Loved the first episodes, hated the second half

I have mixed feelings regarding this "Edo-moiselle". I loved some things, and hated others, to be honest. Okay, let's start with the things I liked: I found the first episodes really, really good; I loved the FL's character (masterfully portrayed by Okada Yui, who's BTW secured herself a place in my personal top5 ^_^), who acted in my eyes as the perfect representation of the things I like about Japan (a sometimes chaotic mix of tradition and modernity, but with the head firmly set in the past - the Edo hairstyle! ^__^ - and with a simple yet refined philosophy that can still be very useful even nowadays - just like how Senka would at first solve Reiwa people's problems or dilemmas with her Edo wisdom!). And I really liked also the CEO's character (which is something I wouldn't have expected, given how classist I am, LOL), thanks to the brilliant performance by Maeda Goki. Lastly, another character I liked (although horribly underdeveloped!) was the one played by Yamaguchi Mayu, whom I had already appreciated for her beauty and talent in "Mango no Ki no Shita de" (I wish she'll get to lead in a dorama soon, not only in movies or SP!).
After the first 3 or 4 episodes, I really thought I was gonna give this a full "10".
But then came the second half, and with it so many thinks I didn't like: first and foremost, how the focus suddenly shifted from "Edo character teaching precious life lessons to Reiwa people" to the Nth, stale, unbearable (all imho of course!) love triangle/square that I honestly could very well do without! I also really hated how the spotlight shifted to the ML (I totally disliked that character, his undecisiveness, his fashion sense - or rather lack thereof!...painful to look at, seriously!).
The ending too (no spoilers, I promise!) felt way too forced to me. This is a perfect example of "lazy writing", as far as I'm concerned.
Too bad, it could've been waaaaay better than this.../.___.\

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If I were just a bit lazier than I already am, I could (almost ^_^;...) copy the review I wrote for the movie "Metro ni Notte" and paste it here, LOL
Similarly to what happened with that movie, in fact, until a matter of just minutes from the end of this "Blindly in Love", I was gonna give it a perfect 10, put it right away in my personal top10 of all times, and basically review it as a masterpiece. But then (no spoilers, don't worry ^__-) the ending was....well, let's just say: not what I think it should've been.
Still, differently from that other movie, I can't say that this was totally ruined, only slightly.
I wholeheartedly suggest it anyway, as the script (at least, 99% of it) is really beautiful, the cast marvelous (I already wrote many praises to Kaho's beauty and acting skills, and I'll gladly repeat myself once again here: she's simply "WOW"!!! Hoshino Gen as the ML was also absolutely brilliant, like the rest of the cast - honorable mentions for the always great Kuroki Hitomi and Hiraizumi Sei!), the directing top notch, the music lovely. Once again, if only they'd wrapped it up more nicely, this would've been a real masterpiece. It's still a very good movie, though. 9/10

