A Double Dose of Yoshida Yo

Regular readers of this blog know of my drooling attraction to svelte, sexy and stoic actress Yo Yoshida and it looks like the time has really come for her fans as we’ve got not one but TWO excellent dramas showcasing her awesome acting sensibilities!

First up we’ve got “Medical Team Lady Da Vinci No Shindan” which from the get go reminds me a lot of the Maki Horikita drama “Higanbana” with its’ crackerjack team of eccentric yet excelling women, only in this show it isn’t a police station where the girls do their detective work, but though the operating rooms of the Hospital.

Yoshida plays a neurosurgeon named Shiho Tachibana who withdraws from practice when she begins having fainting spells. She is then approached by an old colleague named Kitabatake Masayuki (Takahashi Katsunori) who says he is creating a super-team of doctors who can “Solve medical problems on one else can”.

She agrees to join up, but when she gets there, she finds that the rest of the team are cold and  unfriendly to this new outsider and it is only once she shows the others how capable she is do they grudgingly accept her.

The team is led by Yoko Iwakura (Ran Ito), a celebrity surgeon who even has her own television show who is used to being the center of the team, she and Tachibana will butt heads on more than one occasion!

We’ve got Aibu Saki in another one of her “Bitchy chick” roles (hmmm, seems she’s been playing a lot of these lately) as Yukino Nitta, a girl who is reserved and yet fascinated by Tachibana..

Pretty Yuko Fueki (whom you may recall stunned me with her looks way back in Otenki Oneesan) as Iwakura’s gushing second…

Satomi Ai (Kumiko Shirotori), a no-nonsense member who seems to ignore the power playing amongst the head doctors and just does what is need.

Saori Takizawa in yet ANOTHER one of her “man-hungry over 30 woman” roles, still looking as luscious as ever, as Yui Uematsu. Man, who would have thought Saori could make an entire career out of playing these desperate ladies? 

…and finally we have cute and cuddly Riho Yoshioka as Ayaka, the girl chosen to be Tachibana’s assistant and befuddled partner in crime.

Together these women team up to solve the hospital’s more bizarre cases, using their extensive knowledge of maladies, expert footwork and a whole lotta spirited speculation.

And then we’ve got a lot darker murder mystery type detective show featuring Yo as an able detective in the Japan remake of the successful American detective show COLD CASE.

As usual for WOWOW, this is a detective show that is a LOT darker than others, every scene seems to be drenched in this sickly greenish blue tint making everything seem bleak and dour, and from the get go things are grim, grim, grim.

In this show, Yoshida is once again heading a team of crackerjack agents, only this time they are gruff, seasoned detectives whom look upon this wisp of a woman as a curiosity more than a prime leader in her field, but they do work together to get things done.

First we have Tomokazu “Mr. Momoe” Miura as the head of the Cold Case department...

Mitsuishi “He Always plays the Dad” Ken:

Kenichi “That guy from Hanzawa Naoki” Takito...

..and Kento Nagayama as the young man assigned to the team who HATES having to work under a lady, LOL!

Like the CBS Cold Case series, this drama deals with a team assinged to solving old unsolved cases using modern CSI technology that didn’t exist back then to bring the criminals to light, and I was tickled when they showed a flashback to 20 years ago and the song they chose for the scene was “Namonaki Uta” by Mr. Children…GADS, has it been 20 YEARS already? LOL

So far I have to say I like Lady Da Vinci a bit more than Cold Case- not only is it a lot brighter in both tone and actual color, but Yoshida is allowed be goofy and cute, usually executing her detective work with a mischievous twinkle in her eye:

With Cold Case, it is so dense and so serrrrioooouuuusssssss.... I think y0u can easily see the "mood" of both shows by simply taking a look at these two screencaps!

Additionally, Cold Case is so similar to other generic Japanese Detective dramas, one wonders why they felt the need to secure the licensing for it. Wouldn’t it have been easy enough to create a cold case series of their own? I mean, it’s not like CBS has the lock on the cold case theme, even Aya Ueto’s Zettai Reido used the similar format of old unsolved cases resolved through modern means, right? 

Ah well, no matter what, i'm definitely gonna be watching both of these wholeheartedly, after all, more Yo Yoshida in my j-drama viewing life is ALWAYS a good thing!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Crush Of The Day: Takizawa Saori

The Beautiful Saori Takizawa

If there’s one thing that watching “Anna San No Omame” has taught me (besides the fact that Becky is wacky beyond belief and Anzu Sayuri is Luv) is how awesome and UNDERRATED sexy and talented Takizawa Saori is! Like Itaya Yuka before her, she’s one of those actresses that seem to only be given these supporting cast roles, whether they be jilted ex-girlfriends of the male lead or older co-worker to the main girl, and I’ve always been waiting for her to get a starring role of her own…

As Yamashita Midori in SEIGI NO MIKATA (2008)

As Aki in SHIAWASE NI NARITAI (2005)

Though I’ve liked her ever since first seeing her as Yamashita, the highly acerbic co-worker of Yamada Yu in the brilliant SEIGI NO MIKATA, (correction: the first drama I saw her in was SHIAWASE NI NARITAI, though I didn’t know it was her at the time) it wasn’t until seeing her in MASSUGU NA OTOKO as Kanjiya Shihori’s boss Kumi that I realized how frickin’ GORGEOUS she was, and some of you may even remember my rant about her back here.

As Cute Morioka Kumi in MASSUGU NA OTOKO (2010)

As Ukita Natsuko in SCANDAL (2008)

Since then I’ve tried to keep my eye out for her, and I’ve seen her appearing again and again and AGAIN in these small supporting roles, from HIMITSU NO HANAZONO to SCANDAL to HONEY AND CLOVER, etc, but it was watching her in action on that wonderful aforementioned drama ANNA SAN NO OMAME that I just HAD to get up and do some proper GUSHING about her, she is SOOOOOOOO darn GOOD!

As Aki Kamino in ANNA SAN NO OMAME (2006)

Saori's role in Anna San No Omame is Aki Kamino, the dominatrix-ey head of a publishing house where Anna’s boyfriend Kyotaro works. She’s made a hobby of helping /tormenting the four “ikemen” guys working under her, barking out orders under whip and chain, and delights in giving Kyotaro crazy advice regarding Anna and her spastic friend Riri.

Oner of the funnier running gags is that Aki is one hot ‘n’ bothered older lady, and mixed in with her advice to Kyotaro are helpful suggestions regarding getting down with HER! Take for example these scenarios (subs by ZeeSees)...

 Scenario One:

Kyotaro has trouble with Anna's friend Riri thinking he likes her. Kamino Shachoo tells him it's because of his own indecisiveness. She has a suggestion that should clear things up...

HAHAHA 

 Scenario Two: 

Kyotaro's getting deeper in trouble dealing with the crazy Riri. 

Kamino tells him it's because of his inexperience, and offers another solution...

LOL! 

Then take this Third Scenario.

Kyotaro is worried because he wants to take Anna to a hotel on Christmas Eve and propose to her, but KNOWS that Riri will show up and spoil it. Again, Kamino shachoo has some advice to offer...

Ahahaha, these scenes are so FUNNY! I'm telling you, Saori Takizawa STOLE THE SHOW for ME, she was AWESOME!!! Funny, Sassy, Sexy and Positively Gorgeous, man, they could have made a drama just around these characters and I think it would have been a WINNER! I tell you, Aki Kamino is Saori Takizawa's masterpiece! Sadly, I’ve never seen her playing another character like this. Like I said, she seems to be the “Queen of Supporting Characters”, always playing the bridesmaid, never the bride. 

Recently, I was watching an episode of the comedy drama MARUMO NO OKITE and was concerned because Saori playing one of those desperate older co-workers who’s vainly in love with the male lead…”Is this gonna be the kind of roles she’ll be playing 4eva?” I cried! I was a bit relieved to find that in the latest Kiritani Mirei drama JOTEI KAORUKO, she was playing a sexy rival hostess with a bad case of the meanies, which, though equally clichéd, at LEAST still portrayed her as a vibrant. gorgeous woman! Sigh.

As Makimura Kana in MARUMO NO OKITE (2011)

as Rei in JOTEI NO KAORUKO (2010)

You know, going back and rewatching some of Saori’s dramas so I could get screencaps of her really brought into focus how unappreciated she is- not only is she always a second tier character who’s simply there to fill in space, (usually just a member at the workplace or as a side-kick friend usually only seen at goukon-type parties) she’s also hardly given any solo screen-time! It was SO FRICKING HARD trying to find scenes where she was the only person onscreen! I mean, take these scenes from drams like PRIDE and GUILTY AKUMA TO KEIYAKUSHITA- they’re pretty blurry and grainy- that’s because shots of her ALONE onscreen are so hard to come by, and when they are, it’s like for only a second!

As Yabe Ayano in GUILTY AKUMA TO KEIYAKUSHITA ONNA (2010) 

As Sonoda Saeko in PRIDE (2004)

As Mikie in MINNA MUKASHI WA KODOMO DATTA (2005)

As Teshigawa Miwako in HACHIMITSU TO CLOVER (2008)

As Kuramoto Saeko in AT HOME DAD (2004)

As Okazaki Anna in HANAYOME TO PAPA (2007)

As Fujii Hiromi in KOI NO OCHITARA (2005)

As Minae in HIMITSU NO HANAZONO (2007)

Man, will you look at all of those supporting roles she's played...

COME ON Y'ALL, IT"S TIME FOR A SAORI TAKIZAWA STARRING VEHICLE!!

"When?!" Asks Saori-chan, "WHEN?!"

Below: To Further the "Give Saori Takizawa a starring Vehicle Movement, 

I submit these Wonderfully Gratuitous Saori Takizawa Cheesecake Pics