Showing posts with label Friendster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Friendster. Show all posts

13 July 2008

Galileo ガリレオ

http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Galileo
Viewership ratings (Average): 22.0(Kanto)

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Notes:
~ These reviews for every episode were done on my friendster profile in 2007 during the airing of "Galileo".
~ The pics are screencaps which were edited simply by simple software...
~ Click on the [~~] title [~~] for each episode to reveal the review.
~ Any quotes are from subs by SARS.

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Episode 1 {{--Burns--}}
[Rating: 4/5]
~~Weirdo Genius Scientist~~
My Real Rating: 4/5

This is top in my watchlist for this season's dorama.
Utsumi Kaoru seems cute & the hero this time is Fukuyama Masaharu, playing as Yukawa Manabu (called Galileo because he's a weird, eccentric genius).

Omigosh, the human combustion case was intriguing enough for me to look forward to more Galileo episodes. The mystery was about some delinquents who made noise in the neighbourhood every night. As they were chit-chatting, suddenly one of them had his hair on fire & died on spot. (Those delinquents must be very stupid cos they didn't even think of putting him in the lake near them.. But they were really noisy that I was enjoying the scene where they are traumatised by the incident. Serves them right!)

Oh yeah, the solution: CO2 laser. Someone living nearby who find them truly disturbing at night did it.

I've already started liking Yukawa-sensei. I don't know why, but intelligent men are just hard to resist. He is feeling-less (I can't believe he's talking about dog poo over lunch), sometimes selfish and CUTE. LOL. Being a great physicist with a genius mind, it's pretty cute that he's "scared" of children.

He can't resist women's tears. LOL. He was being secretive of what he thinks of the case & Kaoru was dying to know. Then Kaoru started telling a story about why she become a policewoman: when she was little, she & her family went to LA for holiday. A group of guys with guns mistakenly killed her family in their hotel room. She was the only survivor because she hid under the bed. She wants to be a policewomen so that he can catch those who murder her family. Yukawa-sensei seems affected by her story and finally told her what he thought and showed her the experiments he was doing with CO2 laser.
But in the end, Yukawa accidentally saw an ad on TV about a new american series. Kaoru actually took the sad story from that series, using the exact words from ad and re-tell the story to Yukawa-sensei. That totally cracked me up.
Quotes:
"Treasures are buried in places no one would look for." -Kusanagi
"Feelings aren't logical. To seriously contemplate over something that behaves illogically is a waste of time." -Yukawa-sensei
"Men can't resist women's tears." -Jounouchi Sakurako
[SARS-fansub subs]



Episode 2 {{--Floats--}}
[Rating: 4/5]
~~The Mystery of the OL Murderer and the Flying Boy!~~
My Real Rating: 3.5/5

This episode's unsolved case involved an insurance agent as the suspect of a murder case. He said he parked beside a river and slept there because of his hungover. But no one can prove his alibi except a sick child who claimed he went through an out-of-body experience where he saw the car. His father sent the drawing his son made to the police & that's when Kaoru started investigating again with Yukawa-sensei.
Solution: An accident happened at the factory near the child's condo. Leakage of liquid N2 caused the factory workers to open both their gates. The differences of density between two kind of gases that day caused mirage to occur. The child was able to see the car (upside down) when he got out his room to see the gates being opened.

I like that little boy, he can act.

What's with that ichibo thing? It's already worst that Yukawa-sensei compared Kaoru with dog poo in the previous episode. And now cow's buttocks?

The last scene was hillarious.
*Yukawa-sensei was cleaning the blackboard until he dropped the duster*
Kaoru: What's wrong?
Yukawa: I'm getting a rash. An allergic reaction from looking into a child's eyes.
[SARS-fansub subs]


Episode 3 {{--Rattles--}}
[Rating: 5/5]
~~A Missing Husband and the Dark House Cursed by a Ghost!~~
My real rating: 5/5

Wow! Hirosue Ryoko as the guest star!

She's playing as Kanzaki Yayoi whose husband went missing after he paid a visit to a retirement home. She knew his husband also went to an old woman's (Takano Hide) house after that. That Takano-san died the same day his husband went missing. So Yayoi suspected something must had happened to him at that house. There were some relatives of Takano-san living in the house which acted suspiciously. Yayoi kept an eye on them and noticed that every night they will leave the house at 8 pm and went back at 9 pm. One day, she sneaked into the house to look for his husband. She heard some rattling sound and thought it was her husband but when she called out his name, the rattling stopped.

Kaoru and Yayoi sneaked into the house again. They found many papers used to seal away evil spirits around the house. Suddenly the house shook and both of them ran outside. It wasn't an earthquake. Only that particular house was shaking.

