Chase - "The taxation officer" - EP1 & 2

Trust me, this is the black horse of the season.
Although there are only 6 episodes, but the actors, music, storyline are absolutely top of the class.

Btw the storyline was written by Sakamoto Yuuji (坂元裕二), who wrote "Tokyo Love Story" over 10 years ago. Eguchi Yousuke (江口洋介) also played a part back then and started to get popular after "Tokyo Love Story". According to wiki, Eguchi was really excited about playing a part in this latest drama of Sakamoto. But when he saw the storyline he was confused, as he didn't know how to act as a "taxation officer" :)


Still, it doesn't mean that he can't do a good job here. Personally I think he did well acting as Haruma chasing up all the "business criminals" who attempt to avoid tax by each and every means.

Upon the other extreme was "The magician of Caribbean Sea" - Murakumo Shuuji (ARATA) who is top of the class consultant in avoiding tax. The climax comes when the two versus each other - but so far up to end of EP2 they havn't officially made the challenge yet. From the preview of EP3 they will, and it'll be an exciting one.

ARATA is another unexpected actor of this drama. I didn't know him at all before, but was fascinated by how he presented the black suited magician to the audience. This young gentleman seemingly will cause no harm, yet his tax avoiding ideas, plans and how he manipulate people around him in EP2 is just amazing. This magician is like having a chess match with Haruma, cunningly manipulating all of the people around him to avoid making any possible flaws and yet getting the maximum benefit out for himself.

I really like his character. ARATA has acted well as the antagonist which has no less advantage in comparison to that of Eguchi. The magician of Caribbean Sea has proven himself as the stoic and unpredictable character with every action with its meaning behind.

Another surprise was Asou Kumiko's (麻生久美子) character - Kawajima Kaori. The early 30'ish model is not the type of lady who gives you the "wow" factor straight off, but I have to admit she has been very attractive at her age. She seems to have some past with Murakumo which made her the "current" partner - hopefully this part will be elaborated more at a later stage. Right now Kaori is presented as a thrill-seeking widow who will do whatever sacrifice she has to do in order to see Murakumo till the end, disregard successful or not.

Saito Takumi (齋藤工) was meant to be another important character - but so far Eguchi and ARATA has been shining too bright so...hopefully Saito will have more parts to act at a later stage (which I'm sure he will).

And Kimura Tae (木村多江)...I thought you are finally able to continue on the "impossible relationship" within that of "Kyumei Byoutou" series (救命病棟24時), but you only managed to be Eguchi's wife for 1 episode....very sad.

EP1 and 2 basically lies the foundation of the main characters so audience get to have certain understanding of the characters in depth. Storyline is very fast paced so you'll find each episode too short like I do :)

The only downside I find so far is all the tax & tax avoiding jargons which the characters use the whole time. Although there are brief explanation on each but it's probably too fast for the user to understand fully. Apart from this I don't see much problem with this drama, it's a must get!

Shinzanmono EP1

I've always loved Abe Hiroshi (阿部 寬) as an actor, ever since I watched him played the classic of the classic "Kekkon Dekinai Otoko" (The man who cannot get married). His acting skill is superb, and has always been a joyful to watch.

Although not as much change in expression as in his last work - "Shiroi Haru" (The White Spring) where he played as a ex-Yakuza dad, this time he is more of a stoic (or seemingly stoic?) character, or in fact more like an investigator - Kaga Kyoichirou. Still he portrayed the character well, even though the "ability" to able to read other peoples mind is definitely not easy to act at all.

The story portrays around Kaga as the new comer to the town "The doll town" and his investigations to the murder of a 40 year old single female in her own mansion. The storyline is one which comprises of sub-storylines, each acted as an episode, and they all tie together to reveal the truth of this murder case. Which makes it interesting - as you won't know the culprit until final episode. And each sub-storyline may seem unrelated to each other but they do form part of the puzzle.

And more importantly, there are frequent humour throughout each episode so it's definitely not dull at all. :)

Story was originally from one of the bestsellers author of Japan - Higashino Keigo (東野 圭吾) and Shinzanmono was a novel of Kaga Kyoichiro series. By the way, just in case you are wondering, Shinzanmono means "New Joiner". In the story it symbolizes Kaga both as a new joiner to the local police force as well as a new joiner to the Doll town with the investigations he perform around the town.

Also the main cast of this drama simply makes it worth watching. Apart from Abe Hiroshi, Kuroki Meisa (黒木メイサ), Mukai Osamu (向井 理), there are also other excellent actors such as Kagawa Teruyuki (香川 照之), Natsukawa Yui (夏川 結衣), Terajima Susumu (寺島 進) etc...just to name a few.

