I See What You Did There: A Wild Mio Appeared!

 With the new Hikari Mitsushima film "Last Mile" including the characters from both "MIU404" and "Unnatural", it seems they're working on a "Medical Universe" of sorts, much like the MCU or the DCU, but there are two dramas that share the same universe that we had no idea about- until the latest episode of "Umi No Hajimari", when Yayoi (Kasumi Arimura) takes Umi to get her hair cut...and  the beauty salon ended up being "Snail" from "Ichiban Sukina Hana"...and the hairdresser herself turned out to be Miyuki Yoyo, Miss Mio Imada herself!!!

You gotta LOVE these little easter eggs for fans to watch and catch...very cute how they worked it into the Umi no Hajimari story!

And SPEAKING of Umi, I  thought that Umi no Hajimari was the first time seeing the young child actress Rana Izutani, but I had to LAUGH when I discovered that I HAD seen her before...as one of main character Kondo Asami's little school friends in "Brush up Life"!!!

She was Mao, one of the kids adamant about being Sailor Mercury when the group of girls played "Sailor Moon", a problem that only got resolved when Asami took it upon herself to be the bad guy so that the others could be the "good guy" roles they wanted...

"In the end, it was tag for the most part", Asami remarks, as she growls and begins chasing after the other girls, and you have to laugh that after all that business about which character they wanted to be, it just ends up being chase master, LOL! 

LOL, Brush Up Life is such an awesome show, just seeing this little part again makes me want to watch it all over again! So funny to learn that Rana Izutani was a small part of it!

 In the meantime we wait for the final episode of Umi no Hajimari to be subbed....

That Oyabaka Seishun Hakusho Driveway

Was recently re-watching the 2021 drama "Konto Ga Hajimaru" and for the first time noticed that the walkway the characters walk to and from places to is the SAME driveway the ending credits for the comedy drama "Oyabaka Seishun Hakusho" (above) was shot! Same Yield sign, same orange light pole, etc!

Below: Taiga Nakano and Kyoko Yoshine in Konto ga Hajimaru

I'm also wrapping up a second watch of the Yuriko Yoshitaka news drama "Shiranakute Ii Koto" , and HAD to Laugh when I saw two characters walking by the SAME driveway as well!

Munenori Nagano and Nao Okabe in Shiranakute Ii Koto

(Guess it was still winer when this was shot 'cause those trees sure are bare!)

The surroundings are also used in lots of drams (especially the building roundtop which I've documented here), makes me wonder just how many times I've seen this driveway and didn't even notice it!

Speaking of J-Drama Deja Vu....

While we're on the subject of J-Drama Deja Vu, I thought I might mention that just this week watching the latest (for me) episodes of dramas Hanasaki Mai ga Damattenai and Believe, I noted a recurring backdrop when both Mio Imada AND Takuya Kimura were shot walking past this highway overpass structure with river canal winding through beneath:

Hanasaki Mai ga Damattenai:

"Believe"

Is this some famous part of town or something? And more importantly, I wonder if I should start keeping track of it as well!!!

J-Drama Deja-Vu: That “Affluent” Apartment

 

Whenever a drama needs a shortcut to show that a particular character is succesful, they rely on  what I call the “Affluent” apartment, an apartment set made to suggest wealth and/or success!
I first took notice of the place in the wildly fun drama “Oyabaka Seishun Hakusho” where  novice youtuber Negoro (Junki Tozuka) has gone viral and hit it big. Suddenly loaded with dough, what better way to indicate his newfound status than a ritzy apartment?

This was a very impressionable set, with a faux brick facade on one side, a gorgeous penthouse view on the other, an artistic styled staircase to the bedroom…and an antique African-styled mirror against the wall!

With these unique features, you had a very easily identifiable abode, one I instantly recognized next time I saw it in  "Toshi no Sakon", where Wakana Aoi moved in with the highly succesful Terunosuke Takezai:

 then the romcom "Usokon" with Neru Nagahama and Fuma Kikuchi:

This one was a surprise-I did not realize til I re-watched the Ikuta Toma drama "Ore no Hanashi wa Negai" recently that the affluent Kana Kurashina lived in the same apartment as well!! Watching it, I jumped up, saying "Hey!! it's the affluent apartment!!!" LOL

 ...and when that fancy apartment made an appearance in the latest episode of the new "Hanasaki Mai ga Damattenai" series  (as the home of the svelte Rinko Kikuchi), I just HAD to “speak out” about it finally!!!

I'm sure I've seen this place in many more dramas but just didn't recognize it, and I'm sure there's more to come as well!!! I'll certainly be on the lookout for it!