[Dorama Review] Itsuka Kono Koi wo Omoidashite Kitto Naite Shimau / Love That Makes You Cry / いつかこの恋を思い出してきっと泣いてしまう

Several years ago, a friend suggested me a dorama "Itsuka Kono Koi wo Omoidashite Kitto Naite Shimau", saying that people around him said it's a good dorama. I tried downloading it, but only finished watching it just recently. 

 

The story is about a Kansai young woman who was adopted by a Hokkaido family since a kid because her mom had passed away. Her name is Sugihara Oto / Hayashida Oto (played by Arimura Kasumi)

 Not being treated well in the family, like being forced to marry an old-rich-man, Oto escaped from home and meet Soda Ren (played by Kora Kengo), who came to Hokkaido to return Oto's bag which was stolen by his friend, Nakajo Haruta (played by Sakaguchi Kentaro)

Soda Ren explaining "I'm not a theft. I'm a mover"

 

Haruta, the culprit behind the loss of Oto's bag

 

Oto rode Ren's truck to Tokyo. Ren himself was from Aizu and he moved to Tokyo due to get some money to buy a land in his hometown. But as soon as they arrived at Tokyo, they were separated, because Ren met his friend from the same hometown, Ichihara Konatsu (played by Morikawa Aoi).

Konatsu, who came to Tokyo, aiming to be a designer. 

 

Later, we know that Konatsu actually loves Ren. Wait, but Ren should be with Oto?! Well, no no, not both of them. Ren has a girlfriend already. Her name is Hinata Kihoko (played by Takahata Mitsuki)

Kiho-chan, met Ren when she was lonely and ended up being a couple.

 

What a complicated love story! Konatsu and Oto love Ren, but Ren is in a relationship with Kiho out of loneliness, when Haruta loves Konatsu and Ibuki loves Oto. Wait, who is Ibuki? Well Ibuki Asahi is the son of the chairman's mistress in the company where Konatsu works.

Ibuki Asahi, always being unfavorable due to being the son of the chairman's mistress

As the love story goes on, there are many conflicts happened which makes the dorama more dramatic but interesting...

Actually, romantic dorama is not really my thing. I usually prefer mystery, crime, or detective dorama, because even though I know it's a fiction, it's thrilling and interesting. Sometimes I thought that romantic dorama only teaches us about fake romantic love which is not going to happen in our real life anyway, but well, no, you can always get some moral lessons indeed, especially from Japanese dorama. 

This dorama becomes really interesting to me, because I can super relate to them, going to the capital city to earn some money, betting on life, and being lonely. That was exactly what I did and felt several years ago when I moved to the capital city to work. The loneliness was super real, and you ended up finding the same person/friend who is lonely as well to accompany you. Maybe that's what happened to Ren and Kihoko as well, so that they end up being in a relationship even though their heart were on someone else... Loneliness is a big problem indeed...

It's quite annoying sometimes seeing the characters in this dorama which are so passive in striving their love.. Too passive... But I also can relate to them... Something like unconditional love... You can love people, but you can't force people to love you back. That's why every time I love someone, I don't expect them to love me back...

This story is a little bit sad, but their choice on the sound track make it even more sad. Even the theme song was sung well by Teshima Aoi "Ashita e no Tegami". Absolutely become one of those J-pop song which I will listen to. 

Overall, I must admit that this dorama is quite good. The story doesn't make you curious but doesn't make you bored either...

I gave this dorama 7.5 points out of 10 point.

[Anime Movie Review] Kiki's Delivery Service / Majo no Takkyuubin 魔女の宅急便

Another review on Studio Ghibli's movie, Kiki's Delivery Service. It was released on 1989.

Kiki is a daughter from a witch family. In the witch's tradition, when children turned into 13 years old, they must leave the house for a year for training. Kiki has turned into 13 years old, so it's her turn to do the training. She left the house with her black cat, named Jiji.

Kiki decided to find a city near the sea because she liked the sea. She found one which was quite a big city and Kiki was flustered at first.

When Kiki tried to find a place to stay, she met a woman who had a bakery. One of her customer forgot something on her store, and Kiki helped her to bring the item to the customer. Later, Kiki was allowed to stay in her place.

Kiki decided to work because she needed money to live alone. Realizing that her only talent was to fly with a broomstick, she opened a delivery service, while trying to get along with the people in the town.

