"Gou" Coming Soon!

Ha ha ha, Was walking past Japanese Bookstone Hakubundo late last night, and saw that they've already got the Program Companion Book for the upcoming NHK Taiga Drama GOU on display in their window!


Ooh, How I would love to have flipped through that book and checked out the pics! Juri Ueno looks awesome on that cover, too! Hmm, looks like the show's gonna start in only a few more weeks! Can't wait!

First Look at Ueno Juri Taiga Drama GOU

Kaneyamaboy on Daddicts has already uploaded a nice preview for us to check out of the upcoming NHK Taiga Drama GOU, starring Ueno Juri, Miyazawa Rie and my babes Mizukawa Asami as the Azai Sisters, the "Flowers of the Warring States Period"... Looks SO OMOSHIROII! CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!

The Other Side of Oryo: Maki Yoko

Maki Yoko as Oryo in RYOMADEN

When actress Yoko Maki arrived on the scene in the NHK Taiga Drama RYOMADEN as Narasaki Oryo, Sakamoto Ryoma's future wife, I must admit I had reservations about her portrayal. I wanted a pretty and vibrant girl to fill the role, and at first, it didn't look like I would be satisfied. As time went on, Maki proved herself as a pretty cool and tough chick, and though she still didn't really captivate me like Aoi Yu's take on Omoto, I still liked her enough, and that's where it pretty much stood.

Maki Yoko, Fukuyama Masaharu

So one day my friend Car is online looking for makeup, and looks up Yoko Maki to see if they listed what kinds and brands of makeup she used since she liked her look a lot. Soon, however, she would be calling me up to tell me that she'd seen the most eye-opening and unexpected pics of Yoko Maki ever!


Car had always suspected all along that under the plain and calm exterior of Oryo, Yoko Maki was actually a pretty actress, and BOY was she proven right! Going online, I located the book that Car had seen, a wonderful shashinshuu collection called MISS ACTRESS, and in THAT pictorial, quiet and Sensible Oryo looked like this:

Yoko Maki MISS ACTRESS

HOLY EFFIN' TOLEDO! My god, that's about as FLAT-OUT, Lusciously SEXY as you can GET without "Crossing the Line", a line that in some circles may be arguable that it HADN'T been crossed! WHOAH! Whodathunk that under that drab kimono was such a FOXY GAL!

Ah, I'll certainly be watching Oryo with a LOT keener eye come tomorrow's episode of Ryomaden! Sad to have come across this wonderful side of her with Ryoma already winding down!!

Aoi Yu Suits History Just Fine

Watching the latest episode of NHK "Taiga" Drama RYOMADEN, and I have to reiterate what I've said before about incredible actress Aoi Yu, that not only is this chick an awesome actress,  in MY opinion, NOBODY looks as gorgeous as she does when done up in period piece garb.

Somehow, her face just seems to be suited for the hair done up in that "Shimada" style, and when she's made up as geisha Omoto, draped in those silky kimono robes and done up in that bright, gaudy makeup, I find myself thinking, DAMN, that's one FRICKIN' FINE Geisha!!!

I dunno, maybe it's because I'd already seen her  on a regular basis in a kimono in OSEN, but I have to say, though there have been MANY actresses that I find very hard to get used to wearing a traditional headpiece (Ayase Haruka in JIN or Horikita Maki in ATSUHIME, to name a few) because they look so awkward and uncomfortable wearing them in the scenes, I have NEVER had this problem with Aoi Yu.
Just one of those things!

PS: This wacky Taiga Drama has had so many ups and downs, with great emotional episodes balanced with an equal amount of corny and overly melodramatic ones, but one thing is for sure, and that's when Omoto's in the scene, it's ALWAYS an interesting one! Even in this latest episode, in a room full of angry samurai, swords were unsheathed and threats were flying, but it was Aoi Yu's distraught eyes that really MADE the scene for me!