ザ・クイズショウ The Quiz Show Season 2– Release April 09

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:
The Quiz Show is a place that helps people to achieve their dream. In each episode a contestant is chosen carefully to take on the challenge. Contestant needs to answer 7 questions correctly before they are able to take on the final question that can make their dream comes true. The challenge might seems easy if one is well prepare and knowledgeable. But The Quiz Show is not just a plain simple entertainment show. Every contestant is chosen carefully and the plot is carefully design. The combination between the host Kamiyama Satoru (Sakurai Sho) 櫻井翔 and the director Honma Toshio (Yokoyama Yu) 横山裕 successfully brings the show to the top by capturing the audience attention. The Quiz Show started out with a high viewing rate with extraordinary excitement that reveals secrets and dark side of contestant.  No doubt high viewing rate is what TV network wants, but as the show continues…

Feelings and comments:
The first thing that comes to my mind after watching this Japanese drama is the popular game show “The Moment of Truth”. The questions ask in the show are personal and sensitive. I suppose what attracts the audience is the unexpected facial expression of the contestants, plus the naked truth and secrets. In addition if the show comes out live, anything can happen. The temptation of waiting and hoping something goes wrong or unexpected scene is irresistible.
    There are some connection between season 2 and season 1. Both of them seem to focus in one particular topic – The Seven Deadly Sin. You may find some old faces that are from season 1 but still the storyline can be understood even if you didn’t watch the first season. Each episode in this drama builds up the mystery behind by revealing pieces of puzzle one by one.
    One thing for sure, the conversation and interacting between the host Kamiyama Satoru (Sakurai Sho) 櫻井翔 and the contestants are fascinating. I suppose that’s the most interesting part in each episode. It’s where you can really see the acting ability.

Things that caught my eyes:
The person who invites all the contestants seems to know his way around. Well, at least he’s able to show up in the appropriate time and location to present the invitation card. This is a quiz show. Everything is plan accordingly.

Japan Drama Rating:
Nice to watch. It’s a new kind of excitement which happens within the one hour of live quiz program.


Purchase:
TV series, Original Soundtrack, 2009 Japanese Drama : - The Quiz Show II - W/ English Subtitle

Drama Theme Song: Ashita no Kioku by Arashi

Japan Drama Preview:

東京DOGS Tokyo DOGS – Release Oct 09

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:
Takakura So (Oguri Shun) 小栗旬 is an elite cop that station in New York. Ever since his father was murdered right in front of him, he has sworn to capture the criminal with his own hands. Unfortunately he is still unable to do that because the criminal is one of the top mafia bosses in the world. During one of the pursuit mission, a young Japanese girl - Matsunaga Yuki (Yoshitaka Yuriko) 吉高由里子which the police believe to be related to the criminal lost her memory. She was send back to Japan for treatment. At the same time Takakura So (Oguri Shun) 小栗旬 is assigned back to Japan to protect the girl. A local police detective Kudo Maruo (Mizushima Hiro) 水嶋ヒロ partner with Takakura So (Oguri Shun) 小栗旬 and take on the protection assignment. They also started the investigation around Matsunaga Yuki (Yoshitaka Yuriko) 吉高由里子 to find out the relationship and information regarding the top mafia boss.

Feelings and comments:
When it comes to police action drama, I still prefer US production series. They just make it so exciting and heart pounding. As for this Japan police drama, it’s the best Japanese police series that I’ve seen. Takakura So (Oguri Shun) 小栗旬 and Kudo Maruo (Mizushima Hiro) 水嶋ヒロ seems like a dynamic duo. We can see some similarities when compare to police movies like Lethal Weapon and Bad Boys. I think there will be more police drama just like this one in future. There are still lots of improvement can be done to make this Japan police drama better. First is the action scene which includes explosion, guns shooting, hand to hand combat is a must. That’s where the excitement comes in and they have to make it as real as possible. Second will be the story line but I think Japan has lots of good story. It’s just a matter of transferring it from words to the screen. Police drama is about excitement, cool gadgets, guns, cool guys and beautiful sexy girls. I suppose a good mixture and combination of all those mention above is enough to produce a fairly good police drama.

Things that caught my eyes:
Well, just a few of not so ordinary scenes which I found interesting. First, I love it when Takakura So’s (Oguri Shun) 小栗旬 mother call and she always made the call in the right time. Second, Matsunaga Yuki (Yoshitaka Yuriko) 吉高由里子 always gets the shoulder flip over form Takakura So (Oguri Shun) 小栗旬 even until the end. Third, they seem to enjoy firing their guns a lot until it seems a bit over acting.

Japan Drama Rating:
Worth watching. This is the best police Japan drama that I ever seen. It looks like they manage to include western style of police drama series into this drama.

Purchase:
Original Soundtrack, 2009 Japanese Drama : Tokyo Dogs w/ Eng Sub

Drama Theme Song: Futatsu no Kuchibiru by EXILE

Japan Drama Preview:

ライアーゲーム LIAR GAME Season 2 – Release Nov 09

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:
After game 3 of liar game competition, Kanzaki Nao (Toda Erika) 戸田恵梨香and Akiyama Shinichi (Matsuda Shota) 松田翔太 seems to escape from the game for good. One day both of them received an invitation from Liar Game organization to continue on with Game 4. As much as they hate to go back into the game, both of them still return to the game. Kanzaki Nao (Toda Erika) 戸田恵梨香 wanted to save as many players from the game and Akiyama Shinichi (Matsuda Shota) 松田翔太 wanted to destroy the game organization and eliminate the competition for good. Thus Kanzaki Nao (Toda Erika) 戸田恵梨香, Akiyama Shinichi (Matsuda Shota) 松田翔太 and their previous rival Fukunaga Yuji (Suzuki Kosuke) 鈴木浩介 team up to take on the challenge of Game 4 in Liar Game.

Feelings and comments:
I miss the first season of this drama. Still it won’t make much difference as the story of this drama is simple. Basically the game played is the most interesting part. It’s the game created in Liar Game which is fun and interesting to check out. So I’ll go for the first season and the movie version of Liar Game after watching season 2 still won’t spoil the sensation of this drama.
    As this is all about Liar Game, basically the organizer expects players to lie and trick others to win the game. That’s most players will normally do. Unfortunately there is one player that uses the opposite method to win the game. She is Kanzaki Nao (Toda Erika) 戸田恵梨香 and her believes and trust towards other player makes her a winner. This drama is mostly about mind game. It’s basically says that people are selfish when it comes to own benefits. When it comes to team work, believe and trust is needed in order to get things done. The only way to gain trust from others is to trust others first. Sadly not many people can do that because the one who trust first normally suffers a lot of betrays. Still that is the only way to find people who we can truly trust.

Things that caught my eyes:
The stages and game equipment looks cool. If there is such a theme park design according to the games in this drama, it should be fun to play.

Japan Drama Rating:
Worth watching. If you love to play games, especially related to mind games than this drama is for you.

Purchase:
Original Soundtrack, Japanese Drama - LIAR GAME - w/ English Subtitle, 2009 Japanese Drama : LIAR GAME II w/ Eng Sub

Drama Theme Song: -

Japan Drama Preview:

モンスターペアレント Monster Parent – Release July 08

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:
Takamura Itsuki (Yonekura Ryoko) 米倉涼子 is an elite lawyer who never lost a case before. One day she is assigned to a local education board to help solve a case between parent and teacher. That is how Takamura Itsuki (Yonekura Ryoko) 米倉涼子 first learn about “Monster Parent”. For the first time in her life she discovered that not everything can bring to court for solution. Takamura Itsuki (Yonekura Ryoko) 米倉涼子 is totally beaten up by parents that do not reason and only look at the welfare of their children. That’s the first time she experience lost but that does not stop her from taking up the challenge. As she continues to help solving “Monster Parent” cases, she began to realize there are things far more important than money, fame and success.

