Prisoner

A Japanese national gets accused of a crime he did not commit and finds himself in jail in a country where the officials are corrupt, money tips the scales of justice and people speak Engrish, lots of ENGRISHHH!!! Shot entirely in Thailand, this 5-part miniseries plays out like a trash novel, taking a land-grabbing conspiracy theme and a not-so-elaborate prison break scenario to new heights of idiocy.

Fine, so it's not that bad... just overly ambitious. Prisoner is more of a tv-movie of the week feature than an action-suspense thriller  but I reckon those who want "something different" would still opt to see it.

Inspired from the real-life account of Sawai Kujira's detention in Phnom Penh, WOWOW TV's Prisoner follows the trials and tribulations of Izawa Keigo, a man falsely accused and imprisoned in the fictional country Seraivia, as he fights against the system to clear his name and regain his freedom.

It was a bad beginning as Izawa Keigo (Tamayama Tetsuji) seeks respite from his troubles by dropping in unannounced on his buddy, Yuzurihara Takuya (Nakamura Shunsuke), who's running an orphanage in a tropical country. Everything was going swimmingly, with Keigo finding solace in helping out at the orphanage, until Takuya was approached by a certain Joy Saga (John Kaminari) who pitched this song and dance number about investing all his savings in a business venture to secure the children's future. Convinced, Takuya decides to close the deal by dropping $700,000 of his hard-earned host[o] cash in buying what turns out to be inalienable, state-owned property.

Seeing Takuya broken and distraught, Keigo decides to rashly step in by tracking down Joy Saga to demand the return of the money. With nothing but words to persuade the hardened swindler, Keigo and Joy Saga end up in a scuffle wherein the former got arrested by the authorities on account of "attempting to kidnap" the latter. Money was [in]discreetly exchanged at the scene and evidence was later planted against him, so Keigo promptly got himself a one-way ticket to city jail.

Unknown to Keigo and Takuya, the swindled money was just part of a scheme to force them into closing the orphanage which happens to be on prime beach property. All the other properties in the vicinity were slowly being purchased by a multinational company which was in the course of developing a world-class resort. This is where investigative journalist Nishiyama Aki (Tsuruta Mayu) comes in, because according to her sources most of the properties in the coast were being acquired through illegal means. Having heard of Keigo's story, Aki decides to help him by finding out about Joy Saga and his associates; piecing together evidence for an exposé.

Meanwhile, Keigo gets sent off to kangaroo court where he's found guilty and sent to the state penitentiary, but not before police officer Ali (Ikeda Arushi) weasels a few thousand dollars from him. Without money to grease the pockets of those in the judiciary and without any legal assistance from Consul Ube Hajime (Kohinata Fumiyo), who was just waiting to be transferred out of the said country, Keigo was looking at a 10-year prison term ahead of him.

At this point, Prisoner becomes more of a ridiculous tragedy following Murphy's Law, as our protagonist gets bamboozled and beaten down again and again.... and again and again.... so much so, that it would have been more practical to send him to the meat grinders. It's just one careless mistake after another, as the main characters in this series were slow to internalize Chris Carter's simple and sage advice in the X-files to trust no one.

One would've thought that Takuya had more insight into human nature, having worked in an environment wherein being manipulative and deceitful brought about higher returns. Hosts are known to be quite perceptive of people's needs and quick to identify liars since their occupation requires that they be exceptional liars as well, but Takuya got his training from the Giragira-let's-heal-women's-hearts academy for hosts that's why taking money from him turned out to be so easy. It also helped that a grown man like him remained so naive as to pay in cash within a day of inspecting the property so con men all over the world can rejoice, for in Prisoner, it's no longer necessary to devise grand, intricate designs to steal someone's money.

This is one ambitious series that obviously bit off more than it can chew, as screenwriter Oishi Tetsuya (MW, Death Note, Death Note: The Last Name) poorly assembles a loose and exasperating account of a man caught in the middle of [what should be] a high-stakes corporate conspiracy  involving the construction of a leisure resort in a foreign country.  The concept behind it is rather easy to grasp, and  WOWOW should be applauded for shooting the whole thing in a foreign locale, however the finished product in itself appears to fall short of its intent to bring a riveting action thriller as the events in Prisoner became increasingly absurd by the minute.

About thirty percent of the dialogue in this series is spoken in Engrish and about 2/3 of it has Keigo in prison  planning an escape with the help of his cellmate, Pon (Ohmori Nao), while Aki on the outside, snoops around for information with hired bodyguard, Wada Akira (Ishiwada Ken). And it's pretty much in this Prison Break cum Oswald State Penitentiary set-up that writer Oishi Tetsuya went over the top.

This is no Shawshank Redemption or Stalag 17 as the interaction between Keigo and the inmates alongside the actual prison break make for one groan-out-loud, get-ready-to-tear-your-hair-out [of disbelief] viewing experience. Here, Keigo goes through the process of becoming a human punching bag, to fellow inmate to wronged comrade, earning the trust and respect of the other prisoners by playing an overextended game of Russian roulette. Sharpen those spoons mate and make duplicate keys for Keigo's gonna bust out of a state penitentiary!

Contrary to hype, this drama is not so much Prison Break but more of a wannabe a cloak and dagger series with a huge chunk of mystery and nail-biting suspense missing in between. Fictional Seraivia is depicted as  home to a lot of shady dealings, with most of its folk easily bought off and ready to switch loyalties. The foreign characters in it are caricature villains that would fit in nicely had this been an era wherein Sean Connery's 007 still held sway-- there's the Chinese troubleshooter (Takehana Azusa)  for the corporation with his tea and jigsaw puzzle, his lovely assistant/sexytary (Kusakari Mayu) who poisons drinks; the swindler who irons his money; and the rotund police chief (Walter Roberts) who smokes cigars and listens to Puccini. Its whole presentation is outdated and clichéd, almost everyone in it  is a double crosser or a money grubber, and what makes the show unappealing is that it takes Keigo and Saki quite a while to realize that they're surrounded by people who have ulterior motives. That's why the protagonists in this story remain victims for the greater part of the show. If Act I of this series is "Trust No One", then Act II could just as easily be entitled, "Abandon All Hope" as Keigo finds himself betrayed once again by the person he relied on the most.

The upside is that Keigo and Aki don't remain gullible forever, so the third act of this series is concluded with  "Just Deserts". It's not exactly clear what brought on the change in their attitude but it's quite a relief that they acted with caution and used their heads for a change. Taking a page off of the bad guys' playbook, Keigo gets to dispense justice by forming a strategic alliance and getting help from a man who roasted armadillos in schezuan sauce... and to think all this was made possible because of a can of sardines. It's all a bit contrived but the sudden turnaround in the flow of events was long-awaited, if not long overdue.

Prisoner, like your regular tv-movie of the week ends with the requisite happy ending-- with the baddies getting their comeuppance and a hero's homecoming. Seeing this show is not at all that rewarding but having that all's-well, justice-prevails ending acts like a soothing balm for the mental lashing that one gets in enduring this drama's rickety plotting.

