If you love mahjong, you're gonna love this!

First things first: if you don't know the game, I'd suggest you skip this. Honestly, chances are, you'll find it boring and/or simply incomprehensible.
BUT. If you play, know and love the game (the three things are interconnected: you can't play it if you don't know it, and you can't but love it if you know and play it), then you'll be able to understand all its intricacies. And you're just gonna love this drama! ^______^
The script is close to being perfect: the authors' love for mahjong transpires from every scene, the characters are written tridimensionally (quite a feat, given how they're stitting at a mahjong table the whole time!), and the "villains" are not so villainy after all, but rather opponents who could end up being friends under different circumstances (Harada is imho the kind of "villain" - again, quotation marks - that every writer would love to create!).
Although they also play several episodes by "house rules", those are still totally realistic or at least plausible, The moves, the strategies, the discards...all of them are realistically depicted, and as a player myself I'd almost always play exactly as the characters do, discarding the same tiles etc. - sign that it's well done (true, their discard-reading skills are sometimes a bit more than normal, but it's ok, seriously).
The cast did a marvelous job as a whole; just as in "Akagi" script and cast had gone hand in hand (unfortunately, in that case, being both lousy!), the same happened here, but in this case it meant that a great script was performed very well; kudos to all of them.
Some nice music, direction, editing and photography complete the package.
Perfect 10, as far as I'm concerned.

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I hope you will forgive the (by now, totally abused) pun, but this is the Nth case of a special...which was actually
*nothing special* at all! On the contrary, it was actually a *huge* let down, given how the original series, so brilliant as it was, had set of course the expectations bar pretty high. Unfortunately, it couldn't live up to that.
The script was but a pale shadow of what it used to be during the series: the once complex machinations became an idiotic and dull plan, and the once hilarious comedy relief scenes became ridiculous, embarrassing and not-funny-in-the-least moments; "cherry" on top, the usual (and oh-so-satisfying) final retribution to the villain lacked almost completely here.
The acting was also negatively influenced by the poor script, resulting in a barely ok performance.
The music is the only thing that remained at the top-notch level of the original series.
All in all, this doesn't bode well at all for the second season...>____<

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In my 15+ years of J-dramophilia, you can rest assured I've seen my fair share of dramas based on the "Inspiring Teacher" trope and all its variations...to the point that I had approached this "Kasuka na Kanojo" with a bit of skepticism (you know how it is, right? Those dreadful "hmmm....another one of those, huh?" moments, LOL).
But guys, believe me: to say that this drama has surpassed my expectations would be an utter understatement; it's been a tremendously brilliant watch that I thoroughly enjoyed from its very first minute to the very last!!!
Fabulously written (you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll think, you'll smile....the whole nine yards, seriously!) and so aptly acted by the whole cast! Hard to choose only three "special mentions" among this star-studded cast, but I'll go with Katori Shingo (I'm normally no big fan of former SMAP members' acting, but he's the exception to this personal rule: always superb imho! BRAVO!), Maya Miki (again, always absolutely marvelous!) and Yahagi Honoka (the junior cast was also very good as a whole, with some better than others though, and imvho she simply was the best of the lot).
To complete the package, a beautiful OST (I particularly enjoyed the ending credits samba!) and a very good production value.
Perfect 10, as far as I'm concerned! ^______^

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When I noticed that Odagiri Joe was in the cast of this "River's Edge Okawabata Tanteisha", I knew right away I was gonna be in for some quirkiness, LOL...and indeed, my expectations turned out to be accurate.
But it was a good type of quirkiness (heck, for the most part, the best type - more on that in a jiff), and it made the watch a very pleasant one.
The cast did very well, not only the leads (Odagiri as the weird detective, Ishibashi Renji as the old boss of the agency, and the voluptuos Koizumi Maya as the secretary providing, at the same time, comic relief and eye candy), but also the guest stars and supporting cast.
The music was, imho, the best part of the drama; opening and closing credits songs by the great EGO-WRAPPIN'...need I say more? ^____-
Direction, editing and photography were also very nice and contributed as well to the great atmosphere.
The only problem I have with this dorama is that, story-wise, not all episodes were at the same, tremendously high level; some were absolute masterpieces, seriously (I'll name #3, 6, 8, 11 and the first half of #10 - it's the only episode containing two different stories), but a coupla episodes were just so-and-so, and a coupla more were actually quite bad, imho. Had they avoided those, I might have given this a perfect 10. All things considered, it's more like a solid 8.5 though; not using half grades, I'll be generous and rate it a 9. ^___-

