Give me some love, hippie
Posted by trine_ost | Filed under Japanese dramas
I was thinking… that perhaps you could come with some suggestions for me. I love j-dramas, but I’m finding it a bit hard to find some real good ones lately.
I’ve seen Zettai Kareshi and Mioka this last week. They’re both good, but what about some good, old-school j-drama? Gimme, gimme!
Or else I’m gonna go and play WoW for an entire week…
Sayonara!
2010: The Bakaness never ends…
Posted by trine_ost | Filed under Japanese dramas
All right, I am back with some more recommendations. When I look for new j-dramas I usually look through dramawikis actors-lists that I’ve enjoyed in previous dramas. J-dramas I’ve watched in 2010 is: Yamato nadeshiko shichi henge, Sunao ni Narenakute and Tumbling, so I thought this would be a good way to start up again. I have been positively surprised and let down with some of these new shows.
I’ll first begin with:
Yamato nadeshiko shichi henge.
This is based on the anime known as: The Wallflower. I first saw the anime with this one and it was very entertaining. The main character Sunako is a dark yet delightful character and has a lot of enjoyable quirks! When I saw the first episode of the live-action drama I found it a bit disappointing, a bit less than more, if you know what I mean. I thought that it would get better as soon as we got further in the show and got to know their versions of the characters. I can begin with explaining the storyline: Basically it’s about a girl, Sunako (played by Oomasa Aya), who moves into a house with four handsome men. Sunako has an obsession with horror which is why her aunt sends her to these four men so that they can teach her how to become a lady. It has its funny parts and it has its moving parts, but overall it’s not one of my favorites. What makes it worth watching however is the beautiful Kamenashi Kazuya (from KAT-TUN) who plays Takano Kyohei, a college student, who is always harassed by females because of his good
looks. Other actors are Tegoshi Yuya (from NewS) and Uchi Hiroki (NewS and Kanjani8).
One that was a bit more rewarding was
Sunao ni Narenakute.
If you’ve seen “Last Friends” I guess that’s what you could compare it with. Last Friends is ten times better, but this one is also about young people trying to find a place for themselves in this world. However the twist is that they met through twitter. It did take me a couple of episodes to get into it, but since I am a HUGE Eita fan it was a “must watch” for me. It’s about five different people who are twitter friends, and decides to meet in real life. There are bad first impressions, they brag more than they should and lie about themselves, but gradually it develops into something more touching and unexpected. I got the feeling that all these characters was lonely somehow and was looking for something, or a sense of belonging. Treats in this series is the fantastic cast they have put together. We have Ueno Juri and Eita (both from Last Friends and Nodame Cantabile), Tetsuji (from shows like Summer Snow and BOSS) and Hero Jaejoong, the Korean singer from the boy band: DBSK.
The last and best of the year is the hilarious teenage-show:
Tumbling.
Fellow ladies; you’re in for a treat! Remember the psychic guy from Hana Kimi? Or the feminine model from Atashinchi no Danshi? Here we finally have a show with Yamamoto Yusuke as the protagonist. He plays the fearsome leader Azuma of Karasumori High School who is a legend for his strength. However his new teacher one day tells him that he has to take up a club or extra lessons to complete High School. Despite trying everything he fails to find something he wants to do. Then suddenly a new girl transfers to school and joins the female rhythmic gymnastics team. When Azuma ovehears that she thinks male gymnastics are cool he decides to join the male rhythmic gymnastics team, which consists of a small group of boys whose dream is to perform as a group. The leader, Takenaka Yuta (Seto Koji), accepts Azuma in the club after the teachers begging. This ends up in hilarious, touching and unexpected events. From what seemed to be a cheap way of earning a girls attention to finally understanding the meaning of working hard together as a group towards the same goal. A friendship is built between many different types of people that of course could never happen in real life. But then again, isn’t that why we watch these shows? If you like those freaky, yet lovable japanese dramas, this is the one for you!
This is it for now. “I’ll be back”.
Greetings!
Posted by trine_ost | Filed under Japanese dramas
This is a suprise! I am actually getting some good comments and responses to this blog, which I didn’t expect.
I haven’t been able to write about many j-dramas lately because of school and job, but I will certainly get to it since I’ve watched a few new from 2010 lately. (On a personal note: I got into a masters program in lecture, yay me!)
What I can do is to explain what I plan to tell with this blog. There are many dramas out there, and it is hard to differ between those worth watching and those who are just plain weird. Since I am such an awesome person I know how to differ between those. Ok, perhaps not, but I can at least give a more personal and different insight than wiki and other discriptions, who can sometimes be confusing. Mainly what I do is to give a discription with a personal twist.
If you’re looking for some dramas worth watching and have seen most of what I have recommended or want to see something else I suggest: Tumbling. (www.dramacrazy.com) It is hilarious. Also an old-school cop show called: Double Score. (www.jdramazone.com). I enjoyed those very much.
Give me a few days and I’ll be adding some new dramas, perhaps I should also begin to write about korean and taiwanese dramas? What do you think? (Like Coffe Prince, Fated to love you, etc. I have watched those as well 
)
Kampai!
Hold onto your wallets
Posted by trine_ost | Filed under Japanese dramas
I’ve been watching Kurosagi lately. I’m on the last episode now and I’ve heard there’s a movie as well. I just thought I’d throw it in here on this page of madness.
KUROSAGI
It is a story about Kurosaki, who at 15 loses his family due to swindling. Because of that he grows up to become a swindler himself with the quest to destroy other swindlers. The swindlers Robin Hood: He swindles back what the swindlers has swindled and gives it back to the victims. (That’s a toungetwister sentence right there). He gets information from a guy, Katsuragi Toshio, who had something to do with the destruction of Kurosaki’s family. It’s all very mysterious to begin with. Everything changes when he meets the woman, Yoshikawa Tsurara, who moves in next door to him and knows about his swindling, but doesn’t approve of it because she wants to be a prosicutor. Kurosaki seems unstoppable, but could Yoshikawa get through to him? Who knows. Not me at least, since I’m not finished watching it yet. The awesome, funny, hot and cool Kurosaki is played by Yamashita Tomohisa, (Yamapi from NewS!) and he never fails to give us intersting and funny character work. He’s a good actor. Maki plays Yoshikawa, and she has a strong and good character as well. I hope the ending will be as good as the rest of the show.
Bring a tissue box
Posted by trine_ost | Filed under Japanese dramas
Let’s talk about tear-jerker shows. To be honest I dont have many of those…feelings, but I have seen some shows where I just had to let a little tear run down my cheek (or a bucket of tears…. cough). However, I only have two shows to recommend in this genre yet, and those two are: 1 litre of tears and Summer Snow.
My favorite is 1 litre of tears, so let’s start there.
1. 1. Litre of Tears (1 Litre no Namida).
This show is based on a true story about a young girl, Ikeuchi Aya (played by Sawajiri Erika). She is an active, soon-to-be high schooler and her family owns
a tofu shop. However, lately she’s beginning to fall and loose her balance a lot, and has difficulties walking. Her mother takes her to the doctor and there they figure out that she has spinocerebellar degeneration.
(a terrible disease where the cerebellum of the brain gradually deteriorates to the point where the victim cannot walk, speak, write, or eat.[From dramawiki])
This drama shows Aya and her family’s life of fighting with this desease. Seriously, if you’re not inspired and cries a bucket of tears while watching this, you ain’t human…
5/5… It’s really beautiful. Oh, and a bonus, Nishikido Ryo plays in this drama. Oh, another bonus: Remioromen has the soundtrack.
2. Summer Snow
Ok, I’m just gonna put what wiki says on this one:
“A love story between a young man who has been forced to grow up too quickly, and a young woman with an ailment that has placed restrictions on her life. Natsuo has been looking after his younger brother and sister since the death of their parents. He has also been running the family bicycle shop.Yuki becomes the only person in the world in whom he can confide. For Yuki, Natsuo becomes the catalyst that has her trying to break out of her cocoon.” [-dramawiki]
This show is really cute, and the main character, Natsuo, is played but Johnny’s Entertainment boy Domoto Tsuyoshi (Kinki Kids). He’s an awesome and funny actor, with facinating hair. Oguri Shun plays his cute, nearly-deaf brother. This isn’t an all through sad story to begin with, but the last episode got to me. It’s really touching. 5/5.
Now, this is my favorite show until now. Now I mean all the blogs I’ve written. I’m still watching stuff, so I’ll come back with more. Now I think I’m just gonna start talking about random stuff and add some youtube clips I like etc etc. We’ll see what will happen.
Wasshoi wasshoi
A lesson with humor
Posted by trine_ost | Filed under Japanese dramas
It’s time for comedy. Yey, comedy! And school-life! Weee!
Today I’m going to recommend some good, new fashioned comedy with a lot of hot actors.
The shows I’m going to talk about is: Hana Kimi,Hana Yori Dango, Nobuta Wo Produce, Nodame Cantabile and Gokusen.
WoW, that’s a lot of shows in one blog, but they all deserve a recommandation. However, I’ll be shorter this time around than with the other shows I’ve talked about.
It’s not fun to spoil all the good surprises.
Today I’ll start with my favorites from top to bottom with this category.
1. Hana Kimi (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e)
From left: Doesn’t matter… they’re all hot.
This is about a girl, Ashiya Mizuki, who disguises herself as a guy to get into an all-boys school. The reason is because she wants help her hero Sano Izumi, who used to do high jump but quit after an accident, to jump again. There are a lot of cool characters here, and filled with hot actors. Ashiya Mizuki is played by Horikita Maki,
Sano is played by Oguri Shun (he’s awesomely handsome) and Ikuta Toma plays the passionate Nakatsu Shuichi(one of thier class mates).
