Saigo no Yakusoku

Saigo no Yakusoku (The Last Promise/最後の約束) is a 2010 Japanese tanpatsu, a special [movie-length] drama. It stars all five members of Arashi (Matsumoto Jun, Ohno Satoshi, Sakurai Sho, Aiba Masaki, and Ninomiya Kazunari) as well as Kuroki Meisa, Fujiki Naohito, and Otsuka Nene. The summary is as follows:

"Saigo no Yakusoku" is described as a human suspense story involving the hijack of a major building. The members of Arashi play five young men who happen to be inside, and the story depicts their attempt to escape and their interactions with the other people caught up in the incident.

I'm not a diehard Arashi fan, though it's been known that I like a number of their songs. :) Therefore, I can say that the reason why I decided to watch this was not solely based on the fact that all of Arashi were in the production, though I can't say that it did not affect my decision at all. Even so, I believe this was pretty good, even for someone who's not a rabid fangirl. ;) The plot is pretty good and I can attest that it is suspenseful - I just kept on wanting more until the completed. The interactions between the characters were enough for us to know their background stories but not too much that it became too much and confusing. The acting wasn't bad, either. Not to mention the huge twist towards the end of the film/drama.

However, it was a bit fluffy at times. Everything was done for a good reason - not only "good" as in it made sense (which is always a plus), but "good" as in "too good to be true." I mean seriously - fireworks? There was only what, one or two of it anyway. It does give one somewhat of a happy feeling in their tummy, so I suppose I can deal with it. I still think it wasn't a waste of my time so I'll let it have four of out five stars. Maybe three-and-a-half, but only because of the fluffyness of it all. I did enjoy the plot twist immensely. :)

You can watch it at both DramaCrazy and MySoju.

Sukoshi Wa, Ongaeshi ga Dekitakana

Sukoshi wa, Ongaeshi ga Dekitakana (少しは、恩返しができたかな) is a 2006 tanpatsu based on a true story. It stars Ninomiya Kazunari, Otake Shinobu, Murata Takehiro, Ikewaki Chizuru, Katsuji Ryo, and Takahashi Issei. The summary is as follows:

Kitahara Kazunori was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma in the fall of his second year in high school, and thereafter spent a year and ten months battling the disease. Although he studied hard for the university examinations and was successfully admitted to his first choice, [the prestigious] Tokyo University, he only managed to visit it for a day before passing away. After that, last January [i.e. 2005], Kazunori's mother compiled the thoughts he had left behind and published it as a book, and it was adapted into this drama. Even as Kazunori had to fight his serious illness, he received support from his friends, school teachers, and family members, and had warm relations with many people. This drama illustrated the 1 year and 10 months young Kazunori persevered together with the people around him.

I actually came across this drama-movie when I was browsing through Asian Fanatics and came across this "article" on Actors That Brings Tears to Audiences and the person who posted it made a comment on how this particular drama did it quite well and how Ninomiya definitely deserved a place on the list. I happen to like watching dreadfully depressing things, and so I had to watch it. I'm actually amazed at how young Nino appeared in the drama when he was in his early 20s when it was filmed, but there you go. It was touching, moving, sweet and sort of reminded me of 1 Litre of Tears except the terminally ill person is male. There is no romance involved though. However, what I liked was how half of it showed what the family members (and friends) were going through - usually, these types of things focus on the patient whereas the other players in his/her life is sort of a side story. Well, it's not like the family dominated, but it showed a little more than usual.

Not to mention it seems like Nino actually sacrificed all his hair for a majority of this movie.

The bad thing is that this is not available streaming online. It once was but the fansubbers threatened to stop giving their services if random people just shared it out like that... so I had to go download the torrent. I hate doing that ever since I downloaded so many dramas that my harddrive... was no longer the same. Anyway, you can download it here.

Watching these dramas makes me wonder if all terminally ill patients are really this generous and kind or is it done this way for the drama's sake. Perhaps, though. After all, staring at death may change some people.

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.