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.

Long Love Letter

Long Love Letter (ロング・ラブレター) is a 2002 Japanese drama of the science fiction/romance/drama genres. It basically follows the idea of how humans are just harming the earth with our exploitation of natural resources. It stars Tokiwa Takako, Kubozuka Yosuke, Yamada Takayuki, Yamashita Tomohisa, Tsumabuki Satoshi, and Mizukawa Asami. The summary is as follows:

Yuka Misaki, whose parents run a flower shop, casually begins dating college student Akio Asami, and later falls for him. But due to some type of accident, the two lose contact with one another.

One year after the accident, the two suddenly meet again. Yuka is still working at her father Shigeo's flower shop, and Akio is a teacher at a nearby high school.

It's January 7, just right after the New Year begins. Make up classes are being held for students that aren't keeping up with their daily studies. Taking the classes are the popular Tadashi Otomo, and the leader of the delinquent students, Sho Takamatsu. And giving the lecturers is Noriko Sekiya, a teacher that has taken out all kinds of loans to pay for the popular brand items that she buys.

Yuka comes to the school to collect money from Noriko. While at the school, with thoughts of the past in the back of her mind, Yuka and Akio meet, and get into a fight. Then all of a sudden, there is a small tremor, and after it subsides..

I am a fan of science fiction - I love Star Wars and though I don't follow Star Trek, I loved the 2009 movie and I recommend it! - as well as Yamapi. Considering how this drama has both of these aspects, not to mention the main male lead is pretty cute and I know a good amount of the actresses and actors in it, I was drawn to it, even with the mixed reviews on it; I still had to see how I felt about it and the best way to figure that out was to actually watch it. After I watched it, it sort of reminded me of Miyazaki's film, Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime), in the message (well, half of it) it gives out.

[Slight Spoilers Ahead]

The story centers upon a group of students and staff members who get transported into the not-so-far future where they have to revert back to primitive ways to survive in a waterless and foodless land, basically a desert. We go through what happens and how, because of the humans' greediness and because they exploit and waste the natural resources of the earth while they learn how to survive, being thrust from a materialistic and rather convenient society to one that requires one to fight for survival. I found this idea rather intriguing because some people went back to the fundamental rules of survival (Darwin!) and it went to a point where some people did whatever it took to survive, even kill. It also touches upon certain subjects like evolution. Along the way, they also learn to live the moment and cherish their life because everything might change in the blink of an eye.

It's pretty enlightening and I loved the cast. It has a sort of "what-if" feel and even though it's somewhat bleak, and if you're one of those people who can't stand sad endings, this would still appeal to you. There are some "mushy" parts that could do with some toning down, but it's a relatively serious drama with some light moments and some action.

You can watch it here; it has 11 episodes. :)

Ryusei no Kizuna

For the Chinese New Years weekend, I decided to start and finish Ryusei no Kizuna (流星の絆), a Japanese drama of the suspense and comedy genres. It stars Ninomiya Kazunari, Erika Toda, Nishikido Ryo, Kaname Jun, and Nakashima Mika. The summary is as follows:

Based on the popular novel of the same name, Ryusei no Kizuna tells the story of three orphans, whose parents were murdered long ago. Together, the three vowed on a shooting star to one day avenge their parents. After many years, the two brothers have found the murderers, and are set to carry out their plan for vengeance when they realize they've made a serious miscalculation; you see, their sister...

I honestly had to say that I didn't really know what to expect - mostly because of the three periods that follow "sister" in the summary. I did give it a try - I mean, I was familiar with the cast and the things that the summary did reveal perked my interest. The interesting thing was how a drama with such a dark background such as murder and the theme of revenge is interspersed with comedy. To me, I actually liked it a lot since, well, my sense of humor isn't very normal and I find many things funny. To others, it may be a bit odd, but it's not like the jokes are banter is made everywhere - the serious parts meant to be serious and the parts meant to be a little light are pretty entertaining. It did give me some good laughs. One thing though - Mika Nakashima's role is rather eccentric, odd, and out-of-nowhere, but it's sort of like a breath of fresh air since it's totally different from everyone else's character within the drama, so I sort of don't agree with some other reviews that mentioned something about her character being pointless or something.

Even though the drama was a short 10 episodes, I liked it a lot. The way things were progressing and all until everything unravels rather surprisingly at the end. I do recommend this drama (and yes, I do realise that I usually do say that for all the dramas I have watched - either that or to 'give it a go').

You can watch it here.
I got the picture from here.

Koizora

I just finished watching Koizora (恋空), a Japanese drama on first love based on a true story starring Mizusawa Elena, Seto Koji, Aoi, and Miura Shohei. In China, there are these little stands that sell DVDs and I found this, read (or attempted to) the summary that was in Chinese, and decided that from what I got out of it, it sounded rather nice. So a couple of friends and I watched it together. The summary (in English, lucky you) is as follows (taken from DramaWiki):

Tahara Mika is an ordinary high school girl. One day, out of the blue, one of
her classmates kisses her. His name is Sakurai Hiroki also known as Hiro. Hiro
stands out because of his bleached hair and piercing. Apparently he is also
dating someone. Mika is shocked and hurt that her first kiss had to happen this
way. She desperately tries to forget about it. Then, her friend tells her that
she should find somebody else and suggests Tatsuya, another boy in their class.
However, before she even realizes it, Mika is already in love...

It's on the same parallel as 1 Litre of Tears - but the roles are switched and it's shorter (only 6 episodes). It's pretty interesting and cute and worth watching if you're up for a short and sweet drama. Warning though: it's sad. There's also a movie version of this, but I haven't watched it yet.

Attention Please

I've finished the drama series, Attention Please (アテンションプリーズ ) for over two weeks, but I've been busy and the Internet here isn't really reliable. It's a comedy starring Ueto Aya, Nishikido Ryo, Maya Miki, Aibu Saki, and Uehara Misa. It basically follows a young lady that was once in a punk band who wishes to become a flight attendent because the guy she likes said that he like girls in uniform (or something like that). The full summary is:

Losing her mother at a young age, Misaki Yoko (Ueto Aya) was raised amongst
three brothers. Yoko is a slightly boyish girl who is bullheaded and hates
dishonesty. Ever since she was young, she enjoyed the company of boys over
girls. She starts a band with four of her boy friends and becomes the lead
singer. Then one day, one of the members of the band, Tsukasa, gets a job at a
bank in Tokyo. Due to Tsukasa leaving town, the band breaks up and though Yoko
finds herself lonely, she puts on a strong act in front of Tsukasa. She can't
tell Tsukasa how she truly feels for him. On the day Tsukasa leaves for Tokyo,
Yoko goes along with the band members to the airport to see him off. The guys
get excited when they see some cabin crew ladies and Yoko has no idea why. She
reminds them that even she can wear a uniform, but the guys only make fun of
her. That's when Tsukasa tells Yoko he wonders what she'd look like dressed in
uniform. This is when Yoko decides she wants to work as a Cabin Attendant.

It's pretty funny (I mean, we've all seen the flight attendents before if you've been in an airplane) and her personality is totally out there whereas she needs to be reserved in that profession. It just follows her through the entire training (and a little afterwards) with a sprinkling of romance (I mean it - it barely goes into it). After watching it, I feel like I know more of what flight attendents have to go through in order to be qualified enough to get in the air. It's rather interesting. I recommend it. :)

I watched it from Veoh and it's 11 episodes long plus a special.

Hana Yori Dango

My sister and I finished watching the two seasons of a Jdorama titled Hana Yori Dango (花より男子), or Boys over Flowers (or Boys before Flowers). It stars Arashi's Matsumoto Jun (松本潤), Inoue Mao (井上真央) from First Kiss, Oguri Shun (小栗旬) from Hanazakari no Kimitachi e, Matsuda Shota (松田翔太), and Abe Tsuyoshi (阿部力), among others including Death Note's Erika Toda (戸田恵梨香) and Taiyou no Uta's Sato Megumi (佐藤めぐみ). Oh! And Ikuta Toma (生田斗真)!!

