Just finished: Trick

Trick was a long-running drama based on an amateur magician, Yamada, and a university professor, Ueda, solving impossible paranormal crimes. It began in 2000 and in total, it comprises of three series, three movies and three feature-length specials, the third of which aired recently and is apparently the last of their adventures.

The first series is great, and is a must to anyone who enjoys murder mysteries with a spooky twist. It also has the advantage of an interesting story arc: what caused the mysterious death of Yamada’s father many years ago.

It is a quality piece of TV, and one of the best things I can say about it is that it stills sticks in my mind. Which I can’t honestly say about its many sequels. There are so many TV specials and movies that’s it’s hard to be sure which ones were which. I’m not even sure I’ve seen them all – they all start to blur into each other after a while.

The resolution improves, but the joke remains the same:

This how each series/special introduces the failed magician Yamada.

The most recent and final part of the drama concerns a cursed treasure and a family who are slowly killed off one by one. The story is fine, the comedy is surreal, and all the recurring characters make an appearance. On the plus side, its style is still quite unique. No other TV drama at the moment would dare to cut away from the action to a close-up of a slug, or have one of the main suspects constantly over-act.

On the down side, there wasn’t much new to the world of Trick. It felt like watching a bunch of ageing rockers trot out on stage one more time, jacket sleeves rolled up, to go through the old hits one more time. If you watch this final episode of Trick, you’ll get exactly what you expect. Whether that’s good or bad depends on what you expect.

The Fourth Annual November 8th Awards

And so, as is usual on this blog, I mark the anniversary of If By Japan's birth with a pretend awards ceremony. These last twelve months have seen Japanese dramas offer up an embarrassment of riches in one season, followed by the embarrassment of being really quite incompetent for months at a time.

I found my free time greatly reduced as, despite still being unemployed, I started doing voluntary work this year. This means I still haven't seen Lady Joker or finished Hanzawa Naoki, although I fully intend to. One day.

Also, it seems to me that the nominations this year are more repetitive than before, with the same names cropping up. Whether that is a reflection of my viewing habits or of a patchy year in J-drama, I don't know.

But anyway, my favourite TV shows out of the past twelve months are...

Best drama

Going My Home
Osozaki no Himawari
Hitori Shizuka
Furuhata Ninzaburo

Koreeda's charming drama takes the prize. Despite being a ratings disaster (13% share down to just under 5% by the end) it was a joy to watch. Almost no story at all was somehow kept going by subtle performances and a gentle soundtrack. Osozaki no Himawari was everything that made me like J-dramas, all wrapped up in one lovely bundle. Hitori Shizuka was challenging and sometimes confusing, but still a compelling, dark drama. And it had the best shoot-out I've seen in years. Furuhata Ninzaburo remains heads and shoulders above most other murder mysteries, even 16 years after it was made.

Best comedy

Yuusha Yoshihiko to Akuryou no Kagi
Saikou no Rikon
Mahoro Ekimae Bangaichi
SOIL

I tip-toed through SOIL thanks to a patient Japanese friend (who's now, sadly, gone back to Japan) but found it's David Lynch sensibilities very funny. Yuusha Yoshihiko... isn't as good as the prequel, but still was funnier than most. Saikou no Rikon is a grown-up comedy about failing relationships and it was so excellently played and it came so close to winning, but Mahoro Ekimae Bangaichi was just stunning. Original, inventive, unpredictable and perfectly cast. I said it is the closest that J-dramas have ever got to being rock'n'roll, and I stand by that.


Best film

Still Walking
The Sun
The Thieves
The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On

The Thieves is a great big martial arts rush, and one of the few films which I've wanted to watch again the moment it ended. The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On is a brilliant documentary that challenges its viewers to sympathise with a very unsympathetic subject. The Sun is an acting masterclass from Issy Ogata, but Koreeda gets his second award with Still Walking. What can I say? I'm a sucker for anyone who can turn non-stories into compelling viewing.


