JDorama review: Juui Dolittle

Title: Juui Dolittle Also known as: Veterinarian Dolittle Broadcast dates: 10/17/10 - 12/19/10 Number of episodes: 9 Genre: Drama Cast: Oguri Shun, Inoue Mao, Narimiya Hiroki, Kunimura Jun, Ishizaka Koji Plot: Tottori Kenichi (Shun) is a extremely talented veterinarian, which has earned him the nickname "Dolittle." Unfortunately, he is quite rude to the humans that accompany his animal patients. His friend, Hanabishi Masaru (Narimiya), is a famous "Charisma Vet" who is afraid of operating on animals. Together, with nurse Tajima Asuka (Inoue), they try to save as many animals as they can. What is good: Oguri tackles another new character type! Yay! What is bad: It can be difficult to like the characters. Letter rating: C+

I was definitely excited when I heard that Shun, Mao, and Hiroki were doing a drama together. They are so awesome. Considering it had the "Dolittle" title, I expected some sort of animal talking thing. There wasn't any. It's simply a nickname because Tottori is good with animals and his name kinda sounds like Dolittle. Ah, well. Onto the review:

I have to admit that, for the most part, I enjoyed the series. It took me a long time to warm up to Tottori but, if you pay close attention, you can see that he's an ass because he cares for the animals so much. He thinks that their human caretakers are idiots and, most of the time, he's right. In one episode, a girl allowed her ferret to run free in the house. The ferret chewed on her slippers, swallowed some rubber and almost died. Yet the girl refused to take responsibility for it and when the ferret was well enough to go home.....yup, she let him run free again and the ferret got sick again. It wasn't until the ferret almost died a second time that she realized her selfishness. So, yeah, I felt that he had every right to be an ass to her.

On the other side, you have Hanabishi. He is very popular and works well with people. Yet he can't overcome a past trauma, stopping him from being able to operate. He does get along with Tottori so I'm not sure why the two of them didn't form a partnership. Hanabishi could diagnose the problem and deal with the customer, while Tottori operated and cared for the animals. I think that if they joined forces, they could have been way more successful than they would be separately. Instead, Hanabishi keeps shipping animals off secretly to Tottori's clinic to be operated on. The whole thing kinda makes me want to bang my head on the table.

Tajima is right in the middle of this. In the first episode, Tottori heals her prized horse. She can't afford his fee so, after failing to get hired for any of the jobs she applied for, she goes to work for him to pay off the debt. During her tenure at the clinic, she finds her purpose in life. Of all of the characters, she is the one that grows the most throughout the series. To be honest, without her, the show wouldn't have been nearly as good. There is a hint of romance between her and Tottori but not enough to overwhelm the series. At the end, I was glad that she realized that she wanted to go to school to become an animal nurse.

As a whole, the show is a little slow. There are a variety of animal patients so it was nice to see them work on more than just dogs and cats. However, there is a ton of politicking going on. That part annoyed me. Everyone was all "Let's help the animals!" but then would stop something because it was against an agenda. Granted, that is how things can be in real life. But this is a television show. It's not supposed to be too real!

Anyway, if you can look past Tottori's arrogance and Hanabishi's want to please everyone, it's a decent series. It's more about conservation and helping animals than it is about the humans. The best part is that it's different from most of the other shows I've watched lately. It was refreshing.

Game review: Ranch Rush

I found myself falling desperately in love with the Farm Frenzy series so I've been trying other farm games to see how they stack up. Ranch Rush is quite different from Farm Frenzy. Instead of caring for a ton of animals, you are caring for a few animals and a lot of crops. While I enjoyed the beginning levels of the games, the higher levels felt like they needed something more. The problem is that the crops and animals all need to be "harvested" quickly and your character just doesn't move fast enough to do everything. Perhaps this is fixed in an even higher level of the game but I couldn't bring myself to go past the hour demo. It was an entertaining hour at least.

Game review: Pet Shop Hop

Lately, a lot of pet-themed time management games have relied on grooming pets. You wash a dog, cut its hair then give it back to the owner. Pet Shop Hop is a pet-themed time management game but it is completely different from the others. Instead of grooming a pet, you are trying to sell them. However, you still need to feed each type of animal and clean their cages/tanks/pens. At the same time, you need to make sure you find the right pet for each customer. It sounds like there is a lot of work involved in playing this game. There isn't really. Your character doesn't move for the feeding and cleaning actions so there isn't time being wasted with her just wandering around the store. She only moves when she is preparing an animal for a customer. While this may seem like it's not a big deal, it is. Most games force the player's character to wander around the "game board" for every single action. This usually ends up making the player aggravated because the character doesn't move fast enough to fit everything in within the alloted time. Customers get angry because your character is busy in the corner feeding the fish or something. By allowing the feeding and cleaning to be done by the player without the character moving, the player can accomplish those tasks while the character is moving to a tank or cage to prepare an animal for the customer. We don't have to wait for the character to do something.

I did enjoy playing this game a lot. It's a slightly different take on the time management type of game but it makes all the right changes to keep it interesting and fun instead of aggravating.

Game review: Polly Pride: Pet Detective

The hidden obeject game Polly Pride: Pet Detective tells the story of Polly, the owner of a pet shelter who also does a bit of detective work on the side. If you have lost your pet, Polly will find it for you! I thought that this "pet detective" twist to the hidden object genre was interesting. In each level, you have the opportunity to find a lost pet from one of the previous storylines. While it doesn't change the actual gameplay any, it does give the game a little bit more of a emotional tie. People don't like losing their beloved pets so it feels good to help someone, even a person in a video game, find their animals.

Game review: Farm Frenzy

Farm Frenzy was a really fun game. You start out taking care of some geese and move into harvesting their eggs to sell at market before moving into other animals and products. Once you get sheep, you can harvest their wool to sell at market. Beware of the bears though! They will throw your animals off the screen, which forces you to buy new animals. Luckily, you can cage the bears and sell THEM at market. I didn't think I would like this game. It sounded like a lot of work with no real reward. Instead, I found the game exciting. I kept looking forward to making more money to buy upgrades for my farm. This is definitely a game you should try.