Category: J-Drama

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J-Drama Review: Busu no Hitomi ni Koi shiteiru (2006), ブスの瞳に恋してる.

Rating: 5/10*

*Personal opinions towards storyline and actors/actresses factor into the rating. Don’t take it too personal if a drama you liked/disliked has a rating you don’t agree with.

I just finished watching another drama a few days ago and it was interesting to say the least. It was much different than what I usually watch and the title of the drama was what caught my eye. “Busu”, according to my Japanese dictionary app, means “extremely ugly woman”. The whole title apparently means something like “in love with the busu’s eyes”.

Weird title would mean intriguing story, right? Well, I’m not so sure that’s the case after having finished this drama. It was a nice drama to pass some time and it does make you feel for the main actress, who is actually playing the role of an aspiring actress who works at a ramen shop part-time, trying to land her next big gig. The thing is though, while she’s got a great personality and is a nice person, she’s not what the Japanese consider conventionally attractive. Thus, the unfortunate use of “busu” is used towards her quite often and it’s such a shame. I understand it’s a drama so I didn’t put much thought into it, but I couldn’t help but wish they didn’t use such a rude word to describe her, or anyone for that matter.

But nonetheless, she’s sadly referred to as busu throughout the drama and we follow her story which includes her trying to get into the acting world, a sudden love interest of a handsome and a bonus love square! (I’m assuming since love triangle is three people, one more added person to the mix would make the complicated situation a square.) Would I recommend this drama? Not really. The main takeaway is that looks don’t matter when it comes to love, and it’s about the feelings between two people. And while that’s a great message, it just wasn’t portrayed in an entertaining enough manner and came off as rather corny. If you wanted something more along the lines of “attractive person falling in love with someone who isn’t considered conventionally attractive”, then I’d recommend Densha Otoko in that case.

Now for the spoilers!

The drama seemed to build a great storyline in my opinion in the beginning, but Osamu (Inagaki) and Miyuki’s (Murakami) relationship could’ve used some more expanding on if possible. Osamu clearly started to grow feelings for her, and he was suppressing them because he didn’t think she was his type, but suddenly getting dumped by his girlfriend and realizing he wants to marry Miyuki seemed too rushed. It’s a drama, one intended to be mostly funny, so of course it was an exaggeration but the other relationships he was in definitely didn’t feel so forced as this! That’s gotta be my biggest qualm with the drama, probably because most of the love stories in the precious dramas I’ve watched have a much better build up to it.

But oh well. I thought it was alright! Don’t go around calling people busu though, it’s rude!!

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J-Drama Review: ブルドクター, Bulldoctor.

Rating: 4/10*

*Personal opinions towards storyline and actors/actresses factor into the rating. Don’t take it too personal if a drama you liked/disliked has a rating you don’t agree with.

On to another drama I’ve completed watching, Bulldoctor! In one of my prior J-Drama reviews I had talked about Unnatural, a drama based around forensic pathologists uncovering mysteries around bodies with unnatural or fishy deaths. I did enjoy that drama and the slightly dark theme with the clever mysteries you get to see solved was extremely entertaining. So when I discovered there was another drama based around forensic pathologists uncovering mysteries behind bodies with unusual deaths, I knew I had to watch this.

For this review I’ll keep the spoilers out and let viewers give it a chance to see it themselves. I’ll start off by saying the drama wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t the greatest. My number one reason for saying that is due to the subpar acting from the main heroine and one of the main male forensic pathologists. The male did have an involved role, but he didn’t do enough screen time as the heroine so I didn’t start noticing him until a few episodes in. Everything from emotion conveyed through voice or through facial reactions to extremely mechanical-looking movement, it felt “fake”.

In addition, there is one relationship plot that they introduce towards the beginning and try expanding on throughout the drama that gets to be somewhat annoying. J-Dramas are known to be notoriously slow for progressing any romantic stories, but this one took the cake. I can’t believe I had to wait as long as I did to finally see one of the characters open up and reveal their true emotions. So if you’re the kind of person who’s inclined to watch dramas for its romantic aspect don’t bother. Also, another notable plot involves another important character and they hint to this unknown plot periodically throughout the drama. And when I say hint, I mean they only acknowledge that there is some sort of story behind why a character is acting a certain way except it they do a poor job in making it seem important. Without giving too much, this involves your classic threats being sent and nervous ticks a character gets when something involving them is brewing in the background. But each and every one of these occurrences remains mild and as a viewer you’ll just go “oh this again” and not give too much thought into why it’s being done since it’s just not presented in an eye-catching manner.

Overall, the drama is decent. It’s nice if you want to follow the forensic pathologist theme BUT I highly recommend watching this first and then Unnatural in order to not be disappointed. Unnatural is an extremely similar drama to Bulldoctor, except 10 times better.

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J-Drama Review: 拝啓、民泊様。Dear B&B Houseguest.

Rating: 10/10*

*Personal opinions towards storyline and actors/actresses factor into the rating. Don’t take it too personal if a drama you liked/disliked has a rating you don’t agree with.

If you’re looking for a drama that has a nice little slice-of-life feel to it, I’d recommend this underrated drama a lot. (Underrated in the English-speaking J-Drama enthusiasts community at least, I haven’t seen it mentioned before). The situation the Yamashita couple goes through, however, isn’t exactly one that people normally experience. It involves the husband getting duped into a business scheme where he ends up taking a hefty loan to start a bed and breakfast. On the other hand, his wife is an employee for the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare so it’s a shock when her own husband gets duped when her whole job is making sure businesses are taking care of their employees and vice-versa.

We get to see how Mr. Yamashita deals with the situation and how he turns the negatives into positives when dealing with the company that manages the property. The foreigners who stay in his B&B learn about Japanese culture during their stay and leave an impression on Mr. Yamashita as well. Not everything is rainbows and sparkles though. When Mrs. Yamashita gets wind of her husband taking out a huge loan (and doing something else that she wasn’t informed about), tensions get high and we see whether or not they’re able to reconcile.

The drama looked like something that could happen to any entrepreneur who wanted to take a risk, and there weren’t any over the top storylines or scenes that were highly unnecessary to the plot. The acting was great and it was nice seeing Hirofumi Arai (Mr. Yamashita) again after I watched him in モテキ (Moteki) several years back! Kuroki Meisa (Mrs. Yamashita) is also a phenomenal actress whom I’ve seen in a few other dramas too and she brings back her good acting to this drama too! So give this a watch whenever you can!

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J-Drama Review: Unnatural アンナチュラル – My Thoughts

Rating: 9/10*

*Personal opinions towards storyline and actors/actresses factor into the rating. Don’t take it too personal if a drama you liked/disliked has a rating you don’t agree with.

Without further ado, introducing the first drama I’ve ever reviewed – Unnatural! This is a story of a group of forensic pathologists who take matters into their own hands and investigate the circumstances revolving around the “unnatural” deaths of the bodies they’re tasked to perform autopsies on. The group of folks at the Unnatural Death Investigation (UDI) Laboratory is basically its own crime-solving unit, just without their own tasers and flashy badges.

Mikoto, Shoji, Kube and Nakado are the four “main” characters and except for Shoji, each of them have a personal storyline that the drama delves into deeply. This is something I enjoyed since it was tied in perfectly to the story and didn’t feel unnecessary at all. If you watch this drama prepare to be wrapped in a lot of mystery and by the end you’ll be on the edge of your seats wondering if they’ll solve the puzzle behind the last body they’re assigned for the autopsy!

I’ve watched a handful of dramas by Ishihara Satomi and she’s a great actress – that’s one of the reasons why I chose to watch this. I was not disappointed!

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