some other jdramas i watched recently

Oyabaka Seishun Hakusho (2020) 

This is directed by the same man who directed Kyou Kara Ore Wa - Fukuda Yuichi. He's done some popular things in the past - Mr Nietzsche in the Convenience Store being the most popular one that's talked about. I think he does a really good job at letting the actors go with comedic moments, and he also has a really good eye for setting up comedic premises (which I really like). 

The show stars Muro Tsuyoshi, also better known as Mukunoki Sensei from Kyou Kara Ore Wa in the main role, and some younger actors as his daughter and the college students. It also features a bunch of the other actors from KKOW in little cameos (I also very much liked this), padding out the rest of the show. (shout out to hayato isomura as the touchy tennis senpai god bless). 

The premise is about Obika Taro, an overprotective single parent/one hit wonder author, looking out for his pure and sheltered daughter Obika Sakura, as she finally enters college. As most places don't have a lot of mature aged students in university, it sets up a lot of things, like Gataro being more well liked, enjoying his life, although I have to say, the show definitely created a lot of sincere moments that I didn't expect from what expected to be a comedy eg. talking about the death of Sakura's mother, the sacrifices made by Gataro to drop out and raise Sakura, his struggles with his career and juggling college and wanting to be a good parent - it ends up being more like a show about Gataro and his college experience, and some snapshots of the people growing alongside him. I was honestly, a little let down by this? I would have liked more focus on Sakura growing, as the whole thing feels like he's impeded on her flourishing because of the fact that he's a helicopter parent, and they sort of frame the whole show as his second chance at happiness. Which is where my main complaint starts. 

So during the later part of the show (it's only 7 episodes, but episode 7 doesn't exist to me), they start creating a relationship between Eto Misaki, one of the girls in their little college group, and Gataro - it starts by Misaki's ex boyfriend terrorising the cafe where she works, and in the end, Gataro makes a bold move to protect Misaki against her ex boyfriend by praising her on all her good points. essentially. Misaki - who is totally capable of protecting of herself - basically melts at this by someone recognizing all the hard work she's put into her life, and is like, damn sakura, i think i love gataro and i wanna be his wife (while poor Negoro is bouncing from rejection to rejection and then is like, wait, misaki is great? and confesses again and gets turned down.) The last episode is basically a whole plot of unnecessary relationship where misaki gets drunk, kisses gataro in front of everyone, plucks up the courage to confess while sakura freaks out about misaki wanting to bone her dad, and then it's all good everyone, crisis averted, gataro only has eyes for one person and it's his dead wife. Truly, I don't know how to express on what level how much I really did not enjoy watching poor Misaki drape herself and throw herself at the uninterested Gataro, and I don't really like the message they were trying to convey with it either? Is Misaki desperate enough to just want anyone who doesn't take her for granted? why was this character plot development even invented when it adds nothing to her character? i feel like on some levels the writers freaked out and were like, yeah we'll just throw this in. i guess? hahaha all men wanna self project into this show ??? Maybe what i want to say is, this show feels like it should have been a fun comedy about a parent and child relationship growing and developing, and instead, it feels like a insanely self indulgent fanfiction about a guy wanting to feel young again because also a single dad and a failed writer but its all ok because he manages to make a come back. Which is kinda bleh. Just don't think too hard about it. 

I think the majority of the show was fine, it was definitely not the same energy of KKOW, and it's a little too earnest to be a fun romp with your brain turned off. And while the author? writer? has some wild ideas about this lovely world for a middle aged man, I still have to say, Muro Tsuyoshi is great fun and really embodies his comedy and his acting, and the little snapshots of comedic moments and the KKOW cast dotted throughout are lovely touches. Everything else about the actual story, just close your eyes. I did. 

Kieta Hatsukoi (2021)  

Based off the BL manga (Wataru Hinekure, Aruko), this is a super cute show. 

The drama makes a few significant differences for ease of acting - like changing their ski trip into a forest camping one and making them engage in different activities and switching how they would get the actors alone. However, one significant thing they added is that the original manga doesn't have the established relationship between Aida and Hashimoto and instead make them platonic friends, so they end up adding an extra fireworks scene near the end of the show to kind of 'tie up threads' to give all the main characters a happy ending. I'm not super fond of some of the plot/narrative changes they made, but I don't think it makes a significant difference towards the core of the story, which is more of a wholesome developing relationship between the main characters. 

So in this sense - the show actually does a pretty good job at capturing the relationship between Aoki and Ida - and I have to say, they did really good casting with the both of them (except the fact that Ren Meguro as Ida looks a little too old to be the same age as his costar Shunsuke Michieda with a five year age gap when they're both supposed to be high school students). It also helps that they really lean into the pure and wholesome aspect of their relationship (which means, no horrific scenes of straight men with zero chemistry trying to kiss). 

Honestly I really enjoyed this - it's not quite as iconic as OFC, but I really think it's a really sweet and well made BL show. 

