Dorama of the Year 2003-II Spring - Egao no Hosoku

Nothing really great spotted again, so heartwarming comedy Egao no Hosoku is the way to go this season for me.

1. Attic Cat [옥탑방 고양이] (Finished 2/16) Tags: Comedy, Romance, Drama Kyung Min, a law student, is in desperate straits, so he decides to take it upon himself to help Hye Ryun's poor friend, Jung Eun. This is the beginning of an extremely volatile friendship that somehow ends with the two of them living together under one roof, or, to be more specific, living in a room on top of the roof of an old building. Kyung Min's bratty ways clash with Jung Eun's simple living, as he steadily takes advantage of her kindness and good nature. Totall banality simpletons.   Overall Rating: 5/10

2. OL Zenido [OL銭道] (Finished 2/11) Tags: Business, Comedy Ayame Tamaru, an office worker obsessed with saving money, believes washing bills at Zeniaraibenten shrine will multiply her wealth. Her room is filled with good luck charms, and she’s determined to save 10 million yen. One day, her former lover, Shinichi Kaneshiro, appears as a new colleague at her company. Five years ago, Ayame rejected his marriage proposal due to his lack of money. Now, despite her focus on money, Ayame finds herself conflicted between her financial goals and a rekindled interest in love. Can she learn to believe in something beyond money? Work about saving and rescuing money is definitely better than about debts, but such one case per episode format gets old pretty fast, and I don't enjoy it.   Overall Rating: 6/10

3. Suika  [すいか] (Finished 3/10) Tags: Comedy, Life, Drama 34-year-old Motoko, an employee at a credit union, is stunned when she learns her best friend and co-worker, Mariko, has embezzled 300 million yen and disappeared. Motoko, still un-married, lives at home with her parents and has no future plans or goals. Tired of her monotonous, mundane lifestyle, she decides to move out and live on her own. She happens upon a beautiful old geshuku, or lodging house, called "Happiness Sancha." The building is surrounded by lush vegetable and flower gardens, and is nestled right on the riverbank. There are only 2 remaining tenants; Natsuko, a college professor who has lived there since she herself was in college, and Kizuna, an erotic manga artist whose work doesn't sell much. The manager, Yuka, is desperate to take on more boarders, which is perfect timing for Motoko. This simple drama examines the life of four totally different women brought together under one roof, and follows them on their own searches for happiness at "Happiness Sancha." Stories of four women already sounds horrible to me. I find it all extremely slow and boring while having no memorable characters.   Overall Rating: 5/10

4. The Bean Chaff of My Life [내 인생의 콩깍지] (Finished 1/16) Tags: Romance, Drama, Melodrama That rare story of two best friends falling in love, The Bean Chaff of My Life is a funny, endearing drama about two people looking for the perfect one. Punctuated with the occasional musical element, it features singing and dancing in a cheery romp that tells the story of two perfectionists who overlook each other. Eun Young and Gyung Soo meet in their early twenties when she is part of the campaign staff of a candidate in the local election. Complete opposites in everything - personality, goals, and temperament - they clash and wind up going their separate ways. 12 years later, they're now in their early thirties, and still, appear to be opposites in everything - except their desire to find the perfect mate. Now, friends, they decide to help each other out in that quest. A modern-day comedy about love, marriage, and the pressure to find both, Bean Chaff asks the question: can the two people who could never imagine being together, can finally grow up and understand what love is? It's pretty silly already, but when musical segments kick in, it becomes plain stupid and loses last grains of seriousness.   Overall Rating: 5/10

