Dorama of the Year 2012-IV Fall - Osozaki no Himawari (2012)

Finally found a masterpiece after a while - Osozaki no Himawari (2012) .

 

1. Cheongdam-dong Alice (2012)  [청담동 앨리스] (Finished 1/16) Tags: Comedy, Romance, Drama, Melodrama Han Se Gyeong is a young woman with a very positive character. Her motto is "effort will take me as far as I want to go". She wins many design contests and finally joins a clothing company. But, at work, Han Se Gyeong does errands and chores rather than design. Meanwhile, the wife of an upper management employee at the clothing company humiliates Han Se Gyeong. The wife is actually a former high school classmate of Han Se Gyeong, who didn't do better than her in school. This makes Han Se Gyeong look back on her life. What a torture. It has an overwhelming number of irritations, stamps and stupidity, so I'm shocked such trash keeps being copypasted.   Overall Rating: 5/10

2. Panyachon Kon Krua (2012) [ปัญญาชนก้นครัว] (Finished 1/12) Tags: Comedy, Romance Cha-aim wants to win the prize to New York so she decided to do a script on being a maid, in order to get it right she must take a job as a maid to get the prize. She works as a maid at a rich people's house and takes notes while writing her script, but as she works as a maid she secretly falls in love with the owner's nephew. The owner's nephew Tam wants to know what she is up to and tries to find out the truth. She tries every way to dodge him. When both go through incidents and meet each other every time they secretly fall in love with each other. Primitive remake of the source that dates back to 80s.   Overall Rating: 5/10

3. The King of Dramas (2012) [드라마의 제왕] (Finished 4/18) Tags: Business, Comedy, Romance, Drama Anthony Kim, a brilliant CEO of a drama production company who will do anything and everything for the sake of money, fame and success. He is known to possess the Midas touch as he has created blockbuster dramas and Hallyu stars. When a death on the set precipitates his fall from grace, Anthony attempts to regain his former status by putting the drama "The Morning of Keijo" on air. And to accomplish that, he needs the help of idealistic Lee Go Eun, who dreams of becoming a top writer someday, and the handsome but egoistic actor Kang Hyun Min. Very fresh and lively, quite watchable, with nice comedy. But the pattern of new and new hardships suddenly arising becomes stale with time, for me by the end of 4th episode, so I definitely don't want to watch another 14 episodes of similar flow.   Overall Rating: 6/10

4. Raeng Ngao (2012) [แรงเงา] (Finished 1/20) Tags: Romance, Drama, Melodrama Mootha, the naive and innocent twin, came to find a job in Bangkok where she met Veekit, her co-worker. They became friends and Veekit started to like her, but she only liked him as a friend, he was heartbroken but continued to be there to help her. When she met her boss, a managing director, named Janepope, she fell in love with him. Janepope is a player, he already has a wife and 3 kids, but he tricked Mootha into falling for him anyway. When his wife found out that he was having an affair with Mootha, she humiliated Mootha at work and told Janepope to stop seeing her. Mootha became depressed when she found out that Janepope wasn't allowed to see her. Due to the humiliation, she went back home where she committed suicide, which was on the same day as when her older twin sister, Moonin, came home. Moonin felt that she was one of the caused for her sister's death, so she decided to get revenge for her sister by going back to Bangkok and pretended to be Mootha. Another morally old hello from the 80s about noxious revenge.   Overall Rating: 5/10

5. Can We Get Married? (2012) [우리가 결혼할 수 있을까] (Finished 1/20) Tags: Romance, Life, Drama Hye Yoon is very realistic and wants to marry Jung Hoon who sincerely loves her. She wants to live an ordinary life. But she faces various difficulties as she prepares for the wedding. Once Hye Yoon's mom Deul Ja and Jung Hoon's mom Eun Kyung get involved, it turns into a family conflict. The relationship between Hye Yoon and Jung Hoon slowly falls apart, and the conflict between the families becomes irreversible. Will Hye Yoon be able to successfully march into her wedding with Jung Hoon? Nurse Hye Jin gets pregnant as she has an affair with a married doctor Do Hyun, and eventually marries him. She thought she would be happy after getting married, but her husband cheats on her like he did with her. Hye Jin ultimately decides to end her marriage, the Cinderella life and pursues divorce procedures... Can we also get married like everyone else? Freaking tired of constant shouts and bickering and toxicity in here.   Overall Rating: 5/10

