Bomb-Bee Men

[Excerpt from Daily Yomiuri, January 25, Wm. Penn, Televiews]: The most perplexing of last week's offerings was Bomb-Bee Men (Tuesdays, 10 p.m., NTV) starring Shun Oguri as Kazumi, a good-natured college student who values his friends over his finances.

He wins their loyalty by endlessly helping them but keeps getting into debt in the process. In the first episode, Kazumi is 1 million yen in debt when two new friends--shopaholic Mimi and a bicycle cop caught in a matchmaking scam that has left him 6 million yen in debt--introduce him to Omuomu (Yusuke Santa Maria).

He's a host club owner whose hobby is loan-sharking. Kazumi performs an overnight miracle for Omuomu to pay off his debt but is soon trapped in debt again. It is a very strange scenario, and Episode 1 was a muddle of illogical thinking.

While obviously out to stress the importance of friendship over money, this confusing, convoluted script does a disservice to young viewers by obscuring the reality of the horrors of high-interest loans. No stars at all in this totally cloudy sky.

STARRING: Santa Maria Yusuke, Oguri Shun
NETWORK: NTV
Theme Song:  
DURATION: January through March 2008