Saturday, January 17, 2015

HAMSAPSUKEBE 2014 JDORAMA AWARDS


I CAN'T BELIEVE 2014 AWARDS

- I can't believe Oguri Shun's Border had to balls to go all grey area morality on us. 99% of high concept jdoramas just go all cookie cutter. Speaking of Oguri Shun, I will never get over his character not being a molester in Woman. It could have been one of the best jdoramas in the last 10 years along with Lady Joker if Sakamoto Yuji had gone down that path. Of course, if they screw up the second season it might be even more painful than Woman.

- I can't believe Takei Emi and Gouriki are still getting gorioshied (shoved down the throats of the Japanese public) This is Ueto Aya all over again. I just cannot understand why Japan as a collective society can't rise up and let the tv stations know that they don't want bad acting on their screens. The jdorama world needs more doramas with Matsu Takako, Kaho and Kanjiya Shihori in leading roles instead of those two. But then, this is a country where bad acting by johnnys has been a staple of Japanese television for years.

- I can't believe Mosaic Japan still hasn't been subbed.

- I can't believe Yonekura Ryoko's legs have the highest rated dorama in 2014 with 22.9%. I've never seen Doctor X and it could as smart as the first season of Doctors. (lol)

- I can't believe Ozaki Masaya's Yoshiwara Ura Doshin, Last Doctor and Tokumei Tantei were below my expectations.  Still he had two good shows with Black President and Mama ga Ikita Akashi.

- I can't believe they made a sequel to First Class.

- I can't believe how bad the second season of Yamikin Ushijima-kun was.

- I can't believe there are so many great performances in Oyaji no Senaka but I can't really give anyone an award cause everyone only appears in one episode so I decided to do a special award.

- I can't believe Wakamonotachi 2014 turned out to be such an overly sentimental and manipulative show with no tact at all.

- I can't believe they made an Iryu 4. I'll pretend it never happened just like TDKR.

- I can't believe Mozu turned out to be a piece of crap writing wise and apparently it's pretty popular in Japan. It's so popular that they're going to turn it into a movie. Its like the stupider a script and the more overacting it has, the more popular a jdorama becomes. If I ran a Japanese dorama producer, non of my shows would ever surpass 3% rating.

- I can't believe d-addicts is gone. :(


BEST FATHER DAUGHTER IN OYAJI NO SENAKA

YAKUSHO KOJI AND MITSUSHIMA HIKARI (EP 2)

Despite Mitsushima Hikari being the most unconvincing boxer ever, every scene with these two great actors is gold. It doesn't hurt that Sakamoto Yuji wrote the lines.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

TAKAHASHI ISSEI - MOSAIC JAPAN

Yup. The guy who always looked like he wanted to cry from Gonzo playing the dodgy President of the porn company. Pictured above is the epic dildo fight scene from Mosaic Japan. :) Not to mention I enjoyed his character from Petero no Soretsu as well.

Honourable mention:

Saiki Shigeru - Kanpai Senshi after V. A performance so bad, its good. :)


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

KUNINAKA RYOKO - PETERO NO SORETSU

Kuninaka Ryoko's been in 3 good shows this season, Petero no Soretsu, Black President and Umomeru. If only she was the lecturer in Black President. I love the climax of Petero no Soretsu.


BEST ACTOR

OGURI SHUN - BORDER


Oguri Shun's one performance that made me think he can really act. Ok, he was pretty good in Kisaragi but this was one show where he had to carry the story with a complex character burderned by his powers. Unfortunately, he had to go make boring fluff like Nobunaga Concerto.

Honourable mention

Nagayama Kento - Mosaic Japan. Eita's brother is a pretty good actor.

Takenouchi Yutaka - Suteki na Sen Taxi. After so many crappy doramas playing bland characters, this is the first show where Takenouchi Yutaka really showed he could act.

Koizumi Kotaro - Petero no Soretsu


BEST ACTRESS

HAMAKAWA FUMIE - MOSAIC JAPAN

A huge part of her role of Momoko being one of the most well rounded and real female characters I've ever seen is thanks to Sakamoto Yuji's writing but goddamn she pulled it off magnificently.

