Type: live action Genre: romance, comedy Year: 2003
Introduction: After the manga of the same name (Kimi wa petto/Tramps Like Us) by Yayoi Ogawa. This is not the new drama airing now (Feb. 2017) or the korean show & movie of the same name.
Synopsis: Due her past Iwaya Sumire has become a strong, independent, emancipated career woman. Her social shortcomings have led to relationship failures and workplace troubles. One bad day, Iwaya finds a box in front of her home. A badly wounded & sick man lies inside it. As it starts to rain she takes him in. After nursing him she decides to keep this stray dog as her pet "Momo". However, her "dog" is unexpectedly popular with both genders.
Critique: Koyuki as Iwaya Sumire and Matsumoto Jun as "Momo" Goda Takeshi are a good team but it seems to me their chemistry isn't quite perfect due to age difference. "Dog" troubles and other good actors make this show entertaining, amusing and enjoyable. The show features modern dances.
Synopsis: Kang Joo Eun, once a much courted beauty in her hometown, is now a heavy weight attorney, literally. Her boyfriend of 15 years breaks up with her to pursuit for her (past) friend. Joo Eun runs into Kim Young Ho, a famed but secret personal trainer. He decides to help her losing weight in exchange for owning her body.
Critique: So Ji Sub as Kim Young Ho/John Kim and Shin Min Ah as Kang Joo Eun are a good team but I think the show would be just average at best without So Ji Sub. Although, the show brightens up with So Ji Sub I think it still lacks a bit on the comedy side. Action is provided by the training and -fights which led to a deficit of main actor plot actions. The show emphasizes diets and work outs or healthy life if you will. There's not much of an arc or overall plot, though. The show does have some minor story telling at some episode's end as a form of character status report similar to Desperate Housewives. Overall it's a so-so show but could be better. The show has nice but simple lyric songs with lots of saran (love). Too good for what the show offers.
Miscellaneous stuff: *They didn't bother to give Joo Eun real glasses instead she wears an empty frame. *The actresses' obese faces look very convincing.
Synopsis/Summary: Tae Gong Shil suffers from insomnia as she can see ghosts. They ghost won't leave her alone once they relize they can contact her. Experience of being outcasted she leads a secluded life of fear. One day she runs into Joo Joong Won, a cold and ambitious CEO, who measures all human relationships through money. To her surprise, touching him makes the ghosts disappear. After realizing Gong Shil can provide him with corporation secrets from the dead victims of other corporations Joong Won offers her sanctuary while charging her a fee (very high for her, dirt cheap for him).
Critique: This show is more like a detective show than a ghost story or a love drama. Therefore, it does have an ample amount of actions and thrills. This show has a past related story arc. So Ji Sub as Joo Joong Won is stuck with yet another cool and cold appearing guy image. Not much acting for him in this show. Gong Hyo Jin as Tae Gong Shil is a bit irritating. While she represents a "duck" image her mixed cutie acting makes it weird imho. Overall the show is entertaining with minimum plot scheme.
Miscellaneous stuff: *Wonder Girls appear in one episode *dog scenes lol
Kinkyu Torishirabeshitsu/Emergency Interrogation Room season 2 to be aired in april; season 1 aired last year at the west coast e.g. channel LA14.2 or so... Code Blue Season 3 to be aired in july Hanzawa Naoki part3/Season 2 has been in limbo so I dunno when it's airing exactly Sanada Maru, since my hiatus last year I couldn't watch it all, so review will likely be late this year No plans for any korean show.
Only a few more reviews of older shows to finish the current topic blocks before I can finally watch something new. The really old ones will have to wait longer. Too troublesome to go back for reminders.
--------------
It seem the Wonder Girls are no more since this March. They died quicker than AKB48,,,
I haven't been following AKB48 much these past two years so here's some update.
I have to correct the above post about korean shows this year. Descendants of the Sun Season 2 is supposed to air sometime this year but I don't see any date yet nor listed. And like Hanzawa Naoki the main cast will be different. So lots of people are skeptical...
