One For The Stoners: Arakawa Under The Bridge

Back when we were in High School, the general rule among Rock n Roll Moviegoers regarding the classic Led Zeppelin film THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME was "Yeah, it's a must see, but to get the full effect on it, you gotta go see that thing when yer stoned, man!" 

Well, I've never watched that flick under the influence myself, but watching the trippy movie with surreal scenes of magic mushrooms and rainbow blood mob hits against the spacey sounds of Dazed And Confused, I could get what they were gettin' at. Anyway...

I hadn't thought about Song Remains The Same for some time now, but recently the old "You have to see this thing when you're stoned"adage came to mind when I was watching the frightfully trippy and TOTALLY KRAZEE drama ARAKAWA UNDER THE BRIDGE! This movie, with its weird, colorful fairy-tale  characters set against a decidedly realistic backdrop had such a disorienting "Alice In Wonderland" feel to it, I immediately thought to myself, "Whoa, the Stoners would've REALLY dug THIS one!" 

The story of a strange girl named Nino (played with effective poutiness by cutie Kiritani Mirei) who claims to be from the Planet Venus saves the Heir (Hayashi Kento) to a huge Corporation from drowning, and as payment for saving his life, has him live among her and her "people" under the Arakawa Bridge. And what People they are! 

A colorful menagerie of magical alien folks all led by a gruff Kappa named Soncho, (wonderfully played under green makeup by Oguri Shun doing his best Kenichi Endo imitation here) a machine gun toting Nun played by Yu Shirota as well as the welcome return of Natsumi "Nattchi" Abe as cutesy "P-Ko"!!

PS: In case it isn't clear, I TOTALLY enjoyed this! I know nothing about the original manga it was based on or even the anime that followed, but something about this show is so much FUN to watch!  Supremely wacky indeed, yet somehow the art direction and look of this show really turns to nuttiness of the scenes into something quite endearing. And a BIG Bonus Points for the cute ending credits where the whole motley crew of the town does their daily exercises to the extremely catchy tunes of Gallileo Gallilei's "Sayonara Frontier" (Did I get that right), Oh My Gosh, this ending made me SMILE!!!!

It's Ryouko Tsunoda!

As Car had pointed out to me, the cute "Big Sister" of Oniisan Oneesan is none other than Tsunoda Ryouko, co host (along with her other Onissan Onessan peers) of the Children's Singalong television show "Okaasan To Issho". Going onto Youtube, I found a whole bunch of Ryouko Singalong goodness, both from the Okaasan To Issho show as well as live performances and interviews...Such Genki performances and such HAPPY, catchy tunes!

Researching further, seems like Ryouko Oneesan's quite the expert in this field, with CDs and even DVD concerts of her wonderfully warm and cute Children's songs... 

I have to admit, I watched a few of these videos over and over again! Everyone sing along with Ryouko Oneesan now:  ♫"Panda, Usagi, Koala..."♫ AHAHA 

PS: I didn't realize that Ryouko spelled her name in all hiragana characters, so it's presented like this:つのだりょうこ...Too bad, If I had, I might have noticed that they DID show her name on the VS Arashi show, as shown here on her crushing Rolling Coin Tower Defeat:

Funny, when I first saw her on the VS Arashi show, I told Car that "there's this one girl in the Oniisan Oneesan group that I would have TOTALLY had a crush on as a kid watching the show". Turns out I developed a crush on her anyway! LOL

 Ryouko Tsunoda Official Site SUN SMILE

Ryoko Tsunoda Blog Jugem

Becky eating Chikuwa

So, Who’s This “Ryoko Oneesan” Chick?

I was watching another episode of VS Arashi (probably my favorite Arashi program now that Himitsu No Arashi-Chan’s gone south in recent months) and the guest challengers they had were three pairs of guys and gals called collectively “Oniisan-Oneesan” who were all some kind of Children’s’ Television Program hosts on NHK or something. At first I thought they ALL were from the same program, but as I re-watched it, it seemed like the three pairs were all from different shows.

Unbelievably chipper and genki, they made for a particularly FUN and EXCITING episode, and because of their involvement, the show seemed even merrier and happier than usual- heck, they even engaged the audience (not to mention Arashi and plus-one guests Bananaman) in a rousing SINGALONG! Yes!

Out of all of the teammates though, there was this one girl that really stood out for me, she was so sweet and pretty, and whenever she smiled (which she did a LOT of in this episode) her nose wrinkled into the cutest beaming face! 

I couldn’t wait for them to start introducing the individual members so I could find out who she WAS, and when they finally called upon her, I found her name was simply “Ryoko-Oneesan”, as all members went by their first names and the oniisan or oneesan tag! So kawaii!

Probably the moment that stole my heart was when Ryoko (along with fellow Oniisan / Oneesan sister Shoko)  went up against  Sho, Ohno and Bananaman’s Shitara in the “Rolling Coin Tower” game. This became a challenge of EPIC proportions, because when they usually play the game, the stack of coins falls after  only a few rounds, but in this one particular case, the stacking went on for an unprecedented 10 rounds, and I can’t REMEMBER the thing getting so HIGH!

