Erika-chan on VS Arashi

Erika on the "Falling Pipe" Platform

While I wait for more subbed Episodes of Gegege No Nyobo to arrive, I dug up some of my older episodes of  the Arashi Game show VS ARASHI to wile away the time, and spent the day re-watching some of my favorite ones. By chance one of the episodes I viewed featured the cast of CODE BLUE who dropped in to participate in the "Falling Pipe" segment, and who should be the very first challenger but Erika Toda! Well, I just HAD to screencap her part because it was so funny and as you all know, Erika Toda is just the cutest thang!! 

Hmmm...Will she be alright? asks the Announcer.

The object of "Falling Pipe" is that the contestant stands in a cage of sorts with four poles surrounding them. At one point, two of the poles will drop multi-colored pipes down, and it's the guest's job to grab them as fast as possible before it can slip away! If you grab it at the very beginning of the pipe, you get a golden 100 points. If you're slower and grab further up, you get 50 points, and so on. Unfortunatley, you never know WHICH of the four poles will have the pipes, which the opponent has secretly chosen!

Nino limbers up for the challenge

Erika's first up to bat and is requesting that Nino take it easy on her, sweetly calling him  "oniichan" as if this might sway him into letting her breeze by, but Kazu has no mercy and sets up the pipes ready to win! Soon he's selected the secret poles and Erika tenses up for the pounce...

Which ones will the pipes fall from???!

Nino then begins to randomly ask her about various things to throw her concentration off, and when she least expects it, he releases the pipes!! SWOOSH! Down comes the pipes! And did she get one?

Gak! Here they come! 

YES!!! She managed to grab one of the pipes at the last moment! But looking at WHERE she grabbed, Erika is not so pleased at the low points she scored...a dismal 20 points...

20 Points? Is THAT ALL? Booooo!

And the look on her face as she sheepishly shuffles off the platform says it all! But she shouldn't have felt TOO bad... Later on , RYO did even WORSE!

Ehhhh...I sucked!

The only thing that could have made this episode better was if Aragaki Yui showed up, too, however, she was not among the six guest CODE BLUE actors that evening! Still, it was a very fun and entertaining one, and Erika-chan's still as cute as ever!

CODE BLUE Cast: Yamapi, Toda Erika, Ryo, et al...

Gegege No Mada Mada

Ahh, just finished watching episode #36 of Gegege No Nyobo, which was the last (so far) of the subtitled chapters that are available, and what an end it was! Though no more subs have so far come out, this latest chapter was a fine, fine way to wrap things up!

  Episode 36 just happened to finish on a very big arc in the drama, focusing on the first milestone in the newly-married couple’s lives, as Shigeru’s struggling manga KITARO finally gets relaunched with the promise of more orders to come! In this way, it still felt like I watched a “complete” story, that is, I didn’t feel like I was left hanging. It really felt like the end of the first movie in a series.

This concluding episode was so heartwarming and  touching, and I have to say that it even brought tears to my eyes! More than just the triumph of getting his manga published is the sweet and subtle way that, through  working together on the strip, the couple find themselves drawing closer and closer to each other, and it was so endearing to watch Shigeru letting Fumie help him with his work, and even now, looking at this screen cap of the two working side-by-sde makes me all misty-eyed!!

Such an AWESOME, AWESOME show, and I hope that I'm someday able to watch the entire drama!

More Notes on Gegege No Nyobo

Up to Week Six of Gegege No Nyobo, and already my heart is wrenching knowing that this is the last of the episodes that have been translated so far. The drama is so, so, good and  it’s even more frustrating that it's coming to a halt because the storyline has just been getting better and BETTER with every episode!

Nao Matsushita is such a dream, she breaks my heart in each and every scene she’s in, from  her puzzled expressions, open- mouthed surprise or her warm and radiant happy smile, I find myself falling more and more in love with her! I find that even in a scene where she’s simply sweeping the porch, I can rewind and watch over and over, so, so cute.

