Jiyoung x 7 in "Orphan Black"

I loved the BBC America Drama Series ORPHAN BLACK starring Tatiana Maslany as the four similar and yet wildly different clones of the same woman, and when I found out they were going to make a Japan version (like they did with BONES and COLD CASE) starring KARA’s JiYoung in the multi-personal role, I couldn’t wait, and just this week I was able to check out the first episode!

Blazing through the first episode, I am amazed how exact they were able to replicate the BBC show. So isimilar is the japanese version that I didn’t even have to wait for english subtitles as the drama is almost frame-by-frame identical!

As Orphan Black begins, we are introduced to  derelict girl named Sarah Aoyama who has just arrived back in town, only to see a professional-looking woman that looks JUST like her commit suicide by jumping off the platform into a running train.

Sarah Aoyama meets her double Maoko Shiina

Quickly getting over the shock, the streetwise girl snatches up the woman's purse and belongings, intending to steal her checks and raid her bank account. With the help of her brother Felix, (a fabulously gay raver and an admitted scene-stealer!), they manage to trick the cops into thinking that the jumper was the derelict Sarah Manning, and thus Sarah assumes the role of Beth.

Meeting up with brother Kaoru (Shun Nishime)

"This Shiina looks JUST like me!"

Maoko Shiina's ID.

"Holy Crap- What are you gonna do?"

But once stepping into the role of this woman, she finds that this Maoko Shiin was a police investigator whose last case may have the key to events directly impacting Sarah...

Becoming Police Investigator Maoko Shiina

Under the guise of the Police Investigator, Sarah-Maoko finds the reason that she and Maoko look so similar may have a more sinister reason than pure coincidence, and as she delves deeper, she makes contact with other women connected with the case.

  The next duplicate "Maoko" meets is a desperate purple-hair girl who reaches out to her. Apparently, she and the real Maoko were working together to gather evidence to expose some criminal activity. Unfortunately, Katja is taken out of the game before she can explain anything more to the confused Sarah, shot in the head right before Sarah’s eyes!!

That’s it for episode one and I can’t wait to see how they develop the rest of the clones, especially lesbian dreadlocked scientist Cosima and super uptight and bitchy housewife Alison Hendrix. Should be a real thrill watching Jiyoung tackling these roles!!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Crush Of The Day: Rin Takanashi

The new Maki Horikita-led crime drama Higanbana~Keishicho Sosa Nanaka is just chock full of lovely ladies that I love, including Dan Rei, YOU, Kang Jiyoung and the stoic Mao Daichi, but the one actress who has been sailing head and shoulders above the rest is darling, darling Rin Takanashi, here reaffirming the initial attraction I had for her in 5 Ji Kara 9 Ji Made: she is cute, cute CUTE!

Higanbana is an OK drama about a girl (Horikita) who uses psychic abilities to "hear" the voices of the dead, but more than that, the thing that keeps me glued to my screen is Rin’s playful portrayal of cutie pie Rin Ito (Yes! Her character’s name is Rin, too!) and her adorably girlish antics in each episode!

   Each member of the Higanbana Team has their personality; Jiyoung's an Americanized Gal, YOU is a harried mother, etc, and I was stoked to see that the character of Rin’s was of a sunshiney, cheerful , dizzy and giggly girl, she’s so cute in every episode, you just want to put her in your pocket and take her home!

  Her skills involve computer detective work and sifting through forensic evidence, but her true skills are that of a Martha Stewart variety: making crafts and baking cookies and brownies. Best thing of all, whenever she shows off her latest hobby creation, she is falling over with pride, squealing “look what I made!” LOL

   Boy, the Higanbana Directors really know how to properly play her up, with lots of wide-eyed innocent gazes, anime-speed girly speaking and OOOHH, those disarmingly effective POUTS! 

So much like an anime come to life, man, there are scenes where she looks like a living Japanese Barbie Doll! And did I mention how much I love a girl with ribbons in her hair? Mmm.

