An absolutely RIVETING conclusion to Tengoku To Jigoku, the body-swapping drama which had been EASILY my FAVORITE drama of 2021!!!
The tale of a determined detective who switches bodies with the psychotic serial killer she is chasing took the best acting efforts from both Haruka Ayase and Issei Takahashi, and I have to say that by the show’s conclusion this may be some of the finest acting I’ve ever seen by either of them!!!
Also props to Kazuki Kitamura, the brash, arrogant and yet highly intelligent and motivated detective Mitsuo Kawahara who is always hot on the heels of the body-swapped duo as they try to wrangle themselves out of their predicament- This was a character that I never quite knew what to expect from and he surprised me every time!
An A+ drama that had me on the edge of my seat as the show took you through its elaborate twists and turns culminating in an entirely satisfying Wrap-up!!
I was excited about this ever since first hearing about it in the new drama announcement, blown away by its first episode and throughout its entire run, Tengoku to Jigoku has always been my #1 favorite drama on the air! A definite 10/10!!!

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This was one of those laid-back “absorb the atmosphere” kind of flicks, ones that take the time to show random things like an old man walking down a hill or a train clicking across the scenery…and it reminded me not just a little of the terrific Hiroshi Abe/Tomoko Yamaguchi drama “Going My Home”: Same story of a city resident going back to visit his relations in a small old-fashioned town, and once there, sitting back and taking in the slowed down pace on the town. Heck, they even got YOU to play his younger sister in both of them!

Yui and Abe’s acting skills are impeccable and the way they play off each other is captivating! Actually, everyone was really great, such natural and organic scenes which were composed mostly of dialog, GREAT dialog which grew and simmered like real conversations… so realistic, at times if seemed like I was watching a hidden camera video recording of some family’s life!

Watching this has really reinforced my Yui Natsukawa love, man…she was so doggone pretty and delicate in this one, not at all like the tough realist Natsumi Hayakawa (her character in Kekkon Dekinai Otoko), but both really great characters. And of course, no matter who she plays, her characters always have those signature dimples, and in fact, there's a scene where Mother (played excellently by the awesome Kiki Kirin) even comments, "Oh, you have cute dimples!" LOLOL

PS. Was really cool to realize the line “Aruitemo, Aruitemo” used as the title of this movie came from none other than the immensely gorgeous Japan chanteuse Ayumi Ishida’s song “Blue Light Yokohama”, how cool is THAT!!!

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 Am just a blithering mess of tears right now after watching the wonderful, wonderful movie “Soshite, Baton wa Watasareta” (…And So, the Baton was Passed), starring Mei Nagano, Satomi Ishihara and Kei Tanaka as a family of the most unusual disposition.
I ‘m a HUGE Mei Nagano fan, and have been dying to watch this movie ever since it came out late last year. With the online release of it this past month, I was crossing my fingers that some blessed subtitling team would pick it up, and just today I was overjoyed to find that a translating team picked it up and released subs for it!!!
WELL, I wasted no time sitting down to watch it, and I say without reservation that I loved, loved, LOVED it!!! I had always known the briefest of plot details: That Satomi Ishihara played a mother with a young girl who hopped from husband to husband dragging her child along, but I had no idea that that would be only the mere tip of the iceberg of what a rich, detailed and lovingly crafted story Baton truly was!
I simply adored this movie and was kept quite intrigued throughout the show by its little twists and turns, surprises and reveals, and though perhaps the ending might be somewhat predictable, I found the entire story to be wonderfully wholesome and sweet as any I've seen in years!

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A show more like a little Travelogue than a drama proper, Tetsu Ota 2 Michiko Man Kiro uses the structure of railfan otaku Michiko’s train-riding ventures visiting obscure and celebrated trains stations all over Japan to take the viewer on a soothing, relaxing trip of their own!

Little dialog is said during the shows outside of Tina Tamashiro’s gentle narration introducing the charms and specific allures of the places she goes to, and the rest is simply wide shots of her walking around the town, taking in the sights, peeking around corners, and investigating hidden pathways...and then it's time to have her ekiben meal, exclusive specialty bentos sold at stations and traveler stops, it in itself another wonderful travel-specific point to share!