I get such a  warm feeling watching this show, and I realized it’s been giving me the same happy and overwhelming feeling I got when I was watching AGRI (the 56^th NHK Morning Drama starring Misato Tanaka as the titular heroine), and this is no small statement in that AGRI is my hands-down favorite, most beloved Japanese Drama OF ALL TIME, bar NONE! The fact that  Gegege No Nyobo manages to capture that same magic for me is truly amazing and wonderful!

There are, of course, many obvious reasons why the show reminds me so much of Agri, not least of which is that it’s a period piece based on a real-life person, but what really seems similar to me is the HEART of the show, especially regarding the overwhelming sweetness of the heroine. In that good-natured “No matter how hard things get I will keep a positive outlook and treat everyone kindly” way, in fact, Nao Matsushita ‘s Iida Fumie is very much like Misato Tanaka’s Agri Mochizuki.

Another thing I find similar is the themes they follow: Agri was a young girl who moved to Tokyo to marry eccentric writer Mochizuki Eisuke who seemed to neglect her as a wife, similarly, Fumie and Shigeru‘s relationship mirrors this, with Fumie moving to Tokyo to support Murai’s manga work and finding herself feeling left out.

And just as a lonely Agri found friends and support within the town’s local tavern and Setsuko, the woman who ran the bar, so does Fumie find solace in the town’s rental Manga Store with the shop’s owner Tanaka Michiko. And  I was thrilled to see that part of  Tanaka played by Matsuzaka Keiko, whom I’ve LOVED ever since she played the part of the equally motherly friend to Aoi Miyazaki as Ikushima in ATSUHIME!

Ahh-hh, All I can do is hope that the powers that be will continue to translate and sub this wonderful show. With only those first 6 weeks translated and 20 more weeks of episodes on my hardrive just WAITING for some good ol’ subtitles to adorn them, I’ll be taking a lesson in patience (and crossing fingers!!!)

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Uchida Yuki / TENCA Wo Torou! ~Uchida No Yabou~

Yuki Uchida’s happy and upbeat song TENCA WO TOROU! ~Uchida No Yabou~ was another single off of that very first J-pop mix that I got and though at the time it barely registered (that’s what happens when you’re sandwiched between ZARD and Chisato Moritaka), years later when I happened to play the cassette again, I was amazed how great and FUN this little tune really was!

Taken from a wacky comedy drama called “Hanjuku Tamago” and starring Uchida herself as on of three goofy sisters trying to get ahead in life, with the other two sisters being played by actress Ritsuko Tanaka, ( SAY, whatever happened to her…?) a really young and cute Rie Tomosaka as the baby of the family and Hiroko Shino as the slightly daffy, sarcastic and long-suffering mother!

 Tenca Wo Torou is one of those songs that REALLY matches the show and its’ wackiness, and after watching this clip of the show’s opening sequence once, I’m sure you’ll all agree with me!

I remember once when we all piled into a friend’s car on the way to the movies, and he began playing TENCA on his tapedeck. This made sense since he was the guy who made me that cassette tape with the Uchida Yuki song in the first place! Anyway, the song was blaring out and suddenly his wife turned and said, “I think Yuki Uchida is a REALLY pretty model and a VERY good actress… but I CAN’T STAND HER SINGING!! AHAHAHAHA, we ALL cracked up in the car on THAT one!!

 However her singing skills (or lack thereof), Uchida seems to be having great fun with this song, as evidenced by her cute performance of it on that year's RECORD TAISHO.  She seems to know it's a wacky song just for fun, and I love her inflections on the lines like "Maji Maji MAJI?!! "AHAHAHA!  Lucky! Lu—u-u-cky!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Globe / Feel Like Dance

Back in the days when CoCo ruled our worlds, just about the only way we got to see other j-pop acts was on Japanese Music programs like Music Fair, Pop Jam, and HEY HEY HEY Music Champ, and it was through watching the Top Ten countdown on the latter that we would get a grasp of what else was popular in the j-pop world.  One group that always seemed to appear regularly on the tops of the hitmaking charts was a strangely named trio called GLOBE.