Notwithstanding the garbled english and the atrociously bad, community theater-type of acting from its foreign [actors and] extras, Prisoner has a respectable cast of Japanese actors holding supporting roles-- there's  Ohmori Nao as the sly and manipulative Pon; Ishiguro Ken as the ambivalent bodyguard; Ikeda Narushi as the corrupt cop; Kohinata Fumiyo as the indifferent consul; and Tanaka Yoji who seems to be everybody's  bartender. These five actors made this drama less excruciating, playing their characters with aplomb and gravity that it would not be surprising if their individual performances in this would be the only  thing worth remembering. Tamayama Tetsuji's performance in this series was intermittently overwrought and disengaging,  he has eyes that spoke volumes but the emotions conveyed lacked subtlety and focus. Tsuruta Mayu as the female lead was serviceable but the female characters were mostly nondescript accessories to this less than realistic cautionary tale of life overseas.

The problem with Prisoner is that this drama is composed of a  series of unfortunate events, the likes of which, could have been easily  avoided had the main characters possessed an iota of common sense and exercised due diligence. It suffers from insipid storytelling, bogged down by maudlin sections that defy logic and description, but what it offers though is its relatively short entry, taking up only five episodes in telling this quasi-action/suspense thriller of a story. 

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Magerarenai Onna

From the way it was described, you'd think it was another shigoto drama but it's not. What it is really, is a drama about a 32-year old woman who has the unyielding resolve to lead her life the way she wants.  It's about having the conviction to pursue one's dreams, the courage to make a change and how having friends who believe in you can make a world of difference.

This show caught me by surprise, didn't expect it to be that funny or endearing, but then I really didn't hold much hope for the dramas that came out this winter season. It's been a while since I watched something without j-idols in it so Magerarenai Onna comes as a welcome treat. This drama makes you want to believe in the power of friendship... and who would have guessed? It's also a tribute to the healing effects of the music of the King of Pop. 

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Ogiwara Saki (Kanno Miho) is an aspiring lawyer who has flunked the bar nine times. She's disciplined and methodical, keeps to a stringent study schedule, and doesn't think twice about correcting someone when a word is misused or mispronounced. She works as a paralegal at a big firm in Tokyo where she's discouraged by her boss from retaking the bar, derided by her co-workers for being unsociable and envied by some for dating senior associate, Sakamoto Masato (Tsukamoto Takashi).

Note that taking the bar in Japan is not easy. The passing rate for post-war Japan fluctuates from 2-3% and prior to 2004, there were no graduate schools in place or any requirement for hopefuls to complete a law course except for a general undergraduate law program. Preparing for the national bar exam meant that the aspirant had to study and digest the law on his own. In some ways, it's said to level the playing field such that anyone who had the determination and the capability can be admitted to the practice of law (that's why there are characters like Hero's Kuryu Kohei), but then again, those who attempt to take it and actually pass were sadly, notoriously few. So before the country instituted reforms by establishing a law school system and placing a cap on how many times the exam can be taken, it was normal for people to take the bar four, five times before actually passing it.

Under the old system, the bar examination was taken in three stages. There's a multiple-choice test covering constitutional, criminal and civil law; an essay examination which included commercial and procedural law; and an oral examination which could have topics from any of the five major subjects. All three exams were taken over the course of a year, so an examinee would have to spend almost every waking moment reviewing for it. 

So imagine all that hard work and effort placed into achieving that one dream that continuously eluded Saki  year after year. This would be her tenth attempt and if she failed, decisions had to be made. She currently lives on a shoe-string budget since she's only a temporary employee, her mother's sick and people have been giving her less than subtle hints that maybe she's not meant to be an attorney... and they wonder why the girl has all but shutdown completely.

Saki is depicted as someone who hardly smiles, she's almost like a robot set on auto-pilot, a monotonous drone. Everyday, she rushes home from work, picks up some groceries, studies till half past one and promptly wakes up at six only to go through the same routine. She's somewhat a sad creature, someone whose way of life is misunderstood. Saki knows that it's about time for her to give up and settle down but abandoning her one goal in life ain't part of her vocabulary.

Life takes on a different turn when Saki bumps into an old high school classmate, Hasumi Riko (Nagusaku Hiromi), who takes on a peculiar interest in her life. This self-proclaimed, happily-married housewife gets herself an invite into Saki's home and bulldozes her way into meddling with Saki's personal affairs. Things start to get more interesting as our duo is joined by smooth-talking police officer, Aida Kouki (Tanihara Shosuke), whose Don Juan stylings and pick-up lines fail to impress Saki and he finds this very unsettling.

Magerarenai Onna is almost like a coming of age story, a drama about an unlikely friendship formed between three disparate folks. It's funny and heartwarming, it's a show that celebrates friendship and the power of dreams. More importantly, it's a reflection of the reality that true friends are really hard to come  by, no matter what age bracket you're in.

Ogiwara Saki is but one of many strong and independent-minded female characters of late, but what really distinguishes Magerarenai Onna from other dramas is screenwriter Yukawa Kazuhiko's clear and obstinate vision of what his characters should be like and where they're supposed to go. The triumvirate in this series grow and change without any marked inconsistencies. The characters behave in accordance with their known attributes and viewers never lose that emotional connection or get disgruntled over major plot points when one of them acts out a certain way.

The protagonist, Saki, might appear stoic but she's really the most perceptive and emphatic person in the said group. Her cool demeanor plays off as a defense mechanism to protect her from the criticism of the naysayers and busybodies who were forcing her to quit on her dream. Saki is the type that approaches her target with tunnel vision. In her mind, there is no room for doubt, no need to second guess what she has set out to do,  no possibility of compromise. Furthermore, she's oblivious to the consequences of her decisions-- she would quit a job that she's had for nine years just because of a difference in ethics and would break off a decade-long relationship so as not to be forced into marriage.

And it's this stubborn streak in Saki that Riko and Kouki find fascinating. At first, she's their source of entertainment, someone whose actions and words alternately baffle and amuse. They say that watching her life unfold is like watching a bad drama on t.v. but what really draws them to her is the latter's ability to forge a path of her own; something which the two did not have the confidence to do nor the courage to seek.

Riko's the well-provided for but ignored housewife in a household that's run by her indomitable mother-in-law. Her husband cheats on her and her two kids avoid her, so she resorts to lying and pretending that everything's okay. Kouki on the other hand, is the police chief who acts more like a figurehead and is not regarded highly as a superior. He got assigned to his post because of his influential father; he's a pacifist disguised as a law enforcer. Both of them lead lives that society find acceptable, both of them also happen to be unhappy and uncomfortable. They hang around Saki allegedly to console themselves, but the truth is, Saki is the type of person that they wish they could be-- she's that proverbial nail that sticks out, but as life  would have it, she refuses to be hammered down.