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The Italian expression "vorrei ma non posso" (for those of you unfamiliar with Dante's language: "I'd like to, but I can't") is often used to describe things or people that aim too high; they have a target they'd love to reach, but - alas! - they just can't, it's too high for them; still, they behave like they've reached it. So, for example, you can say that of many pretentious restaurants you can find here on Lake Como; they act all high and mighty 'cause it takes longer to read their dishes' descriptions on the menu than it does to actually eat them, but that alone doesn't automatically grant all such restaurants 3 Michelin stars (not that Michelin stars are the only thing that matter; I'll take a good old traditional Italian dish over those French micro-portions every day of the week, but that's another story, LOL).
Why the long premise? Very simply put, because that's exactly what this "Cheat" feels like: a "vorrei-ma-non-posso"!
The directing, the editing, the photography, the music...all top notch and very closely imitating the style of such "heist" genre's masterpieces as the "Ocean's" trilogy or, staying in Japan, as "The Confidence Man JP".
The problem is, this dorama can't actually reach that very same level of excellency due to two big faults it has:
1) the script is good, but not perfect; whereas the cons plots are mostly well written and intriguing, the rest is just "meh": the comic relief is a bit of a "hit or miss" (the whole idol-related side story, for example, is just ridiculous), the characters are bidimensional, and some scenes and twists feel a bit too forced;
2) the cast as a whole is not up to par either; some of them are actually good (Fukuhara Haruka is lovely as usual and Kaneko Daichi is pretty funny!), but others are just embarrassingly terrible (Honda Tsubasa manages to reach new....depths...in the not so fine art of overacting - I thought nobody could do worse than Naka Riisa, but it seems I was mistaken! - and Kazama Shunsuke is outright unbearable, constantly acting as if he were God's sexy gift to humanity, URGH! Dude, no offense, but you're, like, three feet tall! Come off it, will ya? ^__^;...)
(Before Honda's and Kazama's fans jump at my throat: I haven't seem them in many other roles so far - actually, only one other drama for each of them, respectively "Shomuni 4" and "Nemureru Mori" - and I honestly don't remember whether they were good in those or what, so I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt: maybe the fault here lies with this script, I can't say for sure, so: peace! ^___-)
Still, even with all its faults, "Cheat" ain't too bad either; and if you, like me, are a fan of the genre, you'll probably find it enjoyable enough, all in all...^__-

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Being a history buff, I'm well aware of a coupla Golden Truths which, alas, tend to be vastly ignored by most:
1) there's little - and often just nothing - heroic in war; war is bad, it takes out the worst from people, and that means cowardice, betrayal, lies, atrocities etc.
2) what passes for "history" in the mainstream is actually only the "winners' version";
3) the "losers' version" is often - if not always - at least a little more accurate and true to life; why? Simple: losers can't so easily cover their crimes and sugarcoat the truth as winners do.
All this premise so as to explain why I particularly like Japanese productions about WWII: they aren't propagandistic fairy tales, they show war for what it is, in all its absurdity. Just like this dorama does, all while portraying the real story of Ri Kouran / Li Xianglan / Yamaguchi Yoshiko, a Japanese singer and actress from Japanese-occupied Manchuria.
Commenting on another dorama ("Chanpon Tabetaka") I wrote that it felt "like an asadora's digest", but then I didn't mean it as a compliment; here instead it's really as if they had taken the best and most relevant scenes out of an asadora and managed to make a 4-hour movie out of them. Great job indeed! The script is very well done, the acting very good, Ueto Aya - wearing qipaos/cheongsams most of the time - is positively gorgeous and the historical settings, costumes etc. simply great. I also really appreciated the respect the production showed to realism, i.e. using Russian-speaking actors to portray the main character's friend Lyuba and her family (and adding those small touches that alone can give realism to a scene, like when they're all drinking tea at one point and Lyuba asks if they have any jam - 'cause she would want to drink tea "the Russian way", of course! Small detail, but it shows the authors did their homework, doesn't it?).
Last but not least, some lovely music makes this lil' gem of dorama shine even more. Perfect 10!

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After the first few minutes, I was expecting it to be one of those awfully hollywoodian stories where an incident occurs and, scratching the surface, all the characters are revealed to be rotten to the core (typically hollywoodian, corruptive, luciferian message, btw). I was underestimating Japan, of course (my bad, as having watched more or less hundreds of J-doramas + dozens of J-movies, I should have known better!), and at the end of this dorama (alas, too short and a bit confused) the message conveyed was very different! Very good performances by Morikawa Aoi and Matsuoka Mayu!

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Please allow me not to mince my words: this "Yudo" is really a freaking M-A-S-T-E-R-P-I-E-C-E!!!
Wow, seriously, I've watched it a coupla weeks ago and I'm still getting goosebumps just by thinking about it, so good it was!
The script is absolutely P-E-R-F-E-C-T, it works like the finest of Swiss clockworks and *every single scene* is a total delight to watch. Even the most minor of side characters feels tridimensional, and the scenes involving them are fabulously deep and brilliant (take for instance the beautiful subplot involving the "haafu" and his mother! Or the fantastically bittersweet one with the old couple!).
The acting is top-notch, as one would expect from such a *stellar* cast!!!
The production value / "packaging" literally reaches Himalayan heights too.
This goes directly in my personal top10 of all times!!!