6. Khun Samee Karmalor Tee Rak (2012) [คุณสามี(กำมะลอ)ที่รัก] (Finished 1/14) Tags: Comedy, Romance Pimpha is a beautiful, confident, fashionable woman but was deeply hurt. A pregnant woman suddenly appeared on Pimpha's wedding day claiming that the groom was her husband. Because of this nightmare Pimpha ended at a club drunk. The next morning came another shocked to Pimpha as she woke up laying in bed with a stranger. Ridchawee was angered because Pimpha claiming not to remember anything about last night. How will this entaglement conclude... Thai comedy means primitive slap and stick... still.   Overall Rating: 5/10

7. Love, Now (2012) [真愛趁現在] (Finished 1/72) Tags: Comedy, Romance, Life, Drama Yang Yi Ru, as a workaholic, never had time for a holiday. After Yang Yi Ru was conned by her family and friends that she had been diagnosed with cancer and had only six months to live, she was sent abroad for a holiday to help her take a break from her job, before she even had time to respond to the shocking news. Still in a state of shock, Yi Ru met Lan Shi De, who was on a business trip. When Yi Ru told Shi De that she only has six months left to live and that one of her dream was to get married and have kids, Shi De proposed to Yi Ru. Not knowing that Shi De actually had met and fallen in love with her years ago, Yi Ru accepted his proposal. Banal and uninspiring romance, and from the look at length nothing good is happening here.   Overall Rating: 5/10

8. My Love, Madame Butterfly (2012) [내 사랑 나비부인] (Finished 1/51) Tags: Romance, Drama, Family Once a famous top star but due to happenings and incidents, Nam Na-bi has more anti-fan cafes and now lives with the in-law's. Only glanced since this longshot synopsis is not about family. But of course in fact it is.   Overall Rating: 5/10

9. Childless Comfort (2012) [무자식 상팔자] (Finished 1/40) Tags: Drama, Family It is a heart-warming love story of a large family in the beautiful countryside. So Yeong, the proud eldest daughter of Hee Jae, who is the first son of Ho Shik and Keum Shil, hides the fact that she's nine months pregnant and wants to deliver the baby. This causes a storm in the peaceful family when they find out about her situation. Meanwhile, Dae Gi, a son of Hee Myung, who is the second son of Ho Shik and Keum Shil, is suffering from a conflict between his mother and wife. These days, people are spending more time with their smartphones than with their parents, children, lovers, husbands, or wives. We will be able to see how parental love—which is the greatest love of all— will be conveyed to the next generation through this drama. Only glancing since 40 eps is a bit shorter than typical longshot, so there is a chance it's not typical big family grumping. But of course in fact it is.   Overall Rating: 5/10

10. In Love with Power (2012)  [山河恋·美人无泪] (Finished 1/38) Tags: Historical, Drama The story takes place during the reign of Hong Taiji, the founder of Qing dynasty. He formed military alliances by marrying the daughters of Mongol and Manchu clans. He first married Jerger of Khorchin Mongols and made her his primary wife. Then, he renewed their alliance by marrying her niece Dayu'er. However, it was Dayu’ers low status half-sister, Harjol, he favored above the rest. His favoritism caused a rift between the women. Dayu'er formed a secret alliance with his brother Dorgon to place her son on the throne over his elder sons and brothers. Cursed martial arts pirouettes.   Overall Rating: 5/10

11. Beauties of the Emperor (2012) [王的女人] (Finished 1/32) Tags: Historical, Romance, War He loved her and threw in his empire for her but they had no fate... She wanted to be the Emperor's woman and finally claimed the empire, but the one beside her wasn't him... More human-like than usual, but very boring nevertheless.   Overall Rating: 6/10

