Aaaaaah, I messed up the viewing order and watched this movie before watching the end of the series. I didn't realize that it took place after the drama finale. Oh well. Maybe it's good so because the movie was centered around the Go-Busters for logical reasons since they were the 36th Sentais. Oh well... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I loved seeing the pirates "go dark" and fight the Go-Busters and to discover what happened to them, what forced them to switch sides and join the Zangyacks. I think that thanks to that, watching the drama finale won't feel like an ending but just another step on a much, much longer journey.

Also, I loved that they didn't miss protecting Earth at all. They were like, yeah, yeah, we will fight along with you but this is your piece of rock and not our damn business. It hammered home the point that the crew - except for Gai, that is - were actual aliens! They were used to planet hopping and space battles and grand adventures. When they came to Earth, they were suddenly stuck here, protecting this backwater planet. So leaving it didn't mean the end of an era for them like for many other Sentais, it meant finally being free again, going back to big space adventures and treasure hunting. So... the ending of the drama shouldn't be seen as sad but joyous. For the crew, at least, that is.

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This was once again... well, something. Definitely something. I guess the whole Gintama concept is an acquired taste but I have to admit that the humor isn't for me. I only watched Yoshizawa Ryo's scenes and everything else I whooshed through at 3x speed. It was simply too cringey.

But Yoshizawa Ryo's Okita Sougo was... wow. He was amazing here. And his fight with the traitors was just about perfect, especially once Kagura joined in. The way they fought side by side and around each other like they were used to it, so perfectly in sync. That was so cool!

I must say I didn't recognize Miura Haruma - *heart-clench again* - as Ito. True, I've only seen one drama of his so far but I really didn't recognize him. He looked so different, wow.

To sum it up, movie #2 was miles better than #1, mainly because of the much bigger involvement of the Shinsengumi in general and of Sougo in particular. Still, I'm not sure I'll ever re-watch it, bar Ryo's scenes, of course. Those are really worth re-watching!

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Choi Woo Shik is honestly the cutest. And such an amazing actor! I think my favorite moments in this drama were his "quirky" reactions to pretty much anything. But the best part? Woong and his parents. There was so much love and affection and respect and I think theirs was the best family dynamic I've seen in a long time.

I must admit, though, that I liked the first half of this drama better than the second one. IMO, it was funnier and it kept me on the edge of my seat, the push and pull between Woong and Yeon Soo, the will they won't they was polished to perfection. Once they got together, though, it just... lost something. It was still very good, don't get me wrong, and the actors were keeping the standard high but some of the, well, spark was gone.

Some of my favorite moments were when Woong was sick and laid his head in his mother's lap. Or when she and Woong talked about Woong knowing about his past at the end. Or the genuine care that Woong showed to Ji Woong when Ji Woong was sick. Or... well, like I said, pretty much all Choi Woo Shik's scenes, what can I say. He's a truly marvelous actor!

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At first, I wasn’t entirely sure if this drama would be for me. The main heroine, Sayaka, was really pathetic. I don’t like saying things like that and especially about women but she really was. She let her ex-fiancé treat her like dirt and it was painful to watch. But then I realized that, similar to Please Love the Useless Me, this was a drama about the journey to self-discovery. And in that way, it didn’t disappoint.

One of the things I loved most was Sayaka’s relationship with her boss, which was entirely platonic, but their friendship was simply amazing, the way he supported her, guided her and trusted her, it was perfect.

Another thing I loved was that Yuichi, Sayaka’s love interest, had a story of his own. He wasn’t just Sayaka’s plus-one. When it came to his arc, I loved the exploration of his relationship with his dad best. Because the man seemed so cold and ruthless - but he adored his son and he was only so harsh because he didn’t want his son to go through the same hardships that he went through.

My favorite moments happened in the finale. When Sayaka faced Yuichi’s father and he told her how it was, without mincing his words. Gosh, when he told her that Yuichi was simply too kind to succeed in the merciless world of business… Or when Sayaka’s boss fought for her and Yuichi’s happiness, first telling Yuichi that he could do it, that he could start his own company and succeed if he tried hard enough which was what Yuichi needed to hear, then telling Sayaka that as a freelance writer, she could work from anywhere and that as long as she wrote good articles he would keep on her staff her but Yuichi needed to be in India which was what Sayaka needed to hear.

