A Dark Drama: Byakuyakou

Just finished watching the mystery/suspense jdorama Byakuyakou starring Ayase Haruka and Yamada Takayuki, and I have to say, this drama was a real roller coaster ride of emotions and drama! Even now I can’t fully shake off this shroud of DEPRESSION!! That’s how much this one hit me…

Everything you’ve probably heard about how dark, depressing and insane the drama is is absolutely ON THE MARK! Really, It was like David Lynch decided to try his hand at directing a Japanese dorama, and even the theme song “Kage” by Shibasaki Kou was slightly reminiscent of the famous “Twin Peaks” opening credits, lonely and tres moody!

Byakuyakou is a story of two 11-year-old children growing up neglected and/or in abusive environments. When the young Ryo finds his father sexually abusing his friend Yuki, he blindly lashes out and kills him. Yuki in return frames her abusive mother for the crime, ultimately killing her, as well. This sets into motion a convoluted web of lies that the two must fabricate to protect themselves, and in order to keep the shaky house of cards intact, they find themselves getting deeper and deeper into crime and despair.

The opening scene of Episode One is actually the last scene (of sorts) of the LAST episode, (part of me wondered if I’d put in the wrong disc!) and the ending seemed so “final”, I couldn’t see how they could possibly stretch the story into a full 11 episode drama…But WOW! This story turned out to be one of the most unusual and unpredictable shows I’ve seem in a WHILE!

Usually when you’re watching a drama, after the first episode “set-up”, the drama falls into “routine”, and you can logically guess where the drama is going, but not here. Each episode presented new twists and turns, and the surprises never let up throughout the entire drama- I remember hitting episode 7, and being amazed that the show was still thrilling me as much as episode 1!

Most of the credit, of course, lies on the terrific performances of Yamada and Ayase, (Haruka looking so, so frickin’ PRETTY here, I must say) Takeda Tetsuya as the determined detective forever on their trail, as well as the two child actors playing the younger Ryo and Yuki: Izumisawa Yuuki and Fukuda Mayuko, AWESOME acting here! And I gotta give a special mention to reliable j-drama regular Yumi Aso, who gives a particularly heartfelt perf, in my opinion.

Going online after watching the show, I found that a lot of people were disappointed in Byakuyakou, comparing it to Sekai no Chuushin de, Ai wo Sakebu since it starred the same two lead actors, (as well as same singer for the theme song) but since I hadn’t seen the drama, (I only saw the movie) I had no preconceived expectations of what the drama should “live up to”, (truth be told, initially, I only wanted to see it ‘cuz I luv Ayase Haruka so much!) and so I was able to enjoy the show on its own merit. And make no mistake- I LOVED this show! True, I’m probably not gonna be RE-watching the show any time soon (a “feel-good” drama it ain’t!) but when a show can affect and surprise me like this one did, as they say, “It’s a Keeper!”

J-Drama Femme Fatale: Kichise Michiko

While watching the incredibly awesome Nodame Cantabile, I noticed that the producers had this fun way of putting several of the older characters (i.e. NOT students) in wigs and make-up prosthetics, in particular, Takenaka Naoto as Maestro Stressmann and Nishimura Masahiko as Tanioka Sensei. They also had another actress “done up” in a blonde wig and blue contacts playing Stressmann’s Caucasian manager ELIZE , and my first impression was that it was an old crush of mine, Inoue Harumi (she of the awesome shashinshuu FOXY and LIVE), but upon reading up the credits on the NODAME CANTABILE site, found it to be an actress I’d never heard of: Kichise Michiko (吉瀬美智子). Ehhh? Dare?
Weeks later, watching the Miura Haruma mystery drama BLOODY MONDAY, I’m confronted with this gorgeous, slinky vixen named Orihara Maya, a secret agent on the bad guys’ side posing as a seductive teacher in order to keep tabs on a teenager her organization has an interest in, namely Fujimaru (Miura), a young super-hacker with the abilities to get into almost any system!
Now, at this stage in the game, her main job and top priority is to seduce Fujimaru, find out what he knows and what his skills are, and either eliminate or recruit him into their terrorist organization. Now, I don’t know how skilled she was at the terrorist level, but as far as the seducing part…ABSOLUTELY TOP NOTCH!
Man, I went crazy EVERY scene she was in, and trust you me, If I were Fujimaru, I would have jumped ship and joined the bad guys in a heartbeat! Lucky I didn’t have that kind of responsibilities!
Unfortunately, hooking up with a bad girl like Maya Orihara probably isn't in any dude's best interests. Trust is absolutely NOT of the things you can give to a femme fatale like Orihara.Turn your back on her and you'll most likely end up like this poor guy:
Anyway, after watching a few episodes, I just HAD to find out who the actress playing this intense character was, and went onto good ol’ reliable Dramawiki to find she was played by…yep, you guessed it, Kichise Michiko! At first the name didn’t ring a bell, but once I scrolled through her credits and her Nodame Cantabile ELIZE role popped up! SO!!! This was that SAME actress!!! Wow! NOW it all made sense!!!!