Not sure I’ve seen another drama like this- You as the viewer are really allowed to sit back and take in the sights, making you feel like you’ve been on the journey with Tina all along.

As someone who hasn’t traveled much, this drama is a wonderful way to see and enjoy the beauty of Japan all from the seat of my desk, however in one poignant summation, Michiko sagely remarks:

“You can’t find it just by Googling.
These are sceneries that can only be encountered by passing through it.”
-YUI

A gentle encouragement to couch potatoes like myself to actually get out of the house and go out into the wide world and discover what’s out there!

As Calvin once said to his tiger buddy Hobbes, “It’s a Magical World, Hobbes…Let’s go Exploring!!”

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Back in July, I did not think much about the first episode of Roppongi Class, likening it to a one-dimensional melodrama about the rich persecuting the poor… WELL, fast forward to three months later, and Roppongi Class has become one of the most amazing dramas I’ve seen and my vote for BEST of the SEASON! I’ve long said that what makes a good movie to me (or drama series), is the amount of scenes and passages that I just have to watch again.If there’s a drama that has lots of scenes that I like and want to rewatch, you can bet it will become a fave, and Roppongi Class has it in SPADES! This drama is simply OVERFLOWING with incredible dialog, gripping scenes and emotional moments!
I loved how DENSELY packed this drama was, so much themes, motifs and mini-arcs going on within its borders… I had no idea how many ideas they had ‘bookended” until, one by one, they all wonderfully resolved by the show’s last episode.
Not just story arcs, but the characters themselves- absolutely NO ONE was wasted in this show. Every character who is introduced in this show, from the Cops, Criminals, Businessmen and Con Artists, all of them “go” somewhere within the story, and I was impressed how they managed to tie it ALL up for a HIGHLY and WONDERFULLY satisfying conclusion!
Though in my first watch I noted how Actor Teruyuki Kagawa always played these powerful bad guys as to be almost typecast, I MUST say that as the show went on and I saw how much of the show's "stakes" hinged on believing the power and EVIL of the antagonist, I realized there were few actors who could carry such a HEAVY role with such command, and in it, he was BRILLIANT!!!
And I can’t finish this praising of Roppongi Class without gushing about incredible Yurina Hirate, the sole person whom, to me, was the absolute “heart’ of the show, and it was so sweet to watch her go from a flighty  and arrogant waif to someone who becomes the rock of the group!!! She became one of the most vibrant and DAZZLING characters EVER! I simply can’t imagine ANY other person playing Aoi!!
This is a wonderful, wonderful show, one that I will be rewatching for years to come!

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When I picked up the movie Kuki Ningyo (Air Doll), the story about an inflatable sex doll that comes to life and goes out exploring the world when her owner is at work each day, I thought I was in for a cute, light-hearted, quirky comedy...BOY was I wrong about that!

While Air Doll does have its quirky moments, and Korean actress Doona Bae is extremely adorable as Nozomi, the sex doll come to life, this was much much more than a light comedy. While following Nozomi's search for the meaning for living and happiness, she discovers the world and people around her are just as much in confusion about the very same things as she is. When she proclaims to a lonely old man that she is "empty inside" (as she's full of air), he sadly notes that a malady of that kind is not such a rare thing for people.

As she searches deeper and deeper into the answers for her existence, we see Nozomi's wide- eyed innocence slowly turn to sadness and detachment as she is faced with the reality of "real life" and as if to punctuate how bitter living can be, we are also given insight into the people around her, where we realize Nozomi is just one of a thousand people coping with their own personal hardships from day to day.

Without giving away any spoilers I have to say that the movie ended on SUCH a somber tone that when it was over, I just could NOT shake off this feeling of utter loneliness! That's quite a movie to make me feel like that! Ahhhh, man, I'm depressed! Somebody better give me a comedy, QUICK! Time to re-watch "Summer Time-Machine Blues" to pick me up!

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My Favorite Drama of the Season!!

