...what are you watching...

Boku Unmei no Hito 1-2! jdrama. is about a young man, Kame, who has bad luck with women. God, Yamapi, shows up and tells him who his destined other half is. Their future child will save the earth, so God tries to help him out. It's a romcom, not a scifi show. Unfortunately, this is entirely too slow and the comedy is nonexistent. Yamapi is cute, but isn't there enough to keep the show interesting. Kame and the main female character are entirely too bland. Dropped. BUT if you can find the theme song performed by Kame to YamaP, it's adorably bad jpop in the best way.

Chef: Mitsuboshi no Kyushoku 4-10! the end. Chef Mitsuko decides to open her own restaurant/food stall after she learns that her former boss is preventing her from getting hired anywhere else. She also continues to work at the school's lunches, too. Her character's energy and passion are fun to watch. The conflict between Mitsuko and Araki in episode 7 was pretty interesting as Araki's food truck seems to defeat Mitsuko's food stall for much of the episode. The show was one of the most uplifting shows I've seen in a while. Mitsuko and the other school lunch workers are a fun group, and they are able to defeat all the problems that come their way. ~10/10 rating~ would watch again. I enjoyed the way she dances to her own tune while the other school workers did their morning exercises, and how she interacted with the soccer kids.

Bracelets, unexpected arranged royal weddings, evil queens, secret identities, treatment of girls like property...each drama is following the same checklist.



Moonlight Drawn by Clouds 5-14! kdrama. It took me a couple episodes to figure out that the Princess is an actress in a fat costume. It was fairly predictable that she'd lose the weight, too. And because her love-interest likes the chubby princess, I think she'll regain the weight sometime before the show ends. She's a fun character to watch. Yoon-sung, the nice guy, is naturally the first to realize Ra-on's real gender. I think the Prince confesses at least a dozen times to Ra-on. Oh, the sap really drags on in these episodes. It's disappointing that the humor from the first few episodes takes a backseat to the political drama and sappy romance. There's an excessive amount of staring. The fight in episode 12 was nice. Wish it lasted a little longer. The past few episodes have been dragging. :(



Scarlet Heart: Ryeo 4-13! kdrama. The 4th Prince's obsession with his hateful mother is far the weakest part of the story, but I suppose angsty, masked face is attractive. It's nice that he gets along with the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince and King seem like mildly reasonable characters. Su's interactions with the various princes is fun to watch. It helps that everyone looks pretty damn fine in their traditional Korean-ish outfits. There's a Beauty and the Beast vibe with this show since the characters keep saying that the 4th's scars make him ugly...right, they aren't really trying hard enough to make him ugly. You'd think that he would have thought about makeup before Su showed up. I do wish the time travel gave Su more significant plot devices instead of various damsel in distress situations. She doesn't even act like a modern girl anymore. I'm enjoying all the side characters in this show especially since they are so lovely to look at. Even the non-main female characters are even possibly prettier than Su. Have to admit that this is better than the above drama due to more sword-fighting and the fact that the side stories are fairly cute. Looking forward to what happens after the King's death.



Sukinahito ga Iru Koto 1-10! the end. jdrama. This is about a female patissier who starts working at a restaurant owned by three brothers. One of the brothers is an old crush, one is the unlikable head chef and the youngest is the token genki character. The two older brothers go back and forth on 'liking' Misaki which might've been amusing if constant emotional constipation was comedic for ten episodes. Anyway, it was a short drama with a happy ending. ~5/10 rating~ for being a short time waster. Not enough yummy food was showcased to make the show worthwhile.

xxxHOLiC jdrama 5-8! the end. Amewarashi and the Spider Lady! I liked the effort taken into making these story arcs extra dangerous for Watanuki; bright red blood! Amewarashi was perfect, and the Spider Lady was pretty cool when she was drugging and seducing Watanuki. While the core actors seemed to be restraining themselves from really making these characters truly convincing, the drama as a whole was pretty good. As I wrote before, the pacing and production were much better than the anime. And Doumeki was adorable. <3
~7/10~ rating

xxxHOLiC jdrama 4! Yuuko tells Doumeki that Watanuki and he should take the advice of rabid fangirls...or something to that effect. I always thought manga Doumeki was rather bland, but live-action Doumeki is pretty hot. I wish the writers gave Watanuki some more dialogue. He's been pretty stiff. Amewarashi looks cute.

Hunter x Hunter 2013 72 Gon trains while Tsezguerra distracts the bomber team!

Minami-ke Tadaima 12! new years, winter flab, kotatsu again, and demons

Hakkenden 11! Bishie drama at its best. Admittedly, I like the uniformed bishie the best.

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha 11! Lots going on with war and currency, but hey, the Hero finds the wizard/witch and the Demon King. Wish they'd focus more on them rather than the politics.

Chihayafuru S2 11! Continuing the tournament, Chihaya's team pulls together. Arata is forbidden to watch them play and instead has to write a letter of apology. Gotta hand it to the mangaka for making each match different and exciting.

Senyu. 11! dodgeball and hagaren.

Zetsuen no Tempest 23! Everyone plans to attack the tree....It's a shame all the side characters are dull. The action and cliffhanger are good.

xxxHOLiC jdrama 3! was actually fairly scary. And drama Watanuki has a mother...which I don't recall manga Watanuki having.

Hunter x Hunter 2013 70-71! Gon, Killua ad Hisoka team up to beat Razor. It's very cute.

