First Impressions, Spring 2010: Tsuki no Koibito

Plot: Hazuki Rensuke, the president of a furniture company, is opening a new branch in Shanghai. He also is lucky enough to have three beautiful women in his life: a Chinese factory worker, his friend the designer and his girlfriend the model.

Kimura Takuya as Hazuke Rensuke: apparently catnip for women.

Episode 1 Recap: Hazuke Rensuke (Kimura Takuya of SMAP) is the president of Regolith, a successful furniture company. He's a perfectionist and a bit of a hardass but isn't really a bad guy (I mean, he's not pouring water over employees' heads or throwing papers at them so hard he gives them a papercut, like poor Doctor's boss in Sunao ni Narenakute). He's opening a new branch in Shanghai and has to deal with protests from the factory workers whose factory he demolished.

Liu Xiu Mei (Lin Chi Ling): never dirty, just adorably smudged.

One of these workers is Liu Xiu Mei (Lin Chi Ling, Chinese actress from Red Cliff). She and Hazuke meet cute at the demolished factory, with Xiu Mei overhearing him speak Japanese on the phone and telling him in Japanese to get off the site because it's dangerous. It's love at first きさま for Hazuke (Xiu Mei's teacher has taught her to use "kisama" [rude firm of "you," like bastard], which is pretty hilarious). She's taking care of her sick mother and they're foreclosed on and her mother gets kidnapped by the debt collectors! Is that how they roll in China? Anyway, it's just an excuse to make Xiu Mei desperate enough to accept Hazuke's offer of being the model for his company. There's some drama of oh no, I won't betray my fellow factory workers for you (Hazuke promises to hire them all after his store opens) and oh, will she learn how to be a proper model in time? (of course she does). Hazuke declares his feelings for her. Xiu Mei models successfully and gets clapped and cheered by all, including her old factory comrades. I still don't get how her modeling had anything to do with selling furniture, but whatever! She looked good!

Ninomiya Maemi (Shinohara Ryoko): more awesome than anyone else on this show.

Hazuke is also working with Ninomiya Maemi (Shinohara Ryoko), a designer for his company. She's an old friend of his, good at what she does, and is awesomely feisty. She befriends Xiu Mei and is asked out by Hazuke's vaguely creepy assistant, Sai Kazami (Matsuda Shota one of the F4 in Hana Yori Dango!) . She declines. I think she's supposed to be in love with Hazuke, but right now there's no real indication of it.

Onuki Yuzuki (Kitagawa Keiko) should look worried. She's definitely going to be the loser in this love polygon.

The last person complicating Hazuke's love life is Onuki Yuzuki (Kitagawa Keiko who I embarrassingly remember as Sailor Mars from Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon). She's a famous model and her father is the president of Hazuke's rival company. She's also Hazuke's girlfriend (maybe fiancee? It was kinda unclear) but he seems to have no real interest in her. She hates Xiu Mei almost instinctively.

Sai Kazami (Matsuda Shoda): kinda sketchy, kinda awesome.

And...that's about it. The opening of the new branch is a success. The players are set up. The love square/pentagon/whatever this turns into has begun to form. Lots of character building this epsiode, not much action.

Not the way you want your boyfriend to look at you.

The Good: I kinda love that Xiu Mei calls Hazuke a bastard whenever she speaks Japanese. I also love Shinohara Ryoko as Ninomiya Maemi and think both the actress and character are pretty awesome. Frankly, she is the most compelling love interest of the three. I also like that Xiu Mei's Japanese is really easy for me to understand and people tend to talk to her in easier Japanese since it's not her first language. And when Onuki Yuzuki had to dress up as a panda and hand out fliers (she did say she'd do anything for her boyfriend), then started attacking someone who just threw the flier away, I definitely laughed out loud. It's never not funny to see a giant panda mascot attack someone and have to be held back by the other panda mascots. There's definitely some decent humor in this show.

I call it now: they will be the end pairing.

