Whirlpool of Joy (1992)

 

It's not often that I sub random episodes from TV shows (actually, I think this is the first instance of me doing so...?) but I had to make an exception here under very special circumstances.

So, what exactly is this? Let's look at Wikipedia JP...

In 1990, an anthology TV show debuted titled DRAMADAS—this show consisted of separate stories that were split into five 15-minute episodes, with the stories ranging from eroticism & surrealism to violent content. 

It seems like one of the show's notable key points is the fact that there were various notable directors & screenwriters who were involved with some of the show's episodes—Wikipedia JP lists a few examples but the only ones I could identify from it were Kiyoshi Kurosawa & Chiaki J. Konaka.

Anyways, DRAMADAS ceased its daily broadcast format in April 1991 and was relaunched as DRAMADOS—shifting from its five 15-minute episode schedule to a single weekly 30-minute episode schedule. Additionally, this new revamped show ditched the genres of its predecessor and instead now focused on "three elements"—Dream (D), Occult (O), and Strange (S), which according to Wikipedia JP was meant to align closely with the worldview of The Twilight Zone.

Unfortunately, neither DRAMADAS nor DRAMADOS have complete home media releases—only select episodes were ever published on both VHS & DVD. A DVD release was put out in 2005 containing the only stories that Kiyoshi Kurosawa directed for both DRAMADAS & DRAMADOS, the latter of which today's release comes from.

What is it about? Honestly, I couldn't really tell you even if my life depended on it, because I found it to be really confusing & I don't even know if you have to be Reddit-levels of smart to understand it. The main gist is that the protagonist—played by Keiji Matsuda (who I just so happened to see recently in the 1989 film Kitchen, lol)—is surrounded by "joy" every day, which he severely despises. He revolts against his father (a fortune-teller) and his own fate, though I'm really not sure if that ever goes anywhere at all, considering how this ends.

Truthfully speaking, I can't say I really liked this. It's not bad, but the first thing I ever watched that was directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa was his Sweet Home movie—this episode honestly felt like an amateur student film with regards to overall quality and it's kinda crazy that he went from directing an influential horror film with lots of effort put into it... to this 🥴. 
But regardless of what I think, the only existing fansub of this episode that was online before today's release was an AI + machine-translated version. Nobody deserves to watch anything of that level of quality and I was certain nobody else was going to provide their own translation any time soon, since that's unfortunately the norm with most titles in the live-action JP drama community.

Final note: maybe I might go and sub Kurosawa's DRAMADAS story that was included in the same DVD as Whirlpool of Joy. Not a priority at the moment, though.

Nevertheless, enjoy! This can be found at the usual spot.

Tantei Monogatari - Episode 5

This episode officially marks the first-ever instance throughout the journey of this ongoing fansub in which an episode was posted within the same year as the previous one before it. BANZAI!!!

Anyways, that aside... in today's episode, a man from the Fukui countryside going by the name of Ichiro Tamura comes to Shunsaku Kudo for assistance—Ichiro's sister, Yumi, has suddenly left the countryside to go work at a café & has requested Ichiro to not come looking for her... all while requesting a small loan of 100,000 yen to cover for her expenses. Ichiro begins to worry when he finds out she doesn't work at that café anymore, so Shunsaku accepts the job & attempts to track her down.

However, during his investigation, Shunsaku not only notices Ichiro being in poor health, but he's even carrying around with him a duffel bag containing more yen than anybody can imagine! The duffel bag has seemingly caught the attention of several goons who are after Ichiro... just what exactly is going on here?

Ep. 5 can be found at the usual spot.

Tongari Boushi no Memole - Episode 11 & 12

Today's release—on my end, at least—will consist of both Ep. 11 & 12. I gave the folks at Inka-Subs the OK to release 11 without me since my blog was (temporarily) deleted from the net at the time of posting.

Now that it's back up I figured it'd be a good opportunity to finally post 11 here alongside 12. Having said that...

Episode 11 — Memole & friends are introduced to a music box gifted to Marielle from her father—however, Marielle has no interest in it and yearns for nothing more than to be able to hear her father's voice again. When Memole discovers that Mushy—a resident from the village Riruru's citizens are currently residing in—is able to nearly mimic the voice of Marielle's father, she hatches a plan to make Marielle happy by attempting to gift her a special "magical" music box of sorts that allows her to hear her father's voice once more.

Episode 12 — During a conversation with Marielle, the position of Lupang's father—Torirone—as a "master thief" gets brought up. Lupang, however, is too embarassed to admit it to Marielle & instead lies about his father being a policeman. Torirone, frustrated with Lupang's refusal to tell her the truth, writes Marielle a letter announcing his intentions to steal her piano in order to prove his worth as a thief.

You can grab both episodes at the usual spot.

Inka's write-up:
https://www.inka-subs.net/2025/07/lonelychaser-inka-tongari-boushi-no-memoru-12/