ThatJapaneseDramaGuy

Drama: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time Romaji: Toki o Kakeru Shojo Japanese: 時をかける少女 Director: Hitoshi Iwamoto Actors: Yuina Kuroshima, Fuma Kikuchi, Ryoma Takeuchi, Miyu Yoshimoto Writer: Yasutaka Tsutsui (novel), Ryohei Watanabe Network: NTV The concept of time travel has always been fascinating and that alone might be an enough reason why you want to pick this, but that's not all there's more to it, and why this drama is worth watching. Unlike other dramas using time travel as a plot, this one totally makes sense at all, they have every bit of explanation to all our questions, and that is important because a plot that makes no sense is a big turn off. The characters here act like real high school students unlike characters in other high school dramas which have tendency to act too mature for their age. As a viewer doing that hurts the experience, removing too much reality in my opinion is unnecessary and annoying. It's not hard to spot this we...

Movie: My Little Monster (English title) / The Monster Sitting Beside Me (literal title) Romaji: Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun Japanese: となりの怪物くん Actors: Masaki Suda, Tao Tsuchiya, Yuki Furukawa, Yuki Yamada, Elaiza Ikeda, Minami Hamabe, Gaku Sano, Mokomichi Hayami Director: Sho Tsukikawa Writer: Robico (manga), Arisa Kaneko I just watched this movie because I want something light, though I got what I want, but still the pacing in this story bothered me. I haven't read the manga and I have no idea how is the development of each character there, so this movie got me scratching my head because some scenes doesn't make sense like suddenly one character likes another character, not enough development to make that believable. I also have hard time connecting to these 2 main characters, not enough scenes for me to truly understand their actions. The pacing is just too fast. Also, some characters are wasted like minami hamabe's character, I thought she is...

Movie: Control Tower Romaji: Kanseitou Japanese: 管制塔 Director: Takahiro Miki Actors: Kento Yamazaki, Ai Hashimoto, Miyuki Matsuda, Akiyoshi Okayasu Writer: Takahiro Miki, Yukiko Mochiji He's an outcast in school living his boring life then one day an equally timid girl whom is also an outcast appeared to shine light to his boring life. This is basically the plot with coming of age elements and with the theme which is "uncertainty". These kids are just more or less 15 years of age; they have no control with their lives which is frustrating on every teenager's part. There is one big symbolism in this film which you can find in the title "control tower", control tower watches the travelers future and also serve as a mark if you want to return someday. I don't consider this as a romantic movie because I didn't see any romantic love it's more of platonic love. I mean it's not a bad thing because they still have great chemistry and y...

Movie: Little Forest: Summer & Autumn Romaji: Ritoru Foresuto Natsu Hen ・ Aki Hen Japanese: リトル・フォレスト 夏・秋 Director: Junichi Mori Actors: Ai Hashimoto,      Takahiro Miura, Mayu Matsuoka Writer: Daisuke Igarashi (manga), Junichi Mori Producer: Keiichiro Moriya, Izumi Shima Cinematographer: Yukihiro Onodera If I'm not familiar with Japanese cinema or with the actors I would think that this slice of life/cooking show film was an experimental film thesis done in college. I'm not saying it suck in fact I love it. I love the originality. Some people would not consider this a film because of lack of plot until the main character narrates a bit of her story alongside on how she would prepare each dish. This review is for the two movies since both of these are connected and the gist is very much the same. It's only near the end of the movie or after 10+ dishes we learn that there's a conflict between the main character and her mom and her mom l...

Movie: Wood Job! Romaji: Wood Job! Kamusari Nana Nichijo Japanese: WOOD JOB！（ウッジョブ） 神去なあなあ日常 Actors: Shota Sometani, Masami Nagasawa, Hideaki Ito Director: Shinobu Yaguchi Writer: Shion Miura (novel), Shinobu Yaguchi I just came from work when I decide to watch this movie and damn this is such a relaxing movie and didn't expect I would enjoy this. I expect this will be another slow burn film that will make me sleepy. I even plan to eat while watching but I just couldn't take my eyes off the screen. These characters are just interesting and the visuals are enticing. I really don't expect this to be a masterpiece. It has masterful cinematography, suiting guitar music and well acted characters that could potentially make this one of the best coming of age films I've ever watched. I often tell my friends that if you want to learn more about Japanese culture don't watch anime but watch Japanese movies instead and this film is the very best example ...

Drama: Meet Me After School (English title) Romaji: Chugakusei Nikki Japanese: 中学聖日記 Director: Ayuko Tsukahara, Kentaro Takemura, Toshio Tsuboi Actors: Kasumi Arimura, Kenshi Okada, Keita Machida, Yo Yoshida, Tomochika,  Yui Natsukawa, Rina Ono, Jiei Wakabayashi, Marin Nishimoto, Seina Nakata Writer: Junko Kawakami (manga) Arisa Kaneko Network: TBS   First let me start this review with a mini rant The concern I see people having with this drama is that they said it is normalizing pedophilia. My defense on that matter is that you only consider a person a pedophile if he/she is occasionally attracted to children which she's not because she was not attracted to him because he's a child. I know most will not agree with that argument but let's say you are correct and she's a pedophile, does this drama normalize that psychiatric disorder? NO. She's attracted to him but didn't take advantage in fact she was even despised the whole time, the school...

Drama: Eerie (English title) / Eerie: Invisible Face (literal title) Romaji: Iari: Mienai Kao Japanese: イアリー 見えない顔 Director: Junichi Mori Actors: Joe Odagiri, Riisa Naka, Yuina Kuroshima, Issey Ogata, Anna Yamada Writer: Yutaka Maekawa (novel), Aya Takei Network: WOWOW The narrative is fragmented at the beginning like it's a slow burn but once those interlocking stories connect the drama will become engaging. It has gripping mystery like it will literally suck you in, every time a story connect to another will leave you nodding, it is so satisfying. Aside from the mystery I also like the chilling mood/atmosphere of this drama, it helps to arouse my curiosity. It is also well directed drama; it knows how to lay clues and when to build tension. Theme is revolved around T R U S T like father losing the trust of his daughter, gossiping neighbors , characters committing infidelity, trust leading to bullying, talking behind someone's back in a professional ...

Drama: Swimming in the Dark (English title) Romaji: Wanitokagegisu Japanese: わにとかげぎす Actors: Teppei Arita, Tsubasa Honda, Kento Kaku, Kaito Yoshimura, Kom_I Director: Toshio Tsuboi Writer: Minoru Furuya (manga), Izumi Takahashi Network: TBS This is not your ordinary type of romantic comedy, it is love story between two opposite type of people, there is an age gap issue and you will scratch your head thinking how the hell she fell in love with him. Most of you will be turn off because of this and I don't blame you as I were like that during the first episode. Though I grew liking the guy's character as the story progress I also think this drama would be better with a younger and bit more good looking lead. Meet Yuji Tomioka(Teppei Arita), a guy in his late 30's, never been in a relationship, he is living a boring life. One night during his work as a security guard, he wishes to a shooting star to have friends. Then later we are introduced to a Azus...

Movie: Laplace's Witch Romaji: Rapurasu no Majo Japanese: ラプラスの魔女 Actors: Sho Sakurai, Suzu Hirose, Sota Fukushi, Mirai Shida, Hiroshi Tamaki, Lily Franky, Etsushi Toyokawa Director: Takashi Miike Writer: Keigo Higashino (novel), Hiroyuki Yatsu The title of the movie is based on Pierre-Simon Laplace the French mathematician who is famous for his theory "Laplace Demon". This theory states that if someone (the demon) knows the precise location and momentum of every atom in the universe, their past and future values for any given time are entailed; they can be calculated from the laws of classical mechanics. That theory is basically this movie is about. Meet our protagonist Madoka Uhara(suzu hirose). She is a demon in Laplace theory as she can guess correctly that a natural phenomenon will take place. In that incident where two people are poisoned by hydrogen sulfide at hot springs located in different regions, she helps professor Shunsuke Aoe(Sho Sakurai), ...

Drama: Innocent Days Romaji: Inosenta Deizu Japanese: イノセント・デイズ Director: Kei Ishikawa Actors: Satoshi Tsumabuki, Yuko Takeuchi, Hirofumi Arai, Kyoko Yoshine, Kimiko Yo, Aimi Satsukawa, Kaya Kiyohara Writer: Kazumasa Hayami (novel), Noriko Goto Network: WOWOW Shinichi Sasaki (Satoshi Tsumabuki) looks at his childhood friend Yukino Tanaka (Yuko Takeuchi) in court. Yukino Tanaka is sentenced to death. She is allegedly caused that fire that killed her ex-boyfriends wife and child. Shinichi Sasaki knows his childhood friend very well and in his mind she is innocent. He wants to save Yukino Tanaka and meets people who knew her including her sister and former classmates. One of the best dramas I've seen in recent years. From the first episode alone this drama series will make you engage to the story, they have done a great job of introducing the characters, showing their motives and hinting where the story will go. This is episodic in a way that each episode...