5. The Rose  [薔薇之戀] (Finished 3/24) Tags: Romance, Drama, Family Zheng Bai He, after being dumped by her boyfriend because she is ugly and fat and having her grandmother die on the same day (talk about fate), finds that her mother did not die. Furthermore, her mother is the famous actress Han Li. She finds herself in the Han family, yet, the truth about her birth has not been revealed. Surrounded by three half-siblings, all by the same mother but different father, and a pretty harsh and cold mother, Bai He takes on the role of a maid. The three siblings are isolated from each other and the society. They have a cold appearance, yet each of them has a warm story behind them. This is the fairy tale of how Cinderella changes each of them, and finds the princess within herself. Feels like another reimagining of Cinderella as everyone tries to improve her in some way. In the end it's just boring.   Overall Rating: 6/10

6. Tokyo Love Cinema [東京ラブ・シネマ] (Finished 0/12) Tags: Comedy, Romance The characters of "Tokyo Love Cinema" find love waiting for them in all corners of the world, as they travel to Cannes, Venice, Istanbul, and back to Tokyo buying films. Masaki Takasugi worked at a department store before starting COCOMO, a small film distribution company. Now the owner of his own company, Masaki travels around the world in search of outstanding films that are yet to be discovered. Not so long ago, one film that Masaki purchased and distributed became a mega hit, but that was where his luck ran out. Now, his company is suffering from financial difficulties, and will probably go under in less than a year. For Masaki, nothing is more important than work. So when it comes to the question of marriage, his answer is, "it can wait." Yoshinari Chiba, who attended the same college as Masaki, is an employee at COCOMO. He is an unlucky guy that can't lie with a straight face-which is a disadvantage when it comes to being a movie buyer. Because of this, he usually winds up buying love stories that don't do well at the box office. Unlike Masaki, Yoshinari would like to get married, and tends to mention the word "marriage" early in a relationship--which is usually why he always gets dumped. Eiji Hyuga is a good-looking guy that loves animation and horror movies. His one set back is that he is completely insensitive to girls' feelings. The only female at COCOMO is Mako Sonoda, who works part-time. Mako's family runs a small movie theater. She is the girl of Yoshinari's dreams, but unfortunately for Yoshinari, the feeling is not mutual. Shinobu Shinohara is a new recruit, yet the most reliable of the four that work at COCOMO. All who work at COCOMO have dreams of making it big with the films they purchase, but just don't seem to have what it takes to be able to find the "big hit in the making." Haruko Uzuki is an extremely aggressive promoter in one of Japan's major film distribution companies, Phenomenon. She was once famous for turning every film she bought into a blockbuster, but that hasn't happened for a while now. So this prompts the president of Phenomenon to move her from the Hollywood division to the low budget mini-theater division. On her 35th birthday, Haruko decides rather than to cling to the slightest hope of marriage, she'll buy a one-room apartment and work till she drops. Kaoru Edogawa, the President of Phenomenon, is well-known throughout the movie industry. Kaoru's off-beat, yet strong personality has helped him to be very influential at film festivals around the world. The reason why he has moved Haruko to the mini-theater division, is because he foresees mini-theaters as a profitable business in the future. Taking advantage of her good looks, Mizuki Sakamoto, who works under Haruko, attempts to put a stop to COCOMO. Another woman that works at Phenomenon is Teruko Sakai. Teruko is devoted to her job, and is good at laying out marketing strategies--rumor has it that she had a romantic relationship with a movie star when she was young. Through the movie-buying battle between COCOMO and Phenomenon, a subtle relationship which can be called neither friendship nor romance, is formed between Masaki and Haruko. Once Masaki's ex-girlfriend, Kinuyo Nikaido, who is a subtitle translator, reappears on the scene, this romantic comedy takes a new twist. There are subs, but can't find raws so far, alas.   Overall Rating: 0/10

