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I watched Burnt because, well, everybody was raving on the food porn, which was really a food porn. Maybe it's just me, but the way Western portrays food looks flat to me. It's like you're looking at the glossy magazine pictures, only it's moving, because it's a movie. The food, though beautiful, it looks cold to me, and that saddens me. Maybe I'm just so used to watching SMAPxSMAP or other Japanese varieties whereby they shoot food when they're still puffing hot and with the soft lighting that it doesn't look 'cold,' and I'm always left feeling hungry (if I watch the show empty stomach) afterwards. So, really, maybe it's just me. And to heal myself, I'm digging back my food themed drama stash because Japan has tons of them, and I'm sure I only watched a fraction of it as I always keep my other requirement for my drama watching, everything must look pretty, not just the food.

It's puffing hot and appetizing... yum!

( And here's the fraction of those drama... )

I think it's just the matter of preference what kind of presentation style that you like, for me, it just happens that I find the way J-drama presents the food and the story is more compelling :).

PS: I didn't include Kodoku no Gurume because I've never watched it and it's on season 5 already!

Doing this for the obvious reason, and you'll be able to tell what it is when you see the caps. For that very obvious reason, I'm only going to do Miyake Ken's part, though you don't see Tanaka Kei reacted like the way he did here in his drama/movies. For those who don't know who's Tanaka Kei, he's the dude that everybody hates (at least, me) in Gunshi Kanbee, and the sidekick that everybody loves in Library Wars, and the 2 titles mentioned are lead by Okada, ha! Back to the show, Miyake's segment is divided into 2 parts, the first one where he went to Shinjuku nichoume for a survey, who's the one that gay people prefer, Miyake or Sho-chan. Yeah, this is Japan, period. But I got to give it to Ken to handle the topic well and not turn it into a stereotyped disaster. The second one is all about Ken's fetishes, off course, these are all things that he's been broadcasting in other show as well (basically all Matsuko Deluxe's shows that he appeared on...), but for the consideration that this is not midnight show, it's a little bit toned down.

( Another round of long caps... )

Ken was in Abunai Yakai to promote the album Super Very best and today exactly V6's anniversary day!!! Again, Happy 20th Anniversary!!! May we have more V6 in 30th, 40th, forever (we don't have 1995-Forever for nothing).

Current Music: Arashi ~ Kokoro no Sora

I'm glad I tried out this drama. I get to see the healthier version of Matsuzaka Tori, compared to the fragile looking him couple months ago.
The drama itself is full of a lot of things. They pack it with dash of romance, the protagonists are dating, the serial killer is psycho, the boss is slappable, Kitayama is as hateful as ever (and I can easily hate him LOL). So, I wonder whether this couple will survive, considering the personality is quite the opposite. The dude is suspecting & analytical, the girl is positive and doesn't think the bad in people.

Not bad FujiTV...

Yesterday's music station will probably be my favorite Arashi performance in 2015. And with the extra cuteness of Arashi being the senpai. I find that the senpai-kouhai interaction now is much better compared to the Arashi ni Shiyagare episode that featured HSJ awhile ago. Arashi used to be very good at being the adorable kouhai but now we get to see that they can be good senpai too. And Johnny's finally you're doing something with HSJ eh?

Back to the M-ste, I wonder whether the segment on regular people who can sing slaps all idols (except whose who're really good in singing) on the face, I mean, those people can sing better than so many Johnny's & AKB put together LOL. But it's fun to watch this segment though, but I hope they won't have this too often as diminishing rule applies here.

This M-Ste is about Matsujun with 1001 expression

( The pretties... )

Current Music: Arashi ~ MUSIC

I only cap Sho-chan's segment because invasion of privacy to Sho-chan's hotel room & personal belongings is always precious. No matter how cool Sho-chan is during concert or on TV, he's still a human being, complete with the cuteness and dorkiness (not a lot of humans come with the package, but Sho-chan is one of them). Again, we get to see too many funny Sho-chan's faces (he really can make lots of faces, and it's probably just his normal reactions) The appearance of half drunk Aiba-chan and extremely sober Nino is a huge bonus. What's not to love about these dorks, especially when both of them were defending Sho-chan's taste of clothing (that camouflage pants). The rest of episode, well, we have Abe Hiroshi, but I didn't watch it XD.

very blunt Sho-chan looks very human and normal to me XD

( Another long caps.. )

Current Music: Arashi ~ Mr FUNK

We have the SP to hype the new Toshokan Sensou movie. It was one of the movies to be screened at Japan Film Festival here in Melbourne, and I'm making sure that I'll watch it. I mean come on, Okada, Fukushi, big screen? I'm sold.

But, does anybody remember that cute mini clips in Youtube to promote the first Toshokan Sensou movie? Well, it's still on Youtube and still with the cuteness and it reminds us that books, like music, can connect people too.

Clip 1

Clip 2

Can't wait for the movie, gosh, it's another month to go!

Current Music: V6 ~ Break the Wall

It's the time of the year again. Fall has started and I honestly haven't even finished lots of the drama from the Summer season. Instead I've been rampaging some old & dark Kimutaku drama in the last few weeks because I know if I keep on trying to finish this summer batch without distraction, I don't think I'll even be able to finish them. This should say something about the drama themselves. Lots of them are so so, if not mediocore, which is not a problem if you're just want something to waste your time on eg. if you literally have nothing to do on the weekend or you just cannot sleep at night. There're one or 2 that I like but that's about it.

With that in mind, I'll divide the dramas into several buckets based on how I watch the drama. Do bear in mind that my category of drama watching is quite shallow but at the very least it has to be not totally boring or lazy, and has some sort level of acting (no point if you have the ikemen there but he's making you start nitpicking on him on the drama instead of actually enjoying the drama itself).

( So, let's start )

Now, for my fall season list (the whole list is at Amara):
5 Ji Kara 9 Ji Made ~ At first I thought this will be the case of Ishihara Satomi eats Yamapi alive, but after 1st episode, I gotta give it to Ishihara Satomi to not outshine Yamapi, or is it that Yamapi has improved? I'm not sure about the latter though LOL, anyway, 1st episode looks promising
Angel Heart ~ From a hotel concierge, we have Miura Shohei as an assasin here, but he's not the main. This drama is part of the City Hunter franchise, and frankly I like Kamikawa Takaya as Ryo Saeba (the melancholy City Hunter, not the perverted comedic one) in this drama.
Gisou no Fuufu ~ Fake marriage is one of the almost cliche drama theme, but I like the premise set for this drama, the lady has fake personality, the dude is gay, so we can expect more drama here.
Mutsu ~ well, it's Nishijima-san's drama, and they throw in Ito Hideaki too, so.... I'm sold :p
Toshokan Sensou SP ~ I'll watch anything related to Library Wars... period.
Otona Joshi ~ Not sure whether the drama will end up as boring, but for all the pretties (Shinohara Ryoko's hair is so damn nice here).
Kinkyuu Torishirabeshitsu SP ~ the side story of the drama.
Kyouhansha SP ~ waiting for the subs... it's quite dark, so preparing my heart for it and I don't feel like watching it more than 1 time.

Current Music: ABC-Z ~ Moonlight Walker

It's been a long time since the last caps, but I just feel the need to do this one. Again, as I mentioned before in the previous Abunai Yakai review, the guests really make the difference for the whole episode (for the better or worse). In this episode we have the casts of Library Wars, Okada Junichi, Fukushi Sota, Eikura Nana, and Kuriyama Chiaki. The focus is on Okada and Fukushi. Each has 2 segments. Okada has the 'riajuu' segment, that obviously he didn't really enjoy segment but tried his best to be a good sport and ended up being adorable, instead of annoying. It'll probably make a whole lot of difference if the person who showing him the way of 'riajuu' around is for example, Miyake Ken LOL. The next Okada's segment is what he enjoys the most, self defence and the art of making a nice body. You can really see the difference of enthusiasm level here. Then, we have Fukushi's segment, his hobby of day dreaming (I skip capping this one because it's just... weird but Fukushi is cute anyway), and him going to Tsutaya for the first time *gasp*. A must watch if you're an Okada's fan or Fukushi Sota's fan, OR if you like to see Sho-chan experienced some Okada's attack moves LOL.