The Bad: It's a tad slow. Xiu Mei is supposed to be a spitfire, but I think she's kind of bland, especially next to Ninomiya. And I really don't have any investment in a Xiu Mei/Hazuke romance since I'm not a big fan of them as a couple (and it's just a tad creepy that he tells her she can't quit because she owes him a big debt for housing/etc. while training her to be a model...but really it's because he doesn't want to live without her! Essentially he's blackmailing her into staying with him. But she seems okay with it so...it's not bad?). Also, the plot doesn't seem to be rich enough to maintain a full season. But I could be proved wrong.

Still more awesome than everyone else.

The Verdict: Not my favorite drama of the season (I love Yankee-kun a lot more) but pretty good. And I can't repeat enough how much I love Ninomiya. My attention sometimes drifts while watching, but I stay focused for every scene of hers.

JNews Round-Up: May 21st

Okay, time for another round-up of the week's Japanese entertainment news. For the information I rely primarily on the livejournal group Japanese Entertainment News. Anyone interested in Japanese entertainment should check it out!


KAT-TUN is releasing their new album, No More Pain, on June 16th. Their new single "Going!" is in the top 5 on Oricon right now. Recently they've been on a lot of TV programs to promote their latest single. On one program, Tanaka and Nakamaru talked about their love of online bidding sites like Yahoo! auction, which Kame didn't seem to know about ("That's amazing! How do you do it?" he asked). On a different program, the other members revealed that Taguchi's mother has a really sharp tongue.

KAT-TUN is starting on their Asia tour soon. It was scheduled to start with a concert in Bangkok on July 31st, but the recent political troubles there have forced them to cancel. The rest of the tour will go on as planned, with two shows in Seoul on August 6-7 and two shows in Taipei on August 27-28.



Kutsuna Shiori (who I know from her role as one of the students in Mei-chan no Shitsuji) is known as the "Pocky Princess" for being the genki girl in the Pocky commercials. In a recent interview she revealed: "The outfit for the commercials is quite revealing (laughs), but everyone just says that the color is really vibrant and leaves a huge impact. It's really nice that they are so popular. However, it looks like people think that I'm always in such high spirits and once at an interview the reporter was kinda surprised that I didn't enter the room while dancing around (laughs)."

She's currently in a mobile drama where she plays a college student and has to use a lot of difficult economic terms in her role. I didn't know this, but Kutsuna lived in Australia until a few years ago. She said: "I surprisingly was able to understand a lot after looking up all the terms, but before that I got flooded with kanji I've never seen before in my life and didn't know where to start at all (laughs). In my case I wasn't really able to get into the role due to the lack of vocabulary and knowledge (about Japanese society), so I started to study all the words until I completely understood them all and also watched a lot of programs talking about social problems."


Both Nino and MatsuJun of Arashi are rumored to be starring in upcoming dramas. It's being said that MatsuJun will be the lead in the summer drama in the popular 9pm Monday timeslot on Fuji TV. MatsuJun's last lead drama, Smile, did poorly in the ratings, though that's likely more due to the drama not being that great rather than his star power. Nino is said to be the lead in a drama on Fuji TV next fall.


The full trailer for Oguri Shun's directorial review, Surely Someday has been released. The movie opens in Japan on July 17th. Interestingly, two of the actors worked with Oguri Shun in Tokyo Dogs--Ryo Katsuji was his overeager kouhai and Ryohei Suzuki guest-starred as an old friend of Oguri Shun's partner. Here's the description:

Drawing influence from the street musicians of Miyagi, high school students Takumi (Keisuke Koide), Kyohei (Ryo Katsuji), Shuuto (Go Ayano), Kazuo (Ryohei Suzuki), and Yuuki (Tsuyoshi Muro) form a band and spend all their free time practicing for their school’s upcoming festival.

However, when the festival is abruptly canceled, they come up with a dimwitted strategy to fake a bomb threat to force the principal to change his mind. Surprisingly, their plan seems to work at first, but when a real bomb goes off, the group are forced to take responsibility for the explosion and are kicked out of school. Three years later, further details of the incident are revealed as Takumi and company attempt to put their lives back in order.

First Impressions, Spring 2010: Sunao ni Narenakute (Hard To Say I Love You)

Plot: A bunch of young people who met on Twitter meet in person for the first time. Their lives (especially their love lives) begin to intertwine.

