Lucky Seven (Japan, 2012, Mystery)

http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Lucky_Seven

Lucky Seven is a typical mystery drama about a team of private investigators doing everything in their power to help people.  Most episodes involve simple, heart-warming investigations where the detectives prioritize improving the lives of their clients over making money.  A deeper mystery, hinted at throughout but fully explored in the final two episodes, carries most of the series intensity and helps the series end strong.

In Lucky Seven, MatsuJun plays an unmotivated, womanizing Freeter.  A series of events finds him chasing down Eita's character, which leads him to the Lucky Detective Agency, owned by Matsushima Nanako.  The president is so impressed that MatsuJun was able to tail Eita, her best detective, that she hires him on the spot.  MatsuJun spends the remainder of the series helping people, fighting with his quirky detective colleagues, learning the tricks of the trade, and developing really, really (really, really, really, really) awesome fighting skills.

Pros:

• A super-strong all-star cast: MatsuJun (Hana Yori Dango), Eita (Voice), Matsushima Nanako (Majo no Jouken), Naka Riisa (Ninkyo Helper)...(and others who have super-strong credits, but I just don't <3 them as much...)
• MatsuJun's hair--it's not super permy!
• The fight choreography is really well done.  It was definitely the strongest part of the series.
• Entertaining infiltration scenes--not on the same level as Yukan Club, but they're the next best thing.
• MatsuJun and Eita's as action stars.  They clearly did some serious training for these roles.  
• Koyama Keiichiro as a papa.  It's a minor role, but he's perfect for it.  All young dads should look like him.
• Did I mention the fight choreography?
• A MatsuJun vs. Eita + Cage Match?...Yes, please. ^_________^

Cons:

• MatsuJun's hair--it's not super permy!  (Yes, I also put it as a "pro", but perm-free MatsuJun takes some time getting used to...)
• A few of the conversation scenes get unnecessarily warm and sentimental, killing the momentum of the episode.
• Their detective logic can be overly simple.  This is far from a brain-teaser mystery.
• Eita + Mustach = Cringeworthy

Ghost, Episodes 1 and 2

I finally decided to start on the Korean drama "Ghost", which aired this summer. At first glance, the title of it can be deceiving - someone would think that it would be about ghosts (of course).

I watched the first two episodes, and from now on, I will try to give an episode-by-episode update. But here is a basic summary:

SPOILERS AHEAD ^_^

It starts off with the supposed suicide of an up-and-coming actress named Shin Hyo Jung, who jumps out of her apartment window. It is assumed that she committed suicide because she was involved in a sex scandal and basically couldn't take the talk and rumors anymore. Prior to jumping out of her window, she had also Tweeted that she was going to die anyway.

Our lead male is Kim Woo Hyun (played by actor So Ji Sub), team leader of the cyber investigation squad. We see his team try to take down illegal gambling sites, but as they try to save the data stored on the computers, a notorious hacker called Hades beats them to it and causes all the servers to self-destruct, destroying the evidence. Here's our antagonist.

Our female lead is Yoo Kang Mi (played by Lee Yeon Hee). She is also a member of the cyber investigation team. I think her role is to be a super beauty, but to be kick-ass and super intelligent. Well, she doesn't really seem super intelligent (not like our hacker, who is a ghost behind the computer... hence the title ^^;), but she doesn't seem dumb at all.

Anyway, the police are being quick to rule the actress's death a suicide. I mean, the girl jumped out the window. But our friend Hades posts a clip to the city's video board that shows the actress being pushed out the window by a guy. So.... The assumption of it being a suicide is squished pretty quickly. But since Hades put up the video, then Hades ALSO must be the killer...

The cyber investigation team analyzes the clip and concludes that it has not been edited or tampered with. They see a reflection in the window, and after increasing the quality of it, creating an outline of the face, and then trying to find a match.... They find a match. His name is Park Ki Young (played by Daniel Choi), and he apparently went to the same police academy as Woo Hyun. They were roommates, but he dropped out. So, he becomes Top Suspect #1.

