Drama Review: Bambino! ep 4-6

I thought Bambino! would have some good stuff in it, but frankly I'm disappointed. The things that happen don't play out well in live action. The premise is simple and there should be a lot of stuff that could happen except it all seems very predictable. My biggest peeve was MatsuJun's acting. Before all of the Arashi fans start throwing sticks and stones at me, I think Rida-san Ohno does better acting. It's a lot more free and natural whereas MatsuJun's comes from a script and is rigid. The side characters are doing a better job acting than the protagonist ironically. I mean you have Karina (as Nikaido Saya in Pricele$$), Mukai Osamu (as Eisuke in Hungry!), and Kitamura Kazuki (as Kusanagi Shunpei in Galileo) in this drama. They are so much more free and adaptable in their roles. The role of Ban Shogo is a passionate young man with a dream of becoming a chef, but is too quick to jump onto things due to a lack of experience. With MatsuJun, all I see is an imitation of a greenhorn chef.
During these few episodes so far, Ban has to serve a difficult customer and makes a lot of mistakes with daily customers such as breaking plates. The difficult customer, Ms. Nogami, is suppose to be this total bitch that nitpicks on everything, but in the drama it just looks like a woman of higher status who deliberately picks on Ban. Realistically speaking, she would have stopped coming to the restaurant after the first time she saw Ban. Ban just becomes progressively annoying in the series with his persistence and lack of flair. I don't see the fear portrayed in the character because Ban has a lack of confidence in his abilities as a waiter and a fear of facing Ms. Nogami.

Ban's breakup with Eri wasn't too interesting. They really pushed Eri's character to the side and treated it as a hindrance to Ban. Yes, Eri's conflicting ideas about staying in Hakata because she has a life to live too will hinder Ban, but the way the drama portrayed it made Eri look like a bad person. As if it was her fault telling Ban to stay in Hakata. As a result, Ban becomes someone who doesn't fight to keep things together. I felt that the drama was poorly written in this sense.

As of now, I think the drama should have expanded on relationships between Ban and his co-workers. We're starting to see that with Asuka and Masashi who help Ban succeed. Katori can't stand Ban at first, but you can see that he does have a soft side when he wanted to cheer up a depressed Ban. The trio of managers, Yonamine, Miyuki, and Atsushi, always share these short conversations after work to reveal their thoughts about the day and of Ban. Secretly they are watching him grow, but on the outside they drill him and coach him. No hand holding here. I didn't expect Atsushi to reprimand Ban during that dinner scene and it's Ban's wake up call to reality. You can bitch all you want but we all have our problems and deal with it rather than bitching.