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This "Fukuoka Ren'Ai Hakusho 13 - Kimi no Sekai no Mukogawa" aka "Love Stories From Fukuoka 13 - Beyond Your World" was such a perfect little SP!!! It totally felt as the "Reader's Digest" or "CliffsNotes" version of my beloved "Kimi no Te ga Sasayaite Iru" though: five long special episodes there (basically, five movies), only a mere fifty minutes here...but the story is basically the same, and it was done with the same, marvelously delicate approach, and with an equally marvelous performance by the leads, both really brilliant (and let me add that Nao was such a great casting choice, being the fabulous actress she is!). Wholeheartedly recommended!

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Just as good, if not honestly even better, than the first one!

It doesn't happen too often that a second season (second installment, sequel or anything of that kind) ends up being just as good, if not honestly even better, than the first one. As a matter of fact, a lot more frequently it's just the other way around and the quality declines (more or less drastically, depending on the case) with time.
Luckily, though, there *are* exceptions, and this is exactly one of those, since "Yappari Oshii Keiji" was, imvho, even better than the original "Oshii Keiji".
Having twice the number of episodes as the original series might have had something to do with that feeling, since the tremendously good writer, Uda Manabu, had more room to have fun with continuity, inside jokes etc. etc....whatever the reason, it was a true viewing pleasure from the first to the last minute.
A great script with nicely intricate mystery plots and lots of seriously hilarious comedy, a very convincing performance by the whole cast (with particular praises for the brilliant Kazama Shunsuke, for the lovely Shiraishi Sei and - although she guest-starred only in one episode - for the simply wonderful Kurosaki Reina ^___-), a nice and catchy score, good direction and photography...well, what's not to like?
Perfect 10! ^___-

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Having watched all episodes of Keyakizaka/Sakurazaka/Hinatazaka's variety shows (and having started watching also Nogizaka's!), it was about time for me to finally try venturing into the other side of the idol groups' universe: the 48 groups! ^__^;
Why have I chosen NMB48, of all the gazillion 48 groups?
In all honesty, I was drawn by Watanabe Miyuki, whom I already knew for her photobooks.
And then, being a cat person, the leopard patch in their logo also caught my eye, I'll admit it, LOL!
Anyway, I can say I'm quite glad about the choice! ^__^
Googling a bit, I noticed they're, like, the only major female idol group not produced by the ubiquitous Aki-P, but rather by Yoshimoto (at least, so it was at the time of this show) and that explains the strong focus on comedy - something I particularly appreciated, given how I'm much more interested in the variety aspects of the idols' world, rather than in songs and choreographies...^_^;;;
The show itself is a quirky-and-funny mix of idol variety, sitcom, and comedy show. Ogiri, manzai, boke, tsukkomi...if you already know these terms, you'll know what to expect. If not, try watching it just the same, chances are you might like it. True, some parts are funnier than others, but the girls did a decent job overall, and some of them did very well indeed! (Honorable mentions for Ogasawara Mayu, Yamamoto Sayaka, Yamada Nana...but also Watanabe did well enough - she's a good "tennen"....and as gorgeous as they come! ^___^;;;
The music is ok, particularly the catchy OP song, "Mousou Girlfriend".
I'm gonna watch the two following seasons for sure! ^___-

