J-Everything Xtended

Kinkyori Renai Ep 06 Review

It’s quite natural to set a teen romance like Kinkyori Renai (近キョリ恋愛) in the summer. First of all, there’s summer vacation, which the class celebrates at the start of this episode:

Well, all except for Haruka (Abe Aran), who seems a bit less enthusiastic. He and Mirei (Ishibashi Anna) are both concerned about Ririko (Adachi Rika), who is planning to go back to New York, but hasn’t managed to…

The participants in this episode of Gamushara (ガムシャラ) are Miyachika Kaito, Abe Aran, Jesse, Yasui Kentaro, Nakamura Reia, Matsukura Kaito, and Vasayegha Hikaru . . .

. . . and they’re going to be learning the basics of sports sword fighting.

They’re not going to be using real swords, of course, but rather foam cylinders that will allow them to practice with full force without any concern about…

HERO 2014 Ep 05 Review

This episode of HERO 2014 opens with Kawajiri (Matsushige Yutaka), the head of the prosecutor’s office, getting an offer for a new job that would pay more.

At the same time, the prosecutors have received their health exams (I guess these are required for government work?), and they find out that his cholesterol is double what it was last year. Sounds like he could do with a change of employment –…

Sexy Zone Channel 2014.09.10 Review

In the midst of all sorts of uncertainty about the future of the group, at least we can still turn to Sexy Zone Channel to see all five members together. So, what are the guys going to do this time?

Whatever it is, they were asked to assemble by 7:45 a.m., which means they are going to some place that would be open to the public during regular hours, and they need to go there early so that they…

Kinkyori Renai Ep 05 Review

After Mirei (Ishibashi Anna) confessed her love for Haruka (Abe Aran) by kissing him at the end ofthe previous episode of Kinkyori Renai (近キョリ恋愛), I’m looking for some follow-through on the relationship in this episode. Will Haruka reject the sentiment, afraid of the implications like Mirei was before Kanata (Kishi Yuta) talked to her? Or will the writers spare us that sort of awkwardness and…

Sexy Zone Channel 2014.08.27 Review

On the official Sexy Zone Channel website they give hints as the title for the next episode, and the hint for this one was “Eh! (blank) for one hour!”. Intriguing, but also a little worrying. After spending one hour fishing in an episode, and eating in multiple episode, what could be even less likely to fill an hour of program time? Is the staff trying to find the limit of what Sexy Zone can make…

Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo Neo Ep 04 Review

This episode continues the case introduced in episode three of Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo Neo (金田一少年の事件簿N). We last left the main characters on an island with a bunch of medical interns, and it didn’t take long for murders to start happening. First, an intern named Morimura was hung in a room that was reputedly haunted. Then, another aspiring medical student – Shiina Makio – was found hanging…

Ah, this Gamushara (ガムシャラ) already looks like it’s going to be fun:

Having a kouhaku-style red team versus white team battle is a favorite scheme, and they’re promising a genuine test of physical aptitude, but are the two teams really balanced?

The “power types” are quickly identified – Morohoshi-kun on the red team and Shintaro-kun on the white team, but what about the rest of the members?

We…

HERO 2014 Ep 04 Review

After a somewhat weak episode of HERO 2014, I’m mainly looking for Kuryu (Kimura Takuya) to get a decent case this time – no more contrived PSA lectures allowed. This episode doesn’t begin with Kuryu’s case, though, but with Uno (Hamada Gaku) getting a case about a scam artist which will require him to work with a prosecutor from Kyoto.

The rest of the office is distraught because the…

Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 09-28)

The top single for the past week was “Hikaeme I Love You!” (控えめ I love you!) from HKT48, which saw 277,534 copies sold. That’s the best first week result for the group, narrowly continuing their streak of growth.

Fudanjuku was at #2 with “BE HERO” selling 32,248.

Taking #3 in its second week, “Midaretemina” from 2PM had a very good second week – selling 14,374 to pass the gold mark, reaching…

Gamushara J’s Party 2014.09.13 Review

I somehow managed to get “Paraiso” stuck in my head from the previous episode of Gamushara J’s Party!! (ガムシャラ J’s Party!!), so will the second part of the summer festival provide me with a new accidental soundtrack?

At the very beginning of this episode, they have the announcement of which team won the competition (the double dutch team). They then proceed with a Sexy Zone medley to start the…

For the past two months on Gamushara (ガムシャラ), four teams of juniors prepared special performances for the summer festival, trying to win audience approval. Now, the victorious team and the losing team each get their dues, and both in the same locations shoot with Yasui Kentaro-kun hosing. It’s pretty easy to tell the difference between the winning team (Tanaka Juri, Morohoshi Shoki, Morimoto…

Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo Neo Ep 03 Review

Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo Neo (金田一少年の事件簿N) begins this time with what seems to be a clear suicide – we actually see the person with the rope and the suicide note. Doesn’t seem like it would be something for Kindaichi (Yamada Ryosuke) to investigate, so there’s more than meets the eye.

The young detective is at the hospital for a stomach exam and his friend Miyuki (Kawaguchi Haruna) is there…

Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 09-21)

The top single for the past week was . . . EXILE TRIBE’s “THE REVOLUTION” which popped up from #129 to #1 in its fifth week by selling 156,271 copies to boost its total to 483,062. Really? Well, there’s no doubt at this point that we have some crazy manipulation on this one, since this is nothing like a normal sales curve. Even if the single sold just 100k in its first week, it shouldn’t have…

Gamushara J’s Party 2014.09.06 Review

Okay, so this month’s episodes of Gamushara J’s Party!! (ガムシャラ J’s Party!!) are that thing they’ve been building up to all summer in Gamushara – the Summer Festival. It’s going to be a very different pair of J’s Party episodes than we’ve been getting the past few months because there will be at least twenty juniors involved rather than the usual ten – the sort of breadth that I’ve been pushing…

Kinkyori Renai Ep 04 Review

Things seem to be getting smoother between Haruka (Abe Aran) and his stepsister Ririko (Adachi Rika) in Kinkyori Renai (近キョリ恋愛). Sure, Haruka is still trying his best to keep some distance between them, but he’s smiling around her more often and speaking to her civilly. I guess getting mad at her in the previous episode and then worrying about her sort of broke the ice.

Oh, and then there’s the…

HERO 2014 Ep 03 Review

Asagi (Kitagawa Keiko) is not happy with working long hours at the behest of Kuryu (Kimura Takuya), and the latest installment of HERO begins with her getting called by him once again during her off hours.

A suspect has died in custody and the law requires that a prosecutor should be present during the autopsy, and Kuryu in turn requires Asagi to be present. He probably couldn’t have found a…