Emi Takei and Aoi Yu make for an awesome Rurouni Kenshin

Emi Takei as Kaoru

High on Emi Takei love right now, I couldn't wait to dive into the Samurai Action-Adventure flick Rurouni Kenshin, and watching it, I was happily reminded that the lovely, lovely Aoi Yu was ALSO in the movie! I had forgotten all about that!

Aoi Yu as Megumi

 Was such a thrill seeing Emi Takei as the sweet and naive Kaoru contrasted by Aoi Yu as the sultry, savvy and sexy Megumi, and the scenes where they play jealously off each other are the best!

Oh, and Takeru Sato's in the movie, too.
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

SNSD "All My Love Is For You"

Been dying to see Girls Genration performing some of the songs off of their new Japan released album Girls Generation II: Girls and Peace, but seeing as how they're poised to begin their Korean comeback soon, it doesn't look like they'll be doing any Japan shows until next year.
 Fortunately, one of my favorite tracks off the album, a beautifully sung ballad called "All My Love Is For You",  had already been promoted in Japan a few months back, so there were a few nice performances of them doing the song on various Nihongo shows.

 I was watching an absolutely stunning performance on the show "Music Lovers, and besides an incredible performance (and the girls looking more pretty than ever...!), I was thrilled to see an entranced Gouriki Ayame enjoying the show! I was all like, "HEY! Furusaki Yuno likes SNSD, too!" LOLOL! Check it out...
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

A Merry Christmas To Me!

Got some positively awesome gifts again this year, this time in the form of the red-hot Meisa Kuroki Shashinshuu Love Meisa, which I'd had for awhile in scanned jpg format, but never in physical form, and the new Girls Generation 2011 Japan Concert DVD which I'd only had various clips from before, and now have in its entirety!

 First of, I think it's been pretty well documented her how sexy I think Meisa Kuroki is, and this photobook is Meisa in her sultry, sassy PRIME! Having the scans of this book is one thing, enjoying the pictures in full sized book format is just the zenith of gravure goodness!

Id gotten the Girls Generation 2011 DVD "The first Japan Concert Tour" DVD  earleir this year, and was dismayed that some of my favorite songs had been cut out of the setlist  for the DVD release, especially their super fun performance of "Sweet Talking Baby", an admittedly silly song that sits in the Top Five of favorite SNSD songs for me, so when I saw that (and others) listed in the playlist for this new release, I couldn't wait to check it out!!! I wanna watch the DVD already on my living room entertainment setup, ( I can play it on my regular bluray player because it's a region free dvd!!!) but am thinking I'll wait til I can get a  subwoofer for my system so I can listen to the concert in all its thunderous glory!

You know, just the other day being told by my workplace that I'd have to come in on the 26th at 1:00 in the morning (and therefore insuring I'd have to leave Christmas dinner early so I could get to bed by 7PM), I was thinking I wasn't going to have much of a Holiday, but with these crazy good  gifts under my tree, I can enthusiastically say:

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

The J-Pop of My Generation is Alive and Well on Music Station Super Live 2012

Music Station Super Live 2012!

One of the great continuing rituals of J-pop fandom is the long awaited year end specials, and though of course the big one is the Kohaku, there are also ones like the FNS Kayousai Concert, the Japan Record Awards, and probably one of the cooler shows, the yearly Christmas Special MUSIC STATION SUPER LIVE Concert!

Fukuyama Masaharu and Arashi

   Downloading the whopping 4HOUR  long show, I knew it would be an event, but looking at the line up with Mr Children, SMAP, Princess Princess, Kuwada Keisuke, Fukuyama Masaharu and B’z  in front,  I was stunned to see so many familiar faces from my “golden age” of J-pop watching, seriously, if it wasn’t for the fact that AKB48 was spread out behind Tak Matsumoto and Koshi Inaba, I could have been looking directly at an older MStation lineup from 1994 or 1995!

Mr. Children and SMAP

  Seeing B’z there really gave me a feel of the ongoing tradition and continuity MUSIC STATION SUPER LIVE has- When you think oabout the many, many guests that have been on the show, Bz just has to be the most associated act with the year end special! And although never a group that I was actively involved with, I was amazed at how much the music of B’z reminded me of my golden days of J-pop, Inaba’s voice just has that sound that really represents the 90’s j-rock tone to me! Calling Dr. Hiraagi!

B'z Rockin' the House

And if seeing these awesome acts from the past wasn’t enough to give me a throwback feel, Masahara Fukuyama produced the coupe de grace, performing his 1995 hit Hello and TOTALLY sealing this special as the celebration of my Jpop listening past, listening to this song just totally took me back to the days of watching Music Station  and Hey Hey Hey at my friend’s house back in the day!