Best Actor

Eita (Mahoro Ekimae Bangaichi, Saikou no Rikon, and The Foreign Duck, The Native Duck and God in a Coin Locker)
Abe Hiroshi (Still Walking, Going My Home)
Issy Ogata (The Sun)

Eita, for me, was unstoppable in this past year. His versatility and adaptability is a constant source of amazement. I saw him in several things recently, and each time he's seemed like a different actor. Abe Hiroshi was effortlessly good in two of the Koreeda works I saw this year, and Issy Ogata was riveting in his role as a falling Japanese emporer at the end of the second World War.

Best Actress

Miyazaki Aoi (Going My Home)
Ono Machiko (Saikou no Rikon, Like Father Like Son)
Maki Yoko (Saikou no Rikon, Like Father Like Son, and Osozaki no Himawari)
Gouriki Ayame (Biblia Koshoudou no Jiken Techou)

Miyazaki Aoi was great in Going My Home, as the villager who seemed to know more about local fables than she admitted . Gouriki Ayame was surprisingly well suited to her role as a timid book-keeper. But really, it was between Maki Yoko and Ono Machiko. Both were brilliant this year, but I think Ono Machiko just edges it. Not sure why. Possibly just because Ono Machiko seems like more fun to get drunk with.


Best Game Show

Running Man
Game Centre CX
Vs Arashi

It was episode 124 that won it again for Running Man. Any game show that makes me want to go and research history has got to be a winner. And, despite feeling a bit predictable at times, it still has the ability to do things that no other TV show can do. Vs Arashi pushed it close, though. Especially with some subtitled shows coming online, and Game Centre CX remained fun.


Best Album

Amado Leejaram Band “Debut”
Tokumaru Shugo “In Focus”
Girls' Generation “Girls Generation II: Peace and Love”

I've been following Tokumaru Shugo for only a couple of years, but he's already become a favourite. I love his inventive approach to music, somehow folky and somehow modern, and the tunes are good, too. I was also impressed by the folk-blues from Korea of the Amado Leejaram Band, and the quality selection of pop goodness that was Girls' Generation II.


The safe pair of hands award

Eita (Mahoro Ekimae Bangaichi, Saikou no Rikon, and The Foreign Duck, The Native Duck and God in a Coin Locker)
Abe Hiroshi (Still Walking, Going My Home)
Ono Machiko (Saikou no Rikon, Like Father Like Son)
Maki Yoko (Saikou no Rikon, Like Father Like Son, and Osozaki no Himawari)

In a year for Japanese TV that veered from excellent dramas all over the place to literally nothing worth watching, you could at least rely on Eita to have excellent choice in anything he did. Whether it was wry character driven comedy, or off-beat indie drama, or physical action, he can do it all.

Japanese or Korean actors who could play Doctor Who

In the UK right now, a major cultural shift is taking place: the actor who plays the lead role in Doctor Who (technically speaking the character is called “The Doctor”, not “Doctor Who”) is stepping down, and now we have months of speculation about the future of the show and who will take over.

So, as I was wondering who I’d like to see in the role, I thought, if language were no barrier, which Japanese or Korean actors could take the role? Who has the required air of alien-ness and childlike qualities? This is the list I came up with. It's in order from "unlikely" to "you know, I think this might work!"


Nukumizu Youichi

One of my favourite actors, even if he only ever plays one role: the downtrodden ordinary man. But I think he’d be good at this. Something about his self-deprecating sense of humour appeals. I’m not sure how good he’d be at action scenes, though.

Kimura Takuya

To be honest, he’s practically already played Dr Who. His performance in Mr Brain was a great example of eccentric genius, all nervous smiles and sudden bursts of energy. And his character’s constant bemusement at how other people think or feel is another aspect that I found quite Doctor-ish. The down side is that he never does two series of the same show, effectively ruling him out for this role.

Abe Hiroshi

Putting to one side the fact that Abe Hiroshi could play any role and be brilliant, I think he’d be great in this. He has physical presence, but also a subtlety in his acting which I think would fit perfectly.

