Zíza

Hanzawa Naoki is a big surprise for me, the biggest the year 2013 has to offer. From the story to the music to the acting, I was very pleased. Of course it has its flaws, but I can overlook those with a light heart, because few could create a suspenseful story with a bank employee as the main character. Now there is only one question left – will there be a second series?

I liked the beginning a lot, but as usual with Korean series, it went downhill as time went on. There was such an unbelievable amount of flaws, nonsense, and bad logic that it defied reason. There was a lot of screaming, crying, and shock. On the other hand, there were some enjoyable scenes with no overacting where they tried to follow logic and common sense. Unfortunately, there were too many lies and plots for my taste and I just thought WTF, shook my head and laughed about it. In the end I thought the cripple on the stick was the saddest character; even though he's pretty badass, he was the one I sympathized with the most because he kept getting slammed to the ground and couldn't even defend himself properly. Lee Da-hae didn't do anything above average, but she wasn't below average either. I found her heroine pathetic and weepy at times; my favorite part was when she pulled herself together and finally stood up for herself or the hotel. Lee Dong-Wook played an expressionless dummy; he was good at it, but when he put on a look of great indignation, I was afraid his eyes were going to pop out of their sockets – even though a lot of times it looked ridiculous, it's clear to me that being a person whose eyes bulge like that is definitely scary. The music was decent. The cinematography, on the other hand, wasn't, and at times I felt like the cameraman didn't really think through what he wanted to shoot. If everything had stayed within believable boundaries, without so much that rang false, I think it would have made a much better (and also shorter) series. A weak 3 stars.

Such a great cast, out of which the only ones who ultimately excel are Mitsushima Hikari and Emoto Tasuku, and even that Nomura Shūhei proved he has something to show. Sadly, the likes of Tsumabuki didn't really play much, almost as if he didn't believe in his character, didn't understand (or didn’t want to), and overacted in some scenes. At times it was minikurushii. Although it was supposed to seem hopeful, to me it seemed hopeless – in each episode there was yet another problem to solve, and they weren't exactly small. For a show from the summer season, it's a little too heavy for my taste, with an overwrought Tsumabuki and a clichéd ending. A big disappointment for me, as I was looking forward to something a little different (definitely something to warm the soul).

The story is not bad, nor are the characters, the acting, the cinematography, the music, the sets... In fact, the whole thing is all right, but nothing more. Just an average grey where nothing surprises or impresses you. It's kind of bland and flavorless, but it's set in a morgue, although we certainly don't see much blood. Given that it’s not really that bad, it was surprisingly boring.

Let’s not kid ourselves, the music was great. It kept the movie going and going. I like how it's all interconnected. The director, Jinnai Takanori (he had a cameo in the film – he was the one buying the cell phone at the end) was a member (lead singer, the character Jin) of the band The Rockers from 1978-1982. What’s more, the guitarist Tani Nobuo died in 2003. Not to mention that the film had a great cast. Well acted, well delivered, fateful, great music. Unfortunately, in the middle of the movie it suddenly kind of slowed down and I have absolutely no idea why. Not to mention the ending... almost stylistically rock. A very good film. A strong 4 stars. I almost gave it 5 stars, but I might bump it up after a second viewing.

A short relaxing series that keeps you entertained. The main character sees microbes that a friend said were cute. If you want to learn about fermentation in a more entertaining way, it serves that purpose too. Basically nothing happens, but it kind of captures college life in a way; at the same time, there are such absurd things there (aside from the ability to see and talk to microbes) that at times I just gaped and didn't know whether or not to laugh. We don't get to the more serious stuff, so don't look for some probe into the depths of a college student's soul. Really, it's mostly good for dinnertime viewing and that's it.

Although it's cheesy and over the top in many ways, I ended up enjoying it. I laughed, but didn't particularly feel their pain because I couldn't exactly relate to the situations. On the other hand, the romantic scenes and the comedic ones kept me very entertained. The politicking was the same as in other historical series, even the villain was kind of slightly stereotypical, but it drove beautifully towards the climax. It wasn't bad, some of the standard plots were handled more elegantly here than they are elsewhere. I liked how the women were beautifully adorned and I was mesmerized by the outfits regardless of gender. Another plus for me was the excellent music; yes, it was repetitive, but it fit every scene. Sometimes I thought it was a little silly how the camera approached from a certain angle in that long arc before "zooming in" on something. All in all, it's slightly above average. Definitely entertains like 45 bedtime cartoons.

I was curious about it, but in the end it didn't really appeal to me. Suda Masaki and Kiritani Mirei were great, but somehow I felt like Ohno Satoshi didn't put much into it. The stories tried to play to the viewer's sensibilities, and once you get sucked in, you can't claw your way out. The stories were mostly pretty two-dimensional, with some more interesting ones here and there – like the one where they’re locked in a hotel room and one of them has to die. I guess if you approach it as a morality tale for children, meant to show the quality of people's character and teach them a lesson, it's fine. A better 2 stars.

Who ever would have said of a Japanese person that they could speak Korean so well (a Japanese person!)? Three women and Nishijima. I'll admit that I saw some video of an interview with Nishijima talking about this very film, which was the only reason I picked it up. I don't regret it. It's fast-paced in the beginning, there's always something happening, and no one knows where the truth is. The pace of the beginning ebbs towards the end, when everything starts to unravel, disappear, and return. I'm wondering if maybe the running time is too long, but on the other hand nothing more was said and no question was left unanswered. Nishijima's acting was magnificent, a joy to watch, his Korean "accomplice" never even came close. Basically, I felt that the whole film rested on his shoulders and the musical score by Kawai Kenji, not that it mattered. Indeed, I found it perfectly satisfying. An interesting idea, a not overly far-fetched explanation of everything that happened – it won more points. I also liked the attention to detail: for example, the injuries Ishigami inflicted on himself didn't just disappear; I was most impressed that there were injuries in every shot of his hands (abrasions, blood, bruises, swollen knuckles...). A nice Korean/Japanese collaboration. More like this...

A decent whodunit with a main character played really well by Takeuchi Yuko, I would even say it's worth seeing for her alone. Although the story isn't bad, given that it's a movie, it's unnecessarily drawn out, and would have been much better suited to a series – which is why I rate the series a whole star higher. Interesting cast, decent plot, hard to translate :-D