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Very delicate and nicely original take on the old trope "high school student + teacher love", this "Sensei Sayonara" positively surprised me for its beautiful script, the good to great acting performance by the main cast, and a totally decent production value / "packaging" (direction, photography, music commentary etc.).
Hard to explain the originality of this little drama (and most of all, why you might wanna give it a chance even though you might be turned off by the premise) without spoilers, so here we go, consider yourselves warned and if you don't wanna get any of those, stop reading now!
The afore-mentioned originality lies in the fact that the drama constantly juggles two different storylines: on the one hand, in the past, we get to see the beautiful-yet-tragic love between the ML (then a high schooler himself) and his homeroom teacher (played by Kita Kana who's nothing short of brilliant here, her last scene literally gave me goosebumps!); on the other hand, in the present, we see the sweet (and rest assured, completely chaste) love between the FL and the ML, who's now become a homeroom teacher (and a widow). In both cases it's the student who initiates everything, and it both cases the relationships are portrayed in an absolutely pure, not-in-the-least naughty way.
So why don't I give this a perfect 10? Well, honestly, Kita Kana and Watanabe Shota both did really well, whereas the rest of the cast (even more so in comparison to the Himalayan heights reached by those two) was good but nothing more (most, like Hayashi Meari, are pretty young so there's still a lot of room for improvement of course, ganbatte kudasai!)

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So, basically, the Japanese Government has decided to address the NEETs (people Not in Employment, Education nor Training) problem as well as the always declining birthrate, and...
Wait!
I know you've already read the synopsis, I'm not such a lousy reviewer as to needlessly repeat it, trust me...so bear with me for a few more seconds, will ya?
Where was I?
Oh, yeah:
...and they came up with a master plan: to have a dorama made, starring Kumada Rinka as the ideal wife (she's beautiful, kind, feminine, honest, sweet...add a few dozens more qualities and you'll get close to understanding how perfect she is in this!) so that even such old and staunch bachelors as yours truly would actually change their mind at least for the duration of the dorama and think that it'd be nice to get married.
I swear, these Japanese are a clever bunch! Chapeau, guys! ^__________^
p.s.
Jokes aside: it's a refreshingly clean, sweet and heartwarming lil' dorama, with a beautiful script and great performances by the whole cast! Highly recommended!!!

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I couldn't help comparing this "Itoshi no Nina" with "Kakafukaka", given how both dramas belong to the "romance" genre and (sort of) deal with the (very difficult) topic of sexual assaults; whereas "Kakafukaka" (which I tend to call "Kakà, fa kakà" in my head - Italians will get the pun better, it roughly translates as "It Sucks") did the most idiotic thing possible, that is, glamourized the whole thing, at least "Itoshi no Nina" attempted to face the topic more seriously, and managed to be a lot deeper - not such a feat per se, as the other one had been the paragon of shallowness!
Unfortunately, the result is still a bit half-baked, imho mostly due to the fact that it's not so easy to treat such a topic, within such a genre, in such a short series. And indeed, the characters' development often felt way too fast and abrupt; had the writer had more room to work with, she might have accomplished it better. As is, we have a very solidly written ML and a mostly well written FL, with the other characters being only roughly sketched and therefore often behaving inconsistently. Thusly, the story barely manages to get the passing grade, imho.
The cast did very well though, particularly the two leads, Hotta Mayu and Okada Kenshi, both delivering a very good and touching performance! Standing ovation for both!
A pretty high production value and a very nice and catchy song complete the package.
p.s.
Sorry for the following rant, but I just HAVE TO add this (WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD): I've noticed comments describing the ML as "one of the perpetrators", much to my astonishment! >____<
The guy had NO FOREKNOWLEDGE WHATSOEVER of the kidnapping, and when he found out he took action and set the girl free, fleeing with her and bringing her to safety. Considering him "a perpetrator" means either NOT HAVING WATCHED THE DRAMA AT ALL or else BEING A SEXIST WHO THINKS HE'S GUILTY BY DEFINITION BECAUSE HE'S A MALE. Whichever is UTTERLY WRONG imho.

