HomeScreen Alchemist

To me, there's one character that's very likeable: the cafe owner played by Kochi Yamato (the legendary "walking man" on Exit 8 movie). But too bad it's only a few minutes guest role. 😀

LOL 😅 Same here. It caught me off guard, like what the hell...

A bit of a let-down. It went downhill after episode 6.
If it wasn't because of Non (Nounen Rena)'s appearance, I could have dropped this already.
Final verdict: 6.5/10

One of the best from WOWOW in terms of the story.
Acting could have been a bit better for the male lead, but maybe it's better to present it this way (the story itself is bigger/more important than the acting).

Actually, there's a similar kind of drama from NHK that had just finished airing, Themis no Futashikana Hotei. That one has a much better line-up of casts in terms of acting-ability, but the story-line is a kind of a bit of lacking cohesiveness. Too many "filler episodes". So, overall, I'd rate this better. 9/10

Koshi is overrated IMO. He couldn't match Riho's excellent acting here, no chemistry at all, which is embarrassing to watch. If the role given is more into semi-comedy-type like Synanthrope that's OK. But here it requires ability to embody deep emotional expressions and act with nuance. He couldn't even really cry!

Riho, on the other hand, delivers excellent acting as always, and she still looks cute and youthful at 32.

If you're into torrent, go to nyaa.si and search Kowloon Generic Romance. There's one under Live Action tag. It syncs with the Skewed soft sub.

I watched this because some years ago I watched "Homestay", an excellent movie played by both the two main casts here (Kento Nagao & Anna Yamada). They are more than capable Japanese actors from the "Gen Z", and can grasp difficult roles and act accordingly without being awkward. If this movie wasn't played by them it could have become a much worse movie. They didn't play as good here as in "Homestay" and the other casts didn't deliver good enough acting (maybe the huge age-gap between the director & the casts?), even the story itself isn't bad.

Episode 6 is really really good! It's where the action really starts and the plot thickens, and it's no longer a "comedy show". And the whole atmosphere is getting darker as well. I'd rate this between 8/10 to 8.5/10 depending on how they will present the next 4 episodes.

Watching Episode 2 now. I'm happy to see the "Exit 8" walking man (Kochi Yamato) in there as guest. 😊 I expected him to get more exposures after that movie.

Watched Ep. 1 and to be honest, I didn't enjoy it. Way too conversation-heavy but without any meaningful substance (just going in circles).
This could fit into an indie-movie type presentation for nerds, but for a mainstream serial drama, unless there's a huge plot-twist that switches this into a thriller movie (with murder, etc. that would turn Tsuchida Ayana character into another Ichiko -type) in the next few episodes, I don't see anything that would gain me any interests.

in a good way or not??

Looking at the lineup of casts (Sugisaki Hana, Narita Ryo, Okayama Amane, etc.):
"Me want to watch, even it's not my kind of drama!"
After watching episode 1:
Dropped

Clever comedy with a lot of puns. I like it so far!
Matsuda Ryuhei just being Matsuda Ryuhei, while at the same time also fits to any character he plays in his movies & dramas.

This will be a gem, one-of-a-kind J-drama.

One of the best dramas coming from WOWOW so far!
Especially Sakurai Yuki's acting here is exceptional! She should have more leading roles in intense dramas. She did very well in NHK drama "Eat, Sleep, then Wait for Happiness" earlier this year, but that's a relaxing drama that didn't really show what she's capable of in terms of acting.

Teaser just up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuBxP-JolxM
Looks like it's not a "remake" nor a "sequel", but using actual scenes taken from the serial & re-edited it to fit into the movie format (cinematography is already top-notch). They might show the ending scenes & some other scenes that weren't shown in the drama.

It's a "current trend" in Japan, just like Jishin no Atp de (After The Quake) they re-edited scenes from serial to a full feature-film movie.

Sai is going to be put into the movie (feature-film) format. Release date: 2026/02/20
This is one of the most terrifying Japanese thriller in recent years, and re-editing it into the movie format will be great. It's gonna be interesting.
Teaser just up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuBxP-JolxM

Most likely due to the "idol culture" influence for so many years, where most of these female idols are around 13-15 yrs old, while their fans/supporters (oshi) are mostly single adult male ranging from 20s to middle-aged (50+).
Their legal system is also head-shaking. Their "age of consent" is 16 (used to be 13 a few years back), while the "legal drinking age" is 20.

I'm here for Narumi Yui and Tsunematsu Yuri!! They're both very underrated.

If you're into torrent, you can download both the raw files and the Japanese soft-sub/closed-captions at nyaa.si
Search from the words "themis houtei"
You can then use online subtitle translators to translate from Japanese to any language you desire then save it. Watch offline using any media player app that can accept soft-sub files. Please note that close-captions are written verbatim (meant for hearing-impaired), so there are errors mostly in pronouns when translated, because in Japanese sometimes pronouns are not spoken as subject in casual conversations. Also, things like letters and other written elements can't be translated because they don't require closed-captions.

But this is the last resort, if there's no fansubbing available.

Watching Oshi no Ko after Scandal Eve. She was given very similar role with a pretty much the same emotional situation in both dramas, but she did her very tense acting for that similar role so much better in Scandal Eve. Glad to see her acting has improved a lot in just within a year. Looking forward to watch her again in Climbing For Life.