Ushi ni Negai wo: Love and Farm (2007)

Well, this one's new. Let's play a simulation game of how to manage a farm. Choose your player. In this game you'll learn the basics of how to milk a cow, give food to animals and even be a veterinarian. Yay! You thought Tamagochi was fun?! Wait till you play this one. :)) And no..I'm not promoting any game or something like that, I was being a little sarcastic about the series. Sarcasm never hurt, right?!

Now..on with the review.

Whoever said that Toda Erica was a good actress must watch this series . :)) No, really now, watch it. You'll learn many useful things(or maybe not). And I actually thought she was decent in Liar Game and Code Blue.

Even from the beginning I couldn't take the series seriously. You have a bunch of guys with different characters sent together on the road to maturity. They'll learn all about responsibility, friendship and love. Oh, how fun. Too bad that there are so many series about the same subject. Wait, I don't remember any as a step by step guide to farming so I'll give points to that.

I don't have much things to say about the series. As I told you before, the story is about growing up psychologically speaking. The cast is doing it's best but it's formed mainly from second lead actors and it doesn't capture the interest. The music..one song Green Days by Makihara Noriyuki was nice. Just nice. Were there others songs ? Can't really remember.

Would I rewatch this ? Definitively..not! Even for rainy days I can find better series.

Read More

Love and Farm!

I didn't think a drama about farming would be something to watch but it was watchable.

Story: It stars with 6 students going to Hokkaido in a town where they learn about the farm life for an internship. Only one of the students actually wanted to do this internship and had farming as their goal for the future. The other 5 were picked by random or some sort to go as well even though they weren't that interested in farming. This drama is not all about teaching these students what the farm life is but also about how these students become more mature and learn from this experience. I like that each of the 6 had a different personality and motive for why they are there or what they want to do. We got good character development on 5 of them except for one of the students. I was disappointed that they didn't explain more about Wakamatsu, he was't show as much as the other 5 and was basically the comedy student of the group which I felt sucked. Most of the drama was about the character growth of the students and the last episodes focused more of the state of that town. The issues in this drama that the students faced were realistic. I like that they really showed how much of sacrifices farmers face each day and that miracles aren't likely to happen to solve your problem. I was very disappointed that my favorite minor character Katsuya's mother didn't make it through the show. She was easily the kindest character of this drama and helped the students for how long she lasted. I only wish she interacted more with the other students. This show had ok enough minor characters but think they could have done more with like Takashi's sister. All 6 of the students along with Katsuya and Takashi's sister had a connection with one another who they liked but they really didn't take it far. No one really ended up with one another at the end but the feelings were confessed to the ones they like. So if your looking for romance in this drama then best of luck because the friendship of the 6 were more focused. I love the way they presented that being there at the town during the summer made the students live like a kid again and not worrying about their life.

Acting/Cast: I really do think the cast here was filled with popular names. Karina, Toda, and Aibu those are some names I know and became more popular later on. I mainly watched this drama for the loaded cast and because I wanted to see more of Tamayama Tetsuji. I also find it amusing of the growth of his facial hair from the beginning of this drama to the end. I like the cast, it was strong and good.

Music: The ending song is called Green Days by Makihara Noriyuki. Nothing special at first listening to it but it got a bit catchy later on. I think this song was fine and the title Green Days relates a bit to the drama.

Re watch: A drama like this is my type I like to watch because of the pace of the show. I like the feeling of the drama from the farming they do to the small stuffs like festivals they celebrated. I'm a fan of dramas that showcase more of what the characters do outside of their work. So I would watch this drama again maybe again during the summer time.

Overall: This is not a bad drama that people think it is or the rating it has here. It's not just about learning to farm or a farming simulator drama, its also the usual slice of life drama which I am a fan of. This drama is another example to why I love dramas in the 2000s.

Read More