The meet-up. Too bad most (all?) gatherings of cyber-buddies aren't this attractive.

Episode 1 Recap: There's a lot of storylines that intertwine in this show, and it's kinda easier to follow by character than chronologically. But the opening is important to note. It has Nakaji running desperately through Tokyo to an apartment door. He bangs on it and yells for whoever is inside to open it, but there's no answer except for blood seeping out from under the door. No clue yet who is behind the door. Nakaji narrates that

Back then, we didn't know what true love was. We didn't know that true love could hurt this much.


First up is Ueno Juri (Nodame from Nodame Cantabile) as Mizuno Tsukiko or "Haru" (her Twitter name). She says she's a high-school teacher, but really she's just a part-time teacher (not the same as a sub). She seems like she's good at her job, but she's too innovative for the full-time teacher and gets a verbal smackdown. It also seems that one of her male students has a crush on her, which is more than a little creepy (she doesn't seem to realize he likes her yet). She had a crush on Nakaji from his Twitter posts. At the beginning, they pass each other in the street oblivious to each others' existence. Their first real-life encounter doesn't go well. She accidentally spills coffee on him, not knowing who he is, and when she tries to clean up he calls her a pervert and on Twitter calls her a bitch. When they meet at the Twitter gathering things are a bit awkward, but Nakaji ends up trying to kiss her, which she rebuffs. They meet up again and Nakaji reveals the truth about his work.


Next is Eita (blond haired violine player, also from Nodame!) as Nakajima Keisuke or "Nakaji." He says he's a fashion and travel photographer who's worked for Vogue, but really he works for a gravure magazine (that means he mostly shoots girls in skimpy clothes). He's mean to Haru at first, but seems to like her later, seeing as he carries her on his back, tries to kiss her, and tells her the truth about his job. So far, Nakaji and Haru are the most tied together story-wise.


Hero JaeJoong (from the Korean band TVXQ) is Park Seonsu or "Doctor." He's incredibly sweet and is a bit shy and overeager. He's still Korean in this, and moved from Korea to Japan a few years ago. He tells everyone that he's a doctor (and even gives out business cards saying this!) but in fact he just sells medical supplies to doctors who are real jerks. He has a younger sister who gets picked up for shop-lifting. He also has a crush on Haru after he meets her (and he secretly takes her picture on his cell).


Tamayama Tetsuji is Ichihara Koaru or "Linda" (yeah, I don't know why he uses a girl name, either).
He actually is the successful magazine editor he says he is (at least it looks that way) but he is getting sexually harassed by his ugly female boss, who tells him that the only reason she promoted him was because of his looks and that he'll be in trouble with his career if he doesn't go on dates with her and kiss her. Because apparently Japan doesn't have adequate sexual harassment laws. He hooks up with Hikari and later accompanies her to the clinic.


Seki Megumi is Nishimura Hikari or "Peach." But since she doesn't use the name Peach yet, I'm going to call her Hikari. She isn't part of the Twitter group to begin with, but goes to the meet-up as a favor to Haru, who's her best friend. She's a flight attendant and is pregnant by her absent boyfriend, but she goes to a hotel room with Linda after the meet-up. She's got several self-inflicted cuts on her wrist which she hides with an armband. She goes to the pregnancy clinic accompanied by Linda for support (which is really nice of him, considering it's not his and they only had a one-night stand). At the end of the episode, she declares that she might take up Twittering as well.

Is this symbolic of how Nakaji and Haru feel like they are trapped in a cage? Or just a poor choice of camera placement?

Thoughts: Wow, I didn't know this would be so serious. I thought a show about a bunch of beautiful young people who meet up online would be fun and funny. It's not, but it's a good drama and a lot better than I expected it to be. The opening especially was a wow moment and totally hooked me. Who was it behind the door? And how much did they have to bleed and why did they choose to stand right next to the door to have the blood seep out from under it? They did a good job of establishing everyone and making them different and memorable. The episode only contained American music, most of which I've heard on shows like Gossip Girl (which isn't a dig; I like Gossip Girl and I like the music). Using US pop so extensively is usually something I hear on kdramas, not jdramas, so it was surprising. Whenever it happens, I always wonder if they pay royalties to the US singers/producers/record companies/whoever owns the rights and if it's more or less expensive than for American shows. Also, how did everyone meet up on Twitter? It's not like it's Facebook where people join groups or a blog where it's usually about a specific interest. It's just random thoughts. How did they find each other? Everyone Tweeted about living in Tokyo?

