Thursday, September 29, 2016

The Return Of Emi Takei in “Seisei Suruhodo, Aishiteru"

Emi Takei as Mia Kurihara in Seisei Suruhodo Aishiteru
As a HUGE fan of actress Emi Takei, I’ve been staring forlornly at the image of her latest drama Seisei Suruhodo, Aishiteru for some time now, hoping that SOMEone would take the time to sub the show, and it is with great pleasure that I’ve found wonderful subbing team Furritsubs have indeed taken up the show, and JUST in TIME to help with my Ie Uru Onna withdrawals!!!!
Emi Takei
 Seisei Suruhodo, Aishiteru begins quite whimsically with  a young girl named Mia Kurihara sitting at a table contemplating an engagement ring that she is set to return to its proposer, while a thoughtful young man named Kairi Miyoshi (Hideaki Takizawa) stands behind her contemplating his future.
Hideaki Takizawa
By chance they happen to bump (more like crash) into each other and this causes the two to spend a frantic few minutes looking for the engagement ring which has somehow gotten lost in the scuffle! After not being able to locate the ring, the guy tells Mia that she should give it up for now since it’s only a ring, and Mia, aghast, lets him know that as an employee of infamous jewelry giant Tiffany & Co, she considers rings a most precious thing someone can bestow upon another, and after finding the ring, leaves in a huff.
A Ring is something important!!!
The next day. the great twist comes when she realizes the young man she met the day before and treated so gruffly is none other than the new Vice President of Tiffany’s who has come from overseas to manage the Japan branch of the company!
Checking out the new Vice President
...and it's that guy from the park!
Eyaaah! thinks Mia
Poor Mia is completely mortified to have behaved in such a fashion with her new Vice President and quickly tries to make it up to him by showing how diligently she cares for her job.
Mia trying to make it up to Vice President
...showing what a capable person she is!
Things are initially rough between them as she finds Miyoshi to be cold towards the romantic aspects of jewelry and seems to care more about money.  Combining this with a strict female supervisor who routinely rejects Mia’s ideas, it looks like the girl has a a bit of obstacles to hurdle if she’s going to make it in her company!
A strict supervisor who doesn't think much of Mia's  ideas...
Concepts like a new jewelry proposal from Mia...
usually end up in the shredder!
Fortunately for Mia, she has love and support in the form of her two roommates, Akari and Chiaki, her best friends since they were children.
Elena Mizusawa as Akari
Akari (played by Erena Mizusawa who we last saw giving hell to Mirei Kiritani in Sumika Sumire) is a Book Publishing agent,
Reina Trendl as Chiaki
...and daffy Chiaki ( Reina Trendl) is a successful Model, and together they create the environment for Mia she can relax and be herself around.
The girls talk about their problems over dinner
 Things start getting complicated when Mia realizes that Akari’s client, author Atsushi Kuno (Hayato Nakamura), is Miyoshi’s kohai from before and they all end up having dinner together.
Hayato Nakamura as Kuno

To complicate things even more, seems Chiaki is getting sweet on Atsushi, Atsushi meanwhile is vying for Akari’s affection! Things are gonna get sticky from this point on!
It’s around the point that the drama, which so far has been running like your usual rom-com drama, takes a turn for the darker: Mia's ex-fiance begins stalking her and meanwhile the rumor is getting out that not only was Miyoshi married, he is the one responsible for "killing" her! From this point the show turns into a much more melodramatic show.
 Through trials and tribulations, both Mia and Kairi find not only mutual respect for each other but, of course, an aching feeling in their chests when they are together that can only be love! But with the news that Miyoshi has a wife, can Mia, who treasures the idea of true love and all that jewelry stands for,  see herself as having an affair? While that question hangs in the air, the two nonetheless become closer and closer.
Uwaaa, this first episode ended on a really serious note for something I thought was gonna be light fare! But it’s so intriguing and of course I just GOTTA see where this all goes to!
Great acting by all and it’s great to see Hideaki Takizawa again, whom I haven’t seen in  YEARS! And I HAD to smile when the big, bad president of the Japan Tiffany’s branch is revealed…and it’s none other than good old Ken “Abarenbo Shogun” Matsudaira! LOL
Mia meets the President of Tiffany's...
Who turns out to be Yoshimune himself!
And EMI…I think I’ve already mentioned this in my review of her last drama Age Harassment but it always blows me away at how she gets more and more pretty as she gets older. She is REALLY growing into a stunning woman, and this drama really showcases it! I love, love love her!!!!
Okay, I think it's time to get back to watching even MORE of Seisei Suruhodo Aishiteiru!!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Monday, September 26, 2016

Sunhwa to leave Secret!!