So as Riko and Kouki slowly wheedle themselves into Saki's life, the three eventually form a strange fellowship. It's the kind of friendship that sees them through good times and bad times,  a support system that allows them to look out for each other and be reminded of their worth,  and it couldn't have arrived at a better time... because growing up isn't easy. Being an adult does not exempt a person from growing pains but having friends you can depend on sure relieves the pressure. And that's pretty much what the three did, they did a lot of growing up together.

At the heart of Magerarenai Onna is the relationship between these three people. There's nothing like having a friend around to tell your woes to, someone to grapple a pen with when you're about to deface your mother's death poem, someone who would cook you meals and eat with you, someone who'd dance around to Michael Jackson no matter what the situation and someone who'd care enough to give you a slap in the face when you need it the most. There's a reason why songs like Lean On Me and Stand By Me are a classic. So it's no coincidence that the theme for this series Modorenai Ashita by aiko has an opening bar that suspiciously sounds like that Bill Withers song.

This drama's theme of self-affirmation and empowerment rests on the strength of Saki, Riko and Kouki's friendship. It was when all three came together that each one was able to sum up the courage to make a change in their lives for the better. There are a lot of funny and touching sequences in this series but perhaps the most memorable of all is the one wherein Saki realized that part of the import of having friends is to know when to ask for help, that living for yourself doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be on your own and bear things alone.  

Magerarenai Onna is one of those feel-good, guilt-free series that can make you laugh and cry without insulting your intelligence. It's written as a character study and a buddy comedy, all wrapped up in a post quarter-life crisis scenario that's just brimming with old school charm and humor.

This drama has a winsome cast, with the ever reliable Kanno Miho leading the pack as the titular unbending woman. Portraying an expressionless, mechanical shell of a person could have easily alienated an audience, but Kanno Miho made Saki into a character that others can relate to. Her face might as well have been etched in stone but her eyes conveyed a lot of meaning. Saki had a number of tics and pet peeves to let us know that there was more to her than what we're seeing. Meanwhile, Nagusaku Hiromi played bubbly and nosy Riko as the perfect foil to Saki's calm indifference.  She was the one who always stirred the pot, the one with the infectious smile and the mischievous glint in her eyes. Nagusaku Hiromi played the desperate trophy wife to perfection, one who's on the brink of breaking down but always in denial.

Tanihara Shosuke as Kou-chan in this series was simply brilliant, this is just one role that fit him like a white, sequined glove. His turn as the womanizing cop whose advances have no effect on Saki provide much of the comedy and doki doki moments in this series. As the lovestruck, bumbling and sensitive Kouki, Tanihara Shosuke finally got the chance to play to his strengths, displaying his gift for comedy and his potential to play a romantic lead. He never really achieved that balance before, often cast as the token pretty boy (Miseinen, Gokusen 2), the ambivalent boss/man (Mop Girl, Love Shuffle), or the annoying buffoon (Ryokiteki Kanojo), not to mention his endless list of cameos. In Magerarenai Onna, he got to be more than the comic relief and his character in this one was disarmingly sweet and funny.

The weakest link in this series would have to be Battle Royale techie guy alumnus, Tsukamoto Takashi, who was apparently working way out of his league. His character, Masato, had very little screen presence or chemistry with Saki that it was impossible to make believe that they've been together for ten years. He was the odd man out in an exclusive group of three. Maybe it was intended that way, but his supposed history with Saki did not have the expected emotional pull; he was just no match for kind-hearted Kouki. There was absolutely no competition, he was that much of a non-entity. Masato might have been as uncertain and clueless as the others but his character wasn't given enough time to shine. The fact that Tsukamoto Takashi didn't have the draw or foresight to make something out of his character made Masato less of an alternative and more of an appendage, a vestige of Saki's past.

One thing about this series that others might get tired of seeing is that every episode usually has Saki having one of her outbursts as a magerarenai-onna fanfare starts playing. It's when her so-called shutter comes up and she starts spouting off platitudes about  the value of living and how the law should protect the weak-- in a half-screech, staggered manner, sort of like firing short rounds of ammunition. If you've seen dramas like Great Teacher Onidzuka, Hero and Gokusen, then having the main lead preach at you would be nothing new, but the last round of indignant-speech fire in this one turned out to be really long and rattling. Don't worry though, Kimutaku's 21-minute lecture on the structure of government and good governance in the drama Change still holds the record.

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Rinne no Ame

Kuwamura Sayaka's Rinne no Ame, which won the 21st Fuji Television Young Scenario [Taisho] Award, is one surprisingly powerful television piece. It belongs to that rare species of melodrama that genuinely tugs at your heart as it explores the value of family and how the ties that bind people together can also tear them apart.

In its opening sequence, brothers Mikami Kohei (Yamamoto Yusuke) and Shuhei (Seto Koji) drive into the woods in a beat-up truck one stormy night in order to dispose of a body. The truck stops beyond a clearing and as the two alight, older brother Kohei immediately begins to dig a shallow grave while younger brother Shuhei stands on the side staring listlessly into space. With the crash of lightning and the roar of thunder, mentally-handicapped Shu briefly recalls events that passed and wonders out loud to his brother why the person they were about to bury had to die... 

Rinne no Ame presents a scenario which puts the bond between these two brothers to the ultimate test, as one brother unwittingly commits a crime in defense of the other. Clocking at less than 48 minutes, this drama special manages to not only show how close these two people were but also offers us an insight into how one incident changed the way they looked at each other. The crime was unpremeditated but gradually the cracks in their relationship begin to grow. With their mother long dead and an absentee father, the Mikami brothers had no choice but to rely on one another. For ten years, they tried to keep it all together, with Kohei juggling school and a part-time job, and Shu being his family and only friend. Shu on the other hand, always tried to keep up, thinking the world of his brother, until their carefully constructed life started to crumble down-- as the lead detective (Nagai Masaru) in the homicide case starts to suspect them and their good for nothing dad (Ogi Shigemitsu) resurfaces long enough to demand money from them.

This is a certified tearjerker, a story carefully crafted to break your heart. Writer Kuwamura Sayaka delicately weaves this tragic tale using simple dialogue in conveying the relationship between the Mikami brothers. By allowing the viewers to take a good, hard look at what was at stake, Rinne no Ame delivers a solid punch from start to finish, producing quiet, memorable moments that eventually lead up to dramatically charged scenes. The music, the lighting, the flashbacks and the individual performances were rendered so beautifully that one cannot help but dread its abrupt end. This is one drama special that moved at a slow and measured pace, with its writer fully in control of drawing out the emotional conflict within her characters to maximum effect.

What makes Rinne no Ame all the more captivating is that its direction and execution were likewise handled with a subdued and studied grace, such that the melodrama was never pushed to its absolute limit. It can be emotionally manipulative, but Director Namiki Michiro obviously did everything in her power to make it not blatantly so. She rehearsed her actors to elicit and capture each facial expression at an angle that looked just right and camera shots did not linger on unnecessarily as the story unfolded with a calm, understated quality that served to drive in its harrowing conclusion.