Kaoru thinks it's a poltergeist. But actually it's because of the structure of the house. It was built on a manhole which was connected to an underground sewer connected to a factory nearby. The factory releases hot water at 8 pm to 9 pm. The released hot water caused vibrations through the manhole which caused the house to shake. But this never happened when Takano-san was still alive. It's because of those scumbags (I hate them really, esp that loan shark. He killed Takano-san without mercy just because of money. Kanzaki-san was killed because he knows they were there.) who dug a hole which changed the condition of the manhole. They 'buried' the body there and covered it up with cement.

There was some physics-related explanation but I'm too lazy to include that.

Yukawa-sensei always does calculations which I don't quite understand, cause it's almost all formulae only, not much numbers like what I watch on "NUMB3RS"... But maybe that's his way. I'm never good at physics anyway.

Haha. This time it was Yukawa-sensei who "asked" for Kaoru's help. & he has a selfish reason. Yayoi is the sister of one of his colleagues. So if she keeps bugging his brother, he can't work efficiently with Yukawa-sensei.
Something noticeable --- Yukawa-sensei prepared coffee for Kaoru in the end. He didn't do that in the previous episode. It seems that he has started to loosen a bit with her.

Shibasaki Kou (KOH+), who plays Utsumi Kaoru sang the ending song, Kiss-shite which was produced by Masaharu Fukuyama (Yukawa-sensei)---wasn't really catchy at first, but I'm starting to like it. & I just love looking at those two when the song played in the end. Is that a hint of love between them?


Episode 4 {{--Rots--}}
[Rating: 5/5]
~~Dangerous Seduction of the Handsome Prodigal Killer~~
My Real Rating: 4.5/5 [I heart Shingo]
Oh my! I love watching Katori Shingo!

Well, although he's the baddie this time... Hey, his character this time was really quite frightening. He seems like an intelligent scientist. But he wished to work abroad and contribute to the military field. As he spoke about chemical weapons and such, he was smiling (his eyes was also sparkling!) as if it's the best thing in the world. Yukawa-sensei just stared at him as he said all that.

This episode's case started with the death of a rich girl who drown in her own pool. It was shown from the beginning that Tagami Shouichi (played by Katori Shingo) murdered her using some kind of weapon with unusual bullets. Almost everybody were convinced that it was only a drown case (and later on a heart attack) but Kaoru thought differently. She was suspicious of a bruise near the rich girl's chest & went around asking about it. She asked for Yukawa-sensei's help but didn't receive any until Yukawa-sensei met Tagami. He became suspicious of Tagami.
In the end, Yukawa-sensei found the answer: ultrasound.
"When you transmit ultrasounds in water... negative pressure will be created, causing hollow spaces and bubbles in water. At the very moment this pressure turns from negative to positive, it will cause a powerful destructive reaction by the disappearance of these hollow spaces in water. By applying this principle and intensifying the effects... then by aiming it at a human heart in water... the destructive reaction will transfer from water, to skin, to bodily fluids... until it finally reaches the heart." [SARS-fansub subs]

>
In my opinion, the ending scene raised some issues...
By giving Tagami the solution, does that mean Yukawa-sensei approve of what Tagami was doing from a scientific point of view... or was he just showing off his genius side? But maybe it was to show Tagami that there are someone who can think better than him but didn't create such detsructive weapon so that he'll surrender. Anyways, Tagami confessed to the police in the end.

And another one! Why did Yukawa-sensei secretly threw away the brooch Tagami gave to Kaoru? Was he being jealous or he just wanted Kaoru to forget about him? But he always doesn't care about others, why should he do these both?

Quotes by Yukawa-sensei:
"All outcomes must have causes."
"Human minds aren't beautiful like equations."
[SARS-fansub subs]


Episode 5 {{--Strangles--}}
[Rating: 4/5]
~~The Mystery of the Fireball and the Perfect Closed-room Murder~~
My Real Rating: 4/5 [Extra star for the romantic bits]

Kaoru sure learnt how to get Yukawa-sensei's help... Yukawa-sensei is easily distracted by things ppl found impossible to happen.

I like that somewhat romantic bits in the beginning... hmmm.. a hint, perhaps?
Someone died in a closed-room. He was strangled and some clues included were a mark on the floor and someone saw fireballs in the hotel room.

And the solution: He killed himself by using a bow to make his suicide look like a murder.

Not much to say about the mystery. But through that dead guy's daughter, we get to know some background of Yukawa-sensei: his parents married at a young age.


Episode 6 {{--Fantasy--}}
[Rating: 4/5]
~~Future Love and a Long Night Together~~
My Real Rating: 4/5 [so-so episode only despite Maki's special appearance. Extra star because there's many interactions between Yukawa & Kaoru]

Horikita Maki! Horikita Maki! HORIKITA MAKI!

