Konnichiwa and Annyeong Haseyo minna-san

Konnichiwa and Annyeong Haseyo minna-san

Hope that's correct above but what I'm saying is welcome everyone. May 10, 2019 is the first day of this blog and many may know me from 'Nao Kanzaki and Friends'... aitoda.com. There I have such a mix of things and finally decided to branch out with just a blog devoted to Japanese and Korean dramas. Will also be having some film reviews but one thing you won't see are any J-Pop idols or gravure models except for their dramas, this blog is dedicated 100% to dramas and films.

Also actresses as will be having many, many posts for them. Such as them appearing at events, mag spreads, interview pics and whatever else. So you should be seeing a lot of my bigger long time faves such as Erika Toda, Park Min-Young, Lee Yeon-Hee, Tsubasa Honda and too many others to count.

News and upcoming projects

News and upcoming projects

Should have done this on my Aitoda blog which is to let viewers know what's going on. Seems like a good way to let everyone know if I'll be taking a break, what to look forward to and any other tidbits.

Updating update, May 19th:

Whew, have finally finished transferring over enough posts from the Aitoda blog. May be a few here and there in the future for some new that's being introduced but there shouldn't be too many. Have also included announcers for women that I'll be posting about as my top two current faves just happen to be in that profession.

The first five episodes of '3-Nen A Gumi' have now been posted. For series over five shows will be doing two batches of them as I figure ten posts are way too many to read through during one sitting so will have the second half of the drama coming up in 2-3 weeks, highly recommend the show.

June 4th.... Have written up the recaps for episodes 7 and 8 of the '3-Nen A Gumi' show and will have those long with episode eight by June 6th. Up next for Korean dramas is up in the air but leaning towards a pair of shorter series which will be either "Splish Splash Love" or "The Universe's Star".

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Monday, May 13, 2019

Kakegurui drama: episode four recap




 Start Date: January 14/16 as it aired on both the MBS and TBS networks
Theme song: "Strawberry Feels" by BIGMAMA    Director: Tsutomu Hanabusa

 Listed the characters this way for the "Re:Mind" drama and thought it's be a good idea to do it once again. Above is a promo for this episode and if there is one for each show will be posting it. This series reminds me so much of 'Liar Game' and there aren't many dramas better than that one, lets get to the characters and these are the main ones that will be featured. Have the character descriptions though some may be blank for now as we haven't met all of them yet.

Minami Habe as Yumeko Jabami.... transfer student who is addicted to gambling


 Aoi Morikawa as Mary Saotome.... The evilist of students who gets severely humbled


Mahiro Takasugi as Ryota Suzui.... wimpy guy who befriends Yumeko


Ruka Matsuda as Itsuki Sumeragi.... Richest student at Hyakkaou Academy


Taishi Nakagawa as Kaeda Manyuda.... student council member


Natsume Mito as Runa Yomozuki.... student council member


Kiyo Matsumoto as Nanami Tsubomi....


Natsumi Okamoto as Yuriko Nishinotoin.... Student council gambler


Yuma Yamato as Jun Kiwatari.... school bully


Yurika Nakamura as Sayaka Igarashi.... student council member


Miki Yanagi as Midari Ikishima....


 What really reminds me of 'Liar Game' is the way the games and intense situations get a bit dragged out. Bet most of these gambling showdowns could be finished in one episode but the next four shows are all two-parters as the games take so long. That's not a negative at all and sometimes building the suspense up does have it's advantages but through seven episodes there's only been four matches.
 At one time Mary was among the school's top gamblers and really bullied the students who lost to her in a match. When a student falls in debt they become a 'house pet' who are forced to do whatever someone who has no debt tells them to do. Now Mary is a 'house pet' or in her case a Kitty which is what the female students are called. Her debt is currently 8.8 million yen which she owes to the new transfer student Yumeko who is quickly making a name for herself as one ruthless gambler.




 There is a way out of debt for Mary which is a game run by the Student Council at the 'Traditional Culture Research Society' club. Once Yumeko hears of the gambling den she forces her only friend Suzui to bring her there, he always disagrees with her gambling wishes but always backs down to her. Haven't talked about him much but he is someone we see often in the show and that's him in the above two screenshots, he seems like the only person Yumeko can trust at the school.
 As Yumeko and Suzui enter the gambling hall which actually resembles a temple they see Mary battling against a Student Council member named Yuriko who we meet for the first time. She always plays with her eyes closed and it is a game that doesn't require watching any cards or dice. Name of the game is 'Live or Death' and it's a very high stakes game. The council had lent Mary the money for the game, if she does well enough she could even be on the plus side but that didn't work out.




 In 'Live or Death' miniature swords are put into a cup, the cup gets shaken and turned over with the swords sometimes falling into a small hole. They usually don't fall into a hole but what the bettor needs to do is put their money on which number a sword may fall into, they're allowed to bet up to ten numbers. If you guess correctly what number a Life Sword will fall into and stay erect you could win up to 30 times your bet which could make it easy to get yourself out of debt.
 That's what the council tells the 'house pet's and Mary thought she had a great chance of getting out of debt. That was far from the case as she bet on a number where the Death Sword fell into which means you lose 30 times your wager on the number. That tragic event is what happened to Mary but to top it off her opponent Yuriko guessed correctly which number the Life Sword would fall into, hard to believe but in the one roll her debt increased from 8.8 million to 49 million yen!




 Yumeko and Suzui were there observing the game and as Mary got dragged away in humiliation. But if there's one thing Yumeko loves more than anything else is a tough challenge, she asks Yuriko if she could play a game which she readily agreed to. The council will cover your bankroll though of course it has to be paid back, Yumeko suggested they play the game for forty million yen.
 That raised a few eyebrows around the parlor, especially to Suzui who pleaded with Yumeko to quit before she began but it fell on deaf ears. Let the game begin and both players put their chips on what numbers they thought a sword would fall in. Yumeko had noticed something watching Mary's game with the way the cup was shaken and thought she may have a strategy. Yumeko may have but not on the first roll of the swords as neither she nor Yuriko was able to guess a correct number which meant no player won or lost.
 After that first roll Yumeko went on a mini rampage and told Yuriko what a despicable person she was. Yumeko was correct at noticing the game is rigged and knowing that she thought she'd have a huge advantage. That one roll is all we saw of this high stakes game as the episode came to it's conclusion, a show is a little over 23 minutes long.




 Do prefer recapping shorter episodes like these and bet you enjoy reading shorter posts too. Would do more regular length dramas but it's getting so much harder finding subs for current shows and even more so since D-addicts no longer has subs. Have seen the first two episodes of 'Dai Renai' though without subs, if I ever do find some that'll be the next series to be recapped. Four of these down and have another six of these posts following this one.























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