Overall, it was a wonderful drama. And actually informative with all the info about fashion!

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Tomodachi Game or Friends Game is a very short drama, only 4 eps 20+ min. each, and it has an open ending because there are 2 movie sequels. Nothing much happens in this drama and you really have to suspend your disbelief a lot but...

Holy smokes is it suspenseful! And the suspense doesn't result from heavy action or a bloody massacre but from a very simple question: Can you trust your friends?

The setting is simple: Five friends are set up to play a game. If them win, they can go back to their everyday high school life. But should they lose, they will have to shoulder a 200 mil. yen debt. Winning is easy - if you can trust your friends not to betray you. But money is... money and their initial trust quickly starts to crumble.

Yoshizawa Ryo absolutely slays it as the lead, Katakiri Yuichi. Not only is he insanely pretty - like GOODNESS GRACIOUS pretty - he carries the whole drama because we watch it from his POV, he's the only one we can be sure of.

This drama also features Yamada Yuki. Playing a genius student, the top of the class. Heh!

The drama shows only the set-up and the first game, though, and to settle the debt, the five friends have to pass - and win - three games. Thus the open ending. I guess the first sequel features the first game and the second movie the second one? Probably? Anyhoo, it's better to have both movies handy because the drama ends on a cliffhanger.

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Well, that was... a lot of bodies. Dystopian future this might've been but the similarities with the actual situation of today were chilling.

The main draw for me was the relationship between Kang Yo Han & Kim Ga On, of course. No wonder the actors won the "bromance of the year" award. And honestly... even without my slashy glasses on, theirs was not a simple bromance. It was all in the looks, in Yo Han's gestures... when he ran his hand along the back of Ga On's seat at the end... yeah.

Also, I didn't feel one iota sorry for Jung Sun Ah. Hers was an easy way out in the end, she deserved a much harsher punishment for all the people she destroyed along her mad rush for money and power. The president and his cohorts and their wives were disgusting and they were presented as such but that the drama tried to make me feel sympathy for her? Nah. You failed. Being an abuse victim didn't give her the right to trample all over other people. I can understand and sympathize with people who do stuff for revenge - but with those who do it for money and power? No. Just no.

Overall, one of the most unusual dramas I've ever seen, a real experience.

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This was awesome, the perfect drama for Xmas time: funny, sweet, romantic, intriguing, the whole package. I admit, my main interest in this was Rowoon as Jung Ji Woon but I was also glad to discover Choi Byung Chan and through him Victon! Nice!

My favorite thing was that for a big part of this drama, many of the characters actually really thought that Lee Hwi was a man. Jung Ji Woon when he fell in love with her among them. After some initial bi panic, he just went with it. Or Shin So Eun, when she realized that Ji Woon was in love with the king - there was no horror or disgust, she was just sad that he loved another. The overall reaction was mostly "you love someone else, not me" and not "you love a man" which honestly hit the right spot with me.

Also, poor Ji Woon's father, a killer that he was, mind you. The crisis that he went through, just imagine it. First, he finds out that his son is the king's beloved - a shock in itself - followed by the fact that his son is the king's beloved! What must've gone through his head... "Either my son is into men... or I made a serious blunder 10 years ago!" Ha!

Wonderful drama. It really, truly hit the right spot. Lovely...

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This one was only so-so. It really didn't click for me, not even Satoh Takeru as Koyuki could save it.

The thing is, except for Koyuki and his drummer friend, Saku, I kinda didn't like anyone in this movie much. Or not at all, really, especially the lead, Ryusuke. His arrogant behavior, his endless issues, the way he treated his band members and kept causing trouble without even apologizing, it honestly rankled. When a character gets punched and you cheer it's obvious that you and said character really didn't hit it off.

