[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.

[Dorama Review] Switched / Sora wo Kakeru Yodaka

Hello guys! I saw that my last post was on July 2019, so it's been more than a half year since my last post. Actually I watched some doramas between those days, and it's quite good too, but I'm just too lazy to write any review and comment.

Also, recently I started to watch netflix, and I found a lot of good doramas there, even though I couldn't finish some of them because it is so boring in the first 2-3 episodes and I decided not to continue watching it.

Well, tonight I want to write a little bit review and comment about the dorama I watched on netflix: Switched. This is a super good dorama for me, even it made the-lazy-me to wake up and write on this blog after ignoring it for more than half a year, lol.

This dorama is about a beautiful-famous-girl named Kohinata Ayumi (played by Kiyohara Kaya), who was super friendly and smart, and also kind-hearted. If you ever imagine a perfect girl ever, then maybe she is the one.

 She had two bestfriends, bestfriends since childhood to be exact, and they were boys. Kaga Shunpei (played by Shigeoka Daiki of Johnny's WEST) and Mizumoto Koshiro (played by Kamiyama Tomohiro of Johnny's WEST). Beautiful girl who has two handsome close boyfriends, what else can you expect? It's just a perfect world for people who see them, isn't it?

Then it turned out that Koshino confessed his feeling to Ayumi, and they were dating. Umine Zenko (played by Tomita Miu) who was believed to be an ugly and fat girl, loved Koshino because Koshino had helped her before and she started to get jealous. Umine found a way to switch body with Ayumi.

Umine which was in Ayumi's body was super satisfied. She would never go back to her old body. On the contrary, Ayumi who was trapped inside Umine's body started to cry. Ayumi experienced being Umine, who was bullied, a broken home kid, and all alone.

But their bestfriends found out about the body's switchover. They were bestfriends after all. Kaga was the one who was beside Ayumi when she was trapped inside Umine's body. On the other hand, Koshino was always beside Umine who was in Ayumi's body.

So many things happened in the search of finding a way to switch the body back. But let me write only some important things that I learn from this dorama.

- Ayumi who was inside Umine's body started to live her life with all her might. She started to shine inside the class, being liked by her classmates and of course by his bestfriend Kaga, despite having an ugly appearance. She was struggling at first, of course, having people bullying her and even her mother was body-shaming her, but in the end, inner-beauty shined the most.

- On the contrary, Umine who was inside Ayumi's body was falling apart. She didn't like the fact that the new-Umine could gain attention from many people. She was even being asked:
"Cute appearance, wonderful friends, kind and caring family, but despite all of that, you don't seem very happy, do you?"
Despite having all of the perfect things in life, she was not satisfied. It's because all were in her own mind, always felt lacking of something.

From those two perspective, I can say that indeed a beautiful girl has advantages at first. I wouldn't deny that we live in this world full of sin where most of the people would judge on the appearance first. And maybe you and I unconsciously do that too, but we just don't spit it out. But believe me, beauty on the appearance only wouldn't last long. Body can rot as we grow old. But a good character only knows how to get better.

It was shown in Ayumi, despite of her appearance which turns ugly, she was still being liked by her friends. Of course, not instantly, need more works than when she was having a beautiful appearance, but she can do that. Showing her good attitude make her more charming, make an ugly one turned to be a cute one in people eyes because of her attitudes.

Umine, despite having a wonderful body, people started to look at her in a suspicious way, probably thinking "What happened with her?" Her beautiful appearance can't cover her bad attitudes of being egoistic. "Looking different on the outside won't change what's inside", that's the remarkable sentence that touched me from this dorama.

To conclude, there are four types of people. Beautiful ones with good attitudes, beautiful ones with bad attitudes, ugly ones with good attitudes, and ugly ones with bad attitudes. It's good if you're blessed with beautiful appearance, but don't be satisfied only with it. Shape your characters that people may say "Wow, she is beautiful outside and inside". Ayumi, Kaga, and Koshino were the three examples for this, actually. They are beautiful and handsome, they don't bully Umine, and they help Umine actually, but because Umine was so deep down in her negative thoughts, she can only think the ones who bullied her.

