Photobook Deja Vu with Dan Mitsu

Was browsing through some saucy Dan Mitsu pictorials and came across a photo that looked REALLY familiar:

 Those gate doors, those intricate design cuts, the playful hiding behind the frame, they all reminded me of some OTHER photobook...Hmmmm, wonder which one it could be!
Even this sexy pic of Dan sitting in a grassy field was strangely reminiscent...

Either this is some unabashed homage or maybe there just aren't that many original concepts one can make when shooting nude photos!

Serious Daughter and Stalker Mom

Just started watching the thriller/drama Okaasan, Musume wo Yamete Ii desu ka? and it's a pretty harrowing tale so far!

 Haru and Yuki Saito play Mizuki and Akiko Hayase, a mother and daughter pair that gets along so well and are so chummy together that everyone says that they look like a couple when they stroll down the street! But beneath the cheerful and optimistic veneer lay two people with troubling and distraught personalities.

The two seem to love exactly the same things, and whether it be the color of floorboards or wallpaper for their new house, they seem to be in total agreement. But looking closer you see that Mizuki always follows her mother’s lead, carefully studying Akiko’s face for approval or disapproval, and whatever sign she is given, whether a grimace or a wide smile, is the one she adheres to. 

Of course, living your life from day to day like this can only lead to stress, and though she would not ever tell her mother, Mizuki has been slowly developing a nervous habit: Every time she is stressed, she absentmindedly scratches the back of her head in frustration, and this has been going on long enough that a coin-sized bald spot has started to spread there...

Mizuki’s day job as an English teacher isn’t any less stressful- lately, she’s been dealing with the failings of one of her students who is absent all the time, a girl named Ayami Goto (Anna Ishii) and when she DOES come to class, she spends most of her time in the infirmary. No matter what she tries, Goto seems to only draw further away, and Mizuki has been looking to her mother for advice. But when her suggestion that Mizuki go over to the house and talk to the studnet’s mother backfires (Mizuki gets yelled at and berated by the student’s mother and chased out) for the first time she sees that mother may not always be right.

Besides her normal housewife duties, Yuki spends one day a week at a craft shoppe that creates vintage dolls. and as she talks on the phone to Haru while working, advising her on what she should do on a daily basis, the correlation is pretty clear: this is one woman who wants to live her life grandly through the life of her daughter, just like a child lives fantasies out through dolls.

One person who has seen just how Yuki controls Haru with her soft suggestions and gentle persuasions is Taichi Matsushima (Yuya Yagira, fresh off of "Frankenstein Noi Koi"), the general contractor assigned to work on the house they are building. He sees how Mizuki changes her mind about things when Akiko gives off a negative vibe and sees how Akiko strongly “suggests” her ideals onto Mizuki to get what she wants. 

When Akiko (who has taken a liking to Taichi) arranges for Mizuki and Taichi to go on a date,  he takes her to a photo exhibit where he hopes to find the time to try and talk honestly to her. Little do they know, but Mom is close by, using her binoculars to keep tabs on every little thing her daughter does!

Confronting her, He tells her he knows she had no desire to go out with him and it was her mother who pushed her to do it. He tells her he knows she wanted a different wallpaper design than the one Mother chose for her, and he knows she does whatever mother says.

Mizuki is properly offended by this accusation and walks off from him. Eventually Taichi comes back and apologizes for his rude accusations...but just then, Mizuki looks at a framed photograph…

...and in the reflection, she sees that her mother is lurking behind them…spying on them!

And thus for the first time she realizes that her steadfast and capable mother may have some issues all her own!

When I saw the Hayase’s house being built and it looked exactly like Yukie Nakama’s house in “Utsukushii Rinjin”, I was already set for another great psychological thriller, and so far it’s just what the doctor ordered, very intriguing scenes and gripping moments with a great cast (though honestly I never felt like Haru and Yuki were really that close, part of the problem might be that the very first time you see Yuki she is spying on her daughter so I already had a negative vibe from her?) with some old familiar faces from yesterday including Yumi Aso as Akiko’s Dollmaking Business Boss Fumie Makimura and Terawaki Yasufumi as Akiko’s beleaguered Husband Koji, who slaves all day to satisfy the whims of his intense wife.

