Mano Erina Calender 2011

I was hesitant to get this calender because the cover was pretty boring but after some soul searching, realised she was the only one who had a calender who I was a real fan of and that makes it worth the risk. Indeed, the risk has paid of and I think her 2011 calender is pretty good.

Awesome pose and the bottom right is very hypnotising.

My favourite picture!

Boring.

Why the life of a ball can be pretty exciting. On the other hand this attempt at cleavage shot and loli look juxtaposition doesn't appeal to me.

The kimono is usually the fail safe photo.

Mano + Piano = win!

The last picture is a better version of the cover.

I also got a Sakuraba Nanami calender and the only thing I have to say is that I'm never buying her calenders again and the photographer did a piss-poor job.

Kanryotachi no Natsu eps 1-6

When we think of Japan, we think of an industralised nation that creates a huge percentage of the world's cars and electronic goods. We think of a prosperous nation that has an incredible public transport system and superb internet. Kanryotachi no Natsu looks at post WW2 Japan as it is trying to revive its economy through the eyes of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MITI). More specifically, through the eyes of Kazakoshi (Sato Koichi) and Tamaki (Funakoshi Eiichiro) who opposing forces in MITI.

This dorama is about a Japan when the Americans would laugh at their attempts to create their own cars. This was a Japan that would export really cheap shirts to the US that were of poor quality. This was a Japan that was trying to create televisions which would be cheap enough for your average consumer to buy and using the upcoming Olympic games to spur the television industry. This was a time when refrigerators and washing machines were a luxury and cost months of pay. A time when pollution and destruction to the environment was not a foreseeable outcome of modernisation.

Sigh, indoor smoking in the good old days. :)

Probably the most interesting storyline from this dorama so far is the issue of free trade. MITI was responsible for protecting and nurturing the local Japanese industries. Protecting basically meaning restricting imports while trying to improve the local industries so that one day Japan could compete globally, something Kazakoshi was a proponent of.

However, the US-Japan relationship was very important post WW2 and the Americans were trying to force Japan to open the borders of its industries, ie allow free trade. However, the Minister of Trade Ikeuchi, played by the awesome Kitaoji Kinya who is backed by Tamaki believes that the bleeding of local industries is necessary in order to protect the Japan-US relationship and to teach Japan to stand on its own two feet. Basically you have two opposing forces in MITI, each doing what they think is right for Japan. Kanryotachi no Natsu asks all the right question and really gets you thinking about how scary free trade is for a growing economy.

 However the answer to all the questions really is how big is the picture you want to look at and how do you number your priorities? Is sacrificing small industries necessary to appease the US? Would that not mean that they would be more eager to place additional demands on Japan? Or is it not better to let the strong survive in the international marketplace instead of isolating Japanese industries from the world. Like the IBM episode where Japan has spent a lot of money trying to develop their own computer but in the end has to allow IBM limited entry into the Japanese market because Japan's technology is too far behind.

Ep 5 has the best English that I've ever heard by a Japanese speaker in a jdorama.

I come from a country where protecting local industries is just an excuse for politicians to get richer and allow the production of inferior products so its nice to see a show about bureaucrats and politicians actually doing their jobs, arguing over what is best for their country and playing the political game of seeking alliances and influencing votes. The backbone of the first 6 episodes of course the friendship between Kazakoshi and Tamaki, two good friends who are forced to oppose each other because of their beliefs.

I need to get me some white sideburns.

Kanryotachi no Natsu is an awesome show. Unfortunately, the last sub was uploaded in September so the status of the project is up in the air. If you've got an interest in history and want to see how a struggling economy can become a developed country, this is a must watch.

Sasaki Nozomi calender 2010

Apologies for shoddy camera work and lack of lighting. Too lazy to retake the pictures.

'Cover' of the calender.

Ok but would have been epic if she were not wearing a top.

Boring.

Nice view. :)

Kimono is always good.

Would be better if she were standing.

Kampai!

What dreams are made of.

Juui Dolittle eps 1-5

 
I was planning to give Juui Dolittle a miss. The name enough to give me images of talking animals, childish jokes and the over-photoshopped poster didn't inspire any confidence. To my surprise, Tottori (Oguri Shun) does not develop abilities to talk to animals. Dolittle is merely a nickname given to him by his uni friend Hanabishi (Narimiya Hiroki) because he was so good in his studies. If I'm not mistaken, this is the first reunion between these two stand up alumni.

MILF alert in ep 1.

So if Dolittle is not about a vet talking to animals, what is it about? Basically Tottori is the Asada Ryutaro of vets, able to perform the most difficult surgeries that no vet would want to do. He charges a premium for his services and is always direct in his dealings with other people. Hanabishi a charisma vet who regularly appears on television who is excellent at diagnosing animals but is unable to perform surgeries because of a past failure.

Joining them is Asuka, (Inoue Mao) who came to Tottori to help heal her horse but has to pay for it with her body by slavishly helping him out in his vet clinic. Hhmm, sounds like the perfect concept for a JAV. Asuka's job is basically to say to Tottori 'why are you so mean/money-faced' at least 3 times per episode and of course play the nice girl act that she does so well.

