West Side Story, Japanese Style

Takei Emi and Tsumabuki Satoshi in Ai To Makoto

I’ve just a J-movie that is such a mish-mash of genres that it's end result must be one of the most unusual amalgams ever! This movie has it all: Romance, Roughnecking, Truimph and Tragedy, and it’s all set to campily enthusiastic SONG AND DANCE!   

Good Girl Ai Saotome

Bad Boy Makoto Taiga

For reals, when I sat down to watch AI TO MAKOTO, I was only in it for the sweet babe-ness of its main star Emi Takei, but as soon as I saw the opening scene where delinquent bad boy Makoto (played by Satoshi Tsumabuki) beats up a rival gang all the while singing and DANCING, I knew I was in for SOME movie! Seriously, this was the Jets fighting the Sharks all over again!

Sing A Song Of War

West Side Story's "Jets and Sharks" Style fighting alive and well here...

The story is this: As youths, Makoto saved Ai from a dangerous skiing accident which has left him with a huge scar across his forehead. Feeling responsible for the thug life he’s led since then, she makes it her life goal to rehabilitate him when she crosses paths with him as teenagers. Through the magic of music, we hear beautiful Emi Takei singing the virtues of her love for him and her resolve to “save” him, and so the tale is set in motion…!

The Roughneck and the Girl From the Other Side Of The Tracks

A resolve to take care of her Man!

But things cannot run as Ai would like: Though she's gotten him registered at her private school and has set him up in an apartment, Makoto resents the help from this rich and naïve girl, and rebuffs her help with violence and even more violence. Soon he’s kicked out of the school and sent to the delinquent school,  and an unfazed Ai  transfers there herself to watch after him. Nonetheless, Makoto keeps spiraling even further down the ladder, and in her quest to help him, Ai finds herself being dragged down with him, even resorting to working a a cabaret club to give him money. Rival Gangs, Rival Love intersts, all these problems begin piling up-Soon there are enemies all about them and a happy solution seems bleak!

Leaving her Private School and entering the world of Delinquencies

Working at a Cabaret To Support Makoto

I have to say that this a pretty innovative flick, and though the songs seem to break out at the most inopportune times, some of them are in fact pretty catchy, it was a thrill to hear Emi Takei singing her sweet proclamation of love to Makoto, and I have special fondness for the dark, drawling, song  “Dreams Bloom at Night” which rival-love-interest Yuki (Ono Ito) hypnotically purrs to Makoto to take him away from innocent Ai’s arms… 

Singing a Song about her Love!

Another Song of Love, though far more Sinister

 Ai To Makoto is really like a Manga brought to life, and with waltzing Gang Members, Angry Singing Parents and enemy students brawling at the drop of a hat, it’s sometimes hard to take things seriously! But just like Romeo and Juliet (which West Side Story was based on , of course), this story has the shadow of TRAGEDY looming all over it, and you just KNOW that our heroes and heroines will not come out of it unscathed…

Ah, but let us not bring the zany vibes down! The Verdict for Ai To Makoto: Highly Original movie with an insane amount of nuttiness. Camp Factor: High, Emi Takei Cuteness factor: Maximum!  Cautiously Recommended Viewing!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

"Out Of Sight" Animated Short

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com
Just saw the sweetest Animated video about a little blind girl who is taking a walk through town when her purse is suddenly snatched by a thief. Her Seeing-Eye Dog breaks away to give chase, and this clip is about the minutes she spends trying to find out where she is and locate her dog... 

This video, called "Out Of Sight",  is fascinating in the way the video shows how the girl perceives objects through touch and sound, everything around her is a blank slate til she hears it or touches it, and slowly the object materializes for her, and it's quite interesting too how she imagines some of the things we take for granted must look like- Planes, Busses, etc.

I'm not sure who made this animated short, but as someone online pointed out,  it certainly gives off a Hayao Miyazaki "Kiki's Delivery Service" vibe... No matter, this is a gentle little clip that will give you a smile to brighten Your Day!

