Hakubundo is Alive and Well at Ward Warehouse

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com
Was cruising down at Ward Warehouse the other and was happy to see that Japanese Bookstore Hakubundo had moved there! Not only did it seem like the same good old Hakubundo, as always, they already had the latest NHK Taiga Drama Photobook displayed in the window (this time for upcoming Ayase Haruka drama“Yae No Sakura”, she looks soooo kakkoi on the cover, I’ll have to check that one out!)…

Ah, Hakubundo! You know, in the days before the internet, it was not only one of the few places you could buy J-pop CD’s, but it was just about the only place we knew of to order other J-pop goods like posters and Photobooks, and back then it was a ritual to mosey on down to the Chinese Cultural Plaza  (this was years before they eventually moved to the Pan-Am Building) and put in another order of J-goodies! 
It’s a good feeling to know that shop is still around!

The Trials Of Tahm Tahm: Discovering the Amazing Hidden Personalities of 2NE1 via 2NE1TV!

2NE1's Dara and Tahm Tahm

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com
I think I've mentioned here before of how my friend's one big K-pop love is for the super YG Entertainment Girl Group 2NE1, and every now and then, he'd muse about how he HAD to get around to making me copies of their reality show 2NE1 TV, assuring me that I would "see the girls in a whole new light" once I watched it.

Problem was was that he wanted to record the show when it began airing from the first season, but after the TV station's Holiday preemptions and delays, ultimately decided he'd just go ahead and burn me off copies of the currently airing season (Season Three), and just this past weekend gave me the first  6 episodes!

Well, he did predict that I'd be amazed at how different I'd see 2NE1 after watching the reality series, and I have to say that he was TOTALLY CORRECT! Even though I'd seen a clip of Minzy showing off her Gundam Figure Collection online some time ago,  I had no idea they were this “down to earth”…!

She Goes By the Name of CL of 2NE1

CL. Wow, I had no idea this chick was so laid back. I love the fact that she can be so cutting Edge when she's onstage or shooting a video, and then be in a restaurant relaxed with no makeup and casual t-shirt and jeans. And speaking of no makeup, my friend Car once said  she saw a picture of CL barefaced and swore she “looked just like a guy”, but I think CL looks good even without the makeup, and in fact, without it, she looks like a cool surfer chick that you might actually work with at a Record or Bookstore, if you know what I mean! 

Sandara  'Dara" Park

Since I’ve seen her in the videos and her hilarious appearance on Happy Family Outing, you’d think I’d already know this, but I didn’t realize Dara was so pretty! I have to say that I really enjoy seeing her , especially when she’s all done up…she is EXTREMELY easy on the eyes! 

Dara and Tahm Tahm

And one of the sweetest things has GOT to be her attachment to her stuffed animal (monster? thing?) Tahm Tahm... watching her dote over the doll just makes me smile! Had to LAUGH watching her talking to herself: first accusing CL of taking Tahm Tahm, then deciding she probably dropped it on CL's bed herself!

And far from that mopey girl on Happy Family Outing, she is very much a strong leader-type, and in fact the vibe I get is that she and CL are almost like co-leaders...

Minzy Style: Flying in Class!

And just who’s the maknae of this group anyway? I always seemed to think it was Minzy, because in the interviews I saw she hardly spoke (of course, in the interviews I saw, the rest of ‘em were all talking English, so…) and seemed a bit shy. But watching this, she’s SO cool and styling, in fact, she's the one that I think looks the best as far as fashion goes, very svelte and sultry- I love this type of outfits more than those "totally out-there" ensembles CL wears, though of course she looks cool, too!  In any case, once I began watching her and she seemed so much more mature,  I had to think to myself, OK, wait…is BOM the youngest? 

Hanging on for dear life at a Bungee Jump: Bom

And Oh My God, BOM!!!! Bom is soooooo uber-spastically freakin’ ADORABLE!!! I wouldn’t have ever thought that from just seeing her in their videos, but on 2NE1TV, she steals every scene she’s in!!! The scene where she’s trying to tell a story about Minzy in London, and everyone keeps cutting her off and then she spazzes out, Oh MAN, SO FUNNY!!!! 