"Kimi Whoa!" Fukuyama Masaharu

Strangely, one of the newer acts I was kind of looking forward to was Momoiro Clover because I wanted to see them perform their theme song to Kitagawa Keiko’s drama Akumu Chan. Car predicted that Momoiro was going to be this year’s Kohaku counterpart to Johnny’s Kanjani8, and while they weren’t paired together here, there’s not denying how outrageously similar and SILLY both groups were- like Merry mirrors of each other, really! Though, sadly, Momoiro Clover Z didn’t do the Akumuchan song, they still were two pretty fun acts!

Here are the Magic Elves Hiroshi Abe was looking for: Momoiro Clover Z

The Other Side of Silly: Kanjani8

Speaking of newer groups, AKB48 was there coupled with recently-graduated Atsuko Maeda, and seeing them together onstage, it looked a bit like a group of unopened flowers with the last one fully bloomed…I’m not gonna lie, Maeda looked pretty freakin’ terrific here!

AKB48 and one metamorphosized Butterfly Atsuko Maeda

They saved the closing acts for Keisuke Kuwata and Princess Princess, and I have to say how awesome it is seeing the girls again back in full form! When they first came back earlier this year, I was wondering how much they’d be able to retain their former sound, and it looks like they’ve back into the groove just fine! I especially loved watching Kyonchan bang those drums again!!

Rockin' Ladies: Princess Princess

Performing "M"

For me though, the highlight of the show just had to be SMAP performing their 2005 song “Triangle”, one of my very favorite singles from the group that I felt never really got the recognition it deserved (Following in the shadow of Sekai de Ichiban Hana, after all),  and as they sang the song, I was breaking out in goosebumps, it was so MOVING!!!! The year they closed the Kohaku with this song was one of my favorites!

SMAP "Triangle"

All in all, another awesome Music Station Year end closer, reminding me once again just what it was that made me fall in love with j-pop in the first place all those years ago and why it’s still an important part of my life today!
 Now Just waiting for the Kohaku Uta Gassen…..
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

A Sweet f(x) Christmas Surprise!

Last Christmas SM Entertainment released a wonderful Christmas CD called SMTOWN Winter: The Warmest Gift", featuring exclusive tracks by several of their star artists, and one of them was this really sweet song sung completely in English called ""1,2,3". I really adore this song, but never expected to see it performed live anywhere, so I was SOOO freakin' excited when I saw this little gem up for grabs!

The girls look soooo, sooo damn good here, especially Krystal, sooo darn pretty!!! I see Sulli is recovering nicely from her butch haircut done for "To The Beautiful You", and even Amber's growing out her hair!!! And speaking of both Sulli and Amber, I have to say I was taken aback when I saw it was SULLI singing the line in the second verse, "Don't Keep Me waiting  in anticipating, Open up your heart and tell me I'm the one you adore"...I would have sworn that that entire passage was sung by AMBER! Ah, the things you can learn when you've got a cool live performance of a song!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Going My Home 終わり

Aju Makita and Natsuyagi Isao

Just finished watching the Hiroshi Abe/Tomoko Yamaguchi drama Going My Home...What a sweet and melancholy show that turned out to be!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Tiffany Moods

Was watching an episode of “Come To Play” and could not get past how goddamn pretty Girls Generation member Tiffany is! Watching the show, I was screencapping shots of her like crazy, and at the end I had a lovely collection of grabs featuring the many different moods of the beautiful Stephanie Hwang, SNSD’s eye-smiling Tiffany!

Aloof

Tickled

Attentive

Curious

Doubtful

Bashful

A Girl who truly earns her nickname "Brighter Than Gems"! LOL

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Invincible Youth Exercise Video

Though I haven't watched too many Invincible Youth2 episodes since they changed to a game-show variety format, there's still things in it that make me laugh, such as this "Diet and Exercise" video the girls made incorporating dance moves form each girl's respective groups...

Kim Shinyoung sets up the G5 girls Suzy (Miss A), Bora (Sistar) and Yewon of Jewelry to perform an assortment of peculiar exercise moves set to Jewelry's "Look At Me", with hilarious Results! 

Besides its extremely catchy song, the thing I love most about this video is the sheer fun the girls are having putting this together, jumping , skipping and flailing around the countryside for the sake of better health for all!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Favorite J-Pop Singles: L'Arc-en-Ciel / Snow Drop

So How did my love of Avex Dance Group MAX end up with me buying the brand new single from L’arc en Ciel? Well, I tell you, it was a long and twisted path, a path that led me to loving many other things along the way! Just another story of how everything’s intertwined, at least as far as j-pop goes! 

MAX

  At the height of my love for the former Super Monkeys Mina, Reina, Nana and Rina I began watching the Downtown Variety Show Downtown DX. After many, many months watching that show, I began to fall in love with gravure model Nanako Fujisaki, and began buying up all her videos and watching all HER variety show appearances!

Fujisaki Nanako

Finally, the Tamao Sato drama Hashire Komuin came out, where I was delighted to find Nanako Fujsaki listed as one of the cast! A hilarious show about a bunch of zany rookie policewomen, this show was “Taiho Shichauzo”  times FIVE, and I loved it so much! So much that I soon fell in love with the show’s ending theme song too, which was, you guessed it, L'arc en Ciels' Snow Drop!