I do have to agree that sexy is not a word to describe Inoue Mao.

The bad thing about Dolittle is the stories can be very contrived and try way to hard to pull at the viewers' heartstrings. Your enjoyment of the series will depend on your willingness to be so openly manipulated by a jdorama. For cynical bastards like me who prefer subtle manipulation like in Hachiko Monogatari, some of the storylines and dialogue just had me rolling my eyes. I sort of expected the show to be aimed at kids but I didn't expect the writing to be done by them.

For example, the dolphin episode with the trainer who keeps shouting 'boku wa muri desu' in order to do a story with the message about not giving up. The level of maturity of the writing is such that its like the writer is trying to hit the message of the episode onto the viewers' heads over and over again with a giant hammer. However, I do appreciate the difficulty of writing a series about animals and usually they have two animal cases per episode.

Kuninaka Ryoko makes ep 4 worth watching.

Probably the main thing I enjoyed about Juyu Dolittle was the acting of the three main actors. The interplay between the characters is fun to watch, especially between Tottori constantly abusing Asuka and Hanabishi and Tottori's friendship. Oguri Shun was too young to be cast in Tokyo Dogs but he doesn't look that out of place here. There is the main story of this evil chain of vet hospitals and someone who keeps on harming animals in the park. Perhaps is due to my low expectations but Juui Dolittle is turning out to be a surprising watchable dorama.

Iryu 3 eps 5+6

 
I am so happy that the series is finally back on track. It made me realise that the minimum thing that this series needed was operations with some sort of emotional investment from the viewers and what operation is more important than one where the hero of the series goes under the knife. Sure, we know its going to succeed but the exciting commentary by Fujiyoshi and Fuyumi and the awesome soundtrack

Speaking of soundtrack, the perfect example of how it just elevates the series to another level is that cheesy talk Asada has with the wheelchair kid in episode 5. With any other actor or with any other music, it wouldn't have worked but it was so well timed with the music. The way it the song rises to the chorus just after Asada says the cheesy main line is just so uplifting. I was just humming the song along the scene. Interesting to note that the tune is not in the OSTs of the first two seasons of Iryu. Its sounds a bit like the 'Origin of Silence' but is different.

With my misgivings about Iryu 3 turning Ijyuiin to the dark side so easily, the writer has shown that it was all in good cause, firstly to make Ijyuiin the man regardless of the fact that he runs like a fairy and to fulfill Asada's earlier foreshadowing that a team is a group where members can rise to the occasion and cover for each other when one is not there.

Something tells me pissing Kito sensei off is a bad idea.

All this erratic build up is about whether Team Dragon can exist without Asada and to put Ijyuiin and Kato in the forefront. The writer has finally given me a reason to like those two characters again. Watching Ijyuiin step up to the plate was fun after him playing sidekick for two seasons and him realising what it takes to be in Asada's shoes and the importance of the team to Asada. In addition to allowing Iryuiin and Kato to step into the limelight, this prevents Asada from being overexposed and saves him for the main event at the end of the series.

Kuroki's sad past is finally revealed though he was yet to turn good. I forsee a joint catheter-heart surgery operation for the last episode. They've started building up what could be the final surgery of the series which is a good idea. Episode 7 will deal with an operation which is personal to Kato sensei so we get more personal stories with the team. However, I think that the Kato story should have been saved for later and writer should do stories about the new nurse, Hibiki and the intern Fuyumi.

Hibiki is part of Team Dragon yet we know nothing about her so there is not reason to care about her. Fuyumi has basically been the commentary partner of Fujiyoshi and plot explainer with long haired doctor but for all the screen time she has been having, she deserves an episode for her story. I loled at Kito sensei using the mabo tofu line on Noguchi. Seems like he will be back later but the last two episodes have made me realise that for Iryu, human villains are mere salad dressing. The true bad guy is the operation and as long as there is a hook for the audience to latch to, that's all the show needs. 

Entlassen, Mr Noguchi!

Eps 5 and 6 is an example of the writer wanting to tell a certain story and not really starting it off in the right way but because its a story worth telling, it pays off. Of course this does not apply to all jdoramas but the Iryu series has never had any problems with execution and it was a matter of season 3 finding its own legs to stand on.

Jmovie review: Solanin

Solanin is a movie for the early 20s audience and is based on a pretty successful manga, from what I can gather. Meiko (Miyazaki Aoi) and Taneda are recent university graduates who are currently drifting in life. Meiko works as and OL and does not enjoy her job because her boss is always harassing her. Taneda meanwhile is jobless and is supported by Meiko because he plays in a band with two uni-mates; the drummer is the son of a drugstore owner and the bassist is still in uni because he knows that one he starts working, his life is over.

The first hour of Solanin is pretty much a lot of early 20 angst. Meiko wants to quit her job but is worried about the future. Taneda doesn't know what he wants and is just drifting through the life in a daze, living the perfect lifestyle that I can only dream of. He doesn't like it when Meiko tries to move him move forward because who wouldn't want to continue their uni lifestyle where you actually have time to do nothing. Basically Taneda and co don't want to let go of the band because it represents their youth and yet the band cannot take them where they need to go.

