More J-Drama Catching Up To Do!!

Besides Sakurako there are a handful of other older dramas that I’ dusted off and began watching this past week, all to varying degrees of success!

Code Blue
As a huge Yui Aragaki fan it has always bothered me that I haven’t seen the Code blue series as it’s one of her more popular titles- Well, with THREE seasons to it as well as a bunch of specials I certainly have a lot to catch up with!

Quite happy to report that the drama DOES life up to the hype- VERY charged and emotional scenarios the characters go through, and you end up caring about each one.

Ina a way, it reminds me of the classic drama “Kagayaku Toki No Naka De~ A Time To Shine” where the young doctors learn firsthand how unkind and brutal life can be, and you are right there with them as they go through their heartbreaks as well as their hard-earned triumphs.

HERO

My love for Keiko Kitagawa was what propelled me to watch the sequel of this drama, HERO2, and it’s only now that I’m getting around to watching the first one which, though it doesn’t feature Keiko in it, is as spirited as the latter!

Was kind of surprised ALL of the cast is different, since it’s supposed to be the same office. No Yo Yoshida here (one of my fave characters in the sequel), but we DO get a very sexy Nene Otsuka, and of course Matsu is great as the addled Maiko Amemiya.
Another drama I really like.

Puzzle

Another early Satomi Ishihara drama that, like Reinoryokusha Odagiri Kyoko No Uso, showcases Satomi’s early talent for the fun and slapstick!
Satomi plays Misako Ayukawa, a two-faced Teacher who seems like a kind and dedicated teacher to the faculty, community, and parents, but reveals her greedy, selfish and manipulative side to her poor students!

 Students Shinichi, Akira, and Yoshio would love to spend their weekends doing what they want, but always end up tangled up in yet another treasure-hunting situation with their money-hungry instructor!

I love how Satomi really throws herself into these kooky characters, ya just gotta love her! 

Hanayome To Papa

Also finished up Satomi’s early drama “Hanayome To Papa” which was JUST as much fun!

 As usual Satomi was her usual precocious little self, so funny to think that when she started out in Kimi Wa Petto she was so dour and introverted!

 This story of the strict father with an overprotected daughter reminded me not just a little of the Mitsuki Takahata drama

Itazura Na Kiss

 Started watching this years and years ago and finally decided to finish it up. I love Aiko Sato to death, but HOLY TOLEDO, was her character Kotoko ANNOYING as HECK!!

For the first three or four episodes I was entertained because of the show’s wackiness, but I began to see that despite the show’s intentions of showing her as a klutzy but kind-hearted girl, Kotoko was an actual menace to poor Naoki, systematically destroying his life! And yet I’m supposed to believe he falls in love with her? Naw, dog.

 I WILL say a couple of interesting things about the show, one of them being pretty Majyu Ozawa in a VERY early role as the “bitchy” girlfriend of Naoki…

 …as well as one of the FIRST drama appearances of Yukie Nakama as one of Maju’s cohorts!

Who would ever guess that the actress playing the least important character in the show would go on to become one of the biggest stars in Japan!

Itsumo Futari De

And speaking of annoying characters, we have Takako Matsu in an admittedly very cute role as a country bumkpin named Mizuho who, under the impression she has been selected as a new novelist for a publishing company, moves to the big city where she finds she has been swindled and has no place to stay!

After being rejected by her girl friends who have no space or inclination of putting her up, goes to mooch off her childhood friend Kenta (Kenji Sakaguchi). The hapless guy is already dealing with his brother and his girlfriend living off him, and suddenly he has a THIRD person to support. She turns his world upside down with her meddling, but when it gets to the point where Mizuho is LECTURING Kenta about sticking up for himself and not letting others take advantage of him, I was like “Are you kidding me with this drama???”

Oishii Proposal

Have to say out of all the dramas on this list, this is the one I'm having the hardest time getting through...

Regatta

Another old drama I began watching but never finished. Have to say it was quite a cliche-filled slog to get through, about a kayaker who drops the sport when his best friend gets killed, but is encouraged to resume it when he meets up again with his unrequited love, team captain Misao (Aibu Saki).

All the usual tropes of love denial over and over til- SURPRISE-they get together… Did not warm up to any of the characters- Really the only one I cared about was Chiko, the kogal girlfriend of Mokomichi whom you just KNEW was gonna get the shaft when he began working with Aibu Saki again, and sure enough, that’s just what happened.

Too bad, she was such a sweet character!

0 Goshitsu no Kyaku 

A magical Hotel room where one can go to find out ones true worth! Only by lottery can one get a chance to book the room and use its mysterious DNA analyzer to find an actual number ranking of your value...but will it enlighten ...or hinder? A Johnny's vehicle starring a whole smorgasbord of Jimusho Joes. 
A Pretty Fun one!!

Mukudono!

he story of a mega rock star named Yuichiro (Tomoya Nagase) who proposes to a small town girl named Sakura (Yuko Takeuchi in another adorable role) and the trials and tribulations they go through to achieve their dream of marriage, this was one CHOCK-FULL drama simply LOADED with stars! 

Besides Nagase and Taekuchi you had Kumiko Akiyoshi, Anju Suzuki, and Ryoko Shinohara as her sisters, Aiba Masaki as a nephew, Ken Utsui as her father,

Narita Rikon

I was just getting into Yumi Matsutoya when her song “Sunny day Holiday” was released, and when I found out it was the theme song for the new drama Narita Rikon, I really wanted to see it!

Alas, I wasn’t able to see it on the local Japanese channels and so for the longest time the only thing I was able to see was a spoof they did on SMAPxSMAP, with Tsuyoshi and Hiroshi Abe playing their characters…and Shingo Katori playing the role of Asaka Seto! Would I ever be able to see it?! WELL!

Thanks to the folks at RareDoramas, I am FINALLY able to watch it, and oh my GOSH, it is TERRIFIC! VERY witty, fast paced and fun,with an absolutely SCENE STEALING duo of Hiroshi Abe and Eri Fukatsu as friends who, while outwardly trying to help the divorcing couple, are both secretly delighted because THEY want to go out with the respective divorcees!

 What's a struggling couple to do???

You know, I never quite “got” Eri Fukatsu until now (though I’ve liked her in so many dramas)…She’s SO cute as the mousey Reiko…really crush-worthy material here!!

Love, Love LOVED this drama!!

Okay, back to more J-drama watching….

Posted by zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Yuriko Yoshitaka Takes It Off The Record in "Shiranakute Ii Koto"

Started watching the Yuriko Yoshitaka drama Shiranakute Ii Koto~ Off The Record which has been impressing me with its good acting, intriguing dialog and very theatrically shot scenes!

A very melancholy drama, Shiranakute Ii Koto tells the story of a go-getter journalist named Kate who works at a Weekly called Weekly East. She is a firecracker of a journalist and is always at the forefront of the latest scandal, but things are soon to take a twist...

Kate lives with her celebrity TV commentator Mom (the absolutely gorgeous Kumiko Akiyoshi) and though she has no father, their life together has always felt complete.

But Kate’s life takes a turn when her Mother has a heart attack and is sent to the hospital. Kate rushes there, and upon arrival, is able to talk to her mother just before she succumbs. But the Mother's last words puzzle her because in her last breath she tells Kate that her father is...KEANU REEVES! WHAAAA???!

Kate doesn't know what to make of THAT, but when digging through her mother's belongings, finds an old picture of her mother and someone who looks suspiciously like Keanu Reeves! Could It Be?!

Intrigued, Kate digs deeper, but instead of confirming or denying Keanu as her Dad, finds a wedding ring with the initials T and A in an old journal of her Mother's. Anna is, of course, her mother, but who could “T” be?

She tracks down the jewelry shoppe that sold the ring, and she finds the person who ordered it is a man named Toru Notoa.

The name sounds familiar, and Kate uses Google to look up the name…and finds he is the convicted felon of a poisoning that took the lives of 2 people and seriously injured many others some 25 years back.

Kate is in shock. She never believed Keanu Reeves was her Dad, but this Toru Notoa feels eerily correct. And the more she researches, the more convinced she is this man's daughter.

Her life is turned upside down at the shocking news and as people begin to see her differently because of who her father may be, Kate makes up her mind to find out the truth about her past, the mysterious Toru Notoa and the shocking murders that he supposedly committed.

In the meantime, we get to see Kate in action at work, and it’s here that this Drama really comes together. Kate is smart, savvy and self-assured, and it is a joy to watch her tackle the cases that come before her with intelligence and moxie (and that traditional manic pixie persona that she's so famous for), Kate is easily the best character I’ve seen Yuriko Yoshitaka play in YEARS!

Additionally, they’ve forgone the usual tropes of the main character having bad bosses and petty managers. Section Chief Iwatani (Kuranosuke Sasaki) and department head Kurokawa (Takaya Yamauchi) both trust and respect Kate’s intuition, and she, in return, respects and follows their commands!

In fact, everyone in the department is excellent at their jobs, and in fact, this show is more of an ensemble cast when it comes down to the scandal of the episode. And when the team is "on the case", we see every person there show his worth in the field and you want to see them all succeed!

This is a really well-crafted show. Like I said, a sometimes quite heavy drama with a bit of mystery and romance mixed in, I'm happy to say that Shiranakute Ii Koto is a very good drama which I'm totally invested in!

Very good news as Yuriko's last drama was such a slog to get thought that i'm still stuck at the beginning of it! But great dramas like this make me think I should go back and finish them, LOL!

PS: Who’s THIS absolute CUTIE playing journalist Koizumi?

(looks her up on asianwiki)

Why, it's Nagisa Sekimizu, who stole her scenes as the plucky co-worker of Mikoto in the Nanao drama 4-punkan no Marigold:

Such a genki girl-I really like her feisty role in Shiranakute Ii Koto and hope to see her character get more screen time!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com