Saturday, August 30, 2008

Review of 33 pun Tantei Ep 2

This will be the last I'm seeing of this drama.

Like what I mentioned before, I will not continue to watch this drama if it proves to be what I deduced from the first episode i.e. deliberately lengthening the episode just to fit that 33-minute requirement. Well, this type of dramas can be a hit or miss so for me, it falls into the latter category. Some jokes were downright silly so I really couldn't bear the thought of sitting through another episode of this drama.

The most fascinating or should I say bewildering thing I couldn't understand was why Ootawara had to go to Rokuro time and again for help when he could have solved the case in just 5 minutes. It just seems like he's been taken for a ride and end up at the starting point. Doesn't he feel silly about this? It is unlike Kindaichi or even the gang from Tantei Gakuen Q who really do the case-solving and be of help to the police detectives. Anyway, I won't bother about trying to think through this point since I'm stopping at Episode 2.

Seems like there are many people who do like this drama based on the ratings. It's been doing relatively well for a late-night drama. Are they watching it for Tsuyoshi or the story?

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Top 10 movies ranking (24 August 2008)

1) Kake no ue no Ponyo

2) Detroit Metal City

3) Sex and the City

4) Hamutora 3

5) Gekijouban Pocket Monster

6) Star Wars Clone Wars

7) Dark Knight

8) Hana Yori Dango Final

9) Gekijouban Kamen Rider Kiba

10) Kungfu Panda

Sunday, August 24, 2008

If I'm not the one by Tanimura Nana 谷村奈南 (Theme song of Yottsu no Uso 四つの嘘)

Title: If I'm not the one
Artiste: Tanimura Nana
Lyrics: Watanabe Natsumi
Melody: Pete Gordeno / Howard New / Graham Kearns


ame agari niji no hikari
furi sosogu LOVE
sore wa marude kimi ga Hold me todoketa yuuki

tsubomi no mama eyes tozashiteta
All of my dreams mezameru no
soba ni ite

But if I'm not the one
meguri aeta no
futari to iu kiseki
Wanna be your shinning rose
ude no naka zutto saite iyou
If I'm not the one

mirai wa mada mienai
egaki aguneru Days
I'll be toki ni doushiyou mo naku
toge wo motsu My heart

hitori janai yo
donna hi mo kimi no me ga
kono namida tokashite

So if I'm not the one
shinjiteru no
musubi aeru omoi
we're ever shining rose
eien ni saki tsuzukeru hana
If I'm not the one

tsubomi no mama eyes tozashiteta
All of my dreams mezameru no
ima soba ni ite

But if I'm not the one
meguri aeta no
futari to iu kiseki
wanna be your shinning rose
ude no naka zutto saite iyou
Forever two if I'm not the one

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

truth by Arashi (Theme song of Maou魔王)

Title: truth
Artiste: Arashi
Lyrics and melody: HYDRANT


yurari yureru hikari hitotsu itami iyasu koto naku kieru
"I take your life forever you take my life forever"
hirari ochiru namida hitotsu omoi todoku koto naku kieru
"I take your life forever you take my life"

tomaranai toki ni hisomu
ai wa kitto furi sosogu ame no you ni
(kobore ochita namida no ato koe sou na namida no iro)
modorenai kioku meguru
subete ubawareta kono you no hate ni
(kobore ochita namida no ato koe sou na namida no iro)

kanashimi...
tatoe donna owari wo egaitemo
kokoro wa nazo meite
sore wa maru de yami no you ni
semaru shinjitsu
tatoe donna sekai wo egaitemo
ashita wa mienakute
sore wa marude yuri no you ni kegare wo shiranai
negai wa toumei na mama de

shiroku somaru hana ni hitori nami mo kawaru koto naku chikau
"I take your life forever you take my life"

todokanai koe ni nokoru
ai wa sotto fuki nukeru kaze no you ni
(kobore ochita namida no ato kakushi kirenu futatsu no kao)
owaranai yoru ni nemuru
yume no kizuato ni nokoshita itami
(kobore ochita namida no ato kakushi kirenu futatsu no kao)

kanashimi...
tatoe wazukana hikari umaretemo
nageki wa kuri kaesu
sore wa marude uso no you ni
kieru shinjitsu
tatoe saigo no hane wo hiraitemo
sadame wa kaerarezu
yuri no hana wa hakanage ni itami wa kienai
yume nara aishita mama de

kanashimi...
tatoe donna owari wo egaitemo
kokoro wa nazo meite
sore wa maru de yami no you ni
semaru shinjitsu
tatoe donna sekai wo egaitemo
ashita wa mienakute
sore wa marude yuri no you ni
kegare wo shiranai
negai wa toumei na mama de

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Top 10 movies ranking (17 August 2008)

1) Kake no ue no Ponyo

2) Hamunaputra 3

3) Gekijouban Pocket Monster

4) What happens in Vegas

5) Dark Knight

6) Hana yori Dango Final

7) Kungfu Panda

8) Gekijouban Kamen Rider Kiba

9) Gekijouban NARUTO

10) Gegege no Kitaro

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Hikari ひかり by Hoshimura Mai 星村麻衣 (Theme song of "Tomorrow")

Title: Hikari
Artiste: Hoshimura Mai
Lyrics and melody: Hoshimura Mai / Shiraishi Satori

nani wo motome koko ni iru no?
ushiro furi kaereba
kimi no egao batto saita yureru hana no kage de

hitomi tojita yami no naka ni
nani ga mieru no darou
tada soba de hohoemu sore dake nano ni ai wo kanjiteru

hikari no saki ni egao no saki ni
watashi wa ashita e no yume wo miru
hageshiku mune ni nokosu jijitsu ni
bokura wa ashita e no kibou wo shiru
chiisana shou no naka ni
umarete tabi tatta mono wa
musuu no dekigoto to
dare ka wo michibiku hikari
watashi wo michibiku hikari

sora wo ugoku shiroi kumo wo jitto mitsumete ita
toki wo koete hito wa ima mo negai inotte iru

nani ka ga kawatte kureru koto
tada matteitanda
kazashita te no oku ni
kawaru tsuyosa no
imi wo kanjiteiru

ashita hikari ga todonakutemo
mienai kabe ga takakutemo
senaka awaseru no hikari to kage wo
samayoi nagara aruite iku
tayori naku jibun wo semete
wake mo naku namida nagashita
mabushii yozashi no naka ni
dare ka wo aisuru hikari
watashi wo aisuru hikari

ashita ni nareba hi wa mata noboru
dare mo ga mirai e no yume wo miru
hatenaku tsuzuku muhen no sora ni
bokura wa ikiteiku imi wo shiru
subete wo tsumi komu ai ni hagukumare kizuita mono wa
kokoro no oku ni aru
yasashiku yori sou hikari watashi wo michibiku hikari

nani wo motome koko ni iru no? ushiro furi kaereba
kimi no egao batto saita yureru hana no kage de

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Review of 33 pun Tantei Ep 1

Let me clarify that I am no fan of Doumoto Tsuyoshi thus my motive in watching this drama has nothing to do with his appearance. In fact, none of the cast members appeal to me in such a way that makes this drama a must-watch. It's just that the concept of this drama seemed rather appealing when I read about it in the entertainment news so I decided to give it a shot. To be frank, I just don't know how to describe my feelings about watching the first episode. To be precise, it's a mixture of disappointment and bewilderment.

To begin with, let me give a brief introduction to this drama. Kurama Rokurou (Doumoto) owns a detective agency and has an assistant Muto Rikako (Mizukawa Asami) whose presence is somewhat like one who brings the weirdo Rokurou back to earth when he imagines too much or does strange things. Add in the police detectives Ootawara and Mogi as well as the information source (Kojima Yoshio) and the forensic scientists and that rounds up the cast. From what I knew from the news, the main draw of this drama is to see how Rokurou solves the case in 33 minutes BUT in the first episode, that is clearly different.

I was given the idea that Rokurou was going to solve the case in 33 minutes but the first episode showed him going round in circles during the 33 minutes just to arrive at a conclusion which was apparent right from the start. This means that he could have wrapped up the case in 5 minutes but deliberately lengthened the solving process to 33 minutes. It just makes me wonder what's the purpose of doing that. As such, you will see Rokurou throwing up senseless conjectures and bringing out irrelevant details which are not that crucial to solving the case. True, it was a bit funny to see him fumbling throughout the way but it got stale as time went by. I just couldn't wait for it to end halfway into the drama.

Well, I'll give this drama another chance before writing it off completely. I'm quite disappointed with this drama because I expected more especially after seeing how its predecessors in the same timeslot had done relatively well in the quality department e.g. Liar Game, SP and LIFE. I hope it will get better instead of dragging it for 33 minutes for no reason.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Top 10 CM Airtime Exposure Ranking (First Half of 2008)

The following ranking lists the Top 10 artistes who have appeared most in TV CMs during the first 6 months of 2008:

1) Tamaki Hiroshi

2) Ueto Aya

3) Aoi Yu

4) Yonekura Ryoko

5) Nakama Yukie

6) Kusanagi Tsuyoshi

7) Tsuchii Takeo

8) Toyohara Kousuke

9) Ota Maki

10) Kimura Takuya

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Top 10 movies ranking (17 August 2008)

1) Kake no ue no Ponyo

2) The Dark Knight

3) Gekijouban Pocket Monster Diamond & Pearl

4) Gekijouban Kamen Rider Kiba

5) Hana Yori Dango Final

6) Kungfu Panda

7) Gekijouban NARUTO

8) Happening

9) Sky Crawlers

10) Indiana Jones The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

33 pun Tantei 33分探偵 (The 33-minute detective)

Title: 33 pun Tantei (The 33-minute detective)
Showing on: FujiTV
Timeslot: 11.10pm Saturdays
Theme song: Secret Code by KinKi Kids



Cast:

Kurama Rokurou (Doumoto Tsuyoshi)
Muto Rikako (Mizukawa Asami)
Ootawara (Takahashi Katsumi)
Mogi (Totsugu Shigeyuki)
Ai (Nonami Maho)
Information source (Kojima Yoshio)
Forensic scientist (Satou Jirou)

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Pandora パンドラ

Title: Pandora
Number of episodes: 8
Shown on: WOWOW
Genre: Medical suspense
Scriptwriter: Inoue Yumiko (Shiroi Kyoto, 14-sai no Haha, Good Luck!, Machiben etc)
Official website: here


Cast:

Suzuki Hideki (Mikami Hiroshi)
Matoba Shinichi (Yanagiba Toshiro)
Iida Sayoko (Konishi Manami)
Otagawa Haruo (Yamamoto Koji)
Mizuno Emi (Tanimura Mizuki)
Tomoda Shogo (Hirata Mitsuru)
Otaguro Shigeyuki (Kunimura Hayato)
Kadowaki Chika (Uehara Misa)
Fukami Kanichiro (Ono Takehiko)
Numabe Yoshihiro (Aijima Kazuyuki)

Friday, August 08, 2008

Code Blue コードブルー - Summer 2008 Drama Preview

Title: Code Blue
Broadcast by: FujiTV
Timeslot: Thursdays, 10pm
Theme song: HANABI by Mr.Children


Cast:

Aizawa Kousaku (Yamashita Tomohisa)
Shiraishi Megumi (Aragaki Yui)
Hiyama Mihoko (Toda Erika)
Fujikawa Kazuo (Asatoshi Yosuke)
Saejima Haruka (Higa Aimi)
Tadakoro Yoshiaki (Kodama Kiyoshi)
Morimoto Tadashi (Katsumura Masanobu)
Kaji Hisashi (Terajima Susumu)
Saijou Akira (Sugimoto Tetsuta)
Mitsui Kanna (Ryou)
Kuroda Yuji (Yanagiba Toshiro)

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Top 10 movies ranking (3 Aug 2008)

1) Kake no ue no Ponyo

2) Gekijouban Pocket Monster

3) Gekijouban Naruto

4) Kungfu Panda

5) Hana Yori Dango Final

6) Happening

7) The Sky Crawlers

8) Indiana Jones - The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

9) Dragon Kingdom

10) Gegege no Kitaro

Monday, August 04, 2008

Kansahoujin 監査法人 (Auditors)

Title: Kansahoujin 監査法人
Broadcast by: NHK
Number of episodes: 6
Broadcast period: 14 June 2008 to 19 July 2008 (Saturdays, 9pm)
Theme song: Shinkaigyo 深海魚 by Yamazaki Masayoshi 山崎まさよし

Cast:
Wakasugi Kenji (Tsukamoto Takashi)
Yamanaka Akane (Matsushita Nao)
Onodera Naoto (Toyohara Kosuke)
Shinohara Yuzo (Hashizume Isamu)
Master Kuwahara (Shimizu Shogo)
Inoue Ryo (Abe Sadao)
Yoshino (Katsumura Masanobu)

Official website: here

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Most Anticipated Young Actors 2008

As selected by Oricon style users:

1) Yamamoto Yusuke

2) Okada Masaki

3) Miura Haruma

4) Sato Takeru

5) Mizushima Hiro

6) Kamiji Yusuke

7) Mukai Osamu

8) Mizobata Junpei

9) Shirota Yu

10) Tanaka Kei