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J-dorama ~ B

Title: Beach Boys

Cast: Takenouchi Yutaka, Sorimachi Takashi, Hirosue Ryouko, Inamori Izumi

Scriptwriter: Okada Yoshikazu

Theme: "Forever" by Sorimachi Takashi.

On Air: FujiTV 1997 July 7 - Sept 22

Suzuki Kaito (Takenouchi) escaped to the beach from his hectic work in Tokyo and met Sakurai Hiromi (Sorimachi), a jobless happy-go-lucky guy. Both stayed in a resort owned by Izumi Makoto's (Hirosue) grandfather and begin their lives as the Beach Boys - a term coined by Makoto.

This is THE drama that made me went online to search for more information on this drama and hence chanced upon other J-doramas. Takenouchi and Sorimachi are just Kakko Ii!!!! The clash in their characters made every episode so interesting! My only grouch is the ending. But at least Beach Boys special (a 2-hour episode special drama) sorts of make up for it. It's nice! Highly recommended!

Title: Beautiful Life

Cast: Kimura Takuya, Tokiwa Takako, Mizuno Miki, Watabe Atsurou

Scriptwriter: Kitagawa Eriko

Theme: "Konya tsuki no mieru oka ni" by B'z

On Air: TBS 2000 Jan 16 - Mar 26

Title: Big Money

Cast: Nagase Tomoya, Harada Taizou, Hasegawa Kyouko

Scriptwriter: Ooishi Shizuka

Theme: "Everything" by Misia

On Air: FujiTV 2002 Apr 11 - Jun

Set in the a world of stocks and shares in the banking world, this drama tells of Shirato Norimichi (Nagase), a jobless young man, who is recruited by an old man Kozuka Taihei (Hitoshi Ueki), a legendary trader many years back, to learn the tricks of buys and sells in the stock market. The intention behind recruiting Shirato is actually to destroy a leading bank, Matsuba Ginkou.

A very different theme from the normal dramas that I have seen. Harada Taizou as Yamazaki Fumihiko, an elite banker in Matsuba Ginkou, is really good! It's attention grabbing seeing the fight between Shirato and Yamazaki via the stock numbers. On a more "bimboistic" observation, the 3-piece suit fits Nagase to a T. Perfect! =P Not bad, one of the better drama in the 2002 Spring season.

Title: Big Wing

Cast: Uchida Yuki, Kashiwabara Takashi

Theme: "Graceful World" by Every Little Things

On Air: TBS 2001 Jan 12 - Mar 16

Title: Bijyo ka yajyuu

Cast: Matsushima Nanako, Fukuyama Masaharu

Scriptwriter: Yoshida Tomoko

Theme: "Ginka to Meiro" by Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra

On Air: FujiTV 2003 Jan 9 - Mar 20

Tamiya Makoto (Matsushima), a Todai law graduate who has obtained a MBA from Harvard University, is a news reporter with UNN. She is head hunted by JBC to help to pull up the viewership rating for JBC evening news. Nagase Hiromi (Fukuyama), for some reason, is transferred from the variety department to be the director of the news department. 

An entertaining drama which sees how the "second class" news crews changed Tamiya's impression of them. After a period of absence from the drama due to the filming of a NHK taiga, Matsushima is finally back! Just look at her poise when she stands or sit. Am filled with envy from a woman's point of view. AND, Masha (Fukuyama) is also back! How I missed him =P (Ok, that's not the main point of this drama) Watch how Nagase is always behaving so flippant but is actually very protective over Tamiya. Can't say that the relationship between the two is interesting enough, but the story line in each episode is enough to grab your attention. Not the best news drama as compared to News no Onna, but this will suffice for a light moment when you are feeling down ^o^

Title: Blackjack ni yoroshiku  

Cast: Tsumabuki Satoshi, Suzuki Kyouka, Katou Kouji, Kuninaka Ryouko

Scriptwriter: Gotou Noriko

Theme: "Life is... ~ another story~" by Hirai Ken

On Air: TBS 2003 Apr 11 - Jun 20

Adapted from the same titled comic, this drama tells of Saito Eijiro (Tsumabuki) who has just graduated from medicine with his friend Dekune Kuniya (Katou) and starts their life as intern doctors in Eidai Hospital, a University Hospital. Filled with ideas of how a doctor should be like, Saito is met with disappointment when he sees realities like doctor accepting money secretly from patients, a surgeon who leaves the rest of the operation to another surgeon after just performing a cut in the flesh, hospital rejecting urgent cases which is not profit making, etc. Working long hours at a meagre salary, interns doctor have to work part time in other hospitals as well. In each of the subplot, Saito will be feeling helpless in dealing with a case but on the reminder of a nurse, Akagi Kaori (Suzuki), he will attempt to fight for his cause, sometimes making decisions that may seem to do more harm than good to the patient. Although in the end, all well ends well, the scene he created will leave him ousted out from one department to another department where he will witness yet another "failure" in the system.

On the whole, the storyline is not bad as it tells of the dark side of the hospital and the limited ability of a doctor to fight against the hospital system. However at times, it's pretty vexing to see Saito getting frustrated every time he fails to change his mentor doctor's mindset in dealing with some patients. He wants to fight against the hospital system but yet he's so weak that besides shouting at the other doctors, he can't do much. It's worse when you see him getting nervous and looking lost when his patient suddenly turns for the worse. You just want to shout at him "Shikkari shirou!".

I'm not that pleased with the ending. Although Saito finally overcomes his fear of treating urgent cases where the patient suddenly appears on the brink of death, nothing is told on whether he's finally accepting the hospital's system or will he continue to fight against it. The only thing for sure is he has finally turned into a real doctor and his passion in this profession still burns in his heart.

In short, I would say that this drama is quite good but the pace is rather slow. However the drama music helps me to endure the slow pace and the theme song is just excellent!

Title: Boku dake no Madonna... and I love Her

Cast: Takizawa Hideaki, Hasegawa Kyouko, Konishi Manami, Shimatani Hitomi, Koizumi Koutarou

Scriptwriter: Okada Yoshikazu

Theme: "Namida no umi de dakaretai ~ SEA OF LOVE " by Southern All Stars

On Air: FujiTV 2003 Jul 7 - Sep 15

Surrounded by 3 noisy women (Read: a mother and 2 elder sisters) and a father who does not voice his opinion, Suzuki Kyouichi (Takizawa) longs to move out to live on his own. When he finally rents a room in a small apartment "Brooklyn Heights", he starts his own independent life which is suppose to give him the privacy that he longs for.... to not much success, since his neighbours are always around asking about his life. Studying Architecture in the university, Kyouichi works part time as a security guard at night. Being such a 'normal' person, his idol cum girlfriend, Imamura Keiko (Shimatani), from the same faculty dumped him after a short period of dating as she finds him not interesting even though he's good looking.

Continuing his normal life of schooling and working, he one day finds a woman sleeping on his bed when he comes back from his part time work. Thinking that he has made a mistake, he left the room to double check the name of the apartment and on return, finds that the woman is missing. However, he also found his cold noodle missing from the refrigerator. Through many evidences, he finds that there is indeed a person who enters his house at night when he's away. On the day that he lays an ambush to catch the stranger, he sees a woman climbing into his house through the window. Kataoka Surumi (Hasegawa) has been climbing through the window every night to enter the room just so that she can observe the person, whom she claims is a guy who dumped her for another woman, living in the apartment directly opposite Kyouichi's room. Not afraid of being caught, Surumi even tells Kyouichi that she will be here every night and demands him to prepare food for her as well as to give her a spare key. Mesmerized by this woman, Kyoucihi just follows whatever she says....

At the start, I really just go "Eh??" at the way Kyouichi agrees with whatever Surumi asks him to do. Even though he may be reluctant to accede to the selfish requests by Surumi, he will finally agree. This is especially ridiculous when he doesn't even know her background! Well, another reason for going "Eh??" is simply because Kyouichi "Eh?" a bit too many times =P However, the drama gets more interesting towards the middle when it is disclosed that Surumi is actually married and you just want to watch on to find out why is she still peeping at another man when she is married and what will happen in the end (even though I already know the ending before watching this drama). The rest of the characters, be it the neighbours, the other security guard or even Kyouichi's lecturer, are also quite funny. I personally quite enjoy the show and I must agree that Hasegawa Kyouko has rightfully received the Best Dresser Award in the 38th The Television Drama Academy Award. She looks good in almost all her attires!  Oh, and quite an interesting ending for all characters. Omoshirokatta! ^o^

Title: Boku no ikiru michi

Cast: Kusanagi Tsuyoshi, Yada Akiko

Theme: "Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana" by SMAP

On Air: Kansai TV 2003 Jan 7 - Mar

Nakamura Hideo (Kusanagi), a biology high school teacher, leads a low profile life. He's the goody goody gentle type of guy who will save on everything for his marriage in the future, allows students to do self revision in his class (since, except for one student, no one pays attention to his teaching) and constantly find ways to ask Akimoto Midori (Yada), his love interest, out for a date. When he discovered that he is suffering from stomach cancer and has only one year left, his whole life crashes. Although in the beginning he is depressed and even sought to commit suicide, he later decides to lead a fulfilling life for the remaining months ahead....

A very touching drama that sees how Hideo strives to lead a meaningful life. The episodes on how he touches the students' hearts are heart warming and the relationship between him and Midori is very sweet. It's heartbreaking to see how he deals with the remaining months of his life.... Leaves one to think after watching this drama -- "Do you have any regret if you are to die tomorrow?"  

Title: Bokura no Yuuki ~ Miman City

Cast: Doumoto Tsuyoshi, Doumoto Kouichi

Theme: "Aisareru yori Aishita" by KinKi Kids

On Air: NTV 1997 Oct 18 - Dec 20

Title: Brand

Cast: Imai Miki, Ichikawa Somegorou, Yoshida Eisaku, Satou Aiko

Theme: "Goodbye Yesterday" by Imai Miki

On Air: FujiTV 2000 Jan - Mar 23

Title: Bus stop

Cast: Iijima Naoko, Uchimura Teruyoshi, Uchiyama Rina

Theme: "Not Found" by Mr Children

On Air: FujiTV 2000