Music...here is another good example to complement the storyline. I'll let you go and discover them yourselves ;)

In conclusion, I have to give Shinzanmono an even higher rating than "Absolute Zero" - although both are definitely worth watching, but if you are short of time then Shinzanmono would be my recommended choice.

Another Century Episode R: PV1 Released!

Here it is:



Basically the OP of the game - a bit like teaser movie XD
Hopefully PV2 will be released soon to show some actual game play clips :)

ACE:R Official Website:
http://www.ace-game.jp/

Absolute Zero ~ Research of the unsolved cases EP1

"Absolute Zero" - I think that's enough to call this drama. Well, in case you are interested, the full name is
"『絶対零度～未解決事件特命捜査～』" 
And in English?
"Absolute Zero ~ Research of the unsolved cases ~"

Hey, it's actually not that bad huh? Anyway, I'll call it Absolute Zero from now on :)

Speaking of these detective type of drama there has been plenty. From what I could recall there would be at a minimum of one detective drama pretty much every season. And this season we have Absolute Zero which describes the story of a group of police investigators delving into the unsolved cases in the past.

Not sure whether this is the first time Uedo Aya play as the main actor? I havn't seen her much before - except in the time of "Konkatsu!" with Nakai Masahiro. Even then she didn't quite gave me the wow factor...maybe coz of the character.

But this time I think she plays quite well as Sakuragi Izumi, a 25 year old Police Sergeant who is mainly responsible for keeping memo during investigations. Sakuragi started off as a rookie and I believe she will grow as the storyline progresses. At least in EP1 she is still quite a rookie - and Uedo Aya played the ignorant part well. She makes mistakes like all of us do but quickly learns from it and most importantly, she has the perseverance to dig down to the bottom of a case.

She also has some interesting team members -

• Fukazawa Yuuki - who think she should just keep quiet and keep to her own notes XD

• Tsukamoto Keigo - who likes to plagiarize other people's work to gain all the merits, and a guy who likes to flirt around.
  
  
• Takamine Ryoko - seemingly cold outside but actually do help out when needed. She doesn't mind about gaining merits - a contrast to that of Tsukamoto
  
  
• And Sakuragi's top boss Nagashima Hideo - a very nice senpai who looks after Sakuragi well by giving her puzzles to solve all the time XD

Oh and not to mention those two in the labs who does analyses, the whole team is quite a combination. And that's what makes this a fun to watch.

OK enough about the characters, let's talk a bit about the storyline.

The story is actually quite sad, definitely not one you would watch for laughters. EP1 talks about a robbery done by 3 OLs 10 years ago, but all 3 OLs being chased after all disappeared just like vanishing into air. It's been 10 years and the case is not closed as no one can find the 3 OLs.

I find the way of interlacing the scenes 10 years ago (crime scenes of the 3 OLs) with that of today (investigations done by the Sakuragi team) a bit confusing. Although the way camera scenes taken for 10 years ago do look a bit old fashioned on purpose, but it can still be confusing especially in the beginning when no background information was given.

About mid way through when audiences have certain understanding to the story then it's much easier to settle into the interlacing concept. That's when the storyline becomes more enjoyable.

The story itself is quite intriguing and can easily attract the audience trying to find out the truth, although there are still illogical bugs here and there but every drama pretty much will have some. Again I must stress you only start to enjoy the story once you have certain understanding of the storyline - i.e. about one third way through.

Hopefully the interesting plot will continue on as we get to know more with these characters :)

Team Batista 2 ~The return of General Rouge~ EP1

Guys, I'm bacccckkkkk!!! XD

After some busy period I can finally continue to write about the some of the new season of Jap drama. Note there are plenty of great shows on - including Kimura Takuya's latest love themed "Moon Lovers" (previous one was done over 10 years ago), Itou Atsushi & Nakamura Touru's "Team Batista 2", Eita & Ueno Juri's "Sunao Ni Narenaku te" (can't be honest) etc...lots and lots of titles with my favourite actors!

Anyway...back to Team Batista 2 (TB2) for the time being. Not sure whether everyone has seen Team Batista 1? I had lots of fun watching it, thanks to great plot and great actors. For a quick rating I would give it 9/10.

And just some background to fill everyone in coz in TB2 it launches pretty much straight into the storyline. In this series there are two main characters - one is Itou Atushi's character "Taguchi Kouhei" (田口公平) who is basically more a mind/psychological consultant. He deals with patients by communicating with them via words, getting to know them in certain depth and help them out by seeking appropriate help or handing them over to the correct Toudai hospital department. A very friendly person but at times can be undecisive and slow.

