Suikyu Yankees Review

Title: Suikyu Yankees

AKA: Water Pool Yankees

Genre: School, Sports, Romance

Episodes: 10

Broadcast period: 2014-Jul to 2014-Sept

Theme song: Ashita e no YELL by Hey! Say! Jump!

Cast: Nakajima Yuto, Takaki Yuya, Ohara Sakurako, Yamazaki Kento and Oomasa Aya.

At a very young age Inaba Naoya (Nakajima Yuto) is saved by a Yankee who tells him life changing this, including never giving up on anything without trying. Living by those words for 10 years, Naoya returns from America to Japan, to the school where his idol went: Kasuminroi Technical High School - or Kusu High School. Here he decides he wants to take the ‘top’ and rule over the school, but the students of Kusu High School are not the Yankees that they used to be. To make things worse the school is to be closed down, due to its unpopularity and since the school loses out in both grades and reputation against Suiran High School.

Looking for the current top he faces off Mifune Ryuji (Yamazaki Kento), whom he believes is the ‘top’ of the school.  Unable to take him serious Ryuji brushes him off, having much more important things on his mind: Kitajima Torao (Takaki Yuya) a student at Suiran High School. Ryuji and Torao were best friends once; both loving to play water polo, but for some reason Ryuji quit and refused to play it, making Torao becoming the town’s hero (for making the town popular after winning championship).  When Toraos teammates beat up some of Naoyas classmates, Naoya decides to go head to head with Torao in order to pay him back - but Torao has one condition: it has to be water polo.

After the battle Naoya realizes one thing: he can save his school by beating Suiran High School, but first he has to recruit members to the Water Polo club…

I never liked these kinds of dramas with swimming sports, also one of the reasons I never finished Water Boys. But this drama is really funny, and I finished it in one go. It’s really my cup of tea and the water polo part is not so bad. I am just annoyed with the love stories, which I found boring - even though they were trying to make it interesting. Takaki Yuya and Nakajima Yuto are so grown up T_T, I kind of like it *_*. Their acting is great too, but that’s Johnnys for ya :P The rest was okay too, and the trio were soooo funy omg.

Okay sorry fan girl mode. Anyways, good and funny drama.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Kamji’s Verdict:
I was looking for something light, entertaining, Japanese (yep ! The “Japanese”part is really important because I just wanted something real, something human, something only Japan know how to do..) to lift up my spirit which isn't feeling at the best at the moment. And I’m surprised that this drama entirely fulfill those goals. And there were so much more in it. Let's get one thing straight: It's not the best dorama out there, it's not amazing but by god was this wholeheartedly entertaining, fun and just what you want from a Summer Drama!! Johnny's, Johnny's everywhere. The only down I can actually pick out is, I personally felt the romance aspect was unnecessary. The romance (all like 5 of them!) added nothing to the drama and weren't needed. All this dorama needed was a bunch of guys being the best friends ever and that's what I got and I loved it!

☆☆☆☆½ / 4½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥½ / 4½ out of 5 hearts

Resident Review

Title: Resident

AKA:  5-nin no Keishui

Genre: Medical

Episodes: 10

Broadcast period: 2012-Oct to 2012-Dec

Cast: Naka Riisa, Hayashi Kento, Masuda Takahisa, Oomasa Aya and Ishibashi Anna.

This story is about residents becoming doctors, at their very first practice after passing the exams, and their 3 months in Emergency medicine. It follows 5 residents: Miyama Shizuku (Naka Riisa) a strong headed and opinionated lead that believes doctors should do more than just save their patients. Yazakawa Kei (Hayashi Kento) is top of the bunch with an arrogant attitude, but is most like a doctor. Manaka Junichi (Masuda Takahisa) son of a doctor family that owns a hospital, but different than his family he is over caring and lacks confidence. Koiwa Hinako (Oomasa Aya) who is focused on her looks and prefers not to work too much as it can affect her skin, and is rather selfish. Lastly Shinjo Sachi (Ishibashi Anna) a strict and straightforward girl, who doesn’t like halfhearted or lazy people.

