Winter 2009 JDrama Awards

Instead of end-of-season reviews, I decided that I’d rather do awards! But they are rather limiting awards because they’ll only be based on dramas that I have watched. But all the same, they should be loads of fun for me!

Favorite Drama: Tie between Voice and Triangle
Voice was not was I was expecting, but I still really liked it. It’s actually not mysteries but more of a human drama with each episode focusing on a different guest. Although a lot of dramas with a different guest star per episode can have trouble with character development, Voice didn’t suffer from that problem at all, since the stories managed to weave into their personal lives as well. Plus Eita, Ishihara Satomi, Ikuta Toma, Endo Yuya, and Sato Tomohito were great as the five seminar students, starting out from a group of random students into their own little circle of close friends.

Triangle was definitely a treat for any mystery fan. There are plenty of twists and turns but not ones that come from nowhere and just the right amount of conspiracy, and the cast is filled with veterans, really drawing you into their world. It seems like there aren’t many long-running mystery series, most of them Yare one-episodes mysteries, like for every 10 Kiina/Yon Shimai tantei Dan/Galileo/etc-type mysteries, there’s only 1 Triangle / Unfair -type mystery series. But if they’re all like Triangle, it would be worth the wait. Eguchi Yosuke really impressed me; he’s quite amazing.

Winter 2009 J-drama Previews

Happy late Chinese New Years! Unfortunately, no one gave me a red envelope this year. =( But I have my dramas to comfort me. =)

Akai Ito

Starring: Minamisawa Nao, Mizubata Junpei, Kimura Ryo
Akai Ito follows the story of Mei and Atsushi (A-kun) who are kind of like star-crossed lovers. They first met as children on their very unusual birthday, February 29 and later unknowingly become high school classmates. And even though fate seems to be bringing them together, it’s also pulling them apart.

This drama also has tie-ins to the movie; the drama starts the story off, and then the movie and drama are intertwined. I don’t know if you have to watch the movie to understand the rest of the drama, though. But so far I have been enjoying this one – it’s a young cast and it’s set in high school, but not crazy like Hana Kimi’s production. It’s a sweet young love story, so if you like innocent love type stories, this would be a good pick.

Fall 2008 Drama Reviews

So instead of doing a drama preview and separate review, I bring to you near-end of season reviews! Short and sweet, hopefully. Well, even though I haven’t finished any series yet, I’ve been dying to do this! Dramas are so nice…they make a great study breaks, haha =)

Celeb to Binbo Taro

Starring: Ueto Aya, Kamiji Yusuke, Kunitaka Ryoko, Kashiwabara Takashi
It’s the story of a rich girl (Ueto) who’s the daughter a major hotel chain owner, who also runs her own fashion line. She meets a poor widower with three young kids (Kamiji) and blah blah stuff happens. Basically it’s a drama with almost everyone really exaggerated, where the villian’s motive is nowhere to be found (yet? who knows). But, it’s still a fun watch for when you’re bored.

A blonde streak?

For some reason, there have been a couple of new hairstyles that are….less than attractive. I don’t go looking for these things, and well, usually, it’s not that big of deal that I would want to post about it but I really feel the need to.

First was Shige from NEWS.

I don’t really follow Johnny’s, but NEWS is one of the two groups (+Arashi) that I know more about and that I can actually name names! (seriously, only two groups, and as a side note, H!P scares me in this aspect). But I saw this and first off, didn’t recognize him. And after I did recognize him, I was kind of appalled, and really only for one reason: the hair color. It’s disgusting and the dark roots make it look like he didn’t keep up with a bad dye job. Another bad hairstyling choice would have to be the height that it sticks up to. Way to accentuate a bad look.

Next was Mizushima Hiro.

Apparently he’s going to be starring in a new movie called DROP (http://www.drop-movie.jp/) and that’s why he dyed him. But no matter what image he’s supposed to have, wouldn’t you think that the producers could just forget it because it looks TERRIBLE?! Unless that’s the look they were going for, in that case, they’ve done a great job. Even that great face can’t help him anymore. I was at the bookstore and saw him in a magazine and my jaw literally dropped. I forget exactly what hairstyle it was, but it wasn’t the ones I just posted. I didn’t find those anywhere online (or haven’t yet, though I don’t really want to search for ‘em anyway). And if you can imagine, he looks better in these pictures than he did in the magazine (which one you say? can’t remember). Thankfully I hear that he doesn’t like his blonde hair and will (has?) dye it back to black after filming is done. I wonder if he’ll do the promotions in that hair, though…

As a side note, Narimiya Hiroki (who’s co-starring) also has this weird hair (buzz cut – fire engine red) but it’s doesn’t look as bad as Hiro’s does. The poor boy(s).

And that’s it. I am overdue for a bunch of music reviews, drama reviews from last season, and a drama preview for this season. They’ll probably come in a condensed format. Somewhat soon…by the end of this month? School has been killing me.

[Jdrama] Zettai Kareshi

Starring:
Hayami Mokomichi as Tenjo Night
Aibu Saki as Izawa Riiko
Mizushima Hiro as Asamoto Soushi
Sasaki Kuranosuke as Namikiri Gaku
Maya Miki as Wakabayashi Fujiko
Nakamura Shunsuke as Asamoto Masashi
Ueno Natsuhi as Ito Mika
Sasai Eisuke as Shirasagi Yuki
Satoi Kenta as Hirata Hajime
Nekoze Tsubaki as Adachi Kyoko
Lomoto Maki as Sato Nozomi
Kaji Masaki as Tanaka Yoichiro

Zettai Kareshi is the story of Izawa Riiko, a temp working at Asamoto, a pastry company. One day, she meets Namikiri Gaku from a company called Kronos Heaven who asks her what her ideal boyfriend would be like. She visits their company and answers a questionnaire and doesn’t think much of it. That is until the next day a giant package from Kronos Heaven arrives with a guy inside. He’s a lover robot customized to fit Riiko’s ideals, as listed in her questionnaire.

Spring 2008 Drama Previews

New season, new dramas! Here are my first and pre-impressions for some of the dramas this season.

Last Friends
It’s the story of people who have been hurt and how they are coping with it. It deals with many issues such as domestic violence and sexuality, so needless to say, this series is rather mature and serious. Not only does it have an amazing cast with Nagasawa Manami, Ueno Juri, and Eita, the story is interesting and compelling. Add to that a GREAT OP sequence and I think I’ve already decided that Last Friends is going to be my favorite of the season. And isn’t that promo images so beautiful?

[Jdrama] Hanazakari no Kimitachi e

Starring:
Horikita Maki as Ashiya Mizuki
Oguri Shun as Sano Izumi
Ikuta Toma as Nakatsu Shuiichi
Kono Mahiru as Hara Akiha
Kamikawa Takaya as Umedo Hokuto
Yamamoto Yusuke as Kayashima Taiki
Mizushima Hiro as Nanba Minami
Okada Masaki as Sekime Kyougo
Kimura Ryou as Senri Nakao
Ishigaki Yuma as Tennouoji Megumi
Kyo Nobuo as Himejima Masao (Oscar)
Iwasa Mayuko as Hanayashiki Hibari

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (roughly translating into For You in Full Blossom, nicknamed Hana Kimi) is a Japanese dorama that aired in the summer of 2007 on Fuji TV. It aired on Tuesday nights at 9:00 PM. Its average ratings were 17.3%, though the finale hit 21%. Hana Kimi is one of the few dramas that has both an opening and ending theme song. The opening is Ikenai Taiyou by ORANGE RANGE and the ending is PEACH by Otsuka Ai.

[Jdrama] Watashitachi no Kyokasho

Starring:
Kanno Miho as Tsumiki Tamako
Itoh Atsushi as Kaji Kohei
Tanihara Shosuke as Seri Naoyuki
Shida Mirai as Aizawa Asuka
Maki Yoko as Oshiro Saki
Fubuki Jun as Ameki Masumi
Sakai Wakana as Yoshikoshi Nozomi
Ohkura Koji as Toita Atsuhiko
Sato Jiro as Kumazawa Shigeichi
Mizushima Hiro as Yahata Daisuke
Tomiura Satoshi as Kaneyoshi Riku
Tanimura Mitsuki as Nishina Tomomi
Suzuki Kasumi as Yamada Kazuko

Watashitachi no Kyokasho (translating into ‘Our Textbook’) is a Japanese drama that aired in the spring of 2007. There were 12 episodes (the first being an hour long) and received average ratings of 11.2%. The show’s theme song was Water Me sung by BONNIE PINK. At the 53rd Television Drama Academy Awards, Kanno Miho won Best Actress and Sakamoto Yuji won Best Scriptwriter for their work in the show.

Kaji Kouhei is a new substitute teacher at Kirioka Middle School. He was inspired by Kinpachi-sensei from the long running school drama and wanted to become a teacher like him. On his first day there, a student is skipping class – Aizawa Asuka.