[Movie] Kisarazu Cats Eye: Nihon Series

2003

Starring: Okada Junichi, Sakurai Sho, Sato Ryuta, Tsukamoto Takashi, Okada Yoshinori, Sakai Wakana, Kohinata Fumiyo, Yakushimaru Hiroko, Furuta Arata...

[Warning: Lotsa spoilers. Beware.]

Half a year passed and Bussan found himself alive and kicking. The quintet yet again found themselves involved in crazy shit and getting out of trouble illogically easily.

Bambi retains his Mr. Kisarazu title for two years. The future scene where the four became crazy old men pestering a pizza delivery guy who looks exactly like Bussan showed that Moko and Bambi remained together - or not. Really I cannot tell which is the truth and which is crap in the Kisarazu Cats Eye series. But yeah, Bambi and Moko are still tight... Moko still seems to have a thing for Bussan. Anyways, Bambi seems to have beaten Bussan to the title, yet again.

Master, still married. Still horny despite marriage. Still manage to retain his wife's affections by saying "I love you".

Ani... we now know Ani's real name and it is too complicated to call therefore, Ani is fine with being Ani. Ani is still stupid.

Ucchie is no longer such an enigma. It has been revealed in the previous series that his dad is a spy for the CIA. Well, I'd think that his dad is an English-speaking wacko who loves the sea and Ucchie's mom probably have kinky games to play with his dad while his dad dresses up as a sailor.

Ozzy is back!!! T_T But there's a twist! xD

Kishidan is back too! xD This drama is getting more and more hilarious with every spawn it throws out.

The moment they sing the Kisarazu Cats Eye theme song. I choked. I seriously choked. xD OMFG like... Okada Junichi is not like this~ unless when he is high. I think he gets high before filming such characters.

The boysies' adoration for Aikawa Sho is just... I can't even begin to express how ridiculous this is. This reminds me of Stephen Chow and his ridiculous movies which I just cannot tear myself away from. Though nowadays, I cannot hold an interest for more than a month. Sad. Me.

Anyways, xD CAMEOS are great.

So, this time, there will be Korean hostess club, money forgery, an old flame of Mirei's and lots and I mean LOTS of Yassai Mossai. xD Oh yeah and their other worldly experience of sex and crabs. (Not pubic lice, the crabs you eat. Like the ones with the hard shell.) And... how can I forget the Gomingo Monstaaa...

Yeah, to sum it all up in a few words: Pure Crap.

Rating: 2.5/5 I am extremely entertained. Extremely. But... seriously? I don't get it at all. xD Its kinda like... its so bad, its good.

[Drama] Kisarazu Cat's Eye

ada2002

Episodes: 9

Starring: Okada Junichi, Sakurai Sho, Sato Ryuta, Tsukamoto Takashi, Okada Yoshinori, Sakai Wakana, Kohinata Fumiyo, Yakushimaru Hiroko, Furuta Arata, Narimiya Hiroki...



This drama follows the story of Bussan (real name Tabuchi Kouhei) who was diagnosed with cancer when he was 21 years of age. It was then that he decided that he was going to do some serious shit, since he had only 6 months to live, he might as well just go around and do all sorts of shit along with 4 of his pals, Bambi, Master, Ani and Ucchie. Set in a town called Kisarazu, hence the title and the name of the group, the story is laced with eccentricity and um... wackiness.



Actually, the idea sprouted when Bambi asked Bussan if he has anything that he wants to do before the half a year passes by, besides what he had been doing up till that point in time - which is drinking and baseball and that is about all. After considering the alternatives at hand... such as finding a girlfriend, debut in a band and being a pornstar, Bussan settled on the idea of doing suspenseful crap.



Bambi is a university student, Master is a father, Ani is the loser elder brother of a future baseball star, Ucchie... he is an enigma. And Bussan is a dying man. This is the story of how friends support each other through doing meaningless stuff when one of them is dying. ^^


*****

Frankly, I have no effin' idea what the story was actually conveying or where the story was heading. Its a weird one, sort of like young people doing meaningless crazy shit kinda story. The money they got from their adventures are never used for themselves.

You know... weird stuff.

Young Sho. xD Back when he wasn't that stupid. Young Okada, before he becomes the hotshot that he is today. Tsukamoto Takashi, whom to this day, isn't really as big as he should be.

I like the cast, I like the concept of young people doing crazy shit. I like how Bussan decided that he should do something different before his death. I like the weirdness of the drama. But above all, I like the idea of friends sticking together through thick and thin. You don't get that in real life. NO YOU DON'T. Plus there is a hint of humanity in the drama. Just a hint. Amongst all the crazy stuff.

Yeah, and when did Okada become the sex-oozing mancandy that he is today? I would say around the time he starred in Tiger and Dragon eh? He should always have black hair, with black hair, he has that refined... perfect look. I said it before and I will say it over and over again. I think Okada is the hottest man that has debuted under Johnny's Jimusho and is still in the industry. Because the early old farts, I am unsure of how they look with proper grooming, I will begin only with SMAP. KimuTaku's looks eroded through time and him, at his peak, to me, is still not as hot as Okada. Period.

I look at Okada and the image of a boy born with a silver spoon stuffed up his ass came to me. He lost almost all of his Kansai accent hasn't he? Wonder why. T_T Back then, he was totally stupid. As was Morita and Miyake. Watching V6's early shows is extremely entertaining.

Sakurai Sho... what can I say about the man?

Rating: 3.5/5 - Solely because of the hotties. I don't get the first few episodes. The eccentricity threw me off. But, the cameos are great. Aikawa Sho, Kishidan. xD And the name dropping. From The Blue Hearts to Yoshiki of X Japan to Komuro Tetsuya. xD Luv it. References to pop culture of Japan... though a wee bit outdated... but yeah. Tsumabuki Satoshi!!! xD

[Movie] Aoi Haru

2001

Starring: Matsuda Ryuhei, Arai Hirofumi, Takaoka Sousuke, Oshiba Yusuke, Oshinari Shugo, Tsukamoto Takashi, Eita...

High school politics. All boys high school politics.

The situation gets bloody as the boys fight for power mercilessly to gain respect within the school.

Yeah, that's about all I have to say.




Rating:
2/5

[Movie] Taiyou no Uta

[Moved from my old blog.]

Starring: YUI, Tsukamoto Takashi... (Note: Tsukamoto will be know as Mimura from here onwards, although his character's name in this movie is Fujishirou Kouji)

I remember blogging about the drama version of Taiyou no Uta. So, this update will be more about comparisons between the movie and drama, which aspects of each I like better. There will be spoilers. I don't care. ^^ It's not like it is not obvious what will happen anyways.

Mimura played a good Kouji. Better than Yamada Takayuki. It might be just bias.
Then there was this scene from the movie "Crying Out Love In The Centre of the World" where Moriyama Mirai's character's girlfriend had Leukaemia.

xD Funny faces!!! I am sorry for appearing like I lack compassion. But sometimes, I crack up watching sad scenes. I get distracted easy. I am sorry for that.

[Movie] Nada Sou Sou

[Moved from my old blog.]


This will be the longest, spoiler-filled review you would ever read, I suggest you just skip this crap. I just want to review it... but if it is not read, it would be the best.

I thought since I typed out something that long, if I don't post it up here, it would be just a waste.

Starring: Satoshi Tsumabuki, Masami Nagasawa, Takashi Tsukamoto…

Movie

The story is kinda set in Okinawa. The subs were horrible, so I kinda had to not rely on the subs…

The movie commenced showing a diligent, optimistic young man named Yotarou working happily as a veggie deliverer. He sends veggie to shops on a bicycle everyday, although he is very, very poor, his home is this wooden shack with a leak, he lives on with no complaints.

One fine day, as usual he was delivering veggies to old women, he happily announced that his sister is arriving from the countryside to go to high school and live with him. Here, the scene flashes back to a young Yotarou being introduced to his sister. His mother was marrying her father. Her father left not long after, and his mother died. They were both raised by his grandmother until Yotarou decided to venture out of the countryside to work.

Scene comes back to the present. Yotarou nervously introduced his sister, Kaoru to his girlfriend, Keiko, a medical student at the Ryukyu University. Kaoru was visibly disappointed but hid it well from Yotarou.

Yotarou’s dream has always been to own a restaurant, thus he worked hard and at first he received help from a swindler who cheated him off all his money. Things went downhill after this. He decided breakup with Keiko as he soon found out that he and Keiko are of different… caste, so to speak. Keiko’s father owns a hospital and she was on her way to become a big-time doctor while Yota was a poor, penniless laborer.

Kaoru, his only family has decided to live separately with him after she realized that it was impossible to control her feelings for her ‘Nii-nii’. She also thought that she was a burden for him, who was always working so hard to support Kaoru. Although they were not blood related, Yota has taken good care of her, raised her into adulthood.

Yota reluctantly agreed after discovering that it was Kaoru’s father that advised her to do so. Yes, that good-for-nothing father who abandoned them. Right before Kaoru left, she sorta confessed her feelings for Yota… who kinda… pretended to not understand. A tearful goodbye ensues.

Yota continues to work excessively for… some reason. One day, news reported that a typhoon would hit… Okinawa (?) [Remember, I was watching without subs…] and Yota was in a fever that day but still went under the rain to make sure that Kaoru was fine. He was admitted to the hospital not long after due to high fever. The doctor explained something about the flu virus spreading to the heart, and his immune system was also failing prior to the flu. Thus his heart was kinda… slowing down.

Then he died. Then you heart Kaoru’s annoying ‘Nii-nii’ screaming, which divert the sadness you were feeling away. You were really touched by all Yota did for Kaoru, then the NII-NII just ate your sadness away and replaced them with annoyance.

His funeral was held back at the countryside. After some crying on Kaoru’s part, a postman delivered a package for Kaoru. Inside, was a kimono and a letter from Yota. Yota explained that he was going to attend Kaoru’s coming of age ceremony and bought a beautiful kimono for her to wear on that day.

I shall assume that Yota was working hard to buy that kimono for Kaoru. Cos I heard that kimonos cost a bomb. T_T It was really kinda sad. But the subbing killed the atmosphere for me. Get some nicely subbed version and it is definitely a movie to enjoy.

The ending theme was “Nada Sou Sou” by Rimi Natsukawa. The whole thing had an Okinawan feel to it, the actors spoke funny, which I should assume is the Okinawan accent.

Note: Nagasawa won a WORST actress award for this movie. You can’t blame her though, it was her first movie. I recently saw Tsumabuki in “Lunch no Joou”. He was most certainly better looking back then. Tsukamoto was casted as the protagonist’s best friend, his screen time was way too little.