Moreover, actors Yamamoto Yusuke and Seto Koji delivered moving performances, attacking their roles with astounding polish and circumspection, a marked contrast to the zany and irreverent roles they played in last year's Atashinchi no Danshi. Surprisingly enough, these two young actors retained a natural rapport that made them totally convincing as brothers. Yamamoto Yusuke (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e, Puzzle, Rescue) displayed immense restraint playing the protective older brother, his Kohei had the firm resolve to keep the family together with just the right touches of self-doubt and resentment brewing underneath; there was no doubt that he loved and treasured his autistic brother but the responsibility of taking care of him was starting to weigh on him heavily. Seto Koji (Kamen Rider Kiva, Koizora, Otomen) equally turned in a decent performance portraying Shuhei as a simple-minded child who had nothing but complete trust in his brother. He imbued Shu with a wide-eyed innocence and devotion that was clearly displayed every time he said, "onii-chan" and struggled to make sense of what he's told. Together, they were the Mikami brothers. Seldom will you see two actors so in tune and complementary to each other to the extent that it was no longer about who was better, but rather how they could effectively portray the story and its characters together. They just worked so well.

Another thing that Rinne no Ame has going for it is its reliable cast of supporting characters, from Kanjiya Shiori who played the kind-hearted Minami, standing in as the audience's proxy, to the short yet stirring appearance of Ogi Shigemitsu as the boys' father who shamelessly didn't give a damn about what would happen to his closest kin.

Setting aside all its positive aspects, Rinne no Ame does come with a certain disability. It is by no means perfect, for instance, much of its emotional pull and impact is derived from the fact that it's on for a very short and limited engagement. On second viewing, the acting and execution thereof can even look too staged and scripted but Young Taisho award winners have always had this tendency. It benefits greatly from having a short format, thus sidestepping the problem of sustaining a cohesive and heartfelt storyline; something which continues to plague past winners who usually exhaust their material in four to five episodes when tasked to write a full length series.

Like previous winners who've gone on to pen Bara no nai Hanaya, Last Friends, Life and Ninkyo Helper for Fuji TV, screenwriter Kuwamura Sayaka excels in creating a scenario with characters to which its target audience draws a strong connection. And as expected, the writing for Rinne no Ame has enough detail and flourish-- with a number of memorable scenes between the two brothers, uncanny attention to the speech patterns of an autistic person and the rain serving as thematic bookends to the piece. In this respect, this drama SP is something worth seeing. It's the perfect venue by which a writer gets to demonstrate how well he/she can capture hearts in a given moment by creating a story that will stay with you for an indefinite amount of time.

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Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge

Four guys, a girl, and a makeover... wait, scratch that.  It's really four guys, a girl and a beaten to death lesson about inner beauty and true love. I'm quite sure there's also a thing about "learning to love yourself" thrown in there to sweeten the pot.

Note: I  tried to keep the rest of the review spoiler-free but in the end, I couldn't. Whether or not the review even makes enough sense is something that cannot be guaranteed...was in a daze when I wrote this...  I suppose it's a side effect of  watching something that's designed to be "mind-numbingly fun".

You see, I wasn't particularly excited to watch anything from the winter 2010 dorama line-up, so finishing all ten episodes of Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge comes as a surprise. It's juvenile and spastic but I saw it anyway. Blame it on the long election weekend. Blame it on a cold that wouldn't go away. Blame it on huge doses of cough medication... and most of all, blame it on New Moon. Yep, when it came right down to watching an insanely popular [but fatuous] vampire movie  OR watching another shōjo manga adaptation, I had to pick the lesser of two evils, so I went with Kame and the boys. After all, how bad can it be?

Turns out that watching this series meant violating an item in my Murtaugh List, specifically the one that  pertains to frying brain cells with indiscriminate viewing. For the last two years, I've been more selective of what I watch-- the objective was to basically avoid anything that was atrociously cute and dumb enough to  raze  massive cell death in my poor noggin. It's the reason why I wouldn't come near dramas such as Mei-chan no Shitsuji and Kaibutsu-kun, having learned my lesson from watching unforgettable gems like Itazura na Kiss and Hanazakari no Kimitachi e. But then again, as you know, there's always an exception. Tokusatsus, for instance are taken out of the equation. You can't really watch something that henshins into a masked fighting machine without being required to suspend a certain amount of disbelief. Same with hard camp dramas like Fuma no Kojiro and Boku to Kanojo XXX or obscure shows that, more often than not, are shown at midnight. But primetime dramas should always be held at a different standard... or so I thought.

I actually got to watch two episodes of this series last January just to check it out. I then decided to drop it after being assaulted by an endless parade of random events and characters but was later prevailed upon to watch it after being given a copy by a friend. So as I willed myself into watching, I suddenly remembered what threw me off the first time around...

It was that disco light-infused, musical number of an OP!

Come on, what the heck was that? Where's the ingenuity? Where's the art? Where's the truckload of cash intended for this part? (Because rhymes are fun.)

The whole thing begins with a shot of Kame in a white suit standing in front of the title of the drama  plastered in red neon and then cuts to a sound stage where all five characters dance to the tune of KAT-TUN's Kimi ga Kirai na Kimi ga Suki. It's just a weird spectacle as the four actors dance to the same choreography yet interpret it in different ways. Kame is grooving to it like it was the hippest thing in the world, he even does a body wave, just because he can; Tegoshi purses his lips and tries to put in some funk; Uchi looks like he's counting to the beat; and Miyao Shuntaro, the ballet dancer, does alright with the port de bras but totally sucks with the parts where he's required to pop and lock.

With contra tiempo moves that go against the music, the number itself comes with a sortie of jazz hands, sparkly effects and close-up shots. It's without a doubt another example of JE mind control at its finest as viewers are subconsciously fed the messages [above, left to right]: See me, Love me, Want me, Watch me-- as each character repeatedly makes hand gestures and beckons you to tune in every week. YOU MUST RESIST IT,  I TELL YOU! You must resist.  You...must...resist.... DAMNIT! I was all ready to start a crusade until my sister walked in and sang along to the song.  Didn't get to her in time... guess I should count myself lucky that she didn't dance to it (*sigh).

Okay, so back to the program...

The poor thing is so shy, she's always alone and doesn't have any friends.

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge plays like your run-of-the-mill shōjo manga  complete with a generous selection of off-kilter characters, an unlikely premise and an array of not-so-funny gags. It belongs in the company of dramas that have a rocky beginning (due in part to a host of wtf plot devices) and an ill-fitting end. Similar to shows like Ryusei no Kizuna and Atashinchi no Danshii, this is a drama that keeps you wondering where the hell it is going, before belatedly deciding on which course it was gonna take. It has something that would resemble a story, but has nothing of real value to fuss about because as fun and loopy as the anime and manga may be, seeing it in live-action can be a tad disturbing. Trust me, there are so many things in this show that can make you cringe.

