[Drama Review] BG: Personal Bodyguard S1&S2 + Original Soundtrack

Season 2 cast

Alternative Names:  BG: Shinpen Keigonin , BG～身辺警護人～, BG贴身保镖，BG-搏命保鑣

Having abandoned the jdrama world since 2016, I have been very out of touch with current actors and shows. In the year 2021, I have returned with an unrealistic goal of catching up with dramas that were produced during this time gap, both old and new. The one that resurrected my interest in dramas again was BG: Personal Bodyguard. Kimura Takuya has been my long time favorite actor so I really bet all my chips onto him for producing entertainment. I was not disappointed. There were some parts of the story that I didn't like, but overall I really enjoyed watching it. Since this is my first jdrama in a while, I was introduced a lot of new talent and also revisited by familiar faces, mainly Eguchi Yosuke. Today I will cover both season 1 and season 2, along with a bonus music review on the Original Soundtrack. Brace yourselves for a very long post.

[Drama Review] Kodoku no Gourmet

I had some high hopes for this series only to have it crushed terribly.

[Drama Review] Nazotoki Wa Dinner No Ato De

A somewhat star studded cast, but a poorly written script destroyed it. In short it was funny for the wrong reasons.

[Drama Review] Roosevelt Game

I should have been done with this drama a long time ago, but my interest had slowly waned.

Drama Review: Hanzawa Naoki

Oh dear. I forget to review this drama. Off the bat, I want to say I love this drama a lot. Based off a novel, it was very well written and there was a lot of twists and turns. Hanzawa Naoki is a banker working at Tokyo Chuo Bank at the Osaka branch. In a nutshell, this is one man's struggle and revenge story against corporate scum with pure intention to reform the banking industry for good.

Drama Review: Higashino Keigo Mysteries

Many people know Higashino Keigo to be the author of the Detective Galileo novels. He has also written more stories in the mystery genre. Higashino Keigo Mysteries is a collection of short stories with each episode exploring a different murder with different characters.

Drama Review: Yorozu Uranaidokoro Onmyouya e Youkoso

It's my first time watching Nishikido Ryo act. Knowing that he is one of the members of Kanjani 8, I didn't expect the drama to be something complicated. This drama with an extremely long subtitle accompanied with its long name will be called Onmyouya in this review for the sake of convenience. Abe no Chomei opens a fortune telling store on Oji Street and neighbors in this neighborhood are against having a former host "taint" their territory. They are also convinced that he is charlatan. However Chomei uses his talents of listening to his clients in order to solve their problems behind the pretense of the supernatural.

Drama Review: Dinner

On my search for Cantonese dubbed j-dramas, I came across Dinner. It was next on my to-watch list anyways after Higashino Keigo Mysteries, which I am almost finished with. It's a food related drama about the staff and chefs that work at an Italian restaurant named Roccabianca. They were one of the best in Japan except that now their head chef suddenly collapsed and the restaurant is falling into ruin. The manager, Tatsumi Saori, hires Ezaki Motomu, a former apprentice at the renowned restaurant, Tereza, in Italy as the new head chef. I kind of wish they named the drama something else because Dinner sounds extremely generic and only refers to the fact Roccabianca does dinner service.

Drama Review: Take Five

Not every thief is a bad guy. Certainly not Take Five, a team dedicated to stealing from the bad to help people. Twenty years ago, the original Take Five disbanded due to the death of a policeman. Twenty years later, the new Team Five assembles and team leader, Homura Masayoshi (Karasawa Toshiaki), is looking for the truth behind the stolen painting that resulted in the death of a policeman. I watched the drama as a Cantonese dub and it was a very good one. The voices synced very well to the video and matched their characters really well.

Drama Review: Rich Man, Poor Woman

So how does an ordinary young woman focusing on the boring and repetitive statistics get into a top creative company? The tagline for Rich Man, Poor Woman describes it as a Cinderella story, but I think it's more than just a Cinderella story. It's a drama about having perseverance in one's principles and work attitude that resulted in a Cinderella ending.

Movie Review: Galileo Yougisha X no Kenshin

I became a fan of the Galileo series starting last year when season two got dubbed in Cantonese. Galileo stars a physics professor at Teito University, Yukawa Manabu, and a police detective, Utsumi Kaoru, to solve cases that are seemingly impossible to handle. Yukawa takes apart each case and explains everything through the use of physics. Though Utsumi always calls him heartless, Yukawa has a sense of morality as displayed in several episodes where he is extremely against using science to harm rather than help.

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.

Mei-chan no Shitsuji Ep 2 Review, YYH Blast From the Past

I'm on to episode two of "Mei-chan no Shitsuji" and I'm really liking this show even though everything's plain bizarre. It did come straight out of a shojo manga after all. So now Mei chooses to fight instead of doing nothing because she is determined to make sure that her parents will be buried together in exchange for enrolling in St. Lucia as a part of a pact between she and her grandfather. This grandfather has not been given a lot of information so far except that he is the head of the extremely wealthy Hongo family. Mei being the kind-hearted and naive girl has to put up with a lot of the students because they continue to ostracize here and bully her. In this episode, Bitchface Rika is the bully and she gets her punishment. However, troubles will not end for Mei because she discovers a new enemy, a true rival! Mei may have crumbled in the previous episode, but I can't wait to see her shine. The scenes and acting are still cheesy to the max and I appreciate the positive message behind the story. The minor characters are there for the comedy and I find them annoying instead.

