LADY - Saigo no Hanzai Profile: another amazing police drama

Plot:

The plot focuses around a team of profilers that was recently formed in a Japanese police department. Having to face the prejudice of the investigators and being continuously mocked and offended by the department chief, Shoko, Keisuke, Marie, Takehiko and their team leader Yuki, must also learn how to work as a team in order to bring the best out of their abillities. Despite all the hard work, the five profilers always manage to catch the  murderers.

Cast:

In terms of cast, there is no doubt that this drama is a top notch production. Starting with the main character, who's brought to us by the beautiful Kitagawa Keiko, and ending with the investigators from the police department, this drama is full of many well known and talented actors. My favourites are, of course, the two male protagonists Kaname Jun and Hiraoka Yuta, both of whom I've followed for a very long time, even though they've only recently started to be more successful, which I'm very glad of.

In other words, a superb distribution which is guaranteed to offer you the biggest enjoyment.

Personal Opinion:

Personally, I love all kinds of police dramas, so I suppose my opinion is very subjective. What I really loved about this drama is the fact that the murder cases are very interesting and the use of technology, even though it's quite often featured in the series, isn't the main protagonist. Take, for example, the American TV shows like CSI: New York (which I really love actually) or Ciminal Minds. They use so many laboratory techniques! That in itself shows that the plot isn't really good after all; if we take al the technicalities out of the picture, the cases aren't that interesting any more, are they? In this dorama, on the contrary, the plot is purely focused on the cases and, at the most, you will see  a bit of computer work. The viewer is not overwhelmed with technical information and, yet, the murder cases are still quite interesting.

Usually there aren't many tv series featuring profilers (which reminds me of Criminal Minds again...). Somehow it's really interesting to see how psychological knowledge is put into action. I don't know if real profilers are that accurate, but I must admit I was truly impressed by profilers thanks to this series.

However I must admit that this drama, ever since the beginning, left be with a slight bitter taste. In what way? Well, it reminds me too much of American police TV shows where the policemen are heroes and the murderers target them and they are all geniuses who can catch any delinquent. This is just too unrealistic and cliché. I don't want to see something so Americanized! I want a Japanese drama!

Well, despite all this, I still think it's a show worth watching.

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We are dating

U-Kiss fans, rejoice! MBC has just released the spin-off of the popular show "We got married". The show is called "We are dating". U-Kiss members Alexander, Eli and Soohyun are paired up with Girl's Day's Min Ah, Ji Hae and Yura for a period of 3 months. After watching 4 episodes I'm already hooked!

Thumbs up for MBC! 

Ps: Thanks everyone who commented on my previous posts and thank you so much for following! Hope you had a great winter holiday!

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Kuragehime - my favourite anime of this season's ongoing series

I realize it's been a long time since I last wrote something. Although I do love my blog, I find it hard to pick things worth writing about since I've always appreciated quality instead of quantity.
This week however, I seem to have found a new reason to write (except for the newly increased number of followers; wow! I have 6 followers!!! those guys with over 200 followers are probably laughing their heads off at me now or will- that is if they ever happen to stumble upon my tiny little blog. Nonetheless, I'm truly tankful to all those willing to follow my blog and maybe even browse a little through the contents. Arigato gozaimasu!). That reason just happens to be a truly unique anime called Kuragehime.
Surprisingly, I've never before wrote about anime, though they do have quite a big part in the birth of this huge mania of mine for everything Asian. However, truthfully speaking, I hardly find any good anime to watch these days.
My first anime was Sailor Moon ( well, maybe it wasn't quite the first, but it was the one series that really got me into the whole anime "business"). Though looking back at it, I find it a bit immature and sometimes way too sappy for my tastes, I still enjoy watching it. All throughout the years, I've desperately tried to get a hold of those nostalgic feelings that this anime brought me, the same excitement, the crazy flutter of the heart, the small butterflies in the stomach that I used to have when I was a little child. Of course I'm passed 20 now, but there were some anime that brught me close to that same excitement I was talking about earlier: Fullmetal Alchemist, Death note, Denno Coil, Special A, Kaichou wa Maid-sama, Darker than Black, Hunter x Hunter... which brings us to the topic of today's post.

Plot:

Kuraghime it's an anime inspired by the josei manga with the same title written by Akiko Higashimura (for those of you wondering, "kuragehime" literally means "jellyfish princess") and its plot is centered around the main character, Tsukimi, who is a jellyfish otaku. Tsukimi shares a house with other otakus, all of them obsessed with different things: Chieko adores kimono and other traditional clothing, Mayaya is obsessed with Records of Three Kingdoms and constantly makes references to them, Banba is a train otaku and Jiji is obsessed with mature men (yes, this one is by far the strangest kind of obsessions if you ask me).
The story starts one fateful night when Tsukimi walks by a pet store and sees two jellyfish in a tank. Being a true "jellyfish connoisseur" she realizes that the two species are incompatible with each other and one of them would soon die if kept in the same tank. Suppressing her fear of talking with men she approaches the shop assistant and desperately tries to convince him to move the jellyfish in separate tanks, but the man takes her for a crazy person and pushes her out of the store. At that point, Tsukimi is saved by a gorgeous lady who convinces the shop assistant into giving the jellyfish to Tsukimi and accompanies Tsukimi back to her house. Tsukimi is tired and she soon falls asleep completely forgetting about the beautiful woman in her room. When she wakes up though, she notices the woman had also fallen asleep in her room, but, surprise-surprise, she is in fact a HE!

Personal opinion:

As you may have already noticed, this anime has a very unique feel to it. First of all, there aren't many anime where the main male character is a cross-dresser. That is something that basically screams "original" in your face!
Sencondly, and probably the most important thing actually, it's the construction of the main character, Tsukimi. Tsukimi is a shy, innocent virgin who dreams of meeting Prince Charming, though she does nothing to help him come along and has a bizarre hobby. She is portrayed in a very realistic way and even though she's a total "looser" in terms of social life, she truly grows to the viewer and you come to like her and root for her. Even more so when she transforms into a breathtaking beauty after a make-over applied by our proffesional cross-dresser.
As for the cross-dresser, whose name is Kuranosuke, he turns out to be a totally normal man.In fact, the main reason to why he likes to wear women's clothes is because he wants to seem like an irresponsible guy so that all of the hard work is passed on to his older brother. The other reason is the fact that he loves make-up. Ah, what a wonderful man, nee!?
To be honest, the secondary characters piss me off. All those otakus are pretty much histerical frustrated women. The only one who I approve of is Banba-san and the only reason of my empathy is because Banba-san never talks.
However, one truly cute and lovable character is Kuranosuke's brother, Shu. Shu appears to be a very serious and strict person, but he blushes like a teenager when he sees Tsukimi (in her "Cinderella" version). As a matter of fact, the two have many things in common: they're both virgins and they're both really shy and , most likely, they're both want to get married. And, somehow, this annoys the hell out of Kuranosuke.

Well, as I'm sure everyone noticed judging by the enthusiasm with which I've written about this anime that, so far, I am truly enjoying it and I wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone!


EDIT:
So, Kat was kind enough to let me know that Tsukimi is not actually in her 30s. I apologize for the misunderstanding. As for Jiji, I accidentally wrote that she loves mature women, while I meant MEN. Sorry again for the mistakes.
Kat, thank you for pointing out my mistakes. It shows that you really took the time to read it carefully. I really appreciate that.

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Joker Yurusarezaru Sosakan - a different kind of police drama

 

 As I mentioned before, I believe Japanese are the best when it comes to mystery and police shows. They didn't disappoint me this time either. With a unique plot and an excellent cast, the recently completed dorama that aired this autumn, Joker, is definitely one of the few dramas that are worth watching this season.

 Plot:

Date Kazuyoshi is a detective known for his kind and calm personality. However, during the nighttime, he punishes the criminals who manage to escape being be prosecuted.

Cast: 

Along with Sakai Masato, who plays the main lead, there are many other topnotch actors who are starring in this drama, making it a real delight for the eyes and soul. Some worth mentioning are: Kaga Takeshi, Ryo (Miyada Yumiko), Osugi Ren, Nishikido Ryo, Anne. This names might sound alien, but once you see the actors' faces, you realize they are actors who have starred in numerous dramas and have received great love from the audience all throughout their careers.

Personal opinion:

The plot is actually a little more complicated in comparison to what I wrote previously, but it's something that shouldn't be spoiled by reviews so I won't be going into details. What I must tell is that this dorama is something typically Japanese. The whole plot is centered around the idea of justice and it makes people wonder: what is justice actually? What is truly right and what is truly wrong. I have stumbled upon this idea in many Japanese production. Lets take Death Note, for instance, which is a manga/anime/movie everyone has heard about. That was focused on the idea of justice.

Joker too, emphasizes the same concept: the idea of an Utopian world where all criminals are punished, the notion of idealistic Justice that no criminal can escape from. It is indeed, at least i my opinion, a typically Japanese line of thought. And, since I love Japanese and their mentality, I can honestly say I absolutely loved this drama as well.

As you can deduce from the storyline, this drama is quite unique, since it features policemen taking it upon themselves to clear the world of criminals even when law can't bring them to justice .Take this and add a memorable cast with perfect acting skills and you have a great police drama, to say the least. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

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Vanilla Lucy - my newest kpop addiction

  While I was watching The M Wave last Sunday, I saw an amazing group perform and I immediately fell in love with their sound.
   The band's name is Vanilla Lucy and it  has four members, all girls - a main vocalist, a saxophone player, a violin player and a cello player. They have a very catchy and unique style, unlike anything I've seen in the kpop industry thus far. I'm looking forward to their future releases.




Download song

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GOONG MANHWA REVIEW

Synopsis:

The action in this manhwa takes place in a fictional Korea where the country is ruled by the monarchy. The main character is a lively and innocent girl by the name of Shin Chae-Gyung, who lives a normal and careless life as a mediocre student coming form a common family. One day, she hers the handsome prince Lee Shin, who goes to the same school as her, propose to a girl and being coldly rejected.  That same day, Chae-Gyung receives a mind-boggling  news: she is to be married to the crown prince as a result of a promise between her grandfather and the former king, who had been best friends. In order to help her family's financial situation, Chae-Gyung decides to go along with the marriage.

Personal opinion:

        I was extremely excited to start reading this manhwa, especially due to the superb art that drew my attention immediately. the artist has an incredible talent, particularly concerning drawing of individuals and portraits, apparel, but also some very nice backgrounds.

        I was expecting a funny and light story and I wasn't really disappointed at the beginning and kept thinking it will get better the more I read it. 

Indeed, the story doesn't lack cute characters and a very well developed romance plot. Actually, in comparison to the Korean live-action inspired from it, the manhwa concentrates a lot on the developing feelings between the characters. The "change of heart" the main male character has by falling in love with another girl doesn't seem forced like it seemed in the drama. On the contrary, his feeling develop slowly and grow little by little until he realizes he is indeed in love. His confession also takes place much later after he discovers his own feelings making al seem more plausible, more life-like.

       However, while comparing the positive points with the negative ones, I realized that the negative aspects are far more numerous.

       Firstly, the usual cliché: the love triangle. What is it with Koreans and love triangles? I admit, love triangles sometimes  add a "juicy" detail to the whole plot, but sometimes they just make it annoying and I think this is the case here. I really don't understand why in every manhwa there are always two people that want to get between the two main characters - a guy, usually nice and kind-hearted (in this case, his nice personality is mostly just a façade though) who is in love with the main female lead and a girl, who's usually very b****y, that madly and obsessively loves the main male character and does anything to attract his attention and to break him up with the one he loves. The main girl  never ends up with the nice guy, but chooses the cold, cool and tough guy. Always.Whilst the girl who wants the cool guy ends up meeting someone who understands her and woos her continuously until all of a sudden  she realized she has fallen in love with him.     

       Secondly, I really don't understand the humour. I am a huge fan of humour and Asian humour really is one of the best I've ever seen, but this manhwa is really not suited for humour, which is why every time I encounter a funny scene, instead of  making me laugh it just leaves me dumbfounded, because it has no place in the whole plot. Not to mention that most funny scenes are just grossing me out cause they're mostly if not entirely based on the character of a perverted eunuch. So, the humour didn't do it for me either.

        Last but not least, what really put me off was the tragedy. Honestly, I have nothing against realistic plots and this plot was quite realistic; yes, politic schemes are known to exist in every monarchy, and, truthfully, everyone knows nobles and the members of royalty have marriages of convenience, but were so many tearjerker scenes necessary?! If the author truly wanted to be realistic then she could have invented dozens of ways to get the main characters out of lamentable situations. But in truth, those occurrences were actually an excuse to torture the readers and prolong the plot, transforming it into an authentic soap-opera. In truth, this is also something typical for the Korean authors. Most tend to make tearjerker plots that remind me of the Spanish "telenovelas". And sadly, I have to admit that I can't stop reading it because I kept thinking "damn, I got so far! I can't give up now!". I feel so cheated! 

         In conclusion, I'd like to say that I'm a very strict and picky person. Although this review sounded like a total negative advertisement, I'm sure many of you would still like Goong very much. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to insult the author, nor am I trying to offend Goong fans. I'm just being honest and say my truthful opinion. It's a personal opinion, therefore it is also subjective.So, instead of wondering whether you should read it or not, at least try browsing through a few pages. It may turn out to be your type of story. 

       Enjoy your read, everyone!

       

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1/2 Prince Novel - a pleasant surprise

    Lately I've been busy reading manga and I've stumbled upon 1/2 Prince, a manhua (the Chinese equivalent of the Japanese manga) about computer gaming. The synopsis is mainly like this: in the year 2100, the creators of computer games have discovered a way to make gaming even more realistic then it already was. Thus, Second Life was born - a computer game with 99% realism rate. The main character of the story is a girl named Feng Lan who, after having a fight with her brother regarding her gaming methods (meaning, her brother accused her of using male players to level-up), decided to start playing Second Life and use her own power to level-up thus proving to her brother that she is capable of doing so without anyone's help. However, Feng Lan enters the game 5 minutes prior to its official release worldwide and the creators of the game decide to offer her anything she wants as a prize for being the first Second Life player ever. Instead of choosing a rare item or something else, Feng Lan requests to become a male in the game. She is given permission and so the adventure of the worrior elf Prince (Feng Lan's Second Life identity) begins.

     After struggling for quite a few times to read the first chapters of the manhua, I finally got into it and , eventually, I found out about the existence of a novel. The manhua was actually inspired by the novel, but I didn't expect much form it, thinking that the manhua was probably more interesting. No such thing! Just like in the manhua's case, the result was pleasantly surprising. The novel sucked me in from the very first chapter and, even though the manhua is 100% loyal to the novel's plot, I felt that the novel is 10 times better!

       1/2 Prince novel is written by Yu Wo, an author that was unknown to me until now. Yu Wo's style is absolutely breathtakingly humorous and fresh, her characters seem to have a life of their own and the reader slowly starts understanding them and loving them  more and more as the story progresses.
      The best part is that, in comparison to the manhua, the novel is, undoubtedly, more complex, the humour has a unique feeling to it and is far more developed then in the manhua, where you miss many of the hinted funny moments. And, let me add, if you haven't already figured it out, humour is an extremely important part of the series. It may actually be the fundamental part.
      Another plus of this great novel is the way the main character was built. Unlike the majority of female characters we see in manga, Feng Lan is a very strong character with a unique personality. Though not a tomboy, she appears to be very kin on fighting in the virtual life and she is so passionate about it that she even ends up earning the title of Blood Elf. In real life, Feng Lan is a girl like any other and she never resorts to physical violence (the most she can do is threaten her brother with not feeding him) and her love for blood in the gaming world derives form a very simplistic thing: her passion for cooking. Every time Prince sees a game monster he (she) imagines chopping him like she does when cooking dinner. As a result, Prince is never afraid of monsters. All he has to do is chop them, after all. Interesting person, right?
     And last but not least, because I kept the best part for the end, is the romance. Yes, incredible, but true: this story not only has fighting, adventure and virtual reality involved, but also a steamy romance plot. Since Prince is the most handsome player in Second Life, romance would actually be unavoidable, but what is he to do when Wicked, a talented elf warrior, turns out to be Feng Lan childhood friend who has loved her for 8 years and finds out Prince's true identity? Moreover, Prince's greatest admirer, the demon bard Gui, who tricked Prince into thinking he was gay, ends up falling in love with him, but he turns out to be Feng Lan's literature professor. In the end, Prince suffers a "terrible fate" as more and more people who know "him" in real life, find out who he really is and he's forced to beg them all to keep the secret. The question that keeps nagging me though is: will Feng Lan be forced to choose between Wicked and Gui? Well, I think we'll have to keep on reading to find that out, though I have my suspicions...      
      In conclusion, I wholeheartedly recommend this very original and funny novel. You can read the novel online for free, translated with the author's permission by the team Prince Revolution!, who are doing a wonderful job translating this project. Go to their website
     The team also translates the novel "The Legend of Sun Knight" written by the same author, which is an exceptional read as well and I'll probably write about it in the future.
      I look forward to this group's future projects.

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