'Aannn <3' baited enough? They should have this scene for the LoveCen game!

( TONS of caps here... )

Current Music: V6 ~ Koko kara

Ahhh, thank you Nishijima-san! You got me back to following new drama after the lost appetite of Summer season drama that NONE of them I've finished yet, NONE! This time is a not so dark drama, on a doctor who somehow could diagnoze people just by looking at their appearance in great detail plus identifying some criminals using the same skill (enhanced mode). Look forward to the next epidose, curious on what that female blond patient, the creepy bald janitor and the successful hospital surgeon are connected to. Definitely something to do with the family massacare at the beginning.

The last time I saw this kind of intense look is during MOZU, it's been awhile ne!

Current Music: V6 ~ Wait for You

It's been a few days since I got back from Japan and damn, I'm currently exeperiencing a heavy doze of Japan withdrawal syndrome, and more importantly, V6 withdrawal syndrome hits me even harder than the last time I went for their Sekubani concert. I went to the 20th Anniversary concert in Yokohama Arena on the 19th and the 20th September 2015. I didn't go to the last day (very truely sadly, but it's the reality, sobs) because I had to catch my flight back to Melbourne and there's just not good flight timing which allowed me to sneak in 1 more concert watching. However, even though I wasn't there for the last days, it doesn't really matter which day you went to theit concert because V6 will make sure that they deliver the high quality standard of performance that they uphold!

( The need to spread the word on how AWESOME V6 is... )

Well, despite being a group oji-sans now, I find that V6 is as strong as ever! Their music is strong, catchy (after Sekubani especially) and have more anchor now. Their dance is as complicated as ever, and they still do it effortless and look cool at that too. Individually, they're successful in their own merit, especially Okada! They definitely don't look their age, Tonisen seems to get to the preserved stage after they passed the age of 30 and Ken, well, looks like he's in the reversed ageing process (and stabs ladies' self esteems along the way), hence those teenagers can still safely fangirling over them. So, V6 みんなさん,20周年おめでとうございます。May you keep on going strong on your 30th, 40th. You're the best, 最高!

Now, when we're going to have the DVD!!!

Current Music: V6 ~ Wait for You

To be honest, I actually hesitated to book ticket for Takizawa Kabuki Singapore show because the Japan cast included Kitayama and Yabu, both whom I'm not fond of, plus no 4U. But I thought since it's my birthday, why not splurge and this is the first Johnny's butai show in here. My excitement started to build up when they announce Kawai to replace Yabu for SG show (blessed 24Hr TV) and after I watched Shokura's segment of Serenade. That's the first time I really pay attention to SNOWMAN. So, with this in mind I went to the 22nd Aug show.

( Bit long of a post... )

Overall, I love the show, and as promised, Johnny's shows always deliver you those feels and dreams that you'd always feel a pang when it ends. Now, can we have Playzone performed here in SG next year? I'll do whatever I can to secure a ticket if they'd even cast Yaracchi in it and have it in SG (their props is definitely lesser than Takizawa Kabuki's plus the troup is not much different, sort of like exchanging SNOWMAN with Travis Japan).

And for me Takizawa Kabuki is the appetizer for the excitement awaits me next month, V6 20th anniversary concert!!

