[Drama] Yukan Club - Episode 7

The Yukan Club got themselves into trouble again! In this 7th episode, Mike He, Taiwanese actor made an appearance as the Prince of some make-believe country who went to Japan to escape from a rebelling general.


Since Yuri’s dad and the King went to Cambridge together, Prince Kasaru will live at her house for the moment. Karen is determined to seduce Kasaru as he is hot and rich and a freaking prince. Karen wants so badly to become a princess.



But, just as Kasaru was thought to be free from harm or any threat of being harmed since the general was caught, the followers of the general caught lovebirds Kasaru and Karen and forced the King to free the general.

This is when Yukan Club tries to save the day.


Firstly, Mike He’s Japanese almost killed me. I don't get Japanese, but Mike's tone was soooo MANDARIN but unintelligible to those that don't know Japanese. You get it? It is like he could have been speaking Mandarin but you don't get it. It is very stressful this way. My ears hurt. It’s like his words stuffed my ear in an attempt to drive me crazy. Mike will appeal more if he just sat there and shut up. Just NOT talk. But when you really look at it, Mike is hotter than Jin.


But since I am in an Arashi, Taguchi and Yoko phase… it will be unfair for me to compare Mike with Taguchi or Yoko, because although Mike most probably is hotter, I won’t admit it. ^^


Yuri is sho kiut! Like she kept eating and eating. ^^ And Yoko… or rather Seishiro is so cool! If only Yoko can learn from the character he is playing, like not talk too much and be more intelligent… Yoko’s character in Haikei Chichiue sama pissed me off MAJORLY, but I only watched one episode of that, so I have yet to decide.

On English. Kashii Yu… was she really the one speaking all the English? WOW! Akanishi Jin… you got that American accent going on there dontcha? Looks like the months you spent in LA wasn’t just on partying and drinking and umm… other stuff.

But I am in this really big Arashi phase right now… I just like the group as a whole, you know? Unlike the others which I only like one or two members from the group, Arashi comes in a package, you cannot choose! It’s one big freaking bag of member love there.

[Talk] Arashi = Dorks

I sometimes do not know what to think about certain people.

Not that it matters.

But I wonder if I should weep or laugh at what certain people do for their show.

Let's take a look at the Arashi no Shukudai-kun on Christmas last year.

They had a game brought forth from G no Arashi.

It is Aiba's board game, that is Aiba no Sugoroku. On the board, there are presents and punishments. If you got the former, you eat. If you got the latter, you suffer.

This is how the group began the game. All look nice except for Aiba who was dressed up as Rudolph. Aww, what a bunch of decent looking boyband members, or so you would think.
The game claimed its first victim upon the first roll of the dice. Ohno got to have a stocking over his head. This is the third time i have seen the group play this game, and Ohno got the stocking every time. And I do mean every time.

Before.
After. [No way in hell am I going to have a stocking wrapped on my face, ever.]
Aiba then got the nipple T-shirt where he was asked to wear a white T-shirt and two holes are cut where his nipple are.
My... that's a reindeer with a T-shirt that shows nipples. That is new.
Sho got the same thing. (Oh their eating scenes are not as interesting so I just capped their punishments. ^^)
Jun was still unharmed at this point.
Nino rolled the dice and got to have a stocking over his head. Ohno felt happy as this is a reunion! The last time the two got to have stockings over their head was during G no Arashi! This was a touching moment as the two were reunited.
Awwww, still no way in hell I am ever going to have a stocking over my head. EVER.
Then Ohno got this old man who was wearing only his undies came out and then... umm.. prompted for Ohno to pee. It was a weird show.
Ohno who felt embarrassed had Nino there to console him. Indeed a close pair of stocking brothers we have here.
Sho got to have the sides of his nostrils painted black.
MatsuJun was trying to run away from his punishment that is to have a hot towel placed on his face... or anywhere, really.
It was a hot, steaming piece of cloth.
Nino got the sides of his nostrils painted black.
Ohno got freaky old man again.
Nino consoled Ohno again, the two have something on, I tell you.
Jun got stockings. Before:
After. Oh and btw, the one on the left was in Letters from Iwo Jima. ^^ That's a actor who went to the Berlin film fest or something ya'all.
Aiba got to dance the freaky Otaku dance. Speaking of Otaku, I swear, someone I know would have looked perfectly suitable dancing that dance.
Steaming hot cloth placed on Sho's nipples which were already exposed.
Jun had to dance that Otaku crap again.
Poor thing. Being an idol is not easy.
Aiba got freaky old man throw.
Sho had hot paste painted on his mustache or where his mustache would grow if he had any.
It was pretty painful.
Jun got to have the nipple T-shirt. That was Nino grabbing his breasts.
Aiba won and got a Prada bag. Lucky bastard.
This was how they ended up. 3 nipple T-shirts, 3 stockings, 3 throws, 2 dances, 2 painted nostrils, 2 steaming cloth and a lot of eating later.
To think these people performed at least 3 times at the Yokohama Arena, had a 47 stop national tour, had an Asian tour and performed at the Tokyo Dome before.

Amazing.

[Movie] Iwojima Kara no Tegami

Starring: Watanabe Ken, Ninomiya Kazunari, Ihara Tsuyoshi, Kase Ryo.

2006

Clint Eastwood's second of two movies based on the Battle of Iwo Jima, the other being Flags of our Fathers, this movie tells the Japanese side of the story.

Although Watanabe's name is credited first, Ninomiya's Saigo carried a lot of the screen time. Saigo was a happily married baker with a pregnant wife when he was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army to fight at Iwo Jima and protect the island, or something.


General Kuribayashi, played by Watanabe was born to a Samurai family. This guy really existed and he studied for a period of time at Harvard. Yes, that Harvard.


This movie basically tells the Japanese side of the story, how they fought, how they lived in the caves. Awfully realistic and many brutal suicides were shown. The Japanese stuck to their seppuku, in a more modern form. Since grenades are used instead of cutting their stomachs open the samurai way. Bad health conditions and the lack of food and water befell the Japanese way before the battle really began. The situation only got worse when the Americans started the attack.


Saigo's character is fictional but the big names in the story are mostly people who really lived and fought on Iwo Jima. Since this is a war movie, and we all know war movies are complicated as well, what more to say one without subtitles and is in Japanese. So I will not talk about the content.

If you have a Japanese movie you want to release in the States, first, you HAVE TO have Watanabe Ken starring in it.

Next, the movie must be about war, honour, samurais or geishas.

I am not kidding. Number one, The Last Samurai, Watanabe - check, war+ honour + samurais - check.

Memoirs of a Geisha, Ken - check, war + geishas - check.

Letters from Iwo Jima, Ken - check, war + honour - check.

The secret to internationally released Japanese or Japan-related movies.


This is a sad movie. Why are they so many sad movies lining up for me to watch? Why do I always choose the sad movies? Okay, I was expecting a powerful, touching movie, since this is a war movie, like many war movies, this is everything you expect of it and more. You come out from the movie feeling like you are the luckiest person. You have a roof above your head, you have a pc, you have sufficient food. What more can you ask for?

But the enlightenment only last for a day, two at the most.


A picture from 1945, the American flag was raised at Iwo Jima, on Mount Suribachi.

*I claim no credit for the screencaps or pictures.

[Movie] Ao no Hono

Starring: Ninomiya Kazunari, Matsuura Aya, Suzuki Ann.

2003

Nino stars as Kushinari Shuichi, a high school boy who is brainstorming ways to get rid of his ex-stepfather who was divorced from his mother ten years ago. The drunkard stepfather of his just showed up one day and moved back into his house. Strangely, his mother did nothing to stop him from doing so.


This movie chronicles Shuichi's umm... decision making process as he masterminds the perfect method to remove the drunkard from his house.


Ayaya plays Noriko, the quiet, mysterious girl from school. There seems to be... um... mutual feelings of... puppy love between the two. Such feelings, I am not comfortable describing, so I will leave it at that. Because high school lovey dovey shit sickens me. (O.o) But as he warms up to her, he realizes that she is not as proud as he initially thought she was. And... it ends there, my description.


Suzuki plays the sister - Haruka. The drunkard pervert of a stepfather occasionally tries to get it on with her. That sickening old man would then get into a fight with Shuichi who would race to rescue his baby sister with a baseball bat. Haruka would then try to stop Shuichi from beating the crap out of the old freak. Hell, if I were her, I would grab another baseball bat and beat the old freak to a pulp myself. Freaking old pervert. But then that's me... Oh wait... I was trying to write a synopsis...

Nevermind.


Nino can act. Oh, I am amazed. No wonder the guy got so many roles in movies and dramas. =O JE boys surprise me day after day. To add oil to the fire, there are so many of them. I wonder when can I get out of this phase.

Being 20 when this movie was filmed, he could easily convince me that he is in high school. Being 25 today, he can still easily convince me so. Did you know Nino shaved his head for a movie? Not this movie, another movie. Shows how dedicated he is...

This movie has so many twists and turns that I don't know where is the climax. It is such a good movie. I seriously am in awe with the way the story goes, the way the story ends, the choices Shuichi made. I wonder if he was caught up in the situation or just plain rash. Is he thoughtful or impulsive. Plenty of things that I wonder and wonder.

This is a movie worthy of my two hours.

Rating:
4.5/5