Honourable mention:

Matsuyuki Yasuko - Kazoku Gari

Nagasaku Hiromi - Watashi to Iu Unmei ni Tsuite


TOP 5 BEST JDORAMAS OF 2015

KAZOKUGARI

Surprisingly excellent dark jdorama despite Densha's acting that didn't get the ratings it deserved.

PETERO NO SOURETSU

Smartly written, slow burn mystery dorama.

BORDER

Bring on season 2. That was one hell of a cliffhanger.

BLACK PRESIDENT

The spiritual sequal to KDO and Ozaki Masaya's best work of 2014.

MOSAIC JAPAN

My favourite jdorama of 2014. Such a brilliant comedy/satire on the Japanese porn industry. Sakamoto Yuji is a genius. If you've got basic Japanese, you can watch with my recap of the first three episodes.

Honourable mentions:

Coffee-ya no Hitobito

The Long Goodbye

River's Edge

Watashi to Iu Unemi ni Tsuite

Umoreru

Suteki no Sen Taxi

55-sai Kara no Hello Life

Oyaji no Senaka

Kanpai Senshi after V

Neko Zamurai

SUMMARY

2014 was a pretty good year for jdoramas. Looking at this list, there were a lot of very watchable jdoramas. Hopefully the jdorama gods will provide us with lots of good shows in 2015.

6 comments:

Sonna~ said...

You watched far more of Wakamonotachi 2014 than I did -- I don't even think I got past the first ep. :(

Loved Black President and Border. River's Edge was pretty good too.

So disappointed in Tokumei Tantei 2 and Shinya Shokudo 3. Looking forward to the 2015 dramas too. Mondai no Aru Restaurant has a lot of potential, and hopefully shouldn't be preachy or goofy in a bad way.

Bobo said...

There were quite a few dramas that I wanted to watch this year but they never got subbed (for me, most notably Neko Zamurai was dropped and of course Mosaic Japan). Such is the life of a non-Japanese-speaking jdrama fan...

I was gonna make a top 5 but then I realized most of the dramas I watched last year were older dramas. My favorite was Peter no Souretsu, favorite SP was Umoreru, favorite surprise was Silent Poor.

ciromobile said...

Had a high hopes on River's Edge but the last four episodes fell flat for me. Hitoshi Ohne isn't good at handling a full tanpatsu. So was Shinya Shokudo 3, somehow they lose the magic they had in the previous 2 seasons.

Wanna watch Mosaic Japan but ugh...how come they never get it subbed? I like Kenny Nagayama and want to see him pulling more compelling and meaty characters like one in Mosaic.

For me, I've got Gin Nikan, Gou Gou the Cat remake, Coffee-ya no Hitobito, and Yuube no Curry Ashita no Pan as surprises of the year.

dgundam said...

doctor x is a turn off your brains and watch type of show. it was fun while it lasted. theyve already said their not going to be making anymore seasons.

technically d addicts is not gone. its still a go to place for subs.

lets see i think the only show i really watched and liked was tokubou and doctor x but they were the turn off your brain type shows.
i think the only decent drama i liked would be yuube no curry ashita no pan, and maybe ill like petero if i finish watching it.
im not counting aibou, but thats a yearly detective drama and police procedurals dont count.



dgundam said...

oh ya i forgot i also liked suteki na taxi.
and i know shes not a good actress but i liked fukada kyoko in Onna wa Sore wo Yurusanai.
i guess since im a sucker for her plus also for lawyer shows.

what do you expect, gouriki and takei are from the same agency as aya ueto. plus with aya ueto hitting 30 this year, their cash cow will be gone so they will have to make new ones this generation in those two.

Mrmz said...

TAKAHASHI ISSEI!!! I love that guy. I first noticed him in Gunshi Kanbei. He has such a commanding aire to him even when he's playing a retainer. Then in Peter no Souretsu (one of the best mysteries I've seen) I liked him too. Since you say he was also great in Mosaic Japan I think this guy has a promising future.

I also wanted to mention Ikematsu Sosuke. Mozu migt've been a let down but I loved his performance there :P