Current Music: V6 ~Sky is the limit

It's been really awhile since I did caps for con DVD. Seems that it's already a norm for Arashi to do 2 different kinds of concerts in a year, thus 2 DVDs *Johnny's cash register is ringing very loudly.' Last year went with a blast with Blast in Hawaii and Digitalian. The former gives you so much feels as a fan and lots of beautiful shots thanks to the beautiful Hawaii. Then Arashi went back to their turf, a 5 dome tour, with Digitalian. Since the theme is digital, and based from the album songs, I'd imagine Matsujun had gone wild with the tech stuff for the concert, and I think he actually did that after I watched the DVD. He may do something even funkier than Digitalian in the future, but as of now, I think Digitalian is the most tech loaded concert that Arashi has pulled so far. We have the fan light (that only can be felt why it's cool when you look at the whole dome, not just yourself holding it), the real time members' heart beat, revamped moving stage (I find this one so cool LOL), and the technology for muscle movement to control sound and light (not sure the actual term but it's really cool when it's incorporated into a performance). So what are we waiting for?

Looks cool eh? Honestly at first I'm not convinced I'll like this stage layout, but Matsujun proved me wrong.

( Digi digi shiyou ze! *PS: it'll be a LONG caps* )

I had fun watching Digitalian, but does Digitalian get to be my number 1 now? Hmm... that's a tough one. Though I'd say I like what I saw, but I like Digitalian purely from watching concert point of view. The feels are in the BTS DVD (that a session interview of Matsujun explaining the concert concept and the work behind what we're seeing would be nice though), I don't really feel it in the con itself, with exception of Sho-chan seems to be so engrossed with Disco Star walk. So, to me, LOVE is still the number one on my list. I knew that it'll be very hard for the future concerts to beat LOVE, from the theme, concept and fan service. But I'd want Matsujun to beat it! Ganbare!

Now that Matsujun already had his hands on LED tech, when are we gonna see those flying particle tech from Shiyagare in the concert? XD XD

Current Music: Arashi ~ Love Wonderland

This is just something that came across to me when I watching Omotesando Koukou Gasshoubu! and it just made me think again that 'awesome'. Well, actually this is not anything new, and am sure there are people thinking, 'so? what's so great about it?'.

For the popular actors, you get to see them as a lead role in a drama for 1 season, and probably another lead role for an SP in that particular year. Ample of time to adjust, research and work on the character etc. If that people is really awesomely popular and on high demand eg. Mukai Osamu at one point, or now Fukushi Sota, you get a drama lead role in more than 1 season. From the drama that I saw so far though (disclaimer: I'm writing only based on drama that I actually watched), often when those popular ones are cast as lead roles again and again, they'll end up get casted to a mold roles, but still as a lead. Kimutaku is one of the examples in here. He has so many Getsuku drama with lead roles as so many different profession, different settings, but in essence his role is the same, that kakkoii cool guy. It's so difficult for him to break that molded stereotype role, and when he tried to do something different, the rating went down (eg. Ando Lloyd), he got boo-ed. It's good that I think finally Kimutaku is somehow breaking that sterotype mold. Look at Musashi and I'm Home, I'm actually very impressed wiith these 2 drama XD. Fukushi Sota will most probably go down the same path as well, though probably not as extreme as Kimutaku. Mukai has broken down that cool guy stereotype from Kaibutsu SP, and now doing a more random roles. I hope Sakai Masato doesn't fall into the mold roles as extreme character. He's been appearing quite often after Hanzawa Naoki XD.

But what about those people doing supporting roles? Afterall, a drama won't exist with just the lead roles only. That's when we have the supporting roles in the drama. And since supporting roles won't be having screen time in all episodes, a lot of times they'll appear in more than 1 drama in the season, and continuously appearing on the next season drama and the next next season as different people with different profession and setting. The perfect example that I can think of is Takenaka Naoto. He's practically almost everywhere and appearing in 80% of the drama that I've watched, especially after Nodame. In every drama that I've seen, he's different. He can be the very character that you trully hate, or despise to the character that you symphatize and even find it cute. Sometimes he's so subtle that I'm not so sure that it's him until I look up on the Internet. And that's what I always think about the magic of acting, and that's awesome.

Now back to what I just watched. In Omotesando Koukou Gasshoubu! Takahata Atsuko appears as the principal at Omotesando. There's one scene where she had a chat with our heroinne reminiscing how our heroinne sounds just like her mother and gave encouraging note to her. The way she conducts herself is so motherly and kind, just like the ideal principal.

Look at her eyes, so kind and even though she covers her smile, you can tell that it's a gentle smile.

But in the previous season, she was that gambling addict mother that I hate so much in Dr Rintaro. The contrast! and within short period of time. In Dr Rintaro, her screen time is quite a lot, and in almost every episode. Definitely the Omotesando Koukou Gasshoubu! drama is discussed and rehearsed in the midst of Dr Rintaro filming. This timeline just made me more amaze on how professional these people are.

Same pair of eyes but you can feel the malicious intension. *shiver*

What I mentioned here is just 1 simple example. There are tons of amazing actors in J-drama land who are supporting our dear drama leads, who often, especially in the case of idols and the ikemen ones, actually a tad lacking in the acting department (age, experience, or simply lack of talent, so many background reasonings). They're working season by season and becoming different people in different drama. I can't imagine how their mind works if they have multiple drama with different roles filming on the same day. Often we don't really appreciate these people, but in reality, often that it's these people who make one drama a strong drama and enjoyable to watch.

And this is why I love watching J-drama LOL.

It took me so long and I still haven't even gotten to the unfinished Winter season bucket and so another batch on unfinished drama this season too. Regardless, I'm quite happy with the Spring drama, there are drama that keeps me on the edges every week, drama that are just at the right phase for me to pick up, drama that are just simply beautiful and pretty to watch. Quite a diverse variety this time, and for once, no police drama this season! Nevertheless, the drama I picked this season are in general, moderate to heavy theme drama. From historical drama to drama with tons of social issues... yeah pretty heavy, but yet, interesting to watch.

( The Drama )

( The SPs )

Summer List

Arama posted the complete list awhile ago. It's a very long list, but there're not a lot that caught my attention. My list is rather sporadic and I find my stress level plays a very important role this time too in picking what I want to watch. I won't deny that 99.9% of my list are picked out of a very shallow prettiness soft spot. I just need to see lots of prettiness after sinking into the sea of darkness during the day so that I can keep on going for tomorrow. The only one drama picked not because of prettiness is Risk no Kamisama.

Hotel Concierge ~ Miura Shohei, no other much reason for this drama. But I prefer this compared to Ghost Writer. It's light and just pretty with the hotel hospitality, Japanese way. Epi 1 review in here.
37.5°C no Namida ~ The theme is actually interesting by itself. It's about a service company who provides care for sick children who are not fit to go to healthcare for the day. They call the 37.5C as the borderline whereby kids have to be taken back home. This especially creates the burden to the parents, especially single working parents in Japan where work is number 1 priority in their lives and having to take time off to take care of your family is given a side eye. But take a quick look to the drama for a minute, don't you think that there're too many good looking single dads in this drama? Narimiya (gosh how long has it been since his last drama?), Mokomichi. Plus the very strict sachou, Fujiki (he's aged quite a lot here, but nevertheless, still one of my fave ikemen!).
Koinaka ~ Getsuku drama is back to the normal mode and surprisingly, no Johnny's? Interesting. We have Fukushi Sota as the lead now. Epi 1 review in here for all the prettiness.
Omotesando Koukou Gasshoubu! ~ Typical high school drama with the ganbaru spirit lead character. The theme this time is around chorus so we're here for the harmonious group of young song birds and their pretty hot teacher *cough*. It's about time Shirota Yuu gets a teacher role. He has enough share of being high school student in so many beloved drama (Hana Kimi, Rookies), and I hope he gets to sing here too.
Risk no Kamisama ~ The idea of risk management here is more focus on product recalls and scandals, rather than the prevention route of the actual risk management (there no drama in here and the drama will be very boring). We have one of my fave uncle actor, Tsutsumi Shinichi here as your God of Risk. Toda Erika was brilliant in Epi 1 and I really symphatize her eaten up by her ambition and the big bosses' politics. Having Morita in this drama is a big bonus (the last drama I saw him in was Lunch no Joou... 13 years ago? LOL)
Okasan, Ore wa Daijoubu ~ 24Hr TV drama SP, in a standard way. This is the perfect time to bawl your heart out and I like Yamada :p
Kokoro no Kagaku sha, Narumi Saku no Challenge II ~ I have faith in Yamapi when it's not a romance role. He shows improvement in Algernon.

Getsuku dorama is back to the usual theme, rabu rabu! And off course with eye candy, double ikemen with the same name too! Oh dorama, you just love toying around with us, huh? First episode is basically giving us background and setting on what the drama would be and where all the drama would basically derive from. I'd think it's a good start and have a feeling that there're gonna be tons of angst in this drama. We already see the glimpse of it in Epi 2 preview.

Meet Aoi. Fukushi Sota's character here is a bit different (really A BIT, TINY THIN LAYER KINDA BIT) from his usual shoujo manga ikemen lead. In here, he's still kakkoii but more dorky and have zero confidence when it comes to Akari. He's just a typical 'boy' here, trying to have a panty peek (which he failed misserably), stealing a glance of the girl he likes. Again, zero confidence that therefore all the drama! You'd want to start smacking him to his senses since this very episode LOL.

Off course like any other dorama, we're blessed with:

Fan service! What a beautiful sight!

Pretty scenery because it's summer. How many times you've seen this in a dorama? Yeah... but you'd still enjoy the FEELS...

And speaking about feels, we have these too! Those scenes that would make you feel warm & fuzzy or screaming with angst.

From this scene we know already roughly what's gonna happen, ne? LOL, but what twist & turn that they're gonna pull for, this is the interesting bit.

And finally, this episode just screaming viva seishun! as this is the past that builds up the drama ahead. A good start and I hope the drama team uphold the storyline together!

I have so many things I want to write but I don't have enough that much time to think and ponder around, and after a stressful day, I seriously in need of eye candy to bleach my black crusted heart so that it's ready for tomorrow's battle.

Just like hotel themed drama, Hotel Concierge will involve the guests and the staffs relationship and cases. This time the focus is on the concierge. So what's different about this one? Well, Epi 1 is pretty standard, I guess, the novice concierge striving to ensure customer happy stay, and she'll go extra mile at that. I'd guess the subsequent will give the standard lay out of hotel themed drama, but I'd still like to find out what's the development on the management side and what would happen to Amano, that novice concierge.

Welcome to Hotel Vollmond... where only in drama that ALL the hotel employees are either good looking, eye candy or at the minimum, pleasant looking, and that includes the linen aunties and uncles on the management department. Pretty to look at and it'll give your eyes a nice spa treatment.

Seriously, I never see a hotel concierge this eye candy. Only this drama LOL! In here, Miura Shohei's character is more like the serious working concierge who goes by the book to deliver excellent service. His definition of service is different from Amano (played by Nishiuchi Mariya). I hope this drama break down his character, seriously, I feel like pinching this fake polite smile LOL.

See? When you line them up, this concierge team is really pleasing to the eyes!

I think I'm seriously deprived of concert watching that just watching concert DVD made me so happy and full of feelings. Or maybe I'm just too stressed out today? Hmm...

Anyhoo, it's Tegomasu no Seishun this time. Another different feel compared to their previous lives. This time they went to the more band performance type of concert. The stage is simple, not much gimmick. Very different compared to Tegomasu no Mahou where the stage is 360 degrees.

