Riho Yoshioka Photobook "13 Notes" Comes in!

While I wait (im)patiently for the final episode of the intriguing "Gomen Aishiteru" to get translated and subtitled, a wonderful package arrived in the mail today to help make the wait more tolerable...

A few weeks ago CD Japan alerted me that some of my bonus points were about to expire and so I went onto the site to see if there was anything interesting worth purchasing...and learned that cutie Riho Yoshioka had a new photobook that was JUST ready to be released! WELL! I jumped on that order and just today Riho's photobook "13 Notes"came in the mail!!

This comes at the perfect time as I am crushing fairly hard on Riho (her character of Rinka in Gomen Aishiteru is just the most heartwarming character ever) and the book was just loaded with wonderfully pretty photos of Riho in various garb and situations!

The concept of "13 Notes" is for Riho to recreate scenes from famous movies and model herself after the actress in the starring role. Riho worked herself into the scenes seamlessly and some of my favorites were:

Riho as Uma Thurman's Mia Wallace in "Pulp Fiction":

as Doona Bae's Air Doll character in "Kuki Ningyo":

...as Aoi Yu's character of Tetsuko in"Hana and Alice":

And most stunningly, as Maggie Cheung's Su Li-zhen in" In The Mood For Love":

Awwww, Riho so disarming and pretty that I could overlook the fact that there was nary a bikini picture to be found here, LOL! As I recall, they've begun covering up Riho's assets in her recent dramas, perhaps following in the footsteps of the equally blessed Haruka Ayase, Riho wants to leave her more "cheesecakey" past behind her and focus more on serious acting. While I'll surely miss the gravure aspect of her, I cannot deny how much i'll be looking forward to her future roles...she's one to watch out for!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Dining With The (Edo) Chef in "Mi wo Tsukushi Ryouricho"

Haru Kuroki as Mio

For a guy whose favorite Japanese actress of all time is Keiko Kitagawa I’m ashamed to say I’d never heard of her 2012 TV Asahi food-oriented drama “Mi wo Tsukushi Ryouricho” or its 2014 follow up either...

Perhaps it was that Japan television movies/specials don’t get as much attention with fansubs and communities than regular length dramas, but the show completely flew under my radar til NHK began airing a new 2017 version earlier this year!

 Starring Haru Kuroki in the Keiko Kitagawa role of Mio, the drama picks up where the last special left off, and though I was unaware that it was the third in the series when I began watching it, so many past events and people were alluded to in the course of the show that I knew it HAD to be a sequel of some kind! 

 Not that it was confusing or any problem to watch- the show was very keen on making a new viewer very comfortable and informed about what was going on and who everyone was, and I picked up on the storyline easily!

Mi wo Tsukushi Ryouricho tells the tale of a girl without any family who comes to Edo from Osaka and becomes a cook, and though very skilled, her unusual cuisine style (as well as ignorance of Edo ways and customs) makes her journey a slow and difficult one.

She is employed by the kindly Taneichi (Fumiyo Kohinata) at his restaurant where he once served Soba…but with a bad back he has given the cooking reins over to his young charge. Though she is flustering the regular patrons with her unfamiliar dishes and ingredients, Taneichi believes in Mio and always supports her decisions and food choices.

If only they would TASTE her food then they would realize how special her cooking is, but no one wants to give the odd girl and her equally odd specials a chance. It’s only through clever means that she is able to ‘trick” the townspeople into tasting her dishes, and naturally once they eat it, they are fans for life!

Each episode shows her creating a new kind of dish to try, and with the mysterious and gruff samurai Komatsubara (Mirai Moriyama) to critique and guide her, she slowly but surely is able to make a small foothold in the town.

Now, I don’t know how Keiko Kitagawa was in her movies, but I have to say that I REALLY love Haru Kuroki in the role of Mio. I liked her character from the SECOND I saw her, and her sweet and gentle demeanor really soothed my soul and made for a really laid-back and relaxing experience! Now that Tsubaki Bunguten is over, I need a thoughtful and calming drama to watch at the end of my day, and it looks like this is the one!

It’s been awhile since I watched either an NHK asadora OR an NHK Taiga Drama, and Mi wo Tsukushi Ryourichi reminds me so much of those shows. In fact, what it REALLY makes me feel like I’m watching are the old 1980’s “Abarenbo Shogun” series, and I really, really loved those...When they show Mio outside of the restaurant looking out into the village, it takes me right back to those days! Very nostalgic feel!