When I was at about the halfway point in the Hana Sugisaki/Ryuya Wakaba medical drama Unmet, I already knew without a DOUBT that this was going to be the best drama of the season, and indeed, the show only got better and better as it headed towards its conclusion, and at the final episode, easily exceeded my expectations!!
Ryuya Wakaba was great as Sanpei Tomoharu, the charismatic "center" of the drama, and WOWWW, the level of acting Hana Sugisaki held in her portrayal as the amnesiac-but-still-positive Miyabi Kawauchi has to be her FINEST yet, conveying SO MUCH with just facial expressions, head tilts and body language, so much with few words and few gestures.
I’ve long said that I’m not a huge fan of medical dramas as they all tend to skew to the same tropes, however, while Unmet of course had some of it, I was constantly surprised by the directions they chose to follow, surprised by unexpected developments, all keeping me on my toes until I realized to myself: "HEY! I'm really INVESTED here!!!"
PS: I have to give a special mention of Chiba Yudai as Kota Hoshimae- he was the emotional character who stood in for us, the viewers, reflecting OUR feelings as he cheered happiness for Miyabi, crossed fingers for hope, and shed tears when misfortune befell our vulnerable heroine. It was his reactions that got the most out of me!
All of them together  produced a strong, gripping drama, one I was totally invested in for the past few months!
I was having dinner with a friend over the weekend, and I gushed “MAN…Unmet is SO GOOD right now, and I'm praying that the last episode continues on the same trajectory...please, don't screw up the ending!!” And as I watched the last episode, besides crying my eyes out for MOST of the show’s duration, I was also very nervous about how it might end. But I need not have worried, for the drama delivered one of the best, concise and clear endings it could have, causing me to breathe a sigh of relief…even as I shed even MORE tears!
Aw Man, Hana Sugisaki MUST get some kind of accolade for this drama…it was the number ONE drama of the season, BAR NONE, and most of it was due to her and her wonderful creation of Miyabi. This was one real MUST SEE drama!

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I LOVED it! The story is about these four individuals with unique powers: Osawa is a human lie detector, Suzuki clocks off time in her head like a computer, Matsuda can pickpocket anyone, and Sato is the charismatic talker who charms the audience/captives while the heist is commencing. The four individuals happen to be at a bank when they are witness to a half-assed robbery, and after stopping the would -be thief, they decide THEY could do better, and become a slick crime unit making daring and theatrical robberies!

I’ve always loved movies where a team of eccentric people who are aces at “what they do” join together and execute perfectly planned heists, like that team at the beginning of that first Tom Cruise MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE movie, the HUDSON HAWK museum thieves, heck, even OCEAN’S ELEVEN had that spirit I’m talking about…well, CHEERFUL GANG just exudes the same stuff! Dressed in loud, flamboyant clothes, the look of the gang resembled a Sentai Group that even Ishinomori Shotaro would be proud of!

Okay, I’m off to go search for Kyoka Suzuki pics.

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Another GEM From Bakarhythm

Just wrapped up Brush Up life, a drama with the similar premise of another Bakarhythm drama, "Suteki Na Sen Taxi ", this time about a woman who, at death's door, is given the chance to be reborn and re-do her life all over again...As expected, with such a premise, this show was simply and utterly AMAZING!
From the get go I was entertained by the way main character Asami Kondo (Sakura Ando) took on the task of reliving her life with the intention of getting good points for her inevitable afterlife, and at first, the show was very wacky indeed! But as the show went on and the stakes got higher, what developed was an introspective and HEARTFELT drama, one that had me totally engaged and ENTHRALLED all the way to the end!!
Lots of opportunities for wackiness, but what really came through was the love of family and the power of friends and FRIENDSHIP, especially the kind you make when you are very young and carry with you throughout your entire lives.
This show made a point of how precious these kinds of things are and are meant to be cherished and not taken for granted!
As those who've seen Suteki Na Sen Taxi's more sombre episodes, Bakarhythm has an impeccable talent for mixing the most outlandish ideas with some of the sweetest and touching moments, and Brush Up Life was yet another gem!

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Just watched a very good movie called TENTEN~Adrift In Tokyo, A comedic story about a Loan Shark Collector who offers one of his marks a million yen to pay off his debts if he'll accompany him on a walk of indeterminate time: "Could be days or even a month", he flatly states. Without much choice, the mark accepts the job, and over the course of days, the two men form a special bond as they experience life on the road together.

