Maou魔王 – Release July 08

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:
Ryo Naruse (Ohno Satoshi) 大野智 is a brilliant lawyer who helps people who are poor and innocent. He was given a nick name “Angle” by mass media for representing poor people in court.  Ryo Naruse (Ohno Satoshi) 大野智 has a dark evil side driven by revenge, a revenge of getting back to those who are responsible for the death of his brother. The person responsible for the death of his brother is Serizawa Naoto (Ikuta Toma) 生田斗真 who is also a police detective. It has been 11 years since the death of Ryo Naruse (Ohno Satoshi) 大野智’s brother but he has been monitor closely at Serizawa Naoto (Ikuta Toma) 生田斗真. When a serial murder case which involves victims related to people close by with Serizawa Naoto (Ikuta Toma) 生田斗真, it seems like justice starts to catch up with what he did 11 years ago. Is it revenge, karma or just pure murder? With the help of Sakita Shiori (Kobayashi Ryoko) 小林涼子, Serizawa Naoto (Ikuta Toma) 生田斗真 must solve the serial murder case before people around him getting hurt, and that includes himself.

Feelings and comments:
This drama is a remake of a popular Korean drama “The Devil”. It seems like it’s able to receive good rating and viewer rates in Japan too. Although the drama looks interesting and nice to watch, there is one thing that makes me feel not right. It seems like the police are hopeless but have to rely on the psychic power of a girl. Plus, Serizawa Naoto (Ikuta Toma) 生田斗真 definitely does not have the looks and behavior of a detective. He looks more like a runner that always chasing criminal instead of solving cases. In the other hand, the role of Ryo Naruse (Ohno Satoshi) 大野智 is very persuasive with a brilliant, disturb, sad, good and evil characteristic.
     I suppose the Korean version of “The Devil” is much more interesting than this drama. I’ll let those of you that watched both Korean and Japanese version decided on that. I think the best version comes if the role of Ryo Naruse and Serizawa Naoto are played well by the actors.
    There are reasons we are who we are today. That includes choosing the path of our life and occupation. We always have the choice and option to do good or bad. It does not matter what happens to us, we always still have the choice. Don’t make any incident that happens to us becomes an excuse of who we become today.  In fact see it as an experience which helps us to choose and become a better person.

Things that caught my eyes:
The tarot cards and psychic power of Sakita Shiori (Kobayashi Ryoko) 小林涼子 definitely increases the mystery within the drama. By the way the coffee seems tasty at the coffee house where Sakita Shiori (Kobayashi Ryoko) 小林涼子 stays.

Japan Drama Rating:
Nice to Watch. This drama is exciting, suspense and interesting but I just felt that the police was unable to do anything but running around. The overall sense of mystery and evil plot throughout the drama is great.

Purchase:
2008 Japanese Drama: Maou w/ English Subtitle

Drama Theme Song: Truth by Arashi

Japan Drama Preview:

Kimitachi ni Asu wa na君たちに明日はない – Release Jan 10

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:
Murakami Shinsuke (Sakaguchi Kenji) 坂口憲二 works as a consultant in a company which specializes in lay off and company restructuring. Murakami Shinsuke (Sakaguchi Kenji) 坂口憲二 is very good at his job and always received top performance in his work. Although he is very successful in his career, he often doubts his work of laying off employees is the right thing to do. One day Murakami Shinsuke (Sakaguchi Kenji) 坂口憲二 was assign on a job to lay off 200 employees from a building material company. He met a female employee name Serizawa Yoko (Tanaka Misako) 田中美佐子 who is on the list of lay off. As Murakami Shinsuke (Sakaguchi Kenji) 坂口憲二 has strong feelings towards Serizawa Yoko (Tanaka Misako) 田中美佐子, Murakami Shinsuke (Sakaguchi Kenji) 坂口憲二 is facing a hard performing his task of laying off her.

Feelings and comments:
Although the drama includes love story but still the main focus is on lay off and company restructuring. We often read news about lay off, voluntary retirement and company restructuring, especially during economic downturn couple of years ago. Have you ever wonder why a company needs to go through restructuring? And why you’re being lay off? Before looking for the answers, it will be best to think about some of the basic terms like company, job position and work responsibility. Company which does not generate revenue will face restructuring or shut down eventually. A job position which does not help company to grow or generate income will be deleted. An employee who does not carry out or perform their work responsibility will be deleted. All the above are link to the growth and revenue of a company. So if you’re trying to avoid getting lay off, find a company that makes money, secure an important job position and carry out the work responsibility accordingly.
It is interesting to listen to their conversation during the interview of voluntary retirement. We can find out lots of evil tactics company use to force an individual to accept the deal. I actually enjoyed looking at Murakami Shinsuke (Sakaguchi Kenji) 坂口憲二 facial expression when he confronts the employees.

Things that caught my eyes:
It is interesting to take a look at how a company which specializes in lay off and restructuring works. Especially when the consultant trying to persuade an employee to voluntary resign, that’s actually brilliant.

Japan Drama Rating:
Nice to watch. This is an interesting drama about lay off and company restructuring. As an employee, it’s a must to watch.