Every time I would see them top the charts, I would ask Dan if he knew these guys, and he’d say quizzically, “No, but MAN they’re always number one on the countdown!!!” At the time, we didn’t know the man behind this group was Tetsuya Komuro, the guy behind another act we loved in TRF (which , naturally, stood for Tetsuya’s Rave Factory), but we KNEW this group had SOMETHING about them, they were so popular!

It wasn’t until much later that finally, my friend (who had made a  bunch of other great j-pop mixes) came through for me once again by including Globe’s latest single on his latest j-pop cassette mix! “Ah”, I said, “I’ve been WAITING to hear an entire song proper from these guys!” 

The song on the tape was called “Feel Like Dance”, and it was THEN that I could tell it was the same producer and songwriter behind my favorite TRF songs, because this peppy, danceable little tune sounded JUST like the best of Tetsuya’s rave factory like Boy Meets Girl and Crazy Gonna  Crazy! I loved it immediately, and immediately marched down to pick it up!

I would go on  to enjoy all the other singles that Globe had to offer: Departures, Freedom, Joy To The Love (heck, a lot of ‘em are gonna end up here on my favorite singles list!) and I just LOVE Keiko’s voice, but I never quite understood why that white guy (Mark) who did all the rapping spoke such crummy English! You may as well have kept DJ Koo at that point…!

Gakky on Himitsu No Arashi

Once again the fine folks over at Angeldevils have served up another interesting episode of the terrific HIMITSU NO ARASHI-CHAN, and this was one that I’ve been waiting to see translated for a WHILE now, because the VIP Room guest was none other than the adorable Aragaki Yui!!

The great thing about the VIP Room segment is that they always try to explore the guest’s little known side/private life, and when it’s someone like Gakky whom I know little about outside of her acting work, it was a real treat! 

Finding out things like how she has over 23 parkas, how she doesn’t like surprises and how she loves watching clips of goats that sound like humans (!) when she needs to relax, these were awesome little insights into her true personality!

This was timely indeed, as I’d just come from watching her in the incredible MY BOSS MY HERO, and though I don’t like bangs on a girl, somehow I made the exception for Yui-chan in that drama. Imagine how delighted I was seeing Gakky appear in the VIP Room with this luscious, long hair! Oooh, she looked soooo yummy!!! And with the addition of the pretty dress she was wearing, I just could. Not. Stop. Taking. Screenshots!!!

This was a total win-win episode for me filled with great beauties, because not only did the VIP Room segment feature Yui Aragaki, the second half of the show was the Arashi Ranking Derby, and among the guests was the smolderingly beautiful Kuroki Meisa as one of the judges (my GOSH this woman is GORGEOUS!)…

And the Main Race Ranking for “Who Would You Want To Go On A Date With? Was none other than another fave actress of mine (and, like Aragaki-san, a past Crush of the Day, to boot!) Aibu Saki!!! As usual she brought her cheerful and sparkling personality to the show, SO much fun to see her again!!!

Ahhh, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Himitsu No Arashi-Chan has GOT to be one of the most INTERESTING ways to see models and actresses that I love …the “corners” (or rather, segments) that they appear in are created in a way where the girls can relax a bit and really “be themselves”, and one can’t HELP but come away loving them just a little bit MORE!! 

Crush Of The Day: Matsushita Nao

Nao Matsushita in Gegege No Nyobo

Ge! Ge! GeGeGe No Geeeeeee!

As predicted, it only took me the rest of the week's episodes to totally fall in love with Matsushita Nao and her achingly sweet portrayal of Iida Fumie in the NHK Asadora GEGEGE NO NYOBO. She is SUCH a SWEETHEART that in only a few episodes, I was completely and utterly smitten with her!!!

I don’t know if Nao Matsushita is the kind of actress that you’d call a “raving beauty”, but she’s definitely pretty enough, and when you add that wholesome and pure charm she exudes to the mix, you get a girl that you’d want to scoop up and marry in an instant!! Never mind how “tall” she is!!! Who in their right mind would turn down an omiai because of her height?! That’s nuts!

If you’ve been following my interest in Nao Matsushita, you know that I first realized how attractive she was during her stint as co-host (along with Johnny’s Jimusho ARASHI) of this year’s Kohaku Uta Gassen. 

Kohaku Uta Gassen 2010

As I noted in that earlier post, she seemed to get cuter and cuter as the night went on, and by the time the show ended, I REALLY wanted to get my hands on Gegege No Nyobo and check it out! (I suppose it didn’t hurt that they were showcasing the drama, with guest appearances by Ren Osugi and Osamu Mukai as well as a clip/preview of the show itself!)

The drama started out promising enough with a young girl playing the younger Fumie, but the show REALLY grabbed my attention when Episode 7 came up and Nao made her first appearance! Wide-Eyed and innocent, I  KNEW I was gonna fall hard for her, she was such a CUTIE!!! Plus, she’s such a Good Girl, it breaks your heart when bad things happen to her- you really want to just hug her and cheer her on! And Hug Her! Yeah!

I really thought this was the very first drama I’d seen Nao in, but imagine my SURPRISE when I read Hamanosilence’s blog and found that she’d appeared in RYOKITEKI NA KANOJYO before! WHAAAAT!!!! I couldn’t believe it- She was in that drama? I didn’t remember her at ALL!

Then , thinking HARD upon it, it HIT ME!! She was Tsuyoshi Kusanagi’s childhood friend who was the original “love interest” until naughty Rena Tanaka came along to kick THAT romance to hell! Sadly, Nao’s character is a victim of unrequited love , as she gets brushed off in favor of the Sassy Girl herself!

in Ryokiteki Na Kanojyo

That was quite a revelation to know I’d seen a WHOLE drama with her in it BEFORE Gegege No Nyobo, because for me, I’ve  REALLY come to accept her as Fumie Iida, rather I should say, I believe she’s just like that character in real life! AHAHAHA!

I’m crossing fingers that this drama will continue to be translated and subtitled by the powers that be, for it’s only been subbed up to week Six so far, and it would be such a tragedy if  the show was dropped ‘casue no matter HOW MUCH I love the asadora, I just wouldn’t be able to follow it without subs!

Ai Takahashi Goes Into The Fray

Was quite excited by the news that pretty Ai Takahashi would be co-starring in the upcoming drama (of sorts) Koi Choco~ Bittersweet Angel, because I think it would be really terrific if she decided to broaden her acting horizons once her gig at Morning Musume is over- Takahashi's always been one of my favorite MM gals and I would love to continue seeing her in the entertainment biz!

Not that I know for sure if she’ll excel at acting or anything, but the show looks fun and wacky, and besides, I think Takahashi’s extremely good-looking and  smart 'n' hella sassy to boot, so I’d definitely tune into any acting ventures she cared to pursue, and isn’t that just about all the prerequsite you need? AHAHA

Of course, when you think of Takahashi-san acting, the one thing that always comes to mind is her many, many flubs and foibles during the making of the Momusu ANGEL HEARTS thang, sooo many hilarious NG shots, but she’s so darn adorable in all of them!

Takahashi seems to have most of the problems with pronouncing certain words or phrases, and my fave scene has to be where Ai-chan’s flubbing her voice over, and each time she screws it up, she can hardly believe it, going “a-reee? ARE??? NANDE?!” AHAHAHA! 

Looking over this Angel Hearts clip of course, my main thought was, Crap, Ai-chan looks so YOUNG here! Has it been THAT LONG since she joined the ranks of Momusu? Didn't even realize so much time had passed 'til you look at the Koi Choco preview and realize Ai's blossomed into this gorgeous young lady!  Here’s hoping to see a lot more from Ms. “Lovely” Takahashi!

