Ishikawa Hiroshi For The Unhappy

Miyazaki Aoi and Kutsuna Shiori in Petal Dance

  Boy, Japanese Director Hiroshi Ishikawa SURE likes making these grey, morose, meandering movies, doesn’t he? Those of you who have seen his 2002 Yuka Itaya flick “Tokyo Sora” or 2005 Aoi Miyazaki film “Su-Ki-Da” will know what I mean, and as soon as I began watching his 2013 movie Petal Dance and saw the film was shot through that familiar cold blue filter, I knew I was in for a movie that was more about people staring wistfully into space than any intriguing plot. “Oh No!” was my first reaction, “Please don’t let it be Su-Ki-Da all over again!"

Kutsuna Shiori as Haraki

Since the movie opened with star Aoi Miyazaki, I was already getting the Su-Ki-Da deja-vu, but fortunately, the movie was centered around upcoming actress Kutsuna Shiori, and though the movie WAS as slow-paced and meandering as I’d predicted, she gave the film just enough “umph” to keep me interested throughout, and in the end I have to say I rather enjoyed it!!

Miyazaki Aoi, Sakura Ando,Kutsuna Shiori, Fukiishi Kazue

“Petal Dance” concerns Shiori as a girl named Haraki who is worried that a friend has commited suicide. The last time she talked to her, she got the feeling that something dark was on her mind, and after saying a listless goodbye, she never saw her again.  This friend had once told her wishes come true when wished upon an object being carried by the breeze, and so lately Haraki has been praying to the wind that she’ll see her friend again, happy and smiling.

This theme of the Wind as an inspirational source as well as the theme of desperation and suicide are carried throughout the movie as Haraki meets up with Jinko (Aoi Miyazaki) and Motoko(Sakura Ando) who are taking a cross-country trip to visit a friend named Miki (Fukiishi Kazue) who may or may not have purposely jumped into the ocean and is now resting at a hospital.

So yeah, lots of soul-searching and winsome staring into the abyss, but all very beautifully captured on film, every scene is so pretty to look at, the slate greys and cobalt blues of the sleet, snow, sand and asphalt as the four girls drive the countryside really giving you a introspective feeling. So despite its hovering gloomy aura, in the end I came away from the film strangely satisfied…though now can't shake the feeling of loneliness, LOL!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

An Adorable Scene in "Going My Home"

I've already talked about how wonderful the pacing and style of the Hiroshi Abe / Yamaguchi Tomoko drama Going My Home is, and Episode Two continues to please! The episode was filled with the same quirky sensibilities is the first one, but I just HAD to mention this one particular passage that had me laughing and rewinding the scene over and over...
 Tsuboi Ryota (Abe) and his daughter Moe (Aju Makita) have taken a trip to his father's hometown while he lies in the hospital. During the stay Moe makes plans with a boy named Daichi to go with his mother (Miyazaki Aoi) to hike into the forest and look for Kuna, magical forest little people. While Ryota doesn't believe they'll come across any elves,he IS concerned about the bugs, and is adamant about getting some insect  repellant to guard him from getting attacked.

 Ryota and Moe make a trip to the store to pick up a box of repellant while Diaichi dn his Mom wait outside. I'm watching thsi scene and am already tickled by the little nuances like Moe's absentminded examination of the box, and the cutaways to Aoi and Daichi examining something in the gutter grating  outside, LOL!

But then came the crown to this awesome scene, as the four begin their trek up to the hill, and Moe begins diligently pasting the insect repellant patches onto her father's jacket!!! Ahahaha, Oh my GOSH, this was so DARN adorable!!!! As I rewound and rewatched the scene over and over, I had to wonder just how many takes it took to get the thing done, as it was shot in one long take! Amazing!

Keep in mind that this wonderful scene was shot with no dialog at all, so the viewer was  able to simply enjoy the passage on its own merit! Such a sweet scene, such an incredible drama!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Going My Home

Abe Hiroshi and Yamaguchi Tomoko in Going My Home

When I first heard that Yamaguchi Tomoko was going to be starring in a new drama after all these years, I was sooo excited, and when I heard her co-star was going to be Abe Hiroshi, I knew it was gonna be a great one! Then I heard that it was going to be about their child who sees imaginary people and their Father who believes in Little Forest People. From there my interest waned a bit, I must say. And even when I got my hands on the first episode, it took a while to actually get around to watching it.
  I dunno, I thought it was going to be a wacky drama like Marumo No Okite, that drama with the talking dog (and since co-star Sadao Abe was in that one, too, it didn’t give me any reason to think otherwise!) But with the list of fine actors assembled for this one, I HAD to check it out, and what I saw when watching “Going My Home” was anything BUT wacky- if fact, it was one of the most thoughtful and slow-paced dramas I’ve seen in quite a while, and (so far at least) firmly placed in reality. 

Abe Hiroshi as Tsuboi Ryota

Yamaguchi Tomoko as Sae 

Aju Makita as Moe

  The Story of “Going My Home” concerns a TV Ad Exec named Ryota Tsuboi , his busy wife Sae (who works as one of those “Food Presenter” Photographers who make food look good) and their daughter Moe, who’s having a bit of a time in school because she claims she can see people who aren’t there. But the parents have no time to help as Ryota’s father collapses and the family must work around his state. 

Yoshiyuki Kazuko, Abe Hiroshi and YOU as the Family

Sibling Rivalry: YOU as sister Takiko arguing with Ryota (Abe)

  Visits to the Hospital become trickier because he must also get involved with his Mother, Sister and her Husband, and as Ryota sorts through his Father’s things, he finds that the man has many secrets including a mysterious woman  (played by the always affable Miyazaki Aoi) who may or may not have been his mistress, and a "Best Friend" (Nishida Toshiyuki) who tells Ryota His father believed in Imaginary Little People!! 

Miyazaki Aoi as Naho

Nishida Toshiyuki as Osamu Torii

   The Aspect of the Little People or “Kuna” as they’re called here, is here less as a CGI sprite spiraling in to save the day, but more like James Stewart’s situation in “Harvey”, where the imaginary creature exists more as a powerful idea that moves the characters  than any actual appearance (but hey, it’s only the first episode,  so who knows!)
   Rather than a Japanese drama, Going My Home reminds me of those old great Robert Altman movies where he’d take a few talented actors and actresses and put them into curious “vignettes” that seem almost like one-off shorts, but which together add up to a greater story. Watching stellar actors letting loose in these these wonderfully crafted and highly eccentric scenes is such a joy to watch; I find that even when the scene has little to do with anything, I find myself chuckling  and entertained! 

Bakarizumu and Hiroshi Abe

Yoshiyuki Kazuko as Mom Tsuboi at her Haiku Class....

   Scenes like the bus stop conversations between Ryota and his eternally depressed (think “Debbie Downer”) colleague, the cutaways to random Haiku Classes with Grandma Toshiko, and especially the fun verbal arguments Ryota has with both Wife Sae AND daughter Moe, these are brilliantly written scripts with such FUN dialog!!! 
  And GOD, I totally forgot how SEXY I think YOU is, but her role as Abe’s sly and bawdy younger sister instantly reminded me- she really stole the scenes for me- such a sarcastic, vibrant lady! The scenes with her and Mom Tsuboi giving it to Ryota are freakin hilarious!

Yoshiyuki Kazuko and YOU

  And while we’re on that subject, I have to say it’s awesome to see Yoshiyuki Kazuko still as commanding as ever! You know she’s the daughter of Agri Yoshiyuki, the War-time Hairdresser who was the inspiration for my favorite NHK Asadora of all time AGRI, right? Yep, I knew you knew, just checking! LOL!
 Okay, looks like Episode Two is finished downloading, so I'm gonna hve to go and check it out! Hope the next episode is as interesting and fun as the first one!

 PS: Okay, Who’s this sassy, sweet Young Thang playing the intensely spoiled and super-pouty Mano? Thought it’d be easy to identify her since she’s obviously a Gravure Model or Idol or something, but hours online have given me no clues! She sure looks familiar...looks a lot like Perfume's A-Chan, actually!

edit: LOL. It's just been pointed out to me that curvy Mano is played by none other than Ms. Aimi Satsukawa,  best known (by me) for her roles in Funuke Domo~Show Some Love, You Losers and GALCIR! So awesome to see her again!

A couple of awesome Christmas Gifts!

Got a couple of terrific gifts from Car this Christmas, both books and both Japanese, to boot! Now, I'm the kind of guy that, when I like something, I'm manic about collecting everything about it the moment it becomes available, so it's always a happy surprise when she picks up stuff I didn't even know existed!

Knowing of my love for that Aoi Miyazaki show, she got me the third and final of the Companion books from NHK’s Taiga Drama ATSUHIME! I hadn't even realized they MADE a third book! Although I haven’t really been all that excited about Atsuhime ever since the Shogun died, It's still the only japanese drama I'm watching right now, so it was pretty cool to get this book- look at that beautiful cover! Lots of great shots of the latter cast and crew, plus the obligatory “out of costume” shots of Miyazaki Aoi, always a draw for me in ANY photo shoot!

Kind of interesting to note that in Atsuhime, there’s a geisha played by actress Natsuki Harada named Okoto who has a fling with Eita’s character Tatewaki (and gives bitrth to his child...yikes!), but she wasn’t featured in either of the first two books. I thought, "Gee, maybe if they made a THIRD book, she’d be in it”. Then when I saw that there WAS a third book, I figured, finally! She MUST be in this one, RIGHT?!…but I was wrong!!!

EDIT: As Vincent-Sama and others have pointed out to me, Natsuki Harada WAS featured in the second book, as well as the character index in the third book! I've GOT to read these books a bit SLOWERRRRRR...I'm missing too much!

Car ALSO got me the latest picture book from my favorite japanese illustrator, SHUNYA YAMASHITA! I’ve long been a fan of Yamashita’s[山下しゅんや], whose art style seems to be a meld of 1950’s Good Girl art and 1970’s Japanese Anime (a unique formula that yields the sexiest, cutest gals you ever laid eyes upon) and the pin-ups featured in this book do NOT disappoint!

Called WILDFLOWER, the book is broken up into chapter sections featuring his all-encompassing work on figures, character design, video, card games, and more, but for me, the highlight was the "unpublished" section of the book, featuring all the sketches of his sexy GIRLS! Man, the artwork here is just unbelievable- I swear there isn’t ANYONE out there who has a style quite like Yamashita’s!

Sorede, I’ve scanned a couple of my favorite pin-ups here for you all to check out! Enjoy~

In the immortal words of Jellyfish in the zany masterpiece Ignorance is Bliss, I say: "I think I've made my point!"

More Miyazaki: Tada, Kimi Wo Aishiteru

So I finally got around to watching the Aoi Miyazaki / Tamaki Hiroshi movie “Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru” (Heavenly Forest)”, and overall, I have to say that the movie was pretty darn great!

 The movie showcases Aoi Miyazaki portraying probably her dorkiest character to date in Shizuru, the runny-nosey nerd who follows Tamaki Hiroshi’s character Makoto around first as a curiosity, then gradually as an enduring friendship. The charisma between the two actors is terrific, and at once you know the two misfits are made for each other, and find yourself hoping they will realize it themselves!

  Despite having the perfect (albeit flawed) girl right in front of him, Makoto only has eyes for classmate Miyuki, and really, who can blame him? As played by gorgeous actress Kuroki Meisa, Miyuki is the total embodiment of unattainable pretty, that holy-grail-ish purity a la John Hughes movies, and when she actually gives Makoto the time of day, no one can fault him for developing tunnel vision for her!

  Of course, anyone with a heart knows that Makoto will only find true happiness with nerdy Shizuru, and I think that’s saying something for how lovable Miyazaki’s character is that I found myself yearning for her, and getting irritated whenever Miyuki entered the picture!

Only in a situation like this would I be more attracted to a gal like Shizuru:

over a delicious babe like Miyuki:

but that’s just how it happened! The movie is just crammed full of great characters, and the forest backdrops where Shizuru and Makoto go to take photographs and forget their troubles are almost surreal, like they’ve wandered into painted pictures! All these elements made for a very solid story, and I found that even weeks after I’d watched it, I just couldn’t get it out of my mind. I’d be walking about, right as rain, when I’d suddenly think about the show and become melancholy!

The story of the two nerdy students, the romantic triangle with the “pretty” student, and the “heavenly forest” they escape to, will leave a mark on you, no question about it! Like dramas like Summer Snow, you’ll find yourself thinking about it for years to come!

A story about friendship, love, and the impact we have on each others lives.

The Circle is Now Complete: Atsuhime Book I

After getting over the initial excitement of getting my ATSUHIME Official Drama album book, It was my friend Car who first pointed out that there were quite a few important characters that seemed to be missing from the book! Her first concern was that actor Ikki Sawamura wasn’t covered, and then it crossed my mind that they’d forgotten to put Kyozo Nagatsuka in it as well, and that was just mystifying, because he was such an important character in the Taiga Drama!

I was to later find out that the book I had purchased was in fact, the SECOND book, released to coincide with the show’s second half, and all the characters and incidents we’d wondered about had been covered in the FIRST release! KUYASHII!

  I went back to Hakubundo, where I’d bought the second book, hoping wishfully that they’d still have some of the first book in stock, but not only did they not have that first book, I was to find that the second book that I’d just bought had ALSO sold out by then! Thank God I picked up those copies when I saw it that first time!

  I figured I had to get used to the idea of not owning the first book, but was suggested I try Amazon Japan, and I was happy to discover that they still had lots of copies of the book in stock, and for only around $10.00! I quickly ordered the book, and was shocked to find the postage was $30.00! Yikes! But I would have paid a lot more for the book on ebay anyway, so I gladly purchased it.

 And guess what? That postage was well worth the price, because my book came in THREE DAYS! Yep, I ordered the book Saturday Night, and the package arrived Tuesday afternoon! I thought I’d scan a few pics to celebrate my completion of my Atsuhime Books at last (unless NHK decides to release one more book, which is pretty unlikely!)

Below: The obligatory "Out of Costume" interview, in the second one it was with Aoi Miyazaki and Masato Sakai, in the first book, it was with Aoi and Eita...Such a nice picture of Ms. Miyazaki, dessho?

One thing I wanted to mention that I didn’t touch on before is that Atsuhime’s mother Oyuki is played by veteran actress Kanako Higuchi, whom I’d fallen in love with years ago when she played the mother (again) of  the show’s heroine in the NHK Morning Drama Amakarashan, (a show that had me running out to try and find her Water-Fruit Shashinshuu!) and it was really sweet to see her in a drama again-She still looks just as beautiful as ever!

When I have the time, I'll have to scan more of the lovely ladies from this excellent Taiga Drama!