^the poster looks kinda scary, eh?
I just finished watching Kurosagi; a Japanese drama with Yamashita Tomohisa (aka Yamapi) and Horikita Maki. It was Yamapi's drama after Nobuta wo Produce, and surprisingly, with the same female lead. The story is about swindlers, how Kurosaki swindles a different swindler in every episode. The "cases" are interesting and the way he swindles is kinda cool. There's a complicated story behind many people and they seemed to be living in the past, one way or another. At the top of the chain is Katsuragi, an old man who sold all the swindlers information. A lot of things are interrelated and it's actually quite exciting to see how the story unfolds. The romance - I wanted Akira and Nobuta together in Nobuta wo Produce, and obviously I wanted them to be together in this drama too. They weren't, even in the last episode, but I think Kurosaki sorta liked her already. The story wasn't finished yet, but the movie just came out, I think. I'll wait for the subs to come out. =)
Yamapi acted as Kurosaki, a swindler who swindlers money out of swindlers and returns the money to the victims. His real name is Kurosaki, hence he called himself Kurosagi. The reason why he does that is because of a tragic past -- his father fell victim to a swindler and in despair killed his whole family, Kurosaki being the only survivor. In short, it's for revenge. He supposedly had given up happiness and lived his life just for that sole purpose. I know that he was living a miserable life, but no matter how hard I tried to figure out what he was feeling, what pain he had to go through, somehow I couldn't.
Maki acted as Tsurara Yoshikawa, a girl who is studying to be a prosecutor. She's a really kind and nice girl. Somehow she crossed path with Kurosagi and ended up living in the same apartment as him. As you'd expect, she didn't approve of his occupation. But along the way, she found out about his past, grew to like him, understood his feelings. It was kinda hard on her, since she found herself falling for someone whose values she disagreed completely with despite knowing the reason behind them. She wanted him to stop his swindling since it was a crime, yet at the same time she didn't want him to be arrested, 'cos she loved him. But I like the fact that even till the end, she didn't change her beliefs because of him. Anyway, did I mention before that Maki is very pretty? Well, she is. And she's cute, too. But personally I think she looked better in Hana Kimi, with shorter hair.
About Yamapi, he must have been using moisturizing lens or something, since his eyes looked teary half the time, even when he wasn't crying. I wonder how one drop tear could drop out of nowhere when his facial expression remained almost blank, too. Eye drops? Acting skill? I think his acting is not bad, honestly. And even though Kurosagi is a "cold" person, some of his actions remind me of Akira, especially when he's under disguise. It's the same person, after all. haha. For his job, he had lots of forms of disguise. That brings me back to the acting skill point; he had to act out a lot of different characters in this drama. I think a lot thought must have been put in, since each character's mannerism varies. The costumes - some of them looked weird, but strangely he looked okay/good in almost all of them. He looked best in his "normal" get-up, though. Like duh. lol. The theme song of this drama is also sung by him, and I must say that his voice is okay. Usually Japanese male singers' voice have this similar sound that I don't like (even though they may be good singers), but he doesn't have it. Not as much, at least. I noticed it when I first heard the theme song of Nobuta wo Produce, actually. That's a good thing. haha.
That aside, I really can't stand Tsurara's "friend", Yukari. The inverted commas mean that I don't think that she can be called a friend at all; claiming that she loved Kurosaki when she barely knew him and falling out with Tsurara just because of that. What a delusional, immature, selfish person. Like, freak off, bitch. Also, that Kashina policeman's laugh is so annoying. -.-"
^one of the one-tear-drop scenes.