Morisaki Remi. That's her name. A childhood friend of Kaoru, Sakaki Hachirou (Hachi) was caught breaking into Remi's room. He had been stalking her since she went to his fortune-telling booth. Remi's mum shot him and he got her way. He called Kaoru & told her that it was Remi who asked him to come at night. He claimed that she left a message in his fortune-telling miracle water, where the words floated on the surface of the water. Kaoru found a collection of essays during elementary school & noticed in Hachi's essay - I want to marry Morisaki Remi. That was 17 years ago, shortly before Remi was born.

At first, Yukawa-sensei believed that all were only coincidences but when Kaoru showed him a sketch near the essay, it was the same window with the one at Remi's room, he said, "Jitsuni Homoshiroi." (Love it everytime he says that because that means he's going to work with Kaoru again!)

He laughed quite many times in this episode which I found funny. There's this one scene where they went to see Hachi's mother. Kaoru asked her if she still remembers her.

Kaoru: Do you remember me? I'm Utsumi Kaoru... Hachirou-kun's classmate in elementary school.
Hachi's Mum: Kaoru-chan?
Kaoru: They say my face hasn't changed.
Yukawa: *laughs cynically* You carried an elementary school backpack with THAT face?
Hachi locked Kaoru & Yukawa-sensei up at a pier. They tried throwing out Kaoru's cellphone through a small window while sending a message to the police for help... I love the scene where Yukawa-sensei smiled seeing her happy after the mail was successfully sent.
[SARS-fansub subs]

Solution:
Actually the one Hachi wanted to marry was Kaoru. Both of them frequently visit a painter's house when they were small. The painter, at that time, had an affair with Remi's mother who later on became pregnant. She left the painter. The painter who missed his daughter a lot unconciously saw Kaoru as his daughter, calling her Morisaki Remi (he chose the name). Hachi was also somewhat influenced by that and also called her Remi.

And it was Remi's mother plan to "asked" him come. She was planning to kill him because he knew about her secret affair a long time ago.
The floating words mystery: She wrote those letters on soluble starch with an oil-based marker and put it on the water's surface. The starch will melt and what's left were the water resistant letters.

The last part was funny. Kaoru was trying to repay Yukawa-sensei for his help where he refused all of it until she said, "I'll set you up with a group date. *Yukawa looked at her* There are plenty of cute police women around."
His reply was,"Is that true? (he actually looks quite interested with that idea!)
*Kaoru nods* No, never mind."
"Why not? Let's do it."
"As a minimum requirement, at least someone who knows the Theory of Relativity. If possible, a woman who also knows the EPR Paradox would make our conversations much easier."
Kaoru stared at him.
Kaoru: Never mind. | Yukawa: Yes, I agree.

Quotes:
"People's feelings aren't always logical like physics!" - Kaoru (in quandary whether to act as a friend or fulfil her duty as a detective.)
"To scientists, facing numbers and symbols are more important that facing people." - Kaoru said this which made Yukawa-sensei silent.


Episode 7 {{--Predicts--}}
[Rating: 4/5]
~~The Beautiful Wife's Favorite Murder Device of Horror~~
My Real Rating: 3.8/5

Fukada Kyoko was in this one.

Kyoko is Shizuko whose husband, Sugawara, had an affair with someone named Fuyumi. Fuyumi threatened to hang herself if he doesn't leave her wife and marry her. Sugawara saw her in a room in another building opposite his condominium. As she was hanging herself, a friend of Sugawara, Minemura, who came over his house volunteered to help him. In the next scene, Minemura was seen entering the room where Fuyumi was in and doing something suspicious. And then he ran to find the superintendent of the building and reported about Fuyumi.


6 months later, Sugawara who is good friends with Kuribayashi-san (Yukawa-sensei's colleague) told him that he he saw a same hanging scene in the same room a week before the incident. Kuribayashi-san brought this case to Kaoru and Yukawa-sensei agreed to help.

It was a pretty interesting case but I'm too lazy to include the small details here. In short, Sugawara did see Fuyumi hanging herself in the room (he didn't know her at that time).. but it was a mock hanging, I mean suicide. Sugawara's ex-wife was involved in this case (in fact the affair & suicide were all her plans). With hanger rack and ER fluid, Minemura and Shizuko made the fake suicide possible. They tricked Fuyumi: showing her that nothing will go wrong if she hang herself on the hanger rack filled with ER fluid. This fluid solidifies when electricity goes through it. By using a remote control, she can turn off the power and the rack will slowly lowers as the ER fluid become fluid again.


See it yourself...
On that day, they use another remote control to unable Fuyumi to turn off the power & let her die. Their motive was money (small details, lazy..).
Put aside the mystery bit...


LOL... I almost drool like Kaoru 'did' [I'm just exaggerating her reactions] when I saw Yukawa-sensei boxing.

