..an awful start to the week, but there was cake.

Ashita no Kita Yoshio 1! jdrama. Ah ha! something that is intriguing and great has appeared. Yoshio Kita played by Kohinata Fumiyo is a middle aged man who decides to end his life in 11 days. Day 1 lets us know that he has a few goals to accomplish before death. One of those goals is to do something to benefit people around him. Another is to eat at a certain restaurant. And so on. He meets Heita (Matsuda Ryuhei), a pimp-like character, who takes a liking to him and decides to help him out. Not going to spoil it for you, but the first episode was active and unexpected. This definitely showcased stronger acting talent than what I've sampled thus far.

Because the above kind of set bar for entertainment this winter, Hong Gil Dong gets the boot as does One Pound Gospel. Hong Gil Dong's second episode had its cute moments but the production looked cheaper than the first and the characters fall flat. One Pound Gospel looks a tad predictable and out of all the hot actors starring in winter dramas, Kame is not quite as hot as the others. ^_^ I might come back to OPG later.


Bara no nai Hanaya 1! jdrama. Hey, this got a whoopingly high rating. SMAP's Shingo stars in this love story as an owner of a small flower shop and as a single father raising a young girl. Takeuchi Yuko (of Lunch Queen fame) makes her comeback as his love interest. I guess it'd spoil the story if I wrote too much about her. Matsuda Shota plays Shingo's younger brother. Not sure if this will turn out to be a beautiful love story or something sappy or something sad. The first episode revealed some plot twists that were eh, okaaay. Will try another episode because Takeuchi is really pretty.

ETA: HUH?! Is episode 3 of Honey & Clover really going straight to the end of the first season of the anime? Uh, yeah...who hired these writers?