The Zdorama Again Blogsite Currently on "Private" Mode

I've had my fair share of people online swiping my scans and uploading them as their own (ah, the very first time I remember seeing one of my screencaps on someone else's site was for the Keiko Kitagawa movie "Mamiya Brothers" oh so long ago) but the swipes are getting more and more aggressive to the point where one day I was looking up Keiko Kitagawa images on Google and saw not only a blog entry I wrote of her:

But ALSO a completely stolen word-for-word picture-for-picture lift of my VERY SAME ARTICLE posted up by some unscrupulous lout:

Checking out his/her site, I was SHOCKED to find literally over a HUNDRED of my blogposts uploaded onto this guy's site as his own. I contacted Google's copyright DCMA site and reported it, but I had to list each and every pilfered post one by one. At first they  quickly removed the posts I reported, but by the time I'd reported my 45th -55th copyright violations, they stopped approving them and said I had to "prove that the posts were mine". When I explained that I wrote the articles and made the pics, I was rejected with "not enough information provided". After re-submitting my claims over and over I gave up. So the thieving site gets to keep  the stuff he swiped up. 
   Knowing that this person (or in fact just about ANYone could simply steal my posts in their ENTIRETY and there'd be nothing I could do about it, I began to realize I'd have to watermark each and every piece of information I posted to "prove" it was mine, and decided for the time being it was easier to just take my blog off the internet and put it into private mode.
So that's how it is right now, still deciding what I'm going to do as far as future posts. Not really feeling much like creating anything new with this development, but I know that once I find a new drama or actress that wows me, I'll want to come and blog about it here!

Jimi Ni Sugoi 終わり

Well, the final episode of  “Jimi Ni Sugoi~Kouetsu Girl Kouno Etsuko” aired this week and I have to say it was a fine little show indeed! The tale of this would-be Fashion Magazine Editor who becomes a passionate and capable Proofreader kept me entertained and smiling throughout its entire run, and I have to say it’s one of Satomi Ishihara’s best roles yet!

I was talking to a friend over lunch the other day about the recent dramas that are on the air right now, and when we got on the subject of Jimi Ni Sugoi, he mentioned how stunned he was to see actress Satomi, whom he’d always seen as a young moppet of a girl, all grown up as a stunning WOMAN!

 I knew what he meant. I remember seeing Satomi Ishihara for the first time waaaaaay back in 2003 as the snubbed love interest of Matsumoto Jun in the Koyuki drama “Kimi Wa Petto”, and though she was very pretty even then, DAMN, looking back on that show now, it really is amazing to realize how Satomi has bloomed into this gorgeous, gorgeous lady over the years!
Sometimes it’s hard to believe that THIS snooty, spoiled little girl from “Kimi Wa Petto” in 2003:

Is THIS same beautiful, GROWN WOMAN in “Jimi Ni Sugoi” in 2016!

Holy Cow, Satomi Ishihara is truly an actress whose appeal really appreciates with time!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Deka In Drag: Masahiro Matsuoka in "Kaseifu No Mitazono"

Now that Kuroi 10nin No Onna has ended,I desperately needed another wacky show to take its place, and oh, how Kaseifu No Mitazono happily fit that bill!!! Starring TOKIO’s Masahiro Matsuoka as the titular housekeeper, this drama tells the tale of the capable crossdressing Mitazono who is part housekeeper, part detective and ALL AROUND BADASS!!

We are introduced to Kaoru Mitazono and her partner Emiri Hanada who are just being hired by a politician and his family, and it doesn’t take long to realize that while Hanada is a naive and innocent housekeeper, Mitazono is not only a person of incredible knowledge and skills, but someone who seems to have another, secret agenda. 

It’s not clear at first, but after some digging around and investigating, Mitazono discovers that each of the family has something deplorable to hide and her ultimate goal is to shake things up and bring all these transgressions to light!

Mitazono and his/her partner are employed by the MUSUBI housekeeping agency, and when we see them back at home base, we find that intimate knowledge of the families they are working for is a regular thing amongst these housekeepers. 

 “We know all their secrets, but are bound by discrection,” says boss Yuriko Musubi (the ever affable Kimiko Yo), nonetheless it doesn’t stop them from doing their own deductions and guessing when it comes to whatever sordid crimes their superiors are up to!