Oh MAN, some bad news...this is yet ANOTHER one of my favorite k-pop groups that is losing a member! Sunhwa, whom of course was the first one I ever knew from the awesome TS Entertainment group, has decided not to renew her contract and Secret will go on as a trio...Argh, even though Hyosung is and will always be my bias, you cannot deny how perfect the group was as a quartet!
Sunhwa, you will be missed!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Cake Wars with Mirei Kiritani in "Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto"

Mirei Kiritani as Misaki
I’ve been needing some new dramas to fill the empty space left by Ie Uru Onna, and along with Haru’s psychological detective drama ON, i’ve picked up the latest drama Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto, starring Mirei Kiritani as a young girl named Misaki Sakurai who is trying to eke her life out as a patissier in the turbulent world of restaurants.
All her life Misaki has dreamed of making cakes and has seemingly found her lifelong dream as the pastry and cake chef of a local bakery...
A Happy Cake Maker!
This dream goes crashing down the tubes when the bakery is bought and closed down and Misaki suddenly finds herself out of a job! She tries desperately to get accepted by other restaurants, but she keeps getting denied.
"Why can't I get hired?"
Her friend Wakaba (Junko Abe) tells her that her wedding cakes, though very beautiful, are rejected because she herself has never been in a romance before, and the naive never-even-kissed-before Misaki has to agree.
Advice from friend Wakaba (Junko Abe)
By chance that evening she gets locked in the bathroom ("Can this day get any worse!" she thinks) and has to wait for the help to let her out. Hours go by and when someone does finally come to the door, her rescuer is none other than Chiaki Shibasaki (Shohei Miura), a childhood friend (and secret first crush) of Misaki’s who is becoming well-known in the restaurant circles.(Funny, this drama reminds me a lot of Hungry!, a drama which also co-starred Miura as one of the chefs!)
Stuck in a Bathroom
And her rescuer is...?
it's Chiaki (Shohei Miura), her childhood crush!
Having tasted one of her cakes, Chiaki invites Misaki to help out at his restaurant down by the seaside for the summer as they are in need of a good pattisier. She immediately jumps at the opportunity and is beside herself when he offers to let her live in his own house while she works there.
When she hears the news, Wakaba tells Misaki that this may be her "love chance" and takes her shopping to pretty her up and buy some cute clothes so she might 'get her man"! A new job prospect AND a possible romance? What could go wrong!
Wakaba takes Misaki shopping
A delighted Misaki makes her way to the shore, ready to start her new career with her high school sweetheart, but her happiness is cut short when she meets a brusk surfer named Kanata (Kento Yamazaki) who treats her rudely when she asks for a picture at the beach.
He refuses to help her and only snaps a picture when she falls in the sand! Grrr, hopefully not everyone is this crude!
Kanata (Kento Yamazaki)
"Here's a good pic of you flat on your face"
When she makes her way to Chiaki’s house, she is greeted by another strange sight-  a boy named Toma (Shuhei Nomura) who, besides being overly-familiar with her, seems to already LIVE there as well!
Toma (Shuhei Nomura)
He invites her in, and she is doubly shocked to find the rude surfer Kanata from the beach living there as well! It turns out that both of these boys are brothers of Chiaki’s and they ALL live together under that one roof…the same roof that Misaki is going to stay at!
A House Full of Brothers
How can a girl cope in this kind of living situation??
The next day Chiaki takes Misaki to their restaurant (cleverly called “SeaSons”, get it, it's three sons living by the beach) and it is more beautiful and dazzling than she could have hoped for!
Welcome to SeaSons
Unfortunately, Kanata is the head chef of the place and doesn’t approve of such an obviously air-headed girl who is only here to look for love and waste time, and it’s up to Misaki to make him see that she is serious about the job and is a worthy person to add to their establishment.
Unapproving Chef Kanata
Misaki trying her best, learning the local ingredients and flavors
So far so good, and though Misaki clearly has eyes on Chiaki, I can see the storyline going where the other two brothers might fall for her as well, and since the name of the drama is “A Girl and her Three Sweethearts”, you can’t expect everything to run so smoothly anyway!
LOL, they’ve even already introduced a couple of “foils” for Misaki’s advances towards Chiaki like stunning Nanao as Kaede Takatsuki, a gorgeous older woman who seems to already have an existing relationship with him!
Luscious Nanao as Kaede Takatsuki
Yes, just like Ryoko Kuninaka in Hungry!, there's always a pretty older lady to crush the dreams of a young wide eyed girl in love with the main guy character! Poor Misaki, it’s only the first episode and already so many problems to deal with!
AHAHAHAHA, I Can only keep watching to see how this whole brouhaha turns out!!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com