P.S. Genki Desu, Shunpei. (1999)

Based on the manga of the same name by the amazing manga artist Saimon Fumi (who also wrote other classic dramatised mangas like "Asunaro Hakusho" and "Tokyo Love Story"), the writing for this show was brilliant.

Being a drama from before the turn of the century, it might be difficult to find online; but as a child I remember watching and rewatching this drama countless times.
In hindsight, this is such a star-studded drama and it is really amazing to see that even when they were younger, these now superstar actors had good, solid acting abilities. I always felt bad for Nakama Yukie because she plays her character so well that she really starts to annoy you.

I think what really makes this drama so enjoyable, and the rewatch value so high, is the fact that Shunpei (Domoto Koichi) and Momoko (Seto Asaka) are in a super relatable point of their lives. We see Shunpei go through a lot of emotional changes and growth which we too would experience at that age, and Momoko's forward and speaks-her-mind type character is so interesting balanced with Shunpei who is awkward, a push-over and struggling to share his true feelings.

The side characters and stories also are good, and bring a lot of balance to Shunpei and Momoko's turbulent relationship.

Read More

Was an alright drama.

Prefacing this with the fact that I watched this without subs as apart of my Japanese immersion, plus for reasons I imply later I lost most interest around episode 8 so my thoughts may be flawed.

This was a pretty decent drama, I found all the characters enjoyable, the setting believable, and the story decently relaxing/fun, overall good. considering this literally only came onto the internet this month (meaning it's very obscure) makes me wonder how many other good "lost" J-Dramas are out there (lost in brackets because a DVD will always exist haha) but alas I do not have money to BURN by going around and buying random 20,000¥ blu-rays weekly (university student lol) I will not think much about it, but I digress.

If you're familiar with 90s J-Drama then you seeing a 7.5 (average rating when I publish this) will indicate that it's your average developments, and you're not wrong haha. Same old same old developments with past lovers and whatnot, climaxing with something completely random happening to the side characters, etc. etc. Even the ending was predictable. Just thankfully it never felt depressing, though it did get boring around episode 8 with the relationship drama growing to a head, then just never dying down for the rest of the show. Despite me saying this all though, I still recommend it if you understand Japanese, it is funny at times and like I said before it is relaxing most of the time, a good time killer.

Acting is standard for 90s K-Drama, Asaka's in particular carried but everyone else did a great job too. Music is an easy 10/10, the opening really reminds me of early 2000s anime (which reminds me of a rather peaceful time in my life) plus 90s jpop is just good haha. Everything else is average for 90s J-Drama, lighting felt a bit better but still nothing to write home about.

Overall a good drama, I recommend it.

Read More