Even one-night stands with hot guys can't take poor Hikari's mind off her problems.

The Good: That opening. The way they're setting up all the character threads so far. The characters themselves.

Poor fake Doctor, your job sucks because real doctors are a-holes in this show.

The Bad: Damn, is everyone in this show in a crapsack job? Seriously, sometimes it's just over the top. I mean, poor fake Doctor gets water poured on his head by his boss for poor sales. Is there no law against that? Does that actually happen? Plus, he has to give doctors foot massages and clean their offices. I'm pretty sure sales reps don't have to do that crap. And, again, I want to know why Linda doesn't sue his boss for sexual harassment (though I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen very often in Japan, if at all). If this was a US show, I'd say everyone would ultimately end up succeeding, but this is a jdrama so it could very well be Rocks Fall Everyone Dies.

Seriously, it's like no one's allowed to be happy in this show. Every breaks down/almost breaks down at least once this episode because their life is made of suck.

The Verdict: I have to say, even though I liked the cast I was unsure about this drama before the first episode. But it's got me intrigued and I want to keep watching. Even if Rocks Fall Everyone Dies.

First Impressions, Spring 2010: Yankee-kun to Megane-chan

Plot: Revolves around Shinagawa Daichi, who is a good boy gone bad, the Yankee-kun (a type of delinquent youth) of the title. He studied really hard to get into a good high school so he could get into medical school and one-up his Always Someone Better older sister and take over the family medical practice. When he finds out she managed to transfer into medical school and his father plans to let her take over the practice, he gives up trying at school and gives in to being a Yankee. Adachi Hana is a bad girl gone good and the Megane-chan (glasses girl) of the title. She was a delinquent in middle school, but her grandfather helped her turn her life around. Now she's following his advice to make the most of high school. The episodes so far seem to revolve around Adachi involving a reluctant Shinagawa in her latest do-gooder scheme.

Adachi Hana: You can tell she's a serious student because she wears glasses!

Episode 1 Recap: Shinagawa Daichi (Narimiya Hiroki, the psychopath J in Bloody Monday) is a Yankee who keeps getting into fights. However, it's not always his fault, as many of the other Yankees mistake him for Hurricane Ada, a mysterious and notoriously tough fighter. On the first day of high school, he meets Adachi Hana (Naka Riisa) after she hurts her ankle, spots Shinagawa in the same school uniform, and demands he carry her to school. He protests, but he does it. While Shinagawa skips class on the roof (in his school uniform...I will never understand why he doesn't go hang out in the arcade or something in his street clothes like American delinquents), Adachi volunteers to be class rep while everyone else avoids volunteering. However, since Shinagawa is skipping she can't get a unanimous vote for class rep. So she hunts down Shinagawa and drags him to class to cast his vote. He again protests and calls her annoying, but in the end again gives in. Later, the class has to decide on a project for the school anniversary. Adachi suggests doing a class mural. No one else is really enthusiastic, but she gives it her all. Adachi wrangles Shinagawa into participating with the rest of the class, but then a group of Yankees appear looking for Hurricane Ada and attack Shinagawa, wrecking the mural in the process. Shinagawa is then suspended from school for fighting. Adachi visits his house every day, which just annoys him. He says that once a Yankee, always a Yankee, and people will always see and treat him like a Yankee. Adachi says she understands how he feels more than he knows, and she thinks people can change. He tells her to stop bothering him. She doesn't come to his house the next day, but Shinagawa's sister sees her going off with the Yankees that had attacked Shinagawa. She wants them to apologize to the school to get Shinagawa out of trouble for the fight. Thinking Adachi is in danger, Shinagawa rushes off to save her. In the end, he finds out she didn't really need saving since she is Hurricane Ada. The next day, Adachi comes to school to find Shinagawa working by himself on the mural. Adachi joins him and then the whole class joins in and has a good time together.

