Kyoko Yoshine and Hiromi Nagasaku in "Hankei 5 Meters"

 Fumika Maeda (Kyoko Yoshine) is an Investigative Journalist working for a scandal magazine alongside Akihito Yamabe (Katsuya Maiguma) whose job it is to catch celebs in compromising situations for their gossip rag.

The job is demanding and Fumika experiences the weight of being a woman among men, the slights and assumptions about her, and though she tries, she just cannot get approval of her supervisors.

When she flubs an important stakeout outside a celebrity’s house and causes the magazine to lose the scoop to a rival tabloid, Fumika is demoted down to the “lesser” publication Woman’s Life. Once there she meets the odd assortment of characters she will be working with, including ace journalist Takako Kameyama (Hiromi Nagasaku) whom Fumika knows well for her in depth and thought provoking articles.

Of course, Fumika has no intention to stay in this department and only hopes to remain as long as it takes to get back into the upper publication. But working alongside the wizened Takako, Fumika sees a side of journalism she hadn’t experienced in the gossip rag: fair and concise reporting with balanced judgement for all involved, with the realization that there is a whole world o discover that is only within 5 metes radius around you.

Always looking for ward to a new Hiromi Nagasaku drama, though she seems to be channelling her “Dirty Mama” character Maruoka Takako (hey, even same name) with her frizzy hair and almost homeless persons clothing style, LOL!

"Dirty Mama" with Karina

Only this time, instead of Karina it is Kyoko Yoshine she will be mentoring!

I mentioned  before how I only recently realized what an awesome actress Kyoko Yoshine is from her excellent portrayal in “Two Weeks” and it’s great to see the two pair up here! Should be an intriguing little show!

PS: Is it just me, or is the “Older Man Cast as Transvestite Support Character” trending nowadays? Kenichi Takito in Coffee Ikaga Desshou...

Yu Tokui in Hamura Akira...

Issey Ogata in Kotaro Wo Hitorigurashi

...and now Yukiya Kitamura in Hankei 5 Meters, seems like there is such a role in every drama I see lately!

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