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Ushi ni Negai wo LOVE & Farm (牛に願いを Love & Farm)

I like this show! I thought that making a show about the country life is really good, although based from the first episode I already got an idea what to expect from the characters. It’s a bit predictable I guess, but I like the story nonetheless. Also I am happy to see familiar faces (i.e. Nakamura Shido, Toda Erika and Koide Keisuke).

What’s nice about this show I guess is that despite of the reasons that inspired this drama, it really does not pretend to solve everything. I can also relate to the characters, albeit they’re agriculture majors, because they are about my age and are students themselves. So yeah. I like this show.

Galileo (ガリレオ)

Addicting. I guess that’s one way to describe this show. The actual format is quite predictable, as it is a detective / crime / mystery drama, but the way it was presented is a bit different. The main character (played by Fukuyama Masaharu) is actually a physicist and the female protagonist (portrayed by Shibasaki Kou) is a rookie cop. I just like the way how ‘educational’ this show is because the show is brimming with scientific knowledge.

I adored Shibasaki Kou here. I’ve seen her in Maison de Himiko before (didn’t notice her in Battle Royale though lol) and I really like the way she portrayed the role. You can actually see and feel that she internalized the role really well. Her expressions were well-shown but not exaggerated to the point that her character’s being a caricature. And of course, Fukuyama Masaharu had an amazing performance as Prof. Yukawa/Galileo.

This show will make you like physics. Seriously.

Detective Academy Q (探偵学園Q)

Ang saya ng show na ‘to. I really like detective / mystery TV series kaya I tried watching this. This time though the lead characters are teenagers. Despite that, the show emphasized the idea of deductive reasoning and investigation instead of having the kids really rely on gadgets. Even though one of them is the tech genius, he’s usually focused on programming and using the internet to investigate. Nothing fancy, but the show seemed really real.

I think the only part of the show that seemed ‘fake’ is the actual use of hypnosis. Or maybe I’m just skeptical because I really don’t believe in it.

One Pound Gospel (１ポンドの福音)

Ang weird ng show na ‘to, haha. Hindi ako sanay na perky yung character ni Kamenashi Kazuya. Tapos tungkol pa siya sa boxing, eh hindi naman ako talaga fan ng sport na ‘to (aside sa Wii kasi maganda siyang total body workout, hehe). Anyhow, okay naman yung show pero ang dami pa ring loose ends. In general nakakatawa ‘tong show na ‘to kasi may elements ng religion at… it’s like giving the idea that having a conflict between one’s commitment to the Church and to one’s personal feelings is quite easy. In short parang hindi masyado kabigat yung approach ng drama dito. Not really sure if the manga worked that way though (that’s why I’m interested in reading it). Dahil ba sa dominant religion sa Japan kaya iba rin ang approach sa Catholicism? Hrrm.

Nevertheless, ang ganda ni Kuroki Meisa dito. ♥

Suppli (サプリ)

Pinanood ko ‘to kasi binabasa ko yung manga. Ang masasabi ko? Wala, nakakairita yung character ni Ito Misaki dito. For some reason hindi ako maka-relate dun sa character niya at sa iba pang nandun sa drama, which is weird kasi sobrang hit right-on-the-spot yung plot ng manga sa akin.

I guess because I hate how she and Kamenashi Kazuya’s character ended up together in the end. Napaka-fairy tale-ish ng ending. Para sa akin things don’t really work that way in real life. Agrh. Basta. Dapat talaga her character ended up with Eita’s character. Hindi ko maintindihan, agrh. Basta nakakainis. Tapos, well, nakakainis din yung plot ng drama in general, tinapos ko lang para may basis ang pinagsasabi ko, pero well, ayun nakakainis.

Ang pangit pa ng kissing scenes, ang o-awkward, parang ewan.

2007 Watchlist: A review

Well then, another year went by and I managed to watch a lot of… uh, things. Not as many as before (using the past two/three years as a baseline), but the amount is considerable… normal, I guess. One thing’s for sure: I watched a lot of Japanese Films this year, and this is mostly because of my film class last summer. The class aroused my interest in Japanese film so after the class I watched more films, haha.

I already blogged about some of the shows I planned to watch (and finished watching, since most of them are done already), but I’ll write a blurb for some of the shows I’ve seen but never get the chance to talk about.

花盛りの君たちへ (Hanazakari no Kimitachi E)
I’m not done watching the show but this occupied my summer vacation. It’s just fanservice, with a bunch of good-looking boys in a show, but then again, I enjoyed watching it still. Discovered Ikuta Toma, and I actually like his performance there. This is why I am looking forward to him this year for his new drama. More »

Juuken Sentai Gekiranger

Yehey! Kakatapos ko lang panoorin ang bagong sentai series na pinalabas kahapon sa Japan (Lunes na ngayon doon), ang Juuken Sentai Gekiranger. Pamilyar sa akin ang dalawang lalaking characters na si GekiRed at si GekiBlue kaya naman naisipan kong panoorin ito.