The Loan collector is played with witty delight by Miura Tomokazu, whose character of Fukuhara is a life-loving person, and his constant chattering about this and that is reminiscent of Charles Grodin in Midnight Run or Kazama Morio in Instant Numa! The hapless debt-ridden man he eventually employs as his road companion of sorts is played with glum moroseness by Odagiri Joe, here rocking the frizziest hairdo ever seen on an asian man! As Takemura, he's a young man who's always felt like luck hasn't been on his side. Abandoned by his parents at the age of 5, he's always looked at life as a series of let downs and broken promises. But through the course of their walk, he begins to see in Fukuhara the father figure he's longed for all his life.

Don't Worry though, the Movie isn't as dark as all that, the story is played very lightly, and, like I mentioned earlier, is pretty much a comedy however you look at it. But the twist and turns the two men go through, the fun and interesting eateries, the fights and the late night-talks all add up to a very sincere and thought- provoking film.

At one point Fukuhara takes Takemura to meet a lady-friend of his named Makiko (played by the ever-stoic Koizumi Kyoko) where they can stay for a few days and it's here that Takemura meets her niece Fufumi, played by the excitably genki Yoshitaka Yuriko: SUCH a cutie, Special mention MUST be made of HER! From the moment she enters, she's stealing the scenes, going off portraying her patented "Woman/Child" girly-girl, the kind that is sooooo cute and ditsy as to border on Mental incapacitation! With her one-of-a-kind high-pitched and scratchy voice, can ANYONE do this better than her? LOL!

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I may be the most clueless moviegoer out there, but I swear that when I got the new Sawajiri Erika movie HELTER SKELTER, it was solely because I’d read that the movie starred her as a supermodel/actress/celebrity and figured I’d get to see Erika in some Pretty n Sexy outfits looking Hot as Hell…well, I got that, and MORE, as anyone who’s even briefly perused the reviews knows, never mind the pretty outfits-this is the movie where Erika went ALL OUT, burning a path of hotness that dubbed everything she’s done before as “tame’!

From the get go we see Erika duked out in the most salacious of outfits a la red garters and panties, and even as I was marveling at the sight, thinking she’d really upped the notch of sexiness, she was moving on to the next big “Heart Attack” moment for me, and the depravity didn’t stop there! By the time the movie had gone about halfway into the story, I has seen Erika in just about every imaginable sexy scenario, leaving me with an open mouth and glazed look on my face, thinking, “This girl sure knows how to generate a COMEBACK MOVIE!”

Like I said, I initially checked out this movie to see Erika as a model wearing model-type outfits, and I am happy to say that in that, they wildly succeded- every scene is chock full of Erika in tight flowery bikinis, lacy lingerie, svelte suits and sultry dresses. I was in screencapping heaven!

Sadly, as the movie’s story progressed, Helter Skelter began to be less a tale of the scary world of plastic surgery and more into a decidedly “sci-fi” genre flick (no “regular” plastic surgery here, there operations are executed with strange Orwellian methods with side effects that ring more Horror than Drama!) and by the time the backwards-walking midgets came out (for reals, yo.) I knew this movie had turned into a David Lynchian Psychedelic Trip and from there, my interest dwindled…

Too bad, the first half of the movie seemed to be grounded in a very realistic backdrop and I thought it was going to be a human drama study about the pressures celebrities have and the lengths they go through to stay in the public eye (I guess that is the message, in a twisted way), having Helter Skelter turn into another arthouse-y project just left me disappointed, and Sexy Sawajiri Erika aside, can’t say this show has much more that I’d go back for. Though I WILL be back for said Sexy Sawajiri Erika, you can best bet THAT!

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Though I felt that the last episode seemed a bit rushed, if I thought of the 7 episodes of Satsui No Michinori as a long movie rather than a drama, it worked out pretty good!
Despite its abrupt (in my opinion) conclusion, I really loved the journey of these two guys set out for revenge and murder who meet two cool and savvy girls who happily join in on the ride, and I even liked the way they tied things up in the end with a nice little bow!
Of course a big part of my enjoyment of this drama came from the saucy Mayu Hotta (as well as Yui Sakuma, whom I only JUST realized was Yuka in Jikuu Tantei Oyu!), the scenes with the boys interacting with them really made the show!

