Herein is the J-drama review journal of plural_force. Reviews of dramas that I have watched, obviously, will thus follow. The amount of reviews is rather lengthy for my regular journal; thus, it goes here.

Journal may eventually expand to anime/manga and fanfiction reviews, as it rather feels like a waste of space otherwise.

Current drama count: 33
( Alphabetical list of dramas )

Rating scale:
0: The worst thing ever to be made by man. Avoid it like your life depends on it. Which it probably does.
1: Really bad. Laughably bad, in fact. I probably couldn't stop laughing at this one because of how bad it was.
2: Bad. Could be worse, but still bad. Don't bother.
3: Decent; can land on either side of the fence. Could use definite improving, but not horrible.
4: Good. Not spectacular, but something I would like enough to recommend.
5: Brilliant. Should be required viewing for everyone ever.

I'm generally pretty generous with my ratings; you'll notice there's nothing below a 2 so far. Yet. This is because I think most of the ones I've watched have at least a little bit of potential. That, and I'm too nice sometimes.

In-betweens are, as implied, somewhere in between; something in between a 4 and a 5, for example, will be leaning more towards a 5, but not completely there yet. 4.5 and above are automatic favorites.

**These are reviews based on my personal preferences. I am rather biased sometimes. Thus, I feel the need to add a disclaimer stating that these are only my opinions. I know very well that there are some people who loved the dramas I hated, and plenty of people who hated the dramas I loved. Feel free to agree or disagree with me as you wish. :3 **

This. Just. Oh. Oh wow. Where the hell do I even start.

Bloody Monday is... a complete roller coaster ride. Just twists and turns at every possible corner, holy shit. That said, I thought it was actually pulled off really well.

I originally just started watching this one for Sato Takeru, and... I had NO clue what I was getting into. They sure as hell do keep you on the edge of your seat with this one.

Bloody Monday is about... well, it's about this kid, played by Miura Haruma, who's apparently this genius hacker and is recruited to help stop a planned terrorist attack on Tokyo. When the actual details of the planned attack and the organization start coming out... well, it ends up being a hell of a lot more than he bargained for.

First things first: if you don't like Sudden Plot Twists, avoid this one like the plague. They're everywhere. It can be a little much, honestly, but it's also part of what makes interesting. Some of it does seem random, though, especially towards the end. After a while it does get to be a bit much.

The acting was good, I thought, though-- I didn't know who Miura Haruma was before this aside from the fact that he has an UNCANNILY similar name to Miura Haru from KHR, but I think I got converted to fan status after this. Sato Takeru is, well, Sato Takeru-- he's as awesome as always. And the guy playing the psychopathic J-- Narimiya Hiroki?-- was just... wow. Damn. Nice.

I recall spending a lot of the time I was watching this one marathoning it and yelling at the screen. I can't quite put into words just what exactly it was that made me go "Holy SHIT" in such a GOOD way, just that... the characters are interesting, and the plot keeps you on your toes, and it's a little scary because it's not that difficult to see happening. I liked the ending-- I won't say anything for fear of spoilers, but I liked how not everything was perfectly resolved and wrapped up and happy happy. It made it a lot more realistic that way, I thought. Not one of The Best Dramas ever, but one of the better ones this season.

...Also, it's hard not to like a drama that has a badass leather-wearing insane psychopathic hitman... with a butterfly tattoo on his hand.

Oh. Oh, man. This is the kind of drama we need to have every so often. This one was just awesome.

Ryusei no Kizuna is the story of three siblings whose parents are murdered when they're young. They spend years and years trying to catch the killer, and finally, over 14 years later when they're all adults and the statue of limitations is coming up, there's not much time left to catch the killer, and they've finally found him. They set up a plan to get him caught, but there are... ensuing complications.

I have several things to say about this one. First of all, Nino is in it, as the eldest brother, and his performance is as amazing as always. He's awesome throughout, and his performance in the last episode just made me cry. Wow. All of the acting is good, I think, but he's the one who really stands out. [I think I'm developing a fangirl crush on Nishikido Ryo now, too; he was also good.]

The main plot is full of complications, and suspenseful enough to keep you on the edge of your seat during the last couple of episodes. They pulled it off really well, I think, especially with the juxtaposition of the scenes from when they were children throughout.

And I like how the murder mystery isn't all we have to focus on. There's also the subplot of the three siblings swindling people out of their money; that was amazing and hilarious. I've complained before about how I was disappointed in the drama Kurosagi for not pulling off its premise well enough, and that I'd have preferred a drama with just the swindling situation-- and then I ran into this. This drama was in a subplot everything that Kurosagi wasn't and more. The swindling situations are set up like little movies "directed" by Nino's character, and some of them are just so unbelievable, and yet they pull it off and the result is just hilarious. And then in they end they tie all the subplots in with the main plot, which I think was a brilliant little addition there.

And then the ending-- oh man, I can't say anything about the entire last episode but I just cried. Oh man. Wow.

In short, I loved this one, and will be very disappointed if at least one of this season's drama awards don't give this one Best Drama and Nino Best Actor.