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I'm normally wary of specials originating from a previous series, as in my experience, more often than not, they tend to be a complete let-down. It wasn't the case here, luckily! ^__^
Instead, this SP of "Zetsumeshi Road" managed to bring back on screen all the aspects that had made me give such a high grade to the original series: the ML's weird-but-deep hobby (searching for "endangered dishes" on the roads of Japan, sleeping in his car during his salaryman's short week-ends), some nice scenery from Japan's countryside, and last but not least, the portrayal of real restaurants with their real problems and the real stories of the people behind them.
Oh, and finally, my beloved Sakai Wakana got a little bit more screentime, as this SP focused on the theme "marriage" and most of all, on how to make it work. The "endangered restaurants" the ML visited this time (oh, yeah, two of them in this double-length SP, yay!) presented him with two possible (albeit quite different!) answers...and inspired him on how to mend things up with his wife.
Once again, the cherry on top is when they showed pics of the real restaurants' owners, alongside the actors who had portrayed them.
And once again, the fact they have left Kaburagi's subplot hanging prevented me from giving this a "perfect 10", just as for the original drama, LOL! I promise that if they ever make another SP wrapping that up nicely too, I'm gonna correct their grades right away! Until then, it's another (very) solid "9"...^___^

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I had really loved Ohara Sakurako in the tremendously original drama "Bishonure Tantei Mizuno Hagoromo", and that's what made me watch this "Tsumari Suki tte iitai n Dakedo"...although, in all fairness, I must admit that, except for the FL, I didn't have many expectations...if any at all!
I honestly thought I was gonna drop it after one or two episodes, annoyed as I was probably gonna be by the Nth "romance" (or how I actually call it, "what passes for romance these days", ehm...) drama with the Nth "cold/arrogant male lead" (which, sorry to sound so harsh, I interpret, more often than not, as "the ML couldn't show an emotion even if his life depended on it, so they had to write his character like that", LOL)...but man, was I wrong!!! ^__^;;;
The truth is, this little drama got a beautifully written script, with a nice message, the proper amount of romance (please note, no quotation marks this time!) and comedy (some of the comic relief scenes were honestly hilarious!), with wholesome, clean characters and an extremely interesting "behind the scenes" look at the acting world...and in addition to all that, the drama manages to shine also thanks to the very convincing performances by the whole cast (BRAVO, everybody!), and last but not least to some nice music.

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It was pretty obvious, for me, to compare this "Alibi Kuzushi Uketamawarimasu" with the dorama "Pure" which had come out only a few months before, given how they both share the same FL (Hamabe Minami), they both have, as MLs, what I'd call "members of the endangered species of really good male actors" (Higashide Masahiro there, Yasuda Ken here) and on top of that they also share the very same genre (Mystery/Investigation with a quirky premise and - at least theoretically - lots of comedy).
But whereas I had quite liked "Pure", I'm not gonna be able to give this the passing grade, sorry.
Apart from a coupla episodes, the mystery plots weren't really interesting nor very well done; the characters felt horribly bidimensional and neither particularly endearing nor actually that funny (imho the comic relief moments in this were only weird, without being at the same time hilarious, as it had been the case in "Pure"); despite having a pretty remarkable cast (with also Narita Ryo and Emoto Tokio in supporting roles), the actors couldn't shine, due to the dull script they had to work with; direction and photography were okay, and the music pretty good, but that's way too little to get anything more than a five, at least from me.

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First SP of the so called "Moon Trilogy" by Kitagawa Eriko (followed by "Tsuki ni Iku Fune" and "Mittsu no Tsuki" - but don't worry, the three specials are only linked by the "Moon" in the title, by the rural setting, and by the same ML, Tanihara Shosuke), it proves once again what a fantastic screenwriter Kitagawa-sensei is!
It's a bit hard to explain why this SP is so good, without giving away any detail, but that'd be a real pity 'cause it'd rob you of the lovely experience of finding out by yourselves...so let's just say that it's a romantic but at the same time realistic tale, set in a beautiful rural scenery and graced by an extremely good performance by Tokiwa Takako and by some nice music on top of that.
(Of course, if your ideal of "romantic" story is something like "rich and arrogant CEO with a Ferrari + young and naive secretary with long eyelashes", you might disagree...)

