Ouroboros Review

Title: Ouroboros

Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Action

Episodes: 10

Broadcast period: 2015-Jan to 2015-Mar

Cast: Oguri Shun, Ikuta Toma and Ueno Juri.

Growing up as orphans Ryuzaki Ikuo and Danno Tatsuya never had a place they called home, until they arrive at a children’s home run by Kashiwaba Yuiko (Hirosue Ryoko). The two grow very fond of Yuiko, due to her caring personality and big heart, and start seeing her as the only adult they trust.

Everything changes drastically when they one-night witness four men leaving a bleeding Yuiko, after shooting her. This leads them to vow, to find the men, take revenge, and kill them. Several years later, they both are grown: Ryuzaki Ikuo (Ikuta Toma) is a detective with a perfect arrest record, and Danno Tatsuya (Oguri Shun) is a don in the underworld. Waiting for opportunities and clues to find the assailants behind Yuikos killers.

After an alleged suicide, Ikuo arrives at the crime scene and becomes the partner of Hibino Mizuki (Ueno Juri). Soon they find out that the suicide isn’t a suicide, and suddenly the clues start dropping.

The two start their mission, now without caring about their capture…

This is one of the few revenge dramas that I’ve enjoyed in my 10+ years of watching dramas. It is a typical drama meaning a tiny bit cliché, but with good twist - had me wondering a few times. I like that it was delivered as it is, and was not apologetic about its characters. We were made aware from the beginning how things are, and how the situation will be. And yet we are wondering at the end, if there might be a better life for these guys in the future.

This is as said one of the few ‘revenge’ dramas I like, and funnily enough it once again stars Ikuta Toma (the other revenge drama I enjoyed is Maou in which he stars in). Oguri and Ikuta are amazing actors, so the duo is actually perfect in almost every sense. At first, I didn’t really understand Ueno Juri had to be in it - they didn’t use her characters potential at all, but she is interesting to watch, and a great actress, so it’s not a complete waste.

To sum up: a great drama with good plot and great screenplay. Recommendable!

☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥♥ / 5 out of 5 hearts

Sunao Ni Narenakute Review

Titel: Sunao Ni Narenakute
Tagline: Hard to say I love you
Genre: Romance, Friendship
Episodes: 11
Broadcast period: 2010-Apr to 2010-Jun
Theme song: Hard to say I love you ~Ii Dasenakute~ by WEAVER
Cast: Eita, Ueno Juri, Tamayama Tetsuji, Hero JaeJoong and Seki Megumi.

This drama is about five people; “Nakaji” - Nakajima Keisuke (Eita), “Haru” - Mizuno Tsukiko (Ueno Juri), “Linda” - Ichihara Kaoru (Tamayama Tetsuji), “Doctor” – Park Seon Su (Kim Jae Joong) and “Peach” – Nishimuri Hikari (Seki Megumi), who happen to meet over Twitter. The five of them have each different issue to deal with but one thing in common; none of them have real friends. Nakaji is a photographer who does his work half-assed and has an affair with a married woman, Haru is a substitute teacher, who simply can’t seem to achieve her dream, Linda is a magazine editor who has a relationship with his boss, Doctor is a salary man who sells medical supplies, and Peach is lonely girl who becomes pregnant with a married man.
The story follows their lives after they meet and become friends...

I can’t really decide on this one. I loved the theme and the beginning of this drama, the confusion, the loneliness and not to mention the different characters, but the drama becomes dragged after a couple of episodes. I think it’s around episode 8, everything becomes... Well, ridiculous.
I adore the main couple, it’s like superb, but if you don’t make any romantic scenes with them, the chemistry fails. I mean if you put super-couple(Last Friends giants) such as Ueno Juri and Eita in the lead, you would expect some more, and having Hero JaeJoong as the supporting actor couldn’t be better, but his character just becomes unnecessary. And the final long awaited scene comes, it just looses credibility, to be honest I didn’t even believe the lead actress liked the lead actor in the end.
The storyline is okay, I mean the whole twitter thing; like my brother says, “The-wish-of-Mr.Lonely”. But it’s true; I mean all five have lonely lives, until they meet.
Then again, I’m not fond of these dramas, these real life dramas. But if you liked Akai Ito and Last Friends, this would be a good watch.

☆☆☆☆/ 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥½ / 4½ out of 5 hearts

Engine Review

Title: Engine
Genre: Family, Comedy, Romance
Episodes: 11
Broadcast period: 2005-Apr to 2005-Jun
Theme song: I Can See Clearly Now by Jimmy Cliff
Insert song: Angel by Aerosmith
Cast: Kimura Takuya, Koyuki, Toda Erika, Ueno Juri, Nakajima Yuto and Arioka Daiki.

After being kicked out of the Italian race team, Kanzaki Jiro (Kimura Takuya) returns to Japan, to re-join the japanese race team. As he returns home, he finds out that his father has made the house where he had grown up in, to a orphanage, and the fact that he hates children doesnt help him with the fact that he is to live with them. Being a orphan himself, before he was adopted by his father, he feels with the children and accepts living there. Taking care of the children are a teacher, Mizukoshi Tomomi (Koyuki), a male nurse, a cook, his father and his older sister.
As he is rejected by the coach of the japanese race team, and he tries to solve the issues of his dream, he gets tangled up with Tomomi-sensei, and the 12 children; he learns from them, and they learn from him..

Hmm, looooove this one!! Instead of a high-school teacher being the one helping the students, it's a racer helping orphans or children that aren't being helped. I loved it, all of it. Loved Kimuras acting, him pairing up with Koyuki, who by the way looks stunning with him, the oldest and wisest of the children Ueno Juri, the over the top loud girl Toda Erika, the smart ass Nakajima Yuto, the overprotecting brother Arioka Daiki, the deliquent Ishida Hoshi and all the ADORABLE children! Gossh, I watched it several times. Thuss the ending was to sudden and we didnt really see how the ending happend (trying not to spoil), and the "what-happend-in-the-future-speech" was unnessesary. But I still loved it, and made me wanna start a orphanage myself, hehe.. *dreams of a japanese orphanage*

☆☆☆☆½ / 4,5 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Jenji's verdict
Okay. Kimura Takuya is... AMAZING. I cant believe it. He is sooooo guuuuuuuuud !!!! Ive had the drama on my pc for a while now and thn i watched it and im like "WHT HAVE I BEEN WAITING FOR" . Seriously there arent many of these kind of dramas. Those that give u such strong,, feelings. Like its a really nice story and i love that its an orphanage thats so cool, i mean its sad. But i think orphan kids are cool. Not that its cool to be orphan. I mean. Orphans are special and should be treated right. They should get all the support possible from people around them. And i loved the way Jiro handled them. Like anyone else he would. Like he so straightforward and i think that is why the kids love him. Seriously that guy he so cool. And the drama is okay realistic.. sometimes in dramas they kinda overdo it so you think "yeaa right as if tht would ever happen" but here they are okay. 


☆☆☆☆½/ 4.5 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥♥/5 hearts out of 5 hearts