Battle Royale J-Movie Review (2000)

Warning: Some Spoilers Ahead



Info
Title: Battle Royale
Romaji: Batoru rowaiaru
Japanese: バトル・ロワイアル
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Writer: Koushun Takami (novel), Kenta Fukasaku
Producer: Kenta Fukasaku, Kinji Fukasaku, Kimio Kataoka, Chie Kobayashi, Toshio Nabeshima, Masumi Okada
Cinematographer Katsumi Yanagijima
Release Date: December 16, 2000
Runtime: 114 Min.
Distributor: Toei

Synopsis
At the dawn of the new millennium, Japan is in a state of collapse. Unemployment is endemic and school violence is out of control. The beleaguered government retaliates with Battle Royale... Each year, a randomly chosen class is pitted against itself on an abandoned island in a cruel game of survival. The rules of the game are simple: 1) it lasts three days; 2) Each player starts with food, water and a "weapon"; 3) if more than one player survives, everyone dies (by detonating special electronic necklaces; 4) there is no escape. Takeshi Kitano plays a downtrodden teacher turned Battle Royale operation leader. As the game progresses, terror and panic challenge the students' fragile trust in each other. But despite the game's brutality, the adolescent players remain obsessed with their crushes, their petty grudges - and their dreams...

Cast
Tatsuya Fujiwara as Shuya Nanahara
Aki Maeda as Noriko Nakagawa
Taro Yamamoto as Shogo Kawada
Takeshi Kitano as Kitano
Masanobu Ando as Kazuo Kiriyama
Kou Shibasaki as Mitsuko Souma
Takashi Tsukamoto as Shinji Mimura
Sosuke Takaoka as Hiroki Sugimura
Yukihiro Kotani as Yoshitoki Kuninobu
Chiaki Kuriyama as Takako Chigusa

My Review
Battle Royale is one of the well-known and critically praised movies in the J-gore genre. Based off of the book by Koushun Takami, Battle Royale was also one of the most controversal movies to come out of Japan due to the graphic nature of the violence with high school students killing each other off for survival, and it's portrayal of the Japanese government, which is understandable. It's violent, dark, and gory. Battle Royale goes for shock value and it succeeds.

Yet despite the violence, Battle Royale isn't just about blood and gore. It has a strong storyline mixed with excellent character development mostly through a series of flashbacks. These flashbacks give background to the characters and the class as a whole. They show some of the strong friendships between the characters as well as the unpleasant lives that some of them have. These flashbacks and the fact that the class was randomly selected to fight each other to the death, gives a lot of sympathy to the characters. You start to feel like these students are victims of a corrupt government's inhumane solution to big problems.




The two characters who are really easy to sympathize with are Shuya Nanahara (played by Tatsuya Fujikawa) and Noriko (played by Aki Maeda). These two are the innocent bystandards, caught up in the mayhem of this unjust game of survival. Throughout the movie they develop a close bond and try to find a way to survive the game without killing anyone, even though the rules state that only one person can survive the game. This dilemna is reflected with the character, Kawada (played by Taro Yamamoto). Kawada, a transfer student, was a survivor of a previous battle royale after his girlfriend killed herself off so he could survive. Kawada's experiences lead him to sympathize with Nanahara and Noriko, and joins them in their efforts to try to escape.



The sadistic protagonist of the movie is Kitano (played by Takeshi Kitano), who was the class' former teacher. He quit teaching, however, after being stabbed in the leg by one of the students in the class. This incident leads him to sympathize with the government and the Battle Royale Act. Yet he has a soft spot for Noriko, whom he saw as the ideal, well behaived student of the class. Kitano is an excellent villain protagonist, who at times you can sympathize with because of him being stabbed and for his affection for Noriko, yet you grow to love to hate him for being a cruel SOB.




There are two other villain characters in Battle Royale, both of whom are students. One of them is Mitsuko (played by Kou Shibasaki), a student of the class who's troubled due to her dark past involving her father. She's deceptive, leading students to believe that she's either joining them, the innocent victim, or using other methods. She's the much more rounded of the two student villain characters. This also happened to be Kou Shibasaki's debut, and helped lead to her success in J-Dramas such as Good Luck!!, Orange Days, and Galileo. She was perfectly suited for her role, providing a mysterious physic about her.

The other is Kazuo Kiriyama (played by Masanobu Ando), a transfer student who seemingly joined the game just for sadistic fun. Kazuo, IMO, is the far less impressive villain-type character. He's good a sadistic villain, but that's all there is to his character. He has no dialog throughout the movie, and no real development or backstory. He's just your standard one-dimensional psycho-path. Eventually these two villainous characters fight each other, which was a somewhat disappointing confrontation.



One surprising aspect about Battle Royale is how good the acting is, considering most of the actors portraying the students ranged in age anywhere from 14 to 19 years old. This includes Chiaki Kuriyama, who later was picked to star in the American movie Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (directed by Quentin Tarantino, who is a huge fan of Battle Royale). I felt the best performances were by Tatsuya Fujikawa, Aki Maeda, Takeshi Kitano, and Kou Shibasaki.

My Rating
9/10- Overall, this is an excellent movie and I recommend it to anyone who's interested in Japanese entertainment or gore films. However, I can't recommend it to everyone since the gore and the violence may not appeal to everyone. However, if you can stomach it (other than a couple scenes here and there it's not that bad), then I highly recommend this movie.

Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de Episode 1 Screenshots and Short Review

A couple days ago the first episode of Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de aired, and with an impressive 18.1% rating. Overall I thought the episode was descent. I liked the interaction between Keiko Kitagawa's character Reiko and Sho Sakurai's character Kageyama. Keiko had some funny moments throughout. Kippei Shiina's character, Kazamatsuri, was also pretty funny and flamboyant. It's nice to see him in a comedic role, where as the other dramas I've seen him in (Code Blue season 2 and Seito Shokun) he's played much more serious characters. The producers also did a good editing job. There's a lot of comic book-like inserts which gives the drama its lighter feel. It's also great that they don't overplay the wealth of the main character (Reiko), and the episode is more about the interaction of her and her butler, and solving the case. The case itself, however, was not that interesting. There was not much depth to it and it's not a case that arouses your emotions. Still, the episode had plenty of other stuff to make it interesting.

Actresses Best Fit to Play the Role of a Young and Rich Lady?

Recently, goo ranking did a survey on whom the audience thought would be best suited for the "young and rich lady" role. Coming in at #1 was Kyoko Fukada, followed by Keiko Kitagawa at #2. I thought this was really cool, since Kyoko and Keiko are my two favorite Japanese actresses. Kyoko played this role in Fugoh Keiji, a drama I really don't care about. Keiko is playing the role in her newest drama, Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de. Also making the list was one of my other favorites, Gakky at #10, whom I actually think would be best suited for such a role. Here's the full list.


1. Fukada Kyoko
2. Kitagawa Keiko
3. Takei Emi
4. Ayase Haruka
5. Horikita Maki
6. Ishihara Satomi
7. Toda Erika
8. Sasaki Nozomi
9. Karina
10. Aragaki Yui

Source: Tokyohive

A Look Ahead to the 2011 Fall Drama Season

Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de.



Starring Keiko Kitagawa and Arashi member Sho Sakurai. Kitagawa plays the part of Reiko Hosho, a rich detective whom lacks detective skills. Sakurai plays Kageyama, Reiko's buttler whom helps her solve the cases. The synopsis sounds a bit cheesy but I'll watch it anyways, since I'm a Keiko Kitagawa fan.

Sengyou Shufu Tantei ~ Watashi wa Shadow




Stars Kyoko Fukada and Naohito Fujiki. Fukada plays the part of Serina, a bumbling housewife turned detective who is suppose to grow stronger throughout. Sounds like there might be some interesting character development for Kyoko's character, and may be interesting to at least check it out. Hopefully it will get subbed.