The first hour didn't work for me primarily because there's not much chemistry between Meiko and Taneda. You get two people at the lowest point of their relationship so its understandable but then there's way too much angst and whining that I don't really care about the characters. I'm just watching the movie thinking what's the point of the story? Then 80 minutes in the movie, we finally get the Solanin is about.

I'd be crying tears of happiness too if I were taking Miyazaki Aoi for a ride.

Taneda dies in a motorbike accident. Yes! Now I have to just get past the crying and moping part and then we get to Miyazaki Aoi's awesome performance of AKFG's Solanin. So here's Solanin in a nutshell, 80 minutes of whining, 20 minutes of crying and then final 20 minutes of Meiko learning to play with Taneda's band so she can give an awesome performance at the end.

If only they had cut at least 20 minutes of whining. I know its important for the second half but it was just a constant 'woe is me, I don't put effort in my band, don't have a job and live off my girlfriend'. Essentially the movie was supposed to build up Taneda and his relationship with Meiko before killing but to me it was already lifeless to begin with.

Despite my whining and negative comments (something in common with Taneda), I still this its a watchable movie saved by the awesome though slightly cliched second half, supporting characters and of course Miyazaki Aoi.   

Iryu 3 eps 2-4

Things are not looking good for Iryu 3 right now. The first problem is lack of a distinct villain.Yes, Noguchi was the bad guy for seasons 1 and 2 but he hasn't done anything bad. Sure, he wants to make Team Dragon irrelevant but whatever his reasons might be, Noguchi is not doing anything bad or underhanded. His plan is too basically bring in Kuroki, the Asada Ryutaro of catheterism and make Meishin a catheterism  specialty hospital. Its become a sort of surgery vs catheter debate but nothing has been put forward to argue against the new emphasis on catheter treatment at Meishin.

So which high school did you come from?

The only thing mentioned was that it can be high risk but are its not like the operations that Team Iryu has been have been a walk in the park either. One might question the storyline that there are no surgery patients in Meishin as surgery is still necessary for a lot of cases like tumours etc but that can be explained as patients not coming into Meishin for anything other than catheter treatment.

The one thing keeping me entertained.

As I've said many times, the hero is as good as the villain and right now, there is not villainy for Team Dragon to fight against. In fact Kato was looking very much the villain in ep 3 with her frustrations and trying to force the girl to go for surgery instead of catheter treatment. Having a hatred for surgeons, doing motion training in the basement and wearing black does not make Kuroki a villain. This lack of black and white distinction has left me indifferent to the story. I love grey area morality and characters but Iryu is definitely not a character based dorama. It would work if Iryu 3 were a copy of Shiroi Kyoto and the emphasis was on the friendship/begrudging respect between Asada vs Kuroki but its too late for that.

I see an airport runway in this picture.

Asada just keeps quiet because there is nothing for him to say, only that doctors must act in the best interest of the patient. This is where Miki is sorely missed. I can just imagine her asking Asada whether he would be ok with Team Dragon being broken up again. Finally we have new kabe onna nurse from USA but there's no background story on her and she hasn't added anything to Team Dragon in terms of chemistry. Also alarming is the new intern Fuyumi not having any impact on the series yet in the series besides acting as plot narrator sidekick with the long hair dude.

No airports here....

The basis of the fun in Iryu 1 and 2 were the team members and their stories. Each having their own personality and redemption stories and coming together in the end in a feel good team moment. Right now its just Noguchi having his own way and Ijyuuin deciding to wear black. Hhhm, where have I seen this before? Oh yeah, season 1. Zzzzzz. Talk about your petty jealousy issues after all he has been through with Asada but I'll be happy to accept it if it will lead to good stories. However, it is still not too late. Its only been 4 episodes and some of my favourite doramas have taken 6 episodes to get running.

Memo to writer: black does not mean evil.

First thing they have to do is get cracking on the new intern Fuyumi and the new nurse. They better be awesome stories and I want to see lots of cool operations from Team Dragon working in the ER. Actually I'll accept generic stories as the music will elevate the mediocre to awesome. We need lots of cool operations in the ER especially with Asada utilising unconventional methods. The lack of an operation in ep 4 really hurt the series. Catheter procedures do not make exciting viewing, not even with Iryu's music.

Second thing we need to do is make Noguchi/Kuroki the obvious villains here and the only thing I can think off is them overemphasising catheter operations and purposely hiding failures. Anything to make them look bad so that the audience can cheer for Team Dragon again. I can understand the writer going a different route for season 3. He probably didn't want to rehash the previous 2 seasons with formation of new Team Dragon and difficult operation every episode but the writer left out important elements of the formula which made the series so fun to watch, namely the coming together of a team and the simple feel good cool doctors doing impossible operations with evil Noguchi sneering in the background.

edit: Just watched ep 5. Really nice ending that got me pumped up for ep 6. Looks like the series may be taking a very foreseeable turn way too early in ep 7 but I think I know where this is going to lead.