Plastic Love with Ayaka Wilson and The Gang

Just a few posts ago I was lamenting how I’d been left in limbo in regards to Ayaka Wilson’s earlier drama starring Wilson as a robot bride, and thanks to a very kind soul out there (and you know who you are), I was finally able to watch and complete the very cute Piple: AI to Kekkon Seikatsu Hajimemashita!

Such a fun show, and Ayaka is so cute as the titular AI Piple that I’m wondering where I can get one for myself!

So many adorable quirks but one that always made me smile was whenever they sat down for dinner- since Piple is an AI, she doesn’t consume any food, but for the sake of her hubby, she pretends to eat at mealtime!

There was one scene in particular that really tickled me- As the couple are having breakfast, you can see Piple watching Yuki as he eats his toast and drinks his coffee, copying his every move!

And if I can't afford an expensive AI, why, I’ll even settle for the emotionally addled Kaede Miyama whom, as played by Sakurako Ohara, is JUST as adorable in her own geeky, mumbly way!

Yeah, this was a drama well worth the wait!

J-Drama Catch Up- More Older Dramas I'm Finishing Up!!

Call Center no Koibito

Story of a guy named Wataru Tokura (Kotaro Koizumi), a businessman at a Television Shopping Center who offends the outspoken host (Yuko Natori) and gets banished to the Customer Complaint Department all the way out in the sticks.
Tokura curses his luck at being demoted to such a place, but there he meets the eccentric Kyoko Aoyama (Rie Mimura), a mysterious woman with a secretive past and a burning passion to do what’s right for their angry customers.
Though at first butting heads, Tokura soon begins to respect this odd woman and, along with the similarly eccentric team of misfits running the center, learns that the Call Center is a valuable and worthy place to be!

A very by-the-books drama but I REALLY liked the characters in this drama! This might be the first drama I saw where Koizumi Kotaro played any character of note, but he was really good here- and Rie Mimura...she’s so great as Kyoko Aoyama. Truth be told, for the entire first episode, I thought I was watching Miki Nakatani! But after watching this drama, I am interested in seeing more for this woman! Looking over her stats, I guess she was in Dame na Watashi ni Koishite Kudasai, but I don’t remember who she was. Maybe Dean Fujioka’s ex-girlfriend? I’ll have to dig that one out again!

M No Higeki

M No Higeki stars Goro Inagaki as Mamoru Ando, a reserved man who, because of a childhood trauma, is an overly careful person who frets over every bad possibility, who comes into contact with a mysterious dark woman named Misa Aihara who, though a seemingly chance encounter, targets Ando for a fall, and uses all her wiles to destroy his life. Ando has no idea why this woman wants to ruin him since she is a complete stranger to him,but it is soon revealed that she and he have a darker connection to each other…
Another drama suggested to me at the height of my Kyoko Hasegawa love, I watched the first episode and was SO captivated by this drama’s mystery that I barrelled through the entire series in days! A VERY turbulent drama full of ups and down and twists and turns! 

Diary

Misako Renbutsu stars as Ayaka Miyata, a young woman who has grown up with only hard memories of being left alone as a child while her mother dedicated herself to work.
She has always felt bitter towards her mother for her impoverished childhood where she felt left out and neglected while other kids seemed to have everything they wished for. But when her mother is stricken with a brain aneurysm and left in a coma, Ayaka must come to terms with their relationship.

At a loss of what to do regarding her mother’s living will, Ayaka goes through her mother’s belongings where she finds a huge journal that she had kept up with three other women, seemingly since high school. Without any direction, she makes a journey to her mother’s home town and, using the diary as a guide, eventually meets all the people her mother has touched through her life.

While talking to these people from her mother's past and the memories they have of her, Ayaka sees her mother’s life from a different perspective and learns that, far from abandoning her and leaving her alone, that her mother had been working diligently her whole life to raise her and make sure she had all she needed despite their poverty.
As someone raised by a single parent with lots of sacrifices and not a lot of money to go around, this short 4-part drama REALLY hit home for me!

Setsuyaku Rock!

Takao Matsumoto (Tatsuya Ueda) is an entirely irresponsible rock n roller with no sense of frugality, inf act, being in debt seems rebellious and “ROCK”! 
His pretty girlfriend Makiko (Mina Fujii)  finally has enough and dumps him on the spot. For the first time Takao realizes how lackadaisy he’s been with his money, and, in an effort to win back Makiko, tries to change his ways and become more miserly.

Thought this was going to be a regular romcom drama, but it seems it’s one of those DIY type shows with focus on teaching cheap meals you can make with limited supplies, really more like a “life hack” kind of set up.

Have to admit Mina Fujii was my primary reason for downloading this drama, but it’s been a pretty fun one so far, and besides Mina we also have cutie Ayaka Wilson in a minor role as an employee at Takao’s workplace.