Kuriyama Chiaki

I poo-pooh the idea that the Doctor must be played by a man (otherwise the British Empire will fall or something like that) and I’d be very pleased if producer Steve Moffat chooses a woman for the next series. And if so, why not the striking and unique Kuriyama Chiaki. She's a decent actress who knows how to do an action scene.

Bae Doo Na

In Air Doll, the role she played was of a newcomer to a strange world, and I think she has the right qualities of slight eccentricity and vulnerability necessary for playing the Doctor. Maybe her boyfriend (?) Jim Sturgess can convince her to go for the part.

Odagiri Joe

Slightly alien air about him? Check. Eccentric taste in roles? Check. Can do comedy and drama, even in the same scene? Check. Well, I can’t find anything wrong with this idea. Plus, he speaks English (at least, he studied drama in the US). He could actually do this! Please? Pretty please? Someone send the producers of Dr Who a link to this page, and then when he gets the job, you can all thank me later.

Recommended: Still Walking

From the same director as the TV series Going My Home, and the TV series bears many similarities with it's older cinematic sibling. There's Abe Hiroshi and YOU in both, they have the same dreamy style of directing, the same soundtrack of tunes idly picked on an acoustic guitar, and both have barely any storyline at all.

The film is about a day in which a family gather together on the anniversary of the death of a son. Abe Hiroshi plays Ryota, the brother of the deceased, and has to deal with the constant subtext of never being as good as his brother. Meanwhile Natsukawa Yui plays a widower who is marrying Ryota, acutely aware that she and her son will never really be accepted by her husband's parents. Most of the film is concerned with everyday family life, with revelations and emotions only rarely being seen.

The director, Koreeda Hirokazu, certainly has a vision, and you can't criticise him for sticking to it. His films often have a timeless quality, and this film (and Going My Home) are all about making the mundane into something magical.

Recommended: Trick

Finally, I get round to writing about this TV series. I've recently started watching the first series again just before I go to bed, and it's perfect late night entertainment.

It was first broadcast in the year 2000, and it shows. Not in the fashion or style of directing, but in the quality of the picture. There are probably much better versions on the internet out there, but somehow I like the VHS rip. It somehow adds to the feeling of watching something other-worldly and distant.

The story itself is about a stage magician whose father died in mysterious circumstances. She is recruited by a university professor to investigate apparent supernatural crimes. Each time getting into more danger and, seemingly, getting closer to the truth about her father.

I remember, years ago, this was one of the first Japanese dramas I watched, how strange it all seemed. Not just the storylines, but the style of comedy, the soundtrack and the directing. They really set it apart from anything else I'd seen before then. In fact, I can remember being unsure if I liked it at first. But I'm glad I stuck with it.

The stories are clever and some are genuinely quite chilling, despite all the jokes. And the plot about her father that runs through the series is an excellent way to keep the viewer interested. The first series, especially, is an entertaining and fascinating piece of television.

Recommended: Going My Home

I say "recommended", but it's one of those strange shows that I really have no idea whether or not you'd like it.

This drama was a ratings disaster, but I can't help but love it. It was a very gentle series, with plenty of scenes which didn't add to the storyline, but which often had moments of delight.

I got the feeling that a lot of the time, the director deliberately left the camera rolling longer than it should, and then used a lot of that footage. There were scenes which seemed to be improvised with a lot of family arguing, and there was another scene were one of the actors seemed to get the giggles after a bad pun in the script. Although the laughter spread to the others, they kept going until the end of the scene.

Of course, it could all be that the script and acting were so natural that it looked improvised and, if so, then hats off to everyone concerned with this show.

I noticed how much care was taken with filming the preparation of food in various episodes, but very little in filming the serving of the food. In the same way, a lot of time was spent describing the myth of the Kuna, but no time in whether or not it was true.

Certainly, it's one of those series where the ending doesn't really matter, even though the ending is quite sweet in a sad way. It was all about enjoying the distractions and the details. Nothing too drastic or overwhelming. Just a story with good people in it, and I'm glad I got to spend some time with them.

