[Anime Movie Review] My Neighbors the Yamadas / Houhokekyo Tonari no Yamada-kun / ホーホケキョとなりの山田く

Tonight I will write a little bit review of Studio Ghibli's My Neighbors the Yamadas.

The story is super simple. It is about a family, Yamada family, which consists of 5 persons; a dad, a mom, a son, a daughter, and a grandma.

I could say it is more like to a short story which is compiled together and it becomes a 2-hour-movie. However, it is not bad. It's actually super good. Telling us about some daily life stories from the Yamada family, bringing a topic which might be around us too.

For me, I personally like the story where their son, Noboru, said something like this "It would be good if I have a better parents". His mom and dad replied with something like this: if they hadn't been there, then probably Noboru won't exist too.

Another story I like, is when they tell us what a marriage is. As long as a family sticks to each other, they somehow can face the wildest sea, but not for a calm water. We relax, loosening our hold, and we might not realize that we are actually in danger.

Well, if you really watch and think about it, there are actually some good messages that you can get from this anime movie.

As expected from Studio Ghibli, another amazing movie. The concept is totally different with another Studio Ghibli's movie, and the drawing is also nice, which is more like a manga rather than the usual movie, and it's not even lessen the value of the movie.

I would give this movie 9 out of 10 points. I love it so much!

[Japanese Movie Review] Kimi no Suizo wo Tabetai / I want to eat your pancreas / 君の膵臓をたべたい

This will be the next Japanese movie I'll review. Kimi no Suizo wo Tabetai or literally you can translate it to I want to eat your pancreas.
Just as usual, I will start with a brief synopsis of the movie [Please beware of spoiler!]

Shiga Haruki (played with Oguri Shun - present, Kitamura Takumi - past) was a quiet high school student. He rarely interacted with people, he had no friend, and all he did was staying at the library and organizing the books there, since he was the library committee.

One day, he accidentally picked up Yamauchi Sakura's (played by Hamabe Minami) diary in the hospital. She was Shiga's classmate who was quite popular. It turned out that Sakura had a pancreas disease and her life was estimated only a year left. Shiga was the first and the only one who knew this secret beside Sakura's family.

Sakura wanted to be friends with Shiga, and she tricked him to go to a trip together with her. They became closer and closer.

One day, Sakura was hospitalized. Two-weeks-hospitalized-check up, she said. However, she didn't get better and she needed to be hospitalized longer. They promised to watch Sakura blossom together once Sakura discharged.

The day came. She was discharged, not forever but only for a while, because it seemed like her life was not long anymore. She was given a chance to do anything she wanted to do. Shiga planned the trip, they promised to meet each other at a cafe. However, Sakura never came to the cafe. She died on the way to the cafe. Moreover, she died not because of the disease but because of a criminal who stabbed her with a knife.

Okay,
I saw this movie because there was a movie playing in the cinema with a title "I want to eat your pancreas". I was thinking like what the heck? what kind of title is that? it must be a strange movie. However, those catchy title made me curious. I searched the whole internet, and found this live action movie. I guess the one playing in the cinema was the anime one, but since I'm more to dorama and real people, I decided to watch the live action.

Well, I could say this is the best movie I watched recently. The story was truly touching and I was so teary even in the middle of the story, even before anything happened. After watching it, I can totally relate, why the title of the movie is like that. There might be no special things about the theme of the movie; I mean, you can always find someone sick and die in many of Japanese movies or doramas. However, this one is super good with a quite plot twist in the end of the movie. Never even once I thought that Sakura would die not because of the disease =____=

Lesson learned from this movie: We never know when we will die. We can die tonight, we can die tomorrow, or maybe a year later. Even when we are sentenced to die because of our disease, we still have the same chance to live as the healthy one. It might be the healthy one who died first because of an accident, or anything. So, live your life to the fullest, everyday. Cherish the one you love while you still can.

You really need to watch this movie and find out yourself why this movie is called "I want to eat your pancreas". I superrrrrr recommend this movie and give this movie 9 out of 10 points.

[Dorama Review] Juuyou Sankounin Tantei / 重要参考人探偵

Okay, my first dorama review in 2019 is Juuyou Sankounin Tantei. As usual, mystery/detective dorama as it is one of my favourite genre of dorama.

Maneki Kei (played by Tamamori Yuta) is a model. He has a strange ability, which is to be the first one to find a corpse. It is happened since when he was 7 years old, the first time he found a corpse in a forest.

20 years has passed since then. Now, together with Suou Itsuki (played by Koyama Keiichiro) and Shimon Toma (played by Furukawa Yuki), Kei works as a model.

However, their works are always disturbed because they found a corpse. And as always, Kei is the one who found the corpse first, and always suspected as the culprit.

Forced by being suspected, Kei ended up analyzed the situation and solve every murder case he met.

