Bunshin 分身 [mini series]

mini review for a mini seires

There is a little bit of a Nana-esqu thing going on in the promo for Bunshin, but it is a very different animal - this drama. Its actually quite dark but I didnt really feel the seriousness of it to be honest.

Nagasawa Masami is lovely as ever. She plays 2 (actually 3) people in this mini drama. No shortage of her at all. It has an unexpected dark turn of events (well more like the unfurling story of a series of dark events of the past) and we get to see her singing… Which is all i cared about after she opened her mouth… She’s too cute. Always. And its nice to have her experience a quiet dilemma about her existence rather than getting smashed to bits by Roro. So, yeah. 

Its pretty pointless doing a cast list as Nagasawa plays pretty much everyone in this drama. So ... plot?

Mariko grew up believing her mother did not love her, and on finding some belongings that seemed strange, she decided to find out more about her deceased mother's past and discover where the ominous feeling she had always had came from.

Mariko finds way more than she expected to; an apparent twin sister Futaba (also played by Nagasawa) and her father's twisted world at his work place - the union he had formed with his colleagues and the current threat posed to their broken family.

It was an ok drama, I'm glad it wasn't full length though because I really think it would have been long and drawn out. It is one of those shows I will soon forget I ever saw, then one day when I see this post or the files on my drive I will think.... now what the hell was that one about? Only to realise Ive blurred the memories of this and KouKou Nyushi together to make one awesome messed up drama in my head.

It happens when I watch stuff back to back. You should watch the weird drama I have in my brain of Kaeri Naru Spy / Unubore Deka / Shibatora / Deka Wanko all rolled up into one super strange piece of nonsense.

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Tokyo Dogs 東京DOGS [series]

after watching arakawa... this was weird

i say after arakawa - which is truly very strange, but i dont mean that this show was weird exactly. it is just that Oguri Shun plays such a normal character here that it is quite a leap from Soncho.

im currently watching rich man poor woman so i thought it might be a good time to review tokyo dogs. 

Oguri Shun has recently got married and is still getting great roles, i always enjoy watching him, ever since Binbo Danshi. (when he met his wife, squeeeee!)

now, im going to get confused as to which series im reviewing here. im not doing arakawa, im going to wait until after the movie (yatta!) and im not doing rich man poor woman, just yet.time to focus on tokyo dogs. if i can remember anything about it. 

ah yes, Mizushima Hiro and Yoshitaka Yuriko feature along side Oguri Shun in this drama. Mizushima and Oguri are unlikely partners in the police force (paired together despite their complete dislike for each other) and Yoshitaka plays yuki, who is not only the love interest but the most important piece of their puzzling police case.

Marou (Mizushima) is a bit bizarre. he was kind of a yankii in his younger days and now he is a detective who doesnt really know how to do much but fight and shout a bit too much, he is obsessed with pretty girls (until he meets yuki) and offers the majority of the comedy to the show, the character allows Mizushima to let out his quirky weird tendencies at every given moment.

Takakura (Oguri) saw his dad get shot when he was just a little kid, he trained in the US and became an elite New York City cop determined to catch his father's killer. He is stern and hard, with only that purpose in mind. 

The two policemen get paired up to finally try and bring this killer to justice and in comes Yuki, all memory-buggered and watery eyed, not knowing what the hell is going on or how she is involved, but tangled in it all the same.

They all look f*cking fabulous in this drama, as you can tell from the screen shots. gorgeous, the lot of them. all the characters are good, their banter is hilario, that was meant to be hilarious but spell checker suggested hilario so im keeping it as that. :) 

i thought it would be a bit boring, like a grown up version of shibatora without the premonitions, but it turned out to be really really good. i raced through the whole series in two days and totally enjoyed it - i think even without any sort of premise i could just watch those two idiots bickering with each other for hours.

there is a long question of who did what and bla bla bla - as you get in this sort of story, youre not sure whose side some people are on, there is danger and death on every corner, and lots of Takakura being a total dick to Yuki and making her cry - which is great because Yoshitaka is beautiful when she has tears in her eyes. and she basically looks that way the entire show.

I love how Oguri Shun can be so funny when he is playing such a straight character. it was an inspired choice to cast these two together. It was a bit like hana yori dango pairing him and trout mouth Jun together - but with a better story to show chemistry between good actors. 

It is worth mentioning some other side characters, or rather, their actors; Katsuji Ryou from shouni kyumei, atsu-hime, sore wa totsuzen arashi no you ni, etc etc. i like him a lot, i think his role was adequately stupid and odd. this drama also had wonky jaw woman Tomosaka Rie from samurai pastry chef movie chonmage purin. Mikami Kensei from deka wanko, beck, hanawake, bloody monday, and yamapi is an undertaker - i mean - saikou no jinsei no owarikata. and playing detective Majima, the wonderful Otsuka Nene from tumbling, saigo no yakusoku, iryu, tokyo tower, kurosagi, hero, and a million other things. Majima was a great character with a nice little story arc of her own. 

Yeah this wasnt really the most interesting review ive ever done but blogspot keeps deleting big chunks of stuff i write for no reason so im simplifying my life by cracking this out in a few minutes. 

the series is better than i make it sound. i fail at my job. but im too busy enjoying Oguri Shun's new drama to give a sh*t. 

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