The first season's only 9 episodes while the second one's 11. There's supposed to be a movie titled Hana Yori Dango FINAL coming out June 23, 2008 - I'll be watching that!! The trailer's already out in the movie's official site. :)

Anywho, even though it was a rough ride and there were so many times when I wanted to bang in the heads of the characters, I eventually got through and I have to say that the last episode was pretty satisfying. AND the movie acts as an epilogue as well! I'll stop here just in case I end up spoiling things but... here's a summary of the first season taken from DramaWiki!

Makino Tsukushi is the only poor student at Eitoku Gakuen, the school of the ridiculously rich and privileged that is ruled by Flower 4 or F4, a group of four boys who come from extremely powerful families: Domyoji Tsukasa, the leader and heir of the Domyoji World Finance Group; Hanazawa Rui, the introverted son of a large company; Nishikado Sojiro, a player who is the heir of a tea ceremony school; and Mimasaka Akira, a madam killer with ties to the underground. If a student gets on the F4’s bad side, he/she gets a red notice and is bullied and driven out of school.

Makino hopes to pass her days quietly-- without drawing any attention to herself-- but one day, she stands up to Domyoji in defense of her friend. The next day, Makino gets the dreaded red notice. Even though she is harassed, Makino decides to keep going to school because she is a “tough weed”. She declares war right back on the F4. Her resolve gets the attention of her crush Hanazawa Rui and oddly enough, rouses romantic feelings in her worst enemy, Domyoji Tsukasa.

The series is based on the Japanese shoujo manga "Hana Yori Dango" (Boys Before Flowers) by Kamio Yoko.

NOTE: Yes, I know that the picture I used is for the movie. :)

Jdorama: Yasha

I've watched this particular drama several months ago and I just finished watching it for the second time just now, and I don't know why it's taken me this long to blog about it. I came across it whilst I was desperate for a new drama to watch so I came across a site titled Jdorama which had a nice section of Japanese dramas and features and I came across this drama, titled Yasha [夜叉] (or the drama wiki version if you prefer that). The direct quote from the summary online is (I just corrected some pluralizing mistakes that seriously bugged me):

The story is about a set of twin baby boys who were created/cloned in the laboratory as a part of gene altering/gene therapy experiment, because of the nature of the project, the twins were born with superior physical strength, supernatural power and extremely high IQ. Unfortunately, the twins were separated at birth. One of the brothers grew up to be an elite biochemistry scientist in an America. He was assigned to a project where he had to travel to a small island in Japan to investigate an unidentified virus that was spreading on the island. By a freak of nature, he accidentally found out that he has a twin brother........whose evil, dark personality is entirely opposite of him. What is going to happen when they finally meet face to face?

They will soon found out their true identity.........why were they separated at birth, what other secrets were hidden from them...... does the fast spreading virus has anything to do with the twin boys? who created the twins? and why? Do not miss the suspenseful thriller..... it will keep you wanting more....

It stars Ito Hideaki [伊藤英明] who's not bad at all in the looks department - a bit old, though one wouldn't think it if you went by his looks alone - and quite talented, if one were to go by his performance in this drama (he played the twins, Sei and Rin). Half the time, I found myself thinking of the two as separate people, which is pretty good, considering they were played by the same exactly person. I did watch him in the drama First Kiss (2007), but as he didn't play the main role, I didn't know if he was good but this one proved it! Along with Ito, there's also Abe Hiroshi (阿部寛) as his bodyguard, Kurosaki Ken, and Kashiwabara Shuji (柏原収史) as his best friend, Moichi.

The drama had a good plot with a very nice background story that you find out in throughout the entire story that's made up of 11 episodes. It also has a nice mixture of everything: family, love, betrayal, death, etc., with a good moral. It had a nice amount of action as well (I mean, it is an action/mystery drama). ^_^ I can say one thing: I finished it in 2 nights because I just couldn't stop! I would have finished it in a day if I didn't need to attend school... but I needed to.