Aogeba Toutoshi Review

Title: Aogeba Toutoshi

AKA: Brass Dreams

Genre: School, Music, Delinquents

Episodes: 8

Broadcast period: 2016-Jul to 2016-Sept

Cast: Terao Akira, Tabe Mikako, Mackenyu, Nijiro Murakami, Anna Ishii and many others…

Hikuma Koichi (Terao Akira) is a music teacher, strongly believing in involving all is students in all the performances they make, no matter how well they play. After having troubles with the music club Kanagawa Public Misaki High School invites Koichi to help them, in order to join the national competition. Soon Koichi notices the biggest problem of the club: the five members that don't want to return. The five had been a band, but due to other students ruining their performance, the five end up leaving everything that involves music. Because of their attire (being delinquents), no one wants them to return... except Koichi, who makes it his mission to get them back, and have all the students play at the contest. But it is not easy, as the five firmly refuse to return. How will it turn out?

Again, I apologize of the summary: I recommend you watch the trailer.

After watching almost every single Yankee drama out there, I kind of missed the genre. I tend to re- watch old ones, so this was a nice drama to come by, as it is new and fresh. I didn’t want another Gokusen, and this drama wasn’t like that.  Yes, there were Yankees, and a teacher “believing-in-the-students-and-so-forth”, but this one is a bit different. It felt a bit “heavy” as in quite an amount of emotions, I didn’t expect to feel. It took me on an emotional rollercoaster, I wasn’t ready for it. The cast was good too, much better than the average Japanese youngsters/newbie actors, so that contributed too.

The overall story was real, and I think this is one of those that is underrated, if you ask me.

All in all, a fine drama, with great cast, and decent story.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Page Turner Review

Title: Page Turner

Genre: Drama, Music

Episodes: 3

Broadcast Period: Mar-2016 to Apr-2016

Cast: Kim So Hyun, Ji Soo, Shin Jae Ha, Ye Ji Won, Hwang Young Hee, Kim Dong Hee, Kim Min Sang

Yoo Seul (Kim So Hyun) is a student of an art high school. She is a talented pianist and who won various contests, but is driven by her mother. Yoo Seul's mother wanted to become a pianist when she was younger, however she failed to do so, and that's why she's forcing her dream on Yoo Seul. One day, Yoo Seul has an accident, which results in that Yoo Seul may never play the piano again. With the help of her friend Cha Shik (Ji Soo) and Yoo Seul's rival Jin Mok (Shin Jae Ha), Yoo Seul begins to live a new life.

I did not expect to laugh as much as I did in a drama about such serious, earnest themes. But the drama has a playful tone to it, where characters in the world are very serious, but we’re able to see the irony and the humor in the moments. Man Cha Shik is such a great character. I mean, they’re all good characters with lots of potential, but Cha-shik is so lovable right away. He’s delightfully dim, but I like that it doesn’t necessarily prevent the depth in his character. The directing/editing/cinematography was on point up till the end. I would give this full hearts but I took off half a heart point because I had certain expectations of the ending that weren’t met.

☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥½ / 4½ out of 5 hearts

EXO Next Door Review

Title: Exo Next Door
Genre: Romance, Music, Comedy,Webdrama
Episode: 16
Broadcast Period: Apr-2015 to May-2015
Cast: Moon Ga Young, Park Chan Yeol, Do Kyung Soo, Byun Baek Hyun, Oh Sehun, Kim Jong In, Chen,

Ji Yeon Hee (Moon Ga Young) is a 20-something year old girl, who hasn't yet dated because she blushes terribly and is completely paralyzed when she's near a good looking boy. One day, four members of EXO (A univers-well-known idol group) are trying to keep a low profile, and move into the house of one of the member's grandfather. However, it turns out that EXO members house is right next door of Yeon Hee's house.

Hmm.. I can’t decide whether this was a success or  failure for me. In between maybe? It’s just that it was sooo silly and ridiculous… I mean, none of the members can act properly (I hope I don’t attract anti-fans), BESIDE D.O!! I mean wow, he got his own show going on in this one, I love him from other dramas, so I’m quite happy that he was in this one too. Plus, after all it’s a webdrama, and it’s not supposed to be so serious, so maybe I’m just used to serious dramas. But still.. it was silly cute. I got hooked, however it took me awhile to watch, but I’m happy that I’m finally over with it. The storyline was nice, while watching I rather hoped they had made it into a real drama. I'm not a fan of EXO, but that was really funny and nice to watch. The main couple irritated me sometimes, but they were adorable. I guess I want to watch more of them ^^.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Kanojo wa Uso Wo Aishisugiteru Movie Review