I always like and think it was nice seeing his athletic side since the beginning of this dorama. That proved that Yukawa-sensei wasn't merely some [handsome] typical otaku... He did squash in eps 2, rock-climbing in eps 3, archery in eps 5, and watching him boxing and running (he was experimenting something) in eps 7 -- KAKKOI!
But...ermmm... Actually, Yukawa-sensei is more of a weirdo (Kaoru called him hen-jin aka weird person) than a good-looking man, in my opinion... But [fortunately] once in a while, you can see Fukuyama-san's charms instead of Yukawa's (okay, I know, they are the same person) which makes his portrayal of a genius, good-looking yet weird professor more convincing.


Episode 8 {{--Sees--}}
[Rating: 5/5]
~~The Ghost who Notified Her Sister of the Murder~~
My Real Rating: 6/5 [Love the scenes btwn those 2!]

OMG! OMG! OMG!

I really, truly, absolutely LOVE this episode!
Can't understand why this one got the lowest in rating (but still considered high) among the previous 7 eps (19% sth).. usually it's 20% over.

Anyway.

The eps started with a guy (name: Kosugi Kouichi) stabbing someone (a lady) repeatedly. As the lady's cell phone rang, a security guard heard the noises and went to inspect. The guy ran away after he saw the security guard coming into the room. He jumped out a window and died on spot.

The lady was a culinary artist, Maeda Misuzu. On that night she was killed, her sister claimed that she saw her standing outside their house. This is the mystery Kaoru brought to Yukawa-sensei. Misuzu's house is 30 km (in a straight line) away from where she was killed. It would take at least an hour to get home no matter what transportation she was using. Hearing this, Yukawa-sensei blurted out, "Teleportation..." and it's another 'jitsuni homoshiroi' moment.

It was said that this Kosugi guy was stalking Misuzu which made the police assumed it's a stalker-turned-killer case. But the appearance of Misuzu at her home was illogical. So Yukawa-sensei was thinking hard about how she got teleported to her house in just 10 minutes of time.

At last, a visit to Kosugi's house solved the case.
[SARS-fansub subs]

Solution: Actually Kosugi wasn't a stalker. He was doing a favour for Kanazawa Yoriko (Misuzu's partner) who was the real killer. She killed Misuzu on impulse and called Kosugi anxiously for help. Kosugi helped her by making the murder seems unrelated to her. While he stabbed (again) Misuzu's body over 250 times (crazy!), Kanazawa went to Misuzu's house wearing Misuzu's favourite yellow coat. As that day was very cold, mist was formed on the window. Chiaki didn't really saw her sister but because that person was wearing yellow coat, she was convinced that it was her sister.

Yukawa-sensei *it seems* really had a hard time solving the teleportation mystery. It was until Kaoru came to him and said that she truly believe there's something wrong with the case. Her base was her own 'detective intuition'... This time Yukawa-sensei didn't belittle her groundless belief but instead went with her intuition... which lead them to Kosugi's house.

There were many funny moments in this eps. I just love the Yukawa x Utsumi interactions. In the beginning, Yukawa-sensei was cooking in his lab when Kaoru came. After he was done he ate with Kuribayashi-san (who told Kaoru there wasn't any for her). Kaoru looked like she want some too (the food looks delicious).. and I was hoping that there'll be a scene where Kaoru steals some from Yukawa-sensei, but sadly, none.

And also, when they were at Kosugi's house, Yukawa-sensei had his 'sudden inspiration' moment outside the house... He can't wait to go back to prove his hypothesis that he forgot to wear his shoes back. There was some awkwardness in that scene [Kaoru said: "Sensei! Shoes." | Yukawa looked at his feet ] which just make me laugh everytime I re-watch it.

My favourite scene would be the last one where Kaoru cooked in the lab. LOL. I was like, "Omigosh, why is she suddenly cooking in Yukawa's lab?" Yukawa-sensei eyed her carefully as she prepared the ingredients (the ingredients were put in lab apparatus).. He asked her why she's cooking there but was ignored by her. When she finished cooking and placed it on the dish, the sound of it 'dropping' on the dish and its ermm.. 'unique' appearance would make one wonder if it's edible or not.. She tasted it and claimed it was delicious and offered Yukawa-sensei some. He refused at first, nagging about cooking logics, claiming that, "It can't possibly taste good." Kaoru replied, "You have to eat first before commenting on that." At last, he hesitantly tried some... his expression suddenly changed after he ate some... Judging from his somewhat-embarassed gestures, I guess it was delicious after all.. logics, huh? I second what Kaoru said, "Cooking is not about logic."
Truly enough, we can't judge everything from its appearance alone.

The whole cooking scene looks like a she's cooking for her husband... It was really cute!


