My Top Five Maki Horikita Dramas!

With the news that actress Maki Horikita will be retiring from the enterainment industry to rasie a family (though people say it’s because of pressure from her husband Koji “That Handicapped Brother from Under One Roof” Yamamoto rather than her own personal choice), I thought I’d use this opportunity to list my Top Five favorite Maki Horikita dramas in order!

5. Higanbana

Her most recent (for me anyway) drama, the highly entertaining (and star-studded cast) Detective show Higanbana is, if this is really her curtain call, a nice drama to go out on, Nagisa Kinomiya is a character in the classic anti-social Maki Horikita mold!

4. Tokujo Kabachi

After seeing maki playing mostly morose and mumbly characters, it was a shock and breath of fresh air to see her playing a much more genki role, her role of Misuzu Sumiyoshi in the lawyer drama Tokujo Kabachi is one of passion and energy! One of my favorite Sakurai shows as well!

3. Innocent Love

A very serious drama, one that really grabbed me fromt he beginning nad kept me there til the end (and what a bizarre ending it was!), a show drenched in depression a la Kono Yo No Hate, this isn’t one for the suicidal!

2. Nobuta Wa Produce

The drama that introducecd me (and, I’m guessing, a whole lot of other j-drama viewers) for the first time to the moody mubly Maki Horikita, playing the ugly duckling Nobuko Kotani foil for the Shuuji to Akira Duo.

1. Hanzakari Kimitachi E

And then we have the big one, the drama that not only launched quite a few careers, introducing a whole slew of actors to the general public, but has also spawned a Special AND a Korean remake (To The Beautiful You, starring f(x)’s Sulli) which I also loved! A drama that I’ve watched and re-watched multiple times, everyone in the show is so great, and there’s that simple awesome Ai Otsuki theme song at the end to seal the whole deal! 

And while we’re at it, I must also mention “Always Sunset on Third street” a wonderful movie that is still one of my very favorite Japanese Movies!

Hope you have a fulfilling life with your family, Maki, but always remember you can come back to the industry any time you feel like it!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Walkin’ On Air: Tsutsumi Shinichi in “Super-Salaryman Saenai-Shi”

Shinichi Tsutsumi stars in the offbeat comedy Super SalaryMan Saenai-Shi as, the meek and mild mannered salaryman Saenai who is so weak and unassuming that at his job he is looked down upon by both his boss (Katsumi Takahashi) and co-workers (Kento Kaku, Eriko Tomiyama and Akari Hayami,),for his wishy washy nature and lack of commitment to responsibility…

…and at home, Saenai is belittled and berated at home by his family, including young son Moyao, disappointed teenage daughter Haneko (Haruka Shimazaki), and bossy wife Enko (played with most irritating glee by Kyoko Koizumi) who feel he is a good-for-nothing dad except to order him around to draw the bath for them, do errands for them  and cook (badly) for them.

It’s in he midst of this that Saenai is met by a mysterious old man (Sasano Takashi) who offers him a strange rubber suit and asks him if he wants to be “Superman”. Thinking the man a weirdo, Saenai spends  a good deal of time trying to ger away from him. But when he sees the old man rise into the sky, he realizes there might be something to that suit after all! 

Promising flight and amazing feats of strength, the man offers Saenai the suit again. But real or not, the thought of saving people and having all that RESPONSIBILITY on his shoulder is too much to take, and in the end, he begs off, running away.
It’s only when his wife calls him just before an important meeting and tells him he has to take his daughter her lunch which she forgot at home that he finally considers the possibilities of the super suit:

Torn between attending the meeting and getting Haneko her homelunch, he finds the old man and decides that, for just this once, he’ll don the suit so he can fly home, get the lunch, fly to Maki’s school and deliver the meal, then fly back to work in time for the meeting. “Sure, sure”, the old man agrees, and after a quick change, Saenae’s off!

The suit works like a dream and only after a few missteps and learning how to “steer” the darn costume when flying, (yep, just like the old "Greatest American Superhero TV show), he successfully delivers the meal and makes it back to work on time. But when he goes to return the suit, the old man is nowhere to be found. It seems that for the moment, he’s stuck with the suit.

 When Saenai gets home, however, he hears a cry for help in the back of his head during dinner. Come to find out, when he’s attached to the suit, it warns him whenever there’s a situation around the need some “super-saving" and lets him listen in on the incident as it happens. Saenai tries to ignore it, but decides that it would be easy enough to don the suit and take care of the problem, so after debating about it for a bit, he finally does.
Flying down to the park, he rescues a young couple being bullied by some punks. Though the nerdy Saenai in his glasses and suit doesn’t look like much of a threat, with just a light push, he sends one of the thugs flying straight into the wall and the other punk runs off.

The suit has a spell that makes everyone  who sees the suit forget all about it once the problem is averted, so though he’s saved the day, no one remembers who he is. No matter. He doesn’t want to make a career out of this!

But as the days go by, he finds himself not only using the suit more and more to get out of bad situations, (super speed to scrub the tub, super flight to avoid the crowded train, etc) but finds himself feeling quite good about himself when he manages to save people in need.

As things come to a head, Saenai has to decide just what he wants to do about the super-suit…as well as his attitude about his whole life in general!

A truly wacky drama, this is one to watch just for the laughs and not to be taken too seriously!
Funny how believable Shinichi Tsutsumi is as the goofy dork father...I'm so used to seeing him play hard-edge gruff guys that it's a real breath of fresh air!

And as always, it's great to see Kyoko Koizumi in another drama, though oh my GOSH can she be irritating in this show, LOLOL

And awesome to see Hayami Akari in a "cute" role, her role as the oddball eccentric Koizumi in "Ramen Daisuki Koizumi San" was such a zany character, as Michiru Kamata, this is the first time I'm getting to see her show her pretty side!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com