Ki Young runs into Kang Mi after infiltrating the police department (he was trying to find the actress's laptop to find a certain clip), and he swears to her that he didn't kill her. He confirms that he is Hades, but he didn't kill her. He had hacked into her laptop in order to find a file called Phantom. He received an email that said that if he found it, then he would be rewarded (money, I think).

Kang Mi doesn't believe him, but allows him to find the clip in front of her. He finds the Phantom file in a file called "36.avi". The actress used steganography to hide the file... hiding a message in another file or writing. So, Ki Young finds it and extracts it. They expected to find a list of sexual favors or clients or something to do with the sex scandal... but he finds another video.

We find out later that the video is of a man being poisoned and killed. And then men around him are just watching. One of them stands up. It's our main guy... WOO HYUN.

O_O So our main guy who's supposed to be a good guy is actually a bad guy??? *mind blown*

Anyway, Woo Hyun and Ki Young meet at a factory to discuss this. Ki Young chews out Woo Hyun, asking what he was doing just sitting there and watching the man die. Woo Hyun basically says he regrets it and wants to turn things around. He tells Ki Young to go and leave the country and live peacefully, because if he sticks around, he'd be charged for murder. *cue bromance*

The rest of the police figure out that Ki Young is with Woo Hyun, so they head to the factory.... only to see it get blown up. Oh no! One body is totally charred and completely dead, the other is still.... really ugly, but hey, he's moving and alive! So they rush him to the hospital.

At the hospital, they identify him as Woo Hyun, by his ID. His body is so deformed, that they can only go by the ID. However......

Back at the police station, Kang Mi sees Woo Hyun's badge by his computer. Then she remembers Ki Young wearing his own fake badge, with the name "Kim Woo Hyun"....

O_O....

Kang Mi goes to confirm that the Woo Hyun at the hospital is actually Ki Young (much to the resentment of the disgruntled nurse, who says to leave the patient alone because he needs to be stable). She takes his fingerprints. Tries to match it up with Woo Hyun's.... and it's negative. That patient is NOT Woo Hyun.

So Kang Mi freaks out and asks Ki Young/Woo Hyun all these questions, and he basically says that someone else was in that factory. He tried to kill him. And that Woo Hyun wanted to change everything around. And after thinking about it, Kang Mi decides to help him.

After a few scenes of Kang Mi sneaking around, switching dental files, and disguising herself as someone working on Woo Hyun's autopsy, it is confirmed that the charred dead body IS Ki Young. And the patient in the hospital is team leader Woo Hyun. The identity of Woo Hyun lives.

But that's not all. Ki Young/Woo Hyun's body has been discombobulated in such as way that extensive surgery and rehabilitation is needed. It really is a miracle that he lived. A year passes by, and we see a man at "Ki Young"'s grave.

It's the real Ki Young. With - after extensive surgeries - the face of the late Woo Hyun. Ki Young lives with Woo Hyun's identity and, with Kang Mi's help, swears to find the killer that did this to them.

I am extremely pleased with how this drama starts off.  It's intense and suspenseful.  And I can't believe all the things that happened in the first two episodes. I haven't really come across a Korean suspense drama that really sucks you in so quickly.  It had me yelling at my computer.  It had me have that feeling of "OMG what's going to happen next??", which I hadn't felt since Bloody Monday or Maou.

I'm just worried about 2 things:  1.)  It'll end up stupid (like some unnecessary romance or political inter-department drama), or 2.)  They won't be able to keep up this pace for 20 episodes.

But for now I am very pleased, and I can't wait to watch the rest of this series!

Kagi no Kakatta Heya (Japan, 2012, Mystery)

My first post! ^_^  Kaki no Kakatta Heya translates to "The Locked Room Murders", and it is about a security guy obsessed with locks who helps two lawyers solve "locked room" murders.  These cases seem impossible for a murder to take place and would instead be considered suicide if it weren't for these lawyers consulting this genius weird guy.  This drama is episodic, with each episode being a different mystery (except for the last two episodes, which is one big mystery, but that type of formula is pretty standard for mystery dramas).

