IMHO. 'BORDER' and 'CRISIS'

Both have Oguri Shun as the leading actor, the reason for me to watch these doramas. Of course I soon learned that both are based on novels by Kazuki Kaneshiro. And these are not the only common points.

music

I must confess, the best thing in 'Border' is MWAM's 'Evil Falls', and in 'Crisis' - 'I need your love'. Which is, at the same time, the best song in the album of Beverly, whose other songs are just your average soul ballads and single-use r'n'b tunes.

However, the difference is that 'Crisis' can boast Hiroyuki Sawano as one of the contributing composers, which surprised me, since I've never ever seen a dorama with a soundtrack I'd listen to even after watching, at least more than a couple of times. Instrumental theme which can be heard in every important moment is impressive (and for some reason I'm sure Origa's vocal is used in it), and the only vocal track by Yosh is really cool.

story and characters

He sometimes didn't even bother to change the characters' names, that writer, and corrupted politicians, high ranking officials covering the crimes of their children and secrets withing police itself continue to arise before our eyes. I think I cannot even distinguish now which case was in which dorama out of these two. The only difference, though, is that I enjoyed supporting characters more in 'Border', like the partner - a plain but straight and loyal man, and the two unusual hackers in black, and 'Jack of all trades' employed by the main character - they had that spice necessary for a character to grab attention. In 'Crisis', it seems, all those spices were gathered and distributed among the main characters rather than supporting, and that made them more likeable and interesting to follow.

acting
For some reason I guess nobody would really watch dramas like this for the sake of acting, hey? I could say they both are tolerable, though there wasn't much to act. Even tense scenes did not impress me much, but didn't disappoint either.
And I must especially praise the combat scenes. All actors who participated in fighting apparently trained a lot and did a good job, and the fight director was a good one. This is a trend I sometimes notice in Japanese movies, did they order a fight director from abroad and use him in turns for every new movie?

conclusion
There is only one more difference to mention. 'Border' was extremely green. Yes, green. Most scenes take part in half-darkness, and most of the screen is lit with weak green. It really gets on your nerves. If you told me to choose only one dorama to watch, it would be 'Crisis' - only for the fact that lighting of most places filmed is natural.
Oh, but there is one more common point to mention, too. Both doramas end in a way that makes it certain there is more to come. Whether it will come or not is for us to wait and see (and I'm not sure, since 'Crisis' is very new, and season 2 of 'Border' was announced for this year but even though it's August, I haven't yet heard of an exact date of airing).

'Mou ichido kimi ni propose' ~ and they lived happily ever after

So, I've heard such stories before, I mean stories from real life. However, a TV drama is supposed to go slightly overboard, because it's drama, you know. What happens when it does not?

story and characters

Sometimes I notice myself thinking in Japanese instead of English. When I do, I see no other explanation than it must be because the Japanese variant happens to be more convenient in that particular case. When I think of what I could say about 'Mou ichido', I recall the phrase 'atatakai katei', which means literally 'a warm household'. It might sound strange or at least too poetic, but that's what all Japanese vow to create when they get married. And it just crossed my mind that probably that's what the creators were aiming to show in the drama. By the way, in my opinion the Japanese language is rich in such poetic words combinations, and what's interesting, such words are not considered to be as poetic by the Japanese themselves as they may be by foreigners.

So, what we see during the 10 episodes of 'Mou ichido' is a story of several 'warm families'. One of them is the family of our Hero and his wife who lost her memories. The truth is, they didn't actually stop being a family even though they separated for a while. Another family is the family of the Hero and his father, and later his biological mother, too. The third family is the family of the Heroine, including her mother, her late father and her younger brother, and occasionally his 'cancelled' girlfriend. The fourth family is the crew of Mizushima Auto where the Hero works. The fifth is the library staff with whom the Heroine works. And all the families are so warm that it looks like an utopia.

On one hand, I was disappointed not to see any real development, because instead of some passionate reunion, all we see is how Kanako, the Heroine, gradually gets used to being Haru's wife. All that she was doing during the 10 episodes was constantly apologising for her not being able to recall something or saying something that could be perceived as rude. Of course, there was also an understanding sempai-like handsome guy who maybe possibly had some feelings for her but eventually turned into another wiseman helping the Heroine with a piece of advice every now and then, and of course there was your usual positive girl who set her eyes on the Hero but had to give up, and there was your usual 'reconciliation' with a family member, and so on. However, this dorama probably never aimed at being very original, nor did it try to show any romance between the Heroes. Rather, it emphasized the importance of family bonds. It's not a coincidence that Kanako's mother, one of the main wisemen of the story, or maybe I should say 'wise woman', when explaining her relationship with her husband, said that they could live happily together because she believed in her family, in that the family would always be there for her. And that is probably the main moral of the story.

acting

Even my mom, who just happened to cross the room, seeing Mr. Takenouchi for the first time, said 'he's one handsome man, you know'. And I cannot disagree. You just look at his smile...

I have actually seen him in 'Rondo', but it was such an unimportant drama for me that I've completely forgotten that I know this person. Unlike Takenouchi, Wakui Emi as Kanako seems an arguable choice for me. Her face was stiff and her intonations were poor, which is, on one hand, understandable, given the conditions her heroine was in, but I, as a viewer, prefer that actors express their inner world with their body language, not necessarily being overly emotional. And not all of the actors coped with the task.

I think, most of all I liked the actors who created the families. The couple who owned the car repair shop, Kanako's mother, and especially Haru's father were extremely impressive. I did cry when he died, I think I cried for quite a while. Even though I was expecting to see something different in this drama, Mr. Onodera created such a realistic warm household that I really enjoyed watching them.

music

I think I must stop waiting for any decent drama ost already. The only case was probably 'Hirugao', but it was an extraordinary case. 'Mou ichido' has a very sweet song by Juju which makes me sick. The background music is mediocre, with soft piano melodies when it's necessary to underline the tenderness of the moment, nervous melodies when the characters are in a pinch, and so on. Unlike full-length movies and anime, TV dramas seldom boast any good music.

conclusion

A very warm but somewhat boring drama. Well, if only Takenouchi's smile... awwww

'Dear sister' dorama ~ when a performer starts appearing in movies

What else could I do if I saw a video on YT titled something like 'kiss at the wedding scene of Iwata's and Ishihara's characters'? Of course I went to watch it as soon as I learned that he's taking part. Now I'm not sure I did the right thing.

story and characters

I was surprised to see that the drama actually had a decent scenario and though it was very, very, VERY plain, it was not too bad. It was even interesting to see how relationships of many characters intertwine and create a complex net of feelings and stories.
However you just can't ignore the fact that it was a happy-ending-story for girls. And the story was happy ending for all characters. And it was so happy-ending that I really needed a pickled cucumber to eat after.

acting

But here lies a problem. And that problems looks like this:

 - I'll punish you for troubling the girl I like, old man! - I'm not afraid of hamsters!

At least it's how we here reply when someone pretends to be scary while being not.

Oh yes you will protect them. 'Cause you look so serious. Um... IDK maybe high school girls would swoon here seeing him make such face?

Now the surprise was to see ms. Otozuki participating. And that surprise was not pleasant. If they wanted to create a hysteric femme fatale she would make a perfect one, but there was not actually any time for that, which is why all ms Otozuki could do is just pronounce a couple of lines. 

Just in case one JSB is not enough for you, there is accidental Naoto. For approximately 5 seconds in total.

As for other actors, they were all good and did not irritate me at all, like it sometimes happens. Maybe I could mention that Hirayama Hiroyuki and Horiuchi Keiko were cute portraying an elder sister and a younger brother who get along very well.

music

For a dorama, 'Dear sister' has a normal soundtrack with only one melody that I really enjoyed. As for theme songs, they were awful, as usual. I think I must be really sorry for that, and I kinda am... a little... just a little bit. 'cause they are really soooooo mediocre and boooooring UGH

visual

I'm really happy to see CG in Japan is progressing. What a beautiful, natural night sky. Yes, natural. Of course.

conclusion

You just either watch doramas or not. If not, don't start with this one. If yes, you'll probably like it.

p. s.
language
The language in the dorama is so simple that I did not even download any subs before 8th episode when I wanted to check something and finally searched for the Japanese original ones. From this point of view I highly recommend this series to those learning Japanese because most words are easy to hear and easy to understand, maybe except for a few medical terms that appear in the second half of the drama and a couple of other words.

IMHO. 'Galileo' drama and movies ~ why you should watch the first season and shouldn't watch the second

story and characters

Professor Yukawa is hot. He likes climbing,

 boxing,

baseball (or what was it again?),

beach volleyball (by the way, his previous partner Kusanagi is not bad, too),

 and even diving.

He's good at cooking, too.

And just coincidentally he happens to be smart.

You can tell, right?

I'm not sure if it's really important to write all those formulas when you think about a way to perform some sort of crime, but well, like I said, professor Yukawa is hot. In case you haven't understood yet, he has always been smart, since his young days.

And the criminals can be widely sorted to two groups: losers who lose to professor's smartness and good people who committed a crime while having some good intentions. The boss is such a good man! We can't do without him!

Your father will be released soon! I'll wait with you!

 'Cause he has such warm kind eyes. Aha.

Unlike the TV series, the full-length movies were more serious about crime-handling and the motivations, reflections, reasons and conclusions were much more human and understandable.

And here is our hot professor not understanding how can feelings make a person do something like that. I'd say this moment was really impressive.