Episode 9 and 10 *FINAL* {{--Bursts--}}
[Rating: 4/5]
~~Serial Murders Set Up by the Devil~~
~~KISS Me on Christmas Eve!~~

**This is a total teaser!**

Although it's the last story for Galileo in 2 parts, I think the story was not as interesting as before. So, I won't talk much about the mystery this time.

The case has something to do with Yukawa-sensei's ex-teacher, Kijima-sensei. Two person who worked with Kijima-sensei's company were found dead in two separate places.
In the middle of Eps 9, Kaoru asked Yukawa about Kijima-sensei. But Yukawa-sensei won't tell her anything and stated that it has nothing to do with the case (hence she don't have to know). There was a Yukawa X Utsumi moment -
Kaoru said: "You never let your emotions get in the way. It's different this time tough, isn't it? How should I describe it... I think you're being really emotional."
Yukawa answered without looking at her: "It has nothing to do with the case."
Kaoru: It will affect the investigation.
Yukawa: It's something I can't talk to you about.
Kaoru: I want to know! Even if it has nothing to do with the case. When I see you looking like that... I can't help but get curious.
Yukawa then said "That's your personal emotion." but stop when he saw Kaoru's expression. (It's an I-care-about-you-so-I-want-to-know expression, IMO ***pic***) Then he asked her to leave.

I think Eps 9 & 10 (were basically about) shown some development between Yukawa-sensei and Kaoru's relationship. Kaoru has been always bothering Yukawa-sensei for help. When a case get his attention, he won't stop until he found the logic behind the case. This somewhat affects his work as an assistant professor.

As Kaoru get to know about Yukawa & Kijima's relationship, she realised how she became so dependent to Yukawa. So when he called her to ask something, she didn't answer him. This caused Yukawa-sensei himself go to the police station to meet her. (I love this scene!).

He finally saw her.
Yukawa: I found you at last.
They sat on a bench, Yukawa-sensei asked:"Why didn't you answer my phone calls? I don't know why you're avoiding me."
Kaoru: You haven't done anything wrong. I thought things over... and realized depending on you has become a habit. I... was negligent in my duty as a police detective.
Yukawa: That's not true.
Kaoru: You thought I was a nuisance, too.
Yukawa: No...
Kaoru: Yes, you did.
Yukawa: I didn't... | Kaoru: You said I was!
Yukawa: Yes, I did say it before. | Kaoru: See.
Yukawa: Utsumi-kun...
Kaoru: You've had enough of it already, right?
Yukawa: Maybe I was. | Kaoru: See?
Kaoru wanted to leave. Yukawa-sensei then said that he won't stop investigating until he found the answer.

From the scene, it seems that Yukawa-sensei doesn't like the idea of her avoiding him. I like to think that Yukawa does have feelings towards her since the beginning, but romance wasn't the main theme of the dorama.

& there was a hero-saving-a-damsel-in-distress scene (It's a life & death scene but I can't help laugh seeing Yukawa so calm). I was hoping there will be one but not in such situation. The machine that Kijima-sensei built was just not-so-convincing. But thanks to Shibasaki Kou's acting - she cried beautifully - I don't mind watching the whole saving scene once again. I can't believe that Yukawa-sensei can be SO CALM in that situation. Half of Tokyo might be ruined by the bomb in 3 hours and he still have time to sit and drink some coffee? But, oh well, that's just so Yukawa-ish.


Kaoru: Please run, sensei. I don't want you to die, too... Please understand my feelings... at least this once. Run!
Yukawa: I can't do that. I don't want you to die either. *concentrating on deactivating the bomb*
*Oh.... they are so cute... they take care of each other*
Best scene: Kaoru hugging Yukawa after she was saved from the bomb.

Galileo Movie would be fun cos genius physicist VS genius mathematician.
Surprisingly... The rating for the last episode was the lowest ever! 19.6%! Ironically, the rating for 1st episode was the highest among all, 24.7%.. (but that's only based on ratings in Kanto)
[SARS-fansub subs]

12 July 2008

Proposal Daisakusen プロポーズ大作戦 ~Operation Love~

http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Proposal_Daisakusen
Viewership ratings (Average) : 17.3% (Kanto), 17.2% (Kansai)
Viewership ratings (for the SP) : 18.4%

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Notes:
~ These reviews for every episode were done on my friendster profile in 2007 during the airing of "Proposal Daisakusen".
~ Please pardon any grammatical errors found because some were done in a rush (and I'm lazy to edit any now).
~ Any quotes are from subs by Love Song.
~ Click on the [~~] title [~~] for each episode to reveal the review.
~ Oh, yeah. Some of the title were loosely translated with online translator so it might not be the same as the one on wiki d-addicts (at that time no one updated the titles on wiki and I have to fill in sth as the title.)

