Thursday, September 29, 2016

5 reason Kenja no Ai might be this year's best jdorama


1) KENJA NO AI IS A VISUAL FEAST FOR THE EYES.


Jdoramas usually light everything up and look like a crappy soap opera. WOWOW and NHK shows usually have a grittier more movie like look. Ken no Ai reminds you that this is a visual medium and creates so many stunning images.


2) GREAT MOVIE LIKE SOUNDTRACK

I'm not talking about memorable tunes cause there are non in Kenja no Ai. I'm talking about how the music doesn't overpower the scenes but rather enhances them.


3) DARK STORY ABOUT REVENGE AND FRIENDSHIP.

Every single revelation instead of being just a twist for the sake of a twist adds another complicated layer to the relationship between Mayuk-chan and Yuri-chan.

4) ITS NOT A SHOW ABOUT HOW COMPLICATED AND SOMETIMES ILLOGICAL HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS ARE.


Sick of the 'hey let's just all get along and be nice to each other' jdoramas? Kenja no Ai is about how a lot of times in real life, we have to pretend to get along. My favourite character is Yuri-chan. She's the bad guy but I can't hate her because how damaged she is. Everyone in this show is kind of trapped by past sins and don't know how to set themselves free and instead smile and pretend to be happy while living with great burdens.


5) GREAT ACTING BY EVERYONE INVOLVED.

I was expecting to hate Naomi but I didn't mind his acting.

 WHAT I HATED

There is one thing I hate about Kenja no Ai and that is the fight scene in the last episode. The music and shot composition was great but the fight itself was so fake. It was like those sentai shows where the bad guys just throw themselves on the ground. How could the director be satisfied with that crappy performance. It felt like the two actors were so scared of physical contact and I'm not talking about the fake ass punching.


SUMMARY

I do not have enough superlatives to describe Kenja no Ai. I'm just sad that it so much better than most jdoramas but not many people have seen it. Definitely deserves to be subbed.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would like to start on this drama too but it isn't subbed yet. How did you learn japanese? I'm just starting out on learning Japanese language but I'm lost on vocabulary and kanji. I have a text book on grammar, Genki 1&2. Do you have any advice on how I should start on vocabulary and kanji? thanks

Akiramike said...

Anon: Everyone learns Japanese differently. Books don't work for me. For me, two things helped immensely when I started out: The first AKB48 game on PSP and karaoke. The AKB game is good because it has minimal descriptive phrases, is mostly basic dialogue and you can replay conversations.

Play kanji quizzes on your phone or pc whenever you have time. Watch simple jdoramas with Japanese subtitles. Any generic boy meets girl high school show will do. Learn to use a Japanese dictionary with kanji drawing keyboard.

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Wow thanks Akiramike. Actually I've watching Japanese dramas for quite sometime, since 2011 I think. Most of them came from your review and recommendations. I'm also currently watching a boy meets girl show "Koe Koi". For the kanji part, I just started out on this app called Asahi Kanji, awesome little app has quiz, OCR and hand writing recognition. By the way did you set a number of kanji that you'll learn daily?

Buck said...

Anon: I build up my Kanji vocabulary by watching and rewatching a wide variety of TV shows. Watching alone doesn't work if you don't rewatch them.For that reason, choose a show that you really, really love. Mike's must-watch shows are always a hit for me.

Flashcard doesn't work for me. It doesn't tell me how to use words in different contexts. In order to solidify my vocabulary and grammar, I write on lang-8 and get corrected by Japanese people. I'm stunned to realize that I know many words and many grammar points but I can't remember to use them when called for.

Good luck!

Btw, look forward to your review of Natsume Soseki no Tsuma if you watch them :).

Anonymous said...

Thanks to you both I found my own way of studying kanji. I tried Mike's approach with the AKB48 games but I had a hard time recognizing and inputting the kanji on my smartphone handwriting kanji app.

Watching jdoramas with Japanese subtitles is doing the trick. If I can't discern the word I could just pull the kanji text from the subtitle file and paste in Tangorin. Then after making my own translation, I'll compare it with the English subtitle.

Jdramacity is such a treasure trove, they provide raw video and links to both Japanese and English subs.

Maybe after I made more progress, I'll play the AKB48 Dating Sim. I love the idea of Mayuyu flirting with me :)

I can't thank you enough, both of you.

Akiramike said...

Anon: I don't recommend the remember certain amount of kanji daily thing that people do. Its not as important as knowing the various pronunciations, uses and jukugo (when you combine two or more kanji together) Blindly memorising kanji is not that helpful.

Usually kanji input apps requires you to do it in the correct stroke order.

Anonymous said...

Oh thanks Mike.
How about studying vocabulary by Level but with it's jukugo or it's okurigana? So I can build up my vocabulary while learning its jukugo/okurigana. Is flashcard system okay with this format in mind. Displays jukugo/okurigana first, then I try to remember/guess its hiragana and english counterpart.

My study system is grammar using "A dictionary of basic Japanese Grammar". It explains grammar points and has multiple sentence examples. Then vocabulary build up. Then practice or mock translation of subtitle or any Japanese text.

Akiramike said...

Anon: Do whatever works for you. The important thing is have fun and being able to see the fruits of your labour through playing games or watching doramas.