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nchristi
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Re: J-Drama: JIN 2
I thought I was the only person not getting interested in the highly acclaimed JIN 2. It's comforting to know I'm not alone.
I am utterly bored with this one, except for the historical characters and events sprinkled throughout, things we have seen portrayed in Taigas. Those ties are stimulating and thought provoking. The Ryoma character and actor are stealing the show.
I'm even more bored with the Jin, Nokaze-Miki, Saki triangle. It goes nowhere. Saki perpetually the beautiful, sweet martyr, Nokaze about as exciting as her comatose counterpart, and Jin.... OMG. His 'deer in the headlights' lack of ability to perceive anything much is stunning. Besides that, the last two years have not been kind to him. Shades of Shar Pei. Actually, I think I'd rather see a Shar Pei...
We have completed only two episodes. Maybe the story will become stronger as time collides and we see how the mind-boggling circumstances are worked out, explained. I'm not giving up yet. Nor am I holding my breath in expectation.
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10/17/2011, 10:33 am
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brad6
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Re: J-Drama: JIN 2
I agree with you nchristi. I am an admirer of Osawa Takao but he does look very shopworn in this drama. It is not very cohesive in the various scenes and I also am getting tired of Nokase popping up for no apparent reason. Jin gets so excited to see her altho I think he really knows that she is not in his life in old Edo at all. I found it interesting when they managed to save Saki's monther from beri-beri. There was some sense to that part of the episode. This is the first that I have heard of the Princess having beri-beri. I know that the Shogun died from that illness so why didn't they get Jin to save him?
I was thinking that the Korean royal menu was very varied and really extensive with vegetable and herbs. I doubt there was beri beri in Korea. Why in the world did they not know in Japan that eating white rice every day and for most meals was not good and must have been boring. The two countries were close so that knowledge of customs and food must have been available.
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10/17/2011, 11:05 am
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Moises
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Re: J-Drama: JIN 2
Jin just seems alot dumber this season than the first season. Saki has been moping around for 3 episodes now (in actuallity its only been 2 episodes) that it's getting tiring. Everyone else in Jinyudo hasn't been given ample airtime yet except the sweaty bald guy. Not that they should anyway, they've all been explored in the first season. Ryoma's character is way different, more serious and less comedic.
I'm not sure where they are going with this one. I thought the first episode was sort of a way to introduce all the characters of the first season for the people who hadn't watched. I think they tried to hard to hook in the newcomers while retaining the old viewers. It just felt rushed and overloaded.
I thought Nokaze might have heard the exchange between Jin and Saki during last nights episode. Even then, what does it change? Does Nokaze now fall for Jin even more? This will probably be dragged out until the final episodes. Nokaze the courtesan seemed alot more interesting than Nokaze the commoner if you ask me.
The interactions between Jin and Ryoma were one of the better aspects of the first season. This season its been non-existant.
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10/17/2011, 10:34 pm
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Hiroshi66
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Re: J-Drama: JIN 2
Yes, I'm definitely quite bored with JIN 2, as well. Throughout the episode, I found myself continuously looking at the clock or trying to stop myself from doing other things during the episode. LOL! After all the hype about this drama, it seems like a big disappointment so far. I agree, the only character who I find interesting is Ryoma, but unfortunately, it looks like they've given him a smaller role in Season 2... maybe it's so they can accommodate the newer characters?
Nchristi, I feel the same way as you regarding the Saki/Jin/Nokaze triangle... it's extremely boring, and I'm afraid that we're going to be seeing the same thing playing out over and over again for the entire drama. As for Jin, I find myself getting really annoyed with his character. The actor (Osawa Takeo) is great, but the way they have written the character just makes it feel like he has no understanding of everything. Every ten or fifteen minutes we have Jin go into these monologues where he questions everything—Saki or Nokaze's motives, what's happening to him, what is going to happen to him in the future, why he is there, etc. It literally feels like they copied the same lines for him that we've been hearing all along and just put them in every episode. Same with Nokaze. I wonder if they just put her character back in to further the Jin/Saki/Nokaze-Miki triangle...
I think you're right, Peg—the Shogun (Kazunomiya's husband) suffered from beriberi, but we've never heard anything about Kazunomiya having it during this time period (the 1860s.) I think she may have developed it later on in her life (the 1870s) but I never knew she had it during this early time period. Hmm.
I'm not exactly looking forward to watching this drama... I hope it will shape up really soon, but it looks like the writer is pretty set in their ways and will keep the same format of Jin constantly voicing his woes and rhetorical questions to the audience. Moises, that's true—the interactions between Jin and Ryoma in the first season were great... too bad they've seemed to severely limit the number of those scenes.
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10/18/2011, 6:01 am
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Hiroshi66
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Re: J-Drama: JIN 2
Episode 3
I'm trying to get into this one, but no matter what I do, I still find myself really bored while watching this drama. At one point I felt like walking away from the TV and doing something else. Sometimes it feels like each episode is just a medley of different scenes that have been woven around a certain plot—in this case, Jin's prison sentence. We see characters suddenly reappear from the first season, but I feel like just as I am starting to remember who they are, they are gone!
The only aspect of last night's episode that I enjoyed was Ryoma. Like Nchristi mentioned above, Ryoma is really stealing the show, and if it weren't for him, I don't think I would continue watching this one. One of the two scenes I found moving was when Ryoma was emotionally telling the people of Edo (while Jin was being carried away to the Magistrate's office) about how Jin saved the city of Edo from cholera and fire, and how much he cared about his patients. Excellent acting by the Ryoma actor.
I also cracked up with Ryoma at the end, after Nokaze was saying goodbye to everyone to begin her new life with the French man. Ryoma wasn't too happy about Nokaze's future plans, and I think he was even holding his pistol to the man's chest—all while saying "Goodbye" and "Bon Voyage." So polite! LOL!
I also found it touching how Jin and the other doctors accepted Dr. Fukuda (the man who was acting as a spy) after Jin had been released from prison. Even though he could have been turned away because of his role in getting Jin arrested as the suspect behind the attempted poisoning of Kazunomiya, Jin accepted the doctor back with open arms. It was very moving to watch.
Besides that, however, I found myself bored with this one. After saving the high-ranking prisoners and gaining their favor, Jin was going to probably be executed. Thanks to further investigation, however, it was revealed that there was indeed arsenic in the tea cup that Kazunomiya had drank from. I might have missed something, but who had tried to murder Kazunomiya in the first place? Was it a conspiracy from within the Ooku? Or was it the medical office (the doctors who are rivals with Jin's medical office) who tried to frame Jin? Maybe it wasn't answered in the episode, so I guess we might find out later.
I was surprised to see Nokaze leave to start her new life with the wealthy French man. I wonder if this means she is going to leave the show for good? Or is it just for a few episodes? We know Nokaze was the one who paid the "bribe" in jail for Jin to be treated better.
I was also very surprised to see Jin reveal his feelings for Saki. She turned him down—she was not prepared to spend her life with someone who might disappear at any moment. When Jin said that he might want to stay in Edo, Saki stopped him and said that he must return. She said that she couldn't be with someone from a future where she does not exist. Saki kept a straight face but as soon as she left Jin's sight, she was visibly shaken and broke into tears. Luckily, her brother was there to comfort her.
Episode 4 airs next Sunday. I'm trying to get into this one, but for some reason I don't find myself looking forward to it at all. We'll see what happens...
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10/24/2011, 6:12 am
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brad6
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Re: J-Drama: JIN 2
Greg,
I feel the same way so far about Jin 2. It is not moving along so smoothly even tho the first of the series was certainly full of ups and downs. At least we had the surprises from the time travel. This time I feel that the writers are leaving a responsibility on the viewers that we should not take. We need to use our curiosity more on what is going on in Edo apart from the closeness of the script to the doctor and Saki.
I decided that the arsenic was indeed a trick to put the Western clinic in trouble even tho it would mean the death of the doctor who saved Edo from cholera. They would not be bothered abut Saki anyway since she had disgraced her family by entering the medical company. Why they would choose Kazanomiya I don't know. Maybe because she was a concubine? But she was a Princess!
Well I am hoping for a speedup in the story from now on and certainly we will hear a lot more about Sakamoto.
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10/24/2011, 3:02 pm
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nchristi
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Re: J-Drama: JIN 2
I was a little more into Ep. 3 than the previous ones.
Though I didn't closely follow the intrigue involving the arsenic poisoning of the Princess, I (perhaps mistakenly) was left with the impression that the main objective of the perpetrators of the poisoning was to poison her and blame someone else for it, Jin being the convenient patsy. I didn't have the understanding that the medical establishment poisoned the princess just to get rid of Jin. But, I don't know what the political reason might be for forces within the royal household to poison the princess... maybe a diversionary tactic to cause a particular end... to unsettle the status quo so they could accomplish some other political goal?
I also enjoyed the turn of events regarding Nokaze. I think it will be quite interesting to see what her newfound life with the Westerner will produce in both her life and that of Jin.
I wasn't surprised that Saki turned down Jin's "let's be together" proposal. She is focused on a life work of her own. Plus, I can't imagine how stressful it would be to live with/marry a man who will forever disappear unexpectedly. If she had children with him, then she would probably have a really difficult life of poverty once he wasn't around. I appreciated her reasoning that since she has not been a filial daughter/sister to her mother and brother, she wants to enter a proper marriage, one that her family approves, carrying on with children, etc.
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10/24/2011, 4:33 pm
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sylia74
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 Re: J-Drama: JIN 2
As far as the Kazunomiya poisoning they do actually hint at who the perpetrator is. That person's intention was to get Jin killed and the Princess was only "collateral damage". He enlisted the help of one of the Ooku maids to put arsenic in the cup. When it seemed like the investigation was going to close in on her she drank arsenic herself and died. I can't figure out how to put the spoiler thing here so that I can actually say who that person is.
I know that a lot of people aren't really into this drama. I actually loved it so much that I watched the entire thing and am watching it again with you guys on UTB. I think in some instances the translation in UTB makes more sense than the other source I was watching. I don't know if people who didn't care for the first season will find this season any better. For people who loved the 1st season I think they will find this one very enjoyable too.
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10/24/2011, 9:43 pm
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Moises
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Re: J-Drama: JIN 2
I liked the 1st season. This season has been iffy for me. It's been kind of a mess. I hope they will go about and actually explain what is happening in a coherent fashion rather than in an abrupt and rushed manner.
I actually thought the "Western Medicine" people were the ones that poisoned the princess. I thought that was what the main guy (don't know his name) had told Dr. Fukuda in the first place. Which is why he was in such a panicked state for the past 2 episodes constantly sweating. I had thought it was Dr. Fukuda that had put the poison in the donuts and the medicine guys were in on the cover up. Wasn't he shown with some sort of (poisonous) substance? Even to the point that he's hovering over the ingredients holding said substances? Now it seems that this wasn't the case. Then what the hell was he really doing? He was spying on behalf of the medicine office, but for what? I must have missed something cause this part just didn't make much sense to me. Obviously he was the red herring now that all has been said and done, we were led to believe that he was the guy that had put Jin into this spot.
They actually showed the person who was the perp near the end of the episode. I believe he was putting back the arsenic bottle which probably was used to poison the princess. He looked familiar, just can't really place him right now. They showed some really quick snippets of what looked like what was going on within his mind. This might be elaborated upon in the future, I don't know.
Everything just feels disjointed right now.
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10/24/2011, 10:50 pm
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Hiroshi66
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Re: J-Drama: JIN 2
Yes, I had also assumed that there was some sort of a bigger conspiracy to poison the Princess, and Jin was only being used as a scapegoat. I thought the perpetrator knew that there would be a lot of suspicion about a strange doctor entering the Ooku to treat the Princess, so they figured it would be the best time to poison the Princess and then make it look like the eccentric doctor did it. The marriage of Princess Kazunomiya into the Tokugawa family was quite a controversial issue at the time, and there were people (on both the Tokugawa side and within the imperial family) who were vehemently opposed to the union, so maybe they had a motive to poison her?
As for who actually put the poison in, I, too, had assumed that Dr. Fukuda (the doctor who worked with Jin) put the arsenic in the donuts. In the previous episode, we saw that the doctor from the other office was threatening him and we later saw Fukuda with the substance in his hand, hovering over the ingredients on the morning of Jin's Ooku visit. Now, however, the other characters are simply calling him a "spy." Maybe Fukuda lost his nerve at the last minute and didn't put the arsenic in? They did mention that there was also arsenic found in the tea cup (if I heard it correctly) so maybe there are two suspects?
Ahh, I'm confused! Maybe we should recruit Ukyo and Kame from Partners to clearly solve this case for us. LOL! I hope we'll find out more as the episodes move on.
Nokaze - I found the twist in her story last night very interesting. I actually liked Nokaze—her character was always a bit mysterious but I hope she will continue to make appearances in the show. At least she seems happy with her new husband.
I do like this drama, but what makes it a bit difficult to watch is how they sort of gloss over really important tidbits that are central to the story. But maybe I'm following the whole arsenic case a little bit too closely. It seems like the emphasis of the plot has always been Jin's future (no pun intended - LOL!) in the Edo Period, what role he plays there, and if/how he will ever get back home.
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10/25/2011, 6:15 am
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