To conclude, this is my first time I watched a dorama with a genre that I like most and the main star that I love too, but so disappointed. The overall story line is good, but the way they make it, it is so boring. The stars are acting well, but the character they played are just making it way too lame. It is so hard for me just to finish a 7-episode-dorama, like several months. The ending of the dorama is quite absurd as well.

Well, in conclusion I don't want to recommend this dorama and I would just give this dorama 4 points out of 10 points.

[Dorama Review] Miss Sherlock / ミス・シャーロック

The dorama I want to review now is a dorama recommended by one of my friends. It was aired in HBO Asia on 2018.

Let's get started!

As always I will start from making a short synopsis about the dorama.
A woman called Sherlock (played by Takeuchi Yuko) is a detective who works for the police department. She is a genius and very smart, but somehow she has a weird attitude and a straight-forward, impolite character. She said "I can't think when my aesthetic sense is disturbed" when she saw someone who has an old sense of fashion lol.

Well, that's what she said to Tachibana Wato (played by Kanjiya Shihori), a doctor who just came back from Syria, and accidentally met Sherlock due to a case happened to her. Later, she would stay with Sherlock, and is the only friend Sherlock has, even though Sherlock didn't want to admit it.

Reimon Gentaro (played by Takito Kenichi) is a police who always asks for Sherlock's help. He believed in Sherlock's ability. He has a sub-ordinate named Shibata Tatsuya (played by Nakamura Tomoya).

In short, Sherlock solved so many cases, requested from Inspector Reimon, and with the help of Wato too.

I don't know much, but I can say it's like a parody of Sherlock Holmes. A woman Sherlock which accompanied by a doctor, Wato, a parody of Watson. You can see the similarity of the characters and the big story plot between the real Sherlock Holmes and this Miss Sherlock. However, I think the cases are different. It's wrapped in Japanese style, where you can always learn some good moral and find some comedy inside of the dorama.

I personally love it when Sherlock plays the cello. Prelude. Such a good song to always start the dorama.

Even though overall, it's a super good dorama, again it's one of those dorama which the ending is a little bit unexpected. I'm quite disappointed with the ending of this dorama. I wonder if there will be the next season? Well, let's just wait.

Anyway I will give this dorama 8 out of 10 points. It's so good that no wonder the HBO is the TV Station to broadcast this dorama. I recommend it so much!

[Dorama Review] Kakuho no Onna ~ Kanagawakenke Tokumei Sosa カクホの女～神奈川県警・特命捜査～

I was desperately waiting for this dorama to finish 😂 And at last, around last week, candy lemon as this dorama's subber finished subbing the last episode.
Now that I've finished watching, I will write about this dorama, Kakuho no Onna, which was aired in the beginning of this year.

A woman who previously worked in the HR Department of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department was transferred to Kanagawa Prefectural Police. Her name was Hojo Yuriko (played by Natori Yuko).

Of course it was unusual. Someone near retirement from Headquarter moved to the Prefectural Police Station, moreover, from office work to field work. Everyone in the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Station was questioning about this transfer.

Well, it turned out that Yuriko-san wanted to know the real truth behind the death of her fiancee, Kariya Shinsaku (played by Tsurumi Shingo), who was said to die because of suicide. She believed that Kariya Shinsaku would never commit suicide.

And the leader of Kanagawa Prefecture Police division 1, Miura Aya (played by Asou Yumi) was said to have a relation with the death of Kariya Shinsaku. That's the reason why Yuriko-san wanted to be transferred there before her retirement.

Well, don't forget about Kisaragi Kotaro (played by Takahashi Katsunori, the one and only, lol 😂), a Police Chief from Tokyo MPD, who was Yuriko-san's back up and helped her to be transferred to Kanagawa.

Okay, that's the end of my synopsis.
Now, what I want to comment is that the story of this dorama is really the best... until I watched the ending which is quite disappointing for me. It somehow was... like being forced to end quickly in the last episode. But anyway, the episode 1 - 6 is good enough for me to recommend this dorama.

The dorama is also filled with a little bit comedy, which makes it funny. Now that I think, many Japanese dorama is wrapped with a little bit comedy. It's somehow mainstream but always make the dorama better.

The main casts are old actors and actresses, I don't know much except Takahashi Katsunori, who is always so cool and has charisma every time he acts as a police officer. Since they are old, people might know them but it doesn't mean they are popular... how to say it... you know, like usually someone young and handsome would be popular amongst the nation and helps to make a higher rating, doesn't it? So, in my opinion, it means that the rating they got was purely because of the story, not because of the casts.

A scene that I like most is in the end of episode 5, where Miura was asked, who is the one she trusts the most? And she said "No one, but there is someone I want to trust". If I cut it only this scene, it somehow reminds me of myself. I hardly believe in people but I do want to trust someone. I think many people is also like me, hard to believe in human. But believe me, there are still many people who is actually kind, even they still, of course, have flaws, and might disappoint you one day. But when you realize that everyone is not perfect, you can face the disappointment and continue to still believe in them.