Gotta say, this show has already far exceeded my expectations- I thought this was going to be a silly romp with Matsuoka hamming it up in ladies clothing, but what I’m getting is a gripping and sometimes ever serious drama. The reason for Mitazono’s crossdressing is never revealed, with Musubi saying “well, everyone is into their own thing, right?” and so far from a slapstick show, it plays it rather straight.

Not to say there aren’t fun and hilarious moments, like when she is talking to someone (in this case the governor’s daughter, who has just figured out Mitazono is a dude) and at the end of the conversation, switching to his man voice and saying “Don’t You Think?” LOLOL Good way to make your point!

Love all the characters but special mention must be made of Fumika Shimizu as Emiri Hanada, OH MY GOSH, she is soooo cute. She plays the wide-eyed and innocent foil against the stern and steely eyed Mitazono, and man, even just watching her polish a mirrror, she is so adorable it makes me smile! I first saw her in the Satoshi Ohno drama Sekai Ichiban Muzukashi Koi  but it’s here that she really makes her mark on my heart!

I’ve always loved Masahiro Matsuoka’s dramas, Tengoku Ni Chiban Chikai Otoko (Heaven Cannot Wait), Yaoh (Night King), Yasuko to Kenji and even Manhattan Love Story are faves, and I think we can safely say that with Kaseifu No Mitazono, we’ve got yet ANOTHER winner!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

The Fun and Genki "Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu" Ending Credits!

We Got Married As A Job Ending Credits

I have to admit that I didn’t fall in love with Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu’s ending song “Koi” until about the third episode, but once I did,  the wonderful ending credits song and its happy montage featuring Yui Aragaki, Gen Hoshino and the rest of the cast dancing along to its cheerful refrains became one of the MAIN things I looked forward to each episode! Watching them dance along to the genki song always left me with a warm and happy feeling at the end of each show!

Yui Aragaki

Yui and Gen Hoshino

  After just watching episode 8, I found I loved the ending credits so much that I just HAD to find out more about the song and its singer- and that’s when I found out the happy singer was none other than Gen Hoshino himself! HUH! I’d never have thought it- Hoshino’s character Tsuzaki is such a mopey and morose guy on the show that I remember when I first saw him lip-synching to the song in the credits, thinking, “that grumpy guy is the LEAST believable one singing, LOL, how wrong I was!

Gen Hoshino sings along

Going onto youtube to look for  the song video, I found that not only was there a different ending credits version with Takashi Fuji and Erina Mano et al, but the group choreography was so popular that there were multiple versions all sorts of OTHER people dancing to it (Newscasters, Variety shows)! And no wonder- watching Yui Aragaki and Gen Hoshino dancing each day, your heart just gets totally charmed by it! 

Takashi Fujii and Erina Mano Version

Check out the fun and addictive Ending Credits featuring Yui Aragaki, Gen Hoshino, Yuriko Ishida, Arata Furuta and Ryohei Otani dancing to “Koi” by Gen Hoshino for yourself below! (but be careful if you haven’t watched the show yet as the preview for the final episode follows the ending song at 1:33)

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

The End Of Running Man (At Least As I Know It)

The Invincible Seven

Along with the bevy of favorite K-pop artists either quitting or losing members, the SBS variety show RUNNING MAN is also in the midst of a big upheaval. Ever since member Gary announced his departure just the other month, the group as-we-knew-it had already been compromised, and it has now been announced that  in 2017 both members Kim Jong Kook and Song Jihyo will also be leaving, to be replaced by veteran host Kang Ho Dong.
 Aw man, this is a real bummer of news for me. Running Man has always been a part of my whole K-pop experience (I first discovered it when I got into Girls Generation and everyone said "ya gotta see the Running Man show with SNSD!") and though I don't talk about it was much as I once did, it was and is still a big part of my life and I still watch it regularly, , and it's hard to see the show continuing with out the "Invincible Seven" of Jae Suk, Sukjin, JongKook, Jihyo, Gary, Haha and Kwangsoo...The dynamic of these 7 was darn near PERFECT!

But even I will admit the show hasn't always quite sparkled like it did in its early days (at its best, Running man was unbeatable for its fun, intriguing and totally exciting shows!) and I don't blame the individual members for deciding to "move on" and do other things, leaving their RM legacy intact!

 I don't know who else will be either leaving or joining, but no matter what, I'll have to check it out: this is a show that I will always have huge sentimental attachment to. And of course, if I ever get lonely and nostalgic, I'll always have those classic old episodes to watch and re-watch when I want to!

