Hanazawa Naoki 半沢直樹 [series]

OOOOOoooooowwaaaaadaaaaaaaAAAAAA

cast:

Sakai Masato - Hanzawa Naoki

Ueto Aya - Hanzawa Hana

Oikawa Mitsuhiro - Tomari Shinobu

Takito Kenichi - Kondo Naosuke

Kitaoji Kinya - Nakanowatari Ken

Kagawa Teruyuki - Owada Akira

Seen as Ive trapped a nerve in my neck so bad I can’t move from this spot, Im going to do this review. It’s hard to type but it’s even hard to get up and do anything else so a one and a half handed review of Hanzawa it shall be.

I wanted to do this review because the show was so popular – everyone has heard of it and felt some sort of buzz around it – so for those of you like me who get put off watching things surrounded by hype, I thought I would try to dispel those dismissive thoughts.

It is a highly spoofed show, and I saw many skits of Hanzawa scenes before I even saw the program they were referring to. 

The reason it has been a source for comedy skits so much is because it is so tense and melodramatic – the acting somehow is so stupid but so amazing at the same time – I still can’t quite work out how they got such a perfect mixture of realistic emotion and downright ridiculous bleeding heart over acting. 

The famous lines quoted from the drama are said in the most tense of moments and the kneeling of Owada (most commonly spoofed scene) I couldn’t help but enjoy through my laughter. 

It’s the kind of show that you take seriously and laugh at the melodrama all at the same time. 

I really can’t explain how that works but one minute you are shouting ‘no! He can’t do that! What a bastard!’ then you are laughing in the most serious angry tense moments at their immensely super-serial serious facial expressions… I don’t know, it’s really enjoyable. I felt the same while watching Hagetaka, which im considering reviewing also. 

The acting and direction of Hanzawa is what makes it compelling. 

The story is good, if not a little too confusing for my simple brain, but it’s the warmth of Hana and Naoki, the adorkable friendships of the three stooges Naoki, Tomari and Kondo, and the love to hate bastarding genius of Owada the froggiest toad in the pond… 

I think everyone was kind of a caricature of a real type of person, and played so well, that it really held up as one of the best dramas this season. 

After epics like City Hunter, Iris, Maou, and Orthos no Inu, Im pretty used to this kind of crazy huge destroy your faith rebuild then destroy again then mug you while youre lying on the ground kind of feeling from an intense drama show, but Hanzawa is not so heart breaking, so actually it’s easier to watch. 

Maybe that’s why you can laugh along with their seriousness. Its tense and some parts are genuinely emotional, but generally it sits pretty easily in that nice middle ground, covering all the bases and satisfying all those things we want fulfilled from our beloved tv shows.

It might help I guess to outline a bit of the plot, but it’s a bit too confusing for me to keep track of. Its following bankers – we all know I can’t handle anything even slightly to do with numbers, my brain switches in to major dyslexia mode. 

Basically it’s all perverse backstabbing underhand devious betrayal and corporate blackmail and bastardry. 

And that might just be the banker’s wives.

I don’t know, I can’t really explain the plot. Sh*t happens, Naoki has to try to fix it, he wants to take some kind of justice revenge issue out on the people who destroyed his father, he saves the world one bankrupt business at a time, and has the cutest wife ever who I love and want to be. I love both Sakai Masato and Ueto Aya in this show and it’s just happy joys to watch them together like this.

I love his friends Kondo and Tomari. Their gang, originally whispering in the office then suddenly the entire office is involved surrounding them trying to help in their own ways, is so cool. 

They do symbolise everything that people want to be but don’t have the courage. 

They are like the goonies trying to do their best in the face of evil pirate thieves -which is not really far off what the bad guys are.

It’s worth just watching in spite of yourself, enjoying the super serial faces, crying along with the sad parts and raging that it’s not over yet and we will have to wait an age for series 2. 

Get down on the ground in slow motion every time your favourite cereal isnt on the shelf at the supermarket, 

scream Owadaaaaaaa every time you are short changed in the corner shop, 

and vow to multiply your revenge by a higher percentage each time when you threaten your payback to the kids that crash into you when they run in the street. 

You can defeat them all. You are a justice warrior. You are a banker.

~

Devil beside you 惡魔在身邊 E Mo Chai Chen Pien [series]

Was every one in KO one or am i going crazy?

