You might have noticed that The Keizou Journal has been quite inactive for about two months. This was because I was very busy with my university workload and exams.
However, I'm now finished with my last exam and my winter break was begun! (≧∇≦)/
Stay tuned! I 'll be posting more often and I have a very special announcement about a new type of blog post.
Birthdate: Feb. 24, 1982
Birthplace: Hawaii
Quick Facts
Genre: Romance
Release Date: Dec. 9, 2006
Starring: Nakashima Mika as Osaki Nana, Ichikawa Yui as Nana "Hachi" Komatsu
NANA 2 takes place after the events of the first movie. Komatsu Nana meets her favourite member of the popular rock band TRAPNEST, Takumi. Takumi brings Nana to his hotel room and the next thing you know, he starts liking her. Meanwhile, Osaki Nana has her doubts about Takumi and is experiencing difficultly in her own life. Both girls must now keep their friendship from falling apart and deal with their issues in life.
Interesting Fact
Many of the actors and actresses in NANA did not reprise their role in NANA 2. The most notable change is that Miyazaki Aoi no longer plays Komatsu Nana. Other changes include the characters of Ren and Okazaki Shinichi.
Review
Just like the First NANA movie, NANA 2 is flat-out boring to sit through. There are tons of moments where nothing is happening. Moments where one character is just starring at another character, no dialogue, no movement, no action...no joke. I also noticed that many of these scenes are boring because there's a lack of background music. Background is important in any movie. In NANA 2, there's scenes where a lot of drama is going on, but absolutely no background music is present. Having more background music would have greatly reduced the boringness.
To makes things worse, NANA 2 ended without finishing the Takumi storyline. Close to the ending, you get to find out something about Takumi that's a bit shocking, but then the movie ends and the story feels a bit uncompleted.
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Pros
Summary
Alternative Title: クロサギ, The Black Swindler
Genre: Police, Crime, Romance
Episodes: 11
Broadcast: Apr-Jun 2006
Starring: Yamashita Tomohisa as Kurosaki/Kurosagi, Horikita Maki as Yoshikawa Tsurara
Kurosagi is about a young man named Kurosaki who had his family destroyed by swindlers (con artists). When Kurosaki grows up, he becomes a swindler named Kurosagi, so that he can avenge his family. Ever since his family was destroyed by swindlers, Kurosagi swindles other con artists and returns the money to the victim.
Kurosagi's life changes when a law student name Yoshikawa moves into the same apartment. Yoshikawa soon finds out about Kurosagi's illegal activities. She immediately disapproves of his actions, but how will she convince him to give up?
Review
Kurosagi is a bit different then most other J-dramas. Most dramas focus on one main plot, but in Kurosagi, every episode has a completely different story. In other words, every episodes has a different main plot and the sub-plot for every episode is about Yoshikawa's attempt to stop Kurosagi's swindling. This causes most episodes to be quite boring and sometimes even confusing.
Most of the episodes basically go like this: a swindling victim comes to Kurosagi for help...Kurosagi goes to apartment to put on disguise....Kurosagi meets up with the swindler....after talking, Kurosagi successfully swindles the culprit...Kurosagi calls the police...police arrest swindler...the victims get their cash back and everyone's happy!
The only thing that wasn't boring about Kurosagi is the sub-plot about Yoshikawa. This drama only touches on the sub-plot for only about ten minutes at the end of every episode. I wish there was more of a balance between the different swindling jobs and the Yoshikawa sub-plot.
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Pros