12. Ohlala Couple (2012) [울랄라 부부] (Finished 1/18) Tags: Comedy, Romance, Drama, Supernatural Na Yeo Ok is fed up with the infidelity of her hotelier husband, Go Soo Nam, during their 12-year marriage and demands a divorce. However, after signing the divorce agreement, they get into a major accident causing their souls to be switched into each other’s bodies. As the couple bumbles around in each other’s identities, they begin to understand each other by experiencing each other's lives. Argh, body transfer just should not exist as concept.   Overall Rating: 5/10

13. Yok Luerd Mungkorn (2012) [หยกเลือดมังกร] (Finished 1/22) Tags: Action, Romance, Drama Jao Sua Leng, the 2nd generation dragon heir to Mongkorn Waree. He arranged for a celebration to introduce his project that cost more than a billion without listening to the objection from his left hand, Lao Ngow, a close friend of his dad who helped build his family's fortune. Lao Ngow was jealous and wanted to get rid of Jao Sua Leng by sending Duangkae to be Jao Sua's lover so she can spy for him. During the banquet a group of hitmen invaded and shot many people there dead including Jao Sua's wife and his kid (s). Jao Sua narrowly escaped death with the help of Praosaeng, a waitress there. She took care of him and the two felt in love resulting in her pregnancy. The hitmen caught up with the two, in fear of his wife and child's safety Jao Sua arranged for them to escape before him. He bestowed upon his unborn child a red dragon jade, the family treasure and vowed to come back to get them after he deal with the bad guys. But Praosaeng wasn't able to escape the hitmen who came after her. Jao Sua was able to escape death this time because of Duangkae, his mistress. Lao Ngow was served with the allegation of trying to assassinate Jao Sua and was sentenced to life in prison. Daungkae backstabbed Lao Ngow because she wanted Manop, her 5 years old son with him to become the heir Jao Sua's fortune despite the fact that Manop is not Jao Sua's real son. Twenty years later, Yok, a young man with a bright future will soon graduate from the Royal Police Cadet Academy despite being an orphan and living in the slum. He was raised by an ex-boxer who now opened a school that teaches boxing to young kids. He told Yok that he discovered Yok's mother who was injured and decided to help her. He was able to save her until she passed away after giving birth to Yok. She refused to tell him the father of the baby, with only the red dragon jade by her side he named the baby, Yok.  Revenge lakorns will be ignored till they make at least something good with serious plot.   Overall Rating: 5/10

14. Drama Go Go Go (2012) [姐姐立正向前走] (Finished 1/28) Tags: Romance, Drama Screenwriter, Wang Ming Ming is writing and filming an idol drama. Based on a recommendation, she casts a washed-up actor, Yi Shen as the male lead and he deliberately tries to get close to her. Yi Shen knows that he is using Ming Ming in order to keep his role, but he slowly falls for her when they start to spend more time together. In order to shift his attention, he deliberately tries to win over the female lead, Shen Pei Ni. Yi Shen becomes famous and doesn't need Ming Ming anymore, but before he's able to resolve the problem, Ming Ming finds out he has changed and breaks up with him. In this complicated relationship, she finds confidence and ultimately, happiness..  For some reason it always has to be male idol and his stubborn mediocre female fan. It's pretty lively and even slightly comedic compared to other seen Chinese drama, but at the same time lacks realism and seriousness while drowning in silliness.   Overall Rating: 6/10

15. Priceless (2012) [PRICELESS ~あるわけねぇだろ,んなもん!~ ] (Finished 10/10) Tags: Comedy, Life Originally a mid-level manager with a promising future in a big corporation, the life of this elite employee changes dramatically one day. Having attracted the attention of his superiors for some reason, he is framed for a crime which he knows nothing of and forced out of the workplace. Even after that, he is assailed by a series of surprises and in one day, he loses his house, wealth and handphone until he is without a cent to his name. At his wits end, he comes to a park where he encounters two children. Learning from them how to survive even if he does not have money, he somehow weathers this crisis and discovers the truly important and priceless things in life. Well, only finished it because it's an easy accustomed watch. For me it's rather compilation of Kimutaku previous drama rather than original work : poverty from Jinsei wa Jojo da, factory and court from The Family, superhero archetype lingering from Hero. It's all safe play and little risk, thus obvious and lacks excitement.   Overall Rating: 6/10