Main cast:

Mike He - Jiang Meng Devil

Rainie Yang - Qi Yue 

Kingone Wang - Sang Yuan Yi basket ball Captain

Tsai Pei Lin - Qing Zi

Masuyama Yuki - Yu Yang Ping

Ivy Fan - Xin Li Xiang 

Figaro Ceng - Yuan Chuan Rang (Ahrang)

I know I've left loads of people out of the cast list but I really cant be bothered to look everyone up. This is the bare bones of it anyway.

So I just finished this last night. I raced through the last 6 or 7 episodes because it started to get really good. 

I had heard about this from various subbing teams and forums years ago, but never saw it. As Im currently obsessed with Rainie Yang I thought I would give this a go. 

At first I thought it was a bit weird that it had been so popular, I found it to be a bit stupid, but I loved her funny faces and comic slapstick acting. Then the drama grew up from a teenager to a young adult and I understood the appeal. 

Everyone grows throughout the series and even though it is super budget and over the top it has a definite draw, in its good heart and awkward ways. Just like the main characters themselves.

The devil is played by Mike He, who has the most ridiculous smirk of anyone Ive ever seen but whatever. And his prey is Qi Yue played by Rainie perfect hair Yang. Its a proper teenage style story of changing hearts and growing up, but in a melodramatic setting. 

The devil plays with Qi Yue as his own personal pet when he discovers her secret love for basket ball captain Yuan Yi and holds it over her like a ticking time bomb. 

Eventually that all comes out and through the torment the devil and Qi Yue find themselves in love with each other. The problem turns out not to be the change of heart from fantasies of Yuan Yi, but the fact that the devil's father and Qi Yue's mother are getting married. They are siblings in love.

Now, I spent a good long while screaming at the TV about there being no blood relation between them so what the hell was the problem, but it turns out the only people making a big deal out of it was themselves. So it really feels kind of justified - all the things that happen are mainly just due to their own insecurities and paranoia. 

They do face opposition all the way through, dont get me wrong, but they way it plays out is actually pretty realistic, sort of, I think, maybe, because, well I cant explain really but I feel like it does give the appearance of being a disastrous situation - which is how it would feel to them. So if we are watching this unfold through teenage eyes, them yeah, I think it is pretty true to how it would feel.

It is really melodramatic, full of hormones, mind games, no-one ever just saying what they mean. The thoughts of all the characters which we hear through narration show just how mental teenagers really are. They do think like that, with constant conflicting thoughts and fears. I think i would have died crying if I had watching this when I was that age. But now, in my ancient years, it took me a while to remember what that felt like. 

The actors are all really top class though, especially for something which feels a bit dated and cheesy, they keep it interesting enough to get you through the over dramatic dialogue and panic stricken confession scenes. 

I love a bit of low budget Taiwan melodrama though, so Im all good with this show. 

I actually loved everyone's eventual reactions to their plight. Especially the support from their stupid friends.

I liked the relationship between Yang Ping and Li Xiang played by the two most gorgeous people ever, and the odd combination of the captain Yuan Yi and Quin Zi - him fighting with her dad was... weird.

And Ahrang. what can I say. That stupid hair cut. But god that boy can smile. Figaro Ceng has a kind of Nishijima Takahiro kind of bursting smile. 

He reminds me of so many people smashed into one. He is so damn cute, but all the time the other characters are calling him cute when he has that stupid ass hair cut. 

I was laughing so hard. I was so glad when he brushed out that stupid yankii hair style. He much more suits the bounding puppy look.

I think I might be slightly in love with Ivy Fan now. She is gorgeous. 

And I'm about to start watching the other show with Mike He, Rainie Yang and Kingone Wang called Huan Huan Ai so we'll see how that goes. Looks good. And cheesy. I'm excited.  

I'm going to leave it hear having not really explained anything about it at all. Its one of those rough guy treats girl like sh*t until she falls for him and they go through hell trying to stay together even though he is a total bastard kinds of shows. Just think of it like Hana Yori Dango, but good.

~

City Hunter 시티헌터 [SERIES]

Devastating, way too tense, and simply gorgeous. 

I love to have Lee Min Ho on my front page. 

It took me so long to finish this drama. My hard drive broke and I didnt get back to it for way more than a year. Good going. 

So now finally I get to do this review. I've seen so many shows I havent reviewed here, too many for so little spare time. 

But this was quite epic and really popular for more reason than just the scale, it was well deserving of a review. 

Finally reaching the end they lovingly gave a long flash back monologue of the series so I remembered how differently it began. That helped seen as I started it so long ago. 

I still dont remember all that much but The first few episodes were a little long feeling, and slow, but full of action. It didnt hit that hard at first because there was a lot of politics talk I think, but when things start moving it really picks up. 

Cast:

Lee Min Ho - Lee Yoon Sung / John Lee / Poo Chai

Park Min Young - Kim Na Na

Lee Joon Hyuk - Kim Young Joo

Kim Sang Joong - Lee Jin Pyo / Steve Lee

Kim Sang Ho - Bae Shik Joong / Bae Man Deok

Jung Joon - Kim Sang Gook 

Chun Ho Jin - Choi Eung Chan

Hwang Sun Hee - Jin Se Hee 

Goo Ha Ra - Choi Da Hye 

Kim Mi Sook - Lee Kyung Hee 

As you can tell from the cast list and the multiple names on 3 of the characters, its complicated. 

Im not going to even bother trying to get this right, I will just roughly say that bad war sh*t happened where a group of soldiers were killed and it was all planned and covered up by the South Korean government. 

The child of one of the dead soldiers was stolen by the only survivor of the incident and basically raised on revenge as an assassin, bent on avenging his father, who isnt his father, and then the other father who also isnt his father, and then there's his mother, who is his mother, but didnt know she was his mother, and the father who was actually the father didnt know, but the father who wasnt the father did know all of this and Im so f*cking confused. 

All I really knew at first was no-one knew anything apart from the father who wasnt the father. The first one. He was orchestrating everything from the beginning - we see him weaving all this - but the mess gets worse and worse the longer the series goes on. 

In amongst all this he - Oh I havent even explained yet. The main (stole child of the dead soldier) character is played by the epically-tall-phenomenally stunning-all-watery-eyes-with-seriously-gorgeous-acting-skills-by-the-bucket-load-carrying-Lee Min Ho. 

At the height of his sudden fandom that year I noticed this giraffe walk onto the screen in the adverts for City Hunter, and thought 'this guy looks interesting' then I found out he was everyone's current heart throb - I hate myself for using that phrase. But people were going crazy. 

To be fair though, after watching the show I think it is justified. He is great. Best looking giraffe I ever saw kicking ass.

And man can he kick ass.

There are some show stealing moments from all the main cast. Kim Na Na (played by Park Min Young) is persistent and innocent and hilarious. 

For the first half of the series for definite she was a great opposite to Yoon Sung, with all the appropriate bright energy he lacked, bringing his personality out and letting him forget himself for a while. 

She is just such a great match for him, but he always wins over her in every way, teasing and manipulating her. In the end she of course wins in general by being the closest person to him and being able to support him against all his kicking against her.

Kim Sang Joong was so goooooood. Those eyes! Just so burning into everyone he looked at. I cant even explain. All the brilliance of Lee Jin Pyo, the best villain you kind of cant hate but also hate completely if that even makes sense.

    

Lee Joon Hyuk - oh my god. Well, I dont know what to say. Just... I dont even know. I will be looking at his dramas after this. He played the prosecutor after Yoon Sung and had his own story weaved in and out of both Yoon Sung and Kim Na Na's life and the City Hunter revenge mission. 

He was the most heart wrenching - I wont say too much. I will leave it there. *gutted*

I mean just look at that expression >>>>

He was literally awesome. Gah Im starting to flail.

It is full of laughs from the unmistakably Korean style of bickering friendships and also full of tears from everything that happens ever grrrrrrrrrrrrrr so much constant tension. 

The screen shots are full of the super serious faces that flood the drama. But everyone is so beautiful that really what else do you want.

I dont know how to review this really. It was great, twisty turny like, with all the action I never get from Japanese or Taiwanese cheap ass dramas - I love them so but sometimes I need Korean gangsters and assassins. Its making me itch to start watching Iris again now. Its hilarious to splice episodes of City Hunter with Devil Beside You. The fighting is so different. Badass f*cking awesome vs purple eye shadow bruises. I love this mixture I've got going at the moment.

I think City Hunter is worth the time. I think back to when I started watching it back at my old flat. It was so long ago I feel I didnt do it justice because I left it so long before finishing it. But my hard drive issue was unforeseen so. 

The drama feels really high budget, with a complex and emotional story. Really lovable characters including a kick ass giraffe with a perfect nose. 

Men shouldnt be allowed to have such perfect hair. I f*cking hate it. Damn this eternal frizz.

Have all the promo shots.

~