Reviews

When I told my brother that I was going to watch Tokyo Tribe, he asked me what it was about. I hesitated and said, "tribes" and he said "Sounds good" which to me sounded sarcastic. So I added and said, "Well you see, the director likes to add weird and crazy stuff in his films and...yeah, I don't know."

So there you have it. Tokyo Tribe. Tribes. Crazy stuff. Music. Fighting. And chaos. Lots of it. But it's Sion Sono. As I said to my brother, Sono always manages to add insanity in his films and still manage to make it work. If you watch a Sono films, you're transported to his world, his rules, his creation, his everything. With a crazy yet satisfying 4-hour journey from Love Exposure to blood fountains that swept me off my feet in Why Don't You Play in Hell, Tokyo Tribe might have just taken Sono's style to the next level. Bursting energy and life and music and characters from start to finish, you'll be the one feeling exhausted (yet also satisfied) as the credits roll. In Sono's world, you got to keep up. You're also there in the film alright.

Tokyo Tribe is messy, chaotic, loads more to improve it but like others, it doesn't matter. It's not about following traditional storytelling or traditional film-making, it's about presenting something with creative freedom as much as you like. Sono embodies that, Tokyo Tribe embodies that. Mix that here, put that there, add more here, even if things don't make sense, whatever! It's entertainment, it's about having fun. It's filled with pleasure and enough to keep you at the edge of yourself -- if you're used to Sono's style.

It's a big big cast alright but having such a truckload of people in a film makes it all the more enjoyable, it makes it all the more fun. It's not character-focused, you're not suppose to give a shit about anyone, you're just suppose to sit there and watch and laugh and enjoy. That's what you're suppose to do. These actors aren't that great singers (although one of the leads, Kai is from a J-pop band, he's not an actor but who cares because it doesn't matter) but that too doesn't matter. This isn't about music. It's about having fun! Sono just adds music because it doesn't feel like it belongs there (so Sono like!) but that's what makes it stand out. He always manages to put the bizarre and weird and make it look good.

(To be honest, watching Sometani laugh made me crack up a lot. Still manages to keep his signature look that I love even as a rapper. He's definitely a chameleon, whatever role he takes and clearly Sono loves him -- with good reasons.)

As always though, my take on Sono films is that they tend to be misogynistic. Loads of (unnecessary) boob shots, underwear shots and all that (I mean Love Exposure is all about that!) but I feel like he tries to compensate for that by giving us badass/I-can-save-myself female characters. And here, we have female characters that can fight. So thank goodness.

There is so much colors, so much sound and just so much everything, you don't have time to think, no time to react as each scene continues to drive you crazy. Sono proves his mastery at creating films that are filled with whatever the heck he can think of and want at his will and still make them something worth watching -- a genius.

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I had watched anime...I have heard of other adaptations...but i chose this...and this was such a perfect adaptation

Yuki(Naoki) and Miki(Kotoko) did a great and splendid job...Their chemistry was truly beautiful:-)

In anime, I never liked Kin chan...but here I truly loved Kin chan...great character!!

Jinko Satomi Yuki and my fav Mom in law....were my fav supporting cast team

If you get a mOm in law like her...Your future is set :-P

I am going to miss the music...the opening theme...ahh i wonder how many times i would have watched it:-)

Now i am gonna watch honeymoon special...Yeah!!!