  This makes TWO dramas where Rin Takanashi is playing these wonderfully sweet and innocent babes, part of me is really worrying what I’ll do when I finally see her playing a crude and morose character. Will I be able to take it? LOLOL.Directors, please take note: continue to cast Rin Takanashi in Cutesy Roles forever!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

J-Drama Femme Fatales: Kang Jiyoung

Jiyoung as Irina Jelavic in ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM

Well, just got through watching the incredibly zany Yamada Ryosuke movie “Assassination Classroom”(Ansatsu Kyoshitsu), a movie about a class of misfit students that are recruited by the government to kill their teacher, an alien creature posing as an instructor who tells them that if they cannot successfully kill him before the end of the semester, he will destroy the earth... 

Yeah, the film was just about as silly as it sounds, but there was one BIG perk of watching it- throughout the show, they kept introducing new government assassins posing as transfer teachers and students, and among them was an extremely hot and sexy bombshell named “ Irina Jelavic”, played by pretty Jiyoung, she late of K-pop group KARA!

Man, when Irina came out with all GUNS ABLAZIN' I was all like WHOOO HOO check out this HOT, Kick-Butt Lady! Aww, too bad that once defeated by the Alien Teacher "Koro-Sensei", she spent most of the time sitting off to the side brooding impotently... No matter, she still looked sexy as hell!

"Must...KILL that Alien Teacher...SOMEHOW..."

One of the funnier aspects is this sultry teacher’s name,  Ms Jelavic.  Vic is pronounced “Vich”, and as you all know, since the “V” sound doesn’t roll off the Nihongo tongue very well, her students end up pronouncing her name slightly DIFFERENTLY! Hilarious scene where she’s trying to tell them the difference between her name…and what THEY’VE been calling her!

"You guys have been pronouncing it like THIS"

"It's pronounced like THIS!"

"VIC, you understand? VIC."

"It's pronounced Jela VIC!!"

But it’s all in fun as Ms. Jelavic’s sluttiness is pretty much the comedy relief in the show! I mean where else can the class have an overnight sleepover in the school and the teacher comes dressed in her Negligee? LOL

Sleepover Girl Talk will never be the same!

Damn, gotta say, when I first began watching Assassination Classroom, I didn’t even recognize her-  the blonde wig was an obvious throw-off, but additionally Jiyoung was probably the last actress I expected to see here…

 I guess I shouldn’t have been TOO surprised, though, since she played another little hottie in the equally crazy monster-in-the-classroom drama JIGOKU SENSEI NUBE! Mmmm, She’s been lookin’ HELLA fine!!!

Just a Girl and Her Gun

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

A Belated J-Drama Viewing With "Jigoku Sensei Nube"

Maruyama Ryuhei as "Nube" Sensei

 I don’t know if it’s the show’s Super Sentai sensibilities or simply how great every character is, but I just love, love, LOVE the quirky drama JIGOKU SENSEI NUBE! A story of a clumsy and inexperienced teacher who secretly holds the power of a demon in his left hand, this show mashes the traditional “Troubled School Students” motif with the “Haunted School” theme and throws in a dose of good old fashioned “Kamen-Rider Heshin” kick ‘em up action on top to create an entirely new and exciting genre! 

Calling Forth the Power

Chanting the Banishment Spell

Malicious spirits (Yokai) have been unleashed on an unsuspecting public, and it was then that this mysterious man arrived in town. Under the guise of a high-school teacher, this man, named Meisuke Nueno, ingratiated himself into the school, keeping an eye out for students or teachers that may be haunted or possessed by the ghosts. When he does find an attacker, he unleashes the demon in his hand and banishes the ghost back to hell. 
Now, this would seem like a flawless plan, but as a teacher, Nueno is so inept and bumbling that he’s looked down upon by his students, who laughingly call him “Nube” instead of Sensei! 

