Crush Of The Day: Takaoka Saki

Saki Takaoka as Ruriko in Katagoshi No Koibito

Just started watching the Jdrama Katagoshi No Koibito, and oh my GOSH, it is a HILARIOUS romp! Though released in 2006, this show has a real “classic” feel to it that feels like I would have seen it in my “golden era” of J-drama watching in the mid-90’s and this ensemble cast (led by the sturdy Ryoko Yonekura) is everything you'd want in a drama- great characters that you just love, played by great-looking actresses (and actors) and a freaking awesome, witty script that gives the cast terrific things to say and creates such great scenes!

Ryoko Yonekura as Moe and Saki Takaoka as Ruriko

  Ryoko Yonekura may be playing the best role I’ve ever seen of hers, an extremely likeable, fun and SEXY lady named Moe, but it’s Saki Takaoka as her ditsy best friend Ruriko who steals each and every scene she is in for me- this is the most fun, playful and ADORABLE I’ve ever seen her in ANY drama so far! 

Truthfully, until I saw her in Katagoshi No Koibito, I’d thought Saki could only play serious and bleak roles, but HOLY CRAP as the cloying and mischievous Ruriko, she is hitting every high note in my affection register and by episode three, I was totally convinced- I freaking LOVE her!

Mmm, Lookin' Good!

Like Minami had Momoko in Long Vacation, every cool, strong and assertive woman needs her girlishly silly best friend, and Moe surely has hers with Ruriko, a VERY spacey girl who is very meddlesome with Moe’s affairs, very insecure about her OWN lovelife, and VERY attached and “clingy” to Moe. They are two best friends who are always bickering with each other, and I mean to tell you, It. Is. freaking. dialog. GOLD!

"You say Whaaaa?"

Man, Saki Takaoka is sooo freaking CUTE in this show, So beautiful and “bimbo-ish”, playful, coy and OOOOHHH, when she wrinkles her nose and produces that eye-smile, I just DIE! 

Ruriko's Adorable Eye Smile

Watching it, you can’t help but think, man, THIS is the character that Satomi Ishihara was going for in her sluttily spacey role of  Saeko in Shitsuren Chocolatier” , every action, gesture and nuance is PURE Ruriko!

Ruriko with Takashi (Sano Kazuma)

Above and Below: With Husband Nobu (Masaru "Facemaker" Nagai)

Okay, so way back in 2009 when I had written up my review for the stunningly sexy Yuka Itaya movie,”Yokubo”, I gushed about how pretty Saki Takaoka was and promised that one day I’d tell my Saki Takaoka Shashinshuu story… 

Above and Below: in "Yokubou"

So the year was 1999, and at the time I think the only dramas I’d seen Saki in were Pure and Hitonatsu No Proposal, both playing homey and demure girls. Honestly I didn’t know her that well, but my image of her was as a sweet, quiet young girl -at the time I hadn't even known of her idol/singer beginnings! Just a regular gal. 

As Machiko in Pure (1996)

with Takahashi Katsunori in Pure

Pure

  So anyway, at this time I had just purchased the new photobook from idol group CoCo member Mikiyo Ohno called “True Blue”, published by Bunkasha Books. While perusing its pages, in the middle of the photobook, there was a glossy pamphlet that looked like a catalog. Wani Books would regularly insert such things into their books, so I wasn’t surprised to see one there- But I WAS intrigued because all the cover of the booklet showed were the words: 

One, Two, Three…

What was this, some kind of countdown? Countdown to WHAT?

Hmmm. Cautiously, I turned the page…and saw 
THIS

Oh My GOD Holy Jumping JESUS!!! After regaining my composure, I flipped to the back of the leaflet and was stunned to find that this nubile waif clad au naturel was none other than Saki Takaoka! What! This busty bombshell was that shy, mousey girl so in unrequited love with Takahashi Katsunori in PURE? Holy TOLEDO, who KNEW she had such a ROCKING figure under those proper outfits!!! DAMN, I had to find out MORE about this book!!!
 Though I didn’t know names at the time, I was to later find out that the person who shot the photobook was Kishin Shinoyama, the same man credited with shooting the infamous Rie Miyazawa book “Santa Fe” (I’d find out he’d shot other great books, as recounted here), but all I knew was that this was one of the FIRST Japanese celebrities I knew that had done a nude Shashinshuu, and that I HAD to get it!

My KishinShinoyama books Rie Miyazawa, Riona Hazuki & Saki Takaoka

Well, back in the days before the internet, I wasn’t as connected as we all are today: when One, Two, Three got initially released, I wasn’t able to get it. In fact, it wasn’t until they re-released it in paperback form (a bit smaller, but with bonus photos not included in the original book) with Kishin Shinoyama’s “Accident” Series that I was able to buy it! And it wasn’t until even later that I FINALLY found a copy of the original Hardcover release of that Saki Takaoka Book to call my very own!

 Ahhh, Saki!!! Now that I’m watching Katagoshi No Koibito and am all in ga-ga love with you, I am SO FREAKING GRATEFUL that I have your Shashinshuu in my collection! Really, I think I’d be DYING right now if I had to scramble to get a copy NOW (though, with the internet it would probably be a LOT easier a time than before!)
But part of me is a little bummed that the unrobed beauty in the book doesn’t look anything like you look as the babe-a-icious Ruriko, now THAT would be worth fighting for all over again!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

More J-Drama Deja-Vu: That Bridge

Nao Matsushita in Dear Sister

...And while we're on the subject of sites that J-dramas use all the time (like the aforementioned Yokohama Business Park), there's ANOTHER place that I see pretty regularly on dramas, and it's this one particular Marina and Bridge, as seen above in Dear Sister with Nao Matsushita, and below, with Mirei Kiritani in Shinigami-Kun.

Mirei Kiritani (wi Satoshi Ohno fishing, far right) in Shinigami-Kun

I've been seeing this place on and off for awhile now, but only decided to start screen-capping it when I saw it appear in those two dramas one after the other. Man, if only I could remember some of the other ones, but trust me, when I do, I'll be sure to add 'em to this collection! 

For now, the most recent place I've seen it appear in is several episodes of Facemaker, where we got to see both the Upper-Deck Area (up the stairs from the marina)...

Megumi and Nagai Masru in Facemaker

...and an overhead view of it from across the way on the opposite bridge!

Nagai Masaru, Facemaker

 At least, I THINK it's a bridge. could just be an extended walkway? I tried to research where this place might be from the buildings int he background, the closest hints I came up with was that it might be Tamagawa? No matter, with so many appearances, we'll get it sooner or later!

Long Panorama from Dear Sister wi Nao Matsushita

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com