Taguchi Kouhei (田口公平) - Acted by Itou Atsushi (伊藤淳史)

Whereas the other main character - Nakamura Touru's character "Shiratori Keisuke" (白鳥圭輔) is complete opposite character to that of Taguchi. He is very sharp and smart, and is always aggressive in the way he questions/comments. To Taguchi, he is like a complete crazy person....yet he is the key person to solving the mystery in TB1. And there is always a reason for his action, although hidden away in his seemingly crazy behaviour/comment.

Shiratori Keisuke (白鳥圭輔) - Acted by Nakamura Touru (仲村トオル)

So now it's season 2, although it's no longer about Batista operation - instead this season focuses on the Emergency Rescue sector, and the character Hayami Kouichi who is also known as "General Rouge".

Hayami Kouichi (速水晃一) - Acted by Nishijima Hidetoshi (西島秀俊)

EP1 started off with the fast paced ER sector daily operation, then Taguchi was introduced to the scene as who has consulted the current ER patient once 2 years ago, followed by Shiratori who is yet to reveal his true intention on the investigation of ER sector.

The whole of EP1 is based on investigating the case of a flight attendent falling into coma for no apparent reason and slowly revealing & solving the mystery case. Like that in season 1, watching the Taguchi & Shiratori combo solving the mystery is still a great enjoyment. Unlike season 1, season 2 seems like it'll be one case per episode or it'll be interesting to see how the scenario writer can link all these together. EP1 also laid some hidden issues for further elaboration such as Shiratori and Hayami's past, Hayami's link with Medical Assort and of course, his real intention to be here. All these gave a great kick start.

Also the music is still terrific - the tense upbeat is excellent to bring audience in for life-pressuring circumstances and this has been done very successfully. I also quite like the theme song's tranquility.

By end of EP1 Taguchi has been organised by Shiratori (behind the scenes of course) to become a member of the ER sector handling psycological consultation. And from the actions of Haymi in EP1 he seems to have some kind of plot going on under the table. Shiratori sensed the abnormality of Hayami with Medical Assort but would he be able to find out what is going on? Let's look forward to the next EP!

Another Century Episode R is now a confirmed release on PS3!!

To all of you who are still waiting for SRW to be released on PS3...wait no more! Instead ACE R is confirmed to be on the way!!

I was extremely excited to see this as ACE series on PS2 was excellent and it was really sad when they announced ACE3 The Final - confirming as the last work for ACE series. But hey, it's now confirmed they are probably making money out of this series, so they decide to continue on!!

Some more pics from Famitsu Japan this week:

Confirmed mecha series include:
Super Dimension Century Orguss
Gundam Zeta
Char's Counterattack
Gundam Crossbone (yay!)
Gundam SEED Destiny
Overman King Gainer
Full Metal Panic! (woohoo! ARX-7! Can I ask for Mr Bonta as well? XD)
Code Geass~Rebellion of Rurushu~ (Saw the Lancelot Conquesta in the pic?)
Genesis of Aquarion
Macross Zero
Macross Frontier

It's gonna be a big one guys, so get your wallet ready for this (Japan) summer!

Bloody Monday Season 2 - EP9 Finale

BM2 simply proves the concept of that in BM1 again - started off really big with the "wow" factor fully pumped. But the ending can really get ALOT better than this...

First let's complete the part about Spider's (Kurano Lisa) relationship with Takagi Fujimaru. They were childhood friends since the dads know each other (Kurano's dad is Professor Shikimura - the one who initially tried to get Bloody X into Japan in BM1. She inherited her mother's surname instead). On top of that she was the one who led Fujimaru into the world of computers/hacking. So in essence she's not only Hornet's teacher - but also Falson's teacher.

And yet the emphasis up to now in which Falcon never won over Spider - was very easily broken in this last EP. No explanation whatsoever given. Fujimaru just won coz he was able to hack into the device. Full stop.

......Right.

And few points which never got explained, such as the relationship between Maya and Ladybird. What happened to Minami in the end? Why is Hotaru (one of the members of "Magical Shooters") following J and K in the end, and looked so faithful to them? Mizusawa Hibiki somehow managed to survive in the end...with a direct shot. Is that just to fulfill Fujimaru's request to live to the end?

Too many things unexplained, or looks to me the whole plot itself is full of bugs - that's why the scenario writer can't even bother to try to explain. Oh and please don't try to explain any of the above by having BM3, coz that'll just extend to the list, not shrinking it.

To me BM2 could've been done alot better if:
1. Haruka and Yagi's part are removed. (Yagi didn't even die in the end. WTF? This kid took up so many frames holding his gun around virtually doing nothing, yet the Director hasn't properly executed him?)