"Uhhh...Class?" Nueno Addresses the Room

"Haha, Who's this Joker?"

It’s only once the demons attack and he’s forced to reveal who he truly is do the students slowly start respecting him. Nueno is played by Kanjani 8’s Ryuhei Maruyama, and he does a fantastic job of balancing being a goofy teacher and a steel-eyed yokai exorcist.When he’s in teacher mode, he’s as dopey as the Maruyama we‘ve come to know in Kanjani8, but when he’s banishing the demons, he’s super COOL and very believable as a no-nonsense spirit-warrior! 

A DESTRON-ish Villain Invades the Classroom!

Protecting his students against the Wolf Yokai

"Holy Crap, Our Teacher is Cool after All???"

Besides Maruyama, the show holds a whole flurry of other fun characters, including pretty teacher Takahashi Ritsuko, who Nueno has quite a crush on, (and since she’s played by Mirei Kiritani, we can totally understand why), only problem is, she’s a gung-ho facts-only science teacher and has zero tolerance for his tales of ghosts and spirits… and with his constant brushes with the supernatural and his own general clumsiness, he can only look like a loser to her!

Mirei Kiritani is Takahashi Ritsuko Sensei

Nueno and Takahashi

Gung Ho For Science!

It doesn’t help that Takahashi Sensei is attracted to the Home Ecomonics teacher Tamamo Kyosuke (Mokomichi Hayami), who is stylish, perfect and slick at everything he does. What she doesn’t know is that Tamamo is actually a villainous yokai who has been masquerading as the Home Ec teacher to cause trouble and misery! Fortunately, after being beaten by Nueno, Tama has retreated and is content to remain at the school as a teacher, bemusedly watching Nueno’s struggles from the sidelines!

Eccentric Ikemen Economics: Mokomichi Hayami as Tamamo Sensei

Unlikely colleagues

Babe-a-licious Yamamoto Mizuki plays Izuna Hazuki, a ditsy amateur medium whose half-baked spells unleash even MORE troubles for Nueno to deal with- even worse, she has the adoration of Nueno’s students, who excitedly flock to her performances to see her harmful parlor tricks, which they perceive as cool magic, but put the kids in situations that Nueno must rescue them from!

Yamamoto Mizuki as Izuna

Reckless Medium

And if that wasn’t all we’ve even got adorable Jiyoung (she late of K-pop group KARA) as wandering Snow Goddess Yukime who’s insanely in love with Nueno and has even decided that they are a happy couple! Having an adorable sprite clinging on to you may not seem so bad, but she appears at the most inopportune times (i.e. in front of his students) and has a tendency to invite other stray lesser spirits to their home!

Yukime Loves Her Man

KARA's Jiyoung as Yukime

Yukime (Jiyoung) and Izuna (Mizuki Yamamoto)

I know that I’m really late to the ballgame with this drama, which ended quite some time ago. But I was waiting til the team subbing the show finished it up- and now that they have, I’m diving in headfirst and am REALLY digging it! Bad special effects, cheesy monster costumes and overly dramatic situations, I haven’t had this much fun since Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon!

By the way, I still marvel at the power of the internet- in the old days, if you watched a show and liked an actor or actress, there was not much info you could get on them unless they were written up in Eye Ai Magazine- But thing sure are different now!
 Watching Jigoku Sensei Nube, I was curious about the girl playing student Hosokawa Miki, and going online, I immediately found out her name was Sano Hinako- was she only an actress or was she also a singer or idol?

Hinako Sano as Miki

 A quick check found out she was definitely an IDOL! Knowing that, obviously the next question was…did she do BIKINI pictures? WHOA…Not only did I FIND Hinako bikini pics, I was to learn that this girl was VERY amply endowed (and had no problem showing it off)- a fact that somehow was kept “under wraps” in the show! 

Hinako Sano's Curvier Side

Ahhh, the internet…it’s a marvel!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com