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"Forrest Gump" meets "Shomuni", with lousy results

I must confess not being a big fan of those - tremendously popular - oversimplifications of movies or dramas that could be formulized as "A = B + C" (I've recently noticed one of those, for example, in relation to the fabulous C-drama "Reset", labeled by some as "Speed meets Groundhog Day"), but this time I myself can't resist the temptaion of summing up this "Ii Hito" as "Forrest Gump meets Shomuni"! ^_^;
The problem is that whereas the latter was often hilarious, this one was mostly just ridiculous; and as for the former, they shared indeed a "definition" of "good person" that I happen to just totally disagree with. In fact, if you'll pardon my "hegelian dialectic", I really don't think that a good person is someone so naive and immature that doesn't even know what evil is ("Thesis"), but rather, someone who knows very well ("Antithesis") and decides to renounce evil and be good instead ("Synthesis"). Adults with the minds of a 5 years old kid aren't "good people", but the very definition of "simpletons" if you wanna be polite (or "retards" if you don't - and as annoying as I've found this ML who could only repeat, like a parrot, the same trite sentences throughout the whole drama, and the rest of the time just ran and shouted, rinse and repeat - well, I'm not so sure I wanna be polite in his case! =__=)
So, as you by now I'm sure have already guessed from my loooong introduction, I've found this drama's script to be reeeally bad. The "good guys" were annoying, the villains ridiculous (compared to the sneezing manager and his minion with the horrible haircut, even Dick Dastardly from "Wacky Races" was a credible, realistic and sober villain!), the plot almost non.existent, the dialogues and the message both trite and silly.
The cast's performance was also mostly abysmal (no surprise, given the material they had to work with) and only a coupla managed to do somehow well regardless (namely, Ito Shiro and Kanno Miho).
The production value was also nothing special, and the directing, instead, specially annoying - what with the constant zooming-in-and-out and the characters taking turns to stand in front of the camera and recite their lines (seriously, it felt like something a lousy high school club might do - and it'd still be annoying, but at least they'd have the excuse of being young and inexperienced; what was this director's excuse? .\___/.)
The only thing I was completely satisfied with was the OST, which was really marvelous (and the only reason why this doesn't get an even lower rating from me!!!)
So, 10/10 to the music, and extremely low ratings for the other categories.
My suggestion is: steer clear of the dorama and simply buy the OST! ^___-

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Whenever I see Odagiri Joe cast as the lead, I know from the beginning that chances are I'm in for something quirky and funny - and more often than not, outrageously so. And this "Jikou Keisatsu" was no exception, LOL! ^_____^
Indeed, the premise was exactly like that: outrageously quirky and funny (although, the ethically-conscious me was not fully on board with the "culprits get away with it" concept, I must confess >___<). The premise was mostly well developed and the mystery plots mostly well written (though, as it is often, if not always, the case with such episodic mysteries, some episodes were indeed better than others).
The cast did very well (besides, Odagiri Joe + Aso Kumiko are the perfect combo, seriously!!!) and the music was good too (the background music played during the "solution scenes" was particularly nice!); I have mixed feelings about the directing/editing though, as in a coupla episodes those were so chaotic that I got motion sickness! >___<
All in all, a nice dorama; I'm gonna watch the following seasons too! ^___-

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Even better than the drama...perfect10!

