Zíza

I'll put it simply – this Shōnen is just awesome. It suits me so well, I find it very well developed, which of course brings with it a certain overload of characters, but somehow it makes sense to me. Before watching this season, I rewatched the previous ones, and it seemed to me like a seamless continuation of what we've already seen, which is why I didn't mind at all that we saw the A's fighting the B's. I think this knowledge of the characters will still come in handy in the upcoming battle. However, if it was all for nothing, then that will really piss me off and I'll going down a star with the rating. This series is a drumbeat. "Let it be known...!!!" I'm not saying I liked it 100%, but I liked it enough to sacrifice a few hours of sleep for it, which is the most precious commodity for me these days. I enjoyed it, I liked the small and big fights, as well as the infiltration of the Todoroki family. But what I loved the most was the "interplay" between Bakugo and Deku. It's what I'd been craving and honestly it came much sooner than I expected. Awesome. While this series may be the weaker link of the whole, even weak links have fans. I am one of them.

Well, I hope this was meant as a parody. Unfortunately, it doesn't really feel that way at first... I absolutely couldn’t stand this series. I didn't like either of the main characters (even their acting was not great), and Fujiki Naohito absolutely blew it with his "cleaner with a mustache" character. It had its light moments, yes, and in the end I found some of the cringe stuff amusing... that is, the moment my brain told me to take it as a parody, then it was more palatable (I basically went this route the moment I thought it was like an older Korean revenge series – it really had everything!). Still, it wasn't anything I would say I enjoyed. Too bad.

A slightly different kind of series, though deep down the same. This time we find ourselves in the second grade of an elementary school where – like every school – they have problems with students. In this case, they're dealing with truancy. They solve it by setting up a special class where any student from any grade can transfer in. The student can think of it as a waystation from truancy to normal attendance. One teacher, in this case an inexperienced young teacher, can’t handle it, nor can the social worker assigned by the authorities to the school, until the headmaster finds a suitable part-time teacher: a former hikikomori who, after eleven years, has finally returned among people. Not only does he understand the kids because of his experience, but the kids understand him, and they help each other because neither of them are completely ok, they are not completely socially adept. It's only five episodes long, it's short, it goes by quickly, and although there are some moments I didn't like as much, as a whole it works well. The child actors are great, Sato Jiro left the world of comedy and parody and showed up in a dramatic role, and while I recognized some of the language he uses in comedies, he was still good. It was interesting, and I watched the whole thing in a day because I couldn't get enough of it.

An action comedy driven at times to absurdity; if that’s your thing you won’t want to miss this! There's no shortage of violence, there's action too, but as it happens – the beginning just breaks us in so that the whole film is sort of a calm before the big final storm. The entire film is basically the Yakuza getting up to no good around The Fable, but he doesn’t care, he just kind of goes about his ordered ordinary life, enjoying lame humor and hating hot food. It was interesting, and from the previews I feel like the sequel will be better. We'll see.

This bratty main character was awfully cute. A lot of shows have these cocky heroes who constantly rag on the heroine, but their hearts are in the right place. This is basically that, too, but I thought it was better. Why? It had its limits. He's not downright evil, he's just a high school kid with an inferiority complex, so he cures it by barking without biting. Yet in fact, he's a loyal puppy. And the heroine knows that. So she'll let her whims get the better of her, but knows how to say: "Enough already!" Of course, she has her weaknesses too, and it's actually with him that she learns to recognize them. Their relationship was portrayed very beautifully, as a place in which trust and mutual respect grows. Of course, they remained themselves, in the sense that while they got wiser as the series progressed, their personalities didn't change and they stayed nicely consistent. Their verbal combat was pretty great too. There was the interesting ryokan setting and especially the Tea Man Koya portrayed by Kaneko Nobuaki, another great character the film wouldn't have worked without. On the other hand, the older brother of the rich kid, played by Iwata Takanori, didn't quite work for me. Which didn't matter so much, because he didn't get much screen time, but I found his effort to make serious expressions to be pointless. I just didn't like it. Then when he had slightly different positions, he was better and even more viable, but I didn't like him as a character. Nor did I care for Kikuno, the character was lame, like she crawled out of the 90s; I'm sure it would have worked without her. Otherwise, it was a fine series that I looked forward to every week. A classic romantic comedy with enjoyable and well-acted central characters in an unrealistic story. So it's a romantic comedy that doesn't even pretend to be real. A weaker 4 stars.

Only two criticisms of this one – the constant time jumping and the not always convincing performance by Fukuyama Masaharu. Otherwise? I liked it an awful lot! I was really caught up in the mood of the film. A long-distance relationship between two adults. Someone else cares about the two of them, but it's as if the others don't exist. The two just want each other because they understand each other incredibly well. And I have to admit that these 50-somethings played these two characters with ease – I mean, Ishida Yuriko perfectly, Fukuyama I already mentioned. Add to that the interwoven, sweet and deep tone of the guitar, the right autumn atmosphere... and I'm all theirs. I really fell for them. It's not particularly dramatic, but it bubbles beautifully under the surface. Yes, it's not 100% consistent, but I still liked it. I loved it.

Slow, really slow, quiet, like when it's brutally hot but you have no shade to hide in. It's a rather depressing film, full of hints and unspoken words and emotions. You have to realize that it's set during an economic crisis, and therefore money is scarce – both to build bigger jobs and to pay workers, so it's hard to find work. Not to mention in the middle of nowhere with no train service. It's a difficult situation, everyone is silent about the burdens they carry, the feelings they feel. It is left to the viewer to put together the pieces of the picture. It's a pity that I wasn't in the mood for a film like this, otherwise I would certainly have given it a higher rating. I found it annoying at times with its slowness... A strong 3 stars.

Honestly, I liked it better than the Korean subject matter, especially at the beginning. The acting was good, Koshiba Fuka is a beautiful young woman who can act, Nakajima and Akaso were both very adept at seconding her – both within the scope of their characters. I wouldn't say they added anything extra. But it doesn't matter, it's still a very nice and sweet romantic series about finding confidence. Basically, by episode 9, I thought I'd give it a slightly higher rating, but that last episode... was dry. Weirdly rushed, disjointed, uninteresting, so it ended up sticking in my mind the most because I was watching it at the same time it was coming out. Too bad. Overall, it's definitely slightly above average, and if you're in the mood for an unpretentious romance with a likable heroine, a rambunctious sidekick, and a coolly passionate childhood friend, this is the one. A better 3 stars.

I know what they're aiming for, I know what they're making fun of, and I know it's done very well and creatively. It's just... it's just that I completely missed this style of humor, this parody. Sure, you could sink your teeth into some episodes more than others, and I really have to commend the imaginative way it's done, but I'm just not the target audience. In the end, I was just bored.

The likable Abe Hiroshi returns as the indiscriminate but good-hearted lawyer Sakuragi. Once again, he's put in charge of a bunch of kids whom he helps, not only with getting into the most prestigious college in Japan, but also with their personal lives – because you need to be a well-adjusted student to be able to pass tough exams, right? I have to admit that I liked this season a hair more than the previous ones. Very well handled characters, not only the students but also the teachers and the antagonists. Although it slips into expressive extremes at times, it doesn't matter because the series is entertaining. It's funny, suspenseful, dramatic, touching, and relaxing. Sure, it sticks to the traditional "every student has a problem, so we have to solve it in one episode and then move on to the next". But here it was so well done that I wasn't bored; on the contrary, I wanted to see more and more episodes. Why? It's always well balanced in each episode – student problems X adult problems X comic relief X focus on learning (we get realistic and logical tips on how to prepare well for exams). Honestly, you don't even need to have seen the previous season, even without knowing it you'll enjoy it; you just won't be as excited when the previous pupils flash by, that's the only downside. The first classic high school story in a long time that gets you pumped up and makes you say you want to go back to high school so you can try again.