Dorama of the Year 2002-IV Fall - Taiho Shichauzo

The choice is between two Japanese comedies, so I'm choosing Taiho Shichauzo as got fed up with similar family comedies already.

1. Jang Hee Bin (2002)  [장희빈] (Finished 1/100) Tags: Historical, Romance, Drama Jang Hee Bin tells the story of a young lady-in-waiting whose beauty catches the eye of the King and becomes his concubine. Quickly rising in the ranks and eventually giving birth to a son, her hunger for power drives her not only to maintain her position, but to become Queen. Could not stomack 1995 version, and this one is no better.   Overall Rating: 5/10

2. Algernon ni Hanataba wo (2002)  [アルジャーノンに花束を] (Finished 1/11) Tags: Drama Abandoned by his mother as a child, Fujishima Haru, a mentally challenged man, works as a baker at Sakurai Bakery alongside the owner, Sakurai Kyoko, and Tashiro Miki, another mentally challenged girl who is like a sister to him. After work, they attend a night class for mentally challenged adults, taught by Toya Erina, who is both their teacher and friend. When Erina’s old friend Kobayashi Rumiko presents a research project to increase intelligence in the mentally challenged, Erina hesitates but eventually agrees, moved by Haru’s desire to become smarter to win back his mother. After successful surgery, Haru’s intelligence grows, but he struggles with the emotional and social challenges that come with his newfound awareness. Too many mentally challenged persons for one show, at least for me.   Overall Rating: 5/10

3. Home & Away [ホーム＆アウェイ] (Finished 1/11) Tags: Adventure, Comedy, Life Kaede is good at heart and finds it difficult to refuse favours asked of her. And then she's got no sense of direction. On her travels, due to the whims of the gods, she gets involved in one calamity after another but is able to give happiness to people who call on her for aid. For the people she meets up with, she seems to be an angel who brings happiness from somewhere and then goes silently on her way. She actually just wants to go home, but with all the things happening to her, home seems farther and farther away. Will she be able to return home by her wedding day, which is just a month away? How long will this calamitous journey of self-discovery continue? Travel adventure is one of my least favorite concepts. But of course they needed to fill in all the luck vs unluck crap to make it completely unacceptable for me.   Overall Rating: 5/10

4. Midnight Rain [真夜中の雨] (Finished 1/11) Tags: Mystery, Medical Tokura Takashi (Oda Yuji) is a talented and somewhat arrogant surgeon who is recruited to work for a private hospital run by the secretive Izumida family. Through an odd series of events, he finds himself in the company of Misuzawa Yukiko, a detective, who has some issues of her own. As the story unfolds, Tokura finds himself embroiled in Izumida family and police matters. What do he, the Izumidas, and Misuzawa all have in common...? - Took me two episodes to get the genre, and it's just eccentric chirurgeon dealing with difficult cases and opposing the superiors who are interested only in profit, but not in patients. I'm not fan of Dr. House, so it goes awry.   Overall Rating: 5/10

5. Otousan  [おとうさん] (Finished 1/11) Tags: Drama Following the death of his dear wife, a man was left to raise their four daughters on his own. It hasn't been easy and his daughters always seem unsatisfied and arguments are an everyday occurrence. All of them have a secret they can't bring themselves to tell him. The oldest Yu has decided to leave her husband and child and return home. The responsible second daughter, Akira has decided to have another go at her dreams and is planning to leave home. The third daughter, Makoto is a nurse who lacks self-confidence and is secretly renting an apartment so she can live with a dullard. The youngest daughter, Kei has played piano since she was a child but thinks she has gone as far as she can and wants to quit music school. Then one day, he announces he is remarrying. The daughters aren't happy and as they set about trying to stop their father they begin to examine their own lives and personal philosophies in the heart-warming drama. Since can't stand Tamura Masakazu and it's at least third such drama with him and same family concept, it goes to trash bin right away.   Overall Rating: 5/10

6. Yan Papa [やんパパ] (Finished 2/10) Tags: Drama The opening episode, 25-year-old Yusaku was about to marry Yu, a famous manga artist to whom he was apprenticed. However, Yu had three children by a previous marriage, all of them resented her relationship with the much younger Yusaku and disapproved of the coming wedding. In fact, the three kids also disliked Yu, since she was always busy at work, they were raised by her older sister. After having already registered their union at the local municipal office, Yu, on the morning of the wedding, also changes the beneficiary in her life insurance policy to Yusaku. Then, on the way to the ceremony, she is killed in an accident. Typical family drama with typical concept and typical actors. What only stands out is manga strips and animation additions.   Overall Rating: 6/10

7. Shoot for the Stars [별을 쏘다] (Finished 2/16) Tags: Comedy, Romance, Life, Drama Sung Tae is an orphan. He made up his mind to become a movie star and find his foster parents and brother who made him feel like he was a part of a family. It is a long, hard road to becoming an actor. Adding to these problems, he has a hard time reading scripts because he has dyslexia. Although frustrated at times, he has a warm-hearted manager Han So Ra. She helps him become a great star. Her ceaseless efforts pave the way for his success as a promising actor. Back to square one. Nothing outstanding at all and even production quality is worse than was last season.   Overall Rating: 5/10