Though simple, I think they substituted it with the more mature feel of performance and upped the band level. They look more like a band here, not boyband, not Johnny's. And you'd think, 'ah, they've grown up.' If you watch their concert DVD from their first live, Tegomasu no Uta, Tegomasu no Ai, Tegomasu no Mahou and now, Tegomasu no Seishun, you can clearly see how much they've grown as performers and singers. Tegomasu used to be... awkward and their MC sucks, really. It's so clear in the past that they're in mess when it comes to MC as there's Koyama in NEWS, but no Koyama to depend on in Tegomasu. But now? MC? Not a problem. They never run out of cuteness and things to talk about, and just this can make you smile :)

I feel like ripping the whole concert into mp3, it's such a joy to listen to. With Tegomasu, I never have the nervewrecking moment that they're gonna crack in singing, same like when I listen to V6.

It's this kind of staging and lighting that I miss from watching concert! Such prettiness!!!!

This is Tegomasu! This is why it's Tegomasu LOL. Cuteness overload over the cat song. What's even cuter? All band members are wearing neko mimi too!

And it's amazing that they did this towards the end of the show and singing live as well (complete with the dance). They got the stamina! Off course they're almost out of breadth by the time they finish Neko Chuudoku.

Just looking at this kind of smile will definitely make you smile as well. Uber cuteness, can I put Masu in my pocket?

Maybe I should watch Tegomasu next time?

Current Music: Tegomasu ~ Hitorijanai

Io Sakisaka is probably the only mangaka that I know having 2 of her works turned to movies in such short period gap, not even a 1 year gap! Between Ao Haru Ride and Strobe Edge, I personally prefer Srobe Edge storyline, but I find that Ao Haru Ride has more popularity as they turned it into anime first then movie. Like most of shoujo manga live action, Ao Haru Ride is about high school life and the romance blossoms within it. We call it 青春 (seishun), youth. Like all its counterparts, it has the standard elements of first love, friendship, angst, complication, cute moments, and off course the munekyun moments. With the so many shoujo manga turned to live action these days, what make this one stand out aka worth watching?

( Futaba & Kou... )

Current Music: V6 ~ Generation Gap

It's been awhile since the last time I did the caps and I get really rusty LOL. I couldn't resist doing this one because:
1. Nino in dress
2. Nino in dress
3. Nino in wedges
The topic itself is to introduce dudes that you don't know, whatever that is. The dudes for this episode are the Vine dude, the kid model, the re-enactment actor (this one is interesting for me) and Lady Beard (I watch of this episode because I'm curious of this one). Overall is a so-so episode, BUT who can resist Nino in dress?

You have trolling from the get go for this episode!

( Nino-san start! )

Current Music: Domoto Koichi ~ INTERACTIONAL

There're so many of them... too many of them, I feel. D Whenever there's a romantic movie (in particular) coming up, lately, chanses are it's a live action from a manga. There're still some adapted from novels, but lately whenever I picked up a manga that I think it's interesting, sooner or later there's a live action coming. The reverse also happens where I saw movie trailers and thought of picking up the manga, and this category is piling up. Now, I'm not so sure whether this is a good trend or not, and I don't dislike the array of manga being converted, but I'd think it's an overkill if they're using the same dude over and over for the list of the live actions. The most blatant example is Fukushi Sota. Yes, he's practically a live version of shoujo manga male head to toe, but seeing him in highschool uniform over and over it's a bit too much lately. I'm sure there're so many other ikemen actors out there. There're gazzilion ones in Johnny's and Amuse that can be rotated, right?

Having said that, let's see how many that I've watched so far. Movies only. Somehow I still can track dramas, but I literally lost it on the movies. It's all starts from...