--------------
I'm out of touch about AKB48 so I have no clue what people mean by saying that things have changed. Yokoyama Yui became general manager & captain after Takahashi Minami graduated. Nothing's in the wikis and the community moved while I was on hiatus, too.
WARNING *Elated heart beat rate can occur due to exposure to gorgeous women. *Relax, lean back and keep your hands on the chair's arms. *Do not watch in a dark room. CAUTION Intense graphics & awesome explosions may cause seizures
Be advised contains Pandora's legacy, apocalypse, fallen angel violence and angel's egg.
Recently, a highly hyped show called "The Legend of the Blue Sea" aired in SKorea. It has Jun Ji-hyun/Gianna Jun as the lead female actor (the reason people look forward to it). Well, after watching the first two episodes I got to say I'm disappointed. It is popular among Koreans alright. But * being cute doesn't fit Jun * the story is very ordinary; with escapes to the past to lengthen the show unnecessary; instead of going around to have the past incarnation tell a past story they could have cut there and only connect the past-past with the present. * too unrealistic and other crappy stuff I see no reason to watch further here.
From what I've seen so far it's better than AKB49 ~Renai Kinshi Jourei~. In part due to better members in the play like Tano Yuka who previously played Dorothy in "The Wiz" musical. Also the choreography is somewhat better integrated I think. The story is about them going on a field trip where Gekikara (Matsui Rena) and Otabe are facing their past. The play is set after Majisuka Gakuen 2 but is made after MG4 in the real world. And I just found out Matsui Rena graduated sometime in 2016 so there are only 4 old members left.
[SKorea]Ibeon Saeng-eun Cheo-eumira/Because This Is My First Life
Type: romance Genre: society, modern relationship, comedy Year: 2017-Oct-09 to 2017-Nov-28
Synopsis: Nam Se Hee, a house-poor man with a strong sense for an orderly planned life, requires a tenant to pay for his life plan. Yoon Ji Ho, a passionate drama writer waiting for her breakthrough, has become homeless and desperate for a new job and home. A misunderstanding of genders led them to become landlord and tenants until it was discovered. In the end, Se Hee and Ji Ho decide on a marriage contract for economic reasons. They deceive their associates to ease the process...
Critique: This drama is Korea's answer to the Japanese drama "Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu/We Married as a Job". Except for the basic idea this drama is focused more on the social side and explores the individual goals of each character in far greater depth. It's one of the few Korean shows that surpasses their Japanese predecessors. The show starts slow and requires some patience to go through the first episodes but it's worth it. It's different from your common Korean drama shows yet not so obvious. It features the best 3-women friendship group I've seen so far. The group has the best chemistry and all. The men's group is just average, though. The cast is well chosen and pretty much all exceptional actors. Lee Min Ki as Nam Se Hee, plays the main hero who's become an emotionless man leading an equal boring but secure life. It's not a life he had chosen but rather a life he had no choice but to lead. He gets upset whenever his daily routine is disturbed. As the ace of his company everyone has to accept his oddities. This role appears simple and straight forward but the devil lies in the details. Lee Min Ki was a rising ace actor and this role was his return to a leading role after a decade. I suppose it posed some challenge for him. Jung So Min as Yoon Ji Ho, plays the main heroine. Ji Ho is becoming an old maiden and still inexperience in life. Despite her intelligence and talent she had not been able to climb in the industry. Se Hee's house offers her the best option in her state of affairs. After determining he was safe she easily agrees to their contracts. Jung So Min is an exotic, exceptional actress and probably the smartest actress. Her only weakness is being short and not quite fitting the media's ideal look, hence, she's been kind of stuck in her roles but all her shows are worth watching. She's the Korean Horikita Maki. Like Lee Min Ki she doesn't get to go all out in her role. Her real name was used for her role's rival. Kitty/Woori ("Us"), the cute all-white cat heroine of the show. She had the attention of both main actors and often seen patiently waiting for her part. Sometimes she's seen playing in the background. Although, less obvious there are other good/ace actors among the supporting cast, too. Unlike the Japanese show this show doesn't discuss a lot about the economics of marriage. It doesn't go into the troubles leading to marriage either. For that watch Jung So Min other shows. However, the show explores the life and goals of six different people in depth. It discusses their individual points of view, their choices, pitfalls and so on. This is where the show shines aside from the good acting and scripts. I like it and enjoyed it a lot. Like the Japanese show this show is also very much culturally localized with a lot of Korean specifics. It has some nice songs, too, with one obviously licensed & translated from the Japanese. The show was shot a bit over a year after the Japanese and obviously they wasted no time in doing some extensive literature research. It's a typical live-format show and the shooting ended the same day it aired. Meaning it ended just yesterday.