Namba MG5 (ナンバMG5) (2022)

This is, probably one of the worst shows I've ever had the displeasure of watching. See - I don't think I hate self indulgent media, i've (admittedly) read more than enough fic that's blatant projection and a specific imprint of someone's desires and feelings. That in itself, not the problem. What I cannot forgive, is sloppy quality and delivery of those ideas. Writing, scripts, acting, it's all an art form. At least make it acceptable levels of... something. It's based off a manga, although much like most jdramas, they've taken lots of creative liberty to fit a more conventional narrative. I feel like this is one of the worst shows i've ever had the pleasure of watching all the way through. 

This show is about Nanba Tsuyoshi, the middle sibling in the Nanba family who are known for being famous yankees, and he decides that instead of being a yankee, he wants to pursue something else in life without following the ideas that his family have forced on him. he leads a double life as both the strongest yankee (to his family) but also hiding his true nature from his friends in high school, and it inevitably wears him down. 

I hate to say this, but my biggest gripe is the casting/actors of this show. Mamiya Shotaro is Nanba Tsuyoshi as the main character, but not only is he 29, he also looks 29. For the main character, I imagine they tried to make him the stand out person because he's relatively successful and needs to be the focus of the story but it really threw me out - his blond hair is... not great, and whenever he walks around, I cannot help but notice how he literally looks NOTHING like a teenager - especially with the shredded abs. Unfortunately his face jsut looks, really old? so coupled with everything, I feel like I'm watching a show about a 30 year old man cosplaying as a high school student lmao. it's not great. 

On that note, everyone, somehow, looks their age in this show, or older, and it's not a great look (my apologies to Morimoto Shintaro who is 25 but I thought he was at least 30), Kato Ryo (32), the "love interest" played by Morikawa Aoi (27), a more acceptable Kamio Fuju (23) and the only one close to being high school aged being Nanba's little sister Hara Nanoka (19).  Although most high school shows do have a lot of older actors playing them, I truly cannot say most of them pass as high school students, which really did nothing to help me suspend my disbelief. On top of this, most of them are not fantastic at acting. Kamio Fuju as Godai Naoki is fine, he basically plays a stoic straight laced secret best friend, and Morimoto Shintaro as Daimaru Daisuke is fantastically campy in this role, to the point where it feels like he should be in a comedy (but unfortunately for him, there are no side effects and most of the people in this show just love moping around and being miserable). Can I also mention, theres this random side romance with Ginko and this random boy, and it's crazy because the actor Oda Shosei is A actually a fresh faced 15 (yknow, the actual age of kids in high school first years) and he's sitting next to a 19 year old girl, which is, close enough I guess, even though it's weird that they're supposed to be dating, and then you have our MC who is 29 just sitting at the same table as them, as if they're all supposed to be high school students? man that REALLY took me out.  

Not to however, say that the acting and actors are the only part, oh no - like i mentioned before, christ the pacing and the tone and the PLOT of this show is awful and heartily self indulgent. they start the show with a solid pacing, and then do some random sped up time skip while also throwing out random plot bombs (like evil high school principals who randomly have it out for the kids so they can create some fake tension? and resolve all of that in like, 2 episodes?) i really do not want to list the whole story's plot in any way more than this because doing so feels more or less pointless. the pacing is hella off on after the first two episodes imo. i nearly forgot about the random gaslighting episode with the art club president. crazy. 

Also i fucking hate the romance?? angle they give with Fujita and Nanba, where they make her suspicious of him and there's something there, however, she tries to expose him and then he forgives her and then she becomes this weird insistent supporter of him and like one of his biggest fans but they're not REALLY friends, they're just sort of tentatively associated with one another? really pointless, idk why they put that in there. then most of the friendships he establishes with his classmates is, yet again, very tentative. I'd wager the best relationship that's established is between him and Jinnai, the Ichimatsu leader (played by the charming Yanagi Shuntaro) when they have a slight understanding between them (also they lOOK like peers since they're super close in age, so it feels like you're in the right space ((I MEAN CMON, ACTING IS ALL ABOUT CREATING THIS SENSE OF SUSPENSION, THE SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF. IF YOU'RE GOING TO HIRE A 29 YEAR OLD, MAKE THEM ALL OLDER THAN HIM SO HE LOOKS YOUNG??))). and they have like a big old punch up and jinnai is like damn man i respect you. so they end up spending christmas together its very funny. 

anyway listen, i fucking hated this show so much. there is literally nothing good about this show, there is nothing i took away from it, it wasn't even so bad it was good, it was just so average and it tried so hard to be good with literally no results, and I feel like I've wasted so much of my life and eyesight and effort into trying to comprehend a sinking ship. 

i will say, there is ONE nice upside about this, which is when the family starts to realize the pressure they've put on tsuyoshi, and him and his brother have a big punch up and try to connect to each other again. that was good. but this is really bad at showcasing, what i think, would have been teh actual charm of the source material, which is navigating the coming of age of a kid with his family's expectations and how he wants to be rid of these burdens and how he realizes and comes into himself and realizes his potential (Even if it is a bit marty stu like). i like that sense of earnestness from a lot of coming of age shows, where characters grow and develop, but i dont' actually think the drama depicts that, where tsuyoshi never grows and is never really reprimanded for his actions, and no one comes of this better. i certainly didn't. i really wish i liked this more.