Love Complex - This is one of the earlier shoujo manga live action I watched. Lovely movie. I think this is made better than the latter years of shoujo manga live action
Honey & Clover ~ Like the drama better, actually, but the movie is a good summary :)
Sakuran ~ Love this movie for the vivid color used. Didn't even know that it's Ninagawa Mika's work at that time.
Nodame ~ Well, they just complete the whole franchise with a movie, basically. You just have to watch the movie if you already got hooked with the drama :p.
Nana - Love the manga (is it even still running?) The first one is great, the second one, not as good as the first one but I still enjoy it.
Paradise Kiss - Basically I love Yazawa Ai's manga (Nana, ParaKiss, Gekinjo Monogatari). Though the costumes are great and they really did do the blue dress, this live action is awkward. I feel Mukai Osamu is the lead because he's the IT guy at the time. Not to my liking.
Bokura ga Ita - Call me bias but this is one of the shoujo manga live action which is actually done well. They did a smart thing splitting it into 2 movies instead of cramping it all into one. A side note, Ikuta Toma playing high school chap is pushing the limit of youth LOL
Kimi ni Todoke - This one is adorable, really. Love Tabe Mikako & Miura Haruma on this. One of the live action that I'd recommend to even non J-movie fans.
Koukou Debut - The girl is cute but the guy... hmmm....
Kyo, Koi wo Hajimemasu - Not bad but they don't keep till the ending and just have the movie ends in the middle of the manga. Recommend the manga, hands down! PS: Matsuzaka Tori in high school getup is pushing it though!
Sukitte Ii Na Yo - I like the manga but when this one becomes a movie, it's a little bit lacking, probably because there's just so many things to be captured to be at least faithful to the manga (well, there're tons of things inside) and also maybe because I've read the manga first before I watched the movie. But if you're after the dreamy live shoujo manga lead aka Fukushi Sota, this is it!
LDK - One of the boring ones, really boring, I couldn't even finish the movie T__T.
Hot Road - this could be a drama. The movie just cut short lots things and just keep the main plot and the turning point so at least we don't get lost. But they manage to keep the emotion and it's presented quite nicely that I end up enjoying the movie.
Oouku - This is more of a josei than a shoujo manga. The first installment is only the 1st chapter of the manga! Which is good because I love the 2nd chapter the most and they did it in drama format! The 3rd chapter is in movie again and I love it better than the 1st, probably because there're more emo in it XD.
Hotaru no Hikari ~ They have 2 seasons of wonderful drama and they stretched the franchise to a movie. I like it because I'm a fan, but if I'm not a fan, probably I'll be confuse and end up not liking it. A tad sad for such a great material. I wish I have my own buchou at home LOL.
Kanojo wa Uso wo Aishisugiteru ~ another one of the much better ones done. Probably because of Sato Takeru's acting and his chemistry with Sakurako Ohara is damn cute. The manga is better btw, more juicy parts which are left out as an attempt to make it G rated and the need to cramp things into a 2 hours movie.
Kinkyori Renai ~ Quite enjoyable, they change bits here and there for the movie and it'd be even better if... Yamapi put a flirty front (yeah, I'll keep on repeating this bit LOL).

( Put a cut because I added on the trailers... )

And I still wonder how come Japan never do MARS and Skip Beat! live action!
So, what are the shoujo manga live action that you're raving about and the ones go to the meh bucket?

Maybe I'll do the shounen version next time too as there're also tons of them!

Current Music: V6 ~ Timeless

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November 2018

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rambles & mumbles...

all about what I like, J-drama, K-drama, Johnny's, Food... plus plus...

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For the Love of FOOD..

Sakurai Ariyoshi Abunai Yakai 2015.08.06

Siren Episode 1

Japonism ~ Kokoro no Sora and that Shounentai Classic...

Sakurai Ariyoshi Abunai Yakai 2015.10.15

Toshokan Mini Sensou ~ Message in a Book

Summer 2015 Drama Review

Sakurai Ariyoshi Abunai Yakai 2015.10.08

Mutsu Episode 1

V6 20th Anniversary Concert 2015.09.19-20

Takizawa Kabuki 22.08.2015

Digitalian

Tribute to those supporting actors

Spring 2015 Drama Review

Koinaka Epi 1

Hotel Concierge Ep 1

Tegomasu no Seishun ~ テゴマスの青春

Ao Haru Ride ~ アオハライド

Nino-san 2015.06.14 episode

Shoujo Manga Live Action

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November 2018

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