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| As Asuka in Yume Wo Kanaeru Zo |
Well, it only took me up til episode 4 of Yume Wo Kanaeru Zo to realize that it doesn’t matter that the drama is wacky beyond belief because Mizukawa Asami is just too damn SEXY and FUN in this! I thought I knew what a great comedic actress she was from those zany “Eri My Love” episodes, but MAN, watching her throw herself into character going into furious conniptions, ecstatic jumping around, dramatic sobbing, and energetic yelling (not to mention regularly kicking elephant God Ganesha’s butt) just totally caught me off guard and pummeled me into submission with love and adoration for the pretty and petite girl!!
Though the first time I laid eyes on her was in the Domoto Tsuyoshi comedy 33pun Tantei, it was her classy and elegant portrayals in Nodame Cantabile (as violinist Kiyora) and Last Friends (as sexy Flight Attendant Eri) that attracted me to her, and it was a guest appearance on Shin Domoto Kyodai, where she showed how giggly and cutesy she was that captured my heart! After her turn as a morose gothic Lolita in Oishi Gohan, I knew this girl was going to end up being one of my favorite actresses!
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| As Eri in Last Friends |
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| As Kiyora in Nodame Cantabile |
Though I loved her in the ensemble cast dramas she’d been in, what I really longed for was to see Asami in a starring vehicle of her own so I could see just what she was really capable of…strangely enough, out of ALL the projects she's been in, that drama happened to be Yume Wo Kanaeru Zo!
I mentioned before about how the crazy screeching and hollering style of the show was giving me a MAJOR HEADACHE (I had the same problem with Anna San No Omame), but by the end of Episode Three, I was having too much fun watching Asami turning into a colorful cartoon character come to life as the slings and arrows of misfortune beset her!
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| Gaman Dekinai!!! Dramatic Asami in Yume Wo Kanaeru Zo |
Because I’d seen her in those dramas all around the same time, I naturally figured she was an actress who was just starting out, imagine my surprise when I went onto the mighty Dramawiki and found that not only had Asami been around since at least 1997, she’d appeared in many on the dramas I’d watched, like Odoru Daisousasen, P.A. Private Actress and even an early appearance in TABLOID as an Idol turned Nude Shashinshuu model!
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| in TABLOID, circa 1998 |
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| In Odoru Daisousasen, 1997 |
One thing that’s really interesting is that even at this early stage, she still had that one-of-a kind, easily identifiable scratchy voice that I love her so much for! Listening to Asami explain that her purse got stolen on the train to the police in Odoru Daisosasen, I had to laugh, saying to myself, “HAHAHA, That’s my Asami, all Right!”