Following is an older show so I don't have any screenshots. It's kind of rare these days.
Code Blue Season 1
Type: hospital Genre: medical action, society Year: 2008
Introduction: See background section below.
Synopsis: The [fictional] Shoyo University Hokubu Hospital Emergency Center introduced the Dortor-Heli(copter) program to Japan in 2001. It's an emergency medical service (EMS) which gets physicians to the site of accidents. 2008, after years it's still new and in adoption phase and in need of flight doctors. There are four flight doctor trainees this year: Fujikawa Kazuo, an overexcited, megane guy with baseless confidence, a lose tongue and no courage, who's popular with young girls and kids because they view him as less than a dog (or worse), hence, they don't feel embarrassed with him. Aizawa Kosaku, a super cool looking ikemen and overly-talented guy. He aims to become famous based on his skill and experience, hence, wants to rack field (operation) mission. Shiraishi Megumi, a heir to famous line of doctors, who's smartest but has doubts in her skill. Her abundance of knowledge makes her hesitate in making quick decisions, she freezes up or loses calm & concentration and panics. Hiyama Mihoko, a blunt and outspoken woman who's anxious when it comes to her job. These four come under the care of ace flight doctor, Kuroda Shuji, who hates the young (and incompetent). He failed all last year's candidates. Hence, a bloody competition starts among the candidates for the flight doctor post. As the trainees cause problems the Fellowship and the Doctor Heli programs faces termination...
Critique: The show starts with ER experienced novice surgeons in the Fellowship program similar to the american Scrubs show without the comedy emphasis, though. There are lots of good actors among the cast and guest actors. This is perhaps the second time Aragaki Yui and Toda Erika are teamed up in a show. Megumi (Yui) is the ideal japanese honor student while Mihoko her counterpart. Btw the image of the ideal japanese female gender has changed officially this year (2017). It's a revolution in Japanese culture. Unsurprisingly, the stories are similar to many medical show regarding young doctors confronted with the reality of the job and other people's lives. Yet, many cases are disturbing or are exotic in detail, including a serious faker (Munchhausen syndrome) similar to one Scrubs episode. These might be the most uncomfortable part to watch for some people. It was on japanese family friendly channel so it won't give you mental scars. The show is short with a small cast so a lot of social & family trouble has been cramped and dumped onto the cast. Yet, they don't seem to be out of the ordinary which kind of scares me. Unlike many other japanese medical shows this show censors by brightening the operation area. Due to handbook instructions on when to call the service many cases are medically similar. There aren't any novel treatment in this particular season. I couldn't avoid noticing how tightly designed the hospital section was where all the show's shooting took place. It looks like they can do 3 ops in a single 6x6 m room. The Japanese certainly know how to use space efficiently. The show is neat on everything. Like most medical show shows the staff are depicted spending a lot of time with patients. Sadly, staffing (time & management) has always been calculated based on patient capacity and rooms; and with "automized" timing these days e.g. timing of for each work process there's just not much time left for social activities. In this season the show is still romantic and heroic with some reality check wakeups. All the show's cases practically use CT, PET-CT, MRI, X-ray, etc. like there's no tomorrow. It would be nice if the real world would always work out like that. And of course the cases end rather TV typical, too. However, the character development and up & downs of all the cast is pretty good and exceptional how all of it was done in 10of11 episodes. This part is definitely better than a lot of other shows considering the number of characters (7) receiving the care. I think the most other shows have is about 5 at most. Just when I thought it would pipe down at the end of the show a third disaster takes place. They really saved for this uncalled showdown or maybe they used the opportunity of a real large scale exercise for the show. Overall, I like this show more than your regular medical show or extreme live-action like Iryu-Team Medical Dragon, mostly due to the cast, better scripts, depictions and being a bit on the ideal side. Don't misunderstand, the show has plenty of failures, deaths, misfortunes, traumatic experiences and other heart breaking story elements in the show. The only life part it's missing to some degree is a rosy romance. I'm guessing season 3 will have that covered. ER technology is also more advanced...