Shinagawa Daichi: You can tell he's a bad boy because of his bleached hair!

Episode 2 Recap: Adachi has found out that one of the students in the class, Chiba Seiya (Koyanagi Yu) hasn't been to school for a while. He's a hikikomori (shut-in). Adachi blames Shinagawa, as sources report that he yelled at Chiba once. Shinagawa claims he doesn't remember this and it's definitely not his fault. Adachi manages to get a reluctant Shinagawa to come along with her to Chiba's place, which is a huge house. Chiba refuses to leave his room or even talk with Shinagawa and Adachi. They come back the next day, though, and Adachi tries to use a love compatibility test to get to know Chiba better. Chiba scores an 80% compatibility with Shinagawa, but Adachi only has a 3% compatibility with Shinagawa. Adachi and Shinagawa eventually find Chiba's blog, where they find out that he became a hikikomori after becoming "friends" with a group of boys who were only using him for his money. He'd never had any other friends, though, and was embarrassed that his new friends were using him. He felt he couldn't tell his parents about this and became so self-conscious he locked himself in his room (though why it's more embarrassing to tell your parents your new friends are actually jerks than to give up on life outside your room entirely, I'll never know). Shinagawa manages to give a rousing speech to Chiba that gets him to come out of his room. The next day, Chiba comes to school and tells the gang of his former "friends" that he doesn't need them anymore because he has new friends--Shinagawa and Adachi.

Izumi Gaku: Smart, but maybe evil. Future Yakuza accountant!

Thoughts: I'm really liking this series so far. It's funny and cute and there's a lot of goodness that I didn't include in the recaps. Like Suzuki Ryohei (the tall butler for the little girl in Mei-chan no Shitsuji) as Shinagawa's best friend from junior high, who goes to a different high school. And Hongo Kanata as Izumi Gaku, a possible evil genius, or at least a frenemy of Shinagawa's (he calls Shinagawa out for quitting whenever things get hard in the first ep and seems to hate him, but he helps out Adachi when she's trying to get Chiba to come back to school by finding Chiba's blog and giving the web address to Adachi). Both are good supporting characters. There's also funny fantasies of Shinagawa in both episodes so far where he thinks Adachi is going to confess her love for him (why else would she follow him around so persistently?) when in reality she doesn't even come close.As for the actors, Narimiya Hiroki is a bit old to play high schooler Shinagawa (he's almost 30!). However, it's not the worst case of Dawson Casting I've ever seen, and at least he looks more like a student than a teacher (trying to imagine him playing a teacher...and failing). I do appreciate that he looks like he's solid enough to actually hurt someone when he hits them, unlike many tiny Japanese actors who look like they'll break in half in fight scenes (aww, Kame, you're really cute but you are a bit too much on the wee side to make me take you seriously in the fight scenes in Yamato Nadeshiko). On the downside, he does tend to have weird facial expressions. As for Naka Riisa as Adachi, she pulls off both the overeager class rep and the punk delinquent scenes. I do think she seriously looks like Nino in drag, though. Less so when she's not wearing glasses, maybe because the glasses make her nose look bigger? I don't know. I had to double-check that they're not siblings and I thought they'd at least be cousins or something.

I can't be the only one who thinks they look related, can I?

The Manga: I started reading the manga after seeing the drama and am only a few chapters in. So far, the biggest difference is that Adachi is less of a spaz. She is a serious Cloudcuckoolander in the manga. She is also living with her grandmother instead of her grandfather and the plot plays out differently (as in, the drama is not just a faithful live-action version of the manga), but the general gist is the same.

Man, what the hell is that expression Shinagawa? Be careful your face doesn't freeze that way!

The Good: I like both the main and supporting characters. I'm intrigued by all the characters and am glad they are giving some reasonable motives and backgrounds for both Shinagawa and Adachi. The show kept my attention through both episodes and made me look forward to the next ep. It pretty much hit all the right notes for a high school drama.

She's a walking disaster and looks amazingly badass in her Yankee days.

The Bad: It has the potential to get into the too-silly filler that jdramas are sadly too prone to.

Aww, so cute without her glasses. Does she need them or just use them to look more like a class rep?

