoko decides to give it her all, but when she by accident touches an item that belonged to a deceased, she is sent back in time, a few hours before the incidence of the death. Will she save him?

One of my very favorite themes in ‘drama world’ and the general TV world is time travel. SO when I saw what this drama was about I had to watch it – no matter the age or background story. And now that I have watched it, I really didn’t mind the age nor the fact that rule no in the time-travel stories is: don’t change history. When I think about it, she isn’t really time traveling – only going back a day. So the future she came from never really happened. Which is, I guess why I didn’t mind the altering of the past.

Kitagawa is a favorite actress of mine, I don’t remember from when, but she is one of the few versatile and genuine actresses I know. SO this one was nice to watch as a fan. Even though the drama doesn’t really have a ‘mysterious’ feel as it tried to make it in the beginning, it was not all time of waste. But what happens when you don’t have a story throughout is that the climax just loses at the end. Nonetheless I enjoyed it.

So all in all, a funny and nice drama.

☆☆☆ / 3 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

HERO 2 Review

Title: Hero 2

Genre: Legal, Crime

Episodes: 11

Broadcast period: 2014-Jul to 2014-Sep

Cast: Kimura Takuya, Kitagawa Keiko, Sugimoto Tetta, Hamada Gaku and Masana Bokuzo.

Kuryu Kohei (Kimura Takuya) has returned to the Josai branch after once again being transferred. This time the office has gotten new prosecutors and new paralegals except two familiar faces. As always Kohei does his usual by causing turmoil in the office, be it his clothes or his way of investigating every case in detail.

This time around his paralegal and partner is Asagi Chika (Kitagawa Keiko) a fierce yet honest woman, who does not like to waste time or beat around the bush. She is very firm and likes to keep prosecutors on track, as she believes that is what she is supposed to do. That is until she meets Kuryu who helps her understand what it is like to work at the office and what her real duty is…

Finishing the (current) last of Kuryu Kohei’s story, the second season is better than all others I have watched. Not acting wise or not cast wise, but the overall story is better now if you ask me, and kind of has a better idea of what it’s like being in the office as a prosecutor - also in court. The thing that struck me both in the first season and the movie, which is also mentioned in season 2, is that the prosecutors are seen as bad in Japan: way different here where I live where the defense lawyers are seen as the bad guys.

Kimura as always does his job as Kuryu flawlessly and having Keiko on the cast makes it even better. The rest are quite brilliant as well, which I have no objections to.

All in all a great second season, and great cast.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Akumu-chan 2014 SP Review

Title: Akumu-chan Special
AKA: Nightmare-chan Special

Genre: Fantasy, Comedy

Broadcast date: 2014-May-02

Cast: Kitagawa Keiko, Gackt, Yuka, Kimura Manatsu, Hamada Mari and Momoiro Clover Z.

After the sacrifice and death if Shiki Takashi (Gackt), Mutoi Ayami (Kitagawa Keiko) and Koto Yuiko (Kimura Manatsu) are not bothered by anybody anymore - that is until Yuiko by accident looks into a girl’s unconsciousness.

At the annual "Difference in Age Cultural Exchange" Yuiko is reluctantly chosen as one of the representatives from the class, and arriving at the High School she looks into the eyes of the Student Council President. By that she has noticed her unconsciousness, and even has a prophetic dream about her: she is hurting her classmates, and even gets killed by Ayami’s Dream Prince. Scared by her nightmare she turns to Ayami-sensei, who unwillingly is dragged into the things again. But for some reason the nurse Hirashima Kotoha (Yuka) is involved in the dreams. How are things connected?

I remember Akumu-chan as one of my favorite j-dramas because of the story and the way the characters are portrayed. Also this is one of the few dramas that made me complete absorbed at the end.

So is the special good? Honestly, I thought it was pretty dull. I like Momoiro Clover Z, but I felt it was too much of an idol special. The entire thing had a bit of “lala” acting to it. Lol, now you are wondering why the rating is so high? It is so simple you are not going to believe it: Kitagawa Keiko. Seriously her acting is amazing here, and she seriously uses everything and pulls everyone with her, making everything brilliant.

The story in all was okay, and the theme was great too, so yeah I laughed and enjoyed it a lot!

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Akumu-chan Review

Title: Akumu-chan

AKA: Nightmare-chan

Genre: Fantasy, Comedy

Episodes: 11

Broadcast period: 2012-Oct to 2012-Dec

Cast: Kitagawa Keiko, Gackt, Yuka, Kimura Manatsu and Hamada Mari.