Miscellaneous: Emergency Medical Service royal blue atire's motto: "stat and now" Neurosurgery black atire's motto: "Challenge to God" Heart Surgery burgundy atire's motto: "Grasp the Herz"
Background: This show has 3 seasons (2007, 2009, 2017) so far. "Code Blue" is a reference to the medical code given for ER cases while "white car" is for car ambulance. Code Red is when someone suffers cardiac arrest or worse. I suppose the show was made to promote "Doctor Heli" in Japan. Air Ambulance service existed before but for transport only, but since 2001, physician go along for necessary on site treatment, hence, the program's name. I suppose due to overcrowding and infrastructure there had been no need for the service before. But due to recent population decline and like elsewhere in the world as doctors became more rare in the country side it just became necessary to save more lives. Since they can't land just anywhere ambulances serve as intermediate transport vehicle. Japan employs the paramedic system, hence, there is no (auto)mobile emergency doctor service like in the franco-germanic systems. And the ambulances are "minimally" equipped, too. In addition, hospitals do turn patients away due to severity. As far as helicopters go Japan has gathered the most reliable types in its arsenal. I guess the varied collection is due to their "trial" of the well known types in service around the world. Despite being late and having access to the "latest" (20 year old) like the MD 902 Explorer (tailless) they also have some older designs like the MBB/Kawasaki BK 117 C-2. Important to note is most of these helicopters are air ambulances. This definition and distinction is [/B]important[/B] as it means the helicopter does serve to transport at least one patient and not just as a taxi for the doctor only. Air ambulances also have the smallest, lightest and most modern medical equipment developed in the last 30 years. Expansive stuff and sadly they did only appear in the last 5 years. In part thanks to modern computer aided design. It's only a matter of time before artificial computer aided software comes into play. The helicopter used in the show is a MD902, JA6790, apparently, a second hand ship bought from the US (900-00024 from july 1996) in 2007 and upgraded for the service. They used the newest addition to the fleet for the show. It appears the japanese helicopters are stationed at certain hospitals and have fixed day time service. Night time service requires Night Vision Goggles (NVGs) which the japanese don't have upgraded to yet. The show had several cases where the helicopter was forced to go back and forth (reinforcement, numerous patients) which dangerously left it low on fuel, hence, time on site. Multi-fuel gas turbines like the Klimov TV2-117 (TV2-117F certified for Japan) existed for decades but alas they won't be on rescue helicopters anytime soon (read on). They have a 3 minute takeoff mandate (upon receiving the call). Note this is shorter than the shortest Ready-5/Alert-5 level of the military. In practice, the germans have had pushed it down to 1 min on record by taking-off right away. Automation also improved other processes of aircraft handling. They also seem to have a high sortie and low incident record. German ADAC 2016: 54444 sorties 55 ships=1000 per ship, 1 service man fatally hit by rotor; Air Methodes 100000 annual sorties 400 of 450 ships=250 per ship, 19 fatal crashes in 2006; University of Miyazaki 1 sortie per day, in the show 1-2 sorties per day = 525-700 per ship, 1 fatal mountain crash 6 Mar 2017) Helicopters have a high maintenance to operation ratio; usually 30++ man hours per flight hour. The MD 902 requires relatively low maintenance. So 1-2 sorties per day is pretty good for civilians. Therefore, engine reliability is paramount for EMS helicopters. The PW207E engines used in the MD 902 has a 10 million flight hours life rating. Rotors have 11000 hours, and latest bearing 1000 hours. Interestingly, the show depicts the flight doctors using personnel walkie-talkies: Alinco