Thursday, August 5, 2021

The Queen of Quirk Is BACK! Nao Returns in the Spirited “Enjiya”

 Everyone knows how much I love, love, LOVE mononymous actress NAO for her ALWAYS intriguing and eccentric roles, and she is back with her latest "Enjiya!!!
Tomoki (Hayato Isomura) is an unlucky man who is targeted by scammers one day on a train. He is accused by a woman of groping her, and a nearby man backs up her accusation.
He is sent to the police station and booked,and though he is later released, the incident has caused him to lose his job and, most heartbreakingly, his fiance.
When he happens to come across the scammers on the street, he believes he can now prove his innocence and win back his girlfriend. But when he arrives to tell her he finds she has moved on and found another marriage partner.
With nothing to live for, Tomoki climbs to the top of a building with the intent of throwing himself off. Instead, he becomes a witness to a horrifying sight- an enraged man chasing down a petrified blonde woman! 
Tomoki climbs down from the ledge and hides, and there he sees the man take out a knife and begin stabbing her repeatedly in the chest and heart, til she collapses in a spray of blood.
Tomoko tries to flee the scene, but just then his phone rings, alerting the man!
"So! A Witness!" the man barks, and despite him about to commit suicide just minutes earlier, Tomoko cannot help but cry out when the man plunges the knife into his stomach!
"So! A Witness!" the man barks, and despite him about to commit suicide just minutes earlier, Tomoko cannot help but cry out when the man plunges the knife into his stomach!
Tomoko is about to fade to black and pass out... until he sees the murdered woman get up and begin happily chatting the the now subded man. Looking down, Tomoko sees that he isn't harmed at all-the knife was a prop, and these two have been playacting!!!
Seems the man (Yoshihiko Hakayamada) has a fascination with killing and has HIRED the woman to act out his murderous fantasies! "The eyewitness was a nice touch!" he remarks, to which the woman dismisses and sends him on his way.
It's only then that the woman confronts Tomoki. Removing the blonde wig, she gives him her card and introduces herself as Aika, a woman who offers "enjiya", contract performances for hire!
Tomoki is to find that she is part of a troupe including Eita (Shinji Kasahara), Yuri (Noriko Aoyama), and Shinichiro (Hideki Kurauchi). They take on any cases which require them to act, and Tomoki begs them to track downa nd take care of the con artist man and woman who made his life such hell!
The team initially refuses, but when Tomoki promises his life insurance to them the then agree to look into the crime, and are soon on their way!!
Aw MAN, seems like SUCH a great little show so far, bummed that each episode is so short (only 23 minutes) and that it will only have 6 episodes! ARGHHH, this is the kind of drama I want to last a LONG time!!!! Can't wait for more!!!

Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Hinano Yoshikawa in (My) Area

One of the more fun things about having a minor celeb like former idol/singer Hinano Yoshikawa living in your city is seeing random places in the background of her vlogs and immediately recognizing it as your own neighborhood!
Such was  the case when, watching one of her driving dairies, I saw a snippet of building behind her which I immediately recognized as the central Pacific bank down the block, LOL!
Yeah, I guess most wouldn't identify it from such a small sliver out of her back window, but having had to walk past it for so many years, i knew it right away!
Just a fun if totally irrelevant (and maybe too stalkery) post!

Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Cold Game 終わり

The 8 part drama about a futuristic holocaust where the earth has plunged to zero degrees level and the surviving people have banded together in camps in order to survive has wrapped up, and I must say what an ENTIRELY satisfying drama it was!!!
I've always loved Michiko Hada (as witnessed by my gushing here) but her role as Mother Shoko Kimura has to be her best one yet- so interesting, charismatic, and complex, it was trying to figure her out that made this show so entertaining!
As well the other actors who made up her fake family, Yuki Kousei as "son" Daiki , Rinka Kumada as "Daughter" Hina and Aiki Yasuhide as the kind hearted "Father" Takashi, all of them acted so well that you really liked them and was always hoping that they could become a "real"
 family!

Monday, August 2, 2021

Better Late Than Never: Shizuka Kudoh "Aoi Hono"

 I don’t know HOW CD Japan’s artist alerts as supposed to work, but no matter how many times I check off the artists I want to keep track of, the only news they send are of stuff I have no interest in, and I am continually finding I have missed releases of artists I CARE about.
It happened before with Nishida Hikaru, Matsutoya Yumi, and now I find I missed a new Shizuka Kudo CD that came out in March. Fortunately I noticed it in taime to order it while they still had it in stock, but of course the first pressing bonus goods were LONG gone...
Fortunately it was well worth the wait as Aoi Hono continues Shizuka's string of awesome releases, this one yet another Miyuki Nakajima themed album (along with her previous "My Precious" and "My Treasure" releases)!! As some of you may know, Nakajima was the writer behind most of Kudoh's biggest hits, and it seems the tradition continues!