Kyaaaaaa~! Hotaru No Hikari 2!!!!

Just found out through Kiiro Namida's wonderful Arashi site that this summer, my beloved, beloved, BELOVED comedy drama HOTARU NO HIKARI will be airing a brand new SEQUEL to the series, aptly titled HOTARU NO HIKARI 2!!!

Holy CRAP, youll have NO IDEA how FRICKING excited I am about this news!!!!

Hotaru No Hikari holds a dear space in my heart, for it not only introduced me to one of my very favorite actresses ever in super-cutie Ayase Haruka, but jump-started my love of japanese dramas in general, a hobby of mine that I was heavily into in the mid-nineties, but which had dropped off to almost an average of one drama a year by 2008. By chance I happened to watch Hotaru No Hikari, and I loved it so much that my love of j-dramas was COMPLETELY invigorated!

As you all may or may not know,the original Hotaru No Hikari storyline was about Hotaru, the wonder secretary at work who was secretly a carefree slob at home, who gets thrown into living with her rigid and fussy section chief, Takano. Think the "Odd Couple" with a japanese twist. Though Hotaru's gamely trying to win the heart of office heartthrob, we all know deep in our hearts that Takano (or "buchou" as she calls him) is really the one for her, and all we're waiting for is for THEM to realize it, too!

Though the series DID have the "happy ending" I was hoping for, I found myself vaguely unsatisfied with its conclusion, if only because the ending seemed really...abrupt. Instead of happy embraces, tears and kisses that usually follow a romantic drama ending, the show finished pretty much the way it ran throughout the series: Buchou playfully insulting Hotaru and Hotaru happily rolling around on the floor. I wanted more! If there was ANY show that needed a sequel or at LEAST a Hotaru Special to "wrap everything up nicely", it was this one...and NOW, it looks like my wishes are FINALLY going to be answered!

As with all drama sequels, there is, of course, a possible chance that the sequel will not only fail to live up to its predecessor, but actually ruin the original series, but when I read the ASIANMEDIAWIKI stats page and found that THIS time around the plotline follows Hotaru and her Buchou as they entertain notions of MARRIAGE, I though that was a FINE "next chapter" of the Hotaru Storyline!

Coincidentally, I've just finished watching Ayase Haruka's movie Amemase No Kawa [River of First Love] and was gushing to my friend Car about how much I just love Ayase Haruka in just about EVERY movie and drama she's in (with the possible exception of MR. BRAIN, a drama that absolutely WASTED Haruka's talents and gave her one of the worst haircuts of her career) because no matter what the character or situation, Ayase Haruka makes the person seem likeable and believable, a VERY strong plus in any story!

Just last night I got an email from CD Japan that, of all things, Ayase Haruka was releasing another one of her (few and far between) musical releases, and with the added bribe of a bonus DVD with the first pressing, put in my order for her new CD Single MARGUERITE! I hadn't even had time to rest before I found out about the upcoming HOTARU sequel, and am now FULLY back into "Ayase Hakura" mode!

Gahhh, I CAN'T WAIT!

Crush Of The Day: Kagami Saki

As a longtime fan of Ai Iijima (in both her AV and genoukai careers) I was quite interested in checking out the  2001 movie PLATONIC LOVE, based on Iijima's best-selling semi-autobiography detailing the ups and downs of her tumultuous adolescent life, her stint as an AV queen and her subsequent rise to popular japan personality!

I didn't really know what to expect when I dug into the movie, but I have to say I was immediately taken by the cute actress playing Aoi Kadokura, the girl who eventually becomes Ai Mizuki. Kagami Saki was her name, and she really sold me on this tragic tale of love, betrayal  and self-worth in much the same way that Actress Mayumi Iwasa did In Deep Love- with dark soulful eyes that really brought across what words could not! In each scene , her wordless acting just broke my heart! This gal was great, and I was surprised to find that Platonic Love was actually Kagami Saki's acting debut!

Though she was playing the part of Iijima Ai, Kagami Saki reminded more of a mix between the younger Akiko Yada (during her Say You Love Me years) and AV starlet Koharu Tohno (famous as the dominating victim/aggressor in the first of the ENJO KOSAI BOKUMETSU UNDO series) , a look that TOTALLY worked for me!

And though the movie was about a girl who became an AV actress, the show didn't delve too much on that topic and focused primary on Ai's romance with Club DJ Iwasaki (played by a blonde Odagiri Joe), but in between the AV movies and DJ romances was a stint as a hostess in a caba-club, and you can bet that it was THIS that really "did" it for me, as Kagami Saki was dressed in the sexiest outfits and giving out her girliest pouts and gestures!

She would soon move on from hostessing to her adult Film star role, but you know, to me, it really seemd like this was the time when seemed happiest in her life. Though a dark profession to be sure, there is something about the way her face brightens as she's getting the hang of her work, and she looks so radiant as she asserts her new independence and confidence! With the encouragement from her peers, she even manages to rise up to the number two spot in the club! Days off are spent laughing and shopping, as well as lounging around the apartment on sunny afternoons in only her underwear! :)

After watching Platonic Love, I went online to learn more about this pretty actress, and was excited to see she appeared in Tenshi No Koi, a movie I'd been wanting to see because of my love of actress Nozomi Sasaki, but so far I have yet to come across it online! Hmm, now that I think about it, I'd better get back trying to find that one! AHAHAHAHA!

