プライド – Pride

Cast:
Kimura Takuya as Satonaka Halu
Takeuchi Yuko as Murase Aki
Sakaguchi Kenji as Hotta Yamato
Ichikawa Somegoro as Ikegawa Tomonori
Nakagoshi Noriko as Aizawa Yuri
Ishida Yuriko as Yoko
Sato Koichi as Hyodo Yuichiro
Mizukawa Asami (ep4)

Genre:
Sports, Romance, Drama

Plot:
Aki is a typical Japanese office worker who has been waiting for her boyfriend for two years now. He went overseas and has not contacted her yet, but they have a promise between them to meet again. Not breaking her promise, she has been waiting for him still, but inside she is already starting to give up, however she uses this as an excuse not to meet other guys.

One day her friends take her to a hockey game and also the celebration party afterwards at the bar. The star player of the team, Halu, creates an incident on purpose to try and get to her. It works. Because Halu never takes women seriously and Aki also has a boyfriend overseas, the two set the rules of their relationship as that of a game.

What happens when they learn more about each other and start to fall for each other? What is Halu so afraid of? What happens when Aki’s boyfriend finally returns home?

This is a drama about the hockey player members and their bond of friendship through thick and thin. This is also a story about true love and the struggles of regular people with insecurities and friendship.

Here is a picture of Takeuchi Yuko from around the time this drama was made.

Review:
First off, I’ve been off of drama for quite some time now, but I’ve finally found some time to watch a bit. I never would have imagined that I would watch this old drama.

I never even knew that this drama existed until recently. It’s funny because I actually watched Flash Forward first, at my brother’s recommendation, and the Japanese actress, Takeuchi Yuko, just struck out to me. Even though she only had a few scenes in one episode, I became interested and searched up if she had any other drama works.

I have to say that, although this isn’t the most interesting drama I’ve ever watched, it does touch many humanistic elements and also a more realistic look on the way people interact with each other and the dynamics of friendship. There is great character development, not just between the main characters, but all of the supporting cast as well. I really enjoyed Yuko’s performance. She has a very homely look and a very nice smile. Aki and Halu do have great chemistry on screen as well. I really loved the character she portrayed. She was not a weak person, but she is human, and her emotions were very clearly portrayed through her acting. She also has a selfless side and a caring personality which she pulled off very nicely with a little bit of humor and attitude.

I don’t much about hockey but it did seem they did make an effort to have the actors actually practice hockey since the scenes did not look fake. The choice of filming locations was pretty limited, but at the same time there wasn’t much more they could have done, as the story line did not involve too many locations. The plot was pretty cliche and confining, but I still was able to finish the drama without getting angry at the writers.

I would recommend this drama to anyone who likes to watch dramas where the relationship develops slowly over time and also a lot of character depth in all the side characters as well.

Rating:
3.9/5.0

Read Full Post »

ゴッドハンド輝 – God Hand Teru

Cast:
Hiraoka Yuta as Mahigashi Teru
Mizukawa Asami as Shinomiya Kozue
Murakawa Eri as Sakura Ayano
Terawaki Yasufumi as Kosuke
Kaname Jun as Shinomiya Ren
Kobayashi Takashi as Kataoka Mitsugu
Bessho Tetsuya as Kitami Shuichi
Watabe Atsuro as Yasuda Junji

Genre:
Medical Drama

Plot:
Mahigashu Teru seems like a clumsy doctor from the outside, but his devotion and dedication to his patients is second to none. Many years ago, Teru’s father, a reknown surgeon known for his Godlike surgical operations, died after saving Teru in the aftermath of an airplane accident. It seemed that his father’s Godlike abilities were passed on to Teru during the accident. Whenever a patient around Teru is in critical condition, he is suddenly taken over by his Godhand and saves the patient, no matter how difficult the operation is.

When Teru first arrives at the hospital, the other doctors scorn his clumsiness and look down upon him, but over time, they come to acknowledge his Godlike skill and also his dedication as a doctor to every patient. One of these other doctors is Shinomiya Kozue, the daughter of the Shieikai group, an extremely powerful medical family. Her true goal was to find the perfect art form of surgery, but little does she know that Teru’s attitude toward his patients slowly rubs off on her.

What will happen when an old doctor from the hospital director, Junji’s, past comes back and begin to destroy the hospital? What if Shinomiya Kozue’s brother was also involved? Will Kozue become a true doctor? Will Teru finally experience the first death of a patient in his time as a doctor intern?

Review:
Sorry everyone for the bad summary, but you do get the gist of the drama. I have to say I haven’t loved a medical drama so much since Surgeon Bong Dal Hee. The scenes of the doctors in surgery do have little variation, however, the director really knows how to create that operating room tension.

All the actors and actresses did a really great job in this drama. I can’t really rate their individual performances since they all seemed to meld together into one great production. I am really sad that they only decided to make this a six episode series. I would not have minded watching 5 more and seeing Shinomiya Kozue finally get together with Dr. Teru. I really like the idea behind the story. I have not read the manga but I really think that the drama would do well to end at the point where Teru no longer needs his Godhand but instead becomes the Godhand. I loved all the different cases that Teru experienced. Although the hospital buyout and all the stuff about doctors working for money only was a bit exaggerated, I think it really helped build the tension in the drama.

I think Mizukawa Asami is a beautiful actress. Even though this drama didn’t really giver her a chance to really stretch any acting abilities, I think she did alright for her character. The actor playing Teru really fit the role. Great choice.

Rating:
4.9/5.0

Video Links Streaming:
Godhand Teru Episode 1 (ENG SUB)
Godhand Teru Episode 2 (ENG SUB)
Godhand Teru Episode 3 (ENG SUB)
Godhand Teru Episode 4 (ENG SUB)
Godhand Teru Episode 5 (ENG SUB)
Godhand Teru Episode 6 Final (ENG SUB)

Enjoy!

Read Full Post »