Time Really is Flyin’ Here….

The last time I think I really noticed solitary Seventh Generation Morning Musume member Kusumi Koharu was probably around 2006. I was already growing out of the MM fandom (Rika Ishikawa’s graduation was the final blow) and by the time they announced the prospects for Generation 8 I wasn’t paying much attention.

I vaguely recall seeing her in later vids and clips, but once she graduated in 2009 she was completely off the grid for me.

So I was recently on some “Sexy Gravure idol” forum and whose name should I see listed there but Koharu Kusumi! My memory of Koharu was of a cute 14 or 15 year old girl who was like a “little sister” to her older Momusu compatriots, so when I was saw her name listed, I thought it HAD to be a mistake! Surely there must be some OTHER idol with that name!

Clicking on the link to see who this chick was, I was properly floored tofind THIS image:

Holy TOLEDO, come to  find that this girl was not only the very same Koharu Kusumi from Morning Musume days of Yore, but she had grown into a stunning, sexy young lady in the past few years! WHOA! 

I'm sure this will be old news to those of you who have continued to follow Hello Project and updates on all their past and present members, but for someone like me who has been out of the loop for so long....

Remember in the movie Sin City where Bruce Willis' Hartigan rescues 11 year old “skinny bookworm” Nancy Callahan and his reaction when he meets her 9 years later to find she had grown up into a stunning 20 year old Jessica Alba? Yeah, my reaction was like that!!! LOL

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

A New Fave Drama: Quartet

Quartet follows a group of four string musicians, the amusingly named Maki Maki (Matsu Takako) Beppu Tsukasa (Ryuhei Matsuda), Yutaka Iemori (Issei Takahashi) and Suzume Sebuki (Mitsushima Hikari) and their relationship with each other as well as the people around them.

Takako Matsu as Maki Maki

Ryuhei Matsuda as Beppu Tsukasa

Hikari Mitsushima as Suzume Sebuki

Issei Takahashi as Yutaka Iemori

Though they live separately in town, all four of them come together to stay in a secluded cabin up in the mountains where they can practice and hone their craft as they work their way up to performance deals.

Though they all are very gifted when it comes to their instruments and craft, the four are all rather quite flawed individuals who have issues and quirks of their own- outside of the quartet, they live mundane and lonely lives where there seems to be no real reward.

The four musicians find that they're only content when they are together practicing up in their secluded cabin and only really feel alive when they are playing for the public as the "Quartet Doughnut" in whatever venue they can secure...

This odd quartet came together when, by chance, Maki was leaving a Karaoke room after practicing her violin, and just as she exited her room, all three other members happened to exit their rooms at the same time, each with their stringed instrument in hand! They marvel at the strange coincidence that brought them together…but was it chance at all?

We do know that in the case of Suzume, the cellist of the group, she had been performing on the streets for spare change when a mysterious old woman approached her and told her she’d pay her to become friends with Maki….so we know that as far as she’s unconcerned, it isn’t a coincidence at all.

 But Maki knows none of this, and as the four of them work together and perform for the public, she becomes close to them, as they do to her. Through passionate and heated conversations and arguments, the four find they have much to discuss, whether it be about courtesy, honor, love, life and desires.

MAN,  I’m really LOVING this show so far…from the opening scene I was immediately hooked already, the characters are SO interesting and the direction is done with a very crisp and precise style. And the music scenes of them performing are always captivating, as well. So much twists and turns in the show so far, and it’s only been one episode!!! Can’t wait to see where it goes!

This is the first Takako Matsu drama I’ve seen in quite awhile and it’s great to see her again. Same for Ryuhei Matsuda, whom I loved in the drama Ashita Kita Yoshio, but haven’t seen much otherwise. Actually ALL the actors and actresses here are good, and WOWOWOW, special mention must be made of actress Hikari Mitsushima, Holy COW, she is SO DAMN great as the eccentric and tweaky Suzume that she steals EVERY scene she’s in! 

Looking at times either like a EMO-centric Goth Girl or a Cool and Classy Woman Musician depending on the situation, she is the show’s wild card where you have to keep second guessing just WHAT her motives and plans ARE! 

Seriously, I could watch her  all day doing nothing of importance, which is good because she is such a spacey girl that that’s exactly what she’s doing most of the time, lying under blankets licking crumbs from an empty snack packet...

passing out under the living room table, and most, charmingly of all, going barefoot whenever she’s performing!

TOO FUNNY! A VERY charismatic girl, and soooo pretty, too,  I'm already in LOVE!

Okay, better get back to more Quartet!!! you know, after the Kimura Takuya drama “A Life~ Itoshiki Hito”, “Quartet” has become my second favorite drama of the season!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Yes, Krystal!

The image of f(x)'s Krystal in a skimpy brassiere satisfies all my worldly desires.

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Just For Nao: "Hayako Sensei"

Another show I’m watching is the Nao Matsushita drama “Hayako-Sensei, Kekkon Surutte Hontou Desuka?”... I’ve deliberated about this show on and off for awhile now, because I really don’t like shows centered around the school and the problems of the students (even MORESO when they’re little kids like this drama) But in the end my love of Nao trumped  my misgivings and I dove in.

Nao Matsushita as Hayako Tatsuki

 As expected, I really can’t get into the show whenever it’s about the kids and their problems, but I was happily rewarded to find that outside of it, there’s a really nice story about  how Nao’s character Tatsuki interacts with her fellow teachers...

.as well as the home life she has with her two elderly parents. When it’s about THESE storylines I really dig the show!

Hayako with the parents....

...as welll as little sis Fuko (Rina Kawaei)

 Her peers include Kugayama Mika (Kanjiya Shihori), 

Narimasu Umeko (Sato Hitomi)

and Hamura Mai (Maihane Mimi) among others....

A very interesting bunch of characters, and though (for the most part) the problems they’re having are just as cliched as the ones the kids are having, for some reason, I really sympathize with them and am totally engrossed in their stories! Go figure! LOL

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com