The Verdict: This is definitely still on my must-watch list. It's a high school drama and I love high school dramas and so far it's a good high school drama. It's a shame that subs are coming out so slowly, even on dramacrazy. I guess I was spoiled in the past. Hardsubs seem to be waiting for Timeless subs, which are a really great group who do an excellent job, but quality takes time and so releases are super slow.

First Impressions, Spring 2010: Tumbling

Plot: Azuma Wataru (Yamamoto Yusuke) is a hot-headed punk. But when he is forced to join a club he ends up on the men's rhythmic gymnastic team because the cute new girl he likes is part of the girl's team. But the boy's team is small and struggling and gets no respect, always competing for gym space with the larger and more competitive girl's team.

You can tell they're hardcore because they're wearing their school uniforms unbuttoned.

Episode 1 Recap: Azuma Wataru and his two best friends are punks who get into a lot of fights. The new teacher tells Azuma that he must join a club or take extra classes or he'll have to call his mother. Azuma doesn't want that, so he tries out for a variety of clubs but his impatience and hot-temper make him quickly quit each one. The beautiful new girl that Azuma has fallen head over heels for joins the girl's gymnastics team, so he joins the boy's team. That doesn't work out so well, either. Azuma has no patience for things like stretching and he doesn't get along well with the other team members, The boy's team has other things to worry about, as the girl's team barely gives them any gym time and their newest member (other than Azuma, who barely counts as a member) is injured, destroying their dream of competing as a group for the first time. But then Azuma decides that he is serious about the club and sets out to prove his dedication to the other members. They begin to accept him, but then their competition performance is such a disaster that the team members are horribly dispirited. The episode ends with Azuma rededicating himself to rhythmic gymnastics and the watchword for the series seems to be teamwork, because it looks like the team has no chance of winning until they bond more and start to work together like a real team.

Azuma Wataru (Yamamoto Yusuke). His red hair shows his hot-headed nature.

Thoughts: The first episode was an hour and a half long, which I wasn't expecting. That's double the length of a normal episode, and this isn't something big like Bloody Monday 2, which also had a double-length first ep, so I don't know why this one was extra long. I thought overall this was a decent high school drama. Not something great like Nobuta o Produce, but not a trainwreck, either. It's fairly mediocre--some heart, some humor, but not enough to get me excited about the next episode. It also suffers because I'm not really into any of the actors. The sad truth is that if it had any of the actors I really liked--Sato Takeru, Kame, Yamapi, etc.--than I would tune in every week just for the pretty. Yamamoto Yusuke is serviceable as the lead, but doesn't really do anything for me.

Rhythmic gymnastic members. Too bad none of them are as pretty as Kame.

The Good: Not as boring as a show about rhythmic gymnastics could be. Yanagishita Tomo as Mizusawa Taku, the hardcore rhythmic gymnastic member who is better than his teammates and isn't much of a team player. Otsuka Nene from Tokyo Dogs as Azuma's tough-as-nails mother. Mostly because anything that reminds me of Tokyo Dogs gets my undying love.

Azuma was way too badass to stretch. Luckily, he got over it.

The Bad: Formulaic sports drama about friendship and team spirit--but how many jdramas aren't formulaic? No actors that I particularly like. No matter how many fancy camera angles and slow motion they use, still can't make rhythmic gymnastics look cool. Fairly mediocre plot/script.

Trying to work the leotards.

The Verdict: I'll give it a few more episodes but it's not a show I'll be waiting for each week. Still, if you like high school dramas and especially if you like high school sports dramas, it's worth checking out to see if you'll like it more than I do.

JNews Round-Up

So what rumors and gossip have come out of the Japanese entertainment world this week?




Matsumoto Jun (Arashi member whose best known acting role is probably as the male lead of Hana Yori Dango) is rumored to be romantically involved with actress Shibasaki Kou (Galileo, Battle Royale). MatsuJun and Shibasaki acted together in a recent special and were spotted having dinner with a group of friends, after which Shibasaki headed over to MatsuJun's place. Shibasaki has been previously linked to actor Tsumabuki Satoshi and lead UVERworld vocalist Takuya.

