ATARU Review

Title: ATARU

Genre: Comedy, Mystery, Police

Episodes: 11 + 2 SP

Broadcast period: 2012-Apr to 2012-Jun

Cast: Nakai Masahiro, Kitamura Kazuki, Kuriyama Chiaki and Tamamori Yuta.

Arriving from America a Japanese guy (Nakai Masahiro) with autism gets lost from his guardian, overhears the news on TV of a man dying in a blast seen as a suicide, and decides to go visit the murder scene. There he encounters police woman Ebina Maiko (Kuriyama Chiaki) who is pretty famous as the ‘face of the police’ since she is doing add for the police. Wanting to be recognized as a real police woman she wants to solve the case believes it was a murder, and not a suicide case. Her friend and superior Sawa Shunichi (Kitamura Kazuki) keeps telling her not, since she might get fired, and he with her because he had recommended her for that position.

The guy and Ebina meet and somehow he keeps giving her hints of how to deal with the case, by telling her hints, ending up solving cases that even the police were unable to figure out. At the same time his guardian is desperately trying to find him since he is more than just a man with autism…

I really found this quite interesting even though the main story was a bit boring, each side story was kind of fun. The main cast was hilarious and the humor was awesome, and not to mention well-acted. Playing an autistic is not easy, and I was kind of blown away by him at the beginning, because I remember him as a tough guy, but then I remembered that there is no other actor able to pull that role off except for Nakai. I don’t really like the characters, but that is a person-to-person kind of feel, since I felt they were too ridiculous, kind of reminded me of MR. BRAIN drama few years back. Then again, I think they tried to make it a bit more light hearted than it usually is, and just add more light/heart to the side stories.

To sum up: a good fun drama, with quite the interesting story.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Ikemen Desu Ne Review

Title: Ikemen desu ne
Genre: Romance, Drama, Comedy
Episodes: 11
Broadcast period: 2011-Jul to 2011-Sep
Theme song: Everybody Go by Kis-My-Ft2
Related TV show: You're Beautiful
Cast: Takimoto Miori, Tamamori Yuta, Fujigaya Taisuke and Yaotome Hikaru.

This drama is the Japanese version/adaption of the Korean drama, You’re Beautiful.
Sakuraba Miko (Takimoto Miori) has devoted all her life to the convent she grew up in and is a soon-to-become nun. When the day for her, to get her ticket to Rome, to become a fully-fledged nun, arrives, she meets a man claiming to be her twin brothers, Mio, manager. He tells her that her brother has broken his nose in a fight, and that he needs 3 months of recovery, but he has to sign a contract today, with the super popular boy band A.N.JELL consisting: the leader and main vocalist Katsuragi Ren (Tamamori Yuta), the bassist Fujishiro Shu (Fujigaya Taisuke) and the drummer Hongo Yuki (Yaotome Hikaru). He asks her to act as Mio just for the day, and sign the contract. At first she refuses, but after thinking about her brother’s childhood dream of becoming a singer, and how big this opportunity is, she agrees. As she signs, she meets with other band mates, and soon finds out that the leader doesn’t like her being. After signing she is asked to join A.N.JELL for the next 3 months, just so her brother can recover and return. Shocked by the request and the fact that she has to share a house with three males, she goes to the airport and decides to go to Rome. But as she stands there, she has second thoughts: she finds out the reason for her brother’s wish to become a star, was so that the two of them could meet their mother.
So she decides to stay, and act out as Mio, only pretending to be someone is not as easy as it seems, not to mention pretending to be a boy when you are not…

I have to admit it’s pretty good, even though I don’t love it. Heck, I didn’t even love You’re Beautiful, so that makes sense right? Instead of saying it’s a copy of the Korean drama; I would rather say it’s staying true to it. We all know it’s adapted from YB, so can’t fuss about that.
I didn’t really have my hopes up for it, because it’s darn hard to beat the original A.N.JELL (Jang Geun Suk, Yong Hwa and Hong Ki), but they did a great job. The actor that was playing Geun Suk was neat; good pick, and nicely acted. He sort of made the character his own, amazingly.
I don’t know why, but I somehow had a different feeling of this drama; I felt that Ren (the Japanese Geun Suk) and Shu (the Japanese Yong Hwa) were, well, childish. And somehow that the character Yuki (Jeremy / the Japanese Hong Ki) was cool… I didn’t even fall for the the original, whats with that… Also, I don’t remember the supporting actress being such a bitch. Hmm…
On the other hand, liked the ending waaaaay more, and felt it ended decently. Recommendable, sort a..

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts