Some Satomi Ishihara "J-Drama Deja-Vu" on Rewatch of Jimi Ni Sugoi

 While rewatching my beloved Satomi Ishihara drama "Jimi Ni Sugoi" (a show which I would LOVE to see a sequel series to) for the first time in a LONG while, I noticed that her character visited a couple of places on my "J-Drama Deja-Vu" sites, including the "Tinkerbell Office Entrance", (this time standing as the home of a writer):

There's that pool

"Is it just me or is this house really, really familiar?"

LOL!

Satomi also visited the Hakozume Rooftop Roundabout,this time going up from the back and utilizing the stairs that leads to the white arch. Usually this arch is in the background, so cool to see someone actually using it!

BTW, I MUST add that while rewatching Jimi Ni Sugoi, MAN, I forgot how gosh darn PRETTY Satomi is in this! Like, "take your breath away" gorgeous! Here she is in one of my (many) favorite outfits! Not practical for office work but SO EASY on the eyes!

Mmmm, it's no wonder she's SUCH a BIG fave of mine!!!

No Activity~Honjitsu mo Ijou Nashi

It's a whole new season of J-dramas and we're starting things off with a BANG with AMAZON Prime's "No Activity", a Buddy-Cop drama based on the American Series of the same name...which was based on an Australian series of the same name!

Starring Etsushi Toyokawa as the "loose cannon" cop Shingo Tokita and Tomoya Nakamura as his straight-laced ex-Driving Instructor new partner Asobu Shiina, who has just been paired with the unpredictable Tokita. So far it feels a lot like Toyokawa's "Bengoshi No Kuzu" drama from way back.

There is a huge Drug Deal going down and every cop is out in the streets, alert and ready for action. But Tokita and Shiina take a much more laid-back approach to things, even leaving the stakeout out of boredom! This is the kind of team they are!

Back at the station, we have the outspoken dispatch women, the seasoned Misato Satomi (Yoshino Kimura) and the newly appointed Arira Ohira (Nana Seino), whose take a no-nonsense approach to dealing with the dawdling detectives!

When not instructing the cops in the field (or breaking the balls of Tokita), the two spend their time trading barbed conversation with each other, to which we learn much about each of them!

While all of this is going on, two thugs have been hired by the baddies to babysit a witness who may have seen too much. But as they talk, we see that both Iwayama (Goro Kishitani) and Ichijo (Amane Okayama) are pretty inept at their job, good thing for them that their captive is a live-blogger named Mari (Yukino Kishi) who, instead of panicking about the abduction, is THRILLED at the viral opportunities the kidnapping can provide!

When I first began watching No Activity, I thought it would be a straightforward crime drama with light-hearted comedy, but as you may have guessed, is more like a flat-out comedy with straightforward crime sprinkled in!

A very WACKY show, I guess we'll have to see where this one goes!

Yankee-Kun and White-Cane Girl: Koi Desu!

 Light hearted drama about a legally blind girl named Yukiko Akaza (Hana Sugisaki) who suffers from amblyopia. While not completely blind, she can see lights, colors and shapes if they are big and she holds them up to her eyes. For walking she uses a long white cane to get around.

Despite her impairment, Yukiko lives her life as best possible with her big sister Izumi (Nao) and Father (Goro “Mr. Kaori Okui” Kishitani). By following the same patterns each day and remembering where things are, Yukiko can do most things by herself, going shopping and walking to school.

Though she DOES have to lean in pretty close to SEE anything!!!

 

One day going to school, she is stopped when she comes across a few thugs who are casually sitting across the braille path she needs to take. She tries to politely asks them to let her get past, but they ignore her. When she tries to move by with her cane, the main punk, a yankee named Morio Kurokawa (Yosuke Sugino) grabs it, causing Yukiko to panic and reflexively kick out.

Her frantic move meets its mark and she accidentally kicks the young man in groin, immediately taking him out of action! 

When Morio’s friends (Junki Tozuka and Natsuki Hori) try to scare her by telling her what a tuff guy Morio is, she misunderstands when they say he has a scar on his face, thinking she injured him.

Leaning in and taking his head in her hands, she tries to look closer to see the damage. It’s all a misunderstanding, and he brushes her off, but by that time the germ of interest has already sparked in this young man towards this odd girl!

You could say he was smitten right off the bat!

Upon arriving at school (a visually impaired center), she meets her best friend Sora (Momoko Tanabe) and tells her of her strange experience with the would-be thugs that morning. Sora’s heard of Morio and tell sher she’d better be careful! But soon school turns to lighter things and she forgets all about it…

But the very next day when Yukiko is heading towards school, she is abruptly met up with the same guy from the day before! Only this time, he wants to formally introduce himself, apologize for his behavior and, thanks to her besting him in battle,  consider her his “Aneki”!!!

Kurokawa proudly tells her how he looked up the things she’s been doing. He now knows she needed the braille path to get to places and also that she needs the cane he tried to take away to guide her.

Well, Yukiko is impressed that this guy went so far as to understand her situation, but at being called “Aneki” she draws the line!  He understands, but there’s nothing to stop him from waiting for her every day if only to say good morning and see her off!

At the cafe where the boys hang out, owner Akane (First Summer Uika) figures it out, exclaiming, “Are you in LOVE?” to which a sheepish Morio can only smile…though this is bad news for assistant Hachiko (Meru Nukumi) who secretly has a crush on him herself…

Eventually Morio works up the courage to confess his love to Yukiko, who thinks it must be some kind of joke! Double whammy, he writes it in such small print so there's no way she can even read it, LOL

But in time she sees the good side of this guy, even fate puts him into situations where he is seen in a bad light. As those around her like friends and family only see him as a street punk, they are on guard and try to talk her out of seeing this guy.…But together they talk things through....

Well, with such a stellar cast I already knew I was gonna dig this one, and so far it’s been really good, if, at times, mostly predictable… but Hana Sugisaki really sells the role and I’m behind her 100% to see where she gets to!

PS: In the role of Yukiko’s pretty best friend Sora, I initially thought it might actress Maika Yamamoto, imagine my surprise when I saw that it was Momoko Tanabe, last seen as the devious Jun Ichinose in the Keiko Kitagawa drama “Rikokatsu”! If you recall, at the time I remarked that she was a pretty gal under those military fatigues, and it looks like she’s finally allowed to shine! (If I have one problem it’s that, though her character is supposed to be visually impaired like Yukiko, she doesn’t act it… I mean, look at these clips… does she look impaired, LOL?)

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com