Still watching: Going My Home

... Although I feel like one of an increasingly rare breed. The ratings for this drama have gone from 13% down to a dismal 5.9% in the space of six episodes, which has left me scratching my head over why.

It's a very slow moving story, that much is true. But this needn't mean a series is unsuccessful. Yasashii Jikan was slow but it had an important, emotional story at its heart: of a father and his estranged son. Dr Koto's Clinic was also quite soporific, but each episode had the good doctor struggling over big issues of life and death. In Going My Home, the main story appears to be that the main characters don't really know their own father. This is a pretty slender storyline to base an entire series on.

It's a shame the ratings are bad, because the series is full of excellent performances and clever dialogue so if you're like me and you're not bothered that the story hasn't really started yet, then this is quality television. If, however, you suspect that all of these scenes are just padding, then you'll find this a very frustrating show.

But each episode has a scene or two that's definitely worth watching, and if anyone can find something more adorable than Miyazaki Aoi describing the little people who live in the forest to a room of children, then I'll eat my hat.

Going My Home is a bit arty and a bit too clever and in no hurry to tell its story. I love the fact that it takes time to show otherwise unimportant details. This wouldn't be out of place on WOWOW, but it doesn't appear to be doing well on Fuji TV, up against other big dramas and variety shows. Going My Home feels like a late-night drama given a prime-time slot. Trouble is, it's getting late-night drama viewing figures.

Currently watching: Going My Home

The new season starts here! Woo hoo!

After a few months of not there being much worth watching, I'm quite optimistic for the new batch of dramas and it looks like one won't let me down.

This series is about Tsuboi Ryota, a moderately successful employee (played by Abe Hiroshi) and he's in a moderately happy marriage. His daughter is acting a bit odd, and she insists she has an imaginary friend. He's a typical guy getting through life when his father collapses and goes into a coma. After this he has to go back and forth between work in the city and the country hospital. Thus we get to see him interact with his two families.

It great to see Abe Hiroshi in a less-alpha male role. In this opening episode, he never seems to be in charge of any conversation he's in. And the dialogue has a lightness of touch which is very enjoyable. The humour rises naturally from the situation, with no use of over-acting or physical comedy. There's a great running joke at the hospital where people think that Ryota's business suit is a mourning suit.

YOU is a joy as Abe's younger sister, and so is Yamaguchi Tomoko as his wife. I can't fault the casting at all and it's been great to see YOU, who's always been underused in films in the past, get a decent amount of screen time.

Even after the opening two-hour episode, there are very few clues about how the story will progress, which is fine. Some vague hints at a mythical creature who the ill father went hunting for. What does it all mean? I shall be watching with great interest.

Looking forward – Autumn 2012

Well, it's been a dry season these past three months, so what can we expect in the future?

Osozaki no Himawari

Ikuta Toma's first lead role in a drama in ages. This is about a temp worker who is made unemployed just as he's expecting to go permanent. And his girlfriend dumps him. And he moves back in with his parents. Hmm, it never rains but it pours, eh? To help rebuild his confidence, he joins a group of volunteers.

It looks like the whole "volunteer" premise is a way for the program makers to get a load of completely different people to interact. And why not? Ikuta Toma usually has good taste in the roles he chooses, so I'll be keeping an eye out for this one.


Going My Home

You know, if you're going to give your drama an English name, at least get the grammar right. If not, make sure it has Abe Hiroshi in it. And make YOU his older sister, and add in a few fantasy elements to give this family story a few new twists.

Oh, they did? Well, then... this could be very interesting.


Sousa Chizu no Onna

Maya Miki stars as a detective who uses maps to solve crimes. Seems tenuous, but I like maps, so this could work. Set in Kyoto, it's bound to look good, and I'm quietly hopeful for this one.


Akumu-chan

Kitagawa Keiko stars as a teacher whose helpful disposition hides a cold, dispassionate nature. Then a new transfer student declares that there'll be a death at the school soon.

