Take Your Mark (Chinese Drama, New)

Synopsis: Coming of an age story about two best friends who had grew up working tirelessly toward the dream of joining the national swim team, but after only one made the cut the other disappeared into thin air. Suddenly reunited after two years apart, the two former best friends have to overcome the chasm in their friendship so they could finally realize their childhood dream. Bromance aside, the story will also have plenty of romance as well since we are dealing with young strapling lads after all.

The Package (Korean Drama, New)

Out of the dazzling array of new shows out last week this one unfortunately was my least favorite. The pacing felt achingly slow and the characters just didn’t capture my interest.  Lee Yeon Hee plays a tour guide with a painful past and ends up leading a group of traveler in Paris who also each have their own stories (Judging by episode one I think the show will end up telling the story of each of the tour members).  Jung Yong Hwa’s character is a man who came on the tour group despite having just been dumped by his girlfriend.

Detective Yugami (Japanese Drama, New)

I wonder if Japan has a low crime rate because all of its citizens are busy watching police dramas? I don’t usually pay attention to J-police dramas but this one was actually quite entertaining. The crime cases themselves weren’t the most creative ones I have seen but I love the bickering relationship between the two male leads. Actor Tadanobu Asano plays the senior detective who enjoys teasing his feisty rookie partner constantly but beneath his joking manners there is an undeniable sharp eye for solving crimes…even if the methods are not always legal.

Black Revenge (Japanese Drama, New)

Synopsis: Her blissful life shattered the instant her husband commits suicide and she has a miscarriage due to the shock of it, our heroine vows to seek revenge on all who had framed her husband. With nothing left in her life other than the goal of revenge, our heroine becomes a tabloid reporter set on uncovering all the dirty secrets of those who had drove her husband to his death.

This one was sad all around. I am hoping the writer is eventually going to pull the heroine out of the path of self destruction because as it stands currently, as a viewer, instead of feeling any desire to cheer the heroine on I feel like the heroine should just let go of her dead husband who was too cowardly to face his own enemies and expected her to kill herself AFTER she has avenged him. It seems to me that for the script writer to make it so obvious that the heroine is on a path of self destruction the show must be planning to do something unexpected with the storyline …I hope.
Rikuoh (Japanese Drama, New)

Synopsis: The owner of an over 100 year old factory that has been passed down for four generations, Koichi Miyazawa is forced to admit that his family’s pride and joy of making tabi (traditional Japanese socks) is quickly being made obsolete by time. Faced with the grim reality that his factory and its 20 employees will soon be forced to closed down if he doesn’t do something drastic, Koichi Miyazawa makes the daring decision to use his family’s skill in making tabi to develop a line of shoes that will help runners avoid injury.

If you are in need of a drama that inspires and make you want to shoot for the stars, then this one might just be what the doctor ordered. The plot itself might be a bit idealistic…but who cares when you are watching something that makes you want to go out and conquer the world?! Out of the new J-dramas this week, Rikuoh was my favorite.

 

 

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