Like any teen-oriented drama that has a reverse harem scenario, the story wouldn't be complete without the presence of a certain number of ikemen which, according to experts, could range from a minimum of three boys to as many as having three dormitories' worth of men. In this case, we have four.

With your powers, I want you to make her into a Yamato Nadeshiko.

In an opening sequence that's as outlandish and full of conceit as the introduction of the main characters in dramas like Hana Yori Dango, Hana Kimi and Yukan Club, the four men comprising the harem are capriciously profiled to have attributes so desirable that their mere presence make women weak at the knees. There's Kyouhei Takano (Kamenashi Kazuya), who's loud and brash, quick to anger and yet still the most popular of the four. Next is kind-hearted Yukishijo "Yuki" Toyama (Tegoshi Yuya) whose curly locks and childlike persona bring out the maternal instinct in women. Also present is quiet and reserved Takenaga Oda (Uchi Hiroki), heir to a traditional family skilled in ikebana. Rounding up the group is suave Ranmaru Morii (Miyao Shuntaro), a wealthy playboy who spends every waking moment with a different lady in tow.

They're the F4 of Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge, otherwise known as the "Freeloader 4". They're four college guys who were offered free room and board in a luxurious mansion on the condition that they turn  the landlady's niece into a yamato nadeshiko or the epitome of the ideal Japanese woman.  Sounds simple, right? How hard could it be for four guys with well-coiffed hair and plucked eyebrows to perform something like a bishonen-eye type of makeover?

If she's not sick, then what is it?

The answer: VERY HARD, especially when the subject of the makeover does not want to cooperate.

Meet Nakahara Sunako (Oomasa Aya), wallflower extraordinaire. She's a hikikomori of the horror girl variety, the type who hides behind super long bangs and one who has a strange fascination for horror movies, skulls and blood. She's insecure and withdrawn, often seen lurking in a black hooded cloak and is unusually comfortable sleeping in a coffin. Content with being shut away from the world with only three anatomical dolls to keep her company, Sunako doesn't see the point of changing her way of life.

To make matters worse, Sunako can't stand to be in the presence of beautiful things and dazzling creatures, making it doubly hard for her housemates to even come close. If forced to look at one of their faces, her nose bleeds and her head hurts. She'd scream "MABUSHEEEE!!!!" as if blinded by intense light, administer a head butt and slink away into the dark.

The quartet try their best to change her but they just don't have the power to hold her down. Why? Because Sunako has superhuman strength and she can invoke the power of GraySkull. Remember She-ra: Princess of Power? Well, she's sort of like that... When enraged, the sky darkens and a cold draft fills the air, and suddenly Sunako has the strength of ten men shortly after becoming a human lightning rod. All anyone has to do to flip on that switch is to yell "BuSunako" at the top of his lungs and/or until a major artery on his neck comes dangerously close to making that fatal pop... and KABAM! Pow! Whack! She's the goth chick with a vengeance. That, more or less, is the drama's S.O.P.

By the time I finished episode 3 it was clearly useless to rate this drama according to a standard criteria. It's one of those shows where you either get with the program or just smartly tune out. To do otherwise would be like pretending to not know that the story itself was based on a shōjo manga.

Episodes 1-5 cover all lengths of crazy as the stories revolve around a stakeout of a host club, magic mushrooms, a rabid fan, a kidnapped doll, a geriatric suitor, a runaway bride, a box of chocolates and a ghost from Rome that resides in the [Lockheart] mansion. To analyze all these things would be to dwell on  insignificant matters  that don't have answers-- like how come the gaijin spectre speaks Nihonggo or why Sunako doesn't get electrocuted... simply put, it's all a waste of time. To consider these things outside of the writer's purpose to bring Sunako and Kyouhei together, I repeat, would just be a waste of time. The best way to watch this show is to check your brain at the door and just go along with the ride.

Barring all logic and common sense, these episodes can be light and funny, they might even be good enough to strike a chord with its intended audience, which I think are tweens. Obviously, if you're looking for something profound and dramatic, look elsewhere, my friend. If you're not willing to overlook a lot of things and get on with the silly, don't even try it, just walk away.

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge  thrives on equal doses of silly and crazy, [as if you didn't know,] with a lot of grating and annoying elements thrown in between. Some of the comic sketches can be funny but most of the humor surrounding Sunako and her situation fall flat because of bad timing as some [supposedly] comedic sequences happen a beat too late or last for more than a few seconds. A good example of this is that scene where Sunako is seen tapping on the window pane. The surprise factor can only last for a few seconds, if not handled carefully, you're just left with dead air [insert yawn and crickets]. Another reason why it fails to be funny is because some of the things portrayed were simply unsettling, like Sunako's protracted moaning and groaning. It's more funny-weird bordering on creepy than funny-haha-- something that the writer and director failed to distinguish.

What's great about it though is that anyone who watches it has a pretty good idea of what to expect. No one's gonna die or have an unfortunate accident, and Sunako's going to find true love plus a rockin' skull bracelet at the end. No surprises...  unless you count the part wherein all four boys dress in drag with a fully made-up Kame as their undisputed queen.

Assuming you get through all five filler episodes, which can be quite a long slog,  the second half of the series is actually where each of the characters get designated an episode to "flesh out" his story. Conflicts are thrown in to make things interesting but like any show that's lean on content, each problem is resolved rather easily-- the landlady and her son have a heartfelt discussion,  Sunako and Kyouhei would duke it out, and the boys  settle their differences by wrestling around a pool, calling  it "male-bonding". Furthermore, Yuki gets to reaffirm his commitment to his long distance girlfriend (Motokariya Yuika) and Takenaga gets to be the heir and boyfriend to the sickeningly [pa]sweet Noi (Kanbe Ranko).  Even Ranmaru the Casanova gets  an intriguingly short story arc with the appearance of a family-designated, stone-faced fiancee in Tamao Kikunoi (Asami Reina).

Now before you get excited thinking that this show is headed somewhere, let me pull the breaks and remind you not to overthink this. Because that's all you're gonna get. It's best to just sit back, relax and enjoy the show. If at any point you feel like standing up and getting a life, then more power to you.  For those who will stick around to see it through, then get ready because there's a mad scramble of a story ahead of you.

Stupid complexes... you can just blow them off!

Screenwriter Shinozaki Eriko (Cat Street, Kurosagi, Daisuki, Tomorrow) decided to tackle each character's "complexes" in Episodes 6-9.  It's a welcome relief from the chaos and inanity of the previous episodes, however placing all of them together in the latter part of the series came out to be a desperate and poorly conceived move. For one, it assumes that people would stick around long enough to see it; and two, it meant rendering a different treatment on the episodes such that some scenes would have to depart from the  show's overall light and cartoonish mood. And while this style and treatment may have been true and consistent with the manga, where the main story was also told near the end of the series, the writer could have easily endeavored to present a more solid narrative by slowly easing the viewers into the story rather than bombarding them with strange wacky adventures at the show's onset. Only by toning down the crazy antics did the characters had room to grow, but by then the show was already at an impasse, it had nowhere to go. (Again with the rhymes.)