Sounds interesting. It also has GACKT in the cast, who always looks like he's CGI. Apparently he's playing a respected professor of neurology. Hmm, I need to be convinced about that...


Koukou Nyushi

Nagasawa Masami stars as a travel agent-turned-teacher who learns of a threat to ruin the examinations of her school. Possibly not the most deadly crime ever, but this is from the writer of Shokuzai, so this gets my attention straight away.


Monsters

At first glance, this is a typical cop show with two dissimilar detectives who have to work together. But it's from the makers of Mr Brain, so I'll give it a chance.

Find out more about forthcoming dramas here.

[edit] Oh, and how could I forget about the new Yuusha Yoshihiko series? Silly me.

Just watched: I Wish (Kiseki)

Because Japan has such an apparently small pool of actors there will, on occasion, be times when you watch something that brings together a whole group of actors that you'd recently seen in others things. This film has Abe Hiroshi, Natsukawa Yui, Nagasawa Masami and Odagiri Joe in it, all of who I've been writing about in the past month or so.

This film from 2011 tells the story of two brothers, living in different towns with their separated parents, and their friends. Each of the seven children has something to wish for, and when one of them mentions that if you make a wish at the point where two bullet trains pass, then it'll come true. So they arrange to skip school and go to a town in the middle of nowhere just to make their wishes.

The cast of children are good, and are ably supported by the experienced cast of supporting actors. Special mention goes to Otsuka Nene, the mother of the two brothers who packs a lot of emotion and understanding into her few scenes. The film is also very nicely shot. The director, Hirokazu Koreeda, has a filmography that's well worth exploring, including Air Doll, After Life among others.

It's a heart-warming story, and even if it does rely on a very convenient plot device once they get to the town, it's still a nice tale, nicely told.

Recommended: Kekkon Dekinai Otoko

This series is in serious danger of collapsing under the weight of it's own reputation. A reputation that I am now adding to. I'd heard good things about this so often that it almost discouraged me from watching it at all. In the end, I decided I had to sit down and give it a chance.

The story involves a successful architect in his 40s (played by Abe Hiroshi) who isn't married and shows no sign of getting married soon. He lives what many people might see as the perfect life: successful career and a nice home with enough money and freedom to do what he likes when he likes. It seems that in this ideal existence there's no need or want of a wife.

However, during the twelve episodes, we see him have to deal with three potential relationships. With his boss, his new next-door neighbour and his doctor. And of these, the main storyline concerns the doctor, played to perfection by Natsukawa Yui, my new favourite lady.

It's an enjoyable series, and the character of the architect Kuwano-san is very nicely observed and acted. The scenes when he gleefully spends an evening playing the Game Of Life or builds a model boat by himself reminded me of those days when I've spent hours in a geeky self-centred activity that no one else would take much interest in. In fact, this blog might be considered in the same way by quite a few of my friends.

The storylines of each episode are well-written and believable right up until the end. The interplay between everyone is fun, especially in those scenes with Abe Hiroshi and Natsukawa Yui. They're great together and I note with delight that they've been in several films together. I shall have to track those down too.

Even the minor characters, like the girl at the convenience store, the guy at the DVD place and the waitress are nicely portrayed. So in conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed this show which is a cut above the usual "quick, get married before it's too late" style comedies.

Just watched: Elevator to the Gallows (2010)

This is a remake of a 1958 French film (which I haven’t seen but it has 8 out of ten on IMDB) and while it tries to be sophisticated and intelligent, it’s a fairly empty tale.

A man (Abe Hiroshi) kills his lover’s husband. But a minor mistake quickly escalates, and he finds himself stuck in an elevator. Meanwhile, his car is stolen by a cop who is following a crime boss and... well, it’s all very complicated.

At first, it does feel a lot like the two stories are entirely unconnected, which makes it quite frustrating to watch. Then the lover (Kichise Michiko) has some sort of dream sequence halfway through, and I turned off.

