The Following

Am gonna talk about a tv series today as i don't think i'll have time to do so tomorrow.

The tv series i'm introducing today is The Following. Ya, pretty dark and violent drama again lol.

The story is about how a serial killer manages to manipulates other people and make them do things including killings for him even when he's in jail. The main protagonist is a ex-FBI agent who caught the serial killer and put him into the jail. Very organised and structured drama, lots of good actings. I would say it can become the next best thriller drama tv series.

Although it only has one season now, the 2nd season is already in plan and gonna be released next year i think. I'm now at the episode 8 season 1 and is totally drawn into the plot and amazed by how detailed and brilliant the serial killer is. Well, he obviously has no empathy for people and is so good at giving people what they want, which makes him a total psychopath. A charismatic one.

I think they did a good job in recruiting the actors and actresses. They are all great for their characters and performed amazingly, especially the killer.

The story makes me think about how a religion can affect someone and the belief in the wrong thing can be deathly. Oh well, i can't really judge people in what they believe in but i have to say the followers of the killer definitely put in lots of faith in him to treat him as a god.

Cool drama but i guess it's for 18 and above since it's quite violent.

Dexter

It's Friday!

Saw lots of my coursemates posting how scared and nervous they are for the pre-registration exam in UK today, makes me feel depressed. Well, obviously it's because i still waiting for the pre-reg training in Malaysia and they are already 80% done with theirs. How irony, i was like the top student in my class but end up so much slower in progress in being a registered pharmacist. This lesson teaches me that top student is definitely not everything. It's more about attitude and character of a person rather than the results he can get. But well, at least i know it now and i know what i want. Rather than struggling in a high pressure oven, i choose to slow down my pace and think about what i want really. I guess it was still a good call. Thank god i skipped class, so that i have this extra time to think.

Well, today, i'm gonna introduce a rather violent US series, Dexter.

It's one of my favourite detective/police drama apart from Criminal Minds. And yes i hate CSI and NCIS. Dexter is about a guy who works in Police department as a forensic guy focusing on blood spatter. Aside from his routine job, he is also a serial killer that takes down other serial killers. The drama is about how he balances his life between being a normal person and a serial killer and how struggling sometimes it can be.

There are 7 seasons to date and the 8th season, which is also the finale season will start airing on 30th June, this Sunday =) So excited that it is gonna start again but on the other hand it's kinda sad to know it's the last season already. It's like House MD, i was so into that drama and suddenly it ends. I guess things are better off if you end it when it's great. Rather than making some shitty episodes, they choose to end it before the reputation gets bad. Wise.

The legacy of Dexter! People that are killed by Dexter and these are not all. Particularly love the interaction between him and the Trinity killer. On the other hand, love the actor playing Dexter's son, Harrison. He's such a cutie pie!

Not gonna do any spoilers, but if you love serial killers and don't mind to see lots of blood and other disgusting violent stuff, please do try watching this series.

EXTRA: Update Review Of Galileo 2

Watching Ep 09 and finally realized they actually did the story in the book again! I have to say the 2 eps that follow the book story is so much more interesting =) Both involved another scientist as the killer which were kinda cool.

Also Ep 08 is quite good too. Mainly the acting performance of the killer.

Oh and i just google the series and realize the last ep, which is Ep 10 will be the most interesting story! Read the novel and found that story really good. Although the trick revealed is not much of a physic stuff.

Follow Up: Galileo 2 & Last Cinderella

konichiwa! I'm pretty sure i'm sort of late for today's post because i was so amazed by how Dr Oz used his charm to attract housewives to watch or even go to the show lol. People who are interested in him can surely google about him. BUT, he is not the main focus today.

Today, i'm gonna just do some follow-up reviews on the dramas i introduced previously including <Galileo> and <Last Cinderella>.

Ok, as i mentioned before, i recommended <Galileo> but i said i need more time to review on it's sequel <Galileo 2>. And, after 2 more episodes, i really think that it is not as good as the first season, mainly because of the scripts. The actors and actresses are all as brilliant as ever but the story is kinda weak as it is not very consistently interesting. The latest episode, i find it to be very boring. It was basically just a detective show which has nothing to do with physics. Very disappointing.

But the one before that was quite good actually. Well, i understand that it is very difficult to produce a story that use physics to solve a murder case as physics is not an interesting subject for me in school. Things about waves and electricity, those were the dull topic but they manage to make it little bit more applicable to everyday life and bring out the consequences of using illegal walkie-talkie. And the non-physics storyline was very touching as well. Japanese are really good at emphasizing family love. They can warm your heart and make you cry.

Anyway, <Galileo> was definitely a 8.5/10 but <Galileo 2>, it's around 6 or 6.5/10 up till now.

Ok, time to switch the channel to the romantic comedy!

<Last Cinderella>, my last review was mainly on the actors and actresses. After a few more episodes, i still find it interesting. The story was, well i can't say it is completely original, but i see some variations in the usual romantic comedy framework. Till now, i still can't figure out which guy will the lead actress pick in the end, but that's actually quite normal for japanese drama. I like the chemistry between all the actors and actresses including those less important characters.

Little bit of spoiler here! I was surprised in the last week's episode. When Sakura went to see Hiroto's competition, she suddenly became unconscious when he won the competition. I thought she faint of exhaustion or being too worried, and i was expecting Hiroto to send her back home or to the hospital. However, SURPRISE! She was merely falling asleep =.= I was totally tricked yet totally in love with this kind of surprise haha.

<Last Cinderella> will worth around 7.5/10 at this moment and it's definitely one of best but not the best's best. Hope to get more surprises in the coming episodes!

And here comes to an end of this post and hope you guys have a wonderful weekend =)

When Detective Met With Weather Girl - Otenki Onee-san

TGIF!

As people might know, Japan has a few main genre of drama that will always be a success which includes what i called "MDS" - Medical, Detective and School. Undeniable, they do produce good medical and detective dramas. Not sure about the school type as i don't really like to watch school-age actors/actresses acting cute.

As there are a lot good Japanese writers who write detective stories, the dramas will often bought the copyright and use the stories. In result of that, the story itself will be very interesting already. Plus some good actors/actresses, it is quite difficult for the drama to be not good. Of cos, i'm talking mainly about the 9pm to 10pm drama, which they call it the "popular time period" as a lot people will be at home watching tv around that time.

So, today i will introduce another detective type drama which is newly released this Spring - <Otenki Onee-san>, which can be translated into The Weather Girl (Sister).

The lead actress is very popular in tv series recently, Emi Takei she acted mostly as lead characters in the dramas she participated in. She was first noticed (by me) when she acted as the supporting character in a romantic drama starring Miura Haruma and Erika Toda. Her best acting skill was unleashed, in my opinion, when she acted as two twin sisters who have extremely different characteristics in <W no Higeki> (Tragedy of W). And guess what, she is only 19 years old!

Anyway, in this new drama of hers, she acts as a genius meteorologist who got her licence at age 11 and now work as a weather girl in a morning tv show. She gets to know a rookie detective during an investigation. Because of her extensive knowledge of the weather, the rookie detective always approach her to ask for help solving the cases he has.

The overall atmosphere of this drama is relatively relaxing and funny compared to other serious detective drama. All the characters in the drama have their own distinctive attitude and this creates an interesting interactions between the characters.

Japanese always know how to input creativity into dramas, they already tried collaborating detective element with all sorts of stuff, e.g. food, physics, etc. Now, time for weather to take part in the reasoning process!

I find it quite interesting to watch, as they also do a simplified animated explanation when they talking about the weather phenomena.

Hope you are now interested and planning to start watching Episode 1 =)

Galileo the Detective

Yo TGIF again! Anyway, due to the overcrowded queue getting tickets for Iron Man 3, i didnt manage to watch it last weekend, therefore no IM3 today =(

So, i'll introduce dramas instead!

Hope you guys enjoy Japanese drama cos I really love it haha. I'm currently self-studying Japanese so that i know how to read them. By the way, due to the excessive exposure to J-dramas, animes and shows, I have successfully learn to listen and speak Japanese (elementary level). So now i'm gonna learn how to read and hopefully i can go Japan and live a life of a Japanese over there. How exciting!

Anyway, today my recommended drama will be < Galileo> (ガリレオ). Recently <Galileo 2> is out so i thought i will recommended the series as the 1st season was good.

The story is basically about a young female police who has to deal with smart killers who used tricks to complete unexplainable crimes. Therefore she seeked help from a physicist in the well-known university in Japan. The physicist will use his knowledges to help coming up with a scientific explanation for the crime. The chemistry between the 2 lead characters is fun and interesting, which also spice up the story.

This drama is based on the detective novel <探偵ガリレオ> written by one of my favourite Japanese writer Higashino Keigo (東野圭吾). He's like the famous famous writer who has a lot of his stories used to produce dramas and movies. And because of his great stories, a lot of great actors/actresses will participate in the dramas/movies.

I will recommend to watch the first season because it is great. There is also a movie <Suspect X> followed by the drama due to the great positive reviews, which is mainly about the physicist and his old friend aka the killer, who is a genius in mathematics. That is also a great movie because i was pretty surprised when the trick of manipulating the alibi was revealed.

I'm not too sure about the 2nd season yet. Till now there is 3 episodes and i find the interaction between the new female police (new original character made up just for the TV) and Galileo is very funny and interesting, but the story itself is kinda boring. Don't think the story is anymore based on the novel as I have read the whole Detective Galileo series and the story is different. There is no more simple tricks but 2 out of 3 episodes the trick is relying on the machine or device the killer has. So ya, not a big fan of it now, maybe wait for a few more episodes to determine whether it's good.