Zíza

Yaguchi did not disappoint. It was exactly what I expected – a gentle comedy from some real-life settings, delivered with slight exaggeration, but so human that you finish the movie with a pleasant feeling and are satisfied. It's the story of a lot of people involved in air traffic control and passenger handling; there are a lot of big names, even if they might only bark a single line, it's still awfully nice. Moreover, the airplane drama here was somehow delivered without unnecessary diatribes and without all the situations where lives hang in the balance, yet was still entertaining, if not more so. I'm satisfied. Anyone who’s in the mood for a nice comedy should definitely feel free to try this one.

The cast is very well cast, but in the end I found it didn't really work here. Somehow the chemistry among the ensemble was just lacking. It was kind of dry, with no juice. Especially the first four episodes. It broke around the fifth one and finally started to get properly suspenseful, only to go back to the not-so-interesting ballast about the life of a dead college student and the lives of those left behind after the sixth. I wasn't expecting the final absolution, but I probably would have been much happier for a different one (where Koike Teppei's character wasn't such a saint, but decided to give everyone a hard time). A mediocre series about the lives of a few Japanese people who carry a scar from their past, and because they couldn't get it right in their heads, a lot of them are just treading water. Much more interesting from the pen of the same author as N no Tame ni, which starred Kubota, who made a cameo in the last episode here. Which I really appreciated. :-) 50%.

I don't know the source material. But on the whole I liked it. Again we have an eccentric genius character who can crack anything, yet this one is a bit more likeable to me because she was human despite her detached genius, and that made her likeable. Her sidekick was fine too, kind of the archetype of these characters, played decently. I did enjoy Kamikawa a lot here, though he's pretty appealing altogether, so it works for him on its own. The cops weren't just dumb-asses here, which I also appreciate very much. Basically a sort of Japanese Bones with all that does and doesn't entail. Perfectly sufficient and satisfying as a crime drama for the morning.

The idea of Japan or Tokyo in 2030 was not a happy one. Everything was futuristic and depersonalized, people felt uneasy. Although they may have had all the comforts, it wasn't enough because comfort just isn't everything. As one character said – people want to be in trouble, people want to worry. Otherwise, apparently, life has no meaning. In terms of the acting it's ok, it’s also interesting as a journey into the not-too-distant future. It's a short glimpse of a family and certainly enough to be interesting. Though slightly naive, still probably the most realistic character was Eita's sister, played by Renbutsu Misako. Interesting. It’s topical even now.

Just as unappealing as the anime, the main character is a jerk who's always yelling and doesn't know, doesn't want to, is afraid, no no no and that makes him terribly unappealing to me; on the other hand, his female counterpart is exactly his superhero opposite and I don't find her character very likable either. The music didn't impress me either... It looks nice and colorful like the anime, but it's still uninteresting. Of course, if the anime was popular, this should be, too. The acting... was within limits and the characters were ok.

It's been a long time since I've had so much trouble finishing something after I've made it through the first five episodes. I was looking forward to Hae-jin Park, but I feel like he's tried harder as an actor in his earlier projects and like me he didn’t much care for this one. I was constantly missing something about him. And his character... a cliché secret agent, annoyingly nothing new. As for the heroine... I liked her at first, but as time went on, she became annoying, and if she had died, I probably would have liked the show a star more. And the spoiled actor... The scenes with the bodyguard were great, they had great chemistry with each other (unlike the "lovestruck" couple), I wish there was more of that. In the end, the best part of the whole series was the villain played by Jeong-hun Yeon, not only in terms of his acting but also in his overall concept of the character, he outshined everyone else. Still, for me, probably the weakest Korean work I've seen this year. I was looking forward to it, but in the end it was a total disappointment. The filmmakers' attempt to hopefully please all categories of viewers went overboard and what was left was a weird caricature that doesn't even make the viewer want to see what happens next. Weak.

I wasn't at all impressed at first and it also took me a long time to get used to all the fussing, screaming, and snotty blubbering. What’s more, I don't like the actor Jae-yoon Lee, so when he became the love object of the heroine, it completely turned me off. Maybe it's because he was playing a good guy with an angular face again, a boring character with nothing interesting about him, which is why I was so hoping he would quickly drop out of the scene because he bored me. But from about episode eleven onwards it all broke and I started to like it and enjoy it. There were things here and there that I didn't like, but in the end I walked away from the series feeling like it wasn't wasted time, and the ending was very sweet. I especially liked that they didn't make a huge fuss over it when somebody had something with someone else, but just had the two of them teasing each other for a while and then it was quiet. Finally, relationships were seen as something natural and not something to be forbidden. Oh, and Joo-hyuk Nam's cheerful face is just such a nice sweet bonus. Just to add, at the beginning I was quite taken by the character of Shi Ho, who I found the most interesting with her agenda and problems, but towards the end she got completely swept out of the way, but at least I could get to the twist where I was hooked. A strong 3 stars.

Good music, great action, the actors are worth it, the acting is more or less above average, the story is quite interesting; but I'm kind of getting tired of this theme in Japanese series, which is probably why I couldn't be more excited about it. I totally acknowledge that this series has qualities that a lot of other similar series don't, but somehow I got bored along the way. I guess despite some complexity, it was clear what was coming and how it was going to play out. Although the ending, the last 7 minutes or so, was strong, it couldn't convince me to go higher with the rating. A very, very good 3 stars. If you like action, suspense, structural struggles, the ultimate question of international relations: whether the welfare of the state or the individual is more important... ...you should take a look, you may not be disappointed.

After a while, I thought it was time to check out some Korean series again, I was kinda in the mood for it, so I looked to see what's on and Suspicious Partner caught my eye because a lot of people were praising it, and besides it stars Chang-wook Ji. And the beginning was really good. It looked atypical, not like every other romantic-comedy-something in Korea. But then my enthusiasm broke. Maybe it was also because it was pigeonholed into that sort of Korean soap opera standard and the series couldn't impress or excite me with anything anymore. Even the acting performances didn't draw me in, they couldn't break out of the average. Chang-wook may be a joy to look at, but somehow that's not enough to give me much joy in watching. Plus, I simply stopped enjoying the main character – I still have no idea if it was the way the character was written or the actress herself. But I wasn't entertained, I couldn't empathize with anyone because I didn't care about them all. In the end, the most interesting thing to me was our mentally disturbed killer, who dominated intellectually. The series, which certainly doesn't stand out from the pack, has a very fluctuating quality – it has high quality here and there that soon dips below average, but mostly just hovers around average. So it's not outright bad, but if you’re not in it to drool over any of the cast, I don't even have any reason to recommend it. A better 2 stars.

After all the praise, exaltation to the heavens, I was most likely expecting the impossible, and that's why I ended up completely disappointed after watching it. I was expecting something new, not innovative, but new for Makoto Shinkai. But alas, I got nothing of the sort. Again, it's nicely animated, the sky, the trains; the touching story of a boy and a girl... It's also cheerful and playful. But I don't think it's the miracle that everyone's making it out to be... Of course, if it were the first Shinkai I'd seen, I could understand the fascination; but for me it's just another Shinkai in a series of fairly similar films, so I can't rate it better than 3 stars.