It’s filled with chaos, absurdness and fun! Watch it! 5/5 stars.
2. Gokusen.
(From season 1)
Nakama Yukie plays the young, idealistic, enthusiastic teacher Yamaguchi Kumiko, who despite being the fourth generation of the Ooedo Group, a yakuza clan, wanted to become a teacher. She is assigned to the trouble-class 3-D, who is impossible to control, but Yamaguchi teaching method is a bit different than the usual teachers and the class slowly begins to realize that she might be different than all the other, prejeduce teachers they’ve had in the past. She is awesome, and so is the male students. We meet actors like Matsumoto Jun (ARASHI), Oguri Shun, Kamenashi Kazuya, Akanishi Jin (both from Kat-tun), Uchiyama Shinji and Takaki Yuya (Hey!Say!7).+++many more. 5/5 stars.
3. Nodame Cantabile.
From left: Chiaki and Nodame.
This is a about a music school, filled with crazy characters and awesome actors.
The main characters is Nodame (played by Ueno Juri), the messy, childish pianist, who wants to become a kindergarten teacher. The other main character is Chiaki (played by Tamaki Hiroshi, he’s hot), a top student,talented with pianoand violin, but secretly wants to become a conductor, but due to traumatic childhood experiences can’t leave Japan. When these two meet a lot of chaos, humour and fun things happends. One of my all time favorite actors, EITA!!!, also plays
in this drama. It’ll make you laugh. 4/5 stars.
4. Nobuta Wo Produce.
From left: Nobuta, Akira, Shuji.
This show is really funny. Perhaps a bit… weird, but funny. Shuji (Kamenashi Kazuya) is the popular guy at school. He gets along with everyone. Akira (YAMAPI from NewS!!) is the unpopular, annoying guy at school. These two does not get along very well, at least from Shujis side, but all this is going to change when they get a new
transfer student in their class: Kotani Nobuko (Maki). She is shy, doesnt talk much and has dark, long hair in her face. She becomes the imidiate bullying victim in the class. Due to different things Shuji and Akira decides to work together to make Kotani Nobuko into a popular person. This is the beginning of strange friendship and a lot of hilarious situations. 4/5.
5. Hana Yori Dango.
From left: Nishikado Sojiro, Hanazawa Rui, Makino Tsukushi, Domyoji Tsukasa, Mimasaka Akira.
Makino Tsukushi comes from a poor family, but was able to enter a rich school. This school is lead by the rediculously rich F4 boys. Everyone bows to their control, except Makino Tsukushi who soon becomes their target for bullying. However, one day she returns the favor by punching F4s leader, Domyoji. This leads to a surprising twist. This is the beginning of, not a war of bullying, but a war of love.
It’s a funny show and Matsumoto Jun plays the arrogant Domyoji. There’s two seasons of this show. 3-4/5 stars.
Well, that was it then. I’ll be back with more later. There’s no end to this!!! Oh, and, uhm, I apologize for all the spelling mistakes again. Don’t shoot me for being baka.
*Salute*
The world of SUSPENSE!
Posted by trine_ost | Filed under Japanese dramas
Ok, so I have many favorite dramas, but I can’t put a number on all of them so I’ll just go with categories instead.
Now, the first catergoy I’m going to begin with is: Suspense, and trust me, there are a lot of good suspense series out there. I’ll begin with three suspenses I liked a lot.
1. Orthros no Inu.
From left: Aoi Ryosuke and Ryuzaki Shinji
First of all, the best thing about this show is the two main actors, the Johnnys Entertainment boys: Nishikido Ryo and Takizawa Hideaki (Tackey from Tacky & Tsubasa).
In the beginning it seems like we have a battle between good and evil, but there’s so much more to it than that. The imprisoned Ryuzaki Shinji possesses the “God hand“, which means that he can heal any illnesses or injuries, but refuses to use it for the good of mankind but rahter for his own gain. At least that what it seems to be. The kindhearted teacher Aoi Ryosuke possesses the “Demon’s Hand” which means he can kill anyone just by the touch of his hands. When these two meet a battle begins. It’s quite hard to sum up the plot better than this.
It’s a complexed story and through the show the bad guys might not be the bad guys and the good guys might not be good guys. It’s very exiting and keeps your attention until the end.
The speed is fast, the men are hot and there’s so many surprises. Watch it! 4/5 stars.
2. Maou.
From top: Naruse Ryo and Serizawa Naoto.
This suspense is brilliant. It also stars Johnny boys, Ohno Satoshi (from Arashi, another favorite of mine) and Ikuta Toma (from Hana Kimi). It’s a remake of a Korean show called “The Devil”.
