JDorama review: Chance!

Title: Chance! Broadcast dates: 3/7/09 - 3/14/09 Number of episodes: 2 Genre: Slice of Life Cast: Horikita Maki, Kuroki Meisa, Gekidan Hitori, Muro Tsuyoshi Plot: After receiving rejection letters from every job she's applied for, Kawamura Tamaki (Horikita) finally lands a low-level job at a travel agency. She finds her chance at becoming a success through a series of mistakes. What is good: Gekidan Hitori! What is bad: The side story with Tamaki's brother, Taizou (Muro), is dull. Letter rating: B+

Kawamura Tamaki gets rejected from every job except one. A customer service representative for a travel agency. Basically, she answers the phones and hands out complimentary tissues to passers-by. When her boss tells her that, as a new hire, she needs to learn everything, she mistakenly takes a task as a tour guide. Kawamura receives rave reviews from the customers and, as a result, gets a promotion. One of the perks of her new job is a company cell phone. Shortly after receiving her phone, she bumps into the company's number one employee, Tamaki Saori, and accidentally ends up switching phones with the woman. The company president thinks he is calling Saori to present a tour to an important foreign company when he is actually talking to Tamaki. Tamaki, thinking that he really is calling her, takes on the task.

Saori, on her wedding day, sees an old boyfriend, Kusaba Fumiya (Okada Yoshinori), and spends a majority of the day in her bridal gown running after him. Okada, as a representative for the foreign company, thinks he is supposed to have a business meeting with Saori instead of Tamaki. It all comes to a head when Saori arrives, still in her wedding dress, at the agency and the president rushes her off to the conference room to hold the presentation. Tamaki, knowing that the foreigners will be bored with the current presentation, shows up with a brand new one featuring photos from tour guide, Inoue (Gekidan). Saori hands the reins over to Tamaki, whose presentation is a smashing success. In the end, Saori gets married to her fiance and is about to have a baby, while Tamaki takes over many of Saori's tasks in the company.

With only two episodes, I figured Chance! would either be amazingly awesome or completely awful. Luckily, it is not awful. Horikita Maki plays the clumsy newbie very well. There wasn't a single moment where I didn't believe her circumstances, no matter how unlikely they were. Kuroki Meisa's character, Tamaki Saori, is very important to the story but she spends most of it running around in a wedding dress. Though, I suppose, we don't really need to know a lot about her since the story is all about Kawamura Tamaki. Fortunately, comic genius Gekidan Hitori is along for the ride as tour guide Inoue. Despite being a very short show, I found it extremely enjoyable. This is definitely something you should watch.

Jdorama review: Hanazakari no Kimitachi e Special

Title: Hanazakari no Kimitachi e Also known as: HanaKimi Translation: For You In Full Blossom Broadcast date: 10/12/08 Genre: Romantic comedy Cast: Horikita Maki, Oguri Shun, Ikuta Toma Plot: Six months have passed since Mizuki has left Japan. During a Valentine's Day contest, Nakatsu tries to figure out exactly when Sano fell in love with Mizuki. What is good: More HanaKimi! What is bad: This isn't the special episode that should have been filmed. Letter rating: C Overall: I really enjoyed the HanaKimi television series. So why did the producers decide to stick us with this? Instead of a special involving the boys' trip out to California to visit Mizuki, we get a slew of flashbacks. A majority of the special is supposed to take place between episodes 7 and 8. However, someone made a decision to introduce a new character, Julia, to try to get Sano to confess his love to Mizuki. Not only is Julia unnecessary but she is also annoying. I would have preferred a special dedicated to more of the hijinks of the various dorms instead of focusing on something that was already determined in the series - Sano loves Mizuki. There is no need to try to figure out the exact moment that it dawned on him.

JDorama review: Hanazakari no Kimitachi e

hanakimi.jpgTitle: Hanazakari no Kimitachi e Also known as: HanaKimi Translation: For You In Full Blossom Broadcast date: 7/3/07 - 9/18/07 Genre: Romantic comedy Cast: Horikita Maki, Oguri Shun, Ikuta Toma Plot: Ashiya Mizuki (Horikita Maki) is a Japanese girl living in America. When her idol, athlete Sano Izumi (Oguri Shun), stops competing in the high jump, she moves to Japan to attend his all-boy high school in order to make him jump again. What is good: Ikuta Toma steals absolutely every scene that he is in. What is bad: It seems that Oguri Shun can only play one type of character. Letter rating: A Overall: I really enjoyed watching HanaKimi. While I started watching the show because it starred Oguri Shun, Ikuta Toma stole my heart. He was able to pull off goofy yet heart-warming at the same time. I'd like to see him in a ton of other projects. I was a little disappointed in Oguri Shun's performance. I've seen a couple of his roles now and they all seem to be exactly the same - a cute yet distant loner. It would be nice if we could try something a bit different for once. Sadly, I don't have much to say about Horikita's Ashiya. Sure, the character was determined and charismatic but she just didn't seem to come together totally. It was almost as if we, the audience, were missing something about her.

I would like to see a special episode though. I won't give away the ending for the show but it definitely leaves an opening for an awesome one-shot special. This is definitely a show that everyone should check out.