Hit the jump for my initial impressions for the following dramas. Bolded are keepers (for now).
- Stepfather Step
- Lucky Seven
- Switch Girl
- 13-sai no Hello Work
- Suugaku Joshi Gakuen
- Saba Doru
- Aibou 10
Stepfather Step – I love this drama. It’s about two twins, Tadashi and Satoshi, and the notorious thief, Phantom King. The boys’ parents both leave them on the same day (their dad leaves with another woman, their mom leaves with another man, unbeknownst to the other). They need someone to pretend to be their father, so they blackmail the Phantom King.
It’s super cute. Tadashi and Satoshi can get annoying when pulling their twin act and talking at the same time, but it is meant to be annoying. I really wish that the drama was subbed, because I can’t follow the robbery subplot well. Thankfully, I can understand most what’s going on between the kids and the Phantom King, yay for elementary school Japanese!
First episode was about 1hr 40min without commercials. So.. really long episodes premiere. I think it took me three sittings to get through it. The subplot with the kids and their friend was a bit boring, but I’m still interested enough to see where this is going. Points for easily available Japanese subs too!
Lucky Seven – I didn’t realize this was a Jun Matsumoto drama. I’ve never cared much for him as an actor. Combine that with the fact that his character is immediately introduced as a smug player… I nearly dropped the drama 20 minutes in. But the other characters were interesting, so I kept on watching. And I’m glad I did.
So, story of bunch of detectives investigating cases. First case is about a fight club that they end up infiltrating. The fight between Nitta and Shuntaro was pretty aweomse, would’ve been better if they didn’t slow-mo things down though.
Character interaction is what makes the show.Ā MatsuJun’s character, Shuntaro, isn’t a jaded detective like the rest of them. He brings heart back to the team. The little banter we get among the other detectives is awesome. Nitta is so badass I just want to see more of his fighting. I will be continuing with it.
Oh, and there are subs for this show. Which means, I’m not going to learn as much Japanese unless I turn off subs. š”
Switch Girl – Super popular girl at school. Total slob in real life. She wears sweats at home and huge glasses (because nothing says ugly like wearing glasses?). The new boy at school she crushes on is super cold to her, and just happens to move into the same complex as her. Oh, and he’s the same. Same as in he wears glasses when not at school, thus making him a super uncool nerd??
I will probably not be watching any more of this drama. It’s kind of cute, but, not really.
13-sai no Hello Work – Our main character is Teppei, a cop who hates his job and time slips into the past. He meets his 13-year old self and is given the chance to change the course of his life.
It’s hilarious, when he realizes he goes into the past, he tries to stop himself from confessing to a girl who doesn’t like him. But who would ever believe their future self is visiting form the future?! He makes some suggestions to his past self, and his future (present?) is altered…
I really wish this one was subbed, theĀ concept I love, but my Japanese skills aren’t good enough. I will try to continue, hopefully I can find summaries to help understand the details. If not, there are some Japanese subs, so, I can… slowly try translate bits I don’t understand at all.
Suugaku Joshi GakuenĀ – High school drama. Don’t know how guy ends up attending an all girls school (avoid bullies?), but he does. And he gets accused of looking up a girl’s skirt. Then this other girl uses math to prove he didn’t. A lot of the Japanese is way too fast for me to even attempt to follow.
I like math, but don’t think I can put up with snobby girls and not being able to understand most of the drama. Maybe I’ll revisit this when I actually know Japanese.
Saba Doru – Teacher who is secretly an idol. That’s pretty much it. If I continued watching it, it would only be for her secret to get out… not sticking with the drama just for that.
Aibou – Way too hard for me to follow. Gave up couple minutes in. Japanese subtitles help, but going to take too much effort to figure out anything. Not a fan of procedural shows in the first place, doubt Japanese procedurals are more interesting.