Also, I saw many people complain that Koyuki's singing voice was muted, that we never actually heard him sing, that we only ever saw people's reaction to hearing him sing but from what I understand, in the manga, his voice is mesmerizing, magical, angelic and whatnot and like the director said, no matter who would've sung the part, people would've been disappointed because the bar the manga set was so high. That's why I think it was wise to not even try to match the standard and just leave it to people's imagination.

But... yeah. Overall, I was disappointed. The movie was way too long (it's almost 2.5 hrs. long!), the writing was all over the place and the acting also left much to be desired.

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A very short movie - only 72 mins. long - about two gay lovers, Ootani and Tachibana, who have been together since high school, and their little bout of jealousy, brought up by their old female high school friend entering the picture again after many years.

That's pretty much it. Basically, a slice of life story about an old and never resolved misunderstanding. There's nothing deep or, I don't know, groundbreaking about it, it's just a sweet little bit of a story. But it's true that their little necking at the end was hot. It really felt like they were longtime lovers, familiar with each other in the most intimate way.

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This movie was really, really good! And Satoh Takeru was absolutely mesmerizing as Aki. Aki's depression and his disgust with the whole music industry in general and with their manager in particular, the change in his outlook at life after meeting Riko and then his fall back into depression after the manager forced him to choose between his happiness and Riko's career... Satoh Takeru was so good!

I think my favorite moments were the ones between Aki and Riko, and then between Aki and Shun. When Riko, a high school student, promised to take care of Aki after Aki fell apart in front of her... And Shun, so worried about Aki, prompting Aki to do what was best for him first, even if it meant leaving the country and them, their old friends, behind... That was so lovely!

But I have to say, if this tiny glimpse behind the scenes was even remotely close to what's really happening in the entertainment industry in Japan every day then... yeah, no. I would never even dip my toe into such a cesspool, thank you very much. The manager's behavior gave me honestly the creeps!

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This movie really embodies the saying "Divided we fall." If they had only listened to Cobra from the beginning, when he tried to tell them that they needed to work together against an outside threat. But no, they knew better. Well, all of them but Murayama, of course, who is so smitten with Cobra that he would agree to anything he said, so.

What really hurt was when a part of the Hoodlum Squad - his own people for whom he fought and bled in the past! - turned against Cobra, too. Not that I didn't get Tetsu's desire to help his father but he, his father, the others they were making a deal with the devil and after everything they'd been through in the past, I didn't understand how and why they even trusted Kuryu. Kuryu's henchmen literally murdered people to get what they wanted, how could've Tetsu believed that his dad would win anything in this equation?

(And considering what happens to Cobra in the next movie, it hurt even more because if only his people trusted him...)

But really, Cobra has guts! Like, holy smokes! But he's also wise and not easily provoked. I loved how he kept coming to Rocky, again and again, to change his mind. And when Rocky insisted on this doomed exercise of his, Cobra still told him that, alright, but if Rocky needed help to just let him know. And then he came to Rocky's help, after all, even unasked. I love that Cobra doesn't let his ego get in the way, that's a really fantastic thing in today's entertainment industry's obsession with overblown macho-ism.

Also, Murayama! He is really head over heels for Cobra, isn't he? Like, he doesn't even try to hide it. When he went to Hyuga and fought him to make him join Cobra's plan! Cobra didn't even ask him to do it, he did it on his own initiative, for Cobra. If there's any romance at all in this franchise, it's definitely Murayama's one-sided smittenness with Cobra.

Another thing I loved? That more Exile members - and 3JSB members in particular! - joined the cast! It's so much fun watching them all punch each other's daylights out! Ha!

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And another Jdrama where the power of friendship saves the day and its message is that you're never wrong believing in people and trusting them. Even when they betray you, you haven't been wrong believing in them because their betrayal was their choice, you did nothing wrong.

Also, another drama featuring the Exile Tribe members. In abundance!

The series was so sweet and funny and cute, though it did have its cringe-worthy moments - their battle cry of Who Are You?! was, well, yeah... just like their heart-to-heart moments during the battle at the end - and the humor was sometimes rather juvenile - it is a drama about 7 guys, so - but overall, I loved it!

