Sunday, July 26, 2009

Voiceヴォイス– Release Jan 09

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:
Kaji Daiki (Eita) 瑛太, Ishimatsu Ryosuke (Ikuta Toma) 生田斗真, Kuboaki Kanako (Ishihara Satomi) 石原さとみ, Kirihata Teppei (Endo Yuya) 遠藤雄弥 and Hanei Akira (Sato Tomohito) 佐藤智仁 enrolled into forensic class in a medical university. Each of them has their own special reason of choosing this not so popular profession. As class starts, they learn more than just open up dead bodies and finding out cause of death. They leaned to listen to voices or final words of the dead. They also realized that their job helps those that are still alive by improving their quality of life.

Feelings and comments:
This drama feels like getting a lot of influence from the US top drama series CSI. You’ll even see some of the characters in this drama are obsess with CSI series. Think of this drama as a special version of CSI. The difference in this drama is that starting point of each case begins at the autopsy table. You might find that instead of relying on the evidence found, this drama is much more focus on logic thinking and human nature.
We definitely cannot bring back those that are already dead, but we can surely do something about those that are still alive. Autopsy basically is for those that are still alive. We study and learn from the dead so that we can live on. From the medical point of view, doctors study and learn the cause of death so that human being can survive, in other words “finding a countermeasure or solution”. Psychologically people need to hear the last words so that they can move on with their life. Death of the love one is painful especially when it happened unexpectedly with no reason at all.

Things that caught my eyes:
Although autopsy being carry out, you can’t really see the dead body. There are no red bloody flesh scenes like the US CSI drama. The dead body lying on the autopsy table is well covered by the object around in the room by specially positioning angle of the camera. The whole drama is presented in a clean white environment.

Japan Drama Rating:
Nice to watch. This drama is covered by the shadow of CSI. Just that this drama has lots of humor and joke which makes it not as sad and serious as it suppose to be.

Purchase:
2009 Japanese Drama : - Voice - W/ English Subtitle

Drama Theme Song: Setsuna by GReeeeN

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Sunday, July 19, 2009

Ando Natsuあんどーなつ– Release July 08

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:
Ando Natsu (Kanjiya Shihori) 貫地谷しほりlost her job when the owner of the cake & dessert house passed away. Even though she worked for less than a month, it was like a dream because she loves making cake & dessert. As Ando Natsu (Kanjiya Shihori) 貫地谷しほりlooks for other job in Tokyo, she met Yasuda Umekichi (Kunimura Jun) 國村隼- Oyakata or master pastries of Mangetsudo pastries shop. She started out as part time worker at Mangetsudo pastries shop but later gaining interest in making Mangetsudo pastries. She then decided to stay and work as a permanent worker as well as a student to learn making pastries. Besides the pastries, she also learned and understands the people and culture of Asakusa – Where Mangetsudo pastries shop situated.

Feelings and comments:
This drama is all about pastries and desserts. As the pastries shop is located in Asakusa Tokyo, you get to see lots of local scenery and cultural events too. The most famous of all will be the Senso Ji temple. Still the main attraction in this drama is the beautiful hand crafted pastries. It served more like decoration than just simple pastries. Judging from the looks of the pastries you can feel that it took lots of time, energy and concentration just to prepare them. I suppose this is call making each simple step as perfect as possible and you’ll get a special product.
Handmade food industries are tough, especially when you’re trying to maintain the original taste of a traditional food. No doubt there will be secret recipe but still the skills and techniques are as important. The control of heat temperature, cooking time and procedure will eventually determine the taste of the food. Everybody can cook and bake. The question is “Can they create the desire taste? And maintain it?”

Things that caught my eyes:
The temple of Asakusa and the desserts definitely satisfied my viewing pleasure.

Japan Drama Rating:
Nice to watch. It is a drama that introduces Japan culture and travel hot spot, especially the desserts.

Purchase:
2008 Japanese Drama : Ando Natsu w/ English Subtitle

Drama Theme Song: Tada Arigato by Monkey Majik

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Sunday, July 12, 2009

Kyoshi Saisei教師再生– Release Oct 08

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:
A school is going down as news about closing down the school spreads. Teachers are all worry about their future rather than the academic of the students, except one. One new teacher name Sugi Toranosuke (Kamiji Yusuke) 上地雄輔 is still trying his best to help his students. Just that the problem is he might not have the ability to do it. One of his students - Kusaka Shuzaburo (Nakajima Yuto) 中島裕翔 trusted him and decided to back him up with the help of three mysterious transferred students Takasugi Touichi (Yamada Ryosuke) 山田涼介, Yoshida Eitarou (Chinen Yuri) 知念 侑李 and Irie Sugizou (Arioka Daiki) 有岡大貴. Four of them decided to help Sugi Toranosuke (Kamiji Yusuke) 上地雄輔 to become a teacher, at least as a simple qualified teacher.