My fav episodes of this drama would be 10,14 & 16
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It was a great watch. On the surface, this drama can (very) easily be seen as a typical cheesy happy-go-lucky Japanese drama. And essentially it is one, however, it has many points that make it memorable, that dig deeper into society and into our characters' psych. It has a hugely talented cast, and though some were underused overall it was great seeing them going at it ;)
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One of the points that makes it a substantial drama is its characters. Kokoro is your typical happy-go-lucky girl, a point mentioned throughout the drama as a joke. What makes her different though is that she never imposes her solution on others. Her job in the drama is to watch the people around her, as we the viewers do until the characters find their own solution. This brings us to another great point in the drama, where even though it seems we have a weekly lesson learned, problems are ongoing and don't get magically solved by the end of the episode it got introduced. We do get the episodic focus, but issues do get revisited later as we see where the characters are headed. This gives us better-paced character development, as the characters make decisions about their work and their lives. Another element I'd like to mention is the way the drama peaks into the characters' lives'. We don't get a full explanation and detailed background about them, we just get enough to know how this is affecting their current lives, views, and work. We only know what we usually know as we get closer to our colleagues at work. To this end, this is a drama about work and career.
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I feel this drama represents not only how publishing works in Japan, but how the entertainment industry works there overall. It is what makes Japan produce these artistic works while hand-in-hand producing the usual predictable easy-to-sell works. The episode focused on Yasuda Ken's character Yasui-san emphasizes it most, but we do explore that theme more than once. I won't go into detail as to what it is exactly, I will leave it for the viewers to discover. I'd just like to add the way the drama itself is produced is representative of that idea. As I mentioned earlier, it looks and sounds like those typical dramas, but just by peeling that layer off, you find something deeper, as each episode goes by.
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I have to mention how much I loved all the characters here; Takahata, Yasui, Numata, Wada-san, Mikurayama, Koizumi the lovely Iokibe to name a few, and the cast did an outstanding job no matter how much or how little we saw of them, but my most favourite by far Nakata Haku the disturbed aspiring manga artist. Nagayama Kento played him to perfection. The whole cast did an outstanding job, but I just love how that character was handled. I wish we had seen more of Narita, the character played by Kaname Jun.
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Do give the drama a try, and give it at least 3-4 episodes and you will understand the gem I'm talking about. If anything the eye-candy in here will sure keep you entertained ;)

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Most of the acting in this drama is excellent, especially considering what the actors had to work with.

I'm not sure what the director was thinking but there was too much crying, by everyone, all the time.
Almost every scene in the latter episodes contained crying. Yoon Eun Hye's nose was red through the whole second part. This drama could have been half as long. If you removed all the crying it would probably only total 3 episodes.

This is the first time I've seen Park Yoo Chun in a drama (I think) and despite this stupid drama, I liked him and will watch more of his dramas.

I've liked Yoo Seung Ho since Warrior Baek Dong Soo and I've liked Yoon Eun Hye since Coffee Prince but this drama almost made me stop liking both of them until i realised that they were doing the best they could with absolute drivel.

Thankfully Oh Jung Se was in this drama. Without his character, I might have killed myself before the final episode.

Finally Song Ok Sook as Lee Soo Yeon's mother, what can I say, WORST ACTING EVER, how this actress continues to get work never ceases to amaze me. She is too dramatic, so dramatic that she makes dramas boring.

Honestly, the story was good, the actors are excellent (except Song) this drama should have been fabulous. Clearly the director thinks everyone needs to be crying all the time to portray distress - in fact, it just made me stop caring about anyone except Joo Jung Myung. A little bit of understatement can go a long way and the director should learn this.

Every time I even think of this drama I want to give it a lower score on the whole. Since I've watched this drama I've been raising the original low scores I gave to other dramas. If I could give Rewatch Value 0 I would have.

Did i mention there was too much crying?

EDIT: I lowered the score, AGAIN.

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This was freaking awesome. I got to watch Yamada Ryosuke go from 'Mummy I love you' and 'Cute but quirky' to 'I'm an attractive psychopath that you shouldn't piss off.' As Usual I wasn't disappointed with Ikuta Toma's acting. And the budget of this film must of been good as the cinematography was absolutely wonderful, the music was serene and really suited the neon noir atmosphere of the entire film. Someone previously wrote a review and said "DISAPPOINTING" I'm certain we didn't watch the same film, cus it was good, quirky and had tons of twists I was certainly not expecting. Even if the film isn't your taste disappointing isn't the word I'd use after, cus it definitely isn't something I'll quickly forget about nor will it leave me with a sour taste in my mouth, as it was perfectly executed and even had a sweet moral at the end.

Moral: One evil will spread into another and eventually catch up with you' Basically this movie is a huge piece of karma...

I PROMISE YOU WILL ENJOY IT

P.S I watched it on kissasian.com --> http://kissasian.com/Drama/Grasshopper/Movie?id=29038

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This drama had a lot of good going for it, but some dragginess and some nonsensical plot development prevents me from giving it a higher rating.

If you're a fan of Roy Qiu or Alice Ke, and even Joanne Tseng, I'd encourage you to go for it. They brought life into their characters and had great chemistry with each other.

I love Roy's character Justine. He's the only character that stayed constant throughout the drama, and his development and views regarding love and relationships felt both authentic and refreshing. As for Huan Zhen, I really liked her, Alice was so different from her character in Office Girls. She was confident, sexy and strong. The last couple of episodes the character kinda stopped making any sense writing wise, but Alice was constant in her acting. As much as Sheng Nan showed much stupidity for a good portion of the drama, it made sense that some girls are like that, and how bit by bit she managed to see things clearly as they really are.

Another great point of the drama is the parents here. I specially appreciate the way Justine and Sheng Nan's parents are written. Those are couples very present in every society, and I love how it shows how it has an effect on their children's confidence and their views of the world. Huan Zhen's parents might've been too perfect, but they were too adorable and refreshing to have on screen.

Jiang Qian Yue made no sense to me at all, and the guy playing the character was just plain, incapable of showing any emotions. He just looks shady, and I think he gets that look naturally :P I just wish they had a better written character and another actor to play it.

Nothing much happens in the last two episodes. I found even the deep and thoughtful character issues found in our leads weren't well addressed, and the solution was shallow.

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The posted summary for Leum Prai Lai Ruk is fairly vague so I didn’t feel bad about exploring the plot more in this review. Despite the lovey-dovey, all-about-the-romance scenario in the summary, this lakorn actually has a fairly complicated and action packed plot.

At its very core, this lakorn is really the age old story of Romeo and Juliet. Heroine Yanin Jakrawut (aka Nikki), played by Jensen Sririta, returns to Thailand from living in America. As an heir to the Jakrawut fortune, she visits Thailand regularly to see her father even though she feels unloved as the odd one out - the “half-breed” her relatives call her - the only American in a large wealthy family. She meets her opposite number, San or Sanyakorn Rungsarith (played by Wasukraipaisarn Witaya) while traveling as an ordinary student. He’s the very proper son of the wealthy Rungsarith family - her family’s business rival - and Nikki’s half-brother’s cousin. Sparks fly between the two as they get to know each other despite their cultural differences.

Expect as a many twists and turns as an American soap opera or a Korean makjong drama in this story as there are deaths, birth secrets, hidden loves, conflicts between servants and masters, guns, and beatings as well as lots and lots of broken hearts. I was surprised by how addictive this story was and how, despite some pretty coarse language and situations, love wins out for all the surviving characters. Secondary characters Niyomsup Worawut as Bunleu and Yaowananon Pitisak as Kampanart/Raywat have a particularly deep story line. Unlike some of the more slap/kiss lakorns, this show features true loves and a fair amount of un-forced skinship that makes this a very appealing drama. Be prepared for some horrible relatives, though!

Ratings-wise, I gave this lakorn a 7.5 overall for its story, which surprised even me! Its plot involves several generations, love and hate, and appropriate business settings - all aspects that pleased me. There is a lot of almost-gun-violences, however, so that brought my overall score down in my opinion. The cast did a very good job with what they were given. You’ll see a lot of the standard lakorn characters but by the end, the writers did a great job explaining the very complicated motivations.
I don’t often wish a lakorn is longer but this one was so action packed that it really could have been extended by an episode or two. Music-wise, this lakorn was nothing to write home about. Even the theme song did not stick with me. Despite this, it wasn’t annoying or distracting so that is a plus. As a rewatch, well, this lakorn doesn’t call to me. It was actually so complicated that I felt like I gave it my full concentration the first time and it doesn’t need another viewing yet. Despite the 6 for rewatch value and a 7 for music, the plot (plots!) itself keeps my total viewing score higher than I’d expected.

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I'm going to start off by saying that I don't usually watched dramas while they're airing, but I did with Back to 1989, so I feel as though I might be more bias in my review since I've watched the characters grow each week, which is much different from marathoning and seeing their growth in a few days.

I really fell attached with BT1989 and everything about it. There was a great blend of everything: family, first love, regrets, difficulties.. it was definitely my cup of tea. In my few years of drama watching, I've never heard of a plot like this drama. It's interesting, captivating, though quite confusing the more you think about it. It was so interesting to see how everything played out, and the writers definitely didn't let us down. However, TRIGGER WARNING for anyone uncomfortable with sexual assault. I did feel as though it got draggy near the end with the romance, but it was still an enjoyable watch. Many plot twists occurred that I didn't expect, and it had me on the edge of my seats with the different camera angles and shots. All the characters, as I've mentioned, I've become so attached with. While some were annoying at times, they each bring something important to the story. They made me laugh, cry, and shake my head in disbelief of how insane they were. We got your innocent and clumsy female lead and your smart and cool handsome male lead along with an adorable second couple and the awkward side characters that bring humour to any awkward situation, making it more awkward.

Some people really stood out with their acting, especially our second lead couple, which includes our second female lead Mini Tsai, and our second male lead Yorke Sun, both of whom I now adore their acting. It was nice seeing Ivy Shao play a different character from her cunning one in When I See You Again. However, I had mixed feelings on the main lead, Marcus Chang, though it was his first main role, so I still give him some credit. His crying made me laugh more than feel pity, but i could definitely see his improvement as the episodes progressed. Still not the best crier though, haha.

Besides the main theme song (you'll understand...), i loved the OST! I don't listen to them on a regular basis, but they suited the drama so well. They actually had hit songs from 1989, which was perfect for making it seem more realistic, along with a variety of songs that really scream Back to 1989. Besides Alien Huang, the rest were by more underrated or newer artists, so I was definitely intrigued. Now that I've finished the drama, I suddenly realize how amazing the soundtrack really is.

Overall, it has its flaws; it has a confusing conclusion with many issues still not explained, along with some draggy parts, but i loved this drama. It's what I looked forward to every Friday, and it was well produced, and it brought the feeling back of why i love Asian dramas. I'm so glad I found this, and I hope i persuaded some of you to watch it.

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Well, this was my first C-drama and i was really affraid to not like this type of drama because i was accustumed to k and J dramas so yeaaah... i watched to give the story a chance AND i really loved it AND i really hope for a 2nd season to be annouced! I heard some rumors for a second season but i think that nothing is confirmed yet... so i'll wait. I really loved Tian jing Zhi (Wu Janice) and prob watch more C-dramas!
I realy recomend this Drama for you, even if you didnt exprienced to watch C-dramas! Really it was really an amazing surprise for me too.

About my rating? It absolutly a 10 of 10! You should really watch this. With no spoilers is all i have to say!

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A police crisis negotiation team try to solve hostage situations and the likes. On one such crisis, a business crisis negotiator Joo sung chan was targeted by a unique identity called the pied piper asking him to confess the crimes that he committed as a business negotiator. Things take another turn when that fails and the team leader of the crisis negotiation team dies on spot. Also Joo sung chan's girlfriend dies there and media withheld his confession tape. Joo sung chan along with the media's new anchorman Son Hee sung and the police crisis negotiation team tries to catch the Pied Piper. Each episode will keep you on your toes and yes this drama is worth all your valuable time!

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