Minami-ke Tadaima 10-11! kotatsu time, eating out and pajama party....snow, christmas and another song from Hosaka.

Magi 21-22! It was getting a little tedious until Hakuryuu broke down and started bawling. Morgiana then obtains the power to use her magical metal item.

Hakkenden 9-10! Cute filler episode about Hamaji's first day at an all-girls school, and we finally meet Sousuke's other half.

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha 10! So speeding through history, a new Church is developed through pie! And a printing press is used. If this were a 20 episode series, I'd consider dropping it right now. It's lost a bit of the charm that it had in the beginning. Too many random topics getting thrown about.

Chihayafuru S2 9-10! Hey, Arata gets his own episode! He relearns the significance of team competition. Nice cliffhanger. Chihaya's team then plays a group of students who use karuta for as a tool for strengthening their memorization skills.

Senyu. 9-10! Masochistic cat character enters the jail cell. And then some more 'bad' guys come.

Zetsuen no Tempest 21-22! Hakaze learns who Aika's murderer is. Not very surprising at all.

xxxHOLiC jdrama 1-2! is based on CLAMP's manga which recently restarted...ugh CLAMP. The first episode was actually not as bad as the anime series. What the anime lacked in production value and pacing is not noticeable in the live-action drama. The drama cuts Mokona and the comedy, and focuses nicely on the mysterious atmosphere of the story. Watanuki Kimihiro disturbed by his ability to see the supernatural stumbles upon a shop that houses Ichihara Yuuko, a fashionably dressed witch. The first episode revolves around a customer who has stiff pinky finger caused by her inability to stop lying. The second episode is about the monkey's paw. I enjoy the unpleasant endings these stories have. 

Speaking of Watanuki...

BLOOD-C: The Last Dark jmovie! Watanuki makes a cameo here as the shop owner with a cute dog. In this movie, it's been 6 months since the tv series in which 90% of the characters were brutally killed off. Fortunately, the action and violence in the movie are not as humorously bad; untrained monkeys did not animate the movie. Saya is seeking revenge against Fumito and runs across a resistance group/hackers who are against changes in society that Fumito has brought about. They help Saya find him. There's a big climactic scene which turns out to be not-so climactic. ~8/10 rating~ for some brilliant action sequences and a cute Watanuki cameo scene (wtf was her payment?). The terrible tv series makes you appreciate this movie more, but don't expect any satisfying pink marshmallows moments. I find it mildly amusing that Saya still felt alone while the megane-girl felt that she was still connected.

Tokkan 1! jdrama...possibly the most depressing drama to make in this economy. So you have a naive tax collector (played by Hana Yori Dango's Mao Inoue) paired up with a hardass tax collector. Well, they are in the special division where they can seize property if the citizen cannot or refuses to pay their taxes. In this episode the naive tax collector stops an old couple from killing themselves to escape from their money problems. Throw in a song from Mr. Children and you've got yourself a heart-warming drama? eh, not quite.
Rich Man, Poor Woman 1! jdrama! Oguri Shun plays an arrogant, genius billionaire, Hyuga something, president of an IT company in search of his mother who abandoned him. A Todai student, Sawaki Chihiro, whose timid personality keeps her from getting any job offers applies for a position at his company. She gets a job due to the fact that she has the same name as his mother...ah, right. Hyuga suffers from the affliction that prevents him from remembering people's names and faces. Chihiro can memorize anything. It's a match made in drama heaven.

GTO 2012 2! Onizuka helps a student who creates trouble for her father, the police captain. One by one, Onizuka befriends his students...nice, but a fairly predictable.

Sword Art Online 1! another RPG-oriented anime

+ Ok production
- Nothing new

Quick impression~ Introverted boy starts playing a new RPG along with thousands of others. The game master soon tells the players that the only way to log off of the game is to beat the 100 levels. Blah, blah. I have no idea why this is one of the most anticipated new shows based on episode 1 alone.

Hunter x Hunter 2012 38! Thought it was amusing that the initial physical impression of Gon's dad is different from what he looks like when he is actually in the manga. Gon and Killua head to York Shin in search for the Greed Island game.

GTO 2012 1! jdrama. I don't remember any specific details from the original jdrama, but as far as jdramas go, this one was ok. Outside of the actor playing Onizuka, the cast was full of familiar faces (Yamamoto Yusuke is in everything nowadays, and the girl who was Haruhi in Ouran is a bad girl in this). Episode 1 was about a young boy who was being bullied by a group of girls. Onizuka was a gardener at the school before being recruited by the school to teach. The sledgehammer to the wall scene was the only familiar part of the episode that I could remember from the anime or original drama.

Big 9-10! Yoon-jae's mother reveals Yoon-jae and Kyung-joon's connection. More filler with the side characters...they really are not as funny as they try to be. Da-ran is slowly falling for Kyung-joon. It's a good thing he's ages about 2 years in 10 episodes. Wasn't he in the same grade as Ma-ri or Da-ran's brother? Very sleepy episodes. I may wait until the show ends before marathoning the rest.

Mou Ichido Kimi ni, Propose 1-2! jdrama version of 'The Vow'...I think. Bookish Kanako undergoes an operation for a brain hemorrage. She wakes up with no memories of the past 5 years (ie. the time she met and married her husband). Motorcycle enthusiast Haru vows to make her fall in love again. It's well-paced, nicely cast, and not overly romantic. The 2nd episode kinda made me doze.