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Episode 1 [Rating: 4/5]
~~ You can get married if you can go to the baseball championship!? ~~

Been looking forward to this latest YamaP drama(!) *Thumbs up* *Yay!*
It's about Iwase Ken who actually likes his long-time friend, Yoshida Rei but never had the chance to tell her his feelings. Till the day she gets married to someone else, then only he realise that he loves her very much. As a slide show of Rei's past photos are shown during the wedding party, Ken started reminiscing the events behind the photos. A yousei (fairy) appeared as he wished hardly to go back to that particular event to change the ending.

I think every eps will be about changing the events behind the photos to see if Ken would have gotten Rei if he did sth in the past.

As this is a jdrama (unique endingS), I doubt that I'll get to see Ken with Rei in the end. It might be that all what is happening is only in his mind bcos he was drinking when the yousei came to him. Maybe he's drunk. Or maybe he's just dreaming. The moral of the story might be: "You can't change the past, but you can change the future. So get on your feet, & do STH rather than slacking off!"

I've always wanted to see how YamaPi & Nagasawa Masami will be if they act as lovers in a drama since I watched them in Dragon Zakura. They had chemistry there although they were not together.

The photo altered in this eps is a photo taken after a baseball competition where Ken's team lost the game. Rei was their team manager & it was the first time Ken saw her crying. Ken who went back in time managed to make her happy (resign without regrets) before the photo was taken.

Ah.. his character here is a mix of his past characters, most notably his Akira-ness, which I love so much. The only thing I hate to see here is the scene Ken smoking. (I HATE SMOKERS)


Episode 2 [Rating: 4/5]
~~ You can get married through coffee milk!? ~~

In this episode, Ken was clueless of what he did in the past that caused Rei to be angry with him. But in the end, he managed to change the picture to a smiling Rei.

From the review of Eps 2 in the previous episode, I doubted that 'coffee milk' will make any difference to their relationship. Then after watching the whole story, actually it's not really about the drink - it's about Ken's birthday present!

Ken who went back to the past became fussy over the coffee milk he promised her & he forgot to look inside the CD Rei gave her back. He realised the clue to his present at the end of the day & went to the library to retreive retrieve it. Rei was happy to see he has found it.

There's more running in this eps for Ken. He can't seem to get hold on any bottles of the drink.

I love the friendship between Ken, Rei, Mikio, Eri & Tsuru. (they reminds me of a friendship that I wish I have. haha.)


Episode 3 [Rating: 4/5]
~~ You can get married if you switch seats? ~~

Tada Tetsuya (the one Rei's getting married to) actually became Ken's "love rival" since Ken's school days... This Tada-san worked as their temp. teacher & he sure is a boring teacher - they don't like him (until sth Ken did)..

As Ken is back to the past, he resisted doing that "sth". [Ken found a paper (Tada's) with drawings about them (funny ones which could make them like him)] But in the end, he did still reveal that paper & they gave Tada-san a proper goodbye on his last day in school.

Although I like Maths, I don't like how they relate Maths with Tada-san.. I found Tada's character almost boring in this eps.. (but he'll be back in the next eps)
I like that "Ken-zou" story. Apparently, only Rei alone called Ken, Ken-zou (zou is not a part of his name.) Tada asked Ken why & Ken remembered that he gave Rei half of his eraser before (Rei thought his name was Ken-zou cos the eraser originally was written his name & his class). They had a fight before but made up later on after Ken give half of his eraser once again. Rei realised her mistake & laughed embarrassingly...

Unfortunately, the photo Ken changed this time seem to brought Rei & Tada-san more closer. (At least he's not crying in the new photo...)


Episode 4 [Rating: 5/5]
~~ You can get married by giving the second button? ~~

Oh, I love this episode! It's their high school graduation day! Made me cry in the end!

Do you know why it has to be the second button?

Rei said: "It's the second one because it's the nearest to the heart... The uniform is sth you wear all the time in high school, right? That's why the second button is chocked full of that person's feelings." [Love Song's subs]
Surprisingly, I found Eri to be less annoying in this eps, which made me like her for a while.

The opening scene reminds me a bit of Kurosagi. Yamapi's reactions were Kurosaki-like & added with this scene--- [Love Song's subs]

Yousei(fairy): Do you know of this movie 'The Graduate' by Dustin Hoffman?
Ken: The one where he ran off with the bride in the middle of the wedding?
Yousei: I actually lived in that church for a while.
Ken: You're serious?!
Yousei: Of course I'm kidding! You should be careful not to get involved in any scams.
Ken: *pointing at the yousei* Shirosagi?!
...it's hard not to say,"Hey, that's from Kurosagi!"