As a result, episode 6 turned out to be quite weak and forgettable (in no way will Kame's haircut be considered a milestone), while episode 7 had remnants of events already featured in shows like Nobuta wo Produce and Hana Yori Dango. On the other hand, episodes 8-9 appear to be oddities with extended sobfests (Kame, cry me a river...) over Kyouhei's tortured past  that did not blend well with the ludicrous [hello, ghost possession #2] storyline  that ran parallel to it. There was too much drama and a lot of cheese, and since the writer was constrained to make use of earlier plot devices (e.g. unstable villains, restless spirits, the child narrator, cheap lightning and laser beam sfx), episode 10 ended up as a back-to-basics episode  showcasing, of all things, a candid-camera-human-trafficking-fashion-show. Yep, a candid-camera-human-trafficking-fashion-show... you have to see it to believe.

The "you" that you hate...is the "you" that I love.

Of course in the middle of all this is a love story... a love story that happened between an angst-ridden pretty boy sporting a feathered shag and a socially inept ghost girl with a heavy fringe. Believe it or not, it's a match made in heaven-- shōjo manga heaven that is. He's a glutton, she's a superb cook; he doesn't like crowds, she's a shut-in; he hates women who worship his face, she can't stand to look at his face... they even share a superficial sense of self-loathing, albeit manifested in different ways. In each other, they find a sense of comfort and joy, they even manage to confront their personal demons to learn about the greatest love of all (no doubt a valuable lesson which they could have picked up just by listening to any number of songs, say, one by Whitney Houston or Christina Aguilera).

Like your typical Byronian hero, Kyouhei has had a big chip on his shoulder ever since his pretty mug deprived him of his mother's love. In a world without restraining orders, sexual harassment suits and rules against illegal assembly, not to mention rational thought and maybe mirrors, his God-given [and/or cosmetically enhanced] good looks began to take a toll on his family and affected his self-esteem. With a psychologically depressed mother  who doesn't want anything to do with him and hordes of women, and the occasional man,  after him, the only thing left to do would be to mutilate his precious face and move to  Gotham City... (Oh the bane, the horror!)... but that thought never occurred to him, so plaid  shirts and glasses it is.  Sunako, on the other hand was just unlucky in love. After being rejected and called ugly, she withdraws from society completely and finds comfort chatting up a storm with dear old Hiroshi. 

So these two lost souls develop a strange affinity because they both suffer self-image issues. It plays off like a classic case study where two people with similar issues are subjected to some form of group psychotherapy; both benefiting from an exercise of psychological projection and transference. Oddly enough, it's a pairing that works, with each holding up a looking glass for the other...  that's about the extent of my hack theory. The relationship was by no means well-written-- a lot of it seemed forced (at least until episode 7 rolled in where Kame lay claim on his woman "Korean style" by grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her away, I guess it looks cooler that way hehe)-- but the fact of the matter is that  no two characters in the drama were as troubled and no two characters could have understood each other more. It's weird, but true.

The acting in this series is of a low caliber but then again one cannot really expect them to perform well given the material they were given. Characters were largely underdeveloped, so the best that most of them could do was to look cute and project into the camera, which is like a license to overact. 1-2-3 Shock!

Having played the role of a cocky yet sensitive guy before, it's no surprise that Kame pulls off Kyouhei with the right amount of angst and swagger. Nothing new there. Uchi comes off as bland as his detached and bookish character while Miyao Shuntaro looked rather ugly with all those tight shots he was getting (too many Ojisan Home Alone >> NOOOOO!!!!!).  As a relative newcomer, his Ranmaru is flamboyant and irritating, was probably told to play things up for comedic effect but was totally found wanting. I think he should stick to dancing; maybe if he lets me throw tomatoes at him doing a  fouetté en tournant,  I  might find the heart to forgive him. Meanwhile, Tegoshi's Yuki did nothing more than wink and pout and act all cutesy-wootsy as if that would last him until he's 30. But the one who had the hardest job was Oomasa Aya, who had to make Sunako funny, weird and endearing--  something which she barely pulls off  concealed by a black cape and a curtain of hair. Sunako came alive only in the latter episodes when you get to see her "real face" and not the one that was made over, a sorry plight for an actress who was given her first breakout role.

If there's one thing of note in this production, it's the drama's use of light. It seemed that director-producer Ishii Yasuharu (Hana Yori Dango, Smile, Ryusei no Kizuna, Byakuyako) used all his previous [lighting] experience in order to shoot Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge in keeping with Sunako's point of view.  Because all four boys were always bathed in light-- sometimes it was unfiltered, at times it was harsh, at other times washed out and a few times warm. It was like one giant lighting experiment, where scenes, especially at the beginning, were either shot too bright or with hardly any light at all (which goes to say that some scenes appeared to be dark and stuffy). What's interesting about it is that as the series progressed, the sharp, glaring backlight was slowly replaced by a soft incandescent glow. The way the scenes were lit changed dramatically, just as Sunako changed and eventually became comfortable enough to be herself around her newfound friends. That's about the only thing that really stood out for me in this series.

In conclusion, Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge is much like that new ride in the amusement park that you didn't want to take (because it was too flashy, it looked lame, and kids were in line for it, oh and  maybe you caught sight of a grown-up barfing after getting off it....) but your friends talked you into anyway. So when you're already strapped in, what's the use of complaining? Just enjoy/endure it for the duration of it's run, then try to walk straight like your head isn't spinning.  Would I take another ride on it? HELL NO. And with that, I close this show.    

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Sophie's Revenge

After gaining international recognition in Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,  Zhang Ziyi has gone on to make projects that consist of critically acclaimed films, box office misfires, and the occasional Hollywood blockbuster, turning in performances that are either truly memorable or downright forgettable. With the face of an angel and a smoldering gaze that underscores a raw sensuality, Zhang Ziyi has had relative success in roles as the femme fatale (The Banquet, House of Flying Daggers) but somehow always appeared inadequate in portraying characters which required a certain level of emotional and intellectual depth (Purple Butterfly, Forever Enthralled, Horsemen). Hers is a body of work that yields itself to mediocrity (Jasmine Women, Memoirs of a Geisha) and yet just when you're about to dismiss her as another pretty face, she'll turn around and surprise you as she did in Wong Kar-Wai's 2046.

The fact that her filmography includes movies like Rush Hour 2 and Princess Racoon only goes to show how  sought-after she's become [having worked with well-known directors], and that regardless of any shortcomings in her acting, what Zhang Ziyi  aims to accomplish is to diversify the roles that she play. 