CL interrupting Bom in the middle of a story...

"Forget It!!" whines a frustrated Bom, LOLOL

Entering the new apartment and being convinced she is locked out because she pushed the door instead of pulled, LOL! And I can't even begin to tell you how darn cute that whole “Corn” thing was!  Bom is on a strict diet and shouldn't be snacking, nonetheless, we see her late at night snacking on some corn! Later her trainer tells her he watched the video of her late-night snacking and severely (and hilariously) reprimands her!

Bom chowing down on some Corn

 I can't even count how many times I re-watched the part where she is being drilled and has to yell out to her trainer about how much she hates corn, she won't eat corn, corn is bad for her, etc! AHAHAHA! Oh Man, these early clips (from Season One where she is slightly more chubby) make my day, she is hands down adorkable!!

Okay, I gotta get back to MORE 2NE1TV!!!

The Return of Wacky!

I finally got around to checking out the sequel to the hilarious Yusha Yoshihiko to Maou No Shiro the other week, and I'm happy to state that it's just as fun and SILLY as ever! This time around, it's a search of Magical Keys, hence its new title, "Yusha Yoshihiko Akunin no Kagi". 

Title aside, it's the same zaniness we've come to expect from Yoshihiko and the bunch: Low-Budget Special Effects, Crappy Magical Spells, Ridiculous Villains, and the awesome interaction of the show's main four warriors:

Yamada Takayuki as Yoshihiko:

Shin Takuma as Danjo

and Haruka Kinami as Murasaki and Muro Tsuyoshi as Merebu

Up to episode 4 so far, and though the storyline doesn't seem as important and urgent as the first series, it's still as entertaining as heck, a show I can always rely on for a smile and laugh!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

My K-Pop Collection as of 01/13

It's been half a year since I last took account of my slowly-but-surely growing K-Pop collection, so I thought I'd take a moment to get things up-to-date! As you can see, since my last reckoning, I've added a few more artists to my list of favorites, among them both f(x) and a new love and appreciation for one of the first K-pop acts I heard, 4Minute! 

...And a picture of how all of the STUFF looks crammed together on my shelves....

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

KARA 2012 Concert DVD!!!!

OK, FINALLY got my replacement KARA DVD in the mail today (to replace that unreadable first disc), and just finished watching it!

First off, I have to say, I don’t even CARE that I had to send the DVDs back and had to eat the 13 dollars shipping, I would do it all over again if I had to; this concert was everything I dreamed a KARA concert should BE!!! With so many awesome songs from the “Girls Talk” era that I had never seen performed live, such stellar singing and such cute and/or super SEXY outfits (Well, the Wonder Woman outfits in “Super Girl” leave much to be desired…I see Hara saved her Black Afro wig from IY!), I was mesmerized throughout the whole show!

Of COURSE, as anyone who’s read my KARA raving before know, the main course of the concert for me was the second set with “Binks”, man, every song in the set was so awesome, and they looked so J-POPPISHLY adorable! Maybe not your cup of tea, but for me, that was pure j-pop goodness!!!! What a set: Umbrella, Binks, Date, With, and wrapping things up with “…Ing”. The only thing missing from this setlist was “Burn”!

After that set, the girls went into their solo songs, and here I got a bit  confused….this concert was performed and recorded back in February of 2012… Do you mean to tell me that Wanna Do, Secret Love, Guilty, Lost AND Daydream was around back then? If that’s the case, I 'm surprised of two things: 1) That they chose to release the songs in Japanese first, and 2) that there wasn’t a bigger reaction when they DID release them. If I had been at those concerts in FEBRUARY where they did those songs and had to wait til SEPTEMBER to get it, I would have been so AMPED UP Happy!!!!

One of the BIGGEST “HOLY CRAP!” moments for me was when Gyuri came out and did “Maria” by Blondie!!!! When the song started, I was like, “Whoa, this can’t be Blondie she’s doing, can it? Then that Gyuri with her fantastic set of pipes began totally BELTING that chorus and I was all Like AW HELL YEAHHH!!” So awesome!

I sure was surprised when they did “Jet Coaster Love”, thinking that since it was a Korean concert, they’d stick to Korean-only releases…I thought, wow, KARA have no problem performing a Japan released song in Japanese even if it’s a Korean Concert in Seoul! But then during MC talking with the audience, they talked in Japanese, so I was all like “Wait, this concert was supposed to be from the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul???? I’m confused.

All in all, a Fantastic Concert! From cool and glitzy tracks like “Step” and “Wanna” through cute and adorable songs with “Binks” et al, captivating (and, in Gyuri and Seungyeons’ case, POWERFUL) solo performance concepts, to sweet, tearful and sentimental songs like “Ima, Okuritai Arigato” (Dear Kamilia) and the hyper fun encore classics like Mister and Pretty Girl, this added up to a near PERFECT CONCERT!!!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Well, It's About Freakin' Time!!

Rainbow have always been one of my main favorite K-Pop groups (ever since I fell in love with their song "A", I've gotten just about all of their releases and LOVE THEM ALL!) and I've been waiting so darn LONG for them to release something new!! Back in the day, they were one of the "big" K-pop acts (as evidenced by Woori's place in the Invincible Youth Season 2 Cast), but after a year+ of Rainbow's virtual nonexistence on the K-pop Music Charts, it was beginning to seem like we'd NEVER hear anything new from them!  But the girls' comeback rumours have been circulating since last October, and FINALLY the news is OUT that their new album is DONE and ready to GO, and we can move FULL SPEED AHEAD!!!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Oh My, Hyosung...!

The Curvy Vocalist of K-Pop act SECRET shows that she's got what it takes to be the new YES Underwear Model in a recent Magazine Photoshoot! Hoping to see even MORE of this fantstic promotion! Go, Hyosung, Go!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Here Comes Trouble! SNSD's "I Got A Boy" Arrives!

SNSD's I Got A Boy (Group Version)

 After a long 1 year+ wait for Girls Generation's new Korean Release Album (and yet not such a long time since their latest Japanese one), SNSD"s "I Got A Boy" was a highly anticipated album so naturally the fanfare surrounding its release was just as huge! For this particular album the Girls released a total of 10 different cover variants (9 Members plus one Group shot) and I (along with a few other friends) spend the past few weeks wringing our hands wondering which cover we'd get!

 As you can see by the above picture, I was one of the blessed people who received the GROUP version (though when I found out my other friend who bought his from YesAsia like i did ALSO got the Group version, had to wonder if the majority of us got the same), which  I was praying for- it's one thing to wish for your favorite member in the trading card, but for a COVER, you don't want to gamble!

 As you'd expect, the album is pretty and slick, with a thick acrylic casing housing a thick photobook as well as the CD and a seriographed CD cover. Since I got the group version, all 9 members adorned this CD plastic, much to my delight! Looking further, though, seems like they spent an awful amount of pacakgaing of both cardboard and foam to turn an otherwise regular sized release into a bigger package. But what a beautiful final product it is! I've already spun the disc a few times, and already some tunes are leaping out at me as potential faves, but I'll hold off the scorecard til I've listened to it more.

SNSD's I Got A Boy, f(x)'s Pinocchio, 4Minute's 4Minutes Left and Volume Up

Along with the SNSD album, I also ordered some other K-Pop Goodies, among them f(x)'s debut album "Pinocchio" (I'd already bought the repackage, but loved it so much I just HAD to have the original) and 4Minute's first full-length album 4 Minutes Left as the beautiful and HUGE CD package for "Volume Up"... 

Volume Up featured a big box housing the CD and a pretty plastic slipcase with a ton of huge postcards with stunning pics of the girls in it(as well as a HyunA trading Card!), had to laugh though because though it was a big package, just like SNSD's album it sure was a lot of fluff around the booklet and CD! I guess I'm spoiled because the Japanese SNSD album "Girls and Peace" was a huge box too, but that one was simply STUFFED with goodies! 
PS: Still waiting for my Poster for "I Got A Boy"! Seems it was shipped separately, GADS, hope this one doesn't get LOST, I have such rotten luck with those!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

J-Drama Watching Rage

LOL, I guess I'll be watching this Masato Sakai drama.

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

The Start of Another Intriguing Emi Takei Drama

Emi Takei in Iki Mo Dekini Natsu

Continuing on with my ongoing obsession with aweseome actress Emi Takei, the current drama on my plate is the human drama “Iki mo Dekinai Natsu”, a story of a young girl named Rei who finds out that due to circumstances when she was born, has been living a life undocumented on Japan Records, therefore turning her former happy life into a perpetual nonexistent entity.

   Rei has lived her life with this information hidden from her by her Mother and Grandmother, but when she innocently applies for an ID at the Court House, she is informed by worker Kiyama (Eguchi  Yosuke) that there are no records of her birth at all. This turns her life upside down, and seeing how traumatized she has become, Kiyama (who has a few secrets of his own) slowly feels compelled to reach out to her.

Carefree first meeting: Eguchi as Kiyama and Takei Emi as Rei

Kiyama later informing the girl of the shocking news

A girl whose life has been pulled from her

At this point there are so many sub-plots and shady characters and I’m not really sure where this drama’s going to go, but the scenes with Eguchi Yosuke and Emi Takei are SO GOOD that that ALONE makes the show worth watching. These are two dynamic actors and when they’re bouncing dialog off each other, it’s sheer poetry! I’m definitely tuning into this one! 

PS: In a more light-hearted side note, Emi's character's name is Rei, and everytime someone calls her that, I expect her to turn around and exclaim, "No, it's pronounced "Urara!" LOL
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Next Up: Zenkai Girl!

Yui Aragaki in Zenkai Girl

I’m NOT a fan of those Japanese dramas involving children, especially those where the main character is a carefree, single person who’s single life is shaken up when they’re suddenly saddled with a bunch of rambunctious rugrats ( think Enka No Joou), so when I read the synopsis of Yui Aragaki’s new drama “Zenkai Girl” which read exactly as that aforementioned scenario, though I love Gakki dearly, I made sure I stayed FAR away from it!

So just the other week,  my friend Car is talking to me about the new shows she’s watching, and knowing how much I love Yui Aragaki, she mentions Zenkai Girl and asks if I’ve watched it.

“Nope, I hate those shows where they have a single person taking care of a bunch of bratty kids.”, I reminded her.

“You know, though, the story isn’t really about her taking care of the kids. I mean, she DOES have to take care of kids, but it’s not the MAIN point of the show,” Car said.

“Yeah, but I know how it’s gonna be, they’re going to have the kids misbehaving and tearing up her formerly single life apartment, whining and yelling at her and then they’re going to show how the kids are really good hearted, etc…bah, I‘ll pass.” I mumbled.

Ryo Nishikido and Yui Aragaki

“I admit, it does have some “eye rolling” moments”, Car agreed, “But… you know, I really like the characters, especially Gakki and Nishikido's... Somehow, the drama made me really…happy!” “Oh, and there’s another girl in this show, who I guess is like Gakki’s “foil” against Nishikido and I think you might know who she is, too...” Searching  online for a bit, she came back with, “Yeah…her name is... um, Renbutsu Misako?”

Renbutsu Misako in Zenkai Girl

“Whoah, Renbutsu Misako’s in this drama TOO?” I exclaimed, "Crap, ONE crush in the show was hard enough to ignore…I don’t know if I can pass up TWO of 'em…I might have to check out this drama after all!”
  Later I went online and found someone who had the first episode of Zenkai Girl up for download along with the subtitles, and after watching it, I can happily say that Car was right about the show- this is one AWESOME little show!! The story is pretty engaging, the characters are all well developed and interesting and even the little girl Gakki has to look after is pretty cute! 

Gakky and Tani Kanon

Funny, back when the show was airing and I was hard-headedly trying to ignore it, there were so many forums sharing it, now that I’m finally trying to get them, I am struggling, (struggling, I tell you!) to acquire the episodes. Seems like every site that once offered it has dead links (this drama came out before the dreaded sharing site implosion) and the files that I DO find aren’t timed to the subs I have. Going to torrents, I’ve wasted three nights already with only about 9% of the dramas completed. At this writing I’ve only gotten about half the show, but it serves me right for not getting it at the time, this will make me appreciate it even more! Back to the searching…
Edit: Yatta! Finally Got 'em all! Gakky, Here I Come...!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com