[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] Summer 2008 Dramas

Yeah, since summer dramas are all going to start faster than you can say "I-would-rather-watch-evil!Ohno-instead-of-Dr.Pi-but-heck-I'll-watch-both" I am going to make a list for self reference, about which drama I should catch. But then I'll always end up catch only about 3 because I have short attention span and I am fussy.

I just don't watch any drama. It has to have enough starpower in the cast for me to watch it. AND, Johnny's-involved is preferred because I am biased like that. (This will lead to the "I know they are douchebags and they have no talent and stuff... but I am that addicted to them" argument, so I will just not go into it.)

I yakked enough about Maou and Code Blue (replacing Last Friends) so I will look into some others that are worth considering.

Seigi no Mikata

Yamada Yu and Shida Mirai. Now I really like Yamada Yu the model-turned-actress. She's (or was, god knows how fast these people go through boyfriends and girlfriends) dating Oguri Shun. They make a nice, tall couple eh? But rumour has it Shun is already cheating on her. He'd better not. RAWR. Shida Mirai is that girl in the drama "14 sai no Haha" acting as a middle schooler impregnated by Miura Haruma (or rather, his character). Didn't Miura Haruma impregnated Aragaki Yui in that movie as well? Geez, he has GOT TO stop impregnating schoolgirls. Really.

The drama will have the two playing sisters. Of course when you have a sister, you can expect lots of fights. I don't know, I don't have one. In the banner for the drama, Shida Mirai looks like Yamada Ryosuke from Hey! Say! JUMP. No, really, and its not Shida Mirai that looks like a boy, its more like Ryosuke looking like a girl, really.

Tomorrow

Stars the long forgotten (at least by myself) Takenouchi Yutaka (hot) and Kanno Miho. Hmm... actors of the older generation. What do I say? Let me think... I have never seen Kanno in anything other that "Itoshi Kimi e" because I wanted to watch "Watashi-tachi no Kyoukasho" but it seems so boring. A lot of her dramas seem too serious and boring that I just cannot take it. I like crap, I like pretty boys, I like to watch them crossdress, I like stupid people doing stupid stuff. So, yeah. Oh no wonder I haven't really seen a lot of Kanno Miho.

Takenouchi Yutaka... where did he disappear to? Err... gosh he's old. I know I have watched his dramas but I don't remember any scenes from the dramas. Classics like "Long Vacation" and "Beach Boys" oh and "Dekichatta Kekkon". Wow, thats... quite a lot. How come I only remember the last one I mentioned? Strange. Most probably cos he's old. xD

Kurokawa Tomoka (gag) and Edo Harumi (yay) will also appear in the drama. Its about doctors and nurses. I smell love between doctor and nurse. Whats up with all the doctor shit invading the dramasphere anyways?

Shibatora

Koike Teppei. Rookie cop who looks like a loli-shota host. Fighting crimes.

Nuff said. I mean, look at Teppei! Cute as a button. Deffo' qualified loli-shota. xD

Koizora

I don't think I will watch this seriously. I just included this in the list to remind myself what a failure looks like. I am not the world's best predictor person thingie whatever. But... that dude playing Miura Haruma's character is so... duh. And that girl... cannot hold a candle to Aragaki. The movie was too well-received and a this was a doomed failure from the very beginning. Casting a newbie for the main character is just... well... it spells failure cos these two are not as hot as Haruma and Yui. Period!