No idea if this means anything at all or is the usual tabloid gossip. Frankly, I'm just surprised MatsuJun is rumored to be in a relationship with a girl.


Horikita Maki (Nobuta wo Produce, HanaKimi, too many other things to name) will be debuting on stage as Joan of Arc this fall.


It's been rumored for a while that Akanishi Jin was preparing to leave KAT-TUN for a solo career. The fact that he is preparing to go to LA for solo performances while KAT-TUN is touring around Asia, as well as the fact that he is not singing in KAT-TUN's latest single have added fuel to the fire. He denied the rumors that he's leaving, saying "I will not stop (with KAT-TUN)."


It was recently reported that Yamada Yuu (evil girl on Mei-Chan no Shitsuji) and Oguri Shun (Tokyo Dogs) have broken up. Yamada moved out of Oguri's house and they haven't seen each other since. Yamada took part in a UNIQLO (clothing store) presentation where she was of course asked about her relationship with Oguri. She (probably wisely) dodged all the questions and refused to give any definitive answers.


Thanks to Japan Now for the info.

Spring Dramas 2010

Tsuki no Koibito (Moon Lovers)
When: 9pm Mondays
Sub Group: TimeLes Sub
Starring: Kimura Takuya (SMAP), Shinohara Ryoko, Lin Chi Ling (Taiwanese, Red Cliff), Kitagawa Keiko (Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Taiyo to Umi)
Plot: Kimura plays the head of an interior design company who wants to expand into China. There appears to be a love square between him and three women, including a Chinese interior designer (Lin Chi Ling) and a model from a rich family (Kitagawa Keiko).
Thoughts: This is one of the dramas I'm interested in watching. It's already done really well in the ratings for the first few episodes, which doesn't surprise me, since it seems aimed at the same older crowd who made JIN a smash hit (Kimura Takuya is apparently quite popular among them). Although it's not exactly aimed at my demographic, I like love stories and like Keiko from her previous roles.



Zettai Reido
When: 9pm Tuesdays
Sub Group: Rollins
Starring: Ueto Aya is the lead, but supporting actor Sugimoto Tetta (Code Blue) is one of the older actors I recognize and like
Plot: Ueto Aya is the head of a new forensic analysis police team which uses DNA to investigate cold cases and missing persons cases.
Thoughts: So...basically a low budget CSI/Cold Case. Every season brings a new round of episodic detective dramas that I never watch because whenever I do catch an episode on TV it is either laughably bad or boring or both. This seems to be of the same ilk. If I happen to turn on the TV when it's on I'll watch it, but I won't go out of my way to find it.



Mother
When: 10pm Wednesdays
Sub Group: Chuks
Starring: Matsuyuki Yasuko
Plot: Matsuyuki is an elementary school teacher who takes in one of her abused students
Thoughts: I randomly caught the first episode and found it really slow. Slice-of-life dramas aren't really my cup of tea.



Dosokai
When: 9pm Thursdays
Sub Group: Heiwa Fansubs
Starring: Kuroki Hitomi (head boss lady on Real Clothes)
Plot: Hitomi plays a housewife whose life is falling apart in the recession: her husband has lost his job and her family has lost their house. However, her class reunion changes her life even more.
Thoughts: Another show that I randomly caught an episode of. I really liked Hitomi in Real Clothes and it was interesting to see her as a normal housewife instead of a high-powered fashionista. There was a lot of crying and love tangles going on in the episode I saw. Not something I'll watch regularly.



Sunao ni Narenakute (Hard To Say I Love You)
When: 10pm Thursdays
Sub Group: Querbeet
Starring: Eita (blond haired violinist in Nodame Cantible), Ueno Juri (Nodame of Nodame Cantible), Seki Magumi, Tamayama Tetsuji, Hero JaeJoong (from Kpop group TVXQ)
Plot: I can't do it justice if I try to write it myself, so here's the description from drama wiki:

Nakajima (Eita) looks up to his father, who was a war photographer, but can only get a job as an assistant for gravure magazines. Mizuno (Ueno Juri) is a provisional high school teacher, currently on probation. Nishimura (Seki Megumi) is Mizuno's best friend, whose boyfriend has been avoiding her since she discovered she was pregnant. Ichihara (Tamayama Tetsuji) works at a magazine where he is being blackmailed into sexual favours by his chief editor. Park (Hero JaeJoong), on Twitter, takes on the persona of a doctor, when he is actually working at a company that sells medical equipment to disinterested doctors, and at the same time, trying to take care of his younger sister.This is a story about the blossoming friendship of five young people who were brought together by Twitter, and their journey to finding honesty with each other and with themselves.