Kaito Royale




This drama will be a late night drama (Fridays at 24:20), which means that episodes will likely be only 30 minutes long. It stars a trio of talented new and young actors: Tori Matsuzaka, Aya Oomasa, and Seiji Fukushi. I've seen in the tokusatsu series Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, in which he played the main character, Takeru. He did a fine job in that series, and I've been looking forward to seeing him in something else since. It's ashame that Gold hasn't been fully subbed yet, because I would like to see Matsuzaka in it. I've also seen Aya Oomasu and Seiji Fukushi in minor roles in other dramas. Oomasu I've seen in Buzzer Beat, playing Yamapi's younger sister. I've seen Fukushi play Keiko Kitagawa's older brother in Hitsudan Hostess. Both were ok in their respective roles, so they should be ok to watch here. As for the plot itself, Matsuzaka plays the character Rei, who's hired to steal an expensive ring called "Alexander's tear." This drama has an attractive cast and I'll probably try to watch it, but it may take me some time to get around to it.

Nankyoku Tairiku




This one is likely to be a ratings getter, with vastly popular actors Takuya Kimura and Haruka Ayase. Just about any Kimutaku drama draw at least an average 15% rating. The drama itself celebrates TBS' 60th anniversary and seems to be based on a true story. It's about a group of 11 people whom were sent to explore Antartica on a national project. It does sound interesting, but this is a drama that I probably won't pick up until after it's finished. I may be hard pressed to watch the first three I have listed.

Zenkai Girl J-Drama Review (2011)

Warning. Spoilers Ahead



Info
Title: Zenkai Girl (Japanese: 全開ガール)
Episodes: 11
TV Station: Fuji TV
Broadcast Time: July 11, 2011 to September 19, 2011
Genre: Romance, comedy
Average TV Rating: 12.3%

Synopsis
Devoted to becoming an international lawyer, Ayukawa Wakaba is full of ambition. Her hard work pays off when she lands a job at an international law firm, but to her disappointment, the first prestigious assignment that is given to her is to babysit the boss' 5 year old daughter, Hinata. Wakaba loathes kids and nursing, but unwillingly takes on the job as she is fixated on wealth and success. One day when she goes to a preschool to pick up Hinata, she meets a man named Yamada Sota. Sota is a man without higher education, wealth, or a future goal, someone that Wakaba absolutely cannot stand, the complete opposite of her ideals. Once again, contrary to her will, she ends up looking after Hinata and a few other kids along with Sota. Despite being exhausted from all the first-time experiences in child care, Wakaba begins to realize what is truly important to her. A heart-warming comedy about work, relationships and love.

Cast

Aragaki Yui as Ayukawa Wakaba
Yanagimachi Kahana as young Wakaba
Nishikido Ryo as Yamada Shota

Samejima Sakuragawa Law Firm:

Yakushimaru Hiroko as Sakuragawa Shoko
Hirayama Hiroyuki as Shindo Kyoichi
Renbutsu Misako as Shioda Soyoko
Aoyama Noriko as Kujo Mika
Sato Jiro as Sakota Morice

Mitsuba no Mori Nursery School:

Takeuchi Riki as Hanamura Jin
Kaito Aiko as Hanamura Urara
Tani Kanon as Sakuragawa Hinata
Takagi Serai as Yamada Emitaro
Iguchi Koko as Hayashi Kobato
Aoki Keito as Chabo Junior
Kuroda Hiroyuki as Nishino Teppei

Restaurant Le Sato:

Suzuki Ryohei as Nishino
Minagawa Sarutoki as Torii Hiroshi
Arakawa Yoshiyoshi as Hayashi Samao
Suga Tomio as a Le Sato shopkeeper

My Review
Zenkai Girl follows your standard “money doesn’t buy happiness/love” plotline. Here, the main character Ayuwaka Wakaba (played by Aragaki Yui from Code Blue, Smile), is an ambitious female lawyer whom dreams of big money and being the “hawk of Manhattan.” In the process she has to babysit a 5 year old girl, Hinata, and meets a lower class guy, Shouta (Nishikido Ryo, 1 Litre of Tears) whom is also a single dad. It’s a plotline that’s been done a million times over. However, lack of originality isn’t necessarily a problem if the story is well executed. Papa to Musume no Nanokakan, another Aragaki Yui drama, has an unoriginal plotline of the main characters switching bodies but is quite a fun drama. That, however, is for another time.

The strength of the drama is its characters. All the characters in general are pretty likable, with solid development and great acting. The two main leads work well to develop each other, and they learn from each other.



Anchoring the drama is a strong main character, Wakaba. She's very well developed, and she's played by Gakky, whom I've been a fan of since watching her in Smile. She's quite a diverse actress, who can play the more serious characters like she does here or the incredibly cute ones like she does in Smile. She does a good job here, portraying her character’s changing emotions, ambitions, and struggles quite well.



The kids in Zenkai Girl also stand out. Often in many shows or movies, kids can be annoying and/or their acting skills are glaringly bad. However, on Zenkai Girl the kids are pretty likable and cute characters, and their acting is actually pretty good. This was really nice to see.



Also sticking out with a solid performance is Yakushimaru Hiroko (1 Litre of Tears), who plays Sakurakawa Noriko, Wakaba’s boss. Her character struggles to balance time between work and raising a kid. The developing relationship between her and her daughter, Hinata, was a really nice thing to see. There was also one scene in the last episode that was quite awesome, when she outsmarted another character who tried to take control of the law firm away from her.



There was much debate among J-drama fans about Nishikido’s character, Shota. Many dismissed him as being wishy-washy and lacking ambition, particularly for not chasing his dream as a French chef. However, I thought he was quite a solid character and was well developed. He’s a single father, and it can be tough to raise a kid and chase your dreams at the same time. I thought his struggles were well done. However, I will say that the writers didn’t do enough to develop his French chef dreams. It’s touched upon for the first four episodes, but then the plot is just thrown aside and not even mentioned again until episode 10 when Shota suddenly decides to go to France for no other reason than to avoid Wakaba.



While the characters are pretty solid, the romance plot itself leaves a lot to be desired. The first half of the drama starts out very promising, building anticipation. Through the first 6 or 7 episodes, there’s plenty of build up in the relationship between the two main characters, Wakaba and Shota. The problem lies in the last 4 or so episodes, where everything goes off track because of new subplots and a series of annoying near-misses, misunderstandings, and delays. Wakaba and Shota’s relationship goes practically nowhere from episodes 8-10, and their relationship ends up being underdeveloped. It was also somewhat unconvincing that Wakaba actually learned that love doesn’t buy happiness, which is the main point of the drama. Then everything is slapped together at the end, to make sure the main characters get together.



Among the subplots used in the last few episodes include Wakaba having to learn to accept her father’s sentiment (episode 8), a lawsuit involving a toy factory (episode 9), and a custody battle over Shota’s foster-son Pitaro (episode 10). I did like the storyline with Wakaba’s father, which helped develop her character further. Her father was mentally retarded, did the best to raise her, despite getting fooled and in debt. It was a great subplot and finished some loose screws that were left during the early episodes. However, the placement of the toy factory subplot could have happened much earlier in the drama. By the time the drama gets to the custody battle plot, it just feels like the writers are doing everything they can to delay Wakaba and Shota getting together until the last episode, trying to make it more dramatic.





However, I will say that I did enjoy the interaction between the two leads throughout the series. We get a good sense of them developing from distrusting each other (mostly Wakaba cringing at the thought of Shota) to them slowly falling in love. I also really loved the ending of episode one, which had one of the goofiest and funniest kissing scenes ever, and the ending of the entire drama, which was really sweet.

Overall: 7.5/10- Overall it's a descent show, and a good watch for Gakky and Nishikido Ryo fans. However, it's not nearly as good as other romance dramas I've seen.

Kamisama Mou Sukoshi Dake J-Drama Review (1998)

Warning: Spoilers Ahead



Info
Title: Kamisama Mou Sukoshi Dake (Japanese: 神様、もう少しだけ)
English Title: God Please Give Me More Time/Precious Time
Episodes: 12
TV Station: Fuji TV
Broadcast Time: July 7, 1998 to September 22, 1998 on Tuesdays at 21:00
Genre: Drama, romance, disease/disability
Average TV Rating: 22.5%

Synopsis
A touching love story about a girl Kano Masaki (Fukada) who contracted HIV after selling her body in order to earn money for the concert of a famous composer Ishikawa Keigo (Kaneshiro). After the concert, Keigo saw Masaki chasing after his van. She was drenched, and thus Keigo took her to his apartment, where they spent the night.

