[Drama] Jin

Fall 2009

Starring: Osawa Takao, Nakatani Miki, Ayase Haruka, Koide Keisuke, Takeda Tetsuya, Kohinata Fumiyo, Uchino Masaaki, Kiritani Kenta...

Minakata Jin, a doctor (neuro surgeon perhaps?) who has lost confidence in himself after he failed to safely remove a tumor from his fiancee's brain, found himself living in a state of despair since. His fiancee, Tomonaga Miki has been in a vegetative state since the surgery and Jin has avoided surgeries with the slightest bit of risk ever since.

One day, a patient who has been attacked on the face and is currently unrecognizable has been sent to the hospital. Jin performed a surgery on the man and removed what seemed like a fetus from the man's head.

When the mysterious man woke up, he attempted to escape (to an unknown place) with the fetus which was drenched in formalin, and some medical equipments. As the man attempted to jump from the building to return to a different world (his words, not mine) Jin, tried to stop the heavily injured man but fell from the stairs instead.

The next time Jin woke up, he found himself lying in a deserted forest with his medical equipments. Suddenly, a few men, clad in samurai outfit were fighting with their katanas. He thought it was a filming of some period drama until a man was cut in the head. The injured man is Tachibana Kyotaro.

It dawned on Jin that he traveled back in time to ancient Edo (modern day Tokyo). He eventually saved the life of Kyotaro and many others. While doing that, he was taken in by the Tachibana family, earned the trust of Kyotaro's mother Sakae and also the affection of Kyotaro's sister, Saki.

Jin then helped the country overcome the attack of the Cholera disease and was offered a teaching position at the Western Medicine Office. As Jin began to adapt to life in the Edo period, Sakamoto Ryoma, whom he got acquainted earlier on, brought him to Yoshiwara, which was THE red-light district to go to in Edo.

In Yoshiwara, Jin laid his eyes on Nokaze, a high ranking courtesan who looks like a carbon copy of Miki. Struggling with the doubts of the people of that period about his medical methods and his wish to return to modern day Tokyo, Jin attempts to make his way day by day... or something like that.

*****

I cannot stop watching this drama. It is present tense because I am still watching it. It is so good, I sat and watched 6 episodes of it without stopping except to pee and to drink. (I am on a diet... the thighs... the thighs are unsightly.) Anyway, this is the best I've seen in a while.

Firstly, I love period dramas. I love the costumes, I love how much green you get to see in them, I love the way they speak, I love everything about period dramas. Next, I love the cast. There's that annoying guy from "Sekai no Chushin, Ai wo Sakebu" movie! And coincidentally, Ayase Haruka was Aki from the drama version. And they're both in this! There's Takeda Tetsuya! He's that detective dude in "Byakuyakou". He also starred in that legendary drama "101st Marriage Proposal", not to forget, he's Kinpachi-sensei! There's Koide Keisuke! Nakatani Miki too... you get my drift...

I love movies, dramas centralized around the idea of time traveling. Love. This is because you will never know what happens until the end is revealed. This is because of the butterfly effect which was also mentioned in this drama. What happens now might cause repercussions in the future. You'll never know. Say, if I called the ambulance upon seeing a pregnant woman about to deliver, I might be saving... the ancestor of... uh... Darth Vader?

I love the idea that there's a possibility of traveling through time and be there to witness it when big things happened in the past. When Shih Huang Ti unified China, when Marie Antoinette was beheaded by the guillotine, when the Nanking massacre happened. Moments in history which, centuries later, will still be quoted as they are now. In this drama, it was the Bakumatsu. What Tokugawa Ieyasu started was put to an end. And Jin was there to see it. Cool eh?

Why the hell did they show the fetus during the 'opening' of each episode? Seriously, the fetus is scary. The freak factor in dramas and I have a love-hate relationship. Suspense and I, too, have a love-hate relationship. Mostly one-sided, but still...

I have to go finish it before I yakk. And Sakamoto Ryoma in this drama is total love. Hilarious, honorable, loyal. Makes me want to watch Ryomaden. But I really dislike Fukuyama Masaharu. It is something about the mouth. The character Ogata-sensei makes me T_______T. OMG so great and noble. I would have bawled in that scene where Jin was visiting him after finding out how much he did for him. I would have, had I not been thinking about how I have to work tomorrow. Sigh. OMG the end of Episode 07 was a tear jerking moment. OMG why?

It's a drama about humanity, love and sacrifice. You know, all that stuff you've heard before.

Now, there's that ending which I am so unhappy about...

I followed the drama for about 11 hours, take or give. I deserve a definite, clear ending, don't I? What is with that vague shit that they gave me? Seriously, what's with the trend nowadays? I want clear endings, who ends up with whom, who gets rich, how will they die, something definite. This ending is crap. What the fuck? And it isn't even good vague, it is bad vague. So the guy travels back to the future and there's Miki? What about Saki? Huh? I was rooting for her like crazy! Shit. I am unhappy. Screw this, was going to give it a 4.9. I'm giving it a big fat pile of shit now. Damn. Okay, I am cool, it is cool. Cool. Isn't it clear that there's a gap between the previous paragraph and this ending comment? I just finished watching and am so not pleased right now. So unfair, really. What about Saki? I tend to get too involved with dramas. You think? =D

So, like, what is up with the freaky fetus and the man who was injured? Like, seriously, a good drama will explain on those stuff. Or did I miss it? I tend to space off sometimes. So... no explanations? Sigh, the ending, the ending needs some editing. What a crappy ending for such a nice drama.

Reitings: 4.5/5 (Really crappy ending ruined it. No explanations on what seemed earlier on to be the key points to the drama. What will there be a second season? I hate second seasons.)

[Drama] Byakuyakou

2006

Episodes: 11

Starring: Yamada Takayuki, Ayase Haruka, Watabe Atsuro, Kashiwabara Takashi, Koide Keisuke...


It was Christmas Eve 2005 when Yukiho, dressed elegantly in an evening gown, spotted Ryouji, dressed in a Santa costume, drenched in his own blood with a pair of scissors attached to his abdomen. Ryouji was crawling towards and pointing forward, asking Yukiho to walk the other way... Yuki walked away, vowing to not shed a tear as she walked down the 'brightly lit' path. This led to a flashback on Ryouji's part as the two characters proclaimed each other as their replacement for the sun that they lost 14 years ago.

It all started like any puppy love would. Ryouji was a young boy whose mother cheated on his father with a worker. Yukiho was a year five primary school student who has a drunkard of a selfish mother. The two met and fell in love as kids always do. That was until Ryouji found out that his father has been paying Yukiho's mother money in order to take nude pictures of Yukiho. He subsequently killed his father upon witnessing him in that very act. Yukiho took the pair of scissors from him and the camera in an attempt to dispose of the evidence.

When two policemen reached Yukiho's doorstep in the process of investigation, Yukiho proceeded to stage her own mother's suicide to prevent her from revealing any information. Ryouji, upon realizing what Yukiho had done to cover his crime, found a letter from Yukiho that explains her actions. Ryouji pleaded for her to stay but understood that she had to leave as Yukiho gestured for Ryouji to leave by pointing towards a path. (The same way Ryouji gestured in the prologue.)

Yukiho had to wait 15 years to meet Ryouji again so that the case can no longer be reopened and the two of them will be forever free of blame. Ryouji did not know this when they have been separated for 7 years and he was beginning to think that Yukiho has embarked on her new life, leaving the old one behind. On the other hand, the veteran detective, Sasagaki was still unable to let go of the suspicious case in which he saw many loopholes. Then, the past started to come back to haunt them, leaving them with no peace.

*****

[Spoilers]

This drama saw the reunion of Yamada and Ayase after the success of their "Sekai no Chuushin ni Ai wo Sakebu". In addition to that, like "Sekai no Chuushin...", the theme song of this drama is also by Shibasaki Kou. However, upon seeing the banner of this drama, this drama struck me as having a darker tone to it.

I enjoy watching these two actors involved in the same project again. Ayase Haruka has a face that screams 'BORN TO BE AN ACTRESS'. The dark tone of the drama sparked my interest more! This is obviously because I have no taste for happy endings. Though this drama is a flashback drama, the prologue actually gave me no clue as to the progress of the drama. I love it, how unpredictable it is. Add to that the tragedy that befell these children and the tragedy waiting to befall them, ah~ yes, I have a hunger for tragedy just as otakus love the moe yaoi stuff.

This drama is trying to convey that once you make a mistake and lie about it. The lie will lead to more lies in order to cover the lies. And a long line of lies will just make the truth seem harder to cover. Yeah, shit happens. Sad. Oh well.

What I like about this drama is more than the bad shit that happen to the characters though. This drama has imperfect characters. There's no perfect protagonist, no wholly evil antagonists. This is how the real world is like. The drama struck me as incredibly realistic, good people sometimes do bad things. And then in order to protect themselves, they continuously plunge into an abyss of crimes. I originally thought that the drama, like most dramas, would emphasize on these two and their love for each other. But, in reality, as shown in this drama, it wanes. They commit the crime back in 1991 because they were young, the boy was in shock. The girl thought she found the love of her life. They were but 11 years old. As they grow older, their world widens. They slowly understand that they could have had so much better a life had they stopped somewhere, had they not do as much as they did. Perhaps their love was not as deep as they thought. Though there were instances where you'd think its love, then you'd think its a symbiotic relationship. Ah, nothing thrills me as much as complication.

Its amazing how unpredictable the characters can be. They change, though expected, since this drama covers such a long period of time. I blog as I watch, so that I can immediately type out the thoughts before forgetting them. I end up erasing the lot of them because of the twists and turns of the story. Love the drama though.

One thing that got on my nerves. Yamada Takayuki CRYING. No... WAILING. I actually thought that he looked hot at the beginning of the drama, then the wailing started. T_T Ruined my image of him. The cruel world outside can lead to moral decadence. A person who faced tough shit in life will be willing and able to do anything to protect themselves. It is when you have nothing to lose that you are truly able to do anything. Someone who has never seen hardships in life is unable to understand that. You get to see the character of Ryouji change. From a death-fearing boy who cries and gives up immediately, to someone who can do evil things, betray anyone without blinking once. After that, he changed again, constantly watching over Yukiho, helping her at all risks. Yamada Takayuki delivered an impressive performance though (not that this man is not known for weeping in dramas.)

The character Yukiho changed too. The perversion of the personality. Or was she never normal to start with? The mastermind behind the plot to cover up the crime committed by her first love at the tender age of 11, she later suffered a lot in life, that is true. But by episode 5, you see her true features. Attempting to backstab her friend whom her new crush eventually fell for. She saw it as unfair that she got to grow up happy and its that happiness that attracted Shinozuka - the hot crush. Yukiho attempted to convince Ryouji to do it for her, even though Shinozuka might not fall for her after the deed. But then it was revealed that she did things for Ryouji too. This drama is just full of twists and turns.

The bond between the two started out by will. The two thought their love could overcome everything, that their love will stay for all their lives. They were wrong. Dead wrong. Slowly, it appears that Ryouji was trying to repay the debt that him and his father caused Yukiho, believing that they are the ones that caused Yukiho's life to be the way it is. He will do anything to bring her happiness. The bond later became a burden that they have to live with, at times, they wished that it was not there. Its good to have leading characters that are not squeaky clean and generous all the time. ^^ The two of them justify their deeds by attributing them to the fact that they want to make the other happy, yet I doubt if they had one second of happiness doing all that. Its rather ironic, really.

Anyways, they knew that they are doing the wrong things. But a line recurred in the drama, "You don't have to tell me what is right, because I know it already." yet knowing what is right does not stop them from doing what is wrong. Both would not surrender nor stop protecting the other. And then there is the cop hot on their trails. Its rather... suspenseful, though you know that he is going to get stabbed, you wonder how. As the story progressed, the characters lose their conscience more and more. Not that Yukiho couldn't lie without flaw since she was younger.

The book, "Gone With The Wind" has been referred to in a lot of instances throughout the drama. For example, Yukiho's admiration for Scarlett's err... whatever. Then Ryouji, saying that she will go and be like Rhett Butler. Kashiwabara Takashi (or his character... who looks like him... yummy) appeared, reading an English version of this book. Of course it appealed to Yukiho. When asked of their types, they each said "Scarlett O'Hara" and "Rhett Butler" respectively.

Its a fucking tragedy. T_T Sadder than "A Litre of Tears". Oh... I think I am going to mope around for a few days.

Rating: 4.5/5 Just finished watching @ 3 something in the morning. No time for screencaps. Freakin' sleepy. Watched this in ONE day. T_T