Thoughts: I like Eita, I like Ueno Juri and JaeJoong is cute. Plus, I like shows about young people in love (and you know with this many beautiful young people there are going to be love triangles galore). Even though, c'mon, Twitter? There's a show about people connecting through TWITTER? I want to know how they all become Twitter friends. I'm only Twitter friends with famous people (who I like to pretend I'm actually friends with) and people who I'm already friends with in real life.

Yankee-kun to Megane-chan
When: 10pm Fridays
Sub Group: Timeles Subs
Starring: Narimiya Hiroki (bad guy J in Bloody Monday), Naka Riisa (Ninkyo Helper)
Plot: Hiroki plays Shinagawa Daichi, a good boy gone bad (this is Japan, so not really bad...more someone that gets into fights, smokes and skips class but still has dinner with his family every night). Riisa plays Adachi Hana, a bad girl gone good. Hana is determined to be a good class rep and have everyone participate in and enjoy high school, including delinquent Daichi.
Thoughts: My Jdrama weakness is high school dramas and this was the number 1 drama I was looking forward to this season. So far the first two episodes haven't disappointed. I was a bit worried at first that Hiroki was way too old to play a high school student (dude's 28!) but he looks close enough in his school uniform and he's doing a good job in his part. This is based on the manga of the same name, which I haven't read yet, but am planning to. It's called Flunk Punk Rumble in the English translation (yeah, I don't know how they came up with that name, either).

Tumbling
When: 8pm Saturdays
Sub Group: GiriGiri Fansubs
Starring: Yamamoto Yusuke (Ninkyo Helper, Atashinchi Denshi, that guy who felt spirits in HanaKimi), Seto Koji (Otomen, Atashinchi Denshi), Daito Shunsuke (Welkame, the guy who gets beat up in Nobuta wo Produce), Tomiura Satoshi (the cute little brother in Hana Yori Dango)
Plot: Yamamoto Yusuke plays Azuma Wataru, a short-tempered delinquent who is told he must join a school club. He decides to join rhythmic gymnastics because a beautiful girl is in the female rhythmic gymnastic team. But the male team is not in great shape.
Thoughts: Am I ashamed that I want to watch this? Yes, yes I am. It's not like I even want to watch it for the pretty boys because I've never been a fan of Yamamoto Yusuke's looks and the other boys don't do anything for me either. Plus do you SEE the promo pic? Those uniforms aren't exactly lust-inducing. But I still want to see it. It looks like it will be in the cracktastic dumb good fun category.

Kaibutsu-kun
When: 9pm Saturdays
Sub Group: GiriGiri Fansubs, STORMY Subs
Starring: Ohno Satoshi (leader from Arashi!)
Plot: Leader plays the prince of the land of monsters and is best buds with Dracula, the Wolfman and Frankenstein. And he has to come to the human world as part of his training.
Thoughts: Uh...yeah. I'm sure all the Leader (Ohno Satoshi) fans out there will watch this. But unless I hear good things I will probably pass. There's it's so cracktastic it's good, and then there's it's so cracktastic it's cracktastic. This seems to be the latter.

Shinzamono
When: 9pm Sundays
Sub Group: Chuks
Starring: Abe Hiroshi, Kuroki Meisa (1 Pound no Fukuin, Saigo no Yakusoku), Mukai Osamu (Gegege no Nyobo, Atashinchi no Danshi, evil butler in Mei-chan no Shitsuji), Miura Tomokazu (head cop/father figure in Tokyo Dogs)
Plot: Abe Hiroshi plays a detective in charge of a case involving a murdered woman.
Thoughts: This looks like it is a plot-driven detective series instead of episodic, which means it has potential. Plus, it has a lot of actors I like. I'll give this one a chance.