I would suggest you watch this movie only *after* the dorama ("Eizouken ni wa Te o Dasu na!" - which is basically the same title as this movie's - only, in Japanese), as you'd miss out on a tremendously witty and funny series otherwise! Nevertheless, the movie can stand by itself, and since the first twenty minutes or so are basically a recap of the drama's most important moments, even those who haven't watched the drama can appreciate the flick.
I normally am a bit wary of movies following dramas, as it's been my experience that most of those can't keep up the original quality and end up being a let down; but it certainly isn't the case of this "Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!"....quite the opposite, I personally found it even better than the drama itself - which it's quite a feat, given how the drama had already been almost perfect!
A solid script, some great acting, nice music, himalayan-high production value...what's not to like? Perfect 10!

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I must confess having been taken quite aback by this drama's first episode. In short, and trying to avoid spoilers, it wasn't what I had expected. But after the initial surprise, I recalibrated my expectations and in the end I was utterly satisfied by this show! ^____-
The script is as crazy and quirky as they come, being a perfect example of the typically Japanese paradoxical comedy - a genre at which they excel, indeed! Expect lots and lots of wild fantasy (such a refreshing contrast to the ever-surging wave of bland, neutered, politically-correct homogeneity which has laid waste to the Western scriptwriting world, and has started attacking Japan as well, alas). Dialogues are witty and funny.
The acting is mostly superb (apart from one or two minor characters; but the three leads are all impeccable - a virtual standing ovation to them! Oh, and to the lovely Konishi Sakurako as well - too bad her role is not a leading one T__T).
Some pretty nice music and a tremendously high production value complete the package.
Highly recommended! Oh, and be sure to watch the following movie as well!

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Interesting premise, totally ruined by a lousy script

Apart from the cheesy title, this "Zambi" had a pretty interesting premise, with a first episode full of eery atmosphere. But from them on, unfortunately (and particularly from the start of the zombie outbreak - pardon, "zambi" outbreak ^_^;...), the whole thing was completely ruined by one of the lousiest scripts I've ever seen, filled to the brim with inconsistencies, plotholes, horribly poor dialogues, and idiotic scenes (just a few examples - SPOILERS AHEAD, jump to the next paragraph if you want to avoid them! - out of all the teens in the dormitory, apparently only one had her phone with her - like, seriously?!? - but then when the FL awakes inside the coffin, she has a lighter with her - and when another girl is stuck climbing outside a window, she repels a "zambi" using a big spray can - where did she find it? and where had she hidden it until then?!?...as for the dialogues, a memorable example is when one of the girls gets killed - UNMISTAKENLY killed, what with the knife stuck in her heart, the eyes wide open and dead - and in the next scene, a girl asks "Was she really dead?" - Duh! Whaddaya think, girl?!? >_____<)
The acting was quite poor, but with that script, there's nothing they could have done about that - and some of the girls showed how well they can act in another drama, "Eizouken ni wa Te wo Dasu na!" (more on that in my upcoming review of that title).
The music was nothing worth calling hoe about it, either.
Summing it all up: watch it only if you're a Nogizaka fan.

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This "Byplayers" is one of those gems that the J-drama scene produces time and again, and that time and again are vastly ignored by the non-Japanese audiences, alas.
In Japan it's been pretty successful (leading to two more seasons and a movie!), but unfortunately only this first season got subbed so far.
Of course this is partially explainable with the fact that it's quite hard to translate dramas like this into another language, so full as it is with cultural references, inside jokes, quotes etc.
But I'm afraid that the biggest "problem" is the average age of the leads - and that's particularly sad, specially for "oji-sans" like me! T_____T
If you wanna take my advice though (and take a break from the more usual dramas and their mostly "ageists" casts, give this a try, as it's really very good! ^___-
A meta-drama with a cast filled to the brim with great Japanese actors (both as leads as well as the weekly guests), most of them playing themselves, though of course in fictional situations (you know the "...no Satsukyu" series? A bit like that! ^___-)
A great declaration of love for dramas and the people working on (and mostly, IN) them!
The acting was superb, as expected; the script really brilliant; the music, imho, spectacularly good!
What's not to like? Perfect 10! ^___^

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