“A person's consciousness is at the tip of an iceberg. Within the soul, there is an infinite unconsciousness that spreads. Inside is where all the emotion, all the behavior and even time sleeps. This little girl's (Koto Yuiko) unconsciousness can connect with other people's unconsciousness. And when she sleeps, her soul awakens. Other people's ominous future becomes her nightmare and materializes in the real world.” (Taken from the drama intro)

Mutoi Ayami (Kitagawa Keiko) is a two faced elementary teacher, who pretends to be nice and kind towards everyone, but in real life doesn’t care about her students nor about her colleagues. Everyone around her sees her as the perfect teacher, except the school nurse Hirashima Kotoha (Yuka) who is jealous of her popularity.

Everything changes when a new transfer student arrives: Koto Yuiko (Kimura Manatsu) is a special girl living with her grandfather. When both grandfather and Yuiko see Ayami they are astonished, but they don’t tell why. Shortly after Yuiko asks Ayami to save an old lady from a fire, which is going to happen soon, since she saw it in a dream. Thinking it was a childish thought Ayami leaves it like that, until a house with an old lady is burned to the ground not far away from the school.

Ayami hurries to Yuikos house, and meets Shiki Takashi (Gackt), who looks exactly like her so-called “dream prince” she dreams about, whenever she sleeps.  Soon she finds out that Yuiko has a special ability and if she doesn’t hurry shell end up killing a student and die herself…

This is one of my fave dramas, like by far. I wasn’t that into it in the beginning since the CG was weird, but as the story does on it becomes really good, and you can’t not like it. Or I couldn’t at least. Keiko is brilliant, and even Gackt had his moments, but the actiong in this drama was okay even though most of them were kids.

This drama happens to be one of the few ones in which I had no clue what was going to happen. I was surprised, confused, intrigued and excited  - all at ones - without it becoming a dark drama.

I really recommend, even if you don’t like fantasy.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥♥ / 5 out of 5 hearts

Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de Review

Title: Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de
AKA: After dinner
Genre: Mystery, comedy
Episodes: 10 + SP
Broadcast period: 2011-Oct to 2011-Dec
Cast: Sakurai Sho, Kitagawa Keiko, Nomaguchi Toru and Shiina Kippei.

Being the only daughter of the mega corp. Hosho group, Hosho Reika (Kitagawa Reika) grew up spoiled and naïve, but that didn’t keep her from becoming a detective. When her butler from 25 years retires, a new one is given her: Kageyama (Sakurai Sho), who is somewhat different than her last one. When her annoying boss, heir to a small company who thinks he’s all that, Kazamatsuri Kyoichiro (Shiina Kippei), tries to solve a case and ends up with ridiculous scenarios, Reiko feels at loss. At dinner time she grumbles about the case and tells Kageyama about it, which ends up with Kageyama calling her a daft. Pouting she tells him that he is fired, but when he explains the he has figured it out, she swallows her pride and lets him stay. They end up solving cases together…

I had high expectations for this drama, mainly because of Sakurai Sho and Kitagawa Keiko as the leads, and it did start out funny and interesting, but I felt like the seriousness of this drama was nowhere to be seen. The balance between seriousness and comedy is really badly made, so I became confused. Through the entire drama you watch the same scenes, just differently set up, and not to mention let down of a climax. It’s funny no doubt about that, but I was freaking bored, even though I’m a huge fan of detective dramas! Really! Sho and Keiko were amazing in it, even though I found it lame, they were brilliant. And I have to admit, I’ve never really liked the entire butler-heiress coupling, but somehow, I really wanted them to have ‘those’ scenes together. There were NONE! Seriously in this drama I only liked the 5min intro and the 5 min endings, because of these two. Like the entire rest, 35min to be exact useless…

But don’t let the rating ruin your view, give it a chance, it’s just I’m not that fond of blank and repeat humor.

☆☆½ / 2½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Jenji's verdict
A quite fun drama, it was easy to watch and a bit fun. Not that long either, so it's not a problem watching. I enjoyed watching it from time to time, not something I finished in one go. It was my "break-drama", watched it when I needed a break from serious dramas. And again it was so japanese with the rich boss but the even richer detective, like a wanna-be drama which will never happen, just something to dream of but at the same time making fun of the idea. The detective part I totally didnt get sometimes, either it was really complicated and I'm not that smart, or it was just really exaggerated and didnt make any sense. And everytime Sho said "..aho desu-ka?" I felt like it was directed to me lol. Its really not a must but if you like Sho or Keiko go ahead and watch it, not that bad.