Matsushita Nao eating Nimono

LADY ~So Far~

Kitagawa Keiko, Kimura Tae, Hiraoka Yuta, Sudo Risa and Kaname Jun

Well, just finished watching the first episode of LADY~ Saigo No Hanzai Profile~, and I have to say that the show didn’t thrill me as much as I hoped. I was really excited to see Keiko Kitagawa get back into the seat of a leading role, but so far, it doesn’t feel ANYTHING like a Keiko starring vehicle. It’s more of an ensemble show, and for the most part Keiko’s character is just another part of the team.

Oh sure, there are segments where it focuses on Keiko’s character; her personal life and eccentric methods of deciphering the clues, but you still don’t really get the feeling like she’s the “main” character. In fact, if ANYTHING, it’s Tae Kimura’s character Yuki Akira that seems more like the lead!

Ah well, we'll see how things progress in the upcoming episodes....

"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!

More Notes on Gegege No Nyobo

Ah, MAN, even though I'm only up to episode seven of the NHK Asadora Gegege No Nyobo, I'm already beginning to feel the pangs of a mad crush for actress Nao Matsushita developing! She's so cute in this drama, plain and pure-looking, she reminds me of the girls I had crushes on in Intermediate school!

Crap,  this show is so much FUN so far, I really just wanna DIVE INTO this series, but the subtitling is only up to week six, and I DON'T want to get to the point where I'm "caught up" and have to wait impatiently for each new set of subs to come out, though I'm really, really grateful for them, of course!
Don't know how the mood of the show is going to shift once she's married to Osamu Mukai, but right now I am really getting a kick out of Nao-chan as this wide-eyed and innocent young girl! Ah, maybe it's the period that the show is shot in, i just LOVE all the dresses she's been wearing! Pretty, flowery print with bright colors!

Camouflage Song

Project/Drama Camouflage stars Aoi Yu as the main character of four different stories based on the theme of lies and lying, and in the second story arc (episodes 4-6), entitled Barairo No Hibi, or simply, "Rose-Colored Days", Yu plays a girl named Makoto who fantasizes herself in dramatic situations as she runs blindly out of her house, only stopping when her stopwatch beeps and tells her she's reached ten minutes.


During the time she is running willy-nilly through the town, there is this rocking little tune playing in the background (and sometimes foreground), and I'm just dying to know who this artist is, and what the song is called! Does ANYONE have any idea?

Here's a clip from Episode 4 with the song playing...

Run Yuu-chan! RUNNNNNNNNN!

Who's That Girl: It's Adachi Rika

Adachi Rika in Gegege No Nyobo as Yukie

OK, after paying a visit to the mighty Dramawiki site, I found out that the pretty girl playing Yukie Iida in Gegege No Nyobo is none other than actress Rika Adachi, a girl that I didn't realize i'd seen before in both Futatsu No Spica as morose Marika Ukita:

in Futatsu No Spica

as well as the recent Kinpachi Sensei/Gokusen/GTO type High School drama HAMMER SESSION as wheelchair bound Nakasato Miho in Episode 7:

in Hammer Session

Strange that she really didn't stand out for me in either of these shows. Somehow, I think it's the character she played in Gegege No Nyobo that made me like her so much! Mmmm, here's hoping to see even more from her!

Above and below: Adachi Rika Cheesecake.

Gegege No Nyobo Notes

Say, who's that young actress in  the NHK asadora Gegege No Nyobo playing main character Iida Fumie's pretty older sister Yukie? Such a feminine and engaging character! At times she looks an awful lot like a younger and freshly scrubbed version of Aoi Yuu, which is saying something since Aoi Yuu looks young and freshly scrubbed as well! Whoever she is, she sure is a cutie!

Edit: OK, found out , She's Adachi Rika!