To sum up, it's really a simple story but super entertaining. It's easy to understand, really compatible for both children and adults. You don't need to think hard, it's simply entertaining, easy to watch (easier than any other Studio Ghibli's movie I've watched so far). I think it's really one of the best movie produced by Studio Ghibli. I like this movie a lot!

I can give this movie 8 out of 10 points.

[Japanese Movie Review] Isn't Anyone Alive? / Ikiteiru Mono wa Inai no ka?

I'm going to write about a Japanese movie aired in 2012, "Ikiteiru mono wa inai no ka?" or in English "Isn't anyone alive?"

This movie is about random individuals located in a university and the university hospital beside it. There are some groups of people with their own activities which is somehow related to one another.

A group in a cafe, which was talking about marriage and affair.

A group in the park, talking about urban myths which might happening around them.

A group of people practicing dancing for the upcoming their friend's marriage.

Some doctors in the university hospital

A homosexual couple, I guess...

...and some other random people...

One by one died because of an unknown reason.

This movie is well taken, however the story is not interesting at all.
The beginning of the movie is quite interesting, given many groups with different plots. As the story goes on, it's more and more abstract. I personally thought the story is anti-climax from the beginning to the end. It's quite boring to watch the middle to the end of this movie and yet, I don't find anything in the end of this movie. I can summarize this movie as a random movie showing daily activities of some groups of people, where one by one died without a proper reason.
The only thing I get from this movie is some thoughts:
1. People will die and we don't know when. Be prepared for it.
2. It might be hurt more for those who is being left.
3. Will we know if we were about to die? How would it feels? Suffering??
4. Dying sounds scary but, the most scary is what happened after we die? Are we going to Heaven? Hell? Neither of them?
... maybe we'll find out by time...

Anyway, this is just a random movie and you might watch it but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. I don't really like the movie (or maybe because I don't understand art and abstract things?!)
I gave 3 (or maybe less) out of 10 for this movie.

*this review is a personal opinion and made by me who is a newbie reviewer, if there is any mistakes, please feel free to make a correction*

[Japanese Movie Review] Lupin the Third / Rupan Sansei

This time I'm gonna write about a Japanese movie released in 2014, Lupin the Third or it's called Rupan Sansei in Japanese.

Lupin (played by Oguri Shun - middle),  Mine Fujiko (played by Kuroki Meisa - right), Jigen (played by Tamayama Tetsuji - left) are some of the members of  'The Works', a group of thieves who steal valuable objects from wealthy owners.

The leader of 'The Works' is killed when Michael Lee (played by Jerry Yan), fellow member of  'The Works' betray the group due to some reason. Michael took the Crimson Heart of Cleopatra, a very valuable necklace with a ruby stone in it, which is missing. Lupin was angry and tried to avenge Michael.

Lupin made his own allies with Fujiko, a sly; Jigen, a great gunner; Pierre (played by Kim Joon), an IT specialist, and also ask his other friends like Goemon (played by Ayano Gou), a great swordsman. Together, they fought their enemies.

Pierre

Goemon

In my opinion, this movie has an interesting plot and story, however, the movie is limited to around 2 hours which makes the movie is moving too fast and not detailed that make it less interesting.

When I saw the title of the movie, it seems so interesting. Don't mention the actors and the actresses here, such as Oguri Shun, Kuroki Meisa, and even they included foreign actors such as Jerry Yan, Kim Joon which the names are so familiar within the industry. Many other foreigners (which is I don't really know actually) are included in this movie, mostly are from Thailand. Seeing that, I bet no one would not interested in the movie, right? However, I could say I'm quite disappointed with the movie. The movie is not as good as what I expected to be; by seeing the title and the casts. They acted very well and there are some action scenes which is not bad; but to me, this film is only about action scenes which is not that good if you compared it to the Hollywood movies. Well, still, it is not that bad.

I could recommend this movie to those who wants to see many great actors and actresses in a movie, however, don't expect too much I guess. I give this movie 6 out of 10 points.

*This review is just a personal opinion and made by me who is a newbie reviewer, if you find any mistakes, feel free to make a correction*

[Japanese Movie Review] Rain Tree no Kuni / The Land of Rain Tree

Today I'm gonna give a review about a Japanese movie, called Rain Tree no Kuni / The Land of Rain Tree which was aired on 2015.