☆☆☆ / 3 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

LADY~ Saigo no Hanzai Profile~ Review

Title: LADY~Saigo no Hanzai Profile~
Tagline: I can see right through you.
Genre: Police, Crime
Episodes: 10
Broadcast period: 2011-Jan-07 to 2011-Mar-11
Cast: Kitagawa Keiko, Kimura Tae, Hiraoka Yuta, Sudo Risa, Kaname Jun and Yusuke Santamaria.

Even though Japan is scientifically progressing, such things as the police departments are lagging. Their focus relies on catching the culprit and getting the very first evidence against him, things like autopsy and profiling are very unknown.
Yuki Akira (Kimura Tae) has always dreamt of having a profile team help the police force with the knowledge of profiling. She chooses four people as her team mates: Kazuki Shoko (Kitagawa Keiko) a profiler from America with FBI knowledge and a questioning past, Kaname Jun (Terada Takehiko) a profiler with special knowledge in facial and body profiling, Shinbori Keisuke (Hiraoka Yuta) a code profiler who uses math and equations to profiler, and a genius hacker Okui Marie (Sudo Risa).
The team gets a lot of opposition from the police department, so the team keep fighting to prove themselves.

This drama has the typical ’police-drama’ feel to it, the only thing is that the theme is different. I love the subject Profiling, HUGE fan of the American series Criminal Minds, but different than the American series the Japanese is way more absurd. Like a lot of the killing creeps me out! You seriously feel like you have no idea what the maniac is thinking, plus you end up feeling bad for the psychos… Very Japanese :P
Keiko Kitagawa is awesomeness, I love her, the rest of the cast were good too.
The only negative in the drama is that the action goes up and down, sometimes I yawn, sometimes I creep, and some of the scenes, where it should have been terrifying or where you feel agony, you actually don’t feel anything. Lol, don’t get me wrong, they do have messed up scenes, but yet bad ones. It’s good, better than most Japanese police dramas. I recommend : )

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Tsuki no Koibito Review

Title: Tsuki no Koibito
AKA: Moon Lovers
Genre: Romance
Episodes: 8
Broadcast period: 2010-May to 2010-July
Cast: Kimura Takuya, Shinohara Ryoko, Lin Chi Ling, Matsuda Shota and Kitagawa Keiko

As the representative director of Regolith, a furniture designing company, Hanzuki Rensuke (Kimura Takuya) has become a cold-hearted and only has eyes for business. One day, as he ordered to shut down a factory in China, he meets a Chinese girl Liu Xiu Mei (Lin Chi Ling), and makes her a spokes model for his company. At first Xiu Mei is against it, but as he promises to let the workers of the factory work in his factory, she agrees. Back home, Rensukes best friend and most trustworthy companion, Ninomiya Maemi (Shinohara Ryoko), works as designer in Regolith, and is quite fed up with Rensuke using her as he pleases, but she simply can’t say no to him. When Xiu Mei comes to Regolith, he tells Maemi to make the ‘non-model’ Xiu Mei, into a covergirl. Rensuke’s right-hand-man Kazami Sai(Matsuda Shota), tries to woo Maemi, who seems to have someone else in her heart.
The top-model and woman who has the current crush for Rensuke, Ozaki Yuzuki (Kitagawa Keiko), hears about this new ‘flame’ of Rensuke, and decides to make life hard on Xiu Mei, much to the annoyance of Maemi.
As the two worlds of Rensuke and Xiu Mei collide, love blossoms, and Rensuke’s dream and world happens to go downhill, as problems arise..

A new record! A jump of 2 stars!! I started this drama with an interest, well mainly because of the Kimura & Shinohara pairing, like can you say AMAZING? But the drama goes on with the “transformation” for around six episodes, where the last two was the wakeup call, and that is long if you wait several weeks for each episode. But the ending and the two last episodes are pretty good, and I guess when you expected to make 11 episodes, and are told to reduce it to 8, you have a lot of loopholes and ALOT of explaining to do, which I think they did pretty well, considering.
Kimura’s acting is as usual well, but the star in this drama was Shinohara, aswell at Keiko, like great!
All in all, love it!

☆☆☆ / 3 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts