Spring season aka 99% of my predictions were wrong.
YOWAKUTEMO KATEMASU
Being a sport drama, being described as the ‘successor of ROOKIES’, I thought I’d loved it. BUT.
The drama has, like… nothing to do with ROOKIES. The only thing they have in common is that they’re both about baseball and the teacher/coach has an important role, but nothing else. Which is good, because who wants a copy of something? Not me. But yes, I thought it would be different. Maybe it’s also because of the fact that, especially at the beginning, they were so… weak? No, that’s not the problem, but it seemed like most of them didn’t really care about playing baseball and I was like “Then why are you in the club??”. And their approach to sport was the opposite of mine: not be scared of the ball, trying to get stronger etc. That’s how I’ve always played, so the “If you don’t want the ball to come to you, you can say ‘Don’t come!!’” theory or the whole “We’ll win while staying weak” was a bit confusing, for me. Then I understood that, maybe, it can be a winning strategy, in baseball? I don’t know, since I’m still not fully sure about the rules O_O
And all the mental trips they did while talking about baseball... like defense is science and attack is social studies... like… what the hell are you even saying??? So much talking about nothing, I’d had a headache if only I cared enough to replay the conversation to try to understand it better (I bet that even with 6 more replays, it still would not make sense)
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But!! This doesn’t mean AT ALL that I didn’t enjoy this drama. Yes, I can understand why a lot of people dropped it after the first episodes, because it’s veeeery slow. The first half tries to introduce each member of the team, giving to anyone a ‘story’, a past of some kind. It’s the same thing that a lot of dramas do, dedicating one episode to each character and then focusing on the group. Tumbling comes to mind, but there… well, it wasn’t that slow paced, and the stories of the characters were ALL touching. But, hey, we can’t have everything. In Yowakate there aren’t tragedies, or guys with a dark past. There’s just the crazy Kamezawa who is poor and at some point has to leave school (it was a bit of a tragedy, to me, honestly. I liked him so much). And there are so many funny moments, seriously, you should watch it just for them.
Honestly, you should have just a bit of patience, because the last 4-5 episodes are really nice. It feels like they’re finally getting somewhere and things get really emotional (well... emotional for me. I’m a total loser when it comes to these kind of things). But the second half of the drama was really good.
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A lot of people were a bit disappointed that Nino chose to do this drama. In the last years, he spoiled us acting in great dramas and movies (not only in the last years, actually, most of the things he did when he was younger were really good too). For this fandom, Nino was like an assurance? “Oh, Nino will do a new drama, it will be good for sure”. But Yowakate turned out to be just an okay drama. Nice, light, quite funny. But not a masterpiece like Ryuusei no Kizuna or Freeter, or a little pearl like Haikei Chichiue sama.
I’m not disappointed or turned down in the slightest, though. Yes, it’s not the best drama I’ve watched this year, but I’ve enjoyed it a lot. Nino had a lot of fun playing his role and you can see it, watching the drama; and this is probably the reason why he chose to do it. He liked the role of Aoshi sensei, a role that he’s never played before. Maybe the big audience prefers cool roles, and I’m sure Japan thinks that Shitsuren Chocolatier was such a better drama than Yowakate. But you know, Nino doesn’t really need to do this kind of dramas, to shine. He doesn’t need it and doesn’t even like it. Yes, Yowakate wasn’t the best drama of his career, but he did a splendid job. The role of Tamo Aoshi was so right , for him.
(Also, how cute is seeing Nino interacting with younger kids?? I always feel like he only hangs out with people 20 years older than him.)
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Aaand, the rest of the cast! I’m always very cautious with young actors, because dramas like GTO and Bad Boys caused me the biggest trauma with how bad most of the actors were. They’ll probably get better in the future, I don’t know, but at that time they were... no. So I kind of feared that the Yowakate guys wouldn’t be good either. I knew that Yuto was okay since somehow I always end up watching the dramas he’s in, and also knew that Kanata Hongo was really good (I had never seen his ‘comic’ side before, and he’s good at this too! I loved his Kamezawa, he was totally insane.), but I didn’t know the others.
At the end, I didn’t need to worry, because all the guys were good. I loved Mamiya Shotaro and Yamazaki Kento’s performances (Okadome and Ebato), while I should watch Fukushi Sota in something else because Aikawa was a bit… meh. The others were good too!
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So I hope that this drama will have one more thing in common with ROOKIES: that the guys who played the students will become good and famous actors (if you don’t know anything about ROOKIES, there were people like Kiritani Kenta, Takeru Sato, Ichihara Hayato, Koide Keisuke and more).
Oh, and A+ soundtrack.
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SHINIGAMI KUN
Okay. I don’t know if I’m ready to talk about this drama. I’ll probably capslock a lot??? Forgive me. Also, there will be major spoilers if you haven’t watched the whole drama.
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What I was expecting from this drama: something episodic, cute, weird, with a strange sense of humor (“I’m glad to inform you that you’ve been chosen to die”), maybe sometimes a bit touching... something ala Kaibutsu kun.
What this drama actually was: episodic but not so much, cute, weird, with a strange sense of humor, but mostly PHYSICAL PAIN, DESPERATION AND UNRESOLVED FEELINGS. Seriously.
I started the 1st episode giggling and ended it crying like a 5 years old baby. I wasn’t expecting it to be so sad. Actually most of the following episodes weren’t as touching, but the damage was already done. A drama that makes me cry at the very 1st ep? I’m doomed. BUT you know what really killed me? THE FREAKING SECOND EPISODE. WITH FREAKING HAYASHI KENTO AND THE FREAKING KID AND FREAKING EVERYTHING. It started like a cute copy of Death Note (little info for you all: Death Note was written after Shinigami kun) and ended with me drowning in my own tears. Seriously. I cried so much at that episode; everything seemed resolved, and then... I’m still so mad.
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I don’t know many shinigami(s?) but I’m 100% sure Shinigami 413 is the cutest and most precious of them all. Telling you you’ll die soon with that cute smile, he’s so polite! And naïve. And cuuute. Also a bit slow but everyone can’t help but adore him. WITH THAT CUTE HAT! And that sleeping cat-like face. Aw.
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“Keep screwing things up and you’ll die, Shinigami n. 413!” and he keeps breaking rules because he’s that good and just wants humans to be happy? He gets beaten up by his supervisor, gets bullied by Akuma, gets scolded by the boss, gets ill-treated by 99% of the humans he meets and doesn’t care. He freaking DIES and he DOESN’T CARE. Because no one died for nothing. How good is he? How kind?
I’m so sad.
And can we talk about his relationship with the supervisor? CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS SUPREME OTP? Bitchy Queen of the Otheworld mistreated him for the whole drama but she totally fell for him I SAW IT. She couldn’t resist. And Shinigami 413 was so dense, he didn’t notice. She DIED because he broke a rule for the nth time BUT SHE WAS OKAY WITH THAT. Because she was starting thinking like him, that rules weren’t everything and sometimes humans needed their pity and their help. ALL THANKS SHINIGAMI 413. THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL.
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AND THE ENDING. IS THAT AN ENDING? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???
They both die, but then they reborn? As humans? And they don’t know each other? But then they meet? And have this kind of strange sensation like “Oh, I feel like I’ve already met him/her”. YES. YES YOU HAVE.
STOP MAKING ME SAD.
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Few words about Mirei, Bitchy Queen of the Universe, Flawless Lady of Crows. Crows Zero was about her taking over the world, don’t you know that? Perfect piece of perfection, I adore her. I’m also hideously biased, don’t mind me.
Last but not least, Akuma!
Since until now I’ve been very serious and deep, talking about supreme otps and cute hats, let me start with something shallow: I’m not the biggest fan of Suda Masaki’s face. He’s a good actor, but his face is so-so, for me. But DAMN, AKUMA. Maybe it was the character, maybe it was the silver wig, but he was hot. Like thank you for the view, I appreciated it.
He was such a nice character? Yes he’s a demon who tricks humans to eat their souls BUT has no one stopped to think that he did that because, otherwise, he’d have died? And not everyone can be selfless like Shinigami 413. And he wasn’t even that evil, because, come on. He didn’t eat one soul for the whole drama. “We hadn’t shaken hands yet, it doesn’t count” and other things. He just wanted to annoy Shinigami 413 because he liked him, and just wanted to be his friend. Look at the ending. Look at what he does. LOOK AT HIS EYES AFTER SHINIGAMI 413 DIES. He just wanted to be his friend T_T
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Like I said, I wasn’t expecting any of this.
(Do you know if OST has been released? I need the opening theme song)
ALSO LOOK AT ALL THE THINGS THIS DRAMA WON.
BITTER BLOOD
A detective drama with average cases and a bad guy more ridiculous than scary (he likes to listen to classical music while scheming his hideous plans and even while he inflicts pain to his victims. A total psychopathic, he was seriously funny. Also, Takeru Sato has this not so nice toy poodle hair.
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But!! I enjoyed this drama A LOT. The characters and their interactions were perfect and terribly funny. Especially the father/son combo.
If you want a serious detective drama ala Strawberry Night, don’t even bother to watch the 1st episode, but if you want something hideously funny, Bitter Blood is the right drama. (aaand there will be a special somewhere in the future!)
(THE OPENING. THE OPENING WAS SO COOL.)
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Few words about two Korean dramas I’ve watched this spring too.
DOCTOR STRANGER
I should stop saying “medical dramas aren’t really my thing”, because every time I watch one I end up to like it, so it really doesn’t make sense. This one in particular, was focused on political and personal stuff other than medical things, so it really wasn’t a problem. It was good. Even with that tragedy that Lee Jongsuk’s hair was.
A thing I loved was the ending: for once, no sad third wheels! I wanted Doctor Han and Doctor Oh to end up together since the beginning, so I’m glad they ended it in that way.
Also, this song.
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YOU’RE ALL SURROUNDED
At the beginning I didn’t want to try it, because from the trailer it didn’t seem nothing great. And another detective drama? No thanks. Also, I’m not a big fan of Lee Seungi’s works. He’s a good actor and I like him, but all the dramas with him I’ve watched didn’t leave a big impression. In the cast there were more people I knew, but it wasn’t enough to make me want to try it.
And I don’t even remember why I tried the 1st episode. Maybe my sister watched it and convinced me. Anyway, IT WAS GREAT. I loved the 1st episode and I loved the whole drama. It was the right mix of comedy and thriller, with a little bit of angst. And the characters were great too. A drama where the 1st episode ends with the rookie detectives team walking with MCM’s Welcome to the Black Parade playing in the background... has to be good, come on.
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YOWAKUTEMO KATEMASU
Being a sport drama, being described as the ‘successor of ROOKIES’, I thought I’d loved it. BUT.
The drama has, like… nothing to do with ROOKIES. The only thing they have in common is that they’re both about baseball and the teacher/coach has an important role, but nothing else. Which is good, because who wants a copy of something? Not me. But yes, I thought it would be different. Maybe it’s also because of the fact that, especially at the beginning, they were so… weak? No, that’s not the problem, but it seemed like most of them didn’t really care about playing baseball and I was like “Then why are you in the club??”. And their approach to sport was the opposite of mine: not be scared of the ball, trying to get stronger etc. That’s how I’ve always played, so the “If you don’t want the ball to come to you, you can say ‘Don’t come!!’” theory or the whole “We’ll win while staying weak” was a bit confusing, for me. Then I understood that, maybe, it can be a winning strategy, in baseball? I don’t know, since I’m still not fully sure about the rules O_O
And all the mental trips they did while talking about baseball... like defense is science and attack is social studies... like… what the hell are you even saying??? So much talking about nothing, I’d had a headache if only I cared enough to replay the conversation to try to understand it better (I bet that even with 6 more replays, it still would not make sense)
Honestly, you should have just a bit of patience, because the last 4-5 episodes are really nice. It feels like they’re finally getting somewhere and things get really emotional (well... emotional for me. I’m a total loser when it comes to these kind of things). But the second half of the drama was really good.
I’m not disappointed or turned down in the slightest, though. Yes, it’s not the best drama I’ve watched this year, but I’ve enjoyed it a lot. Nino had a lot of fun playing his role and you can see it, watching the drama; and this is probably the reason why he chose to do it. He liked the role of Aoshi sensei, a role that he’s never played before. Maybe the big audience prefers cool roles, and I’m sure Japan thinks that Shitsuren Chocolatier was such a better drama than Yowakate. But you know, Nino doesn’t really need to do this kind of dramas, to shine. He doesn’t need it and doesn’t even like it. Yes, Yowakate wasn’t the best drama of his career, but he did a splendid job. The role of Tamo Aoshi was so right , for him.
(Also, how cute is seeing Nino interacting with younger kids?? I always feel like he only hangs out with people 20 years older than him.)
Aaand, the rest of the cast! I’m always very cautious with young actors, because dramas like GTO and Bad Boys caused me the biggest trauma with how bad most of the actors were. They’ll probably get better in the future, I don’t know, but at that time they were... no. So I kind of feared that the Yowakate guys wouldn’t be good either. I knew that Yuto was okay since somehow I always end up watching the dramas he’s in, and also knew that Kanata Hongo was really good (I had never seen his ‘comic’ side before, and he’s good at this too! I loved his Kamezawa, he was totally insane.), but I didn’t know the others.
At the end, I didn’t need to worry, because all the guys were good. I loved Mamiya Shotaro and Yamazaki Kento’s performances (Okadome and Ebato), while I should watch Fukushi Sota in something else because Aikawa was a bit… meh. The others were good too!
So I hope that this drama will have one more thing in common with ROOKIES: that the guys who played the students will become good and famous actors (if you don’t know anything about ROOKIES, there were people like Kiritani Kenta, Takeru Sato, Ichihara Hayato, Koide Keisuke and more).
Oh, and A+ soundtrack.
SHINIGAMI KUN
Okay. I don’t know if I’m ready to talk about this drama. I’ll probably capslock a lot??? Forgive me. Also, there will be major spoilers if you haven’t watched the whole drama.
What I was expecting from this drama: something episodic, cute, weird, with a strange sense of humor (“I’m glad to inform you that you’ve been chosen to die”), maybe sometimes a bit touching... something ala Kaibutsu kun.
What this drama actually was: episodic but not so much, cute, weird, with a strange sense of humor, but mostly PHYSICAL PAIN, DESPERATION AND UNRESOLVED FEELINGS. Seriously.
I started the 1st episode giggling and ended it crying like a 5 years old baby. I wasn’t expecting it to be so sad. Actually most of the following episodes weren’t as touching, but the damage was already done. A drama that makes me cry at the very 1st ep? I’m doomed. BUT you know what really killed me? THE FREAKING SECOND EPISODE. WITH FREAKING HAYASHI KENTO AND THE FREAKING KID AND FREAKING EVERYTHING. It started like a cute copy of Death Note (little info for you all: Death Note was written after Shinigami kun) and ended with me drowning in my own tears. Seriously. I cried so much at that episode; everything seemed resolved, and then... I’m still so mad.
I’m so sad.
And can we talk about his relationship with the supervisor? CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS SUPREME OTP? Bitchy Queen of the Otheworld mistreated him for the whole drama but she totally fell for him I SAW IT. She couldn’t resist. And Shinigami 413 was so dense, he didn’t notice. She DIED because he broke a rule for the nth time BUT SHE WAS OKAY WITH THAT. Because she was starting thinking like him, that rules weren’t everything and sometimes humans needed their pity and their help. ALL THANKS SHINIGAMI 413. THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL.
They both die, but then they reborn? As humans? And they don’t know each other? But then they meet? And have this kind of strange sensation like “Oh, I feel like I’ve already met him/her”. YES. YES YOU HAVE.
STOP MAKING ME SAD.
Few words about Mirei, Bitchy Queen of the Universe, Flawless Lady of Crows. Crows Zero was about her taking over the world, don’t you know that? Perfect piece of perfection, I adore her. I’m also hideously biased, don’t mind me.
Last but not least, Akuma!
Since until now I’ve been very serious and deep, talking about supreme otps and cute hats, let me start with something shallow: I’m not the biggest fan of Suda Masaki’s face. He’s a good actor, but his face is so-so, for me. But DAMN, AKUMA. Maybe it was the character, maybe it was the silver wig, but he was hot. Like thank you for the view, I appreciated it.
He was such a nice character? Yes he’s a demon who tricks humans to eat their souls BUT has no one stopped to think that he did that because, otherwise, he’d have died? And not everyone can be selfless like Shinigami 413. And he wasn’t even that evil, because, come on. He didn’t eat one soul for the whole drama. “We hadn’t shaken hands yet, it doesn’t count” and other things. He just wanted to annoy Shinigami 413 because he liked him, and just wanted to be his friend. Look at the ending. Look at what he does. LOOK AT HIS EYES AFTER SHINIGAMI 413 DIES. He just wanted to be his friend T_T
(Do you know if OST has been released? I need the opening theme song)
ALSO LOOK AT ALL THE THINGS THIS DRAMA WON.
BITTER BLOOD
A detective drama with average cases and a bad guy more ridiculous than scary (he likes to listen to classical music while scheming his hideous plans and even while he inflicts pain to his victims. A total psychopathic, he was seriously funny. Also, Takeru Sato has this not so nice toy poodle hair.
But!! I enjoyed this drama A LOT. The characters and their interactions were perfect and terribly funny. Especially the father/son combo.
If you want a serious detective drama ala Strawberry Night, don’t even bother to watch the 1st episode, but if you want something hideously funny, Bitter Blood is the right drama. (aaand there will be a special somewhere in the future!)
(THE OPENING. THE OPENING WAS SO COOL.)
Few words about two Korean dramas I’ve watched this spring too.
DOCTOR STRANGER
I should stop saying “medical dramas aren’t really my thing”, because every time I watch one I end up to like it, so it really doesn’t make sense. This one in particular, was focused on political and personal stuff other than medical things, so it really wasn’t a problem. It was good. Even with that tragedy that Lee Jongsuk’s hair was.
A thing I loved was the ending: for once, no sad third wheels! I wanted Doctor Han and Doctor Oh to end up together since the beginning, so I’m glad they ended it in that way.
Also, this song.
YOU’RE ALL SURROUNDED
At the beginning I didn’t want to try it, because from the trailer it didn’t seem nothing great. And another detective drama? No thanks. Also, I’m not a big fan of Lee Seungi’s works. He’s a good actor and I like him, but all the dramas with him I’ve watched didn’t leave a big impression. In the cast there were more people I knew, but it wasn’t enough to make me want to try it.
And I don’t even remember why I tried the 1st episode. Maybe my sister watched it and convinced me. Anyway, IT WAS GREAT. I loved the 1st episode and I loved the whole drama. It was the right mix of comedy and thriller, with a little bit of angst. And the characters were great too. A drama where the 1st episode ends with the rookie detectives team walking with MCM’s Welcome to the Black Parade playing in the background... has to be good, come on.
