Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, or 誰かが私にキスをした/Dareka ga Watashi ni Kisu wo Shita in Japanese, is a 2010 film that was a joint-American-Japanese production with American and Japanese staff and actors/actresses and based on a book of the same name. It stars Horikita Maki, Matsuyama Kenichi, Tegoshi Yuya, and Anton Yelchin. The summary is as follows:

If Naomi had picked tails, she would have won the coin toss. She wouldn't have had to go back for the yearbook camera, and she wouldn't have hit her head on the steps. She wouldn't have woken up in an ambulance with amnesia. She certainly would have remembered her boyfriend, Ace. She might even have remembered why she fell in love with him in the first place. She would understand why her best friend, Will, keeps calling her "Chief." She'd know about her mom's new family. She'd know about her dad's fiancée. She never would have met James, the boy with the questionable past and the even fuzzier future, who tells her he once wanted to kiss her. She wouldn't have wanted to kiss him back.

But Naomi picked heads... And now she can't remember the first 4 years of her life.

I honestly decided that I absolutely had to watch this when it came out due to several fairly simple reasons: (1) it stars some of my favorite Japanese actors/actresses [well, Tesshi's just special because I used to be very much obsessed with NEWS], (2) I loved Anton Yelchin in Star Trek [2009] and I wanted to hear him speak in un-accented English, (3) I wanted to hear all of the Japanese actors/actresses speak in English, and (4) I wanted to see how the co-production came out. In the end, their acting was pretty good and I was impressed since I know how hard it could be to act and show emotion at the right moments in a language you're not familiar with, but they did it. Tesshi's English is still pretty interesting and the strongest out of all of them, which reminded of Tegomass's song, Miso Soup. Even so - thumbs up for it! :) It's also interesting how they portray "normal" high school students. Well, mainly, my interest pertains to Kenichi, since he tends to go for the interesting roles and I keep on seeing him as L, because he's an amazing L.

The way it was filmed was pretty interesting - I keep on seeing pictures popping up everywhere now - and the plot was very much that of a female high school student attending an international school and her life, though it focuses more on school because, well, school is life. It goes through some romance and friendship and it really makes me wonder what the book's about, but it was entertaining and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I suppose it spoke about change? O_o It's too late for me to think up of a good, rational theory as to the hidden meaning of the plot, but perhaps I'm just thinking too much. Anyway, just know that the acting's great, the English that is present is good (the English-subbed version also subs the English spoken by the non-native speakers, which is largely unnecessary), and the plot doesn't make you think much, but it's interesting enough that it keeps you going till the end. Perhaps it's not something I'd go for if I were to pick a book up for leisure reading, but I like it all the same.

You can watch it here.

Atashinchi no Danshi

Atashinchi no Danshi (アタシんちの男子) is a 2009 comedic Japanese drama. It stars Horikita Maki, Kaname Jun, Okada Yoshinori, Mukai Osamu, Yamamoto Yusuke, Seto Koji, and Okayama Tomoki. The summary is as follows:

These days, the term "homeless" has taken on new meaning. There are youths referred to as "net cafe refugees," who have neither a job nor a place to live, but who find themselves hopping around internet cafes. One such refugee is a 20-year-old girl named Chisato, who lost her mother at a young age due to sickness. She spent her youth trying to escape from the huge debt her father left her, and her battle with the repossessors unfolded every night. However, her life changed after meeting one man named Shinzo, changing her views on the meaning of "family." Shinzo comes from a rich family tracing back to the Edo period, and he adopted six good-looking sons with the hope of one becoming his successor, but all of them have strange personalities. Shinzo promises to free Chisato from her debt if she marries him and becomes the mother of his sons. However, a life with these six guys under one roof will not go smoothly...

I saw "Horikita Maki" under the cast listing (among other names) and I just had to watch it. Not to mention the synopsis sounds pretty intriguing and had some potential. Once I watched it, it was pretty cute. Since it's family oriented, it also had its mushy, touching moments (I sort of thought it could be laid off some); it made me put my face into my hands and such. I still find it interesting though, how it brings up the whole phenomena of the "net cafe refugee" into the plot and how every 'son''s character's background story was delved into. The end was endearing and I'm quite content with how it ended. Towards the middle, it sort of dragged a small tiny bit.

I would also like to note how this is one of the few dramas I've watched that was still airing, so I had to go through the painful waiting until the next subbed episode would come out.

You can watch it at DramaCrazy and MySoju. Although I started out watching via MySoju, the updates started getting slow so I went to DramaCrazy. MySoju still doesn't have all the episodes up yet.

Tokyo Boy

Tokyo Boy, (東京少年, Tokyo Shounen), article found here, is a Japanese film released in 2008 focusing on what happens if a girl, who also has an overprotective, split-personality who happens to be male, falls in love with a boy. It stars Horikita Maki and Ishida Takuya. The summary is as follows:

Minato is a young girl who was traumatized at a young age by being abandoned by her parents and left with her senile grandmother. She frequently corresponds with a pen-pal named Night, a boy about the same age as her that she's never actually seen in person. Although Minato and Night are very different - Minato is upbeat while Night is brooding, they get along anyway and she regularly updates him on the happenings in her daily life. Minato is even willing to confide in Night that she's falling in love with a boy she's recently met named Sho.

One day she wakes up and finds Sho acting extremely distant and tentative around her. She suspects Night may have something to do with this so she arranges to meet him at the mail box. However, he never shows. As it turns out Night is actually Minato's overprotective split personality and has been trying to drive Sho away by bullying him whenever he had control of her body.

What drew me to watch this was the fact that (1) Horikita Maki is one of my favorite Japanese actresses and (2) I have a thing for psychological disorders. One of the first things I expected was pretty believable acting, but I was going to wait to see if I was wow'ed by the entire movie and plot itself. As expected, Horikita's acting was superb. The audience (at least I did) would feel the change when she switched from her female personality to her male personality in an instant. The way she walked, spoke, moved, and looked was different. I actually like the way her hair was when in her male "form" and she (or he, as the character was) exuded this sort of cocky and somewhat dangerous aura. It was very good.

As for the entire movie itself, it wasn't bad. It went in a seemingly chronological order at first until mid-way through when it picked up from the scenes that were missing the first time around, telling the story from the other two main characters: Night and Shu. Even though the entire process and disorder was glossed over, it's not very surprising since it's only a movie and there's only so much you can do in 95 minutes. The romance itself didn't really go very far as it was in its early stages.

All in all, it's worth a watch, if only for Horikita's acting skills. :)

You can watch it here.