I’ve been watching the latest episodes of the Basketball drama BUZZER BEAT, and I have been just delirious with crushing love and affection for actress Kitagawa Keiko [北川 景子], proving once and for all that my initial attraction to the cute and quirky girl playing zany clairvoyant Hasegawa Momoko in fave drama MOP GIRL was NO FLUKE!!! 
With my j-drama nights filled with vision of Keiko, I had a big hankering to write up a “Crush of the Day” essay on her, but thought (wrongly) that I’d ALREADY written up about her after watching the above-mentioned MOP GIRL. But then I realized the first post WASN’T a Crush of the Day” post more than a general raving about the MOP GIRL show itself, so an official blog entry on Keiko, a REAL “Crush of The Day”, was in high order!
Fans of Keiko know that the actress hasn’t been in all that many dramas, so when I heard she was going to be in a new show with Yamashita "Yamapi" Tomohisa and Aibu Saki, I couldn’t WAIT to get my hands on it!!! I was excited at the prospect of seeing Keiko in a new drama though I did wonder if I would like her character as much as I loved her Hasegawa character, who seemed so full of energetic personality!
Well, it seems I had no reason to worry, for her character Shirakawa Riko; the frustrated violin virtuoso of BUZZER BEAT was just as charming, loveable and GOOFY as Momoko ever was! With the same grimacing, guffawing and mugging for the camera whenever she was tired or frustrated, you could easily believe Riko WAS Momoko!!!
Along with Shihori Kanjiya’s character Ebina Mai, (easily the best personality she’s done since neurotic Mei in Love Shuffle), these two genki actresses join forces to become this energetic and dizzy duo that tickles you with their funny banter while at the same time warming your heart with their support and closeness to each other. Every scene they are in is lively and puts a smile of your face, they are so infectiously peppy!
It also doesn’t hurt that these girls are extremely easy on the eyes- Keiko-chan ALWAYS looks just fantastic with WHATEVER outfits she happens to be wearing whether they be smart dresses, pretty blouses or suits…and MAN does she ever rock those skin-tight Capri pants! She gives a whole new meaning when they use the term “The pants look spray painted on” to describe how a girl is dressed…in fact, my heart just about stopped in this one scene where Riko’s straightening out her outfit before auditioning for a violin combo, and her EPIC display of jeans-tugging surely gave new meaning to the term “backfield in motion”!!! I was ENTHRALLED!!!
Keiko, Keiko, Keiko…MAN I just love this chick! Fo’ Reals, Yo!!!
Funny thing about Kitagawa Keiko is that though she always plays these friendly and warm characters onscreen, my friend Car informs me that (at least on her guest appearance of Shin Domoto Kyodai, anyway) that “The girl has ZERO personality and just sits there like a stone!” HAHAHAHAHHA! Oh well, I’m not lovin’ her for her life OUTSIDE of the TV screen, and everyone knows that when I say I’m in love with an actress, it’s ALWAYS because of what comes across in the drama they’re in! I guess my “Crush of the Day” should be Riko rather than Keiko!