Seeing her reminds me that her drama “Piple  AI to Kekkon Seikatsu Hajimemashita” has been sitting in subtitle limbo for some time now. Wonder if I’ll ever get to see that one through…

Legal High 2

And speaking of Yui Aragaki, Huh, I totally forgot I had this drama! Rather liked the original series with Yui and Masato Sakai as crackpot lawyers, this time returning with a new rival in the business with Haruki Hanyu (Masaki Okada) challenging Kensuke Komikado. 

Bonus with Haru Kuroki as his hippie assistant Honda- the scenes with her and Aragaki are priceless! I’d watch a show with just the two of them doing cases!

Been watching this the same time as Hanzawa Naoki and at times it’s hard to tell the difference between the two passive-aggressive characters going from calm and collected to screaming at the top of his lungs…

OKAY back to more dramas.....

Shades of Zettai Kareshi: Piple: AI to Kekkon Seikatsu Hajimemashita

Kenichi (Yuki Kaji) is a guy who has been unlucky in love. He’s only had two relationships and in each case he couldn’t “rise to the occasion” when it mattered and has since felt undeserving of romance.

The year is 2030 and Artificial Intelligent robots are all the rage. Even his close friends have jumped the ship and purchased themselves A.I. partners, showing their trophy wives off and advising Kenichi that the best thing for him to do would be to join the AI club.

Though Kenichi is lonely, he feels that buying an Artificial girlfriend is beneath him. Besides, there is a very real girl that he is interested in, the svelte Rinko Yoshino (Asami Usuda) who works in his office.

She is his dream ideal and he hopes to someday get together with her-But when a chance date with Rinko ends in shambles, the defeated Kenichi is left with no alternatives. 

And so, with nowhere else to go, and after badgering from his online friends, he drunkenly ends up purchasing an AI girl of his very own! His purchase arrives a few days later and, upon opening the package, Kenichi is properly impressed by how beautiful and lifelike she is.  

 He goes through the procedure of setting her up, first by pairing her with him via palm-writing, and then to be given a name. Kenichi doesn’t want to use a regular human name, but says that since she’s just like a real person, he’ll call her “Piple”.

Ayaka Wilson as Piple

 Now, Kenichi’s purchase signifies that he has “married” his AI girl, and can’t WAIT to get his hands on her and CONSUMMATE their relationship...HOWEVER, there seems to be a problem- Piple seems very childish about things, and when Kenichi tries to kiss her, she deflects his advances over and over.

 The most he can get out of her is a friendly peck on the cheek, but he doesn’t mind since it’s SEX that he’s really after!

 When Kenichi approaches Piple with the intent of having sex with her, however, she goes ballistic, with alarms screeching as she runs away!!! In the end, Kenichi has to back off to clam her down.

 Just what the HECK is the problem with this AI???

Digging out the company information, he makes an appointment with the company to work out the bugs with his new purchase.

 Upon getting there, he meets the studious and eccentric scientist Kaede Miyama (Ohara), who inform Kenichi that the reason his AI won’t make love to him is becasue she has been programmed as a SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL, and that if he wants to consummate his marriage to her, he’ll have to WAIT months until she “turns” 18!!!

 Well, Kenichi doens’t know if he can hold ON for that long, and Miyama, knowing full well what Kenichi wants, says, “You’re frustrated because you wanna have SEX, is that it?” 

 Well, Kenichi is embarrassed to have it put like THAT, but it gets WORSE when the odd Miyama has an idea and says, “Do you want to have sex with ME, in the meantime?” LOL

 WHAAAA!!!!

A flabbergasted Kenichi leaps back and wonders jsut how much more of a problem this whole AI thing can get!!!

Ahhhh, Ever since falling in love with adorable Sakurako Ohara as Hagoromo in the Soaking Wet Detective, I’ve been keen to see her in even more dramas, and Piple: AI to Kekkon Seikatsu Hajimemashita is a FINE one to start!!!

Sakurako reminds me of Mitsuki Takahata so much, and trust me, that’s a PLUS, but she also reminds me a bit of Fuka Koshiba with her wide-eyed demeanor. Such a joy to watch her!

As well Ayaka Wilson as the titular Piple is a cutie and Yuki Kaji plays a suitably flustered dork!

And Asami Usuda as Rinko, funny thing, I’m SO used to seeing her with blonde hair in the role of Kokoro Tamaki in Ie Uru Onna, that I never recognize her with black hair!

Like her apprearnce in Suteki Na Sen Taxi, her role of Rinko here, I didn’t realize it was her until the credits ran!

Zettai Kareshi, Video Girl Ai, Q10, do these artificial girl/boy friends EVER work out? LOL! Seems to be a FUN show and already dying to see what happens next!!

Posted by zdoramaagain.blogspot.com