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

Lucky Seven Review

Title: Lucky Seven
Genre: Detective, comedy
Episodes: 10
Broadcast period: 2012-Jan-16 to 2012-Mar-19
Cast: Matsumoto Jun, Eita, Naka Riisa, Kadono Takuzo, Tanihara Shosuke, Fukiisho Kazue and Kaneda Akio.

The story revolves around a group of seven detectives in the detective agency “Lucky”. Tokita Shuntaro (Matsumoto Jun) is an unemployed part-timer (freeter) that doesn’t have any interests in work, and he’s a playboy whose M.O is older married women.  When he one day leaves the hotel with his lover a group of detectives try to get a picture of him and her. Sometime later the lover calls Shuntaro and explains to him that she can’t meet him because they go busted. Shuntaro happens to see a man he had met at the hotel at that exact time again, connects dots, starts running after him, and follows him to Lucky Detective Agency. There he finds out that the man he had run after is Nitta Teru (Eita), and that he can’t beat him in fighting. On the other hand, the boss Kirihara Yuki (Fukiishi Kazue) finds an interest in the ‘active’ Shuntaro and decides to scout him.

Okay first things first, this is probably the only drama ever that has such awesome fighting scenes! It beats ALL I’ve ever seen! I was a bit worried if Jun would make weird faces (which usually happens because of his face being, well special), but he looked pretty professional! Eita was just cool, he always is, and he didn’t let me down. The Jun and Eita pair was the best part of the drama, so good together, just a bit sad that they only were together for a few episodes… I loved the way the seven detectives (or should I say six most of the time) were together, really cozy somehow. I have to admit I was disappointed about the Eita part, like I said before, Lucky Six.. And another thing bothered me… The entire sensual tension between the boss and Jun, even though it wasn’t romantic or anything, it felt like they would start to make out the moment the talked to one another. But that was the boss’ character I think, like sensual in her own annoying way.. Didn’t even look or act much like a boss.. Anyway.. A good one, wasn’t that bored, only after episode six, it became ‘loose’, like not following the a real storyline, even though they tried to suspense it with the mentioning of the boss’ father’s case, didn’t really work for me…

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Jenji's verdict  
Really it wasnt bad, but not favorite either. I didnt have a hard time watching it, it was really okay, but only average for me. Even though I'm really fan of Jun and Eita, it wasnt "waaah!!". But thats how I felt, the drama is well-made, but not really anything extraordinary, nothing we havent seen hundreds of times before.  Jun's acting was very fine and Eita is really good ! Off camera he is so awkward I was really surprised to see that so he must be a real good actor. And I actually liked the relationship between him and jun in the drama. It was those people that annoyed one another who became best friends, always fun watching them "fight". The rest of the detectives I felt were too much in the background, but that might just be me. In the end I felt it was becoming a bit hard to finish. I think it was just a bit too weird though I liked the last episode (or second last, I dont remember). Sorry, but..

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts