Waters

Starring: Oguri Shun, Hirayama Hirouki, Morimoto Ryoji, Kirishima Yusuke, Matsuo Toshinobu, Suga Takamasa, Katsurayama Shingo, Narumi Riko

Seven guys who need money start working at a host club. When they all get there, they discover that the manager of the club has run off with all their desposits. But the owner is kind and says that they can stay and work as hosts if they also run the entire venue themselves. With nothing left to lose, they decide to accept his offer. Also in the story are five women who are now successful entrepreneurs. Oguri Shun’s character knows the CEO and they had one of those friendly acquaintances/almost-lovers-but-not relationship.

Waters is your basic friendship story of several people who get thrown together randomly. The host club backdrop gives it a little spice, as well as plenty of humor, since they are all amateurs. It’s a lot of fun and Oguri Shun is really good in this one. I absolutely love the ending, though. It’s just too funny. Waters doesn’t have the most compelling storyline, but it is a definitely a fun watch.

Buy this movie: HK DVD | Korea Limited Edition

Backdancers

Starring: Hirayama Aya, hiro, Sonim, Saeko, Tanaka Kei, Hasebe Yu

The story starts out with Miyu (Hirayama Aya) and Yoshika (hiro) as high school students who love to dance. They always sneak into clubs just to dance, but one night are caught by the police and are forced to quit school. After that, they meet Juri (Hasebe Yu) and the three begin dancing as a trio. Juri is eventually scouted and debuts as the next big pop sensation. Miyu and Yoshika are brought in as back-up dancers along with Tomoe (Sonim) and Aiko (Saeko). Together they are known as the Backdancers. But what are they to do when suddenly Juri decides to retire and get married?

Although Backdancers is a friendship story, it also mixes in a bit of romance, family life, and music industry criticism. I’ve watched this movie like three or four times, but for me it doesn’t get old (or at least, it hasn’t yet). The plot is fun and interesting and the cast is great as well. They all come off as very good friends and get along really well. It’s like in romance stories, one of the most important thing is for the two leads to have good on-screen chemistry, well Backdancers has really good on-screen friendship-chemistry and that’s what makes this movie so good.

Buy this movie: HK DVD

Secret

Starring: Jay Chou, Guey Lun Mei, Anthony Wong, Tseng Kai Xuan

Jay Chou stars as Ye Xiang Lun who transfers to a music school where his father (Anthony Wong) is a teacher at. There he meets Xiao Yu (Guey Lun Mei), a mysterious and charming pianist. The two become very good friends, but everytime Xiang Lun asks anything personal about Xiao Yu, she would only say that it is a secret.

I enjoyed this sweet love story and the entire thing was very pretty to watch. Also being set at a music school, the soundtrack was really good (especially since Jay Chou is a great composer). But this movie has a lot of plot holes and unanswered questions, which if you can ignore them all, it will the movie more entertaining. Guey Lun Mei is really charming and a dream to watch and is definitely the star of the movie.

Buy this movie: HK DVD

Ao to Shiro no Mizuiro

Starring: Miyazaki Aoi, Oguri Shun, Aoi Yuu, Konishi Manami

Actually, this isn’t a movie, but a drama special. So it’s like a movie, right? Anyway, Kaede (Miyazaki Aoi) and Kasumi (Aoi Yuu) used to be best friends. But when they entered high school, Kasumi became more popular than Kaede, causing her to start bullying her ex-friend. One day, she meets new student Takumi (Oguri Shun) who is an expert at picking locks. She asks him to open the door to the school roof, but he refuses, saying that he’ll teach her how to pick locks instead.

Maybe this sounds like a friendship story, but it’s more like a bullying story. It’s rather short, clocking in at a mere 45 minutes, but it definitely accomplishes as much plot-wise as a full-length movie. The leads are all very good, you get to see a young Miyazaki Aoi, Oguri Shun, and Aoi Yuu. It’s interesting to note that they are all accomplished actors/actresses now (including Konishi Manami). There aren’t any subtitles available for this special, but it should be mostly okay, because there isn’t very much dialogue and most of the story is conveyed through body language.

Buy this movie: Japan DVD

Starring:
Oguri Shun as Iemoto
Santamaria Yusuke as OdaYuuji
Koide Keisuke as Snake
Tsukaji Muga as Yasuo
Kagawa Teruyuki as IchigoMusume
Sakai Kanako as Kisaragi Miki

One year after the suicide of a C-list idol, Kisaragi Miki, five of her fans meet to commemorate her death and celebrate her memory. Although none of them have met in person, they know each all by their aliases on Kisaragi Miki’s fan boards. The party starts off light-hearted enough, but when one of the members brings up his suspicions that Miki didn’t commit suicide, a heated discussions starts. He claims that she was murdered and that the murderer is actually in the room and starts accusing one attendee.

Even though it’s a discussion about a possible murder, the entire thing is very funny and witty. The film takes place all in one room, with exceptions for the few flashbacks. Despite that, the scenes don’t get boring because of the different camera angles. It’s surprising how well the one room set worked out actually. And think of all the money they saved! The colorful cast of characters makes the film worthy watching, especially because of their excellent performance. And it helps that everyone is wearing suits. Man, I love Oguri Shun.

Although it starts off a little slow, once they get into the discussion, it’s hard to tear your eyes or ears away because you just don’t want to miss a moment. Plus, in a way, it’s also a competition of how well each of the fans knows their idol.

This movie can get pretty trippy. With one twist after another, you just wonder, is there anything else that can happen anymore? It’s really hard to summarize this movie without giving anything away, since its enjoyment hinges on all the surprises there are.

I have to admit the ending is a little stupid (and cheesy), but if you ignore that, this is one great movie.

Buy this movie: J Standard Edition

New season, new dramas, and a renewed spirit! This’ll be my first drama preview post as just my first impressions on the dramas I’m planning on watching and reviewing.

First Impressions

Shikaotoko Aoiniyoshi

A very unlucky man is forced to move his post at a university lab to a girl’s high school in Nara, where the deer roam around freely. Ogawa Takanobu moves into an apartment/inn of some sorts with a bunch of his co-workers. Life in Nara is quite different from Tokyo and Ogawa has probalem adjusting, including a student who seems to hate him. And not to mention that there seems to be someone tailing him and writing telltale notes on his classroom blackboard. So far, I’ve found Shikaotoko Aoiniyoshi to be quite interesting. Even though, it takes place in Nara that’s depicted as mostly slow-paced and not very exciting, the drama is full of life. I also love that the humor is very dry; there doesn’t seem to be any slapstick to be seen. I also have to mention that Tamaki Hiroshi and Ayase Haruka have pretty unflattering hair compared to their previous hairstyles. Maybe it’s supposed to be reflect on their location.

Hachimitsu to Kuroba (Honey and Clover)

Probably one of the more anticipated drama for overseas watches would be Hachimistsu to Kuroba, more commonly known as Honey and Clover. It’s a story of five college students in art school and the drama and comedy that ensues from college life. The story starts when Hanamoto Hagumi, an amazingly talented painter among other things, starts school. It centers around Takemoto Yuta, though, who is mostly the narrator and falls in love with Hagu. There’s a lot of love triangles, random fun, and all sorts of art. I was really looking forward to this drama, but I was disappointed in the first episode. Some parts were funny, but other parts were just on the boring side and all in all I was not impressed. Fortunately, the second episode redeemed it a bit for me, but it’s still not as good as I had hoped. I have read a few chapters of the manga, and I’ve never watched the anime. I did watch the the movie and thought it was rather boring, though I found the manga to be pretty enjoyable. I just hope the drama will get better soon. But since the third episode’s rating is now below 10%, maybe all there is is hope.

Ashita no Kita Yoshio

I found this story synopsis to be quite intriguing. A man, Kita Yoshio, has always had a strange connection to the number 11. He has lead a life that he regrets and is sad about. He feel that the world hates him and there is nothing left for him to live. He had a wife, but she divorced him 11 years ago. He had one good friend, but he also died. Kita Yoshio decides to end his life 11 days from then, on the anniversary of his one friend’s death. However, fatefully, he meets Yashiro Heita who pulls him into a world he never knew about. This is the start Kita Yoshio’s most eventful 11 days. After being disappointed with Hachimitsu to Kuroba, I watched the first episode of Ashita no Kita Yoshio and was pleasantly surprised. The story is kind of trippy, but is really enjoyable. There’s a morbid side to it, yet it is very funny. Kohinata Fumiyo who plays the titular “hero,” Kita Yoshio is, so far, amazing. His character is really pathetic but at the time can relate to many people. I’m looking forward to watching the rest of this drama.

1 Pound no Fukuin

This is the story of a boxer who absolutely loves to eat. However this always gets into trouble since he needs to keep a close watch on his weight to stay in his weight class. One day, he meets a fledging nun, Sister Angela, and feels a strange pull towards her. I don’t know. The nun thing is really weird, but the juxtaposition of a nun and boxer is quite interesting. It’s weird, though, having Kame as the boxer cause he’s so skinny. Generally, it’s a little cheesy and dramatic (but what sports drama isn’t?). But Kame is nice to look at and Kuroki Meisa is really pretty.

Koshonin

I cannot resist a crime drama. Seriously. Koshonin is about the Special Investigation Team unit of the police. This team goes directly to the front line of a crime to negotiate with the criminals. The story focuses on Usagi Reiko, a new trainee in the SIT. She is the only woman on the team and the leader of the team lets her know straight up that she is not welcome. After watching the first episode, it seems that this drama is not about the crimes, but really mostly about police hierarchies and internal politics. Actually, I don’t find the actual case to be very interesting or engaging; what is interesting is the internal politics, perhaps the drama is a commentary on the rigidness of the system?

Still to start

Binbo Danshi

Two words: Oguri Shun! It’s the story of a poor college student who always lends a helping hand with other people’s debts, even though it always lands him into trouble (and he’s already dirt poor). This drama is either really good or really cheesy. I think I’ll watch it no matter what. That promo image is gold. Plus, it’ll also be an interesting ride to see him in a purely comedic role (a nice departure from Hanazawa Rui and Sano Izumi).

4 Shimai Tantei Dan

Yeah, just can’t resist mystery. It revolves around a team of 4 sisters who solves crimes. I’m interested to see what kind of mysteries the sisters will solve….Yukan Club-esque mysteries? (please, no more of those) or Galileo-esque mysteries? Hopefully this won’t disappoint. Also interesting to note that the abbreviation is 4STD.

Bara no nai Hanaya

I’m still not sure if I want to watch this drama. But it does have rather high ratings, I think the highest of the season so far. I dunno. Maybe. I do want to watch Matsuda Shota in a lighter role, though, since his recent leads have been rather dark characters (though he’s not the leading role in this one). What I gather about the story is that it’s about a single father running a flower shop and the people that he meets.

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