I loved that all the main characters were thoroughly fleshed out, every single one of them - like Pii-chan who let his wife buy all kinds of stupid stuff online (which came surprisingly handy during their escapades) because they couldn't have kids, or Mikki who took care of his grandma with Alzheimer, or Choko who lost his parents as a kid (for which he blamed himself) and since then had no regard for his own life - that it didn't feel like they were just extras to Kiibo's main hero. Every one of them felt alive, if you know what I mean?

My main reason for watching it was, of course, Iwata Takanori, who was simply awesome here and his character had so much depth! I loved it!

Also, there was this one particular tune that was just so cool! I fell in loved with it!

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I know that this was the last movie released but since I knew that, sure, it would be poetic but also dark and depressing - or at the very least sad - I decided to watch it before The Final because I didn't want to end my Rurouni Kenshin watch on a sad note. Ergo.

And it was truly amazing, like all the other Kenshin movies. And also very necessary, at least for me personally, to see what Kenshin was like before, while he was still a killer, how bad it was for him, what a toll it took on him. It was necessary if I wanted to truly grasp why he stopped killing and why he would never do it again, even when doing so would seem reasonable or justified. The contrast between the Kenshin before and the Kenshin later on is staggering.

The love story was heart-wrenching. On both sides, Kenshin's and Tomoe's too. Because they truly fell in love even though they never planned to. His heartbreak, her need to protect him at all cost... Yes, I cried.

I've seen complaints that there weren't enough fights or whatnot but from my point of view, it was very well balanced, the character driven story and all the killing. I think that if there were more of it, it would've become cartoonish because, well, sword fights are very bloody. So.

Only one movie left now...

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This special wraps up the drama and sets up the upcoming movie, The Hound of the Baskervilles, that should air at some point next year.

In the special, we find out what happened after Shishio and Moriya's henchman fell off the pier and disappeared, how Wakamiya - with the help of a female journalist - tried to find Shishio by digging up his old cases, so it's pretty much a clip show, true, but the added bits, esp. the scenes where Wakamiya meets up with all the people he and Shishio helped... those really tugged at my heart.

Mostly because Iwata Takanori is an amazing actor and here, he's just... Usually, Watson is portrayed as a good-natured, well, fool - a bit, let's face it - a round-bellied everyman's man. But Wakamiya is, uhm. He's kind, that's true, but he also has anger issues and unlike in other adaptations, he's the much less grounded one of the two. And I truly have to applaud the costume department here because they kept sticking Wakamiya in oversized sweaters with sweater paws which made him look even slighter - I noticed that Iwata Takanori looked very thin in this drama, especially next to Fujioka Dean's Shishio which, strangely, fit the dynamics of this Holmes and this Watson pair perfectly.

Also, the fact that this drama did not in any way or shape or form debunk that Wakamiya had feelings for Shishio? That was *chef's kiss* As in, after Shishio's "death", in his blog, Wakamiya wrote about the loss of a "loved one" and when their landlady went all, "Oh, I knew you were in that kind of a relationship!" Wakamiya didn't go all, "You got it wrong" or whatever, he just started talking about something else, so... You know.

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A story about a disabled person who finds love and gets his happy ending? A sight unseen! But lo and behold, it really does happen in this movie. I'm kinda not used to this!

Iwata Takanori plays the male lead and he's ah-mazing. He's one of those actors who, when they smile, you can hear angels singing. I'm exaggerating, I know, but seriously, there's simply something about him smiling that gives you warm fuzzies. And in this movie, he's the embodiment of sunshine and unicorns: warm, kind, loving, sweet... That's why his character's story, the obstacles he has to overcome and all these little frustrations that he meets every day, all that hits you where it truly hurts.

And then there's Sugisaka Hana as the female lead and she's as cute as a button and the way her character sticks with the ML, the way she supports him and goes through all the hardships together with him because for her, it's all worth it, he is worth it... yeah. I bawled.

If you love whump there's some really good one in this movie, too!

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