Cast
Kaneshiro Takeshi as Ishikawa Keigo
Fukada Kyoko as Kano Masaki
Kato Haruhiko as Hibino Isamu
Nakama Yukie as Kaoru
Yazawa Shin as Oda Asami
Hirata Mitsuru as Kano Nogiro
Tanaka Yoshiko as Kano Yaeko
Masuoka Toru as Arida Yoshikatsu
Tonesaku Toshihide as Kubo Takashi
Tanaka Yukimi (田中有紀美) as Tamura Kana
Takeshita Kotaro (竹下宏太郎) as Isawa Hiroyuki
Nagahori Taketoshi (永堀剛敏) as Noguchi Takaaki
Isayama Hiroko as Hiratsuka Ishi
Miyazawa Rie as Takimura Lisa
Katsurayama Shingo (ep3)
Kohinata Fumiyo (ep10)

Awards
Television Drama Academy Awards:
Best Drama
Best Actor: Kaneshiro Takeshi
Best Supporting Actress: Fukada Kyoko
Best Theme Song: I For You - Luna Sea
Best Scriptwriter: Asano Taeko
Best Director: Takeuchi Hideki
Best Cast
Best Opening

My Review
Kamisama Mou Sukoshi Dake is one of my all-time favorites. It has everything you would want in a drama. A touching story, great cast, awesome soundtrack, and a very good romance. It's as close as you can get to being a masterpiece.

The story circles around Masaki (played by Kyoko Fukada), whom contracts HIV after trying prostitution to get enough money to go to a concert. The concert she goes to is set up by the music producer Keigo, whom Masaki is a big fan of. Later on, the two develop a friendship that starts out of Keigo's sympathy for Masaki and eventually turns into a romance. On paper it does sound a little far fetch but to be honest almost anything on TV (rather it's J-Dramas or Hollywood) has some unrealistic parts. The plot is daring, tackling controversial subjects like HIV, prostitution, and social attitudes. What really makes the story great is the depth that it has. It's more than just about AIDS and prostitution. Other issues tackled in the drama included school bullying, having kids, social attitudes towards AIDS patients, and child-parent relationships. This makes for an intense rollercoaster ride of emotions, and you can really sympathize with the characters. It's a tearjerker, yet very beautiful.




Fukada's role as Masaki is generally agreed by most to be her best acting performance. She won a J-Drama academy award for best supporting actress in the drama, though it makes absolutely no sense why she won the award for supporting actress since she portrays the main character in the drama. Indeed, Kyoko was excellent in her role as Masaki. It was a vastly mature role for Kyoko, especially considering that she was only 15 at the time of filming the drama. She's able to bring a lot of depth to her character and shows a wide range of emotions. Her character is somewhat on the immature side initially, but looking from a teenager's point of view you can't really blame her. Besides having to deal with the virus, she's bullied at school once her classmates find out. On top of that her mom is having an affair and her dad neglects his own responsibilities as head of the household. Masaki's also unable to take the medication given to her due to the strong side-effects. Masaki's attitude does change throughout the drama, and matures tremendously. Later on there's some really good moments that bring out the best of her character. A couple great examples are the speech she gives at her school where she confesses to having HIV, and in the last episode where she's willing to sacrifice her life to give birth.



One particular part of the story I really enjoyed was Masaki's relationship with her parents. The process in which her relationship with both her parents changes leads to some good character development for both her and her parents, as well as some touching moments. She struggles to tell them that she contracted the HIV virus. Besides that, both of Masaki's parents have their own issues. Masaki's mom is having an affair, and after finding out Masaki is even more reluctant to talk to her. Despite her affair, Masaki's mom is deeply worried about Masaki after noticing a change in her. Eventually Masaki opens up to her mom after realizing that she does care for her. Meanwhile, Masaki's dad is pretty much your stereotypical father. He neglects his family's needs, and yet is overprotective and overreacts to anything he doesn't like. Eventually he changes and admits his own faults.



