Aimi Satsukawa and the Mechanical Man

Kikaider Reboot

  I’ve been hearing about this new “Kikaider” reboot that’s supposed to be coming out soon for quite some time now, but I have to say these remake versions don’t hold a lot of interest for me as my connection with the character is purely to the original TV series. The streamlined 90's “cyborg" version and even the darker anime update didn’t interest me, but I’ve discovered that there IS something that I kind of want to see in this new movie: Aimi Satsukawa!!!!

Aimi with Nagasaku Hiromi in Funuke Domo

   As you may recall, I’ve loved Aimi ever since her appearance as the beleaguered little sister of crazy Eriko Sato in the phenomenally awesome “Funuke Domo, Kanashimi no ai wo Misero ~ Show Some Love, You Losers!” ...

in "Going my Home"

Aimi in Gekiryuu Watashi wa Oboetemasku

...as well as her turns in dramas like "Galcir" with Toda Erika, “Going My Home” with Hiroshi Abe and the recent drama “Gekiryuu~Watashi Wa Oboetemasuka?” with Rena Tanaka et al, WELL, in the new Kikaider movie, she’s playing none other than freaking MITSUKO KOMYOJI!!!! SUGOI!

Satsukawa Aimi as Komyoji Mitsuko

 There’ve been many, many young actresses I love who have come from Tokusatsu and Sentai beginning (Ryoko Kobayashi and Miki Honoka among them), this is the first time I’m following a drama actress towards her Sentai career! Okay, NOW I gotta SEE this Kikaider reboot!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Sakai Noriko / Sukoshizutsu No Koi

  Way back in the mid-nineties I had a friend who was majorly into Sakai Noriko, and one day he made me a mix cassette tape of all her “hits”, mostly taken from her various singles collections (in particular, her album Natural Best). I grew to love most of the songs, enough that he eventually dubbed a couple of her VHS video collections for me, and here’s where my real appreciation for Sakai Noriko began! 
  For the first time I was able to see the visuals accompanying these songs, and if I thought the songs were adorably cutesy in itself, it was multiplied a HUNDREDFOLD with the visuals of sweet Noriko bouncing along happily singing her songs, songs like Shiawase Nante Hoshikunaine and Diamond Blue, which I’d liked before, became HUGE favorites of mine when paired with the  sights of Nori-P sailing on rental rowboats, playfully playing golf or cruising around town in a sports car…

  But there was one song that made its mark on my heart above all else, and it was the video they used for the ending credits for Noriko's Video Collection 2 Video File 1988-89. In this collection, Noriko introduces each song sitting at a little café, giggling while relating “behind the scenes" stories for each clip, at the end of the show she appears in a magical field of sunflowers, and as the credits roll, she belts out the insanely HAPPY song “Sukushi Zutsu No Koi”, skipping through the plants and being just plain ADORABLE! More than ANY video in ANY of her collections, THIS was the clip I played over and OVER again, and it’s now firmly entrenched as my favorite Noriko Sakai PV of all time! To this day, whenever I hear this song, I can tell exactly when the credits start rolling, when she's jumping, when she's wandering through the plants, etc, Love it SO much!

PS: Holy Toledo, I just realized this video is  TWENTY FIVE YEARS OLD!!!!

What. The. HELL!!!! Time sure flies when you’re having fun romping in a field of flowers…
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Hey, That Was...Kato Erena!

 So I'm reading the latest brouhaha with BIGBANG singer GDragon breaking up with his Japanese Model girlfriend and both of them unfriending each other on facebook- then unfriending everyone to cover the fact- ANYWAY, so they uploaded a picture of GDragon and his ex girlfriend, and my first thought was, "Hey, that girl looks like Erena from Shitsuren Chocolatier!"

Looking up the model's name "Mizuhara Kiko"on Google, and sure enough, the pictures that come up were INDEED of the exotic actress who played Matsumoto Jun's "Bedroom Buddy" Kato Erena on Shitsuren Chocolatier (when he was mooning over Ishihara Satomi)! I DID remember reading that the actress playing Erena was an American/Korean model, but this GDragon relationship was all news to me!