Stormy Weather Up Ahead! The Gals of "Otenki Oneesan"

Emi Takei as Abe Haruko, the titular Otenki Oneesan

I began watching the new Jdrama "Otenki Oneesan" for, as you may have guessed, Emi Takei as the eccentric and morose weather girl Abe Haruko, that peculiar girl with the uncanny knack for weather patterns, though it's mostly just another in the whole "eccentric detective with strange skills" set, so far so good, Emi is cute in her role and despite her dour usual outlook and appearance:

...we DO get to see her in some positively colorful, lacey and girly dresses, so PROPS for that! 

 Additionally on the cute actress homefront, having cute Nozomi Sasaki onboard as the bright eyed and cheerful News Anchor is definitely a plus, (as soon as the two met up with one another, ya just KNEW they wuz gonna butt heads with each other!)

Sasaki Nozomi

The soon to become bitter rivals?

 ...but I GOTTA TELL YOU that from the show’s GET GO, the one gal who has been knocking me out with her lusciously sexy style and persona has been the lady playing Haraguchi, the MORNINGZ TV Channel’s producer! GEEZ, what a BABE! 

Fueki Yuko as Haraguchi

As the thankless Producer of the Morning Show, Haraguchi has the job (among others) of making the funniest of shocked and STUNNED faces every time Emi Takei comes up with some new craziness while the show is on the air, Ahhahaha, sooo funny! Who WAS this actress?

  Going onto the Otenki Oneesan website, I found that her name was Fueki Yuko, and looking at her long list of drams, come to find out I’d seen her before in dramas like Nazotoki Wa Dinner Atode and Attention Please… She’s even appeared in the recent Korean hit dramas IRIS I & II (under her Korean name Yoo Min) , so she’s certainly been in the public eye for awhile-Man, I never noticed how freaking fine she is until now!! More, Please! Okay, back to more Otenki Oneesan!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

The Mighty SISTAR

 WOOT! My SISTAR care package came in the mail today, and I'm just giddy going through my goods! *cackles with glee* MAN! Who would have ever thought it would have come to this when not so very long ago I didn't own ANYTHING from the self proclaimed "Mighty" Starship Eneterprises Girl Group!

  I bought Sistar’s SO COOL album because it had a bunch of songs I loved: So Cool, Push Push, Shady Girl and How Dare You, little did I know that once I got a chance to hear the whole album, I’d find all the OTHER songs on the album JUST AS GOOD! Really, there isn’t a filler track on this disc, and songs like “New World” and “Oh Baby” have become HUGE favorites of mine! This album sealed it for me- I knew it was time for me to investigate SISTAR’s catalog even further! 

SISTAR Back Covers

Looking through the girls’ releases, I at first thought I didn’t need to get their first three singles (Push Push, Shady Girl and How Dare You) since they were represented on the SO COOL album, but looking at the tracklistings I realized each single had songs that WEREN’T on the album, and some of them, like intro songs “Here We Come” and “Mighty Sistar”, have been performed live and are MUST HAVE items for the SISTAR fan! In the end, I simply had to GET THEM ALL!

SISTAR Booklets: Push Push, Shady Girl and How Dare You

SISTAR Booklets: ALONE and Loving U

SISTAR 19 Mylar Slipcase and Photobook

Right now I am totally immersing myself in SISTAR, and am currently enjoying the kickin’ sounds of their “ALONE” album, Man, how did I ever live without these? Netizens have been saying for some time now that this is really SISTAR’s time to shine, and if these amazing tracks have anything to say about it, I’m in full agreement!!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Yumi Adachi, Redux

 Cripes, I't's been years since I saw Yumi Adachi in anything, and though I'd heard that she'd gone on to more adult roles and attitudes since I last saw her in (I Think) Hitotsu Yane No Shita as the cute l'il step-sister of Noriko Sakai's character Koyuki, I was STILL pretty impressed when I saw her as the very deadly seductress wasp-Woman in xxxHOLIC.  I was like 'Huh! Interesting..."

Funny, even though her look has gotten a LOT darker and at certain angle you can see that she's actually a bit older, for the most part, she STILL looks like the adorable little girl I first saw Ienaki Ko almost 20 years ago!

Gotta say that things are shaping up nicely and time's been pretty good to her! 

No word on the dog.

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

One Year in the K-Pop Fandom with KARA!!

The Girls that started it all for me: KARA!