When I was young, my mother told me a woman in love is foolish but a woman rejected is crazy...

In Sophie's Revenge, Zhang Ziyi in the titular role Sophie, is a kooky cartoonist who was unceremoniously dumped by her surgeon fiancé  Jeff (So Ji-Sub) for actress, Joanna (Fan Bing Bing). Heartbroken and humiliated, this Sophie resorts to braving the cold and clinging on to ledges just to spy on her ex. Tortured by memories and severely defeated after watching the happy couple [yes, stalking will do that to you],  Sophie ends up sulking for days until her friends (Ruby Lin and Yao Chen) intervene and tell her in no uncertain terms to start over by drowning her sorrows in work. Jumping at the chance to publish new material, Sophie decides to exact revenge and make use of her experience as the basis for her "Love Handbook". She then sets this plan in motion by formulating a step-by-step program to win back her fickle ex, implementing steps one and two of her strategy to disastrous results.

 My mother also said, men must choose the right career; and women marry the right guy. What she meant was a woman's job is to find Mr. Right.

Devastated over back-to-back failures, Sophie attends a Halloween party with her friends where she gets rather drunk and disorderly. There, she meets Gordon (Peter Ho), a photographer, whom she discovered that Joanna rejected in order to be with Jeff. In her drunken stupor, she enlists Gordon's help, believing that their combined efforts would increase the odds of orchestrating a break-up. Will Sophie finally get her revenge? Better yet, is Zhang Ziyi even up to the challenge [of doing a romantic comedy]?

Writer-director Jin Yimeng's vision of Sophie's Revenge appears to stem from a patchwork of  popular romantic comedies, drawing its main premise from the Meg Ryan movie Addicted to Love and ripping off key elements in Jean Pierre Jeunet's Amélie.  Touted as China's first contemporary romantic comedy [ergo chick flick], this joint-project from Beijing Perfect World Co. and Korea's CJ Entertainment, along with  Zhang Ziyi's financing, has a production value that could easily rival the best that any country has to offer, with a bright, candy-colored palette [think jellybeans] courtesy of cinematographer Amando Salas and state of the art computer generated effects. It's gorgeously shot with a cast that wears trendy clothes and takes pretty pictures but judging by style and content, Sophie's Revenge has nothing wholly original to offer.

As romantic comedies go, Sophie's Revenge follows a foolproof formula that's designed to delight those in search of shallow, mindless entertainment. It's chic and trendy, furthermore it makes no attempt to hide the fact that it was designed to appeal to a broader audience and should therefore exhibit a fresh, young vibe. So much so, that the film itself is devoid of any cultural identity and pays no homage to any nationality, almost as if it exists in a homogeneous society, oblivious of the long list of well-loved movies that are defined by a specific heritage and/or made more romantic because of a certain locale (i.e. My Big Fat Greek Wedding, When Harry Met Sally, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Far and Away, Joy Luck Club, etc). By existing in a vacuum, it kind of loses its heart; and by trying too hard to appear Westernized, it simply doesn't have that spark. This movie doesn't have that ability to create a niche for itself in order to tap into a person's consciousness primarily because the viewer is struck by this strong sense of déjà vu-- such that everything you see in it has already been done before, only it was done better.

It's a perfect example of a movie wherein style got the best of substance as the storyline remained wafer thin and the characters turned out to be no more than broad sketches that evoked little or no empathy. Jin Yimeng's ode to the talented and eccentric woman comes off as as an ode to the severely neurotic, with Sophie being a decade-late, pale and inferior imitation of David E. Kelley's Ally McBeal.  Equipped with a hyperactive imagination, Sophie is gawky and awkward, more so, desperate and superficial as she  doggedly subjects herself to consecutive acts of idiocy. It takes quite a long while for her to even remotely look normal and that, I'm afraid, is severely overshadowed by zany sequences and disturbing hallucinations that would earn anyone entry to the nearest mental institution. As a movie that claims to celebrate the modern  Chinese woman, its female characters seriously lack depth. They're flighty and irrational, and they seem to be used to living a life of excess.

Much of the comedy is lifted from half a dozen other films (Two Weeks Notice, My Best Friend's Wedding, America's Sweethearts to name a few) but lumped together, all the token comic sequences  turned out  unfunny and uninspired. So Ji-Sub barely registers on screen as he struggles to phonetically enunciate his Mandarin lines while the sultry Fan Bing Bing is left to make the best out of an otherwise thankless role. Peter Ho is quite decent but considering that his character is the only one that's sane doesn't make that much of an accomplishment.

You need a psychiatrist.

And what about Zhang Ziyi, you say?

Well, she stumbles, she falls, makes faces and does just about everything in her power to elicit a laugh that  I myself, am embarrassed to watch. While Audrey Tautou's Amélie was full of  childlike wonder, Zhang Ziyi's Sophie was plainly unstable, possibly even mentally deranged. She does not lend herself well to physical comedy as she does to choreographed martial arts sequences so slapstick comedy might not be the right way to demonstrate her versatility as an actress. To be blunt, the girl just  doesn't have what it takes to be funny. Her desire to expand her three expression arsenal which consists of: #1. a come hither stare; #2. a prepare to die glare; and [my personal favorite, which is a lethal combination of the previous two expressions--] #3. the black widow eye (which loosely translates to "I'm horny so you'll die later"), is a goal that fell out of reach when she decided to do a movie without any distracting sharp weapons and fancy costumes. She doesn't have the acting chops to make an unlikeable character likable because her appeal and charisma always came from playing characters who were by nature cold and inaccessible. To go against that without adequate preparation is pure hubris on her part. Here's to waiting for expression #4. 

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MW

A leak from a secret foreign military facility that stores a deadly chemical agent kills off the inhabitants of an island and forever alters the lives of two boys who survived the said incident. In commemoration of the 80th year of the kamisama of manga, brace yourself  for yet again another disappointing adaptation of a Tezuka Osamu classic---this time in the form of the gekiga-inspired  MW. If you thought that 2009's Astroboy bore little or no resemblance to the essence of the robot boy with the cow lick and go-go boots that you knew and loved as a kid, then brace yourself for another travesty as the people of Amuse Soft Entertainment and Studio Swan bring you a sanitized version of the serialized tale of a cold-blooded killer and his religious confidante.

I must confess that I took one look at the cast of this movie and made up my mind to see it. I was already 30 minutes into watching it when I decided to stop, get hold of a copy of the manga and familiarize myself with the story. There was just something amiss about it and I couldn't shrug off the feeling that I was missing chunks of the narrative, so I had to go and see for myself if there was something to it. Lo and behold, I wasn't imagining things---there really was more to it, sadly, a lot of things didn't make it to the big screen. 