Mizuhara Kiko and Matsumoto Jun 

Mizuhara Kiko as Erena

Looking back on my Shitsuren Chocolatier posts, it's funny I never mentioned her, she was so striking and pretty- but then again, it was some time til I realized that Matsumoto Jun's little sister Makoto was played by Arimura Kasumi, the same actress who played adorable Miyabi-chan in Keizoku:SPEC, LOL!

Arimura Kasumi

Arimura Kasumi and Mizobata Junpei

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

My K-Pop Collection Two Years In!

Been over a year since I last took inventory of my K-Pop Collection, and as I hit two solid years of  Hallyu fandom, I thought it was time to check in again! Comparing it to my old list, there certainly have been a LOT of new artists I've gotten into, most notably Apink and Dal Shabet, groups that I've come to love as much as KARA and Girls Generation!

Well, this collection has certainly grown since it was just a handful of CDs in a wine crate!

The odd sixes of the albums made it impossible to store on my regular CD shelves so I eventually built custom sized shelving for the K-pop stuff, one year ago it took up three rows. now it's filled up all five shelves and I've GOT to expand more!!! As you can see, it's getting kind of crowded!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Awesome Ace of Angels Arrival!

AOA albums Angels Story, Wannabe and Red Motion, with Bonus Poster

My growing love for FNC Entertainment Idol Group AOA (Ace Of Angels) reached the point where I knew I needed to get their earlier three mini-albums, and today my shipment of AOA releases Angels Story, Wannabe and Red Motion has come in!
  All three albums look really nice, and I’m particularly impressed with Angels Story- such an extravagant CD case- a hardcover photobook with die-cutout windows etc, so nice, and all for basically a single release! As far as bonus goodies go, you can't beat the RED MOTION CD- this one came with a beautiful poster of the girls lounging about sexily (basically the cover, but in color), and the album even came with a trading card featuring Yuna, very cool since she’s pretty much my second favorite member after ChoA!

Autographed AOA "Miniskirt" and :Moya" mini albums

As you may recall, I've already gotten their 3rd Mini Album MOYA(as the rock unit AOA BLACK) and their 5th Mini Album "Miniskirt, both whch I got as part of autographed specials, now with Angels Story (1st Mini), Wannabe (2nd mini) and Red Motion (4th Mini), I have them all!!!
Man, these singles are so great, I can’t WAIT til these girls finally get their own full-length album!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday, Jessica!

Congratulations to our beloved Ice Princess!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

My Favorite K-Pop Girl Group Rankings, Two Years In...

From an appreciation that started with KARA which blossomed out to a multitude of other acts, these are my top fifteen favorite groups right now… Though these acts may go up and down on my radar depending on comebacks and showcases, all fifteen of these artists are ones I follow religiously and get every release I can from them!

1. Girls' Generation

 2 f(x)

 3. APink

 4. Dal Shabet

 5. 4Minute

 6. Afterschool

 7. 2NE1

 8.Kara

 9. T-ara

 10. Rainbow

 11. Sistar

 12. Secret

 13. Nine Muses

 14. AOA

 15. Brown Eyed Girls

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

An Unexpected Arrival- Autographed Rainbow BLAXX

  I'd avoided ordering any of my K-Pop goods from the MWave shop because the registration and instructions seemed so confusing to me, but when it was brought o my attention that they were having the girls from Rainbow BLAXX come in to autograph their latest album, I decided to blunder my way through the paperwork so I could get my hands of a copy!
 I've already got an autographed album by the entire Rainbow group, (their awesome album SUNSHINE) but their signatures seemed so rushed as to be almost illegible to my eyes (spent quite few hours trying to figure out whose signature was whose! I got Jisook, No Eul and maybe YoonHye, but the rest were only guesses, haha) so I was pretty keen on getting this CD, since it included my Rainbow bias Woori as well as Jaekyung, SeugAh and Hyunyoung. Maybe THIS time I'd get clearer autographs from them!

