Shinku

Starring:
Uchiyama Rina as Kako
Mizukawa Asami as Miho
Kohinata Fumiyo as Kako’s father
Ogata Naoto as Miho’s father
Uchida Asahi as Akira
Tsukamoto Takashi as Takumi
Horikita Maki as young Kako

I recently watched a movie called Shinku. It’s about two girls. One is a college student whose family was murdered (Kako); the other is the daughter of the man who murdered the other girl’s family (Miho). Eight years after the murder, he is finally sentenced to death. Kako is now a pretty college student with a boyfriend and plenty of friends. Miho is a tattooed bar owner married to an unfaithful and unkind man. Kako wants to meet Miho and she starts visiting the bar that Miho owns. The two form a kind of friendship, but Kako seems to have something else in mind, a revenge of some sorts.

I really like the cover. It’s so beautiful and I love how Mizukawa Asami (Miho) looks so tragic, while Uchiyama Rina (Kako) looks calculating. Also the use of colors and the lighting on the two leads is just gorgeous.

This film is actually quite gory at some parts. Even though I don’t usually get very grossed out at blood, it got to me a little. Well, the film is called Shinku (deep red), naturally the color played a large role in the film’s palette.

Despite its goriness, I really enjoyed this film. The two leads give a very good performance and the two timelines fit in rather well. The movie flips between the past and present, so while we are watching Kako and Miho’s relationship grow, we are also finding out why Miho’s father murdered Kako’s family. The scenes with young Kako are especially interesting and the dream/subconscious conversation she has near the end is particularly compelling.

Something that I kept wondering about while I was watching was if Miho knew who Kako was. If she did, would their relationship have been different? And when did she find out who Kako was? I also wondered if Kako knew what her father did, because he is not exactly innocent. I think this film was successful in its crime and punishment/revenge exploration.

I don’t really want to give much away, but I will say that Shinku is an excellent film to watch. Definitely heavy but a very good physiological thriller. Some sites have called this a horror film, but I don’t agree. I strictly stay away from horror films (I even turn away from horror film trailers!), so I think it’s safe to say that if I don’t think it counts a horror film, it really isn’t. When I first read the synopsis, I thought that this movie had to be good, and I’m glad it was (otherwise I would have just wasted my time, right?)

Buy this movie: J Standard Edition

Starring:
Fukuyama Masaharu as Yukawa Manabu
Shibasaki Kou as Utsumi Kaoru
Watanabe Ikkei as Kuribayashi Hiromi
Maya Miki as Jonouchi Sakurako
Shinagawa Hiroshi as Yuge Shiro
Kitamura Kazuki as Kusanagi Shunpei
Hayashi Tsuyoshi as Murase Kensuke
Aoi as Taniguchi Saeko
Fukui Hiroaki as Kobuchizawa Takashi
Takayama Miyako as Watanabe Miyuki
Ito Takahiro as Mori Eita

Galileo is a Japanese drama that aired in the fall of 2007. It was broadcasted by Fuji TV on Monday nights and ran 10 episodes long. Galileo was the most anticipated drama for the fall season and secured averages ratings of 22%. The drama was based on the novels Tantei Galileo and Yochimu. The theme song was KISS Shite by KOH+, a collaboration consisting of the two leads, Fukuyama Masaharu and Shibasaki Kou.

Yukawa Manabu is a physic professor at a Teito University. He is very logical and relies on science to solve any problems he may have. Opposite of him is Utsumi Kaoru, a rookie detective who is quick to believe in the impossible. A seasoned detective, Kusanagi Shunpei, is being transferred to the central police station; he is known for being the ‘mystery hunter’ and solving all sorts of strange cases. He tells Utsumi a secret: he has always had help on these cases from an old college buddy of his, Yukawa. Because of this, she starts going to Yukawa for help. Though he may initially resist, the interesting, and often seeming impossible, circumstances interest him and he lends a helping hand. And maybe his assistant and students are sometimes annoyed by his lack of attention to school things, but once his becomes interesting in a subject, he must see it out until the end.

Unlike most mystery dramas, there is no overarching plot, so you can watch individual episodes and not miss anything (except for the last two episodes, a two-parter). If you’re a science geek, there’s no way you can miss this drama because it is pure physics fun (and out of all the sciences, physics is my personal favorite). Galileo can really appeal to almost anyone. People who enjoy mysterious will find all the cases interesting and different, even though every mystery involves a murder of some sort. People who like science and particularly physics will enjoy Yukawa-sensei’s experiments and his way of investigating. And for the rest who just want a good drama, the interaction between Yukawa-sensei and Utsumi is hilarious, as well as the possible…romance?? No one really knows…

Even though Galileo is pretty much stand-alone stories, you can see changes in the leads, and the way that Yukawa talks has such a dry sense of humor to it. Plus, Shibasaki Kou was really excellent in this role….don’t know who could have been better.

Oh, and another interesting thing about the show is all the guest stars. There were a bunch of big names including Horikita Maki, Fukada Kyoko, Honjou Manami, and Katori Shingo (from SMAP).

Basically Galileo is your usual cop show with some extra science twists. I personally really liked it, and it’s definitely an interesting watch. There’s a reason that the ratings were so high, you know.

Buy the boxset: Japan Version

Starring:
Horikita Maki as Ashiya Mizuki
Oguri Shun as Sano Izumi
Ikuta Toma as Nakatsu Shuiichi
Kono Mahiru as Hara Akiha
Kamikawa Takaya as Umedo Hokuto
Yamamoto Yusuke as Kayashima Taiki
Mizushima Hiro as Nanba Minami
Okada Masaki as Sekime Kyougo
Kimura Ryou as Senri Nakao
Ishigaki Yuma as Tennouoji Megumi
Kyo Nobuo as Himejima Masao (Oscar)
Iwasa Mayuko as Hanayashiki Hibari

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (roughly translating into For You in Full Blossom, nicknamed Hana Kimi) is a Japanese dorama that aired in the summer of 2007 on Fuji TV. It aired on Tuesday nights at 9:00 PM. Its average ratings were 17.3%, though the finale hit 21%. Hana Kimi is one of the few dramas that has both an opening and ending theme song. The opening is Ikenai Taiyou by ORANGE RANGE and the ending is PEACH by Otsuka Ai.

Hana Kimi is a live-action adaptation of the popular manga of the same name. Though the drama uses the same storyline as the manga, the scriptwriters modified a few key point and a few minor characters. It chronicles the high school life of Ashiya Mizuki, a Japanese-American girl who admires a Japanese youth athlete, Sano Izumi. He was injured and quit high jump. Mizuki is determined to change his mind, so she decided to study abroad in Japan and tranfers to his high school, Osaka Gakuen. The only problem with this is that Osaka Gakuen is a boys’ boarding school.

So that’s the basic premise for the show. Mizuki is hiding her true gender from her classmates while trying to become friends with Sano, so she can convince him to start jumping again. While she is trying to accomplish this, she comes across various problems - her identity almost being exposed, unexpected family visits, rivalries, etc.

Watching Hana Kimi feels very much like a manga. Effects such as little hearts, flowers, special framing give the entire show an overdone comedic feeling. It makes the series very fun to watch and it’s hard to not to laugh out loud at certain points. As funny as some portions are, there are very dramatic moments as well that sometime come right after the high comedy parts. So, comedy and drama are written really well.

One big problem I had with the changes made to the script was the seemingly lack of friendship between Sano and Mizuki. In the manga, they were very clearly best friends. (So why are they always saying Mizuki and Nakatsu are best friends?) Mizuki helped Sano train; they were very comfortable with each other. Halfway into the dorama series, Sano and Mizuki still didn’t seem to be friends yet. Other characters would say things like “Mizuki is the one who made Sano start jumping again,” but it sure wasn’t shown. It wasn’t really until the eighth episode that Sano started being overprotective of Mizuki.

Plus, Sano’s character is kind of moody. I like Oguri Shun, but it’s hard to say if I liked him in this particular role, since the way his character was written is sort of iffy. I also didn’t like how Sano was written to be so aloof and not friendly with anyone. It made his character a lot harder to like and relate to, which definitely does not add to the drama. I began to like his character in the last third of the series, since his role became less moody and stand-offish and more friendly like Sano was in the manga. Well, in the end I liked him.

I did like the way Mizuki’s character was portrayed, though it got pretty cheesy at times. I also really enjoyed the Nakatsu falling in love with Mizuki storyline. The comedy was really well done and Ikuta Toma did a fantastic job with that portion. Well, he did a great job with the whole thing. Nakatsu could easily be my favorite character in the drama. The special framing of Mizuki in Nakatsu’s thoughts was a little over the top, though, as was many portions of the series (like with Umeda and Hara and the school events).

One of the things I missed most about the manga was the ending; I really liked the way the series ended in the manga. There were a lot of elements that were the same, but the key things I loved about the end were changed.

While Hana Kimi was not the best drama of the season, it was really entertaining. High in comedy but not lacking in drama, it’s something that can make you laugh out loud and pull on your heartstrings. I liked some of the changes the scriptwriters made to the series, but there were also a lot of things I really appreciate in the manga that weren’t present in the drama. Unless you hate over the top comedy, you’ll mostly likely enjoy this one.

Buy the boxset: Japan Version - Part 1 | Japan Version - Part 2