2. The top national meeting can be halved - or even removed - alot of decisions can be just passed to the audience verbally. Again lots of frames are wasted here - with these guys simply sitting around panicking and got nothing done. (except showing sign of relief when Falcon has saved the world again...yeah thanks! Why don't you let him the president instead? XD)

3. Maya could've lived. She's been centre of attention (and suspicion) since BM1 and always added to the plot as well as to overall rating, action-style-wise or plot-wise.

4. Fujimaru should be portrayed as about equivalent to Spider rather than giving the audience the feel that he's always losing. That way the final win would be WAY much more logical than what we've been given now.

Really, there are heaps of things that they could've done much better rather than just getting the audience to keep playing the "guessing who's the bad guys" game. That's already been used over and over in BM1, over repeating it is never a good thing. And people just get so sick of it too, even the BM fans - who has given up BM (TV series) ever since BM1 as far as I'm concerned.

So in the end it was revealed the whole plot was directed by J, who managed to rescue K (so what's her purpose in BM2? Just waiting to be rescued?) and is now on large with Hotaru. The end. See you later J & K, hopefully we won't see you again in BM3, if it does come out.

Anime OVA - Kara No Kyoukai (空の境界) AKA "The Garden of Sinners"

I've been really busy lately so havn't had much chances to update the blog. My apologies for that, especially to those people who do stop by on a daily basis.

BM2 finale review would be on its way soon. But for the time being, let's talk a bit about anime.

I used to be a big fan of Jap Anime before I moved onto Jap Drama. Back in Gundam SEED & SEED Destiny era was my golden years of anime time. Back then I used to watch up to 8 different animes a week. It was full on, and it was when I was still a Uni student (i.e. alot of time to kill XD)

More importantly, they were great quality animes back then. OK maybe not all, but most of the work I find interesting to watch with a decent plot. Nowadays I simply can't bear the type of anime which simply sells either "MOE", multiple girls have crash on one guy (and for no apparent reason too), or....just boobs, such as that in Queen's Blade or Ikkitousen series.

Good on you if you do like them, but I won't be writing anything for them. NEVER.

Instead what I'm going to introduce here is the 7 episode "Kara no Kyoukai" series. The whole 7 episodes were aired in Japan and had great feedback. It did took them 2 years to have everything aired though, which is a good thing to keep the quality but for the audience such as myself, it's a torture to wait.

Now a bit about the characters. There are three main characters in Kara No Kyoukai -
1. Main female protagonist - Ryougi Shiki (両儀 式)
2. Main male protagonist - Kokutou Mikiya (黒桐 幹也)
3. Sub female protagonist - Aozaki Touko (蒼崎 橙子)


Since it's a novel written by Nasu Kinoko (author of Fate/Stay Night, Tsukihime etc) the characters do have some special ability due to unique setting. In this work Touko is a magician, Shiki was originally an ordinary girl but later on gained "Chokushi no Magan" (直死の魔眼) which allows her to spot the line of death on virtually anything and proceed to kill them.

Did I miss someone? Oh, Kokutou Mikiya? Well he hasn't got any unique ability....and looks very ordinary too. But he does have substantial effect on Shiki and Touko, and you will discover about them when you either read the original novel or watch the OVA :)

One thing about the story - if you havn't read the novel you probably won't understand the whole concept with just watching the OVA. I would highly recommend going through the OVA along with the novel - overall the OVA do try to include all the main plots but due to time constraint there are still parts been missed out. Still the OVA itself is a very complete work of art by itself.

The story is also not in timeline order - like that in Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuuitsu. In EP1 the audience is presented with Shiki who has already obtained the Magan and then EP2 reverted all the way back to "Chapter 1" with her and Mikiya's high school life, how they initially met etc etc.

Thorough details are on wiki for those who are keen:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_no_Kyōkai

Now you might ask what's attracting you? Well, quite a few things:
1. The matter of fact it's got interesting yet complicated storyline, you have to keep thinking about it to get the whole picture
2. Shiki's battle scene are excellent - the flow of movement and details are superb
3. Music and theme songs by Kajiura Yuki & Kalafina is simply stunning. Especially the theme songs - they fit so well I simply can't skip the staff roll (which I do for about 95% of the OVA I watch)
4. Sakamoto Maaya's voice acting for Shiki is awesome - it's a bit similar to that in Lightning for FFXIII, but for Shiki she has put in alot of effort to show the change in her.

All these add up together to 9/10 for an OVA of this quality. Highly recommended.

Here are all 7 DVD covers which was released in Japan

Useful links:
Official OVA website (Japanese)
English Wikipedia