Sakisaka Nobuyuki (played by Tamamori Yuta of Kis-My-Ft2) is going to move out of his house.

He packed his things and realized that his favourite book, Fairy Game, was missing. He read the book when he was in high school, and it gave a special impression, even though he forgot the ending of the story.

He searched through the internet, and found a website named "Rain Tree no Kuni" where the admin wrote her opinion about the Fairy Game book. It reminds Nobuyuki about the ending of the book and fortunately, Nobu got the same opinion as the writer.

Moved with the writing in the website, Nobu sent a message to the admin. They sent each other message, and later, they decided to meet. It turns out the one behind "Rain Tree no Kuni" is a girl with a long hair named Hitomi Rika (played by Nishiuchi Mariya).

They interested in each other but Hitomi thought that they lived in a different world. They got into many arguments.

It's been a while since the last time I watched a dorama/movie with romance genre. It's so refreshing.

This movie is a simple movie, I think. However, many important good lessons you could get from this movie.
I personally noted to myself that I should have confidence in myself, and not to put away myself alone because I'm different from the others. Every people is unique in their own way anyway.

When I watched this movie, I smile a lot because some of the scene in the movie really happened to me before. I met a friend from the internet, we exchanged mails and somehow we got to meet with each other. Our thoughts are a little bit different from the others, but we were connected to each other. We often met in the cafe, and somehow I said "I like a quieter place" and that's how we tried to find a quiet place to talk (-__-"") Well, don't you think a quiet place is better when we are going to talk about many things?? Haha.

Ok, done with the confide. I personally think this is a good romance movie. For those who is longing to watch a romance movie, I recommend this.

I give this dorama 8 out of 10 points.

*This review is just a personal opinion and made by me who is a newbie reviewer, if you find any mistakes, feel free to make a correction*

[Japanese Movie Review] Okuribito / Departures

I know this movie from a friend. He asked me to find this movie for him since he was so interested in it after seeing the review.

This movie is originally called Okuribito (おくりびと). Okuribito literally means someone who sends off. The movie is also known as "Departures".

Kobayashi Daigo (played by Motoki Masahiro) is a cellist. He works in an orchestra, but because there's no audience for a long time, the owner decided to disband the orchestra. He lost his job.

Not knowing what to do, Kobayashi decided to go back to his hometown in Yamagata. He had a house there, inherited from his mother who died several years ago. His father left him and his mother for another woman when he was still a child.

In Yamagata, Kobayashi tried to find a job. Interested with the little working hours and high salary, he came to NT Agent without knowing what kind of job it is.

He met the boss, Sasaki (played by Yamazaki Tsutomu) and the secretary Kamimura Yuriko (played by Yo Kimiko).

Later he found out that his job is to be a Noukanshi. Noukanshi is someone who does a traditional Japanese ritual to cleanse and dress the dead body before it's put inside of the coffin.

He got so many troubles because of his job, people was not respecting him because of they though he had an embarrassing and disgusting job. At first he didn't want to do this job, but later he seemed to be loving his job. He started gaining trust and respect from people around him slowly.

The movie is closed by story of the death of his father. He never wanted to see his father, who has betrayed him, but eventually he got a news that his father died and came to see his father. It's quite sad.

Watching this movie reminds me of my grandma a lot, since my grandma was passed away last month. It was my first time to see a full death ceremony, from the closing of the coffin until the cremation. It was a sad memory, especially when seeing the red fire was burning the coffin. I know it so well.

I don't think jobs related to death are embarrassing. In contrary, I even think the job related to death is so respectable, as I'm a coward and I'm so afraid of the corpse, I respect their bravery.

This movie also reminds us that everyone of us will die. Sometimes it's even harder for the one who is left behind.

It was a short story but the movie explains quite a lot of things. It got so many awards too. You can give a little bit of your time to watch this movie. I gave this movie 7 out of 10 points.

*this movie review is just my personal opinion and made by me who is a newbie reviewer, if there is any mistakes, feel free to make a correction*

[Dorama Review] Akutou ~Juuhanzai Sousahan~

Another favourite dorama from me, it's Akutou ~Juuhanzai Sousahan~. It was broadcasted on 2011 and it's a mystery / detective genre dorama with a little bit action in it.

