[Jmovie] Gaichu

Gaichu (Harmful Insect)

Starring:
Miyazaki Aoi as Kita Sachiko
Seiichi Tanabe as Ogata
Sawake Tetsu as Takao
Amamiya Ryo as Tokugawa
Ishikawa as Kyuzo
Aoi Yuu as Natsuko
Ryo as Kita Toshiko

Miyazaki Aoi stars as Sachiko, a trouble middle school student in Gaichu or Harmful Insect. The film starts with the scene of her mother attempting to commit suicide, setting the melancholy tone. And although Sachiko always wears her school uniform, she has stopped going for a long time. Suffering from loneliness, she searches for some kind of peace anywhere and for awhile finds solace with others who don’t confine themselves to society’s rules. Eventually, her only friend at school convinces her to come back to school. But things just don’t get better for her.

Mini movie reviews

Waters

Starring: Oguri Shun, Hirayama Hirouki, Morimoto Ryoji, Kirishima Yusuke, Matsuo Toshinobu, Suga Takamasa, Katsurayama Shingo, Narumi Riko

Seven guys who need money start working at a host club. When they all get there, they discover that the manager of the club has run off with all their desposits. But the owner is kind and says that they can stay and work as hosts if they also run the entire venue themselves. With nothing left to lose, they decide to accept his offer. Also in the story are five women who are now successful entrepreneurs. Oguri Shun’s character knows the CEO and they had one of those friendly acquaintances/almost-lovers-but-not relationship.

[Jdrama] Koukou Kyoushi 2003

Starring:
Ueto Aya as Machida Hina
Fujiki Naohito as Koga Ikumi
Kyomoto Masaki as Fujimura Moroki
Sonim as Kudo Beniko
Narimiya Hiroki as Kamiya Yuji
Aoi Yuu as Ezawa Mami

The initial description of this drama is “forbidden love” between a teacher and a student. However it is much more than that. It starts out as Hina (Ueto) skips class with her friend Beniko (Sonim). They later split up and Hina runs into a man at the game arcade. They become somewhat like friends and go back to his apartment. There, Hina freaks out and pushes him away, and the two end up only sleeping side by side the entire night. The next day at school, the man she met last night is her new math teacher – Koga Ikumi (Fujiki). However, he doesn’t seem to recognize her. He’s a genius, fairly young and good-looking, making him extremely popular among the all-girl student population. The real reason he has come to teach at a school is because he is dying of a brain tumor – he left his previous life suddenly and seeks to live out his last days peacefully. No one except his doctor knows that he is dying.