Another quote that I remember got from this dorama is "There is no one in this world it would be better to kill", means no matter how bad the person is, we shouldn't kill, we should forgive them instead, I guess.

The song "Unmei no Hito" by Hayashibe Satoshi is so perfect. I'm really really moved with the lyrics of the song, and this song is super suited to the dorama. His voice was so soft, I thought that the singer was a female, before I found out that he was the one who sang the song. I always nearly cry every time I listen to it lol. I also made the translation of the song, it might be not so perfect due to my limited Japanese language but you can go check it out:
http://jpopenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/04/kanji-romaji-unmei-no-hito-by-hayashibe.html

So, overall I would give this dorama 7.5 out of 10 points. Just if the ending didn't disappoint me, I could give this dorama like around 9 points, maybe.

[Dorama Review] Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatte Iru

Hello, back to another dorama review!
Surprisingly I watched some doramas non stop recently. When I watched those doramas, I can't wait to write a review since those doramas are really good. Let's start by talking about a dorama called "Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatte Iru".

Tatewaki Shotaro (played by Fujigaya Taisuke of Kis-My-Ft2) worked in a museum. He didn't know what to do after graduating from graduate school and ended up working in Shizen no Mori Museum.

Kujou Sakurako (played by Mizuki Alisa) is an osteologist. She constructed animal skeleton for the museum. She is a bone freak, thinking that bone is beautiful.

Everyone in the museum avoided Sakurako-san. However, in short, Shotaro met Sakurako-san and somehow forced to go hunting for the bones.

Well, it's not animals' bones, but human's bones was found instead. Shotaro contacted the police and with the help of Sakurako-san' bones knowledge, they could solve every mystery.

I like this dorama from the opening. The opening was presented in a nice way, with some good words. From the first second of the dorama, it already made me fall in love with this dorama.
The story is unique and strange, I think. An osteologist, someone who is good at bones, should not related with murderer, should it?? An osteologist became a detective instead?? It is somehow strange to relate an osteologist with a murder case and detective things, but the dorama is really interesting. I'm always impressed with all the ideas those Japanese writers got. Unique, strange, but always interesting.
This dorama is not only about mystery and murder, but there is a comedy in it too. It's quite funny and make this dorama more colorful and not monotonous.

I really love this dorama and I highly recommend it. I gave 8.5 out of 10 points.

[Dorama Review] Tsubaki Bunguten / Tsubaki Stationary Store

It's been a while since I watched a dorama because recently I feel like I want to just watch a movie which end quickly in just 1,5 - 2 hours. Well, I managed to watch a 8-episode-dorama this time though.

This time I want to write about a daily life genre dorama. Tsubaki Bunguten, or in English it means Tsubaki Stationary Store. Seems like the owner made that name because she likes Tsubaki (Camellia) flower, and even there is a huge Tsubaki flower in front of the shop. The store didn't only sell stationary things, but also opened a service to write a letter on the customer's behalf.

The owner of the store, Amemiya Kashiko (played by Baisho Mitsuko) is an old grandma. The store was located in Kamakura. When Amemiya Kashiko passed away, and her granddaughter, Amemiya Hatoko (played by Tabe Mikako), who has left Kamakura since 8 years ago, at last came back to her house.

It seems that Hatoko was receiving strict lesson from her grandma to succeed the store since she was little. It made her left the house and never contacted her grandma. She had no mother as well, the being about her mother was unknown.

The house was about to be sold as Hatoko won't succeed the store. However, after talking to her neighbor, Madam Barbara (played by Enami Kyoko), somehow Hatoko seemed to think and change her mind.

Well, that's how the new journey of Hatoko began. She got requests from customers, and she wrote letters on their behalf.

Actually, in my opinion, this dorama's theme is a little bit boring. I was like "Only write a letter?" Hmm, I wonder, maybe a daily-life dorama is like that, not so much climax nor anti-climax... But it is not bad... Really really not bad! It might be a strange remark, the theme is boring but the dorama is quite good!

It was a little bit sleepy at first but as the episodes continue it is getting more interesting. It's hard for me to watch this dorama until around the third episode, where I can't stop watching this dorama.

As how a Japanese dorama usually be, this dorama also teaches us some good morals. There are, of course, many things that you can learn from this dorama, but what get into me the most is:
There is no one who doesn't have regret, but the most important is how we react to it; we learn from it, leave it, and live with what is in our hand now.

Well, as I was so down several days ago, I was lazy to do anything, and I decided to watch this dorama for several days, and I'm getting better now! I mean, time absolutely makes me better, but this dorama also help me to recover. Hopefully, this dorama and also my writing here can be my motivation when I'm down again.

Overall, I gave this dorama 6 out of 10 points. It's actually a mixed feeling. The score is not that high, but somehow I recommend you to check that out!