The male lead is Keigo, played by Takeshi Kaneshiro who is more well known for playing in a handful of Chinese wuxia films such as House of Flying Daggers and Red Cliff. Keigo is a cold and emotionless character due to his dark past. His character balances out Masaki, who's younger, bubbly, and cheerful (before learning she has HIV). Like Masaki he has his own issues to deal with, such as his dark past and his dwindling music career. Like Kyoko, Takeshi won a J-Drama Academy Award, winning the Best Actor award. He's just as strong in his role as Kyoko is.




Eventually, the two leads develop a romance. Both lead characters help each other to develop. Takeshi and Kyoko have fairly good chemistry, and are a likable couple, with many good kissing scenes throughout. However, it's this romance where the only real flaws exist. First is the character Kaoru played by Nakama Yukie (Trick, Gokusen). Kaoru is the annoying, jealous woman whom tries to steal Keigo from Masaki. The other flaw is an idiot ball plot over the last three episodes. Keigo willingly has offscreen unprotected sex with Kyoko, and it's implied in the lead-up. Yet Masaki gives birth to a child and somehow neither Keigo nor the child get infected. Admittedly it is possible and Masaki's child birth did make for some really good drama and touching scenes later, but the writers didn't need to go as far as they did to imply that they had unprotected sex. It just makes the scene somewhat disturbing to think about.

The only other issue I had with this drama is that the ending is bittersweet. Masaki dies, which is expected since she had HIV. I wasn't really upset about her dying since it was inevitable throughout. The bigger issue I have was Masaki dying at her wedding, which is what made it bittersweet. Still, it's not as painfully bittersweet as other dramas, like Summer Snow, and everything before Masaki's death does feel like a happy ending and leaves you satisfied.





A major bonus that this drama has is the OST. The soundtrack is one of the best among J-Dramas, filled with many great songs. Highlighting the soundtrack is the opening theme song, I For You by Luna Sea. The intro itself is fun to watch. There's other great songs as well, including a beautiful piano piece, Wishes by S.E.N.S. and In The Sky by Kudo Shizuka.

My Rating
9.5/10- This drama has the complete package. The cast is great, the music is awesome, and the emotional yet beautiful story outweigh the flaws.

Zenkai Girl Episode 8 Review and Screenshots

Warning. Major spoilers ahead.

In this episode, Wakaba misses her initial engagement party with her co-workers because she was still consoling Shota. Afterwards, Shindo asks Wakaba to have an engagement party with both of their parents. However, Wakaba is reluctant, thinking that her dad will give Shindo's family a negative reaction. Wakaba does send her dad a telegram invitation, but thinks her dad will never be able to make it. To her surprise, Wakaba's dad does make it over to Tokyo. Wakaba's dad is mentally handicapped, struggles to pay debts, and is often fooled by getting into more debts. Wakaba doesn't think highly of her dad. Also showing up is a debt collector, whom Wakaba's dad owes money to. However much to Wakaba's surpise, not only does Shindo's family pay off Wakaba's father's debt, they actually preferred to help Wakaba. Later, Shota gives Wakaba a checkbook from her dad, that had 2,705 Yen deposits each time. The total didn't amount to much, so Wakaba initially dismissed it. That is until Shota finds out that 2,705 was Wakaba's birthweight in grams. Wakaba then recognizes how much her father cared for her.

This episode was somewhat mixed for me. I liked that they developed some story with Wakaba's father, and felt it was necessary for Wakaba's development. This episode had some heartwarming moments. However, the major issue I have is that Zenkai Girl is starting to fall into the trap of waiting until the last possible moment for the romance between the two leads to blossom. This kinda annoys me sometimes with J-Dramas. While some J-Dramas that wait until the near end for the leads to get together, it does kinda get tiring when you constantly have to wait. However, I still do like this series, particularly the character development of the two leads.