16. Resident - 5-nin no Kenshui (2012) [レジデント～５人の研修医] (Finished 1/10) Tags: Life, Drama, Medical Patients are brought in one after the other. Being put in an environment where there is a race against time to save lives, all they can do is stand there doing nothing. Though they still have a lot to grow as a doctor and as individuals, will they be able to overcome adversity and one day be able to proudly identify themselves as being a doctor? Not bad for a medical drama, good actors. But not my theme.   Overall Rating: 6/10

17. Summer Fever (2012) [戀夏38℃] (Finished 1/30) Tags: Romance Summer is the height of tourist season on the island of Kinmen. In one particular summer, national pianist champion, Chen Wen Qing, came to the island to spend her summer vacation. Local boy, Lin Ming Kuan, was her tour guide. As their adventures on the island went on, Kuan gradually fell in love with her. Yet, he never revealed his feelings. He didn't think he was good enough for her. He even pushed her away when he discovered that she felt the same way for him. However, her unwavering love finally demolished his defense. They spent the rest of the summer being happily in love. When the summer came to end and Qing must return home, she promised to email him everyday and come back the next summer. Next summer came. Qing returned to the island as promised. But, Kuan started to feel there is something different with Qing...  Production manages to be worse than average. Romance is full of tropes and rather underwhelming.   Overall Rating: 5/10

18. TOKYO AIRPORT - Tokyo Kuukou Kansei Hoanbu (2012) [TOKYOエアポート~東京空港管制保安部~] (Finished 1/10) Tags: Life, Drama Tokyo’s Haneda Airport is the busiest airport in Japan with 1 airplane taking off and landing every 2 minutes. In a year, 6 billion people (an average of 170,000 people a day) pass through the airport. Shinoda Kaori (Fukada Kyoko) is a new air traffic controller. It is an extremely stressful and difficult job where a split-second’s error in judgment can cause a catastrophic incident. Kaori had originally been a ground staff at the airport with an ambition to become an air traffic controller who directs the aircraft of all airlines, but an incident spurs her to resign and take the national exam. After completing rigorous training at the air navigation security college, she is assigned to Haneda Airport’s Air Traffic Control Centre as an air traffic controller just before she turns 30. When she gets up to the control tower with a mixture of nervousness, excitement and anxiety, the people she sees are a group of professionals who remain calm in the face of emergencies and protect human lives. Kaori guides aircraft with veteran air controller Takeuchi Hiromi (Seto Asaka) for on-the-job training. Because of a little careless mistake that she makes, and incident occurs that is a step short of an accident. She gets discouraged, but no one scolds her for the mistake she made which makes her feel even worse. However, she listens to the feelings of Yuki Noboru (Tokito Saburo) and Kondo Yukihiro (Kaname Jun) as air traffic controllers and gradually pulls herself together. Security systems are plain boring, so no drama about it is going to shine, it's not Fukada Kyoko fault.   Overall Rating: 6/10

19. Kekkon Shinai (2012) [結婚しない] (Finished 11/11) Tags: Romance, Life Tanaka Chiharu is a contract employee for a travel agent. She’s 34 years old and hasn’t had a boyfriend in over five years. All of her friends of similar age are getting married, so she’s starting to feel anxious that she might not be able to get married. Kirishima Haruko is a successful landscape gardening planner. She’s 44 years old and has been having an affair with her boss for quite some time. Therefore, she was looking at romance from a farsighted perspective and resigned herself from getting married. Chiharu and Haruko happen to meet each other for the first time at the wedding of Chiharu’s sister, where they hit it off right away and decided to move together at Haruko’s place. They are very different in terms of personality and age, which leads to a very delightful interaction between the two. Of course, they frequently fight with each other, but they also support each other as much as they can. Kudo Junpei is a part-time worker at a flower shop. He’s 32 years old and a very kindhearted and sensitive man who is not very proactive when it comes to love. Kudo doesn’t have the confidence to get married and support another person, let alone a whole family. I'm sure I watched it. Sadly, it's full of empty anxieties and whines while lacking excitement. It's sort of my favorite type of serious dorama, but it does not feel like a masterpiece to me.   Overall Rating: 6/10