Hashire Komuin

“Hashire Komuin” tells the tale of a young girl named Ichinose (Tamao Sato) joining the Police Force where she is mistakenly as the daughter of a famous police chief. While in their good graces, she is warned by ace detectives Kaneko Ken and Senri Yamazaki(!) against the “bad eggs” of the police force, the “Shirayuri Squad”, comprised of four ne’er do well girls and one equally apathetic guy who are more or less Juvenile Delinquents on the payroll…(think SHOMUNI but in Police gear!). Little does she know that this group is exactly the squad she’s been assigned to, and once the real Chief’s daughter shows up (Megumi Okina), she is promptly kicked to the sub level team! 

Ichinose (Tamao Sato) meets the Gang:

The Notorious Shirayuki Squad!

Nanako Fujisaki and Sayaka Yamaguchi

the uncredited Heroes of each episode!

She is soon introduced to the members of Shirayuri: Nanako’s part of the group as well as feisty Hiromi Iwasaki (hot off her turn in the asadora Futarikko) and most notably cutie Sayaka Yamaguchi as this was the first drama I’d ever seen her in! (So strange to see her so girly since I’m used to seeing her play more stoic characters nowadays!) At first completely opposed to the team’s seeming lack of concern regarding all criminal activities, she soon learns that they are savvier than they seem, and in true “Shomuni” style, are actually the ones that end up solving the cases and saving the day, despite never getting recognition from the brass above! Ah, what a fun show…

Considering how well known they are now (especially Hyde), it’s hard to imagine a time when L’arc en Ciel’s name was ever met with question marks, but that’s how it was then! At the time, they sounded pretty much like a bunch of guys “doing their Luna Sea impressions”, but no matter, I LOVED this song and began looking for other stuff of theirs too! Though I did love their other releases (especially the ones released much later, in the 2000’s), the best song they ever made in MY opinion was the one that had my mind filled with the dancing images of Nanako Fujisaki, the driving little rocker, SNOW DROP!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Executive Crush Status: Kitagawa Keiko

As Shoko Kazuki in LADY

It was high time I got around to whipping up a this little tribute to one of my very favorite actresses of all time, (in fact, sometimes I feel like she may even be my number one!) the ultra-cool queen of mope, Kitagawa Keiko!

As Shoko Kazuki in LADY

As Momoko in "Mop Girl"

  First saw her as Momoko Hasegawa in the entertaining "Mop Girl" show, one of the few dramas (along with Hotaru No Hikari) that brought me back into the j-drama watching fold after an almost 8 year absence, subsequently Keiko was one of the first "new" actresses I fell in love with, and it seemed like everything she did after that was just plain terrific! 

Buzzer Beat

 Since then I've always had sort of a "possessive" attitude about her, feeling like I was among the first to discover her, (though my friend Car tells me I'm wrong and insists Keiko was popular way before Mop Girl) and so I've always eagerly awaited and consumed each of her projects lovingly, like actress Aoi Yu, just her being in a drama or movie is half the battle.

 I love her so much that I was surprised to discover one day musing over her Dramawiki stats how few things Keiko has actually done because it seems like I've seen her in a LOT of things... but then I look at the actual shows listed and realize the reason she has so much impact on me is that though she hasn't done a lot, the things she HAS done are ones I absolutely LOVE!

"Last Friends"

Tsuki No Koibito

 I mean, it's true that there have been a few things she's done that I felt were sub-par (Tsuki No Koibito for example) but for every one of those so-so shows is a drama or movie that I watch over and OVER again, heck, I can't even count how many times I've watched Mop Girl, Buzzer Beat and (one of her very best) the movie HITSUDAN HOSTESS, because with each viewing, I enjoy it even more!

The Handsome Suit

Hitsudan Hostess

  Another aspect I love about her is her very blunt and "stoney" (a la Jeff Spicoli) persona whenever she appears in variety shows or interviews. This is one cool-as-a-cucumber chick, her appearances on Himitsu No Arashi alone are enough to prove she's the real deal, a serious, thoughtful  and introspective young girl!

on Himitsu No Arashi

I am currently watching two of her dramas at the same time, the incredible AKUMU-CHAN and her older crime drama LADY~ SAIGO NO HANZAI PROFILE (one of the dramas I didn't think much of in its initial run) and am going into full Keiko overload!

as Ayami Mutoi in Akumu Chan 

as Kazuki Shoko in LADY

Though they're two totally different characters, both  Ayami Mutoi (Akumu Chan) and Shoko Kazuki (LADY) have the same Kitagwa Keiko sensibilities: Cool, Deadpan, Bossy, Funny, Giggly and OH SO PRETTY!!!
TL;DR: I LOVE KEIKO KITAGAWA
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com