8. Successful Story of a Bright Girl  [명랑소녀 성공기] (Finished 2/16) Tags: Comedy, Romance Cha Yang Soon is a cute and innocent country girl who often daydreams of rescuing her prince. One day, she meets Han Ki Tae, who accidentally falls into her bathtub while she was taking her bath. Not off to a good start as they started arguing over the matter. However, the story goes on to tell how Cha Yang Soon arrives in the big city due to her plan to settle her irresponsible parents' debts. She moves into Han Ki Tae's house as a hired servant hence begins to teach the rich spoiled brat some manners through her down to earth scoldings and no-nonsense attitude. Han Ki Tae is a rich and proud man who inherits his father's business, Snowy Cosmetics, but he is later betrayed by his own cousin and uncle leading to his downfall. On the other hand, Cha Yang Soon is the girl that he meets and who helps him pick up the pieces in his life, from defeat to success. This drama gets totally hilarious in many scenes where their combination comes out as refreshingly cute. A very well written drama with a story many will enjoy!  Cinderella variation stories are usually very primitive. This is definitely such one.   Overall Rating: 5/10

9. The Great Ambition [대망] (Finished 1/26) Tags: Historical, Drama Si Young is the first son of Park Hee Chan and knows the truth about why his father insisted that he must take over the family business. He is a cold-hearted businessman who often uses dirty business tactics. As he takes over the day-to-day operations of the guild, he grows into a strong leader. But Jae Young, his younger brother, becomes his own man and does not follow his older brothers business style. Guess Korean history was pretty boring if all their historical shows are either about palace intrigues or merchants - super boring things. This one even has actors from Great Merchant, so I'd easily confuse one over another, so similar.   Overall Rating: 6/10

10. Ploy Lom Phet [พลอยล้อมเพชร] (Finished 1/15) Tags: Romance, Drama Komute tries revenging Pan Pailin cause he thought she stole his sister's boyfriend, but really her aunt and uncle forced her to marry Oliver. So to escape all this drama, Pan Pailin's uncle gives Pan Pailin the Ploy Lom Phet ring and brings it to a mafia gang in Hong Kong. She goes where she witnesses a murder and the mafia goes after her to kill her and get the ring. Surprisingly, Komute is always there to save her and he realizes that he is attracted to Pan Pailin for some strange reason. When Komute's friend sees Pan Pailin, he falls in love with her. Women are treated like objects in lakorns. Until that changes, will only be saying typical lakorn.   Overall Rating: 5/10

11. Taiho Shichauzo [逮捕しちゃうぞ] (Finished 1/9) Tags: Action, Comedy A marvellous team-play comedy with beautiful and active policewomen! Don't you want to meet with a woman who falls in love, likes to dress up, and arrests felonious offenses? What if she fights for the outrageousness of society with the sounds of the howling siren and yet, enjoys her love life and friendship? This is how the 21st-century woman with strong will and gentleness would be like. And without a doubt, an attractive woman is to be surrounded by attractive guys. Unfortunately, my impression is already clouded by anime, and I liked that more than live version.   Overall Rating: 6/10

12. Renai Hensachi - Moetsukiru Made  [恋愛偏差値 - 燃えつきるまで] (Finished 4/4) Tags: Romance, Drama Reiko is a 28-year-old that works at a housing maker. She suddenly gets dumped by her boyfriend Koichiro after 5 years together. Without any warning, "career oriented" Reiko gets dumped. Before that, she was happy because she was able to balance both her career and love life. After the breakup, Reiko finds herself not being able to concentrate at work and starts making mistakes that she ordinarily wouldn't. Thanks to this, she finds herself close to losing her position at work. Furthermore, she gets to the point to where she's almost anorexic, and her looks start going downhill. Right now, for Reiko, life is the pits. And to add to her misery, she finds out that Koichiro has a new girlfriend. "Being in love is no big deal, and neither is breaking up for that matter." This is what Reiko thinks to herself after she starts feeling like she doesn't know what she's doing anymore. "There are all kinds of problems in the world today like pollution and people struggling because of economic woes. How many people are there starving at this very minute?" "I need to think a little more about the troubles of the world," she thinks to herself as she begins to feel a little ashamed that her problems are only a drop in the bucket. But for Reiko, the real problem at hand is not war or hunger; it's Koichiro. To this point in time, Reiko has tried to make the best out of life. She's really done all she can. The reward for this has been her position at work and a stable love life. Thanks to the break-up, the string that equaled stability in life snapped in one swoop. She never paid much attention to other women around her before, but she starts doing so now. She also does the same at work. The solution she comes up with to her problem is to fall just totally head-over-heels in love and ride the "wave" of love as far as it will take her. Another shortie. Not great and pretty weird. Not sure what it was supposed to tell.   Overall Rating: 5/10

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