Well, if you feel so beautiful but having bad attitudes (which I believe a few people - or maybe no people? - would admit it), just be careful. People stay with you maybe only because you have something, and eventually they will leave you when those beauty fades. Start to learn to be better.

If you ever feel ugly, don't worry. First, maybe actually you're not that bad. As how Umine was, she just need a single hairpin, and she looks cuter. Not bad at all. Maybe you just need that 'single hairpin' to make you looks cuter. But second, that's not the most important things. Having good characters will make even a super ugly ones turn into the most beautiful person ever, in other people eyes. That's why people say "Beauty is subjective".

In the end, I would give this dorama 8.5 points out of 10 points. I'd give 10 points for their morale lessons though.

[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] 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*

[SP Dorama Review] Tensai Tantei Mitarai ~Nankai Jiken File~ Kasa wo Oru Onna

This time I'm gonna write a review of a detective special dorama which was broadcasted on March, 2015:Tensai Tantei Mitarai ~Nankai Jiken File~ Kasa wo Oru Onna.

Mitarai Kiyoshi (played by Tamaki Hiroshi) is a brain scientist and a very genius man. He has a bestfriend named Ishioka Kazuki (played by Domoto Koichi), who is a novelist. Together, they live in the same house and often talk about mysteries. One day, Ishioka told a story about a mystery he heard from a radio. It's about a woman in a white dress who is walking in the midst of the rain, holding a plastic bag. Strangely, she closed her umbrella and threw the umbrella into the road until it's broken; crashed by a car. With just the description, Mitarai took a conclusion that she is involved in a murder case which is likely that she is a murderer. The day after, it's true that there is a murder case in the area; a woman dead, along with the woman in the white dress. So depressed because his assumption was wrong, Mitarai tried to find the truth with the help of Ishioka.

I watched this dorama at first because I'm one of Domoto Koichi's fan.

I like the story that Mitarai was so genius to guess what happened to the whole story only with a short description (even though it was a little bit wrong, or not complete I guess, hehe). However, I don't know why but just the quite talkative novelist doesn't suit for Domoto Koichi's role. Koichi is more suitable for a cold role like Mitarai, and vice versa for Tamaki Hiroshi. In conclusion, I love the dorama, but the actors just not suitable with the roles, and it makes things quite awkward, in my opinion.

I gave this dorama 7 points out of 10 points.

*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*

[Dorama Review] Nobuta wo Produce

This time I’m gonna write a review about a school genre dorama, Nobuta wo Produce. It was also a popular dorama back then, in 2005 when it was aired.

Well, the cast itself is already very interesting, as the male main casts are Yamashita Tomohisa (also known as Yamapi) and Kamenashi Kazuya, two of the famous idols from Johnny’s Entertainment. For the female cast, there are Horikita Maki and Toda Erika who is not less famous.

The story starts from Kiritani Suji (played by Kamenashi Kazuya), a very popular guy who gets along well with everyone. He has a classmate whose name is Kusano Akira (played by Yamashita Tomohisa) who is a little bit strange, likes to laugh and act funny. One day, a new transferred girl came, she is Kotani Nobuko (played by Horikita Maki). Kotani Nobuko is a shy girl which is often bullied at school. After a long story, Shuji and Akira decided to make Nobuta (Nobuko’s nickname) a famous girl in the school.

Usually in a school genre dorama, there will be a problem and the teacher will help to solve that problem. In this dorama, the unique thing is that the popular classmate and the strange classmate are the one who help the bullied one. Other than that, I found this dorama is just another ordinary dorama which using the casts as the main attraction. Well, as Johnny’s Entertainment is very famous, two male casts from the entertainment is enough to make this dorama well known. I can say this dorama is just ordinary but it’s also entertaining. The message I got from this dorama is also just an ordinary message, no bullying at school!

The soundtrack of the dorama is also good, Seishun Amigo which is sang by Shuji and Akira (Yamashita Tomohisa and Kamenashi Kazuya), as expected from the Johnny’s.

For those who is a Johnny’s Entertainment lover, of course this dorama is a must-watch-dorama. If you don’t have any other things to watch, this dorama also can be quite entertaining. I gave 7 out of 10 points for this dorama.

*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*