Feelings and comments:
I think the so call “Monster Parent” existed everywhere around the world. Where there are parents that love their children very much, there should be one or two “Monster Parent”. Well, parents are just doing what they know best of their precious children. We can’t really blame them for acting aggressively. Everything is just for the benefits of the children. The question that we all should be thinking is that are all our action good for our children? Or does it set a bad example for them?
    Educating and raising children is not an easy task. It’s the responsibility of parent, school, government and society. Nobody really has the absolute correct method but they all give their best to do it. When there’s problem regarding children, working together to help solve the problem is the right way. Anger, hate, revenge and taking matters into own hands will not help but only creates more problems.
    Children learned most from two people that are closes to them when they are young. First is their parent and second is teacher. Children learned not just their knowledge but everything else including behavior, hobby, thinking and characteristic. Thus what we do today are being copy by our children and eventually it will be reflected one day in future. So if we want our children to be a good person, set a good example.
    The drama shows a lot of example on “Monster Parent”. I think most parents do not intend to be one but sometimes when parents love their children too much, they just fall into the trap unconsciously. Well, we are just human. The best that we can do is to remind and alert each other before things get worst. At the end of the day, it’s teacher and parent working together for the benefits of children. It’s not about winning or losing, it’s about educating.

Things that caught my eyes:
This drama really is a fashion show for Yonekura Ryoko (米倉涼子). She wears different cloths in every episode.  Her apartment looks expensive too. I suppose that’s what an elite cooperate lawyer earns.

Japan Drama Rating:
Interesting to watch. This drama is more like a documentary series that tries to reflect the parents nowadays. I suppose parents will do anything for their precious children.

Purchase:
TV series, Original Soundtrack, 2008 Japanese Drama: Monster Parent w/ English Subtitle

Drama Theme Song: Ai ga Kanashii Kara by Tokunaga Hideaki

Japan Drama Preview:
Sorry, not available.

スマイルSmile – Release April 09

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:
Hayakawa Vito (Matsumoto Jun) 松本潤 is a half Filipino half Japanese who born and raised in Japan. He never did stay in Philippines and did not know the local language too. Due to his name and appearance, he is always referred as outsider in Japan. Hayakawa Vito (Matsumoto Jun) 松本潤 used to involve in gangs activities but now trying to start a new life working in a food services. He is still in probation for his action but already made up his mind not to return to the gangster world. Mishima Hana (Aragaki Yui) 新垣結衣 is a high school girl who lost her voice due to an incident. She met Hayakawa Vito (Matsumoto Jun) 松本潤 in a book store and falls in love at first sight. Even though she can’t speak but they are still able to maintain a relationship. Everything was fine until Hayakawa Vito (Matsumoto Jun) 松本潤 met his former gang member and getting involve as a suspect in a crime scene. Luckily Hayakawa Vito (Matsumoto Jun) 松本潤 met a lawyer name Ito Kazuma (Nakai Kiichi) 中井貴一 who helps him on legal advice and to regain his freedom, rights and innocent.

Feelings and comments:
This drama has a group of talented cast, a good story and a good song. There is a bit of sad projection of how the world works but everything adds up just nice to make this a good drama. You might sense that this might just be another heartbroken drama that going to make you tears, but actually it’s not. This is simply a heartwarming drama which tells the story of how people struggle to survive in a non perfect world.
Racism happens everywhere in the world. It existed long ago, now and will continue to exist in future. No doubt things are better and there are improvements but still in some part of the world, racism still exists. This drama took place in Japan but still the quote “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King is applicable. The three character that suffers from racism are Hayakawa Vito (Matsumoto Jun) 松本潤, Mishima Hana (Aragaki Yui) 新垣結衣 and Ito Kazuma (Nakai Kiichi) 中井貴一. All three of them face difficulties either in life, work, society and even family. Each of their problems is different but still they are all related to racism.
One thing that I found which is very encouraging is that no matter what happens you just have to put on a smile. No matter what happen, life still goes on. It’s better to put on a smiling face than drag a sad long face. I suppose this is call being positive. Good things will come eventually.

Things that caught my eyes:
The skin color and makeup really makes Matsumoto Jun (松本潤) looks partly Filipino. The clothing also contributes partly as it seems out of fashion. This drama really brings out how human judge others by the way they look.

Japan Drama Rating:
Worth watching. This is a very meaningful drama about romance, justice, equality and the will to keep on living. This is a story about people who are a bit different struggle to survive and fit in the society.

Purchase:
TV series, Original Soundtrack, 2009 Japanese Drama : - Smile - W/ English Subtitle, Ariamaru Tomi

Drama Theme Song: Ariamaru Tomi by Shiina Ringo

Japan Drama Preview:

Japan Drama NG Scene: