The "Renai Mangaka" House Makes an Appearance!

WELL,It’s been a little while, but the Renai Mangaka House made a long overdue appearance in the latest episode of Junai Dissonance, this time as the Family Home of Manami Usui (Manami Higa), bitter wife of main character Masaki Nitta (Yuto Nakajima) where they have harsh words at the gate!

As some of you may remember, this deja-vu home gets its name from the first drama I saw it in, the romcom Renai Mangaka with Riho Yoshioka going to work for a fabled artist...

Thought it was a one time thing til I saw it as the Ballet Studio that Kana Kurashina and Yoshihiko Inohara visited in The Company a few weeks later!

I was like, "HEYYYY, I KNOW that place!!!!"

Ya can't really blame 'em for using it- it's a really nice place that instantly gives off "affluent" vibes!

Wonder where it will appear next!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Masahiko Nishimura: An “Overbearing Guy” For Over 25 Years!

 Was watching the latest episode of the ballet-themed drama “Company” with Aoyagi (Inohara Yoshihiko) being bullied into unreasonable and unwinnable situations by his Boss Wakisaka (Masahiko Nishimura) in an effort for him to curry favor with the company president. As I watched it, I thought, "this is how it always goes in these corporation dramas, with the boss belittling his underlings..."

Then it occured to me, Masahiko Nishimura played the exact same kind of manipulative character in one of the FIRST J-dramas I ever watched: “Kagayake Rintaro” waaay back in 1995!

Watching him bully subordinate Aoyagi in "The Company" reminded me so much of watching him bully Rintaro Moezawa in Kagayake Rintaro back in the day:

Sure, his hair has gotten whiter but that hairline is unmistakable and the attitude is timeless!

 The Overbearing boss/client character is surely a staple of Japanese dramas, and it's fun to realize that the first guy I ever saw playing such a type is STILL at it all these years later! 

The Company~ Gyakuten No Swan

Seichi Aoyagi (Yoshihiko Inohara), a salaryman for a Health and Fitness group, is being made responsible for his company’s affiliated business, a Ballet Theater, to get out of the red and into the black! 

Besides already having to deal with his wife (Manami Konishi) and daugher leaving him, he knows absolutely ZERO about ballet but is threatened with expulsion if he cannot somehow make things work!

In the meantime, Athletic Trainer Yui “YuiYui” Segawa (Kana Kurashina) is having a setback of her own when her star athlete who she has been devoting all her time to, announces her pregnancy and her withdrawal from sports. As such, she is demoted to the lowest ranks of the company, where she is paired up with Aoyagi.

Together the two must use their skills and persuasion to get the Ballet company back to being a financial success. But with ignorance of the delicate nuances of the Ballet world and having to deal with headstrong leaders (Hitomi Kuroki) and arrogant dancers (Shuntaro Miyao), they will have their hands full!

Can’t say I’ve been overly thrilled by this Ballet-focused drama, though there is this one side-storyline I really like, where a girl who works at the combini Aoyagi frequents (Lisa Oda) is a secret Ballet enthusiast and, upon discovering his interest in ballet, strikes up a sort of friendship with him.

Honestly this is the only thing that I find appealing in this drama so far...Would like to see more of this arc and will keep watching to see if this develops into something....!

Through The Decades: Aoi Yu et al. in "Flowers"

The 2009 movie Flowers follows three generations of girls as they embark on their exciting and uncertain new life starting a family. Jumping back and forth through time, the film tells the tale of Rin (played by Aoi Yu), her daughters Kaoru, Midori and Sato (played by Takeuchi Yuko, Tanaka Rena, and Nakama Yukie), her grand-daughters Kana and Kei(played by Suzuki Kyoka and Hirosue Ryoko), and her grandchildren!

Obviously, I picked up on this movie simply for the stunning array of stellar actresses they’d gotten, (have you ever seen so much TALENT in one movie?) and the movie’s touching and heartfelt story certainly put them to good use, but the overall thing that stunned me the most was the film’s unbelievable cinematography and special effects!

Having a movie set in the years 1936, 1964, 1969, 1977 and 2004 would be a daunting task for anyone, and I wouldn’t have blamed them if they just winged it and made do with the sets they had on hand, but MY GOSH, those period pieces (and, in particular, the 60’s scenes) seemed like they were actually shot at that time! Take a look at these captures:

First, from Aoi Yu in 1936

To Takeuchi Yuko in 1964

Yuko Takeuchi with Takao Osawa

To Rena Tanaka in 1969

Rena Tanaka with Junichi Komoto

And Nakama Yukie in 1977

Yukie Nakama with Yoshihiko Inohara

Every time they opened another scene, just one look at the girl and her surrounds and I’d instantly KNOW what decade they were in, and DAMN if the Yukie Nakama scenes didn’t just remind me of those Tomokazu Muira/Yamaguchi Momoe flicks of the 70’s! And to bring out the flourish of those period pieces , the scenes alternate between modern 2004 shots which REALLY makes them stand out in comparison!

Suzuki Kyoka and Hirosue Ryoko in 2004

Kyoka Suzuki and Ryoko Hirosue

Kyoka Suzuki

Ryoko Hirosue

Of course, all this talent and special effects wouldn’t have meant much without a solid story to go on, and FLOWERS wonderful message is the cherishing of life, family, and the miracle of motherhood. (and never has a movie utilized Olivia Newton John’s (!) “Have You Never Been Mellow” better than this movie’s conclusion…so touching!

And for those of us who were just so blown away by the period piece effects, they went one further for us, as the ending credits ran and they showed these old, yellowed family photos of the generations of families, and I was like HOLY CRAP, THESE PICTURES LOOK SO DAMN AUTHENTIC! Especially the Aoi Yu shots- DANG, those could have been in MY Grandmother’s photo album! Just Fantastic!