The next day, I gave it another try and the second half does get better once the murder(s) are discovered and the police slowly tie the two crimes together but even at its best, this is a fairly mundane film. The acting is okay (Kitagawa Keiko makes a good impression as the cop’s girlfriend) but the directing is slow and ponderous. Shots are held for too long – far longer than necessary. The photography isn’t interesting enough that you appreciate the chance to linger over the lighting or composition etc, so I found myself getting quite impatient.

That’s the second crime thriller I've seen this week that was all style and no substance. And, frankly, not much style. Pity.

Recommended: Shinzanmono: Akai Yubi

Since a new film based on this popular detective series has been announced, I thought I'd write about the first film special that followed the original TV series.

The cast remains the same from the TV show, and they’re all accomplished in their acting. As they should be, having played the same characters before. And perhaps that’s this film’s strength. Everyone is so comfortable in their roles that the story can flourish without any backstory or introductions. This may be a bit off-putting for anyone who’s not seen the TV series, and the relationship between the two detectives (the younger officer who outranks his older, smarter cousin) may be a bit confusing, but it’s a minor distraction.

This film is perhaps what the ten-part TV series should have been. With just two hours to tell the story instead of ten hours, the film has a much tighter storyline with few distractions from the central crime. There are no side stories about other suspects, just a much clearer detective story with the added advantage of Abe Hiroshi’s charm and dry humour. With this in mind, I'm looking forward to the new film much more than I would a new series.

Just finished: Shinzanmono

Unlike in the western tradition of murder mysteries, where murderers tend to kill for more selfish reasons, on Japanese TV murders are rarely done for greed or jealousy, or any of the other deadly sins. Often the criminal is trying to right an injustice of their own, or take revenge for a previous crime. Shinzanmono, however, takes this to extremes. It takes ten episodes to finally get to the murderer, and most of that time is taken up by finding out how nice the other suspects are. Their lies that attract the attention of the police turn out to be lies to hide how much they love their family.

This is all very well, but it means the series suffers from a lack of momentum. The worse case is in episode five, which didn’t seem to be about the murder at all. I admit I was stuck on this episode for a long time, before I sat down and forced myself to watch it to the end. Perhaps there was a clever twist in the end to make it worth my while.

And there was. There always is. This is, after all, based on a Keigo Higashino novel - the same writer who created Galileo so you can be sure that the secrets hide a nice little tale, and the overall conclusion to the murder is fairly satisfying, too. The trouble is, it seems like a 90 minute show stretched out to an entire series. It’s more like a series of unconnected short stories, with the murder mystery being brought back in for the final three episodes. It has a certain charm, but not much more than that.

Not watching...

Just a quick round up on those series which I started watching but have recently fallen by the wayside.

First up is Zettai Reido. Actually, it's only been subbed up to episode eight, which I'm not that bothered about since I've only just got caught up. It's a well-meaning drama, but it simply didn't grab me. The fact that the crimes being investigated were very old meant that there was no immediate danger. This was fine for a comedy, like Jikou Keisatsu (which also based its stories on the same 15-year law) but in a tense drama, it left the action feeling flat. I'm sure I will finish this, but I'm in no hurry.

Next comes Shinzanmono. I wrote about this a while back, and the early signs were good. But it fell into the same trap as Zettai Reido – no sense of urgency. By episode five, the murder they were investigating was all but forgotten and I did wonder what all these people had to do with the crime. So I left it for other shows. Like Zettai Reido, I'll probably come back to it: perhaps there's some deviously clever way that it all ties together. We shall see.

Then there are two series that I haven't previously written about. Tobo Bengoshi is a “The Fugitive” style drama about a lawyer fighting to clear his name for a murder he didn't commit. But recently I kind of over-dosed on law shows, so I just stopped watching. I didn't think it was particularly bad – although a lawyer played by one of the contestants from Quiz Hexagon II was a bit of a stretch – but then, it wasn't that good either.

Lastly is Gakeppuchi no Eri. A struggling actress battles through adversity and art school. This left me very underwhelmed, and I dropped it after a couple of episodes.The situation, characters, humour and storyline all left me cold.