The movie begins in the midst of a cover-up in Okine Mafune Island where nerve gas MW leaked from a secret U.S. military facility and killed a majority of the island's inhabitants instantaneously. To spare itself from a public relations nightmare, the Japanese government, in league with the American government, embarked upon a conspiracy to wipe out any indication of the accident. Within hours, the whole village was torched, and helpless civilians were gunned down and buried in mass graves. Relatives of those massacred were later bribed to occupy positions in high places and the island was slowly re-populated. It's as if the incident never happened and anyone who can attest to the existence of MW and it's dangerous effects were either long gone or over it---all, but for two boys who escaped to the mainland.

Sixteen years later, survivor Yuki Michio (Tamaki Hiroshi) grows up to become a shrewd and successful investment banker who, unbeknownst to most, is suffering from the side effects of the MW gas he inhaled as a child. Calm and collected, he goes about committing heinous crimes against the people who conspired to cover-up the incident in Okine-Mafuno Island under the pretense of seeking justice, all the while indulging his insatiable need to kill. The only person who knows that he's leading a double life is fellow survivor, Garai Yutaro (Yamada Takayuki), who sought solace in the Catholic faith. In him, Yuki confides his evil thoughts and deeds knowing that his childhood friend would dare not betray him, much less break the confessional seal.

Owing Yuki a debt of gratitude for saving his life, Garai becomes an unwilling accomplice to the crimes perpetrated. But Yuki's killing spree doesn't go unnoticed, as an investigative journalist (Ishida Yuriko) begins to piece together the common denominator for the seemingly random series of crimes. Also closing in is a detective (Ishibashi Ryo) who begins to suspect Yuki's involvement in a recent kidnapping case that played out in Thailand. Now, Garai has to make a choice between doing what's right or doing right by his best friend as it turns out that all Yuki ever wanted was to find the MW and take the whole world down with him...

Packaged as an action movie, Director Iwamoto Hitoshi's (Nobuta wo Produce, Tatta Hitotsu no Koi, Jyou no Kyoshitsu) big screen adaptation of the Tezuka classic has its fair share of chase sequences and narrow escapes. MW has all the makings of a decent crime/espionage thriller with bullets flying, a hidden chemical warfare agent, and an ever increasing body count but ironically, none of the intrigue and complexities that made the original material a work of notoriety. Screenwriter Oishi Tetsuya, who also handled the duty of bringing Death Note to the silver screen, devotes too much of the movie's running time establishing Yuki as a criminal mastermind while neglecting to explore his often twisted, and beguiling relationship with Garai. Stripped of any political underpinnings or character exposition, the movie ended up cutting way too many corners in adapting the manga and was particularly careful not to dwell on the darker, more sinister elements of the story. In doing so, viewers who are unfamiliar with the original work remain unaware of how much of a psychopath Yuki is, nor will they even begin to appreciate the significance of Garai's sacrifice.

All I want is you beside me. No more terrible crimes.

In the manga, Yuki and Garai were not just fellow survivors or best friends, they were lovers. They were two people bound together by one traumatic experience; both were haunted by one incident that pretty much changed their lives forever. No two characters could have possibly been more diametrical in both physique and demeanor-- one is a man of the cloth, while the other a sexual predator; one subscribes to rape and murder, while the other believes himself doomed to suffer the fiery fires of hell. Tezuka's Yuki is beautiful, charismatic and irresistible to both men and women. He kills people without remorse and doesn't think twice about eliminating anyone who gets in his way. Garai, on the other hand, is a devout Catholic and a loyal friend. Despite doing his best to sever ties with Yuki, he always finds himself unable to refuse the latter's invitation to share the same bed. It's a dysfunctional relationship that knows no bounds, as a seemingly amoral and unfeeling person like Yuki possessively holds on to Garai and a supposedly just and upright man like Garai protects Yuki from the authorities. It's such a shame that the movie barely hints at this kind of devotion between them.

Most of the scenes that give a passing nod to the manga can be easily overlooked; they don't even make much of an impact. For instance, the part wherein Yuki dons a nun's habit while making a mock confession before Garai could easily be dismissed as pure whimsy, when in fact, it's demonstrative of Yuki's pathological behavior (Yuki supposedly hails from a well-known Kabuki family and is therefore skilled in impersonating women, in particular, his victims). The scene where a worried Garai plainly tells Yuki to stay with him implied the existence of a more intimate relationship, but the writers felt the need to undermine the same by later referring to Garai as Yuki's "favorite toy". These are but a few instances wherein a slight of hand could have been used to make the movie closer to its source material, but intentional or not, things were never really placed in their proper context.

Casting Tamaki Hiroshi as the charming and devilish Yuki next to Yamada Takayuki's somber Garai was an interesting choice. Both possess the physical attributes that make for a startling contrast to the two distinct characters of MW-- one being tall and slim, while the other short and stocky. It's quite unfortunate that Tamaki comes off cold and stiff as the manipulative Yuki when the character was written to be deceptively personable. He plays it straight and smart with hardly any sign of mental imbalance except for his bulging eyes, which is fine, really, except that it's a far cry from the Yuki who's supposed to be a cross between Brett Easton Ellis's American Psycho and Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley. Yamada does slightly better by looking sufficiently tormented and morose, but then again, without the right back story, he ends up looking dull and pathetic.

Overall, MW is the Japanese equivalent of your basic Hollywood action movie where plot and character development take a backseat to expensive set pieces, numerous aerial shots, overseas location shoots, and even foreign bit players. The movie starts off with a bang and ends with a whimper as much of the build-up in the beginning is laid to waste as events become too incredible to ignore. It's good enough for movie night but it somehow leaves you with a feeling that you were shortchanged and that there should have been more to it. In this regard, the manga should serve as a pretty good companion piece. 

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Photo Credits: Ki Image Gallery AsianMediaWiki/MW
Special thanks goes to the good people of Random Scans and Kickthekitty for their wonderful scanlation work and for providing links to Osamu Tezuka's MW.

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Jdorama Giveaway

Still on the subject of disposing of dramas that were collected over the years... but this time,  it's jdoramas that are up for grabs. It's an odd mix of the old and the new, they go as far back as five years. My sisters and I are done watching them so if you're interested in any of these dramas, then kindly refer to the post on kdramas because the same rules  apply.

• Attack No. 1
• Attention Please
• Ace wo Nerae
• Boku dake no Madonna  
• Chuusingura 1/47
• Ryusei no Kizuna
• Ushi ni Negai wo
• Fuma no Kojiro
• Kurosagi
• One Pound Gospel
• Hanazakari no Kimitachi e
• Taiyou no Uta
• Celeb to Binbo Taro
• Honey and Clover
• Yukan Club
• Jotei
• Yamada Taro Monogatari
• Dance Drill
• My Boss, My Hero
• Satomi Hakkenden
• Gokusen 2
• One Liter of Tears
• Hanayome to Papa
• Hotaru no Hikari
• Innocent Love 
• Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge
• Code Blue 2
• Yasuko to Kenji
• Giragira
• Tatta Hitotsu no Koi
• Last Friends

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