DJ-C7, a dual-band VHF & UHF transceiver, common bands for aircraft. Judging from the antenna size it seems to be adjusted for UHF only, though. The show likely intentionally doesn't show the display. The real issue is possible interference by people since these are sold to the general public and not restricted to public services. Also it seems the flight department has emergency operation rooms similar to german model than just regular ER like the american model. But the room's tightness makes it unclear and the show doesn't show the rest of the emergency department either. On a side note new american built hospital emergency departments have recently adopted this dedicated operation section for improved safety, efficiency & throughput. On another note before this show there was M.A.S.H. And yeah the german "Die Rettungsflieger" (1997-2007), a show praised for its accuracy due to involvement of actual military crew & SAR helicopters and field doctors. My interest for the show was purely curiosity, and past involvement in design, specifications, etc. of "vehicles", (mobile) "hospitals" and management (in inaccessible regions of the world)...
Type: romance drama Genre: romance, comedy, supernatural Year: 2016-May-02 to 2016-Jul-05
Synopsis/Summary: Park Do Kyung, a successful sound director with his own studio, had been dreaming (premonitions) of a woman who is always caught in dangerous situations. Oh Hae Young had just called off her wedding, one day before the event. This incurred the wrath of her parents and she became the gossip of town. The real reason was much worse she couldn't tell anyone. (Nose-bleed hit-and-run encounter.) Do Kyung tries everything to avoid her but always ends up helping her because of a secret guilt. One day her name-twin appears who had left Do Kyung on their wedding day.
Critique: This high profile show features two popular veteran actors in the lead roles but I watched it for the supernatural. Unfortunately it wasn't exactly something new and I've seen something similar already in another Korean/Japanese show. Eric plays Park Do Kyung and Seo Hyun Jin plays Oh Hae Young. These two veterans are usually great but in this show it doesn't come out well. I blame the script and or the blandness. Or maybe because it's often too serious and lacks some entertainment. The rest of the cast is also high profile but suffers the same problem. In any case, there's no real other reason to watch this show other than to watch the actors.
Synopsis/Summary: One day, night courier legend "Healer" gets a peculiar DNA sample mission to find a certain woman. As a result he's caught in a conspiracy of national proportion and secrets of his own lost origin.
Critique: One of the best thriller/drama show around. This show gives you no time to rest. The only bad thing is how fast it wrapped up in the end: within half an episode!! As such it's one of those shows I dearly wished it would go on much longer. The cast is superb. This cast has no weak link at all. One of the best cast of any show. Park Min Young plays Chae Young Shin / Oh Ji An, the woman in question. As an orphan she had gone through tough times but is now in good hands. She works as a tabloid reporter and in the coffee shop of her father. Park Min Young is just great in this show. Despite being "young" she's done pretty much any role possible. There's no way you could miss a show with her (High Kick series; City Hunter etc.). Even if you don't recognize her you won't miss her performance. The only bad things to criticize are TV tropes of her role. Ji Chang Wook plays Seo Jung Hoo / Park Bong Soo / Healer. As usual he's done a lot of action in this show. Although, his role allowed him to don all kinds of characters we actually don't get to see it acted out much. What else is there to say but "watch it"?
Synopsis/Summary: One day, Kim Mi So, head secretary of Lee Young Joon, decides to quit her job. Young Joon is dumb founded as there's no better (servile) secretary in the world. He starts to do anything to keep her by his side.