EDIT 12/19 via Koreaboo:

Well, in a move that everyone expected, the word has come down that Running Man will wrap up at the end of January. With how badly things have been handled, this is certainly no surprise. Thankfully Kim Jong Kook and Song Jihyo have decided to return to give Running Man a proper send off.

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Crush Of The Day: MEGUMI

Kuroi 10 nin No Onna has just ended and I’m still riding on the good vibes of it! MAN, everyone in this drama was so freaking great, Riko Narumi has made one of her best dramas yet, Reina Trendl stole my heart, Miki Mizuno was manically charming, but there was one actress that I just HAD to take the time to gush about here, and that’s luscious actress/model MEGUMI! Her portrayal of Natsuki was one of her best yet, but I've been a fan of hers for awhile now....

I have been in love wtih Megumi since i first saw her as a guest on D No Arashi waaaay back in early 2005. OH my gosh, she was such a cutie, and with her little tiara she seemed like a sassy, precocious princess...but when she was talking with the Arashi boys, a bit of this sassy tomboyish roughness came out! 

 

Who WAS this cool chick who looked so lovely and yet had no problem yelling at Aiba and Sho? I had to find out more about her! Going onto the various idol forums at the time, I was stunned to find that not only was Megumi a gravure model, but a VERY SEXY one, with the most STUNNING BUSTLINE ever!

My GOSH, I had no IDEA how “amply endowed” Megumi was, but seeing her in her bikini videos showed me that this petite girl was a busty model on par with Akiko Hinagata!

 After that I’d see her from time to time on variety shows ( including another fun appearance on an Arashi show, though I can’t quite remember which one it was, possibly G or C no Arashi) but my Megumi fanboying hit a HIGH when I began watching her in the Oda Yuji/ Yada Akiko drama “Last Christmas”…in THIS drama she played Ayaka Takase, a girl who played a sexy foil to shleppy Mirai Moriyama's frazzled Tappei, and WHOOO, THIS character was almost a dead-ringer for the real Megumi: svelte, sexy, sassy and with not just a little masochistic flair about her! Oh yeah, this show really did it for me- I was firmly a MEGUMI fan forever!

Mmmmm, and even here, Megumi's fabulous chest made a few "guest" appearances, LOL!!! (Hey, If you've got 'em, flaunt 'em!!)

Mirai and Megumi's romance made a nice side-story to the main story of Yuji Oda and Akiko Yada's. Though the two of them were misfits in their own way, you really wanted them to be together.

 Aw man, she looked so freaking nice here, I just oculdn't stop screencapping every time she came onscreen, LOL

 

Next, I saw her as the friend of Yuko Takeuchi in the Kimura Takuya drama PRIDE, and even here she was the same darn cutie I knew from that D No Arashi! I’m not usually a fan of the bobbed haircut, but oh my did she look nice as tuff but loveable Chika.

After that I saw Megumi playing Chiaki, the best friend of KARINA in the excellent Tsuyoshi Kusanagi drama Boku No Aruku Michi...

Sadly, after that, I’d only see her sporadically, in guest roles in episodic detective shows like Galileo (with Masaharu Fukuyama and Yuriko Yoshitaka)...

and Kagi No Kakatta Heya with Erika Toda(where I saw Megumi in bangs for the first time)...

Though she played another man-hungry agressive-type babe in the Nao Matsushita/Satomi Ishihara drama Dear Sister...

...I had begun to notice a slight shift in her characters...instead of these mankiller ladies, megumi had begun to take more mature roles, playing MOTHERS in shows like 37.5 No Namida (with Misako Renbutsu)...

...and the recent Keiko Kitagawa drama Ie Uru Onna… Very nice, (in fact, Megumi was very attractive here) but I was yearning to see more big, bossy and outspoken Megumi!

And now we’ve come to Kuroi 10 Nin No Onna, where we FINALLY get another role for Megumi that is 100% her personality: brash, sharp-witted and OH! SO DAMN SEXY!!!! I felt the stirrings in my heart for her that I hadn’t felt in YEARS!

 Cool and KAKKOI, that's Megumi-chan's style, and Natsuki Koyama is TOTALLY HER role!

 

Such a good character in such a great show, now that it’s all over I am STILL on a Megumi high, and after digging out all my old files and videos of hers, I realized that despite loving her for so long, I’d never done a proper write up on her! Let the decree ring out: Megumi is officially one of my “Crush Of The Day" Queens, a title long time coming for her!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com