Ohno from J-pop group Arashi is in this drama, and it's the first drama I've seen him in since "Maou".  He looks very good for his age, even though he's just in his early 30's.  It was quite entertaining for me to see him with his awesome lack-of-facial expression while playing the lock-obsessed genius weirdo.  He was exactly like this in "Maou" too, which kind of added to his creepiness because you (as the viewer) can't really tell what he's thinking.

Toda Erika is one of the lawyers that helps out with the cases.  I like her as an actress - I tend to not really like the characters she plays though.  She's always had that innocent girl-next-door look, which kind of type-casts her to innocent girl/kind-of-dumb roles ("Liar Game", anyone?).  She wasn't quite ditzy/dumb in this drama (of course not, she's a lawyer), but some of her antics tended to channel that naivety and innocence she portrayed in past characters.


Pros:

• Cases were good enough to keep you interested

• Pretty standard, solve-by-episode type of drama that will please any sort of mystery drama fan

 
Cons:

• No character development.  Kind of  understandable since it was an episodic drama, but it left me kind of dry, since I've seen mystery dramas of the same format but still had a good amount of character development.

• When Ohno's character solves a mystery, it's sort of unrealistic at points.  He tended to tell the criminal what EXACTLY they did, step-by-step, at what time, how they did it, what they were wearing, etc.  I know he's supposed to be a genius, but.... come on. O_o

• Ending left me hanging.  Some people probably wouldn't have minded an ending like this one.  But I like closure.  I hate having to ask myself a question at the end of a series like, "Wait, so does that mean he __________????" even though it might have seemed like it was implied.

Overall, it wasn't bad for a typical mystery drama to pass time.

MyDramaList Rating:  6/10 (Fine)

Yokai Ningen Bem (Japan, 2011, Supernatural/Family Drama?)

A formulaic and mostly episodic series torn between being a family/home drama and a supernatural adventure story, it's ultimately hard to care very much about Yokai Ningen Bem.  It starts with strong potential and attempts to go out with a bang, but falters consistently in between.

It would be a good series for a family audience.  If this was an American movie from the 90's, it would totally be rated PG and star Robin Williams.  I have no idea why I feel this way, though.

Pros:

• There are some absolutely adorable Kame-paternal instinct scenes.
• On occasion (particularly the first episode or two), the demonstration of their supernatural powers is cool.
• Suzuki Fuki (the child actor)'s performance is quite strong.  He may have been my favorite character.  Because of his age, his goody-goody character isn't quite so annoying.
• It's appropriate for a family audience, particularly for preteen children, almost as a transition between tokusatsu and prime time drama.

Cons:

• The heroes are so earnest and altruistic, it's annoying. 
• It could have been much darker, with a lot more intrigue.
• Kame was unable to rock his grey-haired sexiness to its fullest.
• Anne's outfits are unflattering.  
• Kitamura Kazuki was wasted as a milddle-aged softy of a father.  Give me back my sexy, arrogant Kitamura Kazuki from Hokaben, Iryu or Akihabara@Deep!

A Gentleman's Dignity Episode 15

Summary:
Show Summary

The cute life lesson at the beginning of the episode shows the boys serving a day of their army reserve service and being jerk to an enlisted private serving his mandatory two years.  Years later, they find out that the kid they were a jerk to is the child of an important potential client.  Lesson: Be nice to people, you don't know who they might be in the future.

The episode starts with Childhood Sweetheart (Kim Eun Hee) and Do Jin meeting.  We find out that Childhood Sweetheart tried to introduce him to their secret son eight years ago, but Do Jin had an unreliable amnesia attack at the time and failed to make the meeting.  He has no recollection of the day.  At Yoon's law office, Do Jin and Childhood Sweetheart run into Seo Yi Soo.  Do Jin introduces Childhood Sweetheart as an "ex-girlfriend" and Seo Yi Soo as "a woman he recently lost".  Seo Yi Soo corrects him and introduces her as "a woman he recently dumped".  At the law office, Yoon shows them the results of the paternity test.  Now everyone in the series knows Colin is Do Jin's son.

