Akagi (2015)

The story is great. Thrilling, enticing, very well constructed. If you like gambling themes, It'is a must watch. I don't know anything about mahajong, but the story is very enjoyable still. I had tryed the anime, but the pace of the drama is way better. It begins in the clímax of the story. You don't get the same charcter building as the anime, but I preferred it. Even though I know more about the akagi of the anime, the series akagi is very well done. What is a bother is that every episode they do a huge recapitulation of the events. If I didn't understand what is the washizu mahajong by the middle of the series I will never understand it. No more summarizing!

The cast is great. Specially the old man Washizu! No complains!

The ending music is very catchy. Music was great as well.

I wouldn't watch it again, but I never rewatch dramas anyways.

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It has *nothing* to do with real mahjong...this is so unrealistic it hurts! >_____<

As I've mentioned here and there in my reviews, my "Dropped" list is anything but complete (if anything, let's say that it represents but a tiny fraction of the dramas I've actually dropped!). I should also add that even out of the minority of dropped dramas which I bother to include in that list, it's again just a tiny fraction that gets the questionable "honor" of a review; on the one hand, I prefer reviewing titles I've completed (as it seems more sensible and fair); on the other hand, though, I can make the occasional exception for titles which I deem so terrible that they deserve a bad review both for personal future reference and as a warning for my fellow dramophiles.
And, well, this is precisely one of those exceptions.
So, why is it so terrible imho?
Firstly, the script has *nothing* to do with mahjong (and indeed, I noticed positive reviews/comments by people who admit not knowing the slightest thing about mahjong - which is totally understandable). But if you, like me, are a big fan of this game, steer clear of this. It's so unrealistic it hurts.
Secondly, the acting follows the script in being absolutely ridiculous. Not sure how much of it depends on the actors themselves, though possibly litle, given the awfully poor material they had to work with (I'd normally speak of *bidimensional characters* at this point, but seriously, guys, these are so terrible, they're more like *monodimensional*...>____<)
So, if you're a mahjong fan, I'd recommend avoiding this completely and spending your time on "Ten - Tenwa Doori no Kaidanji" instead (I'm watching it these days and if they haven't ruined it in the very last episodes, expect a very positive review about it coming soon ^___-)

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