So did Rei manage to get Ken's second button? Yes & no. She didn't get the school uniform ones - instead Ken let her have the second button from his baseball uniform (or whatever you call it).. that meant much too cos she was their baseball team manager..

p/s: 5 stars for this one for making me cry


Episode 5 [Rating: 4/5]
~~ He who waits until tomorrow to do things is an idiot? ~~

I like Rei's grandpa! He was just so full of energy & doesn't like to procrastinate! He came all the way from Hiroshima to visit his granddaughter without bringing anything with him.

Well, to sum it up, Eps 5 is more on making Ken realise that you can't wait until to tomorrow to do things - or you'll have regrets later. And besides that, another issue in this eps is who stole Rei's first kiss... which actually was Ken himself (during elementary school, I think). It was an accidental kiss & Ken didn't even remember it. Nevertheless, he stole her first kiss once again before they took photo. He got slapped twice this time but Rei was smiling in the photo. So you can say it ended quite perfectly...

But in the next eps, the slideshow will show more Tada & Rei's couple photos... I wonder how could Ken get back in time to change things with such photos? (hm...Maybe the picture will not be there anymore..)

So far, I still can't see any changes on the present.. Tada & Rei are still sitting together as newly-weds... I hate to think that they'll end this dorama with Rei still marrying that Tada-san..


Episode 6 [Rating: 3/5]
~~ What do you "graduate from" on the last day you become a teenager? ~~
Funny how the yousei relate Ken with the photos of the couple. Just because the photo they took during the world cup (in the previous eps) was on the wall behind Tada & Rei, it's counted as "Ken is in the photo."

The fact that Tada & Rei are getting closer makes me down. Okay maybe I'm exaggerating... but I hate that something hasn't happen between Rei & Ken yet - & now, Tada is here to ruin their chance to be together (if there's any...)
This eps seem to lack Ken's involvement, it focused more on Rei's story.. Rei did, once, had the courage to confess her feelings (through a letter) to Ken, yet coincidentally, he was absent that day! (Stupid Ken!)

& I started wondering WHAT WAS KEN THINKING IN THE PAST? Mikio said sth about sometimes he saw Ken treating Rei nicely (I guess that was when he went back in time to 'improve' the photos ba..) That means he didn't seem to care much about Rei in the past. He must be thinking that Rei will always be around him, that she'll wait for him to confess to him her (which he never did). And only when Rei's getting married, he realised that she is important to him. What the heck is wrong with him?
This is something everyone should always keep in mind: Express yourself honestly, let others know your feelings before it's too late.

Okay *calms down*. I'm not really that angry with Ken. But this kind of thing is what people in this world always do. You don't always (or never will) get opportunity to travel back to the past to repair the mess you left behind.

Rating: It's 3.5 stars this time, but I'm gonna put it as 3 stars.


Episode 7 [Rating: 4/5]
~~ Since when did love & fireworks scatter together? ~~
This is, in my opinion, another 'weak' episode for Ken. There's not much changes done by him except letting Tsuru & Eri become closer (they are a couple in the future!)..

At first, he went back to the past hoping to confess to Rei before Tada did. But he failed.. & it ended with Ken not wanting to do any time-slipping anymore. It was sad to see him give up like that.. until Mikio said sth to Ken in the end. Mikio, in the past, seem to accept the fact that Ken did came from the future - if he had realised it earlier, he would have help him. But Ken from the future never return since Tada's confession. (Which means he'll be back to do his 'Hallelujah Chance' in the next eps)

There were some funny bits such as in the beginning where Ken started doing his 'Hallelujah Chance!' & quickly jumped into saying 'nooooo' yet nothing happened (He was too excited at that time, I guess).

I still dislike Tada.

I really love the friendship between Ken, Mikio, Tsuru, Rei, & Eri. To me, their story shines the most in every episode.


Episode 8 [Rating: 5/5]
~~ Shedding Tears on New Year's Eve ~~
Good Episode! I like it!
Another good friendship story!

Those 5 always celebrate New Year's Day together. But this year, something is different... Tada & Rei are together now & he joined them... Ken, knowing that it was his worst new year day in the future, decided not to go this time.. & spent his new year day alone...

Mikio didn't help much actually this time, but it was funny to see his reaction in the beginning. His cellphone was ringing & Ken told him Mikio's girlfriend will propose to him on the phone. Then he picked up, "Ne~ Will you marry me?" she said. Mikio answered,"I'll call you later," in a cool way & burst out, "KEN, you have supernatural powers??" Baka Mikio.

Anyway. New Year celebration was never the same without Ken with them. So they returned to Ken's house & waited for him there.

Ken was playing hard to win a "Don't Knock New York" handbag for Rei... He came to a conclusion that it was not easy for him to forget Rei & his feelings toward her just like that. *I cried seeing his tears~~*


Episode 9 [Rating: 4/5]
~~ What's there to gamble in the last moment? ~~
Last photo? No, not really. Thanks to Mikio, Ken has another 'Hallelujah Chance'!