My Autographed Rainbow "Sunshine" Album

Well, I registered and put in that order, but the whole time I was worried that I'd filled in the MWave order form incorrectly, and as the days stretched into weeks without confirmation from Mwave, my doubts seeme dot be confirmed! I checked my Paypal account, however, and it indicated that my charge DID go through... but NO WORD AT ALL on the order itself.
 Weeks stretched into months, and by the 8th week, I gave up ever seeing the order. I figured I MUST have filled the order form out wrong somehow. I chalked it up to a learning experience (vowing NEVER to order from a site I didn't know much about again!) and made peace that it was a lost cause.
 Well, just yesterday morning, i got a note from the mailman telling me a package was waiting fro me via registered mail. I assumed it was my latest K-pop order, a big AOA catalog shipment, and I hurried down to the Post, dying to get my hands on those discs!
 When I GOT there, the clerk handed me a small envelope containing ONE CD album, and I GOTTA TELL YOU, I had so long ago given up on ever seeing that Rainbow BLAXX album, my first thought before opening it was "What the HELL could THIS be?" Disappointed that my AOA order hadn't come in yet, I tore open the package and had to blink TWICE when what I saw staring back at me was THE AUTOGRAPHED RAINBOW BLAXX CD!!! Well, WHADDAYA KNOW!!!

Autographed Rainbow BLAXX

 After hurrying home I took the hardcover Photobook out of its slipcase to gaze lovingly at its embellishments....and I gotta say for the record, I guess Rainbow just have bad penmanship when it come to celebrity signings...'cause these signs were just as scribbly and illegible as they looked on the Rainbow Album I had before! This time I can kind of make out Hyunyoung, but the rest...Hmmm. LOLOL!
  Ah well, it's still very pretty, and I can breathe a sigh of relief and call this CASE CLOSED!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Orange Caramel and Apink Arrival!

Autographed Orange Caramel album "Catallena"

  Joining the ever-growing list of "K-pop Albums I already had but then an Autographed Special came up so I ended up buying another copy" comes the latest with Orange Caramel's "Catallena". This was even more frustrating at the time because the Autographed Special came out just hours after I'd ordered my "regular" copy, but as you can see, it was WELL worth it, because I now own an album signed by all three Orange Caramel Members, including Lizzy who's been one of my very favorite idols since the beginning!
Along with it came a very nice Orange Caramel drink coaster...  when the special said it would come with a coaster, I imagined a cardboard cutout thing, this coaster is of a higher wuality- almost like  mousepad material... Oh, and the trading card I got was Nana! Two copies of Catallena? NO PROBLEM!

APink "Pink Blossom" with Trading Cards

After weeks of watching my fellow APink fans (generally called “Pink Pandas”) all getting their PINK BLOSSOM orders in, MY package finally came, and though the CD itself is superb, with a hardcover photobook as usual, OH MY GOSH the POSTER that caem with the album is FREAKING BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Such high quality paper, too (seems to be some kind of photopaper?) WOW!

The official trading card I got was of Eunji, but they also included this double sided card with Naeun and Namjoo... So cool- even better is that since I ordered it during their pre-order special, the Poster came UNFOLDED and ABSOLUTELY FREE!! Hope they have MORE of these kind of specials, kekekeke 

APink Pink Blossom Poster.

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

My Top 30 Favorite K-Pop Albums!

Well, it's now been a solid TWO years since I jumped into the exciting world of K-Pop music, and I thought I'd observe the significant (to me, LOL) event by compiling a few "Best Of" lists, starting with my favorite albums so far, including both full albums AND mini-albums (EPs that have at LEAST 5 songs on them, as opposed to "Singles" which one to three songs only)...Most of these will be familiar to those  who visit my blog as I've gushed about 'em here at one point or another, But I wanted to show where they really 'rank" against each other!

LOL just looking at the list, you can easily guess who my favorite artists are as they dominate the list, especially Girls' Generation, but I really love ALL of them! There are also a few groups whom I absolutely love but they either haven't released any albums as of yet, or I prefer their singles over their Long Playing releases. 

Coming up next, my Favorite Groups!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com