Review of Second Virgin (drama)

Before I watched this drama, I had already read the novel by Oishi Shizuka so I knew beforehand what the story was all about and its ending. Having heard a lot about this drama and the fact that it doubled its ratings by the time it ended its run, there must have been something which was so attractive about this drama that caused this to happen and a movie sequel to be made. Of course, the fact that the leads Suzuki Kyoka and Hasegawa Hiroki became an item after working on this drama was a pull factor as well because it will be interesting to see if there were any telltale clues of their blossoming relationship along the way. However, knowing the story is also a double-edged sword because it actually takes away the novelty of finding out through the drama how the story is going to develop. Nonetheless, it helps in comparing how the adaptation performs with respect to the original material. As such, while watching this drama, I tried my best to disregard the fact that I already know the developments and focused my attention on the acting and presentation of the material.

First of all, let me introduce the two key characters in this story. Nakamura Rui (Suzuki Kyoka), is a 45-year-old director at a publishing company Shinkaisha which she co-founded with her friend Mukai Hajime (Danta Yasunori) who is also now the president of Shinkaisha. Having given birth to a son Ryo (Ayano Go) when she was just 19, she later divorced her husband and focused her energies on work in order to succeed in life and support Ryo. As a result, things between Rui and Ryo are rather frosty and he would only show up when he needs money. Much as Rui wants to bridge the gap between them, the lack of time and concern spent on Ryo over the years has made this almost impossible. At work, Rui is a perfectionist who tries to get her staff to put in their best and demands the same of herself. She is great at socialising with people from different backgrounds and able to make use of these connections to her benefit.

At the other end of the equation, we have Suzuki Ko (Hasegawa Hiroki), a high-flying official who works at the Financial Services Agency. He has lots of ideals on how to restructure and revamp the Japanese financial system in order to make it as competitive as the rest of the world but owing to bureaucracy, his aspirations cannot be realised and he is increasingly frustrated with the state of things. He is married to Marie (Fukada Kyoko) who is the daughter of Misawa Vegetarian Noodles's president but feels pressurised by her incessant demands to have sex on specific days so that she can get pregnant. Apparently, Marie is so bored that she thinks that having a baby will be the answer to her problems while Ko is not so keen on the idea. Besides, Marie would always resort to emotional blackmail to make Ko do what she wants so it is no wonder that Ko is becoming less enthusiastic about the idea of having a child by following a strict regime. As Marie has been pampered so much by her parents to the extent that she knows little about the world, Ko also feels that the inability to communicate with Marie is putting more stress on their marriage. It is at such a juncture that Ko and Rui meet at a party hosted by Ko's boss and that marks the beginning of their whirlwind and very destructive romance.

The drama can actually be viewed as a story with three main arcs. The first is about how Rui and Ko get acquainted, start to feel attracted to each other and finally get together. Given the gap in their ages (Ko is about the same age as Ryo) and the fact that Ko is a married man, the scandalous nature of their relationship makes it rather difficult for Rui in particular to forgo her misgivings and fly straight into Ko's arms. However, Ko is more frank about his feelings and thus he tries repeatedly to get Rui to accept him despite her reservations about her age and body. If you are looking for a "sizzling" romance tale, the first 3 episodes should satisfy you as the two leads grapple with their feelings and try to overcome the moral boundaries stopping them from getting together. And of course, not to forget, the intimate scenes between Rui and Ko were also a talking point when the drama aired.

In the second arc, this is when it gets a bit messy yet exciting. Marie finds out about her husband's straying heart and to her horror, the person who Ko's in love with is someone she had trusted and gone to for advice when she was troubled over how to get Ko to be more proactive and show an interest in going for fertility treatment with her. Obviously, since his heart is already with someone else, there is no way that he will be keen on having a baby with Marie. Although Marie's way of taking revenge on the two of them can be seen as rather juvenile on one hand, I think the sting from the betrayal must have hurt and humiliated Marie a lot, given how proud she is. She is well aware that she may not appear to be clever and capable like Rui but that's also to do with her upbringing because she's never had to worry about money and surviving in the corporate world out there. By sneaking around behind her back, Marie would have regarded that Rui and Ko overestimated their intelligence which in a way also belittled her and that's an insult to her pride and intelligence (no matter you think whether she has that or not). When Marie realised that trying to tie Ko to herself wasn't going to work, that's when she changed her approach and decided to make circumstances impossible for Rui and Ko to be together. Actually, I think she was quite smart in certain ways by portraying herself as the victim when it comes to fanning public opinion about her husband's affair but nobody would have guessed that she was the one responsible for those retaliatory actions. Except for the harassment tactics she used on Rui, Marie pretty much made use of other people to do the job for her unwittingly.

Last but not least, the final arc seems to be conveying the message that no matter how true or intense this relationship may be, it cannot withstand the harsh reality and unforgiving circumstances surrounding it. In Ko's haste to make sure he can get a divorce successfully with a booming career as well, he resorts to doing something illegal despite knowing very well that it shouldn't be done. It's a no brainer that he eventually gets caught for that but the humiliation is greater for him because it was a very much publicised case and that the negative publicity from his affair with Rui made Ko feel small in front of the woman he loves. Even when Ko knows that Marie was the one who reported him to the police, he still harboured a fleeting thought of going back to her because he didn't have to put up a strong front as compared to when he was with Rui.

Now, the next development is what really made me think that the story should have ended at the part where Ko was punished for his crime. Apparently, Ko made use of funds from the underworld to fulfill his dream but now that he's caught, that money has effectively gone down the drain. There is no way he can repay the gang for the losses and he gets threatened to work for them in order to keep Rui safe. Now, this type of self-sacrificing plot in J-dramas is extremely common and overused. Besides, it's rather difficult to believe the credibility because it felt as if the writer simply threw in this to make sure Rui and Ko's relationship will come to a tragic end. Couldn't there have been another way of making sure the couple will not end up together. It was "hillarious" to say the least when I saw that gun shot scene in Singapore. I don't know if the producer or author of the novel did their homework but considering how strict our gun laws are, their idea of gangsters walking around with guns "openly" here is simply unthinkable. Oh well, I have to keep reminding myself that this is a drama but surely, we can do with a bit more of reality in it somehow.

I have to admit, I actually enjoyed the novel more than the drama especially in the first arc. I think the words used to describe the internal struggle of Rui when she was faced with an intense passion for Ko were very engaging and offered a lot of room for imagination. The drama did its best to convey the emotions felt by Rui and Ko but somehow, it was a tad stronger in the lust department rather than in the emotional side. As for the other two arcs, they were exact replicas of what the original material. I was hoping that the final arc might be more interesting on screen with some slight tweaks and improvement in the pacing since it was really boring towards the end in the novel but it was quite disappointing and I could really do without that self-sacrifice development.

No doubt I didn't really enjoy the story and found it hard to root for the lead characters (simply put, I didn't care whether they ended up together), there are two characters who spiced up the screen with their acting. First of all, it would be YOU who played Aiko, the much older girlfriend of Ryo and became a close friend of Rui later. I think the exchanges between her and Rui were extremely interesting since they were around the same age and could understand what each other had in mind. Aiko was also invaluable in the sense that she offered an avenue for Rui to be true to herself and speak her mind rather than having to keep up appearances all the time. It's difficult to find someone to pour out your troubles to so having Aiko around was a big blessing for Rui.

The other character who caught my eye would definitely be Fukada Kyoko. Marie may be an eyesore at first with her endless pestering but you've got to hand it to Fukada to show that irritating side of Marie and still make her likeable at times. She's really a perfect fit for the role and what really impressed was from the point Marie found out about the affair and later dumped Ko to become a career woman. Marie had to show the pitiful abandoned wife side in front of everyone else and yet was full of venom and spared no effort in destroying Ko. That said, she didn't harm his life or anything but rather took away what mattered most to him i.e. his pride, career and future in the financial industry. That would have been more than enough to deal a big blow to Ko for what he did to her. Till the end, Marie was still keeping up appearances by trying to take back Ko's remains in order to hold a grand funeral for all to see but she had no intentions of continuing to offer prayers for Ko in future. On one hand, you think that she's quite vengeful but on the other, there is still a cute side to her so Marie isn't a character who can be hated entirely for what she did.

