Kiina : Intro

Kiina – Winter 2009 [NTV - http://www.ntv.co.jp/kiina]
Original Air Date: 2009-Jan-21 to 2009-Mar-18 | Number Of Episodes: 9
Subbing Groups : Shigechan & Bjorno. Otsukaresamadeshita! (お疲れ様でした!)

I am watching the 704×396 .avi version of this drama. I’m not sure who is providing the RAW files but thank you! The two person crew of  shigechan and bjorno are steadily bringing the .srt files to the community. We thought we’d lost them for a while due to the continuing mass disrespecting going on where people are uploading people’s hard work to shit streaming sites who then claim credit. They were going to suspend their work for a while but decided to continue. I cannot thank you two enough for continuing your work. This is one of my favorite dramas and I almost cried when I thought there would be no more available. For those of us who cannot read or speak Japanese well, the fansubbing community is a life saving entity. As much as we at ADO absolutely disapprove of what the streaming sites are doing, I implore the fansubbing community to remember how much education their efforts are bringing to the net as a whole. Education is crucial in this world and cultural exposure is one of the most important forms that you could be contributing to. You are helping expand the minds and hearts of people who watch these dramas and the value of that cannot truly be measured. You have my absolute thanks for the work you are doing to bring something positive, and above all educational, to the net community. Thank you, thank you, thank you, and forever thank you from ADO!

Kiina is a drama that appeals to several of my interests at once: science, the supernatural, unexplained phenomena, fringe science, psychology, unlocking the mind, and mystery solving. If you consider also that it is a police/detective drama, semi-forensic drama, and a story about comradery, friendship, and love … well let’s just say that Kiina is a PERFECT drama in my book. There is no way to beat all of that AND a beautiful, smart, funny, totally extraordinary, and award winning lead female to boot. It’s flawless. The only thing wrong with Kiina is that it’s not long enough. Nine episodes is not enough! But then again, it just might be. It makes me think about how back in the day Jennifer Saunders responded to the outrage at Absolutely Fabulous only running 36 episodes and she more or less said that there was only but so long you could maintain something that good. She wanted to end on a high note and she’d rather people be pining for more than wishing it would hurry up and end. Kiina is like an amuses-bouche, or rather an amuses-oeil *grin*. Each episode is a tasty little morsel of visual entertainment that gives you just enough to please while at the same time leaving you wanting more.

Kanno Miho is no stranger to the drama world and has enough Television Drama Awards under her belt to show for it. Five to be exact. Wait, wait … six. She just won best actress for wait for it … wait for it … KIINA! Kanno-sama as Kiina is probably something I could spend all day writing about. I guess to put it as clearly as possible I will say that as Kiina, Kanno-sama is light years beyond delightful, orbiting wildly around the third moon of fantabulous, just before doing a perfect landing on planet genius. I love Haruse Kiina. I could marry that woman. Twice. Similarly to what I adore about Hancho, Kiina has the soul of a healer. Her existence on this Earth, like a lot of people, is enough to change the lives of everyone around her for the better. The questionable solidity of the path beneath our feet is reinforced by Kiina’s strong passion for following her instincts. Our own doubts about ourselves quickly fall to the wayside because her vision of, and sensitivity to, the lives of others makes us see the best in ourselves. Through her vision we can embrace the truth behind what seems to be mystery and although the path that lies before us seems dark, we don’t fear treading upon it with her beside us.

I am drawn to Kiina because I think I understand her in a way. Like Kiina, whose natural abilities compel her to do good for others, I have often felt that inability to let something go that I know I can help with. My natural skills, while not as amazing as Kiina’s scanning ability, help me to be able to see a lot within people that they can’t see themselves. These skills drew me towards the psychology profession and it was something that I knew was part of my path from early on. Kiina states at one point in this episode that as much as she would like to settle down and have a normal life, these cases are things that she just cannot let go of. “It’s not so much that I like it,” she says “It’s that I can’t leave it alone.” She feels drawn to help people whom no one else believes. She walks the places that others will not.

A concept that I see often brought up in Asian drama and anime, and one I absolutely believe myself, is that if there is something that only you can do, you have an obligation to do it. It is your responsibility to use your skills where you can. If you have something to give to the world, it is your duty to give it. It was given to you by the Universe for that reason alone; for others, not for yourself. Kiina embodies this concept perfectly and it’s a trait that a lot of people need to embrace. Think about others; about what you can do for them and how your actions effect them. The absolute main thing that will solve problems in this world and help people to grow is selflessness. If you learn nothing else from Kiina let it be at least that much. I think people will look at Kiina, as a fictional character, as being some kind of idealized fantasy that is somewhat unrealistic – or at the very least – perfected on screen and paper but impossible to imagine in real life. To those people I say: Good people may be rare, selfless people even rarer, but that doesn’t mean they are a myth or a mystery like the ones Kiina solves. In the end there is a truth to everything Kiina investigates and there is truth in the existence of good people as well. Don’t let your own pain and fear blind you to the truth and beauty that does exist in the world and in others.

Like I mentioned in my Godhand Teru post, I don’t read stuff on DramaWiki until after I have seen a few episodes. I like to come at things completely fresh so I download things based on a variety of factors and check them out. I downloaded Kiina because I liked the name, the series was short enough for me to be able to fit it in with everything else I was watching, and there were a few episodes available that I could grab at once. Still being new to drama I’m always pleasantly surprised to see familiar faces when I am watching something and there are a few in here that I recognized. First of course, speaking of Godhand, we have Teru himself, Hiraoka Yuta who I love in a major way, Tsukaji Muga, who I’m watching in Hancho right now. (Does he have a permanently broken foot?), and Kusakari Masao from Atashinchi no Danshi. I absolutely love the movie 2DLK, I have seen it more than a dozen times, so I recognized Eiko Koike very quickly, and the first episode had Katsumura Masanobu appearing in it who I saw also recently in Code Blue.

In Kiina we have the start of something else I mentioned in my Godhand Teru post, the K² factor. In case you’re reading this post first, I will explain briefly. The Kon Kon! factor (K²) is the effect that happens when you have a great ensemble cast that blends perfectly together and brings out the best of each person. While the characters in GHT are unique and charming in their own way, I don’t feel that they all blend together in a way that is balanced on screen. With Kiina, as well as Hancho, there is a possibility of K² forming but it’s too early to tell. The characters in Kiina are wonderfully affecting and I immediately began to fall in love with them on sight. The pairing of Hiraoka-kun and Kanno-sama is either sheer brilliance that someone needs an award for or it’s the kind of wondrous luck that you wish you could bottle and take to the MahJong table with you. Kiina is a beautiful, “feel good” XFiles and Takeru and Kiina are a heartfelt, cohesive duo that’s an upside down and reverse mirror of Mulder and Scully.  This drama is such a perfectly blended balance of so many drastically different elements that there is something almost, well, supernatural about it. *smile* I cannot recommend this show enough.

I cannot thank Shigechan & Bjorno enough either. You probably don’t always realize how strongly your efforts affect others or how it may change them as people but you should always be proud of your contributions. Everything you do affects someone, somewhere, even in a small way. From a translated drama or anime, to a manga scanlation, there is a great deal of beauty and wisdom shared in cultural exposure. Far beyond the simplicity of the written or spoken word is an emotional connection and a chance to experience the most fundamental feelings from another perspective. Thank you for making it possible for us all to enjoy this drama. It has brought something indescribably valuable to my household and I’m sure to others as well.

I will be reviewing other episodes soon so keep an eye out!

• Favorite Scene: [Timecode 56:15] - Yamazaki: "In the end, everything was explained by science." / Kiina: *smile* "That's not really how it was, was it?"
• Favorite Line: "Becoming desperate for sake of the heart and it's previous owner, rather than thinking about yourself ... that's the sort of person I trust."
• Song Playing On Winamp: "Rising Sun" - DBSK

• Godhand Teru : Intro
• Monster Parent : Complete
• Mr. Brain : Intro
• Boss : Intro
• Hancho : Intro
• Hancho : Continued ... (Eps 2 & 3)