Akutou ~Juuhanzai Sousahan~ story starts with the rumour of 4 detectives from Fourth Section of Minato-cho Police Criminal Affairs Division who often break the rules when working as a detective, even doing illegal activities. The 4 of them are Togashi Masayoshi (played by Takahashi Katsunori), Iinuma Reiko (played by Uchiyama Rina), Shibata Yasuharu (played by Suzuki Kosuke), and Yamashita Manabu (played by Hirayama Hiroyuki). Tokunaga Yasushi, the Fourth Section's chief was investigating the fact and found dead because of an accident when pursuing a criminal. Most of the police doubted that Tokunaga dead because an accident...

Maejima Ryuzo (played by Murakami Hiroaki), the head of police administration, sent Satonaka Keiichiro (played by Koizumi Kotaro) to the Fourth Section as the new chief to replace Tokunaga.

Satonaka is very cautious because of the rumour, but he found that the 4 detectives are excellent. However, they don't obey the chief's order and working on Togashi's command. As time goes by, Satonaka found out that the rumour of the 4 detectives are true... What's the reason behind that?

Akutou ~Juuhanzai Sousahan~ is a very well made dorama. The story of the detectives are great and it's supported with great actors and actresses too, with a little bit action in it which won't make you bored. Takahashi Katsunori, no doubt, he's good at this kind of acting as he acted in this genre of dorama a lot. I don't have much comment on this aspect. 

What I can comment from this dorama is, the 4 detectives seems not satisfied with the rules applied in the country. Sometimes it happens to us too, doesn't it? We heard a news of someone tortured and killed brutally because of a stupid reason, yet the murderer is not punished enough with the reason of human rights, etc. Sometimes me too, would think something like "Why would think the human rights of a murderer who doesn't think other's human rights? It would be good if they're just being killed in the way they killed others". It might raise some pros and contras, but I just have the same opinion as Togashi and the other 3 detectives in this dorama, or rather, the same opinion with the script writer of the dorama.

I personally think that this dorama wants to quip the government and its politics which concern themselves more than to raise the justice.

Well, just watch this dorama, Akutou ~Juuhanzai Sousahan~, if you one of mystery / detective genre film / movie / dorama lover. I gave this dorama 8.5 out of 10 points.

*this review is just a personal opinion and made by me who is a newbie reviewer, if there is any mistakes, feel free to make a correction*

[Dorama Review] Liar Game

Okay, this time I want to write a review about one of the best dorama also, Liar Game!

This dorama is also adapted from a manga written by Shinobu Kaitani. I don't really know the manga and only watch the dorama, so I can't compare the dorama with the manga.

This dorama is a story about Kanzaki Nao (played by Erika Toda) which is very "baka shoujiki". I don't really know the exact word to explain "baka shoujiki", but I think it is best explained to be someone who is too honest until you look so stupid. Because Nao is very honest and stupid, she is easily fell for a lie or a trap, such as she got caught into a pitfall for 42 times, or when she nearly fell for a phone fraud which the caller is claiming to be her younger brother, when she is actually the only child in her house (I laughed so hard for this one, you can see this story in the introduction of the dorama in the episode 1).
One day, Nao is chosen to be a part of the liar game, a game where you need to trick other people to win. Desperately rejected when she went to the police for a help, she met Akiyama Shinichi (played by Matsuda Shota), a genius swindler who is just released from a prison. Reminded of his belated mother, Akiyama agreed to help Nao.

The dorama is parted in several season. Season 1 is aired on 2007 and season 2 is aired in 2009. Season 2 is the continuation of season 1, and it lasted until the semi-final game. The final game is aired on 2010 which is made into a movie. Several special episode like Liar Game Reborn, Fukunaga vs Yokoya, and Alice in Liar Game are also made afterwards.

I personally think the idea of the story itself is very genius. It's a really good story plot with a unique and extraordinary theme which is brought by the writer. You can see a lot of dorama about school life, about detective, or about love, but it's rarely to find this kind of dorama. It's kind of refreshing and brand new dorama theme.

The dorama is very recommended and I give 10 out of 10 points for this dorama! (again) ^^


*this review is a personal opinion and made by me who is a newbie reviewer, if there is any mistakes, please feel free to make a correction*