With regard to Suzuki Kyoka and Hasegawa Hiroki, I applaud them for showing a good performance in conveying the emotions felt by Rui and Ko in this destructive romance tale. Hasegawa in particular was very eye-catching, considering that this was his first leading role in a mainstream drama. Being a stage actor for years, his way of articulating his lines felt rather different from a lot of actors who tend to mumble through their lines. Even without subtitles especially when talking about the difficult financial terms, it was still easy to catch what he was saying. Having said that, it was a refreshing experience to see someone like him in years. As for Suzuki, I'm glad that she was picked instead of some other actress where the signs of aging cannot be seen so clearly. It was good that there were some scenes which deliberately showed Rui/Suzuki as a woman in her mid-40s so as to emphasize the age gap between Rui and Ko. Although I think Suzuki was deliberately made to look old in some scenes, that actually made Rui's concerns seem more realistic. Imagine if you have an actress who still looks stunning without make-up and talks about aging faster than the younger lover, I doubt viewers wouldn't buy that.

Honestly speaking, now that Ko has died and the other characters seem to have moved on with their lives, I fail to understand why there was a need for the movie version and what it could have talked about. Anyway, that's something for the future, assuming I do watch it one day.

And my ratings for this drama...

Story: 5 out of 10 (The first 3 episodes on its own is quite interesting but the 2nd and 3rd arcs had some plot loopholes which I had issues with)

Acting: 7 out of 10 (Mainly for YOU, Fukada Kyoko and Hasegawa Hiroki)

Theme song: 3 out of 10 (It didn't leave too much of an impression on me on the whole)

Visual effects/Scenery: 4 out of 10 (Nothing spectacular or especially memorable)

Teamwork/Chemistry: 6 out of 10 (For the lead couple/ YOU and Suzuki Kyoka)

Total: 25 out of 50

Review of SPEC Ep 1

I had been thinking of watching SPEC since a long time ago because the suspense genre is what I like and that it was dubbed as a continuation of 1999's Keizoku, another drama which I liked, although the leads were different this time. However, I never really got down to watching it until just a week ago because I wanted to finish the entire series and the SP in time so that I could catch the movie in the cinema. Luckily, this drama proved to be so engaging that I had no problems finishing the series and SP in a matter of a few days. Considering how difficult it is these days for me to sit through a single episode without feeling bored, it's evident that what SPEC had to offer kept me going within such a short time.

Although SPEC is said to be a sequel of Keizoku, the key concept is somewhat similar yet different. The first half of SPEC and Keizoku focus more on single cases while the second half has a central theme or should I say main villian who the leads have to fight against. SPEC's central theme is about SPEC-holders i.e. humans who have special powers which they use to pursue their own agendas or to guarantee their survival against people who want to eliminate or make use of them. On the other hand, Keizoku was more about a single villian who had a longstanding feud with one of the leads and he had the power to place people under hynopsis. Some of the characters from Keizoku are back to reprise their roles in Keizoku although they've moved on in certain ways to reflect the passage of time.

We begin with introducing the first lead Sebumi Takeru (Kase Ryo) who was the leader of the SIT unit of the police. He was leading his team on a mission where one of his subordinates Shimura suddenly turned against him and fired gunshots directly at him. Amazingly, time seemed to have come to a standstill then and by the time Sebumi realised it, the bullets had actually taken a U-turn and hit Shimura instead! Although he tried very hard to explain the truth during the police inquiry into the incident, nobody believed him and Sebumi had to be transferred out to the mystery case special division (known as Misho for short). At the same time, Shimura's younger sister Mirei (Fukuda Saki) doesn't believe Sebumi as well and regards him as an enemy whenever he comes to visit her brother.

On his first day at Misho, Sebumi finds himself greeted by Nonomura Koutarou (Ryu Raita) who used to be the section chief of Keizoku and is now the chief of Misho. Besides Nonomura, there is another police officer who we see not in the office but in a restaurant gorging on gyoza!

Touma Saya (Toda Erika), a Misho investigator who graduated from Kyoto University, boasts of an IQ of 201 and loves to do research on physics and eat her gyoza with lots of garlic. Touma carries a huge red suitcase on wheels and has her left arm in a bandage for whatever reason. As she had forgotten where she left her wallet, she is dragged to the police station by the restaurant owner who demands payment for the huge bill she racked up. The first meeting between Sebumi and Touma get off on a sour note as Sebumi views Touma as a tardy and messy weirdo who can't possibly be a good police officer while Touma sees Sebumi with interest (because of the incident with Shimura) and disdain for his rigidness at the same time.

Just then, a female police officer Miyabi (Arimura Kasumi) who also happens to be Nonomura's lover, comes to Misho with two guests Gokitani Haruki (Kaneko Ken) and his secretary Waki Chihiro (Kamikawa Takaya) who have a problem on hand. It turns out that Gokitani who is a politician and the CEO of Gokitani Group was told by his fortune teller Reizen Toshiaki (Tanaka Tetsushi) that he would be killed during a celebration party held by his company and that he would have to pay a sum of JPY 200m if he wishes to avert the disaster. Touma is intrigued by the prophetic powers that Reizen apparently has while Sebumi feels that this is merely a hoax for Reizen to extort money from Gokitani. Nonetheless, the Misho trio i.e. Touma, Sebumi and Nonomura head to look for Reizen in order to find out more.

Reizen is an extremely popular fortune teller so it takes a while before the Misho trio are ushered in to meet him. He sticks by his story that Gokitani would definitely die at the party if the latter does not listen to him and even offers to predict what would happen to Touma and Sebumi at 9pm that night. Just as Touma and Nonomura get ready to leave after the meeting, Sebumi suddenly whips out an arrest warrant which he had applied for prior to the visit and used Nonomura's stamp without his knowledge. He takes Reizen into custody and thinks that this will be a foolproof plan because the latter cannot harm Gokitani if he is being monitored. Reizen remains cool about it and tells Sebumi that this will be futile though. Sebumi thinks nothing of Reizen's powers and even dumps his prophecy note away.

While munching on her all-time favourite gyoza again, Touma is surprised to see Chii Satoshi (Shirota Yu) coming to the same restaurant. Apparently, Chii is Touma's ex-boyfriend and he keeps reminding her to be careful when working on cases or else something bad might befall her like what happened to her left arm. When Chii asks Touma if they can reconcile, she rejects him outright. Suddenly, Touma remembers the note which Reizen gave her and is surprised to see that he had guessed correctly that Chii had come to look for her at the gyoza place. This seems to make Touma believe that Reizen does have the power to predict the future and he wasn't making stories out of nowhere.

On the day of the celebration party, the Misho trio make arrangements to ensure that nobody would have the opportunity to harm Gokitani by screening and testing the food and drinks he will be consuming. However, despite their efforts, Gokitani still collapses due to a heart attack which stuns everyone present. Sebumi refuses to believe that Reizen could have predicted Gokitani's death but what's baffling is that, there seems to be no element of foul play.

Just then, Touma seems to have an idea to solving the case and starts writing calligraphy of the keywords in the case. When she's done, she rips the stack of papers and throws everything into the air as she tries to reason things out. As the shreds of paper fall to the ground. Touma declares that she has found the answer.

Meanwhile, Waki heads back to the ballroom where the celebration party was held at with a can of tennis balls where he is surprised to see Touma waiting for him. Touma starts to explain why she's there and how she arrived at the conclusion that Waki was the murderer of Gokitani. In actual fact, Waki had misled the Misho trio that the only possible way for Gokitani to die of poisoning was through his intake of food and drinks. Little did they expect that Waki, who had been a doctor in the past, actually used an injection into Gokitani's thigh to cause a cardiac arrest. Touma compliments Waki for his exceptional intelligence and for managing to conceal his murder weapon at the ceiling of the ballroom. In his haste to destroy the syringe which he had thrown up to the ceiling, Waki demonstrates his extraodinary physical power which also reveals the fact that he is a SPEC-holder.

Waki gloats over the fact that Touma no longer has the evidence to catch him but the truth is, she had already retrieved the real syringe used by Waki along with Sebumi who had been filming their conversation and what Waki did without him knowing. Seeing that his game is almost up, Waki uses the tennis balls and throws powerful shots at both Sebumi and Touma which knocks her out and Sebumi to suffer a dislodged shoulder. Just when Waki is about to fire gunshots at the two of them, time suddenly freezes and a young man Ninomae Juuichi (Kamiki Ryuunosuke) appears without them knowing. It seems like Ninomae has the power to freeze time and he's rather unhappy that Waki is intending to kill Touma and Sebumi at such an "early stage". He then turns the bullets in the opposite direction towards where Waki is and when the flow of time is restored, Waki is struck by all the bullets which were meant for Sebumi. Having witnessed this once again, Sebumi can't believe that the same thing which happened to Shimura has taken place again.

At the same time, Tsuda Sukehiro (Shiina Kippei), the chief of the Public Security Bureau's Zero Department (Zero-ka), comes to take Reizen away from the police cell without telling the latter where they are going. Reizen fears for his life as he seems to be able to predict that Tsuda doesn't have kind intentions but there is nothing he can do about it while in captivity. Tsuda remains tight-lipped on where they are heading or what he intends to do but he has an evil smirk on his face when he sees how apprehensive Reizen looks. In order to ensure his own safety, Reizen decides against asking more questions as they head towards an unknown location.

In the hospital, Mirei is taking care of her brother and is shocked to see images of what happened during the shooting when she touches her brother's forehead. This makes Mirei extremely shocked because what she sees is exactly what Sebumi has been telling everyone! She takes a double-look at her brother again, afraid to approach him in case she sees more of these fleeting images...

Frankly speaking, it wasn't too difficult to guess who was the killer in this case because the problem with suspense dramas is, if you see a rather prominent actor playing one of the supporting roles, you can more or less see who the villian should be. I think what was more interesting were how these SPEC-holders used their powers to achieve their aims and the concept of SPEC-holders seem to be skewed towards the fact that these are people who happen to be able to use their brains in a different way from other people and that there is really nothing supernatural about them. Reizen's prophecy looked as if he wanted to get money out of Gokitani while Waki was clearly not content to be in Gokitani's shadow as well. We might get to see a few more SPEC-holders who are motivated by their personal interests but I am guessing that some of them might come together towards the end of the story for a greater purpose. In the first episode alone, we are seeing four SPEC-holders including Mirei who seems to have the power of psychometry. I think there will be a galore of SPEC powers as the drama progresses so I'm keen to know what kind of variations there might be. Ninomae is another mystery so his importance (maybe as the mastermind?) in the story will be gradually revealed.

Since this drama is said to be a sequel of Keizoku, familiar faces from the Keizoku series would definitely help in exhibiting the link between both dramas. Nonomura and his lover Miyabi (the Miyabi in Keizoku was a senior high-school student, I think) are the only "original cast" members from Keizoku so I don't really get such a strong sense of linking between the two dramas. Moreover, the Keizoku department back then had a few more supporting cast members while Misho is just made up of three people. It's a bit lacking in that sense because we don't see that many "colourful" supporting characters. Then again, I would also prefer SPEC to be standing on its own and attracting people on its originality since it's an entirely different story with two different leads this time. Comparisons with Keizoku are inevitable but necessary since TBS had promoted it as a sequel initially.

Talking about the leads, Toda Erika and Kase Ryo seem to be doing quite well even though this is just the first episode. They bicker and trade insults about each other but it is expected that they will become great partners as time goes on. I think they work well together (in terms of the acting and how they interact in their roles) but I don't foresee them being romantically-linked unlike Shibata and Mayama back in Keizoku (also had to do with the fact that Nakatani Miki and Watabe Atsuro were reportedly romantically-linked then). Then again, Shibata and Mayama weren't dating in the story but there was some sort of the romantic spark between them. At present, I find it difficult to imagine Touma and Sebumi having that kind of relationship as well. Talking about their differences, Touma and Sebumi are as different as chalk and cheese e.g. she uses a huge luggage bag while he uses a paper bag to hold his stuff, one is prim and proper while the other is simply messy and tardy. With these stark differences, it will no doubt bring about more sparks between these two as they join forces to deal with the SPEC-holders who are coming their way.

Preview of Genya

Title: Genya
Official website: here
Broadcast by: WOWOW
Original novel by: Higashino Keigo
Cast: Fukada Kyoko, Tsukamoto Takashi, Shibata Kyohei, Kikawada Masaya, Ichikawa Yui, Suzuki Kazuma, Okunuki Kaoru, Fubukoshi Mitsuru, Omi Toshinori, Suzuki Sawa, Kikuda Daisuke, Negishi Toshie

Toda Erika & Kase Ryo in "Gekijouban SPEC ~ Ten ~"

Toda Erika and Kase Ryo appeared at a PR event for their movie "Gekijouban SPEC ~ Ten ~" which is due to be screened from 7 April. The movie is directed by Tsutsumi Yukihiko and continues from the drama broadcast on TBS in autumn 2010. Toda plays a police officer in MPD's Public Safety Division who has a special power which helps her to solve cases.

In conjunction with the launch of the movie, a specially-made gyoza will be sold at various locations nationwide. As Toda's character is potrayed as one who loves gyoza, the same will be made available to fans through a gyoza wagon. Toda and Kase were all praise for the gyoza which they said was very delicious and urged fans to try it if they can. In addition, there will be a series of events held until the movie's screening as part of the promotional campaign. Last but not least, the drama SP of SPEC will be shown via TBS on 1 April and the drama's Blu-ray and DVD versions will be on sale from 4 April.

Source: Nikkansports

Review of Nagareboshi 流れ星 (Shooting Star)

I must admit, the premise of the story didn't attract me at all when I first came to know about this drama. A contract marriage between two people who subsequently fall in love? That's really nothing new. Throw in the moral dilemma of paying for an organ transplant? That's a little bit more conflict. Plus Takenouchi Yutaka and a serious Ueto Aya? That's what really got me to give this drama a shot. Beware if you haven't watched this drama yet because there will be some spoilers in my review.

In short, this story is about Okada Kengo (Takenouchi) who enters into a contract marriage with Makihara Risa (Ueto) who works in the sex trade to pay off her good-for-nothing brother Shuichi's (Inagaki Goro) debts. Of course, the natural thing is, they fall in love but there will always be a crisis at the end i.e. the organ-for-sale issue. Plus Shuichi's constant sabotage tactics, these two wait till the very end before they can be together for good. Oh well, the ending wasn't that conclusive but at least, we saw Kengo and Risa share a kiss for the very first time at the very last minute of this drama.

Frankly speaking, this drama is full of flaws and expected developments. The pace is not exactly slow but with every step that's taken, you sort of know what's going to come next. However, the scriptwriter still tried to throw in some surprises although they had varying degrees of effectiveness. For example, when the organ-for-sale scandal broke, it was easy to see that Kengo and Risa would have to split somehow and get back later. What caught me by surprise was how Kengo took responsibility on his own and even got his family members to tell lies in order to protect Risa. I would have expected that he gets punished by the law for paying Risa to undergo the transplant but there was a small twist where his sister Maria was putting on a straight face and telling Shuichi about how "bad" Kengo was to have cheated Risa. However, Nagareboshi, being ultimately a love story (be it family or romantic love), chose not to go into the painful details of Kengo's punishment which I thought was another clever step so as not to drag the pace further.

What's intriguing about this drama is that, although it's very slow at times, there are some moments which truly struck a chord with me. For example, when Kengo was grieving at his father's grave, instead of going up to console him, Risa chose to stay away and leave Kengo alone. Sometimes, not doing anything can be even better than trying to do something in order to make oneself feel better. And the most interesting thing I observed was that, neither Kengo nor Risa said the words "suki dayo" (I like you) or "aishiteru" (I love you) throughout the entire drama which is a rarity in romance dramas. They knew exactly how the other felt and that's even sweeter than having to shout out "suki dayo" all the time. At least to me, I felt that the emotions they displayed were evident and words didn't seem necessary at all. That long-awaited kiss came a little too late and it was even blurred out but I guess it was still better than none. The hug-from-the-back tactic never fails to work on me especially when it's someone like Yutaka doing it! ^__^

With regard to acting, Takenouchi is back in his usual brooding, serious and occasionally funny roles as Kengo always has to worry about something. As such, his character may seem a bit boring to those who find the story's developments slow. However, if you compare this to the cheeky Nodate he played in BOSS, I think it's a good way to remind people that he can play these serious roles before he goes back to Nodate in April 2011. I'm kinda surprised that he and Ueto Aya looked OK on screen even though I was worried that she might look too young and short for him. Thankfully, the drama took into account their age differences and Ueto was wearing boots quite often so the gaps didn't look too obvious.

As for Ueto, I was hoping that she can impress me again like what she did years ago in Koukou Kyoushi. That angst and depth have been missing for quite some time. Although Risa is a slight deviation from the cutey roles she's been doing these few years, I think the role was rather restricted and made it difficult for Ueto show her acting chops. It felt as if she wanted to push the boundaries and yet stepped back when it looked too dangerous and she was at risk of spoiling her wholesome image. I guess it should be time for her to do something really daring (I don't mean nudity) and out of the box in order to show that she's not just a pretty face and can manage flawed characters.

Kitano Kii's role Maria is rather boring this time round and I really missed her strength displayed in "Life". A whining little girl just doesn't suit her. Moreover, asking her to act in that scene where she brings a guy to a love hotel just brings back memories of her scandal with another actor where they were caught leaving a love hotel. I think that's kinda redundant. Likewise for Matsuda Shota, his role as a doctor seems rather out-of-place especially when he tries hard to frown when talking about serious issues. And that recycling bag he was using just makes his whole image look terribly weird. The biggest villian of this show, Shuichi, played by Inagaki Goro is really so irritating that I think he's successful in this regard because viewers would "hate" him whenever his character shows up. I have to admit that I don't like Goro but he's a good fit with this role.

Something worth mentioning would be the location shoots in Shin Enoshima Aquarium (where Kengo works at), the seaside and Yamanashi Prefecture. It's been some time since I saw a drama with so much thought put into the background scenery and I think that's really worth applauding. In addition, the theme song by Kobukuro suits the drama's mood pretty well. I guess having a theme song written specially for the drama is indeed different from grabbing any song from the market just for commercial interests. The lines "kimi yori kirei na hito demo / kimi yori yasashii hito demo / kimi ni wa narenainda mou dare mo" (Even if there's someone more beautiful than you / Even if there's someone who's gentler than you / nobody can become you) are really great in depicting the nature of Kengo and Risa's relationship. They may not have started under the best circumstances but their love for each other is still real.

And my ratings for this drama...
Story: 6 out of 10 (Except for the occasional sparks and twists, the story was pretty slow and progressed in an expected manner most of the time)
Acting: 7 out of 10 (It's not easy to act in such a drama where emotions are mostly subdued but I like what I saw from Takenouchi Yutaka and Ueto Aya)
Theme song: 9 out of 10 (Kobukuro's song was very suitable for this drama)
Visual effects / Scenery: 8 out of 10 (It's been ages since I gave such high marks for this category so it goes to show how much I like the scenery)
Teamwork / Chemistry: 7 out of 10 (The chemistry got better between the leads as the drama progressed)

Total marks: 37 out of 50

Romaji lyrics of Ryuusei by Kobukuro 流星 - コブクロ (Theme song of Nagareboshi)

Title: Ryuusei (Shooting Star)
Artist: Kobukuro
Lyrics and Melody: Obuchi Kentaro
Theme song of FujiTV autumn 2010 drama, "Nagareboshi"

mafuyu no umibe ni utsutta
shiroku toumei na tsuki ga
kurage ni mieta fushigi na yoru deshita

nando hiki sakaretemo
toozagatte mo tsunagatta mama no
futari wo tsutsumu
mabuta no oku no uchuu

hoshikuzu no naka
chiribamerareta kokoro ga futatsu
ai no yami wo kake nuketeku
omoi ryuusei ni nari
nagarete yuku yo kimi no soba made kieru mae ni
bokutachi wa onaji seiza dato shinjite

kimi yori kirei na hito demo
kimi yori yasashii hito demo
kimi ni wa narenainda mou dare mo

tsukamenai maboroshi wo
dakishimeta mune wo sasu itami ga
inryoku no you ni futari hiki yoseau

mada kimi no naka tojikomerareta ikutsu mo no mayoi wa
boku no naka de moyashi tsukuseru
dakara mou kowagarazu ni
azukete hoshii

kimi no uso ni kizuku no wa
chiisana hitomi ga mihiraku kara
demo sunaosa ni mada kizukenai mama

hoshikuzu no naka chiribameta kokoro ga futatsu
ai no yami wo kakenuketeku omoi ryuusei ni nari
nagarete yuku yo kimi no soba made kieru mae ni
bokutachi wa onaji seiza dato shinjiteru kara

If you would like to view the PV, please go here.

Preview of Himitsu 秘密

Title: Himitsu (Secret)
Official website: here
Broadcast by: TV Asahi
Timeslot: Fridays, 11.15pm
Original novel by: Higashino Keigo
Theme song: Tsuyogari Soreiu by Hatsune
Cast: Shida Mirai, Sasaki Kuranosuke, Motokariya Yuika, Hashimoto Satoshi, Lin Dandan, Ryusei Ryo, Hyuga Nanami, Horiuchi Keiko, Fubukoshi Mitsuru, Ishida Yukari

Preview of Ougon no Buta 黄金の豚

Title: Ougon no Buta (The Golden Pig)
Official website: here
Broadcast by: NTV
Timeslot: Wednesdays, 10pm
O.A. Start Date: 20 Oct 2010
Theme song: Mamotte agetai by Ito Yuna
Cast: Shinohara Ryoko, Okada Masaki, Oizumi Yo, Kiriya Kenta, Yamaguchi Sayaka, Kondo Yoshimasa, Yazawa Shin, Nose Anna, Yamazaki Daisuke, Motai Masako, Namase Katsuhisa, Utsui Ken

Preview of Yamikin Ushijima-kun 闇金ウシジマくん

Title: Yamikin Ushijima-kun (The Loanshark Ushijima-kun)
Official website: here
Broadcast by: TBS / MBS
Timeslot: Tuesdays 12.55am
O.A. Start Date: 12 Oct 2010
Original manga by: Manabe Shohei
Cast: Yamada Takayuki, Katase Nana, Tokui Yu, Yabe Kyosuke, Onoue Hiroyuki, Yashiro Minase, Kasumi Risa, Yokoyama Miyuki

Preview of SPEC

Title: SPEC
Official website: here
Broadcast by: TBS
O.A. Start Date: 8 Oct 2010
Timeslot: Fridays, 10pm
Theme song: NAMInoYUKUSAKI by THE RICECOOKERS
Cast: Toda Erika, Kase Ryo, Fukuda Saki, Tokui Yu, Tanaka Tetsuji, Shirota Yu, Kamiki Ryuunosuke, Shiina Kippei, Ryu Raita

Preview of Iryu 3 医龍 3

Title: Iryu 3 (Team Medical Dragon 3)
Official website: here
Broadcast by: FujiTV
Timeslot: Thursdays 10pm
O.A. Start Date: 14 Oct 2010
Original manga by: Nogisaka Taro
Cast: Sakaguchi Kenji, Inamori Izumi, Koike Teppei, Abe Sadao, Tanimura Mitsuki, Endo Kenichi, Sasaki Kuranosuke, Natsuki Mari, Kishibe Ittoku

Preview of Guilty Akuma to Keiyakushita Onna ギルティ 悪魔と契約した女

Title: Guilty Akuma to Keiyakushita Onna (Guilty The Woman Who Made a Pact with the Devil)
Official website: here
O.A. Start Date: 12 Oct 2010
Broadcast by: FujiTV / KTV
Timeslot: Tuesdays 10pm
Theme song: Kono yoru wo tomete yo
Cast: Kanno Miho, Tamaki Hiroshi, Kichise Michiko, Mizukami Kensei, Takisawa Saori, RIKIYA, Yokoyama Megumi, Karasawa Toshiaki

Preview of Freeter, Ie wo Kau フリーター、家を買う

Title: Freeter, Ie wo Kau (Freelancer, Buy a house)
Official website: here
Broadcast by: FujiTV
Timeslot: Tuesdays, 9pm
Original novel by: Arikawa Hiroshi
Theme song: Hatenai Sora by Arashi
Insert song: Kimitte by Nishino Kana
Cast: Ninomiya Kazunari, Karina, Igawa Haruka, Maruyama Ryuhei, Ootomo Kohei, Washio Machiko, Takenaka Naoto, Asano Atsuko

Preview of Nagareboshi 流れ星

Title: Nagareboshi (Shooting star)
Official website: here
Broadcast by: FujiTV
Timeslot: Mondays 9pm
Theme song: Ryusei by Kobukuro
Cast: Takenouchi Yutaka, Ueto Aya, Matsuda Shota, Kitano Kii, Kawaguchi Haruna, Chisun, Kitagawa Hiromi, Sugimoto Tetta, Itaya Yuka, Harada Mieko and Inagaki Goro

Preview of Perfect Report パーフェクト・リポート

Title: Perfect Report
Official website: here
Broadcast by: FujiTV
Timeslot: Sundays 9pm
Theme song: RAIN by YUI
O.A. Start Date: 17 Oct 2010
Cast: Matsuyuki Yasuko, Koide Keisuke, Aibu Saki, Endo Yuya, Koyanagi Yu, Kaname Jun, Kohinata Fumio