Maison Ikkokuめぞん一刻– Release May 07

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:

Otonashi Kyoko (Ito Misaki) 伊東美咲 is the new manager of the rental house. Godai Yusaku (Nakabayashi Taiki) 中林大樹 is an all time drop out student that trying to get himself into the university. Godai Yusaku (Nakabayashi Taiki) 中林大樹 falls in love with Otonashi Kyoko (Ito Misaki) 伊東美咲 at first glance and wanted to be her boy friend. Due to his personal characteristic and intrusion of other house attendant, this has become a difficult task for him. Plus Otonashi Kyoko (Ito Misaki) 伊東美咲 is a widow, it makes thing more complicated. But still at the end they were able to become couple.

Feelings and comments:

A well written love story is always nice to read and watch. It doesn’t expired or disappear as time goes by. People will always remember a good love story. I read the manga version of this story before I watch this drama. So there isn’t much surprise to as I already knew the outcome. This comment is pretty much influence by the manga version but anyway I’ll just speak what’s in my mind.

This is a simple love story but there is a lot of misunderstanding between the two lovers that makes this story special. That’s the best part of this drama. If you can’t speak up honestly and straight to the point, people might receive info differently. If you love someone, you have to tell them and make sure that they understand it. If not you might waste a lot of time going around circles. That’s what makes love special and that creates what we call romance. Never the less it also creates a lot of stupid but fun occasion that we remembered the rest of our life.

Things that caught my eyes:

One of the actress name (Takahashi Yumiko) 高橋由美子 is almost the same as manga creator of this drama (Rumiko Takahashi) 高橋 留美子. The only difference is the middle character. It almost makes me think that the manga creator will appeared as special cast.

Japan Drama Rating:

Fan of Itoh Misaki 伊東美咲 should not miss this. It’s a comedy love story that fun to watch.

Purchase:

TV series

Japan Drama Preview:

Kaette Kita Jikou Keisatsu帰ってきた時効警察 – Release Jan 08

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:

Kiriyama Shuuichiro (Odagiri Joe) 小田切譲 is a policeman that works in office handling paper work. His hobby is solving cases that are legally expired. That means criminals of these cases will not be convicted due to expiration of legal time frame. His immediate superior always digs up some unsolved cases for him just for the sake of making conversation in the office to kill time. Together with the help of his friend Mikazuki Shizuka (Aso Kumiko) 麻生久美子, they started their adventure of solving cases.

Feelings and comments:

I’m sure there are lots of police cases that haven’t been solved all around the world. Making it a hobby to solve these mysterious unsolved cases are just unusual but interesting. It may sound fun and adventure but sometimes it might be a dangerous thing to do. Some things are better off left forgotten and seal away. The problem with humans is curiosity always trigger people to dig back into it. Answers are not important but the process of solving these cases is what people are going after.

This drama is only for those that loves comedy detective story. There is a lot of talking with no music background. It will pretty much bore you to death if you don’t like solving cases.

Things that caught my eyes:

Having a job that allows you to have so much time for your hobby is really a dream job for most people.

Japan Drama Rating:

Fan of detective investigation should watch it. If not skip it.

Purchase:

TV series, Original soundtrack

Japan Drama Preview(This is season 1 preview. Sorry I couldn't find clips for season 2):

Binbo Danshi 貧乏男子 – Release Jan 08

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:

Koyama Kazumi (Oguri Shun) 小栗旬 is a university student that almost graduated and ready to enter the society to work. He joins a lot of clubs in the university and has a lot of friends. The problem with him is that he spends a lot of money entertaining his friends. He manages to get a job right before he graduated. Life seems to be pretty good for him until his bank terminates his card. He then realized that he is in debt of 1 million yen with the bank. That’s when he met 2 other people that have the same debt issue like him. They are Hikita Shuzo (Yashima Norito) 八嶋智人 and Nakahara Mimi (Yamada Yu) 山田優. They introduce him to Omuomu (Yusuke Santamaria) ユースケサンタマリア where he can get special loan to pay his debt. This is where the story gets interesting as Koyama Kazumi (Oguri Shun) 小栗旬 and Omuomu (Yusuke Santamaria) ユースケサンタマリアhas a totally different understanding towards the importance of money.

Feelings and comments:

Almost everybody have debts or money problem. It’s always the question of how many your debts is and when can you settle your debts. When you have a large number of debts, it’s difficult to put up a smiling face. It’s a kind of pressure not everybody can handle nicely. It would be wonderful if we could be just like Koyama Kazumi (Oguri Shun) 小栗旬 as he handles everything with a smiling face. Plus money is not the most important thing in his mind. That makes it less pressure for him. Unfortunately I don’t there isn’t many people like him in this world.

There is one thing that I realize from this drama is that universities does not teach you how to manage your money. Most of us learn it the hard way by getting lots of credit cards, car loan, housing loan and study loan. We always end up learning how to get out of debt instead of avoiding.

Things that caught my eyes:

Self service laundry shop can be a good place to hang out. You can do your laundry while having a little chit chat with friends. Best of all it doesn’t cost you any money.

Japan Drama Rating:

Nice to watch. Oguri Shun (小栗旬) acting improves a lot. He’s not just a handsome actor that can only post any more.

Purchase:

TV series, Original Soundtrack, 2008 Japanese Tv Series: Binbo Danshi

Japan Drama Preview:

1 Pound no Fukuin １ポンドの福音 – Release Jan 08

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:

Hatanaka Kosaku (Kamenashi Kazuya) 亀梨和也 is a talented boxer. His couch and club has high hope on him as he has the punch to become a champion. Unfortunately he has one problem that drags him in his career. He always lost control on his diet because he loves to eat. Whenever he lost control on his appetite, he lost the boxer weight qualification. One day he met sister Angela (Kuroki Meisa) 黒木メイサand things started to become better. Her encouragement and advices help Hatanaka Kosaku through trainings and winning the fights. That is mainly because Hatanaka Kosaku has a crush on Sister Angela.

Feelings and comments:

Having a nun in the world of boxing is unusual and that’s where the fun begins. This drama is actually from a famous manga. You know how the story goes if you’ve seen the manga. The story is short and basically tells the life of a boxer. Being a boxer isn’t easy as you need to be strong physically and mentally. Few hours of fight in the rim requires months of hard training and diet control. The work to maintain qualification weight while training your punches is not easy. This drama really stresses out this point. This drama only has 9 episodes as the story at manga side is short either. The story is interesting at the beginning but gets bored as it go along. Honestly there are too many good dramas with boxing as main topic out there.

Things that caught my eyes:

Well, there are only 2 things that I’m interested in this drama. First is watching Hatanaka Kosaku (Kamenashi Kazuya) 亀梨和也work out and box in the rim. Second is the beautiful sister Angela (Kuroki Meisa) 黒木メイサgoing in and out of boxing gym.

Japan Drama Rating:

Fan of KAT-TUN should watch it. You get to watch (Kamenashi Kazuya) 亀梨和也 in shape as most of the time he just wears short pants.

Purchase:

TV series, Original Soundtrack, Japanese Tv Series: One-pound Gospel (1 Pound No Fukuin)

Japan Drama Preview: