[Drama] Triangle

Winter 2009

Episodes: 11

Starring: Eguchi Yosuke, Inagaki Goro, Hirosue Ryoko, Aibu Saki, Tanihara Shosuke, Kohinata Fumiyo...



To be added. Just preparing...

Reitings: ?/5

[Drama] Long Vacation

Summer 1996

Episode: 11

Starring: Kimura Takuya, Yamaguchi Tomoko, Takenouchi Yutaka, Matsu Takako, Ryo, Hirosue Ryoko, Morimoto Leo...

Sena Hidetoshi reluctantly got out of bed to answer the door one morning and as he opened the door, he saw a woman dressed in traditional Japanese wedding outfit standing there asking for his roommate. It turns out that the woman, Hayama Minami was jilted on her wedding day by Asakura, who lives in the same apartment as Sena.

Minami, a loser model found herself out of money and without a husband, decided to move into the apartment her ex-fiance lived. Thus making Sena, a piano teacher who aims to be a world-class pianist one day, her roommate. This marks the beginning of the blossomming relationship between the two in that apartment as they talked and bonded and developed feelings for each other. While their age gap is evident (Minami being 7 years older than Sena) their inevitable relationship was also like so as this is a Fuji TV Getsuku drama.

So... yeah, you know. I am just in the mood for young, hot, dashing KimuTaku and Takenouchi Yutaka, so... I'll just skip all this crap.

*****

I so rock at summaries, really. MatsuJun, Yamapi, Kame... all these current leading men are NO MATCH for KimuTaku. KimuTaku has charisma and... he is... KimuTaku. Do you know how many Getsuku dramas KimuTaku acted in? That is eight. And his viewership ratings ALWAYS exceed 20%, and half the time, they exceed 30%. Now I don't mean to be one of the elitist, but back in the day, KimuTaku almost singlehandedly raised SMAP to a legendary spot. KimuTaku was the MAN.

And I do wish that one day, Jun or a Johnny's boi that I like will be able to rise to the level of KimuTaku, but I don't think there is a fat chance at that happening. Not that these other bois are not good enough or as good. But people would only see them as wannabes somehow. Being the star is hard, but trying to be as good as the star is way harder.

That is KimuTaku. And this is why, even if today, SMAP is not selling more than 200k copies of their singles when they once used to sell 2 million copies, SMAP is still... big.

Takenouchi Yutaka is... another thing. He was in 5 Getsuku dramas. xD Pretty great too. And very hot, in a manly, dirrrty, sexy kinda way.

These men were leading Getsuku dramas when Getsuku dramas were supposed to mean something. When being a Getsuku drama would probably guarantee ratings of 15% and above. And in the past only two of the Getsuku dramas passed the 30% mark, and both of them starred KimuTaku. This is why he is that cocky. It is because he freakin' can. And the third highest rated was 29.2% - a small step away from thirty. And it is Long Vacation. Who does it star again?

And these are NOT the only KimuTaku dramas that raked in viewership ratings exceeding 30%. Remember "Beautiful Life"? Well go into that later when I re-watch it. "Good Luck!!" as well. KimuTaku = viewership ratings gold.

This drama isn't much, really. Pretty cliched and predictable too. But very sweet and romantic. Unlike the usual JE-boy-starring dramas, this drama features a lot of smoking. We know they all smoke though. Its almost mandatory for Japanese man to show how macho they are.

And if it is not apparent enough, this is my "let us all worship KimuTaku for making being a Johnny's mean something" entry. And... Tachibana Keita looks like him. And... I have to be frank and say he cannot dance and cannot sing. END.

P.S. I am watching "Asunaro Hakusho". It should be good.

Ratings: I do not dare to even try to rate this supposed masterpiece for who am I but a lowly J-entertainment addict? xD

[Drama] Yasuko to Kenji

Summer 2008

Episodes:

Starring: Matsuoka Masahiro, Hirosue Ryoko, Tabe Mikako, Ohkura Tadayoshi...

Yasuko and Kenji lost their parents. Since then, Kenji, who was in a bikers' gang worked as a mangaka to support Yasuko and himself. Yasuko grew up and started to hate her brother's rough and controlling ways.

One fine day, Tsubaki Jun and Erika moved to town. Jun is a handsome young man and Erika is his pretty elder sister who is a florist. Yasuko quickly developed a crush on Jun who entered her high school.

Yasuko's blooming affections for Jun faced objections from Kenji. Actually, Kenji practically controls her love life and forbids her to date. On the other hand, Erika and Kenji seems to have a past together~

How will the two pair of siblings and their relationships with each other progress? Yeah. I HAD to ask the question to make it seem more... um... synopsis-ish. I don't know. Really, ever read the back of a DVD jacket? They always have questions, sorta like to increase the interest or whatever.

*****

Episode 1:

I could smell the comedy upon the first few minutes of watching it. xD And Mabo is sexay! Sexay I tell you. And really, Yasuko is just a really spoiled and ungrateful bitch. I mean, his brother doesn't really have to carry the responsibility of taking care of her. But he did. So all she could do is suck it up and be grateful.

But ah... Hirosue Ryoko's character is totally love! OMFG hilarity! OMFG I love it already! See? Comedy! Comedy pwns the asses of doctor dramas, seriously. What we want from doctor dramas, we got from E.R., Scrubs, Grey's Anatomy, House and... many more. We want biker gangs, funny Japanese humour and pretty boysies WITH facial expressions. A wet sponge has more facial expressions than Yamapi.

Hirosue Ryoko was at one time the IT girl of Japan. I think. Well I wouldn't know for sure since I live a gazillion miles away. Ohkura Tadayoshi... has as many facial expressions as a konnyaku. xD What? Seriously! Its stiff, stiff stiff! Pi, Hongo Kanata, Takaki Yuya... they need to learn to project~ But it doesn't matter in the Japanese world of entertainment. If you're hot enough, you can stand in front of the camera like a talking stick and still hit it big. No kidding.

Episode 2 & 3:

I love this drama a lot. Mabo and Hirosue Ryoko! xD Its very funny but it seems to follow the same pattern for every episode. Something new comes up, Yasuko gets pissed at Kenji. Yasuko realizes that Kenji sacrificed for her. Yasuko gets kidnapped. Erika, Jun and Kenji + his sidekicks rush to the scene. Yasuko gets saved.

You wonder how they all know that Yasuko was kidnapped. You wonder how they always know when to show up.

xD Funny though, the drama.

Its repetitive enough to predict yet funny enough to make you want to watch it despite the repetitiveness.

Upon finishing: TBA

Ratings: 3.5/5

[Drama] Summer Snow

[Moved from my old blog.]

Year: 2000

Episodes: 11

Starring: Domoto Tsuyoshi, Hirosue Ryoko, Oguri Shun, Imai Tsubasa, Ikewaki Chizuru, Nakamura Shunsuke.

Notable appearances: Tamayama Tetsuji, Tsukamoto Takashi.

Shinoda Natsuo, the eldest of three children, had to support his younger brother and sister after their parents died in an accident (I think). He was only 21 at the commencement of the drama but gives out the aura of a 40-year-old. He was a father figure to his siblings, who were still in school, as he worked at a bicycle repairing shop inherited from his parents. He worked hard without complains and had to deal with his siblings problems and he always did everything in their best interest, therefore neglecting his own.

Katase Yuki, a quiet, shy girl who works at the bank Natsuo borrowed money from. She has a heart disease since she was a kid and missed out on a lot of activities. Her overprotective father has kept her shielded from everything due to her disease.

They met and fell in love. Simple as that. Yes, it is probably that simple, they have a few obstacles yet in the end people all accept their love. She refused to go for treatment in the States because of him. He persuaded her to go.

The last episode is the crucial point of this drama. It is probably worth it. To watch the whole drama just so you could understand the last episode.

The story kicked off real slow and kinda… boring. I guess it was the trend of the drama at that time. 7 years ago was a long time ago. The storyline is simple, nice boy faces family problems, nice boy helps others, nice boy meets girl, girl is sick, nice boy loves girl who loves him back.

Oh they both wanted to go underwater to watch Summer Snow (hence the title of the drama) which is a phenomena near the seabed where the corals die and then something happens and then it looked like it was snowing underwater. And their names, NATSUo and YUKI… were actually summer and snow respectively. Not a coincidence, I assure ya.

But the ending is so worth it. The last episode is so worth the 10 hours you had to go through to watch it. It’s sad and romantic and everything yes, kinda predictable? Yes. ¼ way through the last episode you would have figured out what happened. Does that make the other ¾ of the episode pointless? No. Cos it was so good. I can’t even express how good it was in words.

Watch it again? NO. Why? Beginning was boring, ending got me wailing like a baby.

Ratings: 4/5