Critique: Honestly, I watched it because the couple from "Because This Is My First Life" made a cameo appearance, including theme BGM. It's their alternative future and past in this show. It also features a glimpse of "Another Oh Hae Young". Don't ask me why they blurred it. I didn't plan to watch it but the main actors kept me watching the show. Admittedly, there were times I skipped parts for various reasons that are irrelevant in this review. Park Min Young plays Kim Mi So. Honestly, I didn't recognize her but her superb performance caught me. She's so gorgeous in this show. It's how she looks these days, though. Park Seo Joon plays Lee Young Joon. Young Joon is a notorious, ignorant narcissist. There's nobody in the world who could put up with him. The contrast between him and Mi So gives rise to a lot of fun, entertaining, an expressive situations. Since it's a comedy, the cast may come across as weird but they did a good job in pulling it off. The story isn't great. It's all about relationship, life situation, past secrets, and a cruel experience. There's no other reason to watch this show other than to watch the actors. Because of them the first episode is a very good intro episode. Most shows half fail to catch you in their first episode. So this was a surprise.
Episode 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmjjeOsBNfk this is a key episode to understand this first part of the story on what's it's about. But it's heavy on science so... The novel has taken up on an insight into today's physics problem. This is regarding the pooltable scene. The problem came up over 200 years ago and has been "solved" (Thomas Young) several times in history. But as it turns out we only made one little step forward each time and basically are still stuck at the same wall. The question was about the nature of light: is it a wave or a particle. In time both were proven which led to Heisenberg and the Heisenberg Cut. The cut being the separation and difference between the *consistent* ``macrocosm`` and the *random* ``microcosm``. The scene question this very problem without explaining. Back then a stubborn boy (Hugh Everett) defied the physics world (Einstein) which led to ``quantum entanglement``. Quantum entanglement ties this seemingly discrepancy together. It's a shameful case in physics. (Btw. Everett is a member of the crew in The Ark). The commonality between them all is we do see the results but we can't explain it.
Our brain has reached a capacity and processing limit that hinders us from analyzing and solving the problems. We see it but can't analyze it. My take at an analogy is: imagine a world where the mathematical concept of multiplication doesn't exist yet. You got two equations that lead to the same results: 2+2+2=6 3+3=6 On both tables you see the sets of 2-, and 3-apples. You see the result of their sum of six in front of you. You see the abstract similarity. You feel there's some connection between them, an inkling, but you can't figure out the math that solves both case: 2*3=6 3*2=6 There are a bunch of problems today having this exact nature and a lot more that have none. The show throws the related terms in different places so I doubt many will get it.
This is where the science sect "The Frontiers of Science" comes in. We are introduced to the Shooter and Farmer hypothesis. In short, the point of view of a lover dimensional beings and their perception to the interference of a higher dimensional being.
There's a problem with this show I've noted early on and might become a painful viewing experience. The show repeats a lot of purposeless/meaningless glimpses of Ye's mothers past. Well they do give you an earful of propaganda songs while doing so. The show also painfully stretches visual "explaining" scenes with lights and rotating cameras ... it's not only nauseating but also prevents you from seeing things clearly. It went on for 25 min. in episode 3. Geez 5-10 min at most would have been suffice to get the point over.
Epsiode 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euvTxWf7mLk Waifu pwer! Wang Miao's world begins to shake as he experiences unexplainable phenomenon before his very eyes. He sees a countdown that would be imaged into any photograph he takes himself.
Episode 5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z3OJqAbEx0 Wang Miao has become fearful, erratic, lashes out a "The Frontiers of Science" representative and challenges her to proof to him this phenomenon's implication. She tells him the time and day to watch the universe for signs. He witness the universe flickering just for him. It's a morse code that translate into his countdown. Wang Miao is shattered and broken.
Episode 6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg0o47hLQ_A Wang Miao recovers after talking to the ignorant Shi Qiang and insight about science history and life from science granny Ye.
Home