Together they learn, what it is like to be a doctor and what it takes, but also what the limits are of being a resident, as well as a doctor…

I had been waiting for this drama for so long, mainly because of the subbers, not that I blame them for taking so long, but I have wanted to watch it and I finally did. I could not keep my eyes off it as I finished all 10 episodes in one go. The story is good, and yes Masuda is here (my main reason for starting this), but I was head over heels for the love story for the two side characters Shinjo and Yazakawa. Besides it being a serious drama with actual realistic stories, I loved that we saw the real world of the residency. I mean I know residents and interns have it hard, but I was kind of surprised of how small they were and how easy they get blamed for, of course not being deemed responsible, but someone expecting to know how to do things without having any experience is really mean and though.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but I am going to say this: a great drama with a realistic view of residency.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥½ / 4½ out of 5 hearts

Kamen Teacher Review

Title: Kamen Teacher

Genre: School

Episodes: 12

Broadcast period: 2013-Jul to 2013-Aug

Theme song: Luv Sick by Kis-My-Ft2

Cast: Fujigaya Taisuke, Omasa Aya, Saito Takumi, Kyomoto Taiga, Lewis Jesse, Kikuchi Fuma and Kishi Yuta.

“In the year 20xx, corporal punishment and guidance by teachers was banned. Since then, teachers lost power. Schools became lawless. In order to correct this situation, the government put an educational reform program into effect. In order to correct the delinquents, to control everything with fear through power, special teachers were dispatched throughout the whole nation. They are called: Kamen Teacher.” (Intro of drama)

Araki Gouta (Fujigaya Taisuke) is a teacher with a high spirit. At his first day at work, he is met by teachers who refuse to get involved with their students and a class full of delinquents that beat him up, but that doesn’t bring him down, since he firmly believes that his students are good deep down. He is told that in the very class they are a group called M4: ‘Money Man’ aka Bon (Kyomoto Taiga) a rich brat who uses money for popularity, ‘Mad Man’ aka Kotaro (Maeda Goki) who threatens and blows up all the time, ‘Ice Man’ aka Ryota (Yanagi Shuntaro) an expressionless guy who everyone fears and ‘Shadow Man’ aka Shishimaru (Kishi Yuta) who works behind the scenes. Besides those 4, there is the school top, Takehara Kinzo (Kikuchi Fuma).

When the students can’t be faced by teachers, Gouta secretly them on as Kamen Teacher…

Lol, I started this because I was in the mood for high school dramas, and this had delinquents in it, so I went what the hell. But that thing with the ‘Kamen Teacher’ was a bit bizarre. I liked it honestly, and I was looking forward every single week to watch it. It is short, and it is really silly to some extent, but that’s the charm I guess. It is in the same category as Sugarless, like those C rated dramas that doesn’t really have the screen play nor the decent story plot, but manages to make you happy. Or me at least.

So to sum up, I can’t really recommend it, but if you liked the manga this won’t be a waste of time :)

☆☆☆ / 3 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out 5 hearts

Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri Review

Title: Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri

Genre: Detective, Comedy

Episodes: 11

Broadcast period: 2012-Apr to 2012-Jun

Theme song: Your Eyes by Arashi

Cast: Aiba Masaki, Fujiki Naohito, Okura Tadayoshi, Oomasa Aya and Matsuko Deluxe.

Katayama Yoshitaro (Aiba Masaki) is a detective really unsuitable for the job: he is afraid of heights, blood and women. He loves doing housework, is incredibly naïve, believing everyone, and is very gentle and too nice. Being forced to be a detective by his older brother Katayama Hiroshi (Fujiki Naohito) and younger sister Katayama Harumi (Oomasa Aya), due to the family’s percept “One family, one detective” meaning that there is every generation has to be one detective. Hiroshi dreams and strives to become a novelist, and Harumi is working part-time jobs dreaming of becoming an actress. The two basically don’t let Yoshitaro quit his job so the two can do whatever they want, even when Yoshitaro takes a resignation letter to his boss, the siblings make sure to go to his workplace and take back the letter.