[Bonus addition-- Kiritani Kenta, the guy who played over-the-top Hiratsuka in Rookies, is in here as one of the swindled people. He's completely over the top and hilarious and amazing. Ahahaha.]

Rookies. Oh man. I've mentioned I'm in love with this one, right? Well, I am. I am in love.

Call me a bandwagon jumper, but this one was just plain awesome.

So, the story. A baseball team is playing in a tournament. One of their players gets worked up and hits the other team's player with the bat, and then a fight breaks out on the field. The school who started the fight gets the blame. Then, poof-- the guy who started the fight transfers straightaway, the seniors in the club quit, and what's left of the baseball club is a bunch of guys branded as delinquents who hang out in the club room and have sex and smoke and don't actually play, and have lost sight of their dream.

Enter Kawato-sensei. Kawato is a rather young, idealistic teacher with a surprising past and a tendency to preach about dreams. When he finds out about the baseball club, and meets them, and finds that they may not be as hardened and hopeless as they look, he makes it his mission to get them to play again and get them to Koshien [the Japanese national high school baseball tournament].

It's..... wow. Well, first of all, all the actors are awesome. Kawato is great, Aniya is amazing, Shirota-- as always-- is brilliant, Sekikawa is great, and pretty much all of them are really good. I really like the story and the themes in this one. The idea that if you love something and you work at it enough, you can achieve anything-- that's kind of awesome. And there are so many emotional moments that I would not be surprised if this one almost made me cry at some point. Then there's the interactions-- the way they're just so boyish, the way they treat Kawato as one of their own, the way they can be sweet and adorable in that rough, sarcastic way that only teenage boys can pull off. I just... guh.

The music is also awesome. I have the OST and there are a few tracks that I cannot stop listening to. And oh my GOD the ending theme is catchy. I have discovered a new favorite band thanks to this one. Camerawork is also well-done, particularly in the first episode.

It's been noted that the basic premise of the drama has been done a thousand times before. Just look at Gokusen, GTO, Dragon Zakura, etc. etc. etc... but... I can't help but feel that there's something slightly different about Rookies that really just kind of captures your heart. Something that's really moving in a way that dramas like Gokusen will never be able to be.

Rookies won awards in the Television Drama Academy Awards for the season it was airing. Best Drama. Best Actor (Sato Ryuta as Kawato). Best Supporting Actor (Ichihara Hayato as Aniya). Best Theme Song. All I can say is that it deserved every single one of them.

List of dramas I stopped watching and the reasons I stopped watching them. Just because I dropped something does not mean I didn't like it. Most of them, yes, but not all.

Tantei Gakuen Q
Episodes watched: 1.5
Rating of episodes seen: 2/5

( Tantei Gakuen Q thoughts )

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Gokusen 3
Episodes watched: 6 (not in order)
Rating of episodes seen: 2.5/5

( Gokusen 3 thoughts )

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Kurosagi
Episodes watched: 8
Rating of episodes seen: 2.5/5

( Kurosagi thoughts )

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Densha Otoko
Episodes watched: 1
Rating of episodes seen: 4.25/5

( Densha Otoko thoughts )

Brother Beat - 4.5/5

So I was searching for more dramas featuring Nakao Akiyoshi, because, y'know, I kind of fangirl him. And I stumbled across this one. And Nakao played one of the leads, and it looked cute, so I decided to give it a try.

To start off, let's talk about the story a little bit. A single mom raises three kids on her own after her husband dies. As they grow up and go off to work, they stay living with her, and at times it seems like they're the ones taking care of her. So it's basically about their family, and the romances that the three brothers go through, and their lives and general stupidity.

I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did, to be honest. It's the characters. They're charming and genuinely likable. Harue is the mother, then Tatsuya is the eldest son, Riku the middle son, and Junpei the youngest. The family interaction is great; the brothers treat their mother like another brother or a sister sometimes (calling her "Haru" or "Haru-san" instead of "mother"; Tatsuya addressing her as "omae"), and oftentimes she acts like it. The brothers are all likable despite their faults. They all have their idiotic moments that make me yell at the screen ("WHY DID YOU DO THAT YOU DID NOT JUST DO THAT YOU IDIOT"), but that's because I like them and I don't want to see them ruin their lives by acting like idiots. XD

The drama is pretty romance-focused, which is why I'm kind of surprised I liked it so much, because I normally don't like romances. A few times it felt like there was too much focus on romance-- specifically, Tatsuya and Chisato-- but I still enjoyed it a lot. My only real complaint is that they focused a little too much on Tatsuya and Chisato-- don't get me wrong, I like them, they're adorable, but I felt like they could've spent a bit more time on Riku and Ai. Tatsuya and Chisato are like the lovey, "innocent" type of love. Riku and Ai are the more "jaded" love, which I found more interesting.

The actors were all awesome. Harue, first off, was hilarious. Nakao Akiyoshi was brilliant as always, and the other two brothers were very good as well. :O And damn, Tatsuya's not bad looking...~

Overall, I wouldn't say it's mind-blowing like some of the others I've seen, but I still liked it enough for it to be one of my favorites. :O