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This was such a sweet movie (naturally, any movie that has Okinawa as the backdrop is going to be breezy and laid back) and I how even back in 2005 Aoi Yu was just completely enveloping herself in her roles- she is SO believable as Fuuki you really feel like you know her and are along with her on her journey.
I have to say that I pretty much guessed the plot of Letters from Kanai Nirai right away- a few years ago, there was a essay on NPR’s “This American Life” that told the true story of a correspondence between Mother and Daughter that was almost exactly what transpired in the movie...though that ended on a more bitter note than the Aoi Yu film which was filled with warmth and love.

Aoi Yu, she’s still amazing me as always!

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Watched 29 Jan, 2014
Man, I have just finished watching the most awesomest movie! Years ago I saw a super fun episode of Kuwazu Girai featuring Okada Masaki and one of my very, very favorite actresses, Aoi Yu, who were at the time promoting a movie called Raiou (The Lightning Tree) and the couple was so much fun and seemed to get along so well that when I found the movie up for grabs, I downloaded it right away!

First thing I gotta say is MAN, this movie is NOTHING like what the synopses I’d been reading had indicated- far from a typical romance separation by class, Raiou took that basic premise and took a MAJOR left turn with it, turning the movie into one featuring not only romance but Action, Adventure, and Human Drama- Beyond the tale of a high class young nobleman falling in love with a peasant girl, we’ve got the male lead Narimichi (Okada Masaki) as a prince plagued by illnesses that not only make his sickly but prone to bouts of delirium as well, meeting Rai (Aoi Yu), a gruff wild-child raised in the mountains by the assassins who stole her away from her family when she was just a baby. Put these two together and you’ve got a whole new tale on an old tale!

And the second and probably most important thing about Raiou is the awesome acting, ESPECIALLY on the part of Aoi Yu, my GOSH can this chick ACT!!!! MAN, her scenes were always so gripping, emotional and intense- I have to say that by the end of the movie, I was just DRAINED! Man, NOBODY sells a character better than her, NOBODY! What will this girl do NEXT?!

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A while ago, a friend had given me a copy of the movie Honoka’a Boy to watch. When I asked why he thought I should check it out, he ventured, “Well, It’s set in Hawaii... and Aoi Yu is in it.” Well!

On that note I made plans to get around to watching the movie, but to say that Aoi Yu is “in” this movie is like watching the Blues Brothers for Peewee Herman, seeing as how they both appear onscreen in each respective movie for about the same amount of time! But despite that setback, something about the Honoka’a Boy’s slow and calming pace really drew me in, and before you knew it, I was really enjoying it!

Starring Okada Masaki as the fish out of water, or rather a Nihongo stuck on the Big Island, the show details his adjustment to life in the Islands as opposed to his life in Japan. The show is crammed full of interesting and eccentric characters, (including a fun performance by Matsuzaka Keiko, (whom I ADORED as Ikushima in Atsuhime), and Baisho Chieko (as the spinsterly lady who falls for Okada) but make no mistake about it: The true “star” of this movie just HAS to be Sexy Hasegawa Jun! From the moment Okada’s character Leo befriends the exotic “local” girl Mariah, her sexiness totally captivates Leo’s thoughts (and ours) and with Hasegawa rockin’ the cute denim short-shorts and skimpy bikinis, you just CAN'T TAKE YOUR EYES OFF HER!

Funny that until I watched this movie, I’d always believed :”Jun Hasegawa” to be an ACTOR, that is, a dude. What I didn’t realize is that there are actually TWO talents out there with the same name, a fact I sadly discovered when I tuned in on the drama Naka Nai to Kimeta Hi thinking I was gonna see some sweet local goodness and instead saw an up ‘n’ comin’ Johnny’s Boy. D’oh!

Living in Hawaii myself, I love going out to visit the outer islands, and I think this movie manages to capture the laid-back and relaxing vibe the islands give off perfectly! When the movie was over, I found myself strangely mellow, as if I'd just come home from a long, breezy visit to Honoka'a! AHAHAHAHAHA!

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