Para na naman akong binalik sa pagkabata. Tulad ng mga 80’s babies ay lumaki akong nanonood ng Choudenshi Bioman at Hikari Sentai Maskman at noong late 90’s eh napanood ko ang Choujin Sentai Jetman, Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman at ang North American version ng Kyouryuu Sentai Zyuranger na mas kilala sa atin as Power Rangers. Hindi pa kasama diyan ang Ultraman at Kamen Rider franchise ha. Kaya naman masaya ako at makakanood na naman ako ng sentai series na susubaybayan ko ulit.

Maganda ang premise ng Gekiranger. Mas maganda pa ang quality ng transformation. Wala akong reklamo sa costume kasi kakaiba at maganda. Mas nakakatuwa pa nga kasi iba ang portrayal sa main red character, dahil pinalaki siya sa gubat ng mga wild animals. Next week, manonood ako ulit.

Related Entries:
Kuwentong Sentai
Ultraman Max, Kamen Rider Kabuto
Ultraman Max

Ultraman Max

I finally get the chance to find the tracker for Ultraman Max, although the subbed version is only up to episode 22 (the whole series has 40 episodes). I already got three episodes and I won’t be able to finish downloading at least 10-15 episodes until the end of the year. At least I have enough time to do so since it’s almost my winter and semestral break. More information about Ultraman Max can be found here.

Finally, I realized why Ultraman’s stamina lasts for only up to 3 minutes. It’s because he’s an alien, and since he’s just borrowing one’s body, (in this case, Kaitou Touma) he cannot stand to be that long on the earth’s atmosphere. Kind of disappointing if you ask me, but in some ways, it’s heroic, because Kaitou and Ultraman Max risk their lives just to save Japan from evil monsters.

Okay, para talagang sineseryoso ko ‘tong palabas na ‘to.

Technorati tag: Ultraman Max

Nodame Cantabile (のだめカンタービレ)

I just started watching the Japanese drama Nodame Cantabile and it’s a great show. It was aired last week I think, and so far I enjoyed the first two episodes a lot.

Megumi Noda, or “Nodame,” is a piano student at Momogaoka College of Music. Although she is an extremely talented pianist who can play by ear, she can’t read music. She also hates to take a bath or clean her room. For her daily meals, she usually grabs something out of her friend’s lunchbox.

Nodame soon falls in love with Momogaoka’s top student, Shinichi Chiaki. Born into a musical family, he plays the piano and violin brilliantly. Although his major is piano, he has secret ambitions to become a conductor.

Based on the big hit comic book by Tomoko Ninomiya, this is the romantic comedy of two completely different personalities. [D-Addicts]

I was thinking that this would be boring because the story mainly involves classical music, but the artists performed their roles really well. I might buy the translated manga sometime soon.

Nobuta wo Produce, Gokusen, Hana Yori Dango

Nobuta wo Produce (野ブタ。をプロデュース)
I have to say that I enjoyed watching this series. Nobuta wo Produce means “To Produce Nobuta” in English. This is a 10-episode series that stars Kamenashi Kazuya (KAT-TUN), Yamashita Tomohisa (NEWS) and Horikita Maki.

The story is about Shuuji (Kamenashi), a very outgoing and “please everyone” type of guy who is very popular and has the ability to persuade a lot of people. Yamashita is Kusano, a very weird guy who gets drunk by drinking soya milk and is Shuuji’s classmate. Shuuji hates Kusano for some reason, but then their lives entwined when a very weird girl transferred in their class. Kotani Nobuko does not brush her hair, smells bad, and always bullied by her classmates. Shuuji and Kusano decide to “produce” Kotani and make her popular and boost her confidence, although they keep this “plan” to everyone else. They call Kotani as “Nobuta” (buta means pig) and as they start their make-over plan to change Nobuta, their friendship starts to blossom as well.

This show really reminds me of Yamatonadeshiko Shichi Henge in terms of the whole “make-over” theme, but probably the reason why I liked Nobuta… is because I find it different. It is funny, refreshing and really interesting. There aren’t a lot of romantic scenes in here, instead they focused more on making and maintaining friendships and ties with other people.

Gokusen (ごくせん)
Gokusen (Gangland Teacher) is a J-drama that stars Nakama Yukie as Yamaguchi Yumiko, a math high school teacher in an all-boys private school who was (unfortunately) assigned to the “garbage” class, 3-D. Unknown to the students and members of the faculty, Yamaguchi, or Yankumi, is the granddaughter of a yakuza leader, and she has to keep her origins a secret or else she will be fired.

Gokuzen is parallel to Great Teacher Onizuka, in terms of the basic plot. The drama is highly entertaining, although some of the scenes were highly predictable, since most of these tend to repeat on other episodes. What I liked most about this show is that Nakama’s character empasizes a lot of principles that are oftentimes neglected at this time. The ending is a little disappointing for me though. More »