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The idol group Hinatazaka46 (previously known as Hiragana Keyakizaka46) had already participated in two seasons of "KeyaBingo", namely the third and fourth one (the third one was thought as a challenge between "Kanji" and "Hiragana", but despite the interesting premise, it turned out quite "meh": whereas the fourth one, all-Hiragana, had been a lot better, imho).
Having changed their name (and separated from the sister group), the Hinatazaka46 girls got their own "Bingo", of which this was the first season.
Except for the V-tubers episode (which, personally, I think nobody older than 10 will find enjoyable, LOL), it was a solid variety show, the cherry-on-top of which was the new MC: I must confess I didn't know Koyabu Kazutoyo at all, so at first I was taken aback by his gruff, borderline rude approach...but it didn't take me long to realize that, behind that curt façade, there's a very nice person - he honestly reminded me a lot of my old Latin & Ancient Greek high school teacher, back at the end of the 80s / beginning of the 90s: he always acted all tough and grumpy, but he had a really great heart and we all missed him dearly, after we graduated!)

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I could basically copy&paste the review I had written for the previous "season" (that is, "Arimura Kasumi no Satsukyu"), as this sequel is just as good as that one, having the same pros (many: a lovely script, some very good acting, a beautiful soundtrack, etc.) and the same cons (actually, only one, and quite minor, at that: not all the episodes are equally good - but then again, that's perfectly normal!).
I've noticed that the next sequel, "Kamiki Ryunosuke no Satsukyu", is coming soon, and I'm looking forward to watching that one as well - and while we're at it, if then they feel like continuing with another season, please allow me to hope for a "Morikawa Aoi / Fukuhara Haruka / Ohara Sakurako / Okada Yui no Satsukyu" (any of those four would make my day! ^___-)

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A coupla months ago, while reviewing the first two seasons of "KeyaBingo", I wrote that I wasn't gonna become an "idol wota" any time soon...well, in all honesty (and upon watching not only the other two seasons of that variety show, but also over 120 episodes of "Keyakitte, Kakenai?" and the whole 50 episodes of this "Hiragana Oshi"!), I suppose I should pretty much take those words back, LOL...^_^;;;
Although I still find the idols' "core business" (pop music and choreographies) unappealing (so much so that I won't hide the fact that, with very few exceptions, whenever they showed a song's performance at the end of the episodes, I'd just fast forward it, sorry), I'll still admit that these idols' variety shows are, a) pretty well done, and b) obviously quite addictive!
The MCs are to be praised (BTW: Tsuchida, Sawabe, Wakabayashi, Kasuga...all from Saitama! Does that prefecture produce a particularly high percentage of comedians, or is this a mere coincidence? >__<), but so are the authors who mostly kept the things interesting and lively, and last but certainly not least so are the girls themselves, many of whom are indeed quite talented.
BTW, whereas with the "Kanji Keyaki" I really liked a few of the members but at the same time really disliked some of the rest (from whom I kept getting some really evil vibes) and overall the group's dark aura, with these "Hiragana/Hinatazaka" I'll have to say they seem all nice to me, and the group's aura feels also much more uplifting and sunnier (no surprise their fans are called "ohisama", LOL). All imho so please take no offense if you happen to think otherwise...^__-

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Another SP that is...nothing special!

And here I am, once again commenting on a SP episode with the (by now, I'll admit, a bit trite) pun "another SP that is...nothing special!" ^_^;;;
The premise seemed like it could be developed into one of those quirky comedies Japan is quite good at, but imho what we have here is just a load of quirkiness without anything else, so it ends up being weird but neither funny nor particularly entertaining.
The fault lies with the script, which feels both tremendously shallow and terribly incomplete (things happens without the least explanation, the story is totally unresolved, the very quirkiness of the FL doesn't get a background story, we're just supposed to accept that she behaves like a robot without ever getting to know *why*!)
Takahata Mitsuki is beautiful and also a good actress, but here the lousy script compells her not to show the least emotion for, like 95% of the story - only in the final scene, when her character is finally allowed to open up, can she show her (remarkable) acting skills! Such a waste of her talent....T____T
Last note about the food: way too simple and unappealing.
4/10 (and I feel like I'm being generous! >__<)

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