The (supposed to be) last photo was after Rei accepted Tada's proposal. The changes Ken made to the past was not much except that he finally told Rei about his feelings (somewhat-lah). He asked Rei not to marry Tada but he ended up saying the same thing before where Rei replied,"Even though we've always been so close to each other, Ken-zou really doesn't understand a thing."

It's a quite good episode and the funny elements are still there. There's a lot of motivational phrases mentioned:
"There's no harm in trying."
"Look around you. Things that you think won't work, if all of them really end up failing, your life can't go on. It's not like that, right? The occasional success when you try is what's interesting in life."
"It's expected if you fail, but you're a real man if you succeed."

The best scene will be the scene Tsuru finally gets to date Eri.
"Please marry me!"
"No."
"Then, please be my bride!"
"I said no."
"You don't want to be my bride?"
"No."
"Then.... please make miso soup for me everyday."
"No."
"Even if I'm reborn, I want to marry you!"
"No."
"Then, would you go out with me?"
"Yep."
"Eh? Please go out with me."
"Okay!"
[Love Song's sub]


Episode 10 and 11 *FINAL* [Rating: 5/5]
~~ Last Hallelujah Chance! What miracle will a teary confession make? ~~
Episode 10 & 11 can't be separated - both made up a "final episode" for this dorama.
Ah~ I cried a lot watching these two...

What happened in the last episode? Ken realized that the changes he made in the past didn't change the future much. He can't stop the wedding. Rei's wedding is a reality. Ken has to do something in the present if he want visible changes. (He did gain some extra hours ahead before the speech)

So he confessed to her when he gave his speech as her childhood friend at her wedding party. It was inapproriate - but for those who has been watching this from the beginning - it's perfect. He shedded tears again this time... He walked out from that place and the slideshow started again.

Watching the photos on the slideshow (which Ken had went back in time when the photo was taken & changed the events) brought back memories of their relationship to Rei. She was crying and Tada had a talk with her. He *indirectly* let her go.
She ran, ran and ran. But she can't catch up with the taxi which Ken is in. She went back to the church, crying. The yousei appeared & said something that made her run again.

And it ended.

Actually, this dorama ended like Hero and The Files of Kindaichi 3. After the ending theme finished playing, you get to see a little more story.
Ken had to push the taxi (no more fuel) all the way. Suddenly, Ken hears a familiar voice from behind, "Ken-zou!"
Well, you can assume that they would live happily ever after.
Nice.


SPECIAL DRAMA [Rating: 5/5]
Oh... It's Ken-zou again. Watching the SP was like seeing an old friend once again. Hah. For those who had watched the drama, you wouldn't want to miss this because it's really a sequel. It started from the "Ken pushing the taxi" scene. He heard some familiar voice calling "Ken-zou!" and turned... and there's Rei who just ran away from her wedding! They got on the taxi and stopped by the beach. *Oh! Love that scene!* Ken was going to kiss her but the wave stopped them and even worse, Rei lost one of her shoes. Predictably, Ken carried (piggy-back) Rei all the way on the beach.

Ken's character seems had matured much in this. He was less clumsy. Tada-sensei was more human. It's really nice to know that he has a childhood friend (female) who still cares for him.

The story this time is about Tsuru and Eri's wedding. They were to get married in Hawaii but on that day, Eri disappeared from the wedding and returned to Japan. It was really upsetting. Eri told Rei that he saw Tsuru with a lady on his off-day. She felt cheated and don't know if she can get married ignoring what she saw.
As Ken and Mikio watched the slide show Mikio had prepared, the yousei appeared again. Ken was surprised to see him there. Ken was wishing that he could warn Tsuru not to neglect Eri's feeling a week before the wedding. The yousei granted his wish. And it's "Hallelujah Chance!" again.

Ken and Mikio followed Tsuru. They saw that he went to meet many females and finally confront him at a night club.

Tsuru did something VERY touching. I won't say it because that will spoil the fun. But Ken indirectly (I said indirectly) told Eri about it and she cried... Ken was assuring her that it's nothing big, that Tsuru really care and love her just like before.

As Ken traveled back in time, he also did something he should have done earlier. He brought Rei to her parent's house and meet them. He appologized properly and told them he will definitely make Rei happy. It was a pretty tense scene but I know from Rei's dad expression that he approved of Ken.

And... In the end, after Tsuru's wedding, Ken proposed to Rei. He firstly gave her the pair of shoes she lost on the beach in Japan. He wore it for her and it seems he had picked the wrong size. Rei just laughed and said he always give her bigger things. And she showed him the ring he has long thrown away. He was surprised that she had it and Rei explained that Eri found it and gave her.
It's a perfect ending.

On the "bigger things" Rei mentioned... I think we can include his 'bigger' love to Rei too.

Very heartwarming story. Love it.