[Drama] Orthros no Inu

Summer 2009

Episodes: 9

Starring: Takizawa Hideaki, Nishikido Ryo, Mizukawa Asami, Yaotome Hikaru, Harada Natsuki, Oshinari Shugo, Sasaki Kuranosuke...

The drama started out as the story of two man who seemed to be polar opposites. Ryuzaki Shinji is a man whose hands have an amazing healing power. With those hands, he is able to heal any injury or sickness that he wishes to heal.

On the down side, though, he seemed to be a cold, cruel murderer who has little interest in using his power for the good. His only interest was to play his game with the world, using his abilities to drive the people mad.

Aoi Ryosuke seemed to be a caring highschool teacher with a heart of gold. Little did the people around him know that he harbours a dark power of his own. His hands could suck the life out of people effortlessly.

Hasebe Nagisa is a detective who is caught in between these two men with unimaginable powers. When she discovered the powers, somewhere in her pea brain, she decided that it would be a good idea to let them meet.

On the other hand, a plotting politician, Sakaki who was healed by Shinji's powers planned to manipulate the two for her own political gain in hopes of catapulting herself to the status of Prime Minister of the country.

And blah, blah blah, insert some seemingly witty question to induce suspense. Totally useless since everyone's watched this except for me cos my life is miserable and fuck my job.

*****

I think this drama had a lot of interesting elements going on for it. And it was up to the screenwriter to make good use of it and make it into something brilliant. That didn't happen. It became a snoozefest. And since I never read the original work, I can't say if it was because they stuck to the story which was originally boring or it was because the screenwriter ruined it.

When I first heard the synopsis, I was really, really interested. So, I was watching this drama was it aired. But I lost interest and doubted if this was actually worth my time. Turns out, it wasn't really.

The whole idea of what an evil man with the power to help people and a good man with the power to harm would do is very enticing. There's infinite possibilities to how the story would progress, you can hardly predict the ending. Well, that is if the characters are as so. However, it seemed that Takki ain't got enough balls to play a baddie. If Ryuzaki was evil to the end, without conscience, cold, cruel, there'd be something more interesting to that.

This is one of the times when I really don't give a shit if the characters are many faceted. I just want an evil dude with the power to heal. No? I can't even have that. And his voice on the theme song is very annoying. The song sucked too. Takki ain't no singer. When he turned out to be good, my interest was gone. GONE! Like poof.

I took a liking to the character of Aoi Ryosuke from the beginning. And I will try to deny that it was because Nishikido Ryo played him. It is not because of that. It is because he was playing the damn character with that damn haircut which I so so like on him. Plus I have a thing for sad, tortured people who have a self-loathing tendency.

And the puppy eyes.

O~kay was that weird? I'll stop then.

Am I the only one who finds Nagisa annoying. I like Mizukawa Asami and her crack laughter. I usually like her characters cos they're all whee and stuff. When people play doting mothers I find them more rawr than whee.

Sawamura is bleh, and his perm is annoying. I don't get why men do perms. I mean, unless you're Domyoji, you can't pull that off. I can think of precious few who can. MatsuJun, Heechul and that's about it.

Ryo is so handsome in there. I can't help but say it. He is. And I usually would say I like men with some height. But I keep preferring the shorties, so I am going to stop making these things called standards. They're short, they're fat, they smell like sausages, it comes in a package, people. And Ryo is handsome here. The haircut is perfect.

My Johnny boys are so handsome. T_T I am moved to tears.

=D Decent ending, I guess. What's with the need for vague endings, I don't get. I don't like it when people leave things to the imagination. I just want them to tell me what it is and get over with it.

Also, the minor characters' sudden enlightenment after the death of Sawamura was too abrupt and made no sense at all.

Reitings: 3/5

[Drama] Boku no Aruku Michi

Fall 2006

Episodes: 11

Starring: Kusanagi Tsuyoshi, Karina, Sasaki Kuranosuke, Kohinata Fumiyo, Motokariya Yuika, Megumi, Suga Kenta, Tanaka Kei,

Ootake Teruaki is an autistic man who finds himself constantly quitting his jobs because of his colleagues who were too quick to judge and refuse to put in effort to understand his disability. With a doting mother who gave him endless encouragements and a patient, supportive childhood friend, Miyako, Teruaki gained a newfound courage to work at the zoo in which Miyako is the vet.

Initially, fellow animal handlers at the zoo were impatient with Teru's disabilities and were often irked by him. But as time goes by, they warmed up to Teru. Straightforward, hardworking and innocent Teru won the colleagues over and was gradually growing attached to Miyako.

When Miyako decided to marry her boyfriend, Teru and his family, worried that Teru might not be able to take it, slowly explains to Teru that things between the childhood friends will not be the same after the marriage. On the other hand, Teru's extraordinary ability to memorize word-by-word has allowed him to excel in his job. How will Teru be able to cope with the workplace without Miyako? Will Teru and Miyako's bond be broken by her marriage?

*****

Bah, I expected it to be as good as "Boku no Ikiru Michi". But it isn't. I am disappointed. The slow-paced storyline was okay. I am fine with slow-paced stories as long as there's enough character development and something special.

I didn't like the drama at all. Not to mention the fact that the ending is oh-so-predictable, the journey towards the ending is a boring one too. The only thing about the drama I like, is Karina. xD Kusanagi Tsuyoshi used to be hot, around... 1996. xD Well, times change.

Not every drama/movie about a mentally/physically challenged person is good. For this, the emotional attachment is lacked. I don't feel for Teru at all. Everything is just annoying. The majority of the characters are annoying. The only character I feel something for is Kohinata Fumiyo's character. His guilt towards his own son, who is also autistic, and how he tried to make up to it eventually. That's something. How an old man who made a mistake, a cruel one too, and then realized his own mistake when he was left alone, with no family. Oh course, the fact that he took the steps to make amends after getting to know Teru and getting to like Teru. Oh and the kid, the kid nephew. Isn't he that kid from "Kuitan"? Gotta love that kid.

Don't like the theme song. Don't like most of the drama. Don't like.

Reitings:
2/5