Also very cute is that after the show is over, they set aside the last few minutes to have a cooking lesson, teaching the viewers how to prepare the meal that was featured in the week’s episode! Such a sweet little show!

PS: I Suppose I should really try to find and watch the original Keiko Kitagawa movie specials, but somehow I think that Haru Kuroki will always be Mio for me from now on...

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Ready For Autumn Season 2017!

Lots of cool new dramas lined up for the upcoming Autumn Season, and at last count there were about 7 dramas that have piqued my interest, but these are probably the two I’m looking forward to the most!

 “Okusama wa, Toriatsukai Chuui” (Handle This Miss With Care!) starring Ayayse Haruka as Nami Isayami, a “Macguyver-but-with-cooking-utensils” housewife who uses her skills to help solve the problems of her neighborhood fellow wives.

Been awhile since I saw Haruka starring in a drama (I think the last was that "Kaisha Yasumimasu" show) and I've missed her so! Also starring Ryoko Hirosue and Tsubasa Honda, so this should be good!

Kangoku no Ohimesama (Prison Princesses). Kyoko Koizumi? Hikari Mitsushima? Miho Kanno? I don’t even have to know the story and I’m ALL IN with this drama, but the story of convicted attempted murderer Kayo Baba (Koizumi) and her 5 fellow cellmates who, upon their release from incarceration 6 years later, join up to participate in a wacky revenge spree looks like the funnest show on! 

 Though it sounds like “Joshu Seven”, the CM for the drama already has the feel of “Kuroi 10 Nin No Onna” or “Manhattan Love Story” where zaniness rules!

Besides these two, I’m also hoping to see the Nagasaku Hiromi murder mystery “Chinmoku Houtei”, the Tae Kimura “Black Revenge” and the Meisa Kuroki “Otona Koukou”… 

Right now there are so few RAW uploaders out there and even less who take the time to sub a complete drama, but I am hoping that at least a couple that I wanna see this season will  be picked up!

And as a sad post script I have to say how crushed I am that the Dean Fujioka/Emi Takei detective drama "Ima kara Anata wo Kyohaku Shimasu” is going to be changed/compromised because of Emi’s pregnancy…I just got to see the original promotional pics for it, and it looked SOOOO GOOOD!!!!! 
With Emi being “hapai”, they’ve announced they are re-working the script to focus on Fujioka’s character. MAN, so BUMMED at what could have been!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

An Attempt on "Retake"

As a HUGE fan of pretty actress Riko Narumi (loved her ever since One Litre of Tears and she's gone on to star in so many more of my favorite dramas), I was excited to check out her science fiction drama RETAKE...but it was one of the unfortunate shows that never got picked up by any subtitling team to take on and the only way I was able to see it was in its RAW state! Still, I wanted to watch it so badly that I decided to attempt to "go blind" into this show and see if I could navigate the drama without any translation....

Maybe if it was a regular romance drama or salaryman show I might have had an easier time, but the story of RETAKE, featuring the sci-fi set-up of two government agents Kaoru Nasuno (Riko Narumi) and  Shinji Aratani (Michitaka Tsutsui), whose job it is to jump back into the past via time machine and contain rogue time travelers who are up to no good and are using their knowledge of future events for their own greed, is SO DARN INTRICATE, WORDY and CONFUSING that I just keep finding myself UTTERLY LOST!

I understood the basic secenario as Riko and Shinichi spot and confront one of those naughty time travelers and, after flashing their badges, attempt to apprehend him.

I understood when they jumped back to headquarters to tell their kooky boss Masako Powell (the always entertaining Atsuko Asano) that they'd failed the mission...

I even understood the setup with the grouchy boss (don't all detective shows like this have a grouchy backstabbing boss?)and the sympathetic secretary (played by Nonoka Ono)...

...but BOY...once it got to the story of an arrested man( Tomomi Maruyama) framed for murder, and some special hospitalized genius kid, I was all like HEY MAN WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ONNNNNN!!!

Argh, so frustrating because the show looks so interesting!!! I will attempt to trudge through the show (thank god I can watch it at ALL, even without subs) but I might have to start making up my own reasons for the characters and their motivations 'cause I am SO LOSSSTTTTT! 

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com