fly to high

Summer season 2008 was terrific – granted, I’ve yet to finish all of them, but the ones I’ve watched and finished have been great. Unfortunately, it seems to be a trend that all the good dramas air in summer – how’s autumn looking up?

I’m checking out quite a few dramas out of loyalty for the stars I follow, but if I had to rec three to check out based on how the plot sounds, it’d be Ryusei no Kizuna, Bloody Monday, and Giragira. And now, to the dramas:

Innocent Love

Meaning: Life is hard for girl, then girl finds love.
Verdict: Horikita Maki!! Also, it’s written by the same writer of Last Friends – maybe worth checking out if you liked that one.

Celeb to Binbo Taro (Celeb & Poor)

Meaning: Rich girl Ueto Aya falls in love with poor guy, hijinks included.
Verdict: Ueto Aya acts like a bimbo for many episodes, and then happily ever after. Haven’t we seen this before?

Team Batista no Eiko

Meaning: ~Legendary~ doctors commit murder – or did they?
Verdict: Like they themselves ask: medical malpractice or MURDER? It could be really suspenseful and gripping, or overly dramatic and campy. Catchy premise though!

Oh! My Girl!!

Meaning: A guy lives with his little niece and her manager, finds family and love.
Verdict: Hayami Mokomichi and Kato Rosa are cute and will make a heartwarming drama. Aww.

OL Nippon

Meaning：OL teaches three Chinese employees stuff.
Verdict: Why are there so many OL dramas?

Nanase Futatabi

Meaning: Remake of a 1979 drama where a bunch of psychic kids fight psychic baddies.
Verdict:Good luck pulling this off with your crappy drama budget, NHK.

Shioni Kyumei

Meaning: Drama about a woman pediatrician.
Verdict: Skip watching little children get immunizations and whatsoever.

Kaze no Garden

Meaning: A dying old man returns to his hometown to reconcile with his kids.
Verdict: …I’m about four decades too young for a drama like this.

Giragira

Meaning: Married man works at a host club and teaches hosts that their job is actually about “human connection.”
Verdict: A drama about hosts inevitably means hot young actors. That’s a plus. The manga this is based on is supposed to be good, so there’s potential.

Ryusei no Kizuna

Meaning: Two brothers want to get revenge on someone their sister fell in love with.
Verdict: Based off the popular novel, and starring Ninomiya Kazunari, Nishikido Ryo, Toda Erika. Plus there’s also Nakashima Mika and Kaname Jun – it’s too much star power to resist.

Bloody Monday

Meaning: Genius hacker vs terrorists.
Verdict: Miura Haruma saving the world – yes yes yes. I mean, with a title like “Bloody Monday” it HAS to be intense, right?

Scrap Teacher

Meaning: Junior high students versus their dumb useless teachers.
Verdict: Pedo heaven. About half of Hey!Say!JUMP is in here (read: the young half), so those of you who go wild for Yamada Ryosuke will be loving this. Otherwise – was Gokusen 3 and Rookies STILL not enough to satisfy you?

ROOM OF KING

Meaning: Four people fight it out – presumably hilariously – for a posh apartment.
Verdict: The plot sounds really dumb right now, but I can see it working out to be funny. We’ll see.

Akai Ito

Meaning: Two young lovers are connected by the ~red string of fate~.
Verdict: If it’s a best-selling novel and is going to have a interconnected movie in December, maybe this is worth checking out. Plus, I’m getting a huge Koizora-vibe from this – definitely a good thing.

Dandan

Meaning: Twins who meet up again through ~fate~.
Verdict: Watching NHK daytime dramas will probably make mellow old age catch up to me faster. Sorry.

SCANDAL

Meaning: Four women have lives of betrayal! deceit!… and then they learn about family, marriage, and love.
Verdict: Yawn. A name like “SCANDAL” and no murder/drug use/cheating stuff? What a rip.

And for those hoping for another hilariously terrible Tokyo MX BL-flavored drama chock full of pretty boys, like Here is Greenwood of RH Plus – sorry. The time slot seems to be taken up by Ultraman.