Not So Happy 50th Post

Woohoo! I've hit my 50th post. It hasn't been a good spring break so far. I baked a cake and it failed terribly. I'm progressing slowly on homework. I tried drawing and it looks like I've forgotten how to draw for fun. Daylight savings time is still screwing with me and I can't sleep properly. Health-wise, I don't feel up to par. That overdose on hot sauce has resulted in mouth sores. My mother had dragged me along for grocery shopping and it ended up being a three hour long trip.

This spring break has its fair share of random news.

1. Yoshiki has set a piano on fire. Without any context, it sounds absurd (maybe that's what we should expect from rockers). It was for a music video according to a one line caption and not much was explained. There were some negative comments regarding the waste of a perfectly fine instrument and I can only hope that perhaps that piano was not a piano at all.
2. Kyo's side project Sukekiyo will be performing soon and I will not be attending. I have school to deal with and a job to find.
3. Malaysia Flight 370 is still missing. It's been missing for quite a while since March 8. I pray that the passengers are alive and that this plane be found soon.
4. I made a tumblr and it is of no relevance to the world because I haven't done anything special so far.

To be fair, there were some good things that happened like cooking again what I like and being able to catch up on an old jdrama. I was able to eat some curry just as I promised myself and heaps of homemade hot sauce over my noodles made me very happy. Even though I can't take on the heat, I still like to eat spicy. I finished watching Unubore Deka and I give it 4 out of 5 stars. It is really more of a comedy and viewers should view it as a comedy rather than crime fiction. Crime fiction is kind of there like decoration. The story and motives for murder are very absurd and highly unrealistic, but that's what makes it funny. Unubore's dance is kind of hilarious to watch and the final episode was a good one. It ended on a positive message; even though all the perpetrators had to go to jail for their crimes, they were filled with remorse and Unubore changed their views giving them a second chance in life. It's a reminder of how we should view those that have been in jail. Everyone deserves a second chance.

I did draw something good and not screw up on it too much. I finished up on a Vanitas drawing that I started in early January and it came out pretty well. Vanitas Drawing 
I still need to work on a personal logo. That'll be for the future.

"Mei-chan no Shitsuji" and "Unubore Deka" Review

Today during my lunch break, I took the time to watch an episode of Mei-chan no Shitsuji (2008).  Episode one was very far fetched in terms of story but I want to know what happens in the next episode.  I picked out this drama because it's a comedy and they have Mizushima Hiro and Eikura Nana as protagonists.  Discovering Mukai Osamu was a bonus for me. I'm a fan of Mizushima's acting since Hana Kimi because I feel he can play a variety of roles without being too stoic or reminiscent of his previous roles.  Mukai Osamu as well I feel is a fairly good actor.  It looks like Mukai will be playing a minor role this time.  I really don't dig his white wig though.  Too fake. 

As of episode one, many things were very far fetched.  It is impossible to have an academy whose power is more influential than the institution itself and Mei-chan no Shitsuji shows this in the most exaggerated form. It is an all girls school for the rich and the most "absurd" rule is that every master is accompanied with a handsome butler. Clearly this was for fanservice. And the digital effects of roses appearing to introduce a character or a sequence was overly cheesy.  Despite this bombardment of illogical appearances, I still found their humor funny and the drama very real. Mei is being bullied every student because she comes from a poor background. She has a higher power ready to tear her apart secretly and Mei herself has pressure to deal with. From episode one, we can see that Mei is determined to succeed in this crazy school.

I also decided today to watch episode two of Unubore Deka, another very far fetched story. I did not like episode one at all and I had the entire season in my possession. Since I had the entire season, why not give it another try? Maybe the second episode is cool.  I was right.  Episode two was funnier. I have to add that I'm watching Unubore Deka in Cantonese dubs and the dialogue was very lively.  The acting is still forced and cringeworthy to watch though.  The ending for each episode will always be the same and it's really more comedy than crime fiction. The main character doesn't have a name but he is always called "Unubore Deka" meaning conceited police officer.  Unubore Deka is always in search for love and he seeks help from these guys at a bar he frequents. Every woman he falls in love with ends up being the murderer/perpetrator of the case he is working on. What terrible luck. I look forward to more of these funny cases.

I can't wait for my spring break next week. I'll get to watch more jdramas and I'll write some reviews.

J-dramas Worth Watching

I barely have time to watch anime myself.  I wouldn't have any preference for j-dramas as well.  Except this past summer, my mother suggested Galileo 2 and I got hooked.  That series was so good.  I watch it dubbed in Cantonese by the way and I like it that way.  After that, I started watching a bunch of j-dramas in Cantonese.  I've also watched several others in original Japanese.  It really depends which version I encounter first.  I've compiled a list of dramas that I think are worth watching because they were well written and engaging to the audience.  These are in no particular order.  Give these series a try.

HanaKimi