7. Kimi wa Petto  [きみはペット] (Finished 2/10) Tags: Comedy, Romance, Drama In education, career, and appearance... Sumire is perfect, too perfect for even her boyfriend, who summarily dumps her. Also sexually harassed at work, Sumire takes matters into her own hands. Returning home depressed and lonely, she finds a young man, Takeshi, injured inside a cardboard box. She takes him in, but can't get him to leave, so she offers to keep him if he agrees to become her "pet". With nowhere else to go, Takeshi accepts and immediately takes to his new role. While they are cultivating their relationship as "master" and "pet", a man whom Sumire was attracted to a long time ago, returns to Japan. Although he promises to provide her with the perfect life she has always wanted, Sumire finds she can't stop thinking about "Momo". Could she be falling for her pet? It could work out, but not with this main heroine. Authors tried to use her traits as they could, but she still looks just as disgrunted dead fish all the time.   Overall Rating: 6/10

8. At Dolphin Bay [海豚灣戀人] (Finished 3/18) Tags: Music, Romance Two children, Ze Ya and Xiao Pin Gai, meet at an orphanage but become separated. Years later, they meet again by chance at Dolphin Bay and must overcome family and career obstacles to fulfill their childhood promise. Three episodes in, and I still don't see anything to my liking here. So far it's boring, repetitive, directionless, with so-so characters.   Overall Rating: 5/10

9. Egao no Hosoku [笑顔の法則] (Finished 5/12) Tags: Comedy, Romance, Life Yumi (Takeuchi Yuko) is a 23-year-old office worker. Out of the blue, she is fired from her job. A few days later, wearing kimono, she is rushing to an interview for some part-time work at a publishing company. She was at a friend's wedding that went on a bit longer than expected and she has no time to change from her kimono. In another room at the publisher, popular comic book writer Reijiro Sakurai (Abe Hiroshi) is having an editorial meeting with some staff. He is planning to lock himself away at a hot spring for the next three months to concentrate on his next project. Yumi stumbles into the room, looking for somewhere to change out of her kimono. Sakurai comments that if Yumi were to join him he wouldn't mind being away for so long... Actors that I like, but essence is so-so. Because of isolated inn concept we have to be satisfied with inn personnel problems mosty.   Overall Rating: 6/10

10. Towards the Republic  [走向共和] (Finished 8/60) Tags: Historical, Political The series is based on events that occurred in China between the late 19th century and early 20th century that led to the collapse of the Qing dynasty and the founding of the Republic of China. It features some important events of the late Qing dynasty and Republican era, such as the First Sino-Japanese War, the Hundred Days' Reform, the Boxer Rebellion and the Xinhai Revolution. There are monarchists, reformers and revolutionaries who provide different answers to addressing the deteriorating situation of the Qing dynasty but all these answers point towards a common goal – to restore China as a sovereign, international and independent power. It's not as bad as expected - after all, full of historical events. What bothers me the most is rather vague personalities and dry storytelling. Tried to, did not find it interesting for me.   Overall Rating: 6/10

11. Hotman  [ホットマン] (Finished 2/11) Tags: Drama Sorimachi Takashi plays school art teacher Enzo Furiya, who takes care of his 5-year-old daughter, Nanami, of which he has no idea who her mother is. He also lives with his four siblings, whose fathers are all different. Nanami suffers from severe atopic dermatitis, so Enzo throws himself into managing her diet to alleviate her condition. He is so determined to raise Nanami well, he doesn't appear to have any spare time for a girlfriend. And yet, Enzo finds himself drawn to Misuzu Kaneko, a health teacher at his school. Enzo pursues life passionately for his little girl and his family. It's hard to go wrong with childcare, but after first impactful work just cuteness and some misery don't cut it for me. I'd also prefer less amount of misery as both poverty and illness are a bit too much. Not fan of these leads either, so result is just firm work.   Overall Rating: 6/10

12. Land of Wine [술의 나라] (Finished 1/16) Tags: Romance, Drama, Melodrama Seo Joon portrays the troublemaker son of a rich businessman. The drama draws the life of Seo Joon as he finds his own success in an alcohol business selling traditional Korean beer. Vinery is not much different from gourmet for me. But even apart from that it's full of hysteria, fighting and pompous males, so not enjoying it.   Overall Rating: 5/10

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