20. Pin Onna no Merry Christmas (2012) [ピン女のメリークリスマス] (Finished 1/3) Tags: Romance, Life Kanjiya, who has never never starred in a drama on NTV before, will play a 28-year-old female company employee named ‘Matsubara Kaede’, who is a perfect example of a so-called ‘love refugee’. In her case, she hasn’t been able to love a man, let alone have an actual boyfriend, for more than three years. Lightweight and silly romance heat with weeping, so not for me.   Overall Rating: 5/10

21. Tokyo Zenryoku Shoujo (2012) [東京全力少女] (Finished 3/11) Tags: Comedy, Family 19-year-old Saeki Rei (Takei Emi) comes to Tokyo. Rei’s redeeming traits are her cheerfulness and distinctive positivity, but everything she does is always unheard of and unsuccessful. Because this foolhardiness causes trouble to the people around her each time, she ends up being called a girl who is unable to read situations. Rei moves to Tokyo with neither a dream nor goal, and is reunited with her father Suzuki Takuya (Watabe Atsuro) who abandoned her mother and her 15 years ago. Although she opposes her father for making her mother miserable, his dissolute life rouses her into action. “This won’t do. I’ve to make this person happy or I can’t move on with my own life!” And so, she runs about with the aim of getting her father remarried in her first experience living in Tokyo. With cheerfulness and positivity, she overcomes various difficulties and slowly changes the people around her too.  Just bonding with newly found father in Tokyo. Not particularly interesting and not seeing anything special to linger here.   Overall Rating: 6/10

22. Home (2012) [回家] (Finished 1/34) Tags: Military, Romance, Drama A Taiwanese medic in World War II is deployed to China as a Japanese military doctor. He endures much internal turmoil as his allegiance is split between his Japanese ruler and his Chinese ancestry. At the end of the war, a Chinese general saves him from being executed with the rest of Japanese soldiers. Ever since his rescue, he has been searching for a way to get back home. Back to Taiwan. Only seeing such primitive heroics and propaganda in Chinese series as they don't have self-reflection and still need to lie about everything to look better.   Overall Rating: 5/10

23. Love Me or Leave Me (2012) [我， 租了一個情人] (Finished 1/31) Tags: Comedy, Romance, Drama The story of a couple who are staying together and contemplating marriage. The girlfriend Ji Qing however has certain fears towards marriage due to her family background and in an attempt to test the loyalty of her boyfriend Hao Ming, she gets another woman to get close to her boyfriend, which eventually brought changes to their relationship. Utterly artificial game in love like in Love is War.   Overall Rating: 5/10

24. Koko Nyushi (2012) [高校入試] (Finished 13/13) Tags: Mystery Haruyama Kyoko, a newly-appointed English teacher at a rural but well-respected, prestigious prefectural high school, had spent her childhood and high school years overseas before returning to Japan. Because she lived abroad for a long time, she completely cannot understand the old-fashioned ideas peculiar to Japan and tends to be frank about what she thinks. On the eve and the day of the school entrance examination, various incidents occur. There is the spectre of someone attempting to wreck the examination for some motive. Everyone present is a potential suspect and the truth remains shrouded in mystery to the end. Bump off lover taught me that school mystery can be interesting. Here we have novel adaptation, so web of intrigues is definitely complex enough. And there is also anonymous forum here! But in reality problems here remain on a rather safe level unlike Bump off lover. Tried to love it, but could not.   Overall Rating: 6/10

25. Brave Yoshihiko and the Demon's Key (2012) [勇者ヨシヒコと悪霊の鍵] (Finished 11/11) Tags: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy This season is going to be set 100 years after Yuusha Yoshihiko to Maou no Shiro. It will star all the main characters from the first season.  It's just more of the same, can't give masterpiece to this sequel.   Overall Rating: 6/10