It was exactly one year ago this week that my love of the K-pop genre went from a passing interest (where I primarily liked the Japanese versions of songs released) into a full blown mania, and, looking back,  I can trace it all back to the power and all around awesomeness of DSP Media Girl Group KARA! 

As I’ve recounted many times before, I’d already heard and liked the Japanese versions of songs from KARA like Jumping, (as well as Mr. Taxi and Genie from SNSD) since I was primarily into J-Pop, but it was my first glimpse of their stunning MV for “Mister” that captivated my attention and piqued my interest into examining things further- The song was catchy, the girls were insanely pretty, and the dance moves were simply hypnotic!!!

That Mesmerizing PV for MISTER

Wanting to explore things further, I managed to acquire their first Japanese album GIRL’S TALK (through a K-pop and J-pop forum) and my world was completely rocked! Listening to this album, I was SO blown away by the happy, catchy pop-perfect tunes that I remember walking around listening to the album over and over again! I went back to the forum and began grabbing everything I could find of their and began locating all the live performances and videos featuring the girls in a frenzy! Over the weekend, I immersed myself in their goodness, just being impressed and blown away by every aspect of their output- from the catchy songs, witty variety show banter, and beautiful, beautiful looks, by the time the weekend was over, I knew I had turned a K-pop corner forever when I realized KARA had become my favorite group!!!

My Very First K-Pop Purchases! Girls Talk was on its way...

Making my first K-pop purchase was intimidating and I knew once I made it there was no going back- but MAN, I just HAD to have these KARA albums! Girls Talk, Super Girl, STEP, Pretty Girl, Honey, First Blooming, Revolution, they were too GOOD and I just had to have them ALL! And MAN, I remember when those babies came in, running my hands lovingly over the beautiful, unusual, oversized packaging, flipping through the glossy photo booklets and blasting out the CDs over my stereo, realizing I had officially become a K-POP FAN!

KARA on Star Golden Bell

And it didn’t stop there- through my love of KARA, I was to slowly get into every other aspect of the Korean  Entertainment scene- It was because of KARA’s appearances on Star Golden Bell and Come To Play that I fell in love with the SNSD girls, additionally, it was through a KARA forum that I saw my first SNSD video “Echo”, and though it was sort of low-budget vid, that song and video to this day is a HUGE sentimental favorite!
  It was because I saw KARA as the guests that I downloaded my very first RUNNING MAN show, and as you all know well, that show has gone on to become the guiding light of my Korean Entertainment weekly fix, introducing me to UNCOUNTABLE other Korean celebs and artists! It was because of KARA that I began watching INVINCIBLE YOUTH2, where I would get introduced to members of Rainbow, FX, and SISTAR…When you combine that show with Running Man, you can see why I was so instantly overwhelmed with PASSION for this whole new K-pop world!

SeungYeon and an exhausted Jaesuk on Running Man

Gyuri and  Lee KwangSoo

Seeing my interest exploding, my K-pop friends began introducing me to all the other treasures out there- T-ara, Rainbow, Brown Eyed Girls, Afterschool, etc, and to this day my interest is still expanding out further! 2NE1, Secret, 4Minute, SISTAR, FX, I would find more and MORE K-pop groups to love and obsess over!  And though Girls Generation would eventually go on to become my all-time favorite K-Pop artists, KARA is still up there in my Top Five faves, and whenever I get out the Girls Talk album, the strains of it’s pop perfect tunes just takes me back, and I’m immediately inundated with the feeling of wonderment I had when K-pop was this new and exciting thing!

"It's All Too Much!" Laughing SeungYeon

PS: Funny thing about the KARA Girl’s Talk album is that though it technically could be considered a J-POP album since it’s all their songs sung in Japanese, I like to think of it as a mix of J-pop and K-pop that was (and is) just PERFECT for easing a J-pop fan into the new world of K-pop. It’s still my most beloved KARA album to this day! The whisper that started a BANG! More on Girls Talk and KARA Below!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

FWIW: My KARA Top 40 Song Ranking!

In celebration of my One-Year anniversary of first falling in love with KARA (and K-pop in general), I’ve worked up my very first KARA Top 40 Favorite Songs list! Though I’ve done these lists for other groups and artists before, I’ve never made one for the K-pop group that started it all, and realized after one year that it was time!!!!

Z's KARA TOP 40 SONG RANKING!

1. SOS   (Girls Talk)

2. Tasty Love  (Lupin)

3. Binks  (Girls Talk, Jumping)

4. Same Heart -Ddokateun Mam   (Revolution)

5. Burn   (Girls Talk)

6. Lupin   (Lupin)

7. Wanna   (Revolution)

8. Good Day   (Rock U)

9. Step  (Step)

10. Pretty Girl   (Pretty Girl)  

11. Broken Promise   (The First Blooming)

12. Jumping  (Jumping)

13. Baby I Need You  (Girls Talk)

14. The Two of Us  (The First Blooming)

15. Sweet Days/With  (Girls Talk)

16. With My Heart~Dear Kamilia    (Step)

17. Mister  (Girls Talk, Lupin)

18. Jet Coaster Love  (Super Girl)

19. Umbrella   (Girls Talk)

20. Love Is   (Girls Talk)

21. Lonely   (Lupin)

22. If U Wanna   (The First Blooming)

23. Go Go Summer   (Super Girl)

24. Rider  (Step)

25. Don't Be Shy  (The First Blooming)

26. Girls Power   (Girls Forever)

27. Follow Me-Ddarawa   (Step)

28. Girls Be Ambitious  (Super Girl)

29. Miss U  (Pandora)

30. Aha   (Revolution)

31. Let It Go (Revolution)

32. I’m…Ing    (Pretty Girl)

33. Dreaming Girl  (Super Girl)

34. Do It Do It   (Super Girl)

35. Strawberry   (Step)

36. Take A Bow  (Revolution)

37. Idiot   (Pandora)

38. We’re With You  (Digital Single)

39. Secret World  (The First Blooming)

40. Break It   (The First Blooming)

Notes:
Like the SNSD list before it, it's clear that the more FUN and POPPY songs are the ones I love most, and like the other lists before, this is purely for fun, an interesting way to remember “where I was” at this stage of KARA fandom. And as usual, though it is a list of ranking, in the end, the best I can do is give a sort of "general" placement of the songs in the list. By that I mean that a song ranked at, say, #11 isn't necessarily more loved than a song at #13, but probably more beloved than a song at #18 or so.
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

TTS: Goodbye, Hello

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com
If you recall from my past SNSD song ranking,  I love, love, love the Girls Generation~TTS song "Goodbye Hello", and was always bummed out that even though you could find clips of them doing the other non-single tracks like "Library" and "Baby Steps", I never saw anything of them doing that song live, even going through the fancams and fan-shot clips on youtube, etc, so you can guess how STOKED I was when I saw this clip uploaded!

As you probably know, Tiffany, Seohyun and Taeyeon are leaving Music Core, I guess this is their last appearance? I'm just guessing because of the theme of the song and the fact that they look so thoughtful and melancholy. A Sweet performance!

Edit: Okay, I've seen the complete Episode, it is indeed TTS' Last MC Show. Sob, Sob!

Da Heck Did I Just Watch?! Truly Bizarre Cinema in “Funky Forest”

Aoi Miura meets the Fuzz in "Funky Forest~ The First Contact"

So the other day over lunch, my friend was telling me about these weird clips that him and his friends watch on youtube at work from this Japanese Movie called FUNKY FOREST. He tried to describe the show to me, stories of deformed humans with weird powers, etc, which sounds positively cartoony to me. I ask, “Is it Animated?” He says no. “Is it like a Super-Hero type?” He says, “Dude, I just gotta send you the clip. It’s too weird to explain.”

Funky Forest: "Too Weird To Explain"

The Funky Forest "Volume" Goddesses

That evening he sends me a clip and it’s of an old guy with extended boobs shooting milk at a girl trying to hit it with a tennis racket, then he starts pulling these alien pod things out of his shorts and begins throwing them at her which stick to her like leeches which are revealed to have humanoid features under their hide…. My mouth DROPPED open in a kind of a "WHAAAAAA!???"  as I rubbed my eyes in disbelief at what I’d just seen! What da HELL was I WATCHING??? My friend said that it would be weird. WEIRD!? This is the most BIZARRE freakin’ thing I’ve ever seen in my life!  Eccentric Individuals, Electronics with Orifices, Placated Fetal Creatures, Slimy Living Instruments, Secret Space Agents AND First Contact with an Alien Race, this was Japan's Cinematic ZENITH of Nuttiness!!!

How To Remove an Alien Leech 101

And MAN, If I thought I couldn’t be more surprised by the movie’s absolute KRAZEENESS, I was even MORE surprised when I began scrolling through some of the other clips and saw actors I RECOGNIZED in it! And these weren’t unknown b-list actors either- these were some of best-known actors out there, like Rinko Kikuchi, Kaho, Fukushii Kazue, Kase Ryo and adorable Crush-Of-the–Day CHIZURU IKEWAKI! What in the HECK were they doing here? Gads, that meant I HAD TO ACTUALLY SIT DOWN AND WATCH THE WHOLE MOVIE, if only to see what exactly the HELL they were DOING here! 

Erika Nishikado and Ryo Kase

Kazue Fukiishi, Chizuru Ikewaki and Ono Machiko

Nana Shimoda and Masanobu Asano

Well, in the end, I’m STILL not sure if I ever figured out what was going on, but WOW, WHAT A FLICK!! Not only Did I get to see these actors in the wackiest situations ever, this movie actually introduced me to a bunch of new BABES to lust after, among them beauties like Ono Machiko (whom I’d actually just seen in JOKER Yuzurenai Sasokan), Takahashi Mariko (as a breathy sultry class student named Yoshiko), the adorable Nana Shimoda and Aoi Miura as hapless victims, and ESPECIALLY stunningly gorgeous Erika Nishikado as Notti, the dreamy, nature-lovin’ muse of Ryo Kase’s Extra-Terrestrial obsessed Takafumi!

Pretty Erika Nishikado dreamin' some EPIC dreams....

Mariko Takahashi addresses the Class

Girls like this (and the aforementioned Ikewaki et al) were the primary force that made me stick around watching the movie even as the situations got stranger and STRANGER!! Though in any other movie that got THIS wacky I would have bailed, I just HAD to stick around for these girls...And stick around I did- and I GOTTA SAY, in the end, it was a good thing because Funky Forest turned out to be one of the most FREAKIN' FUNNIEST, INNOVATIVE, IMAGINATIVE, and CRACKY MOVIES OUT THERE!!!

Aoi Miura asked to plug the TV into her Bellybutton!

Kaho as Volume Goddess Omoro

Anri Ban as Volume Goddess Fusuke

Shihori Kanjiya as Volume Goddess Ngava

I’m not even kidding- though some parts of the movie veered off into long, spacey drawn out intermissions (some musical and some literal, yes, LITERAL intermissions), some of the stories were downright HILARIOUS, especially faves like the “Babbling Hot-Springs Vixens” stories with Chizuru Ikewaki, Kazue Fukiishi and Machiko Ono as non-stop chattering salesladies taking a break at an onsen, where a good story is the goal and a tale with no point gets you a beatin’…

The "Babbling Hot-Springs Vixens":

Kazue Fukiishi as Niiko

Machiko Ono as Miiko and Chizuru Ikewaki as Ichiko

…and the OTHER arc I just DUG was the super FUN “Home Room!!!!!!!” stories where the students are charismatic, energetic and outspoken, and their teacher (played by Terajima Susumu in what may be the only non-Yakuza role I’ve ever seen him in) is the coolest instructor any Hall of Education ever had! Every day a student is invited to tell his or her tale in front of the class and the room reaction is never anything short of explosive!

Susumu Terajima as Katsuichi Sensei

Rinko Kikuchi as Student "Kikuchi"

FUNKY FOREST~THE FIRST CONTACT, or, rather, it’s original Japanese Title Naisu No Mori is an abstract Alien + UFO Speculation Movie of sorts, and that’s about as coherent a synopsis as you’re likely to get- for whatever the bigger story here, it’s for SURE that the ride of GETTING THERE is far more integral to THIS ship than any silly thing like a COHERENT PLOT!!  A fun, FUN Movie!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com