Title: Kanojo wa Uso Wo Aishisugiteru
AKA: The girl who Loved Lies (literal title)
Genre: Romance,
Origin: Japan
Release Date: December 14. 2013
Cast: Sato Takeru, Sakurako Ohara, Shohei Miura, Masataka Kubota, Kouki Mizuta, Koudai Asaka, Ryo Yoshizawa, yuki Morinaga

 Aki (Takeru Sato) decided to quit his band right before their debut, but he would still provide the band ‘Crude Play’ with his self-composed songs. He then decides to date Riko (Sakurako Ohara), who doesn’t know anything about Aki besides his humming. Their relationship was set on a test, when Riko decided to become a singer and all the lies were exposed.
A love story between a 25 year sound-engineer with a heavy depression, and a 16 year old high school student with a voice of an angel. These two meet and start a relationship based on lies, but how will this turn out when they are both entering the show business.

A beautiful, emotional and relaxing movie, exactly how I love it. There is no clichés, no drama, no dragging just 2 hours of emotions. I know it sounds crazy, but I’ve waited for this movie for quite a while now, but it just took them so long to sub, so when I watched it, it totally lived up to my expectations. I watched it after the drama Bitter Blood, so I was really shocked to see Sato Takeru, I totally forgot he was the main actor. But a nice surprise I must say ;)
All in all a totally worth-watching movie!

☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥½ / 4½ out of 5 hearts

What's up Review

Title: What's up

Genre: music, romance, school

Episodes: 20

Broadcast period: 2011-Dec-03 to 2012-Feb-05

Cast: Im Joo Hwan, Im Joo Eun, Kang Dae Sung, Jang Hee Jin, Oh Man Suk, Lee Soo Hyuk, Kim Ji Won, Jo Jung Suk, Jin Jung Hoon, Kim Mi Kyung, Kim Chang Wan . . .

We follow 6 freshmen students of the theatrical department at a university. Jang Jae Hun (Im Joo Hwan) is a youngster who spent most of his time out on the streets, often getting himself in trouble. One night he happens to get into an accident causing another person to get hurt. It becomes somewhat of an eyeopener and he regrets how he used to live. Right at that time he finds out that he is accepted into university, he decides that it's his chance to change and decides to enroll, not even knowing what he will be studying. There he meets his friends Park Tae Hee (Kim Ji Won) a young innocent country girl with a great passion for music which she got from her late father, Ha Do Sung (Kang Dae Sung) a young guy who loves producing new music despite his background and the lack of support from his family, the same goes for Kim Byung Gun (Jo Jung Suk) who comes from a family of doctors, but has decided to pursue music without the knowledge from his family. Lastly Oh Doo Ri (Im Joo Eun) who came to the school to find her freedom. We follow the friendship of these guys, through school and romance, trials and challenges, as they get to know each other and learn to stand up for one another. 

The drama is quite alright, it is not amazing but if I should compare it to for example dream high, dream high was much more about singing while this one focuses on friendship and life, not that dream high didnt. It did become a bit annoying in the end with some situations that were too.. dapdaphae.. and I think they didnt do much out of the ending as we might have expected. But I loved watching their friendship grow, and it did have plenty of funny moments. The heaviness just ruined it a bit.. it might have been too cliché but hey it is a korean drama LOL. So I think if you're looking for something a bit alike dream high but more friendshipish or lifeish then this would work for you.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Bunji's Verdict

The drama starts out with an amazing kick, though you already from episode one know what is going to be the ‘love problem’ in the drama. I have to say I didn’t think it was that dapdaphae compared to many other dramas I’ve watched (hint: Secret) but yes the few last episodes are a bit annoying with the love story. I did not expect it to be sad, even though they do show at the beginning what was going to be, but you sort if forget that while watching the drama. The friendship and the musicals are great - however it did remind me a bit too much of the movie Fame.. Which I can’t really understand why.

So do I recommend it? Yeah, it is a good drama.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of5 start

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Heartstrings Review

Title: Heartstrings
AKA: You've fallen for me / Neon Naege Banhaesseo
Genre: Romance, music
Episodes: 15
Broadcast period: 2011-Jun-29 to 2011-Aug-18
Cast: Jung Yong Hwa, Park Shin Hye, Song Chang Ui, So yi Hyun, Woo Ri, Kang Min Hyuk, Lee Hyun Jin, Im Se Mi . . .

Lee Gyu Won is the granddaughter of a famous Pansori singer, one of the top 3 traditional singers and therefore Lee Gyu Won has been taught to play the gayageum, a traditional instrument, she is also in a band called "Windflower". She is raised with discipline, her grandfather kicked her father out of the house because he had a passion for western/modern music. At school there is the "prince", Lee Shin, the guy everyone wants to be with, he is the leader of a band called "The stupid". Those two make a bet to see who will have more supporters, the modern vs the traditional. The two of them learn new things about those two genres of music and work together, end up liked each other.