26. Going My Home (2012) [ゴーイング マイ ホーム] (Finished 10/10) Tags: Life, Drama, Family, Fantasy The drama focuses on 45-year-old Tsuboi Ryota, the coordinator of a large CM company who is receiving a request from one of their clients to change some parts of their new CM. However, he’s unable to really explain to the director what changes should be made exactly. At the same time, he receives a call from his older sister, who tells him that his father has collapsed while golfing in Nagano and that he was admitted to a local hospital. In a hurry, Ryouta decides to go to Nagano, his birthplace. Tsuboi Ryota is a good man. Nobody can really hate him, which is why the coordinator between his company and their clients seems like the perfect job for him. However, he frequently finds himself stuck in a dilemma, whether that’s between his wife and his daughter, his older sister and their mother, or his family and work in general. Adding some mysterious, almost fantastical elements to this family drama are Miyazaki as a puzzling young woman Ryota happens to meet at the hospital and Natsuyagi as his father who strongly believes in the existence of a tiny fairy-like race called the ‘Kuna’.  Watched it only for Abe Hiroshi, but overall it's just a weak rural SOL though with nice actors.   Overall Rating: 6/10

27. Akumu-Chan (2012) [悪夢ちゃん] (Finished 1/11) Tags: Mystery, Fantasy, Supernatural A somewhat strange girl named Koto Yuiko transfers to the class taught by Mutoi Ayami. Yuiko has the special ability to make her dreams come true, but the outcome is usually a disaster. Ayami doesn't want to become involved, but it soon affects her... Cheezy lazy concept, and pilot could not persuade me otherwise.   Overall Rating: 5/10

28. An Innocent Mistake (2012) [罪美麗] (Finished 2/16) Tags: Romance, Drama Story began 18 years ago when Man Qing was adopted by three women. They poured their love into her. But their love can't stop her from wanting to know about her father or protect her from the hypocrisy in life. Man Qing left her mothers to find a different kind of love. Serious normal SOL so far, but absolutely not impressive, so not going to sit through even worse middle just to see the end.   Overall Rating: 6/10

29. Lady Maid Maid (2012) [愛情女僕] (Finished 1/67) Tags: Romance, Drama Xiao Jie is a womaniser who changes girls like the way he changes clothes. Whereas, Shu Qi is a sweet and caring girl who sees Xiao Jie as her only prince charming. This is because when Shu Qi was at the lowest point in her life, not only did Xiao Jie give her a home to live in but was also the first person in her life to offer his shoulder for her to lean on when she was in need. Xiao Jie taught her how to forget all the bad in her past. Because of this, he is her Prince Charming and she is willing to do anything for him, even picking up the mess he leaves behind with his womanising ways. Until one day a child shows up claiming to be Xiao Jie's and with this changes their whole world.. With two people from two different worlds, can they be together and have happiness? Typical playful romance comedy so far, but nothing special.   Overall Rating: 6/10

30. Osozaki no Himawari (2012) [遅咲きのヒマワリ] (Finished 10/10) Tags: Life, Drama The drama is set at the beautiful Shimanto River in the Kochi prefecture and revolves around a group of seven men and women and the unfolding of their lives. Ikuta plays a man named ‘Joutarou’, who’s a typical example of the so-called ‘lost generation’ in Japan. The term ‘lost generation’ refers to people who face a scarcity of employment right after graduating from school and therefore are left without any real prospects. He was lucky to find a regular employment but it didn’t last long and he was laid off due to downsizing. Around the same time he was also dumped by his girlfriend. Fed up with his life, he somehow ends up in a ‘revitalization group’ of the Shimanto River area in Kochi. Young people gathering at rural site is a shape that can be filled either with joy or depression. This is the former case. Great likable actors, great sound support, very nice relations. Can't call it thought-provoking, so can't give it 9, but otherwise totally feels like a firm masterpiece.   Overall Rating: 8/10

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