Then a couple of weeks ago, I began watching subtitled episodes of kick-ass Amami Yuki detective dorama BOSS, and who should appear as the beautiful and sassy forensic examiner Narahashi Reiko? Yup, my girl again! And in true Kichise style, the first thing she does is start seducing young detective Hanagata!!!

And just like that OTHER cute Forensics Examiner played by Maya Miki in GALILEO, these gals just LOVE talking about the grisly details while eating…! Ahahahaha!
Right now, I am enjoying Kichise on new episodes of BOSS, but am also trying to get my hands on subtitled copies of a show called MOSO SHIMAI, where she plays one of three “Paranoid Sisters” who imagine themselves heroines of fantastic novels… Now, I don’t really know how interesting the show will be, but if Michiko’s in it, It’s DEFINITELY worth a look!!!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Asuka Gumi / Kanashige Dane

I fell in love with actress Ishida Hikari (石田ひかり) from her appearances in such doramas as Kagayaku Toki no Naka de, Asunaro Hakusho and Kekkon Shiyouyo, (the latter of which has to have had the lamest of endings ever, at least in MY opinion) so imagine my surprise and interest when I was watching the MUSIC STATION TEN YEAR SPECIAL and came across a clip of a very young Hikari singing with a trio of idol girls!
The song was called 悲 し げ だ ね and the idol group was calledあすか組. At the time I couldn’t recognize some of the kanji that comprised the idol group’s name or the title of the song, and since this was obviously an old (and probably obscure!) single, I didn’t have high hopes ever getting my hands on the song!
I was to find out a lot later that the song was actually the theme for a drama that Hikari starred in along with the other two girls in the trio, Megumi Okada and Natsuki Ozawa (she later of ZERO WOMAN fame!), a show called Hana No Asuka Gumi, and what do you know, Asuka Gumi ended up being the name of the trio, too!

Years later I walk into a used j-pop CD store (yes the same one that I mention every now and again here though I’ll be darned if I can remember the name of the doggone place) and as I’m casually browsing the ex-rental CDs, I suddenly come across the very CD single you see scanned above. I paused. I couldn’t believe it! This was that same trio of girls! Wasn’t too sure that this single was the same SONG they were singing on that Music Station Special, but I decided to go for it since I figured, even if it WASN’T the song I wanted, I’d still have a rare Hikari Ishida collectible, and brother, that was worth it for me!
Well I got home, and as soon as the song started , I leapt up, going, “YEAHHH!! The song!” And by then I was able to translate the kanji that stood for “Gumi” as well as the kanji for “Kanashi”, so the mystery was finally resolved, and I got my single!
Boy, If only “Kekkon Shiyouyo” could have had a happy ending like this!

Crush Of The Day: Aibu Saki

Well, I know I’ve been posting up a lot of these “Crush Of The Day” articles lately, (my friend Car has even threatened to pilfer the title and use it for her “guy” version, featuring Oguri Shun, of all people…!) but if I happen to get absorbed in a really terrific drama and that drama features really terrific actress, more likely than not I’m gonna be fallin’ for said actress BIG time!
Such it was for cute and spunky actress Aibu Saki, who appeared in not just one, but TWO great dramas that I happened to be watching!

After watching the powerful, emotional drama Last Friends, I really needed something light to “clear my palate”, and the comedy “Zettai Kareshi” seemed to fit the bill! A quirky story of a shy, plain girl who inadvertently finds herself in the possession of a robot boyfriend (played by Brother Beat alum Hayami Mokomichi), this story’s success laid squarely on the lead actress’ shoulders, and Aibu Saki performed admirably! Innocent and cute while at the same time tomboyish and frazzled, she channeled the best “Yamaguchi Tomoko” I’ve seen in years!
After watching a few episodes and just LOVING her in each one, I began to wonder if Aibu Saki was as good as she was in Zettai Kareshi in OTHER dramas. By chance I came across a drama with Saki in it starring Nagase Tomoya of TOKIO fame called UTAHIME. Being a TOKIO fan from way back (as readers of this blog know well), I immediately grabbed it up!

This drama was radically different from the first one as Utahime was a period piece set in 1960’s Japan as opposed to the oh-so-modern (and in fact, quite futuristic) robot romance in Zettai Kareshi…but past or present, it didn’t matter…Aiba Saki was just WONDERFUL in both!!
I watched JUST enough of “Utahime” to reassure myself that the greatness that is Aibu Saki wasn’t a fluke, and then put that drama aside to watch AFTER I finished “Zettai Kareshi”, because I really wanted to get “into” the character, and it was easier without having Saki jump between 1960 and 2005 each episode.
And you know one of the more incredible things about my obsession with Aibu Saki is the fact that I have NEVER liked a girl with a bob-style haircut before. Zen Zen. Ask any of my friends, and they will attest this statement! I’ve always heretofore referred to it as an “acorn” style haircut. I mean, even Catherine Zeta Jones in CHICAGO couldn’t sway my opinion about that dreaded cut, and that’s saying something! But man, something about Saki really did it for me, and I found myself LIKING that hair! Then, when I saw Utahime, and it STILL was in that bob, I gave in, and have accepted it ever since…WHAT A MILESTONE! Ahahahaha!