Similarly to "Bungaku Shoujo", the only reason why I went and watched this dorama (or should I say, "endured this abomination until its conclusion") is the fact that I'm a big fan of Morikawa Aoi. And indeed, once again she shines through it like she always does. The big difference though is that, apart from her acting, "Bungaku Shoujo" was just "meh", while this "Kakafukaka" is plainly terrible. As I wrote while reviewing "Iguana no Musume" on another site: "Instant top10 of the WCE (Worst Cr@p Ever)". If I could use only one word to describe it, that word would be "EEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!". Seriously, I have a question for whoever wrote this, as well as for the tv channel people who greenlighted it: "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?"
The only thing that could've saved this from getting the minimum grade would have been if one of the following two changes to the script had been applied:

1) All of a sudden, Jim Caviezel's character from "Person Of Interest" is magically transported inside the shared-house during the last breakfast scene, and of course he does what he's best at, shooting the male lead's kneecaps off right on the spot! (see if that brings up a reaction on that insufferable fish-face of his!)

2) Right after the last scene, an extra scene with the caption "some time later": we see a prison guard escorting the new inmate, Hongyo, to his cell. The prison guard opens the cell and introduces Hongyo's cell mate, a 7-feet, 250-pounds giant with a scary face and an evil smirk right in the middle of it: "This is Bubba, you guys are bound to get along just fine...you see, he also tends to "GET STRAIGHT TO THE POINT!". Caption: "And they lived *painfully* ever after"...

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Nice dorama, mostly well written and acted (honorable mentions for Kanno Miho, Watabe Atsuro and Tokoro George), accompanied by some lovely music. You'll need a strong suspension of disbelief, though, as these guys keep bumping into each other as if they lived in a small village, instead of a metropolis, LOL. On the other hand (and this is the reason why I don't give it a full 10/10) the characters are even "too realistic", in that none of them is fully appealing; they have too many faults and even the apparently nicest among them will reveal a dark, hidden side. Something which might have been ok in a noir, but in a romantic story seemed a little out of place, imho.

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Brilliantly scripted and superbly acted by the whole cast (with particular mentions for the leads, Koizumi Kyoko and Nakai Kiichi, who are absolutely great! Chapeau!), this is without any doubt one of the best doramas I've ever seen, seriously! It even reminded me a bit of the wonderful series of movies "Kazoku Wa Tsurai Yo!" for the general atmosphere and for the adorable craziness (and at the same time, adorable "normality", as weird as that may sound) of the families portrayed in those movies as well as in this dorama. Great music, too (most of all, the piano piece reminiscing of Erik Satie's Gymnopédies). Instant top10 of my personal all-time faves! Perfect 10! ^_______^

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Total let down, as far as I'm concerned

I had great expectations for this movie, but alas, it was a real let down, as far as I'm concerned.
The only really good part was the subplot involving Haru, the beautifully tragic (or tragically beautiful) character portrayed by Morikawa Aoi. If they had made a short movie using only those scenes, I would've given it a 10!
Unfortunately, everything else was either "meh" or else just plain bad, imho.
For once, instead of my usual "honorable mentions", I'll go for some well-deserved "dishonorable mentions":

1) while Miura Haruma managed to give a decent performance (nothing spectacular imho, sorry...but at least it was okay), the rest of the male cast was - again, imho, take no offence - plainly terrible! O___o

2) the sound guy(s) should be fired: the audio was annoyingly deafening whenever SFX, music or shouts were involved, and then almost totally inaudible whenever the normal dialogues were taking place. And adding insult to injury, the parts "in English" only got Japanese, but not English subs (which of course would not be a problem normally, but here - hence my quotation marks! - the "parts in English" were actually either in "Japanglish" or in a thick Scottish accent - imagine listening to a speech by Sir Alex Ferguson with only Japanese subtitles to help you decipher what the hell he's mumbling! >__<)

3) last but certainly not least (and as I previously mentioned, apart from Haru's subplot), the script was as bland, plain and uninteresting as they come: a bunch of random scenes and sequences thrown together don't make for good storytelling - at least, not in my book.

As I said, a real let down.../.__.\

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I was drawn in by my passion for Mahjong (although I'm no big fan of the Japanese version aka "Riichi" "depicted" here). What to say? I'm afraid that it will result impossible to follow by those who don't know Mahjong (and I mean the REAL Mahjong, not that stupid solitaire so popular in the West - BTW, I keep asking myself: the guy who had the @#* idea of taking a great game like Mahjong and turning it into a lousy solitaire, what does he do when he sees a chess set? Piles the pieces randomly on top of the chessboard and then starts playing Mikado?!?)
Back to the dorama: the problem is that even Mahjong lovers like me most probably won't appreciate it because it's horribly "shonenjumpesque" and so far removed from reality it hurts (compared to this, even the Hong Kong trilogy of "Kung Fu Mahjong" seems like a realistic depiction!). Hamabe Minabi and Furuhata Seika are both very cute and good actresses, but alas, that's definitely not enough to save this dorama.

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I really loved the first season and the SP episode of this adorable "Zetsumeshi Road". and I'm happy to be able to say that quality wasn't lost in this secon season, which is just as good as the previous one if not even better - hence the raised grade!)
Hamatsu Takayuki is simply great in his role of this salaryman with the hobby of roaming through Japan's less-beaten roads in search of "endangered restaurants". It's nice also to see again Kaburagi's character. And my beloved Sakai Wakana playing the wife is, last but certainly not least, so lovely! In fact, I actually wish her role would get more screentime, 'cause I find they're such a nice couple indeed (for example, the short scene with them and the fireworks felt nicer and more authentically romantic than all those "CEO+Eyelash-batting-secretary" dejavu-fests put together! ^____-).
Some beautiful scenery and a fantastic OST complete the package!

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So much more than just a food drama!

This "Atari no Kitchen!" captured me right away with that lovely, uplifting, terribly catchy opening credits song, then kept wooing me, episode after episode, with the sheer quality of its script - and let's be honest, also with the sheer (both inner and outer) beauty of the eponimous main character, whom I fell desperately in love with - Gods, please give me a time machine so I can go back to my youth, and let me meet someone like her, LOL! ^_^;
Jokes aside, this is really a wonderful series, and so much more than just the Nth food drama! Sure, food has a relevant part in the story, but rather as *soul* food: the FL uses it to bring joy to those lucky enough to taste it, and to us viewers too in the process. Delicate and deep at the same time, chapeau to the writers!
And then a virtual standing ovation to the adorable - and tremendously talented - Sakurada Hiyori! Perfect 10!

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