Purchase:
2010 Japanese Drama: Kimitachi ni Asu wa nai w/ Eng Sub

Drama Theme Song: Tomorrow Waltz by Toshinobu Kubota

Japan Drama Preview:
Sorry, not available.

Hidarime Tantei EYE左目探偵ＥＹＥ – Release Jan 10

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:
Tanaka Ainosuke (Yamada Ryosuke) 山田涼介 received cornea transplant for his left eye from his brother Tanaka Yumehito (Yokoyama Yu) 横山裕 when his brother pass away. Ever since the transplant Tanaka Ainosuke (Yamada Ryosuke) 山田涼介 begins to receive mysterious images which related to his brother. It turns out his brother Tanaka Yumehito (Yokoyama Yu) 横山裕 fake his death. Tanaka Ainosuke (Yamada Ryosuke) 山田涼介 also discovered that his brother is actually the master mind of a criminal organization. With the help of his teacher Sayama Hitomi (Ishihara Satomi) 石原さとみ and the images received from his left eye, Tanaka Ainosuke (Yamada Ryosuke) 山田涼介 begins to track down his brother and determine to stop his criminal plot and activities.

Feelings and comments:
Before you watch this drama, it will be better to go over the single initial episode that aired last year October. Although the drama did flashback the previous story at the beginning of the first episode but you’ll still have a feeling that you’ve miss out a big chunk of the story.
I suppose the most interesting part in this drama is how Tanaka Yumehito (Yokoyama Yu) 横山裕 plans his perfect crime. The main focus in this drama is the show of perfect crimes. There is not much investigation or detective work. It’s mostly the wait for the images from the left eye. The big suspense in this drama is the game that the two brothers are playing. Sometimes we just might not know or understand how a person thinks, including the one that closes to us.
The funny part in this drama is around the teacher Sayama Hitomi (Ishihara Satomi) 石原さとみ. Her role is actually to ease out the serious part of this drama with lots of jokes. Other than that, you’ll see the hand on the left eye pose just like the picture above. Plus you’ll see lots of punching on the left eye because that’s how the images are produced. Honestly the most interesting part of the story already been told in the previous initial single episode. This drama is basically the illustration of all the plots of so call perfect crime.

Things that caught my eyes:
Tanaka Ainosuke (Yamada Ryosuke) 山田涼介 is able to maintain his handsome face without any scar or injuries after receiving so many punches from Sayama Hitomi (Ishihara Satomi) 石原さとみ.

Japan Drama Rating:
Interesting to watch. This drama is not really a detective or crime investigation drama. It’s basically a story about a younger brother who keeps on pursuing the old brother who plans and organizes multiple perfect crimes.

Purchase:
2010 Japanese Drama : Hidarime Tantei EYE w/ Eng Sub, Original Soundtrack

Drama Theme Song: Hitomi no Screen by Hey! Say! JUMP

Japan Drama Preview:

Mother – Release April 10

Kumo Japan Drama sneak!!

Japan Drama Story:
Suzuhara Nao (Matsuyuki Yasuko) 松雪泰子 works as a temporally elementary school teacher who likes birds watching. She even tries to apply for a job in university that related to bird watching research. One day she met a young female student name Michiki Reina(Ashida Mana) 芦田愛菜 who behaves differently from other students. Michiki Reina(Ashida Mana) 芦田愛菜 seems to be more mature compare to other students. Suzuhara Nao (Matsuyuki Yasuko) 松雪泰子 also sense that Michiki Reina(Ashida Mana) 芦田愛菜 has family problems and was abuse by somebody at home. As there is very least Suzuhara Nao (Matsuyuki Yasuko) 松雪泰子can do legally, she decided to volunteer herself as Michiki Reina(Ashida Mana) 芦田愛菜 substitute mother and take her away from Hokkaido to start a new life in Tokyo. Thus they start a journey which changes their entire life.

Feelings and comments:
This drama is about motherhood or to be precise it’s about maternal instincts. Plus this drama emphasize that motherhood has nothing to do with bloodline. A mother love is natural towards any child. This drama is not just about the story between both Suzuhara Nao (Matsuyuki Yasuko) 松雪泰子 and Michiki Reina(Ashida Mana) 芦田愛菜 but also people around them. That includes the people and events that they went through along their journey.
My first impression about this drama is sad and cold but as the drama continues, it’s more about thinking positive no matter what situation we are in. Plus a lot of warm and comfortable love from mothers. A good advice from Michiki Reina(Ashida Mana) 芦田愛菜 the little girl is to think about the things that you like always.

Things that caught my eyes:
The conversation between Suzuhara Nao (Matsuyuki Yasuko) 松雪泰子 and Michiki Reina (Ashida Mana) 芦田愛菜 is really interesting because it shows lots of sensible talk which kids normally won’t do. I suppose that’s the attraction of this drama. There are also lots of beautiful scenes captured in this drama.

Japan Drama Rating:
Worth watching. The theme of this drama is about motherhood and maternal instincts. The story is simple but the drama is able to create the atmosphere that brings out the love, especially when there is no bloodline related.

Purchase:
 2010 Japanese Drama : Mother w/ Eng Sub


Drama Theme Song: Nakigao Smile by hinaco

Japan Drama Preview: