Meitantei no Okite (Conditions of a Great Detective) (2009)

Tenkaichi Daigoro is a great detective - or so he thinks.  He spends most of his time going around solving cases with the help of police captain Ogawara Banzo and rookie female cop Fujii Mana.  In this series of episodic cases, we get to know the characters very well as we see how they interact with one another and the other players in this very strange, very interesting world.


Oh, boy, am I totally looking forward to this.  I love this show.  But before I start gushing as I will later on, let's see the cast.

• Matsuda Shota as Tenkaichi Daigoro
• Kashii Yu as Fujii Mana
• Kimura Yuichi as Ogawara Banzo
• Chisun as Moriyama Mizuki
• Irie Jingi as Uematsu Keita

So without further ado, let's dive right in.  The acting in this show was pretty good.  Not stellar in some roles, but really good nonetheless.  First up is Matsuda Shota as Tenkaichi Daigoro, the main "great detective".  I'd only heard of Shota in passing before I watched this show, so I didn't know anything about his acting and such.  After watching this, though, I have to say, as a whiny, clingy, comedic detective Shota was wonderful.  He does a really good job of being that right mixture of annoying, whiny, and just a little bit manly (just a little tiny bit, but it is there).  Despite everything else, he does play the character as a well-rounded doofy guy that just happens to be an "amateur" detective.

Kashii Yu is next playing Fujii Mana.  This is the character that we as an audience enter the show through.  She's the one that asks all the questions the audience is probably asking from beginning to end.  In this role, I will mention that the acting was mostly good, but there were a few places where she could've done better.  It's hardly noticeable until you hit the episodes where she is more of the focus of the action rather than Tenkaichi and the others.  Once she gets more of a main role, the acting, while it is good, it's not the best I've ever seen.  She's good as a supporting character, just not in the spotlight.

Now a character I absolutely loved in the show.  Ogawara Banzo, played by Kimura Yuichi.  This police captain is not like any you've ever seen.  He's just as doofy as Tenkaichi.  As far as the acting goes, Yuichi did a really good job at portraying emotion as well as being silly and lighthearted.  There are a couple of moments in which the story does get serious, and Yuichi can definitely take you there.  There's a fair amount of emotional back story to Ogawara as well, and that's definitely portrayed well.  Looking back on this series, I can say Ogawara Banzo is probably my favorite character (besides Tenkaichi).

Now our major supporting characters.  I only really mention these two characters because they have some of the best jokes in the show.  They don't do much and they're really only there to be plot devices most of the time, but that's okay as far as I'm concerned.  First is Moriyama Mizuki played Chisun.  This character is a female police officer that mostly serves as the mouthpiece for explaining the setup for the various mysteries.  She brings in suspects sometimes and does a few other things, but overall she doesn't do much.  The acting from this actress is good given what she was told to work with.  But the second character has a bit more of an emotional foundation.  Uematsu Keita played by Irie Jingi is a worker at a local cafe as well as a good friend of Tenkaichi's.  Keita actually does do some things in the show, like being the one that Tenkaichi talks things over with when he's stuck on a case and being the one that checks into things when Tenkaichi has a hunch about something.  But despite the obvious use of this character as a plot device, Keita does actually have a bit of an emotional foundation.  The acting from Jingi on this character definitely reflects that.  Though you don't see much of this character, you do sort of get attached to him, and that can only be a reflection of the quality of the acting.

Now comes my favorite part of this review.  The writing.  This show is so unique in many ways, but mostly it is unique in how the story is handled.  This series is a definite parody of typical whodunnit mystery shows with every stereotype and cliched twist thrown in.  Every type of mystery is addressed in this show.  But aside from that, this show does something in the story that I've never seen before.  In this series there is a room which the characters cannot enter unless they understand their role in the story.  In essence this allows them to step outside the story and see "what has to happen for the plot to move forward".  And of course this whole idea is totally played from the standpoint of hilarity.  It's really quite funny since there are remarks sprinkled throughout the show that stem along the lines of "I can't do that.  If I do that the plot can't move forward" and so on.  Most of these remarks come from the captain by the way (you can start to see why I like him so much).

Something else along those same lines is the treatment of the fourth wall in this show.  I know all of what I just explained kind of deals with this already, but I have to call this out.  Whoever wrote this or had the idea for this is an absolute genius.  Throughout the show with the addition of the room and everything, it's almost like the writer(s) of the show said, "The fourth wall?  Pshh, what's that?"

Of course, there's really nothing to warn anybody about.  The only thing I have to point out is that none of this show is meant to be taken seriously.  NONE OF IT.  Even in the dramatic moments (which are few and FAR between) just when the show seems to be getting serious, it pulls you right back out of that mood and throws in some more comedic goofiness.

As far as a message of any sort, there really isn't one.  It's basically a straight up parody of mystery shows.  Of course, if I HAD to parse a message out of this show, I'd have to say it would be a focus on friendship and what your friends mean to you.  I think this is a very subtle theme in this show and I think if you want to get something out of it, that's what you're going to take home.

So final thoughts.  While this isn't a drama I'd watch again anytime soon, I will say I did thoroughly enjoy it.  The humor is goofy, the characters are silly and lovable, and the cases are fascinating (most of the time).  Sometimes the mystery really isn't the point of the episode, but I still like to try and figure it out before Tenkaichi announces who did it at the end of the episode.  All in all, a really fun watch.  I'd recommend it to any hardcore fans of mystery shows and fans of silly nonsensical humor everywhere.

Hear Me (2009)

Deaf sisters Xiao Peng and Yang Yang work to support each other in every way possible.  Xiao Peng is working to become an all-star swimmer in the Deaflympics, and Yang Yang is always there to cheer her sister on.  One day at swim practice, a boy named Tian Kuo comes delivering lunchboxes to the swim team.  He immediately takes an interest in Yang Yang, and the two quickly develop a relationship.  However, as time goes on, Yang Yang begins to question whether a hearing person and a deaf person can have a working relationship and whether or not Tian Kuo is willing to stick it out for the long haul.




Oh, my gosh.  I love this movie.  I'm so excited to talk about it, but first, the cast:

• Eddie Peng as Tian Kuo
• Ivy Chen as Yang Yang
• Chen Yan Xi as Xiao Peng

As with Spellbound there are only a few actors with parts that are important enough in the movie to name.  First off, we have Eddie Peng as Tian Kuo, the lovable dork.  I feel a bit like a broken record for saying this, but once again I didn't know anything about Eddie Peng or his work until I saw this movie.  Oh, boy, is he good at being dorky.  Not just goofy either.  Dorky.  Granted, he can seem a bit immature at times, and this can be a little distracting, but all in all, Eddie brings on the dorky in just the right mix of silly and serious.  He reminds me a bit of a high school boy trying to get up the courage and wherewithal to go tell the girl how he feels.  All around a very lovable character.

For the other half of the main couple we have Ivy Chen playing Yang Yang.  Now, unlike most of the other people I talk about on here, I have heard of Ivy Chen.  I have also seen her act.  She's pretty good at it too.  Ivy brings the right amount of innocence and maturity to Yang Yang to offset Tian Kuo's dorkiness, which provides a nice balance throughout the movie.  The other thing that stands out about Yang Yang is how good Ivy is at speaking sign language.  I don't know really anything about Taiwanese Sign Language, but I do know a few things about American Sign Language and I gotta say, as someone with small hands that didn't grow up learning ASL, it's really hard.  It's hard enough to do all the signs in the right order with the right facial expressions, but it's even harder to do it quickly.  I give all the people in this movie extra props for making the sign language look as natural and smooth as they did, because I can assure you most of them, if not all of them, are hearing.

But if you're gonna talk about someone who did a good job with sign language, you have to look at Chen Yan Xi playing Xiao Peng.  All of Xiao Peng's dialogue is in sign.  In addition to this, Xiao Peng is a very emotion-driven character (okay, that might be a tad obvious).  Yan Xi does a fantastic job pouring the emotion into the character without "saying" a word.  She conveys all the nuances of how the character feels through facial expression and body language alone (pretty much).  She's just awesome.

Now we come to the writing portion of the review.  This movie is well written...mostly.  There are a few scenes that are somewhat corny and/or just a little bit weak, but all in all, it is a well-written piece.  The story is two-fold: it focuses on the romance between Tian Kuo and Yang Yang and the bond between Yang Yang and Xiao Peng.  On the former, I will say that it is cute, goofy, and all around heartwarming.  It is definitely the lesser of the two focuses of the movie, however.  The romance in this movie serves to be more of a stage for the issues addressed in this movie, rather than the actual issue at hand.  It is definitely funny and lighthearted though, especially as you see Tian Kuo trying to tell Yang Yang that he likes her when she isn't paying attention (literally or figuratively).

But on the other focus of this movie, the bond between the sisters, it's so well done I'm not even sure what to add.  It is clear throughout the movie that Yang Yang and Xiao Peng depend on each other and they mean everything to one another.  That comes through very well both in the writing and the acting (as I said before).  There is a time in the movie when the bond between sisters is tested and that makes for what I think is the most emotional and moving scene in the whole movie.  So all around, fantastic writing.

Warning time.  There's nothing really in this movie to warn you about.  There's no sex at all (the one scene that could be considered suggestive is played for laughs).  Nothing really of note.

On the flip side though, this movie does have a very strong message about family and what it means to be supportive of someone.  It also tackles some of the issues that the deaf often face in today's society in any part of the world.  Not very often do I find a movie that does that so well.

My final comments come down to this: I really, really, REALLY love this movie.  I've seen it probably fifteen or so times and I will probably watch it again in the next couple of weeks.  This is a great feel-good movie.  If you're looking for a story that has heart to it, cute characters, and a really interesting ending, this is the movie for you.  It's a heartwarming tale that will leave you smiling non-stop long after it ends.

Spellbound (aka Chilling Romance) (2011)

A/N: For future reference, I'll say this here so I only have to say it once.  For this segment movies and dramas are interchangeable.  In other words, I will either review a movie or a drama, depending on which one I want to do.  All right, on with the show.

Ma Jo Goo is a street magician that became famous after designing a horror-themed magic show around a strange girl, Yeo Ri, he discovered during a show one night.  She always wore black, never smiled, and made sure to always distance herself from everyone.  After hiring the girl to work in his magic show, Jo Goo tries to draw her out and find out why she's so reclusive by inviting her to go out with the crew for drinks, but she always declines.  One night, when he is finally able to get her to go have drinks with everyone, she gets completely hammered and ends up spilling her secrets to Jo Goo and everyone else at the table.  Yeo Ri's biggest secret?  She can see dead people.  Upon this confession, everyone else is scared away, thinking she must have something wrong in the head, but Jo Goo is fascinated by her and becomes all the more interested in her life.

Okay, it's not quite that simple, but we'll get there when we get there.  First, the cast:

• Son Ye Jin as Kang Yeo Ri
• Lee Min Ki as Ma Jo Goo

Now obviously there are more than just two actors in this movie, but these are the only two that have big enough roles and distinguished enough characters to discuss, which is in a way a good thing.  There are some side characters worth mentioning, but I'll get there later.

We begin with Son Ye Jin's performance as Kang Yeo Ri, the girl that sees ghosts.  First, let me just say, Son Ye Jin is a wonderful actress.  She's very good at portraying emotion properly and convincingly, which is something that takes true talent to accomplish (on a side note, she's also very good at acting drunk).  There is a lot of emotional drama in this movie, mostly from Yeo Ri, and Ye Jin is fantastic throughout the whole of the affair.  You really get a sense of the pain she experiences from being rejected by everyone she loves and has ever known because of her...er...gift.  Also, the comedic moments are not lost on Ye Jin, though hers are few and very far between.  The other thing worth mentioning about Ye Jin's performance that I'll include here is how she acts scared.  Most actors, women in particular, when they act scared they overact.  They put way too much into it and it becomes cheesy and feels very fake or forced.  But in this film, I totally didn't get that from Ye Jin.  She acted scared in what seemed to me to be a totally realistic way.

Now to the other major player in this story, our street magician, Ma Jo Goo.  I had never heard of Lee Min Ki before I watched this, but I think, given the tone and the feel of the movie, he was the perfect choice for Jo Goo.  He's good with being on a stage (most people think all actors are good on a stage...oh, so far from the truth) and when he's doing his magic act, he plays it up just the way a real magician would.  I've seen my fair share of magic acts and I definitely see the same style and flare a real magician has to have to be successful, particularly at a horror-themed show like the one in this movie.  There are two other things that also must be mentioned, however.  The first of these is how Min Ki is at doing comedy.  For the tone of the movie, which is not meant to be straight up laugh-out-loud comedy, he did a good job.  He played well off of the other characters, he had good comedic timing, and the jokes were not overacted.  The second thing I have to mention is the romance.  This is a rather heartwarming story, comedy aside.  Min Ki did a wonderful job at making the romance subtle and portraying the emotion appropriately.

The only other characters that really do anything at all are: Jo Goo's stage manager of sorts, who has a name, but it's never really said and thus I never picked up on it (I had to look it up on the cast list; his name is Pil Dong); and Yeo Ri's friends Min Jung and Yoo Jin.  Pil Dong mostly comes across as the character that Jo Goo talks to instead of talking to himself.  He doesn't do much, and he only has a few scenes.  Yeo Ri's friends, though, have a bigger role. They explain things to her about romance (romantic comedies, to be precise) that she doesn't know or really have a reason to know.  They don't actually help the situation generally, but they do have a little bit of a character arc in the movie, which allows you to sort of connect a little bit to them regardless of how little you see them.

Now for the section I'm not looking forward to doing.  The writing.  Oh, dear, this movie.  Let me just clarify for everyone out there: I love this movie.  It's funny, cute, and has a touching romance.  BUT there are some issues I must point out in this part of the review that I don't like talking about.  The first and most major of these issues is the pacing.  For the first two-thirds of the movie, the pacing is wonderful.  It's slow enough to seem somewhat realistic, yet fast enough to keep you interested.  But somewhere around the beginning of the final third the pacing goes haywire.  It gets choppy and it feels almost like they realized two-thirds of the way through the movie that they had a time limit and they had to really rush the last third of the story.  This is really a shame because the last third is where it gets really interesting.  Not that it's not interesting before that, but the last third has the plot twist in it, as well as the relationship resolution that wasn't handled all that well in this case.

Another problem with the final third of this movie is the tone.  I said before that the pacing gets choppy, and that also applies here.  It's almost like it can't decide what kind of ending it wants to be.  It can't decide whether it wants to be a happy silly ending or a serious heartwarming ending.  Had they not tried to rush the final third so much and actually picked a tone to stick with, I really think this ending would've been much better without changing much of anything.

And the last issue I have with this movie, particularly the final third, is a small one, but important to me.  That is, the girlfriend.  I haven't mentioned Jo Goo's girlfriend up to this point because she's hardly in this movie and she doesn't do anything accept to be the reason why Jo Goo stops seeing Yeo Ri for a brief (and I do mean brief) period of time.  I don't have a problem with the token girlfriend concept.  I DO, however, have a problem with the way she reacts at a certain point in the movie.  It's right around the point where the plot starts to feel rushed and choppy; in fact, it's right at the beginning of the final third of the movie.  The situation is this: she comes home from a trip to France to find Jo Goo and Yeo Ri asleep together in the living room (you'll understand if you watch the movie).  Not only does she not freak out that her boyfriend is with another woman, but later when she figures out that Jo Goo is in love with Yeo Ri, she completely steps out without a fight, without so much as a cross word to her ex.  THAT is completely unrealistic to me.  That, and also it feels kind of like they didn't know what else to do with the girlfriend so they swept her under the rug, so to speak.

Now for the obligatory warning section.  Not much to say this time around.  The only thing I might warn people of is there are a few jump scares in this movie and there are a few scenes in which I really didn't want to look at the screen (I'm a wimp when it comes to scary movies).  Most of the scare factor comes out of shock value, however.  A lot of it is just the surprise and creepiness of how the ghosts look when you see them for the first time (the music doesn't help either; it just makes it freakier).  Lastly, there is a sex scene in this movie, but I don't actually know if it counts because they show NOTHING.  Absolutely NOTHING.  This intrigues me, because typically Korean movies have at least one sex scene where they show stuff, of course depending on the movie.

Otherwise, this movie has a rather heavy focus on what it's like to be alone in everything and exploring what that means.  This story does a good job of showing how people can't function to the fullest extent entirely on their own, and the writers did a decent job of showing how painful it is for someone to be completely cut off from everyone.

All right, final comments.  As I said before, I love this movie.  It's pretty well done in places, and for all its flaws, it was a fun watch.  It's not really a horror movie so much as it is a romantic comedy with horror elements to it.  It's kind of a horror-that's-not-a-horror movie.  So I'd say if you're looking for a movie that's scary without being scary, watch this movie.  Just go into it with an open mind and see what you think.

Ouran High School Host Club Live Action (2011)

Fujioka Haruhi is an honor student at Ouran Academy, a very prestigious and expensive high school attended only by those with money and social status.  The middle-class Haruhi is attending the school on a full-ride scholarship and she doesn't really fit in.  One day, as she is looking for a quiet place to study, she happens upon the Third Music Room where the Ouran Academy Host Club, a group of six of the most attractive male students at the school, gathers to entertain female "clients".  During her first encounter with the club, Haruhi stumbles and knocks over a vase valued at 8 million yen.  Unable to pay back the debt, it is decided that Haruhi must work off her debt with service in the club.

Right off the bat this sounds like it's going to get weird, and oh, boy, does it ever.  I have many comments to make about the acting in this drama, but first, let's see the cast.

• Kawaguchi Haruna as Fujioka Haruhi
• Yamamoto Yusuke as Suou Tamaki (the leader of the host club)
• Daito Shunsuke as Ootori Kyoya (second-in-command of the host club)
• Takagi Shinpei as Hitachiin Hikaru
• Takagi Manpei as Hitachiin Kaoru
• Chiba Yudai as Haninozuka "Honey" Mitsukuni
• Nakamura Masaya as Morinozuka "Mori" Takashi
• Ryo Ryusei as Nekozawa Umehito

Most of these people did a pretty good job, but as you will see, there a couple of people that didn't do so well.  First on this list is Kawaguchi Haruna playing Haruhi.  I saw most of the anime version of this story long before the live action version came out, so I knew what Haruhi was supposed to be like.  Haruna I'm sure did her best, but in the end, the acting was a bit lackluster.  Haruhi is a bold character.  She has a relaxed attitude about life, so much so that she even says she doesn't care whether people see her as a girl or a boy.  She's very snarky in some ways, as well as being rather sarcastic and level-headed when Tamaki goes off on one of his "speeches".  Some of those characteristics came through in Haruna's acting, but she needed to be more up front and relaxed and far more sarcastic than she was.  She came across as sort of a sweet girl who's always a bit whiny when the boys in the club do something stupid (which is quite often, believe you me).  Not really what the character was meant to be.

Switching gears now, we have Yamamoto Yusuke as Suou Tamaki, the ring leader of the host club.  Tamaki is the most obnoxious, goofy, silly, arrogant-in-a-funny-way boy I've ever seen.  He was that way in the anime, and Yusuke did a fantastic job at bringing that across.  His "speeches" are some of the funniest parts in the drama.  Yusuke also has a knack for pulling some of the most interesting facial expressions I've ever seen, which works wonderfully well with the character.  He's supposed to have a bit of a romance with Haruhi (that's not really a spoiler; it's kinda obvious from the very first episode) and Yusuke did a good job with making it awkward and silly, which was definitely what this drama called for.

Daito Shunsuke plays Ootori Kyoya, the second-in-command, as well as PR man for the club.  Kyoya is a calm, level-headed guy with an ever-watchful eye on the club's finances.  Shunsuke did a great job in portraying the character accurately, even with a few twists they through into the live action that weren't in the anime (maybe they were in the manga, but I wouldn't know since I've never read it).  He keeps the character calm and plays the polar opposite of Tamaki quite well, while still managing to be suave and sexy all at the same time.

Takagi Shinpei and Takagi Manpei play the Hitachiin twins, Hikaru and Kaoru, respectively.  I must make a comment up front about these characters: they are supposed to be the homosexual "token" characters, if you will.  Granted, they're brothers, but that supposedly makes them more attractive to "clients" of the club.  In the anime, the relationship is taken to gag-inducing levels, but THANKFULLY they toned it way down in the drama, which I will be eternally grateful for.  As for the acting from the Takagi brothers, I commend them for being so good at portraying these characters accurately.  They did a very good job at putting the right amount of goofiness and drama into the relationship, and I say kudos to them.

Next is Chiba Yudai playing Haninozuka Mitsukuni (say that three times fast), otherwise known as "Honey". He is the cute one in the club (fuzzy-bunny cute).  This character must have been difficult to translate to live action because of the things he's supposed to do (he jumps into Haruhi's arms at one point; he's supposed to be the size of an elementary school boy).  Yudai's acting in this role is pretty good.  He did well at bringing the cuteness in the enormous quantities required for the character, but when he does eventually have a serious moment, it's done well.  It doesn't feel forced or overly ridiculous like it could've been.

The sixth and final member of the club is Morinozuka Takashi (another tongue twister), known as "Mori", and he's played by Nakamura Masaya.  Mori is the stoic "man of few words", yet somehow he's one of my favorite characters.  I must say, kudos to Masaya, because he got simultaneously the easiest and the hardest parts in the whole drama.  Easiest because he doesn't have to say or do much, but hardest because he has to convey emotion and give the character believability with little to no dialogue or action.  That means it's pretty much all in facial expressions and body language, which are appropriately subdued and well communicated.  I was mostly indifferent to this character in the anime (mostly because I don't remember seeing much of him in the anime), but in the live action, I really like him.  Overall, Masaya did a very good job with what little he had to work with.

The last character really worth mentioning is Nekozawa Umehito (yet again, difficult to pronounce quickly) played by Ryo Ryusei.  Nekozawa isn't a member of the host club, but he gets enough attention in the drama that I can't not talk about him.  He's the creepy dude.  Nekozawa is the leader of the black-magic-ish club at Ouran, and thus is always dressed in a black cloak.  He's supposed to be rather intimidating and "scary", but mostly creepy.  Ryusei did a really good job with the whole creepy thing.  His voice was perfect and he had the right look to him to make people stare (as well they should).  All in all, well done and not too freaky for this drama.

Now, on to the writing.  This drama is a little different because the original writing is known as one of the better mangas ever written (at least in my opinion).  Of course the writing's good.  Even through an anime adaptation and a live action adaptation, it's still really good.  There are some things I didn't particularly jive with in the pacing of the story in the live action, but I can understand why they had to do what they had to do.  The anime had been cut down to 26 half-hour episodes from 83 volumes of the manga, and from that the live action was cut down to 11 half-hour episodes.  Thus a few issues in pacing are perfectly understandable.

Of course, now comes the obligatory warning section.  The only thing I feel I must mention before sending people to out to watch this is this; as I said before, Hikaru and Kaoru are homosexual.  They are incestuous homosexuals, which is even more uncomfortable for some people.  However, most people already know about the Hitachiin brothers and how...er...uncomfortable scenes with them can be.  If you don't already know, just be warned (it is FAR worse in the anime than the live action though; just saying).

On the flip side, if you don't already know, this drama has wonderfully goofy comedic moments and focuses heavily on the importance of family ties.  In the few serious moments this drama has, the message about family being the most important thing (along with a few other things...thank you, Tamaki) comes through loud and clear.

Overall, I really like this drama.  I've seen it several times and I'd watch it again in a heartbeat.  The goofiness, the ridiculousness, the quirkiness of it all is totally what draws me in.  Personally, I think if you're looking for a TV representation of the manga, go with the anime; but if you always wanted to see what the story would be like if it was live action, this drama is for you.