Jung Rok gathers Yoon and Tae San to brainstorm ways to get Seo Yi Soo and Do Jin back together.  They arrange an "accidental" meeting at the coffee shop.  The estranged couple realize it's a set up and they leave without really talking.  Later, Seo Yi Soo calls Do Jin out and tells him that he had promised to love her at least until the end of the month.  She tells him he has to come out whenever she calls him over the next month, until she is tired of seeing him and ready to break up.  They go on a few awkward non-dates, such as attending a movie but sitting across the isle from each other silently, staring at each other from across the street at a stoplight, etc.

It totally seemed like they were going in the direction of "cute, continuous exposure to each other will lead to the couple getting back together".  However, at the last "date" of the episode, Seo Yi Soo receives a call from her mother.  Do Jin asks about it and she snaps, telling him she didn't give him permission to speak.  When she goes to leave, he grabs her hand and she yells that she's going to see her mother, who abandoned her for 20 years to raise someone else's child.  She asks Do Jin "Do you want to come along and get tips from her," bitchily referencing the fact that he didn't know about his own child for 19 years.  So instead of the "cute resolution" approach, she's apparently going back towards "bitch, overblown reactions to a situation outside of both of their control".  *sigh*

On the Se Ra + Tae Sun front, Se Ra sees Me Ah Ri driving her car, which Min Sook is supposed to have as a deposit for the loan.  Se Ra realizes that Tae Sun must have had the car.  She confronts Min Sook for telling Tae Sun about the loan.  Min Sook explains that she didn't tell him, he just found out through other means.  She gave him the car when he had paid off Se Ra's debt.  Min Sook explains she was preserving Tae Sun's pride over Se Ra's own.

On the Yoon + Me Ah Ri front, Me Ah Ri brings Yoon a gift.  He refuses it and she gets upset as always.  Yoon lectures that they can never be together without destroying his friendship with Tae Sun--a friendship that has lasted longer than Me Ah Ri has been alive.  Me Ah Ri leaves and gets drunk alone in the middle of the day at a karaoke bar.  Her brother comes to pick her up and rages about how he'll send her away and/or end his friendship with Yoon if she continues to act this way.

On the Min Sook + Jung Rok front, you don't see the couple interact at all in this episode.

On the Colin front, we see that his mother (Childhood Sweetheart) returns to Japan but he decides to stay in Korea for a while more.

Scenes of Note:
Nothing worth clipping out.  It's so far into the series that anyone would be spoiled or confused seeing things without context.

My Princess (Korea, 2011, Romance)

This is Princess Diaries, only with an average Korean college student and a ton more political intrigue.  The rival female is delightful to hate--she has no redeeming qualities.  There actually isn't much of a love square, either!


Pros:

• The main character doesn't take herself too seriously.  
• The main romantic interest has a "knight in shining armor" complex without being overbearing--he's adorable, but still manly.
• The rival female is unapologetic about her bitchiness.
• The early and middle episodes were particularly well paced.
• The main character (particularly her facial expressions) reminds me a bit of Super Junior's Heechul.  This gave me endless amusement during the early episodes.

Cons:

• A ho-hum unsatisfying ending.
• The main character's sister fills the "villain you feel sympathy for" role.  The plot lines she's involved with feel forced and unfinished.
• The "political intrigue" is overdone in some places.  No one really cares--it's supposed to be a plot device upon which their romance is built...

Lucky Seven Episode 4

Summary:
Show Summary

Nitta (Eita) acts suspicious while staking out a private restaurant.  Later, political and police secrets are published in a tabloid, using pictures of the restaurant's patrons that Nitta took.  The police come after Nitta at the detective agency, but he has already fled.  The police confiscate everything from the agency and the other six detectives are left confused and unable to work.  Despite the suspicious circumstances, they profess to believe in Nitta and wait for him to contact them.  Nitta ends up wanted by the police and Shuntaro (MatsuJun) sets off on a mission to find him.  While everyone else failed to find Nitta, Shuntaro manages to track him down in some sort of industrial zone by a river.  The police quickly catch up.  Nitta takes off running and Shuntaro attempts to follow.  The episode ends with "To Be Continued".

Scenes of Note:
None.

There was very little action and all of the plot development was open-ended.   Because the other six detectives are blindly keeping faith in Nitta, there isn't much suspense, either.  The highlight of the episode is a cute, silly conversation about who has what type of siblings.