So Far: Futekisetsu ni mo Hodo ga Aru!

At Episode 7, I had to drop a quick note relating just how much I've been LOVING the TBS Time-Trippin' Drama "Futekisetsu ni mo Hodo ga Aru!" so far!

Still entirely wacky and still prone to outburst of song and dance  (not since Lupin no Musume has there been so much musical interludes in a show!), the drama still manages a fine balance of laugh-out-loud comedy and sweet, touching scenes, and since episode 5 have had a lot of heartbreakingly melancholy moments as well!

At 10 episodes we've still got 3 more chapters to go, but even if it ends on an off note, the amount of enjoyment I've gotten from it already qualifies it as one of this season's best!

Can't wait to see how it all wraps up!

Reika Kirishima: Queen Of The Desperate Wives

 Seems like whenever you need someone to play the evil mistress, cheating wife or obsessively overprotective Mother, you get the elegant but haunting-looking Reika Kirishima for the job!
I had mentioned way back in Papakatsu that Reika always seemed to get these dour, morose roles, and when she appeared in the recent Haruki Murakami movie “Drive My Car” as another preternaturally depressed wife I thought I just HAD to make a post to point it out!
On the surface it seems she and her husband (Hidetoshi Nishijima) are a happy couple, but beneath lies a deep sadness over losing their child at a young age. This leads to the wife losing herself in indiscreet affairs behind his back with someone like young protege Takastuki (Masaki Okada)...

This at once brought back my memories of her in “Papakatsu” where she and husband (played by Atsuro Watabe) had ALSO lost their child at a young age.  And just like Drive My Car, her character escapes grief  within adulterous affairs (both of which, it seems, the husband knows about)..

Made me think of all the morose/unhappy/dark roles she’s played over the years! Samayou Yabai, Oh My Boss, Yoru ga Dorehodo Kurakutemo, Final Cut, Dele, etc, it seems if they needed a beautiful woman who was slightly flawed or internally maligned, it was Reika they called upon!

Samayou Yabai as a mother sheltering an accused child....

dele, as a wife with something in her mind...

Yoru ga Dorehodo Kurakutemo as a murdered victim :(

As an angry talent agent in "Oh My Boss!"

 a witness to a horrible crime in Final Cut

and another overprotective mother in Hakui No Senshi

This isn’t the first Haruki Murakami Movie Reika’s done as she played Reiko in “Norwegian Wood”, a performance I thought was fine though at the time I wished they cast someone older.

This isn’t the first time she appeared with Masaki Okada either, as both appeared in “Okitegami Kyoko no Biboroku” together! In fact, this was the first time I ever saw Reika Kirishima, and as a suspicious and stand-offish criminal suspect, it was the first taste of the kind of roles I would be seeing her in from then on!

Such a gorgeous woman, I'm always waiting for that ONE special role that will make Reika Kirishima a household name, and preferably one which she gets to be kind and happy for a change, LOL! Actress Yuka Itaya is also someone frequently cast as grieving mothers/slighted wives, but she manages to balance them with some bright and happy roles, too...would love to see more happy Reika!

PS: Looks like "Drive my Car" is up for "Best Picture" at this year's Oscars. What an very odd choice, considering how weird Haruki Murakami stories are (and that this was based on a VERY short story, besides!), but I guess it wouldn't be the first time something this unusual was nominated! 

An OK movie (which some seem to be raving about!)...Will surely be a lot of people's first taste of Murakami's strangeness!

Completing My Keiko Checklist with “Taiyo to Umi no Kyoshitsu”"

 

 I was thinking about ranking my Keiko Kitagawa dramas and making a top 10 when I realized there was one early 2008 drama “Taiyo to Umi no Kyoshitsu” that I had still not seen!!

Clicking the link, I saw why I had initially passed on it- it was a “high-school students drama” kind of show and I usually avoided those. But for the sake of completion I knew I had to see it, and luckily was able to grab it with hardsubs on it!

Starring Oda Yuji as a rebellious Teacher, it was soon apparent how old this drama was when I saw the students: Yuriko Yoshitaka, Masaki Okada, Kie Kitano, Yusuke Yamamoto, Mitsuki Tanimura and Gaku Hamada, all SO YOUNG!

It still didn’t hit me how long ago this drama aired, however, til I saw the kid who was playing the leader of the school bullies…a young Tomoya Nakamura!!! Man, I had no idea he was even ACTING at this time!

Taiyo to Umi no Kyoshitsu tells the story of an avante-garde teacher named Sakurai who comes to a high-score obsessed school to help the kids with what they really need schooling on: their own lives and personal problems. 

Sound cliched? Yep!! MAN, this drama reminded me so much of Hammer Session- Not only did all the promos feature the same “class on a beach” motif, they even got Fumiyo Kohinata to be the principal in both! Keiko Kitagawa stars as his Teacher Assistant, but more like a reactive character than a real character, if you know what I mean. Like, she’s only there to react to the things Sakurai does more than play a real role in the show.

Like I mentioned before, I'm not much into the troubled school kids genre, but it's been fun watching all of these now totally established grown-up stars making their first steps into  J-Dramadom! Besides the aforementioned actors and actresses are  also early drama roles for Aya Oomasa, Shiori Kutsuna and AKB48’s Atsuko Maeda as well as Michiko Kichise as one of the Principal’s arm-crossing cohorts…

PS: Oh my GOSH, It’s been SO LONG since I saw “adorable” Keiko in action! 

Saburo had said that until he saw Rikokatsu, he’d NEVER seen her smiling in anything, and that got me thinking about how Keiko had slowly gravitated towards the more “stern’ and ‘cold” kind of characters. But early on in her career, all of her roles were of the sweet, cheerful and bubble-gummy kind, JUST like this one! Look how freaking ADORBS she is here!!!!

 Taiyo to Umi no Kyoshitsu is sandwiched right between two of my favorite Keiko dramas, Mop Girl and Buzzer Beat, and seeing "classic" Keiko reminded me once again of the initial spark that had me SO infatuated with her…and which has continued for over a decade and is still going strong!

PS:Full disclosure, I have not seen the NHK Taiga Drama "Segodon" but as Keiko is only one of hundreds of actors in it, I don't really count this one as a "Keiko" drama anyway. Not like she's the star of the show or anything...