FWIW: My Princess Princess Song Ranking!

As regular readers of this blog well know, Princess Princess is one of my favorite j-pop artists of all time, right up there in my Top Three! At one point or another, each and every album of theirs has been my favorite, and one day for fun, me and my fellow Puri Puri fans decided to rank every single song they’d recorded in order of how much we loved it!

Ah man, that took literally like, weeks, listening to the albums over and over, really poring over the songs, making sure the list reflected a true ranking of our appreciation of those Princess Princess’ songs! But in the end , it was really worth is, and it was such a GAS comparing our lists with each other! Interesting to see just how many songs we like equally, and just as much fun to see how many songs DIFFERED!

Thought that since I’d worked so hard on it I may as well share it with any of you who might care to check it out, and HEY, maybe it might even inspire some of you to create and share a Puri Puri list of your own? Ya never know! Anyway…

As usual with these lists, there’s a general rule of thumb I follow in that each song is placed on the list in a sort of "general" placement of the songs in the list. By that I mean that a song ranked at, say, #11 isn't necessarily more loved than a song at #13, but probably more beloved than a song at #33 or so. The list reflects all of Princess Princess’ regular releases from Kiss De Crime through to The Last Princess (and everything in between, including singles and B sides) but not including their early Akasaka Komachi Album...

Z's プリンセス・プリンセス SONG RANKING!

01. Seven Years After

02. KISS

03. Sayonara Darling

04. Sekai De Ichiban Atsui Natsu

05. Diamonds

06. Go Away Boy

07. 19 Growing Up~ ode to my buddy

08. M

09. One

10. Fly, Baby, Fly

11. Papa

12. My Will

13. Koi ni Ochitara

14. Pilot Ni Naritakute

15. Girl's Night

16. Voice

17. Wonder Castle

18. Parade Shiyouyo

19. So Long, Dreamer

20. Yuuhi ga Yondeiru

21. You are my Starship

22. Ding Dong

23. The Summer Vacation

24. Highway Star

25. Bee-Beep

26. Koisuru Champion

27. Koi no Pending

28. Maware! Merry-Go-Round

29. Bird’s-Eye View

30. Sweet Valentine

31. Rollin' On The Corner

32. Guitar Man

33. Seishun Daydream

34. Sore Jyane

35. Joudan Jyanai

36. Koi wa Balance

37. Kataomoi

38. Get Crazy!

39. Omoide no Sukima

40. Dakara Honey

41. Power

42. Tomodachi no Mama

43. Kiss De Crime

44. Oh Yeah!

45. Tokyo Kanojyo

46. Nagisa Wa Namida no Paradise

47. Futari Ga Owaru Toki

48. Kizuato

49. Kareshi Ga Hoshii

50. Tsukiyo no Dekigoto

51. Uchi Ni Kaerou

52. Street Woman

53. Kaisoku to Watashi

54. Tinker Bell

55. Hitorijime

56. Propose

57. Regret

58. Aibou

59. Romancin' Blue

60. Namae no Nai Machi

61. Motion Emotion

62. Koi Wa Cantare

63. Hypnotized

64. Stay There

65. Shake It Off

66. She

67. I Love You ~Madobe Ni Te

68. The Last Moment

69. Rain

70. Julian

71. Dear

72. Birthday Song

73. AB/AC

74. Love and Blood

75. Melody Melody

76. Bara Iro No Jinsei

77. Kaze Ga Fuitara

78. Bye-Bye

79. Vibration

80. Sorenari ni Iihito

81. Romance

82. Keep on Lovin' You

83. Wedding

84. Sabaku no Taiyou

85. Rock Me

86. Moonlight Story

87. Kanashimi No Aru Fuukei

88. Flame

89. Spies in Love

90. Shoujo AMAZONESS

91. Himawari To Cardigan

92. Tokimeku Tono wo Sukidemo

93. Umi ni Hitoshizuku

94. Hetchara

95. Jyunai

96. Yasashii Satsui

97. Sabitsuki Blues

98. Hitomi Dake wa Mitsumenai

99. Joker to 100 Hito no Mouja

100. Minato No Mieru Oka

101. Nigero

102. Typhoon no Uta

103. Iwanaide

104. Heart Stompin’ Music

105. Kuchizukewa Ohayameni

106. Natsu No Owari

107. Sora Yori Umi Yori ~Pri-Pri Samba ‘91

108. Hello!

109. Oh! Monkey Woman

110. Glass Heaven

111. Hareta Hi Ni

112. Eyewitness

113. Jungle Princess

114. Come Back

115. Summer Madness

116. GARAKUTA wo Fuki Tobase 

Looking over the list, one thing strikes me- Princess Princess are one a HELL of a Live Band! For, while some of the songs I simply liked right off the bat, and some songs I learned through PVs, MOST of my favorite songs here have been influenced by seeing one gripping live performance or another, either through TV shows or during one of their many Concerts. In fact, it was a THRILLING live performance on a Music Fair Special that made me fall in love with them in the FIRST place! Ah, Puri Puri, there will never be another one like them!