Ryoko-Oneesan looked so cute with her initial stacking...

 And got more excited /terrified as the stack got higher and higher…

And when the thing came around for the ninth round, she even had to cheer out loud when she made it though!

By this time, the stack of coins was getting SO high, I think it's the first time I saw so many of the contestants having to used booster blocks to reach the top of the stack...look at that tower!

Aahn, unfortunately, the cards (or rather, coins) were stacked against her, and as the tower made its way to her in that tenth round, the thing began wobbling as she attempted to stack her coins and then IT ALL CAME DOWN! Poor Ryoko!

Nonetheless, she and her genki compatriarts remained upbeat and happy throughtout the other challenges including the Pinball Runner and Bound Hockey, and you couldn’t contain their exploding happiness when they swooped in to eventually WIN THE GAME!!!

Sigh…I’d really like to find out more about this adorable gal, but with only the words “Ryoko”, “Oniisan-Oneesan” to go from, it’s like REAL DETECTIVE WORK! *edit: Her name is Ryouko Tsunoda!

*Subs by the Refrain Subbing Team!*

CoCo Does the Sailor Senshi.

Well, as both a CoCo and a Sailor Moon fan, I’d be remiss if I didn’t post up this performance I got awhile ago of CoCo dressing up as and singing Sailor Moon’ s anime theme song “Moonlight Densetsu” in a musical challenge against a bunch of fat guys dressed up as the Mamas and Papas.

I’d been long familiar with this image of CoCo as the Sailor Senshi for awhile since a picture of the special was in one of our CoCo books, but didn’t think I’d ever see the actual show! But there was this video store right next to my workplace in town, and they had many old, old, videotapes (that’s the place I found so many old Music Station and Sound Arena episodes, BTW) and when I was a Wide Special with CoCo on it, I rented it right away! Little did I know it was to be that very Sailor Moon one!!!

Doing The Utaban Mambo

Been watching some of my old Morning Musume / Tampopo VHS tapes that I've dubbed over the years and the ones that inevitable crack me up the most are the girls' appearances on the Ishibashi Takaaki/Nakai Masahiro Music Show UTABAN, where the duo always seem to have a time playfully harassing the group, making them perform strange stunts, and putting them on the spot!

One of the finer little shorts came when Kaori, Nattchi and Asuka were demonstrating their dance moves to "Daite Hold On Me" and Nakai just couldn't resist kicking Kaorin in the butt as she talked to the sitting members. In true UTABAN fashion, the video team took that clip and edited it into a fun "Instant Replay" of sorts, and has there EVER been a finer homage to Perez Prado's "Mambo Number 5"? LOL

Aoya Yuui eating Strawberry Shortcake

Adventures In Cuteness: Yamaguchi Ayumi

Ayumi Yamaguchi as Shouko in Churasan

Churasan: Mada Mada, or, "Ain't You Done Watching That YET?!"

Sigh. Yes, I’m still only up to Episode 124 of Churasan. Several of you have mentioned to me how surprised they were that I hadn’t finished the Kuninaka Ryoko asadora by now after all these months, but the truth of it is, ever since Eri and Fumiya got married and had a child, it became like watching a real married couple, i.e, interesting for them and their family, but not so captivating for me personally.

Just about the only storyline going on that interests me is the growing relationship between Keitatsu (Yamada Takayuki) and Shouko (played with adorable sweetness by super-cutie Yamaguchi Ayumi) but it’s rough having to sit through three “Eri's baby” episodes to get a single “Keitatsu and Shouko” scene…

Really hoping they expand on their storyline…they’ve JUST confessed their attraction for each other in this latest episode, so things are looking good! And speaking of looking good, yep, I’m really starting to develop a crush on Shouko-chan…She's SUCH a sweetie, and she gives the most hilarious of "stunned faces" LOL

Hahaha, what a HILARIOUS parade of flabbergasted expressions from Ayumi! Note in the above pics that Kuninaka Ryoko herself looks particularly adorable as well, while poor Aiko Sato strains to be in the conversation...LOL

The Fantastic Pissed-Off Faces of Ishihara Satomi

As I’ve stated in many, many previous posts, NO ONE gets a Mad-On better than grouchy pout-perfect Satomi Ishihara (last wonderfully seen in the movie The Incite Mill as the extremely dour sourpuss Sekimizu) and her prickliness is given a new chance to shine in the new Crime Drama BULL DOCTOR.

As the straight-arrowed police investigator Kamatsuda Chika, Satomi’s a by-the-book  investigator who’s suddenly been teamed up alongside a very unorthodox  against-the-grain forsenics doctor Odate Tamami (played with dead aplomb by Esumi Makiko) and it’s these constant clashes that just bring out the BEST in Ishihara!

Throughout the entire pilot episode we’re treated to the most scathing and condescending glares ever projected by humans, and it all builds wonderfully to this utter frustration-fueled meltdown (of sorts) after another head-butting against Esumi in the autopsy lab! LOL

Yaaaaah! She Drives Me CRAZYYYY!!!