Feelings and comments:
This is a fantasy drama for high school kids. Students are much more capable and dependable then teachers. They even help their teachers solved problems and become sort of heroes. I think this is a drama for high school kids but not for teachers. There are no famous actors in this drama as the main focus is on the four young members of Hey! Say! JUMP. As they are young, their acting skills are still not that up to it. So if you’re not the fan of Hey! Say! JUMP, you’ll pretty much get bored right after the first 20 minutes of the drama.

How do you judge such an occupation like teacher? The first impression might be” it’s an occupation with lots of pride”. That means teaching and helping the next generation to become a better person. Some of the teachers even sacrifice their time, money and personal life for that purpose. The 2nd impression about teacher is that “It’s a great job with lots of personal time and holiday. Plus it’s a government servant job that won’t get fire easily” Probably this is the best secure job that can be easily obtain. Either way, teachers should realize the responsibility when dealing with students. That’s because future of students are more a less affected by teachers. It is true that teachers might not remember all of the students because throughout years of teaching there might be thousands of students. But from the eyes of the students, you might just be the only teacher that they can depend on.

Things that caught my eyes:
The classroom seems to transform from a clean white room to a painted room. Is it just plain dirty or art?

Japan Drama Rating:
Fan of Hey! Say! JUMP should not miss it. If not skip it.

Purchase:
Not available yet

Drama Theme Song: Mayonaka no Shadow Boy by Hey! Say! JUMP

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Sunday, July 5, 2009

Taiyo to Umi no Kyoshitsu太陽と海の教室– Release Jul 08

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:
Sakurai Sakutaro (Oda Yuji) 織田裕二 is a newly hired school teacher in a private school by the beach. Sakurai Sakutaro (Oda Yuji) 織田裕二 was specially chosen by the headmaster for a special reason. Given his experience in pervious occupation, his way of teaching, thoughts and priorities are way much different from other teachers. At the beginning Sakurai Sakutaro (Oda Yuji) 織田裕二 facing hard time communicates and get along with his students. That is because he never did focus on helping his students to score high marks in the university entrance exam. Apparently, he is just teaching his students things that unable to learn from books, which schools don’t teach. As time passes, his students started to understand what he’s trying to accomplish because Sakutaro (Oda Yuji) 織田裕二 is always there to help them, guide them and encourage them.

Feelings and comments:
First of all, it’s really nice to be able to study in a school that located near the beach. Not to mention the small size of classrooms that fits just about 20 students. No doubt it’s a great environment to study. The problem is if you spend quarter of your life just to get a ticket to a university, then you might miss out a lot of things, important things like fun, relationship, love and many more. Nowadays most people only care about exam results. Ends up many students sign up a lot of tuitions just to strive for good results. Seriously, that might not be a good idea. Exam results are just temporally, it cannot help u through your entire life. Take for example your primary school grades are only good as a ticket to get you to high school. Your high school grades are only good as a ticket to get you to a university. After that, these exam results are not much useful in your life. The only thing that you need to obtain in school which benefits for the rest of our life is the ability to keep on learning. If you’re able to continue learning and improving until you stop breathing, then there’s nothing you will be afraid of. That’s the best weapon that will help you get through life rather than just a piece of distinction degree certificates.
We only live once, don’t spend your initial 20 years with just books only. We should include our family, friends and everything that is around us into our lives. Learn to live well and survive is just what we need and that’s just a simple and basic thing.

When we were young, we do not understand most of the things. We become the person right now because of the people that we met. Other than our parents and family members, the closes people that lead and guide us when we were young are teachers. Good teacher are hard to come by. An advice from a good teacher can change the live of a student.

Things that caught my eyes:
This is the best classroom that I’ve even seen. It feels more like a tuition center that focus only in studying. Still, a school that located beside the beach definitely has a lot of beautiful scene.

Japan Drama Rating:
Worth watching. A drama that tells us school is not simply just a place to study and exam.

Purchase:
Original Soundtrack, 2008 Japanese Drama : Taiyo to Umi No Kyoshitsu w/ English Subtitle

Drama Theme Song: Kimi no Hitomi ni Koishiteiru by Oda Yuji

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