Even still, I was not completely satisfied with the second movie. It was too much trying to force some tears out of me, and when that kind of intention is so visible I don't really appreciate it.

Before watching the series I only saw ms Kobasaki in one drama where she was awful (same goes for the story itself, which is the real problem, I guess). However, in 'Galileo' she was brilliant. Her young and passionate detective was a good match for the cold professor.

*nods* me too.

It was a great pleasure to see that their characters were getting along so well, even after they were separated by the merciless world of the Japanese cinema.

It actually took me a good hour to understand what happened with the story. Sometimes I hate that vagueness of the Japanese language that does not say anything straightforward. So, this is what happened: the original partner of the professor was detective Kusanagi, but under the writer's consent he was replaced by a female detective to 'add flowers to the story'. That's what Japanese wiki says literally.

After the writer saw how good the story looks with a female lead, he introduced her to the story and made all the following stories center on Utsumi-Yukawa pair, while ms Kobasaki apparently became engaged with some other project and could not lend her hand to season 2, which is why her character was made to go to the US and finally, Utsumi was replaced with Kishitani. At least that's what I guess. I don't think she would simply reject the offer if she were asked to participate in season 2.

And this is where the tragedy starts. I was against that idea from the very beginning, but somewhere I understood I have no right to criticise the story simply because one actress was replaced by another. However, my friend expressed my feelings even better than me, when I told her what happened. She said: 'they just replace one person with another, and what do they hope for? To replay the same tricks that were used in the first season again, but with a different character?'

In fact, I read some comments that Kishitani is a good character in her own right, and I almost calmed myself and decided I'll give it a try and watch her as a completely different character with her own style... But then you know, it just did not happen. Nope.

acting

But that's an aspect that leans on acting greatly. The problem is, the cute Yoshitaka Yuriko was trying to make those cute faces all the time or express her emotions, which is obviously not her strong side.

The only thing she managed to do properly was this:

And in the full-length movie she suddenly starts wearing makeup....?

If there were any reasons for me to watch 'Galileo' at first, there were two. The first one looks like this

 And the second one is this:

OMG I JUST CANT OMFG

Well, through the course of the second season it turned out there is one more reason to enjoy the series. It looks like this

 But can look like this, too

In face, miss Amami is who made the second season so enjoyable.

Unlike Yoshitaka, Shibasaki, who was such a terrible sight in 'Marumaru Tsuma', was so natural and interesting that I'd give her five out of five. I really enjoyed her face expressions throughout the series.

Mr Fukuyama was very natural in portraying the weird professor. Even though he was made to write all that nonsense on doors, windows, tables and all kinds of flat surfaces with any possible tool that is available at the moment, he did a good job. He and Shibasaki made me think about this wonderful thing: 'chemistry'. I don't know how we live in Russia without such a word in our language that could express that special kind of interaction that exists between two actors or fails to exist, thus making the whole story either enjoyable or not. After watching 'Galileo' I think I can say I wish Fukuyama and Shibasaki acted together from that moment and forever.

If you ask me who were my favourites, I'd say: Watanabe Ikkei as the unfortunate assistant, who was always making my day when he was with Utsumi (and not when with Kishitani),

and two policemen partners, Ogawa Yu and Shinagawa Hiroshi. Such enjoyable acting.

'The worst actress' Oscar goes to Aoi Yu. She was so explicit and desperate to show the ambivalent nature of her actress that it was almost unpleasant to look at her.

music

Even though the composer is the famous Yugo Kanno, and Fukuyama himself lent his hand (with a guitar in it) to the soundtrack, I wouldn't praise the OST too much. The ending themes by KOH+ were unimpressive, too. However, I'm saying that because I wouldn't want to listen to the OST after I've watched the show. The background music was good as background music.

conclusion

Like I said to my friend when I started watching, the Japanese just don't have the genes that are responsible for creating good detective stories. To be serious, I'm not an expert in detective stories either, but I've read some classical ones and I can say for sure that Japanese 'mystery' shows  don't have any mystery in them. Even though you don't know who the criminal is, you don't even want to know, and you don't suspect anyone, and  you don't predict anything, because it's meaningless, the truth uncovered would not present an answer to your questions or explain your predictions. It will just state how the crime had been committed, in case of 'Galileo' - involving some physics. But that aspect is also lacking... you know...

SRSLY???

Of course, like in any other Japanese mystery, the most important is not the crime and the criminal, but the fact that

1. the criminal did it out of his love to someone, so he's not such a bad guy, or

2. the victim was such a good person but what a pity we learn it only after he or she is dead

and everybody's like

Even though I am so skeptical about Japanese mystery dramas, 'Galileo' is one of the best of them, and not because it's a mystery but because it's so funny. At least in the beginning.

p. s.
Oh well, in case Fukuyama and accidental Kitamura are not enough, there's some naked Katori Shingo for you.