After his 4^th failed resignation, he and his fellow co-worker detective Ishizu (Okura Tadayoshi) are assigned to go to a girl’s school, where Yoshitaro sees a cat. He is warned about the cat having a reputation of scratching and biting people so no one wants it, but when he approaches the cat, nothing happens. The cat is introduced as Holmes, and when he takes it home he is surprised to see the cat transform into a human form (Matsuko Deluxe), but only in front of him/in his eyes. When a murder happens in the same school Holmes helps Yoshitaro, and slowly Yoshitaro becomes better and better at his job.

This is a very family oriented drama, which focuses on making the audience guess who the killer is. Presenting the evidence do that everyone understands, and having a family discuss the issues makes the audience get involved and helping them guess the methods and reasons. The cats as ‘Holmes’ gives it a humorous side to it, and having the lead actor not being interested in being a detective makes it funnier than usual police dramas. This drama suits Aiba the most, and fits his personality almost perfectly.

I did enjoy this mainly because it’s not as annoying as the typical dramas, and it’s very light, meaning a great break from all other dramas. A good Japanese drama.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Misaki Number One!! Review

Title: Misaki Number One!!
Tagline: The number hostess at a Roppongi Club becomes a passionate high school teacher!
Genre: School
Episodes: 10
Broadcast period: 2011-Jan to 2011-Mar
Theme song: Nanika Hitotsu feat. JAY'ED & Wakadanna by JAMOSA
Opening song: No.1 (FIRE BEAT) by Kis-My-Ft2
Cast: Karina, Fujigaya Taisuke, Kitayama Hiromitsu, Oomasa Aya, Ichikawa Tomohiro and Ohno Takuro.

Tenonji Misaki (Karin) is known as the number one hostess in the Southern Sea Host Club, where no matter who or which kind of guest it is, she would be able to send every customer home with a smile. One day she finally gets a letter, saying that she has been accepted as a teacher at Mido High School, but when she arrives at the school she is given the position as the home room teacher of 2-Z, the yankees. She finds out that the students are outcasts, who the vice-principle has put together, so they hopefully would leave one after another. The students have lost all faith in the school (and teachers), and refuse to return to the school.
Being a ex-hostess, Misaki does not see the yankees as outcast, but as students, so she takes on the fight to help them realize their worth…

Weeh! Another Yankee class, iih! I so love these kinds of stories, heart-warming, likeable, and not to mention the huge amount of eye candy.. hmmmm~~<3 Lol, but seriously every 'bad-students-need-good-teacher' dramas have insanely good looking guys in it, and not just 1, at least a handful! swoooon...
The story was good, actually little more believable than Gokusen, but still a bit, how do I put it... absurd? Lol, then again it's all about prejudice, when we think: how can a ex-hostess be a teacher, and how can a future yakuza head be one.. not that it would ever happen---
I loved and enjoyed it, typical? YES! But not really lecturing, more... encouraging! :P Anyhow.. Recommended if you enjoy ANY school drama... And GOD, how I miss these kind of dramas... :/

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥♥ / 5 out of 5 hearts

Jenji's verdict
For another japanese drama about high school they... did a really god job! yup yup i know, all those high school dramas remind of each other but still this one managed to pull it out. I watched the first episode and thought yaaaaay! another one of those gokusen-like-dramas, but! it waaaasnt reeeeally as i expected it would be, maybe because Bunji kept saying "oh my god oh my god its go good you gotta watch it ! it might,, even,, be better than ,,, gokusen" and i thought "wooooahh, this gotta be good" you know. But again for me, somewhere in the middle lost that,, ..thang. It got better later on, but for me it wasnt like gokusen, maybe because gokusen was one of my first, and like daebak for me. So it would definitely get top grades for quality but my personal opinion,, not bad but not best! but the plus, as Bunji says, no preaching! Gokusen had too much preaching and everybody just listen,. Much better in Misaki nr 1 !

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½/ 3.5 out of 5 hearts

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge Review

Title: Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge
AKA: The Pefect Girl Evolution
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Episodes: 10
Broadcast period: 2010-Jan to 2010-Mar

Theme song: Love yourself ~Kimi ga Kirai na Kimi ga Suki~ by KAT-TUN
Cast: Kamenashi Kazuya, Tegoshi Yuya, Oomasa Aya, Uchi Hiroki and Miyao Shuntaro.

The story revolves around the four most populat guys in college, Takano Kyohei(Kamenashi Kazuya), Toyama Yukinojo (Tegoshi Yuya), Oda Takenaga (Uchi Hiroki) and Morii Ranmaru (Miyao Shuntaro). All four are handsome, and have each a title given by the girls in the school; Takano: No 1 with the manliest body, Yukinojo: the no 1 guy you would love to snuggle with, Oda: the no 1 sexist guy in a bathtub and Ranmaru: no 1 most seductive guy. They have a HUGE number of fans, and stalkers. They are so popular, that they fear valentines day. All four are friends, and share a "share-house" together, where their landlord is the son, a 8 year old kid, of the landlady. Takano has always had problems with getting to pay the rent since he always gets into trouble because of his looks. All turns head over heals, when the landlady says, that if they turn her niece, Nakahara Sunako(Oomasa Aya) into a 'Yamato Nadeshiko"(a perfect lady) the rent will be for free, but there is a catch. She is a Hikikomori (a person who is withdraw from socity) and is afraid of 'light beings', and she love horror movies, and LOVES sculls and dark rooms..

This drama was huge fun (dont remember laughing out loud this much since My Boss My Hero), and the characters were great as well. I dont like Kamenashi as a person, but he is great as Kyohei, the loud-short-tempered-fella-with-a-complex-about-his-face. The character fitted him well, and he is good at acting aswell. Tegoshi I LOVED. His sweet-cute-girl-looking-chibi-voiced character was to die for. Whereas Kyohei is strong, Yukinojo was a weakling you would cuddle to death. Im used to weird Tegoshi and cool Tegoshi, seeing him in this role made me like him even more. Uchi as Takenaga was superb. The role fit him well, and I was glad seeing him on screen again. The one I liked the most must have been Miyao as Ranmaru, the ULTIMATE player which was the most fun. His character of the pretty, but weird. The role as the player fitted him EXTREMELY well. Oomasa as the hikkomori is REAL fun and she does it with SUCH an easy, you would think she was one (hint: shes a model). To sum up, fun and sweet. If you like J.E Boys or just goodlooking guys in general, and you want a great laugh, this would be your pick..

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥½ / 2½ out of 5 hearts

Jenji's verdict
Haahaahaaaaah... Lol this drama.. It was weird, funny, cute and soooo much more. There were "eeeeeh?" 's , "wahahahhahahahah!" 's , "woooaaah" 's and .....'s . Now if you are looking for a comedy you've just gotta watch this one. Plus it got like Kamenashi-kun and Tegoshi-kun in it. Well Tegoshi plays the sensitive guy and he is really cute and all but Kame,, Omg,, even though he is supposed to be like the tough guy and all,, dude he made me cry so bad at the end. Never judge a bad guy bad!! haha ! They got a really gooooood reason to be as they are. It was seriously so frickn sad!! >< . ayaaaaa,,, how can someone treat a person like that. I mean i get it it is stressful to be pretty aso but still.. A mother is a mother and a child needs his mother . What is up with those parents.. ufff... They got no right to do that to him.. aaaagh... >< .
And the girl.. hahahah I thnk she's just a bit stupid. Hehehehe. U see she liked this guy when she was younger and he like told her he doesnt like ugly girls then she freaked out and started liking.. horror things.. i mean theres nothing wrong with horror. its just the reason why she ..turned to horror. And so Kyohei (Kame) gotta make her a lady so he doesnt 've to pay his rent, and at first that is all he thnks about. But later on he starts to like her.. ^^ and well just watch it. Its one of those japanese drama u gotta watch .
I agree with Bunji's... rate.
♥♥♥ hearts