Naruse Ryo appears to be an angel-like lawyer with only good intentions, but under this facade hides a “Maou”, with a dark past, wanting revenge for the murder on his brother when he was a kid. Serizawa Naoto is the passionate, loud detective that tries to stop “Maou”. Serizawa Naoto became a detective to repent for his sins in the past.
While “Maou” kills more and more, Serizawa Naoto comes closer and closer to the truth behind all this. It’s fantastic, and Ohno really shows that he is a really good actor in this show.
His character might seem cold and creepy in the beginning, but he becomes more and more “human” through the series. It’s really good. Watch it! 5/5 stars.
3. The quiz show 2
Guess what? It also stars Johnny boys! Here we meet Sakurai Sho (again, he is also in Kisarazu as I talked about earlier) and Yokoyama Yu (from Kanjani8) in the lead roles.
I haven’t seen The Quiz Show 1, but that doesn’t matter because they have each their stories. I’m not sure I want to give away too much of the plot so I’ll make it short.
It’s about a quiz show, each contestant gets 7 questions and then if they answer the 8th correctly they’ll get their dreams come true. It seems innocent in the beginning,
but then the further in they get in the quiz, the more personal it gets. The main character is Kamiyama, who is the mysterious, excentric hosts of the show and Honma Toshio, the producer or director (damn it, I can’t remember which) who seems to be playing “God” in his seat behind the cameras… Kamiyama, the host, suffers from memory loss and has a mystrious past.
See as the contestants gets their darkest secrets exposed, Kamiyama’s memory slowly returns. Watch it! It’s awsome. 4/5.
That’s it for today. Suspense is awesome, but it keeps you up in the night, so dont watch it if you have to get up early the day after! Enjoy.
Bye bye-cycle.
First post
Posted by trine_ost | Filed under Japanese dramas
Good evning (or morning or day, depending were in the world you are).
Tuning in from Norway, so forgive me for all the spelling mistakes that will occur in this blog. I thought that since I’ve been sick (stupid cold) for a couple of days, I’ll begin to write a blog. Either that or go crazy from having to sneeze all the time. So, what should I be writing about? Obviously something that takes up my interest at the moment and that thing is japanese dramas and musical group personalities (Johnny’s Entertainment).
Basically, Japanese entertainment is … well… very entertaining. I’ll start out by talking about my favorite j-dramas.
KISARAZU NYA NYA NYA NYAAAAAAAAA!
My number one, all time favorite drama, is Kisarazu Cat’s Eye. It’s a comedy drama about the twenty-one year old Bussan who learns that he has cancer and only has six months left to live. He and his friends decides to do something risky and form a group of thieves that steals from the ones who commits crimes. It’s hilarious characters and absurd happenings. It’s not very sentimental or realistic, but it’s HILARIOUS and brilliant acting. The main role is V6′s (band from Johnnys) Okada Junichi. There’s also another Johnny boy (one of my favorite) Sakurai Sho, who plays Bussans friend: Bambi. Sakurai-kun is most known from Arashi, one of the best boybands in Japan. Kisarazu Cat’s Eye: Watch it! 5/5 stars!
From left: Bambi, Mouko, Bussan, Ani, Master (missing: Ucchi, also “a part” of the bunch)
LAST FRIENDS
Another drama I enjoyed very much is Last Friends. This is a human drama about friendship, domestic violence, sexuality and such. It’s a really touching and brutal drama with star-acting. Basically it’s about five friends who ends up living together in the same house and goes through a lot of hardship. The main character is Aida (played by Nagasawa Masami) and Ruka (Ueno Juri from Nodame Cantabile) who went to the same school as high schoolers and meets again as adults. Aida had a hard childhood, but has now finally found a boyfriend she loves and has decided to move in with him. What she doesn’t know is the “demons” hiding in her boyfriend, Sosuke, (played by a Johnny boy: Nishikido Ryo from News and Kanjani8) mind. Ruka is very fond and protectiv of Aida, not only as friend, she is in fact in love with Aida and she is struggling with gender-confusion. An tther main character is Takeru (played by EITA! He’s so lovely) who is a make-up stylist at daytime and a bartender by night. He is afraid of the female body due to certain things that happened in the past and is often mistaken as being homosexual. He is the kindest man in the world of televsion dramas. There is also two others, Ogura and Eri, who works at an airport, who lives with them. They’re awesome as well, but not really that much in the lead. It’s really a very beautiful and painful drama, with a fantastic soundtrack. Watch it. 5/5 stars!
From left: Eri, Takeru, Ruka, Aida, Sosuke (Ogura is not there)
Well, those were two of my favorites. I’ll come back later and talk about some more awesome dramas. Oh, if you want to watch these I suggest www.mysoju.com for Kisarazu and www.veoh.com for Last Friends.
Over and out for now.
