Dorama of the Year 2000-I Winter - Omiai Kekkon
Entry posted by kivandopulus in Dorama of the Year
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For my convenience purposes from now on excluding non-translated drama except special cases in addition to my usual genres exclusion or size becomes totally out of control by the end of 2000s. Failed to finish any drama this season except for taiga, so have to choose among the worst. Only jdrama are of good enough quality still, so among those I'd choose old-fashioned marriage comedy Omiai Kekkon .
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1. Truth (2000) [진실] (Finished 6/16)
Tags: Romance, Drama, Family
Lee Ja Young comes from a poor family who lives in the basement of one of her rich schoolmates, Lee Shin Hee. Ja Young is one of the top students in her class as Shin Hee is one of the more mediocre students. On the day for college entrance exams, Shin Hee's family bribes Ja Young family into Ja Young taking the test for her. Ja Young is forced to take it for the sake of her family's future. More complications arise when Ja Young's first relationship ends due to a mistaken identity and Shin Hee's crush, Jung Hyun Woo begins to fall for Ja Young.
It's still primitive and still focuses on emotional impact due to falling into extremes, but at least it starts to look sincere, so watched six episodes without the usual effort, and that's an achievement for kdrama.
Overall Rating: 6/10
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2. Palace of Desire [大明宫词] (Finished 7/40)
Tags: Historical, Romance, Political
The drama chronicles the life of Princess Tai Ping, a daughter of China's only female emperor, Wu Ze Tian.
Surprisingly human-like narration despite the fact it's about palace life, so I endured it for a long time. At the same time far from masterpiece. Pretty sure heroine's voice got mimicked a lot afterwards as it still sounds better than those female ones from modern Chinese anime.
Overall Rating: 6/10
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3. Omiai Kekkon [お見合い結婚] (Finished 3/11)
Tags: Comedy, Romance
Nakatani Setsuko (Matsu Takako) quit her job as a stewardess in order to marry her boyfriend at the time, Hiroshi. But that didn't work out, and so Setsuko's parents, worried that time is passing her by, decide to introduce her to someone using 'Omiai' - a traditional Japanese meeting custom - in the hope she will marry. She meets Hirose Koutaro (Yusuke Santamaria), who is then pressured by his boss to marry Setsuko after a misunderstanding promises to bring shame on their families. Initially, the two are clearly not interested, but gradually, they begin to respect each other.
Another parody comedy around marriage that gets old pretty fast, at least with this lighthearted approach to everything.
Overall Rating: 6/10
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Tags: Romance, Drama
Kyoko, a young woman with an unhindered spirit despite being physically bound to a wheelchair due to illness, and Shuji, a stylish and popular fashion magazine hairstylist, are brought together in a fateful traffic incident. Despite their confrontational meeting, they soon find themselves falling in love, with Shuji drawn to her courage and enthusiasm and Kyoko attracted to his ability to look beyond her physical limitations and into her heart.
However, Kyoko's protective older brother and her worsening condition begin to test the bounds of their love for each other and threaten to end their beautiful life together.
Both leads are constantly playing the very same role, and it's tiresome when both are this way with nothing new bound to be played, plus physical disability does not make things better, so result was predictable. Should taste better without accustomed flavor, but can't help it.
Overall Rating: 6/10
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5. Aoi Tokugawa Sandai [葵~德川三代~] (Finished 49/49)
Tags: Historical, Drama
The 39th NHK Taiga Drama is Aoi Tokugawa Sandai. It is James Miki's dynamic and colorful tale of three generations of the Tokugawa dynasty from its founder Ieyasu to Iemitsu, the third Shogun who solidified the Tokugawa power base.
Absolutely horrible. The concept of presenting three generations of shoguns was doubtful, but creators did not even bother to present it in an interesting way - just poured nearly a hundred of different characters together, lots of water and zero direction. The outcome is eternal antics and overreactions of not even charismatic enough actors as well as total mess. Showing things like airplane bombing carelessly while talking about territories is a small thing, but for things like that breaking the fourth wall it all looks like circus with clowns.
Overall Rating: 5/10
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6. Nisennen no Koi [二千年の恋] (Finished 1/11)
Tags: Romance, Crime, Drama
Yuri Maroev is a secret agent and assassin from the Ural Republic sent along with his brother on a mission to Japan. Once in Japan, he meets systems analyst Mashiro Rieru and uses her high-level security access to get top-secret information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His pretense of romance turns into genuine feelings of love, as Rieru falls deeper into the intricacies of Yuri's fateful covert operations.
All this superagent stuff is excessively pretentious and artificial, that does not allow me to enjoy it. Shame, really, as I have nothing agaist these leads.
Overall Rating: 5/10
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Tags: Business, Romance, Drama
Imai Miki plays Midori, a fashion industry executive who is dedicated to her job but beginning to wonder if she is not missing something in life. Company colleague and former lover Yoshida Eisaku suggests she needs a husband and children and appears ready to take on the assignment. But Imai insists it is a deeper, more internal question like: "Why was I born and what am I supposed to do in this life?" Little does she know she is about to meet Koichiro, the heir to a tea ceremony empire and a young man who has had all those questions answered for him since birth.
The young son of a famous Japanese tea family returns to Japan after several years abroad only to deny inheritance of the family business to work at a famous clothing company called "Dior." After falling in love with a much older woman who works at the clothing company, he finds himself after trying out other lines of work.
Mediocre and even slightly cringy with everyone constantly asking about purpose of life and then making silly spontaneous decisions out of the sudden, let alone the very fact of tea ceremony weird business.
Overall Rating: 5/10
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8. Kinyoubi no Koibitotachi e [金曜日の恋人たちへ] (Finished 1/10)
Tags: Romance
Madoka is transferred to the secretarial pool when the company goes through restructuring. It's a letdown after being in the busy Sales Department, but Madoka tries to find her place there. She meets and falls in love with Haruki, a security guard, but trouble rears its head in the form of Kaori, Haruki's ex-girlfriend.
Typical in everything and not captivating in any way.
Overall Rating: 5/10
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