This drama was so lovey-dovey, it was almost too much! I cant believe Im saying this, me who likes those dramas, it had lots of those cute couple moments. I guess the drama is more about the music, the collaboration between traditional and modern (the music is just AWESOME and if you like traditional korean + modern then watch this drama) than about love, or like the forbidden love because Lee Gyu Won's grandfather is like NO-NO modern music! But still it wasnt exciting like "aaa~eotokae". It reminded me a bit about dream high, but i guess there a just a few similarities, like competition, singing, acting and doing music. It was really cute and the actors are great too. I can recommend this drama if you just wanna relax and watch and dont want all those complicated ones that get you dont see a way out of lol. Its really simply and i gotta say dayyum like my jaw dropped when the two bands played together (i also enjoy traditional korean music kekeke)

☆☆☆☆/ 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥/ 4 out of 5 hearts

Bunji's Verict
Out of all Korean youth love stories, this is defiantly the freshest, but somehow it does not work for me… Why? I think there are a lot of wrongs, one of them is the main actress; she’s seriously become one of my least favorite actresses, I mean she can’t act… Or is it just me?! Yonghwa seems to try to act, but I guess if you throw a fish on dry land it’ll fight till the end.. And that drummer, who is also a member of C.N. BLUE, Minho I think he’s called, was not that great (I’m comparing him with other cute character actors…).. To be honest, if I were to choose the star in the drama it would be Yonghwa, even though he showed complete rookie performance…
BUT! It’s not all that bad, in the matter of the fact, it’s pretty good, and almost realistic..
I just felt like punching the director for doing this ‘great potential drama’ halfheartedly.. He just combined all possible clichés, and tried to cover them, FAIL! I felt that Yonghwas character used too much time, 7 episodes, on his first love, and woopty, suddenly fell for the main actress without any special reason, well at least he should have shown more of a love interest and in the previous episodes to be somehow conflicted between his first love (like he was going crazy over her people!!) and the lead. Omg, and not to mention how loose his character was, DIRECTOR = STUPID!
Anyhow, it’s sweet (sometimes an little too much) and has this amazing music.. If you feel like watching, do so, if not, give it a shot, Yonghwa deserves it :)

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Secret Movie Review

Title: Secret
Genre: Romance
Origin: China
Release date: July 27, 2007
Cast: Jay Chou, Kwai Lun-Mei, Anthony Wong Chau-sang, Alice Tzeng

Ye Xianglun is a piano player and a student in music. He transfers to a new school, a school for musicians and different artist. On the first day another student, Qing Yi shows him around. But later on he decides to check the school out himself. He walks into an old building where he can hear someone play the piano, a melody he hasnt heard before. He follows the sound and when he enters a room with an old piano he sees a girl. He asks her about the song she was playing but she tells him its a secret. Ye Xianglun becomes very interested in the girl because she isnt like the other girls at school. They start liking each other and one day he tells her to meet him after school in the room with the old piano. So while he waits for her to come he is playing the piano with his eyes closed. When he hears the door open and someone come in he points with his and on his lips, like he wants a kiss from her. She kisses him but then he realizes it was Qing Yi as he hears the other girl run away, she saw them kiss. Ye Xianglun quickly runs after her but isnt able to find her. So time pass by and he cant get in contact with the girl. Until the day of their graduation. He told her before that he would play a song for her on the day of their graduation and so she came. As soon as he saw her he ran after her. He tells her to meet him in their classroom. When he gets there she isnt there. And he asks some of his friends if they've seen her. And they go like "who?" then he says "remember the girl i was dancing with at ur party?" and they say "Dude u were like dancing with yourself" . Then he starts remembering everything, but he cannot understand . Was it all his imagination? Or does the girl really exist? What was the song she was playing? The secret?

I dont remember who suggested this movie to me, but daaamn. As i was watching it i thought it was like really nice and all. Especially when they played the piano it was really cool, and OMO they had like piano duels A-W-E-S-O-M-E!! Really its like ur jaw just drops. It goes like really fast. And it seems that Jay Chou was the director?? and the music was also by him. Cool. And there might even be a Secret 2. But where were i? oh,, i was thinking its nice and all and then , the point where he finds out that well.. how do i explain. She doesnt really exist. Then i got really confused. Like how and what and all.. But it was cool. And omg his father.. He is so cool. He's like a teacher at the school and he is like really strict. But people dont know its his son. But at home (Ye Xianglun and his father live alone) he is so much fun! like one of those father that are so energetic and when Ye Xianglun asked him a question he goes like "ill tell you if you dance with me" and then they start dancing FUN!

☆☆☆½/ 3.5 out of 5 stars.

♥♥♥♥♥/ 5 hearts out of 5

and as a bonus: piano: ☆☆☆☆☆!