OOOH, and it was VERY nice to see sultry Dan Mitsu again, here playing  Matsushima’s co-worker (and possible future rival for affection?) Maki Tachihara. Mmm, she’s looking as stunning as ever!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Notes on Kohaku Uta Gassen 2013

Arashi and Ayase Haruka at the 2013 Kohaku Uta Gassen

 This Year’s Kohaku Uta Gassen rolled around with Johnny’s Entertainment superboys ARASHI once again taking the helm, this time along with the highly adorable yet hopelessly spacey actress Ayase Haruka, who began the production with her famous ‘Deer in the Headlights” face, a blank expression she would be making throughout the show, LOL!

Aiba Masaki and a Cutely Befuddled Ayase Haruka

Have to say I haven’t been quite keeping up with all the latest acts and songs in K-popland this year, and I don’t know the difference between much of the AKB48 type groups, but I gotta say one of the first acts I liked was NMB48 with a VERY Ushirogami Hikaritai flavoured “Kamone Gix”

NMB48

Another group I always look forward to with interest is AAA, and though I long for the days when they did more the fun and catchy songs, it was reassuring to hear they’ve retained the sound that I know so well! And wow, Misako and Chiaki are looking as fine as ever!

AAA

AAA's Uno Misako and Ito Chiaki

Speaking of fine, so I’m sitting there enjoying Ayako Fuji’s powerful “Akai Ito” and think to myself, hey, that exotic dancer behind Ayako looks like DAN MITSU! And so it was! Man, having only seen her in her more salacious turns, it was surprising to realize what a “classic” beauty she really is!!

Dan Mitsu and Fuji Ayako

A group I’d heard of but never heard before called “Sakanaction” really grabbed me with their throwback to the dreamy synth-pop sound of the 90’s with their song“Music”, wow, does ALL of this group’s songs sound like this? Catchy!

Sakanaction

And just to show you how out of it I’ve been on J-pop this year, I didn’t even realize that the song that cute MIWA was going to sing was none other than the sweet song “Hikari E” from the Oguri Shun/Ishihara Satomi drama “Rich Man Poor Woman”, but once she started singing, I was all like Awww YEAH!!! SO many good memories!

Miwa

I already raved about the terrific collaboration artists TM Revolution and Nana  Mizuki performed for the FNS Kayousai, and once again they teamed up to give another fine performance, this time with songs"Preserved Roses” and “Kakumei Dualism”...

TM Revolution and Mizuki Nana

Okay, I am wiping tears away even as I type this after watching Ayase Haruka and ensemble’s reprisal of the Recovery Support song Hana Wa Saku (Flowers Will Bloom), MAN, Ayase Haruka just broke my heart watching this!!! Very sweet and moving performance!!!

Ayase Haruka "Hana Wa Saku"

Well, after all that melancholy seriousness, it was time to get back to the celebrating, and what better way than with the original “jumping around with bicycle helmets” girls themselves, Momoiro Clover Z, providing the exuberant nuttiness we’ve come to expect from the girls! Thought they’d be paired with the equally nutty Kanjani8, but come to find out Golden Bomber filled the bill just as well!

Momoiro Clover Z

Another surprise to realize it’s been 10 years since TOKIO first came on with their awesome song “Love You Only”, Arashi tooka bit of time to reminisce the years with them, and BOY it didn’t seem that long ago til I looked at those clips of Nagase who looked so YOUNG!!!

TOKIO

The boys did their biggest song “Ambitious Japan” which rocked as usual…would’ve been interesting if they’d done an updated Love You Only!

Speaking of reminiscing, I gotta say how much of a THRILL it was to see Kyoko Koizumi again after all these years! She’s still looking as great as ever, singing her song (As Amachan’s Haruka Amano) Shiosai No Memory in that quirky, shaky vocal style of hers, LOL!

Koizumi Kyoko

Just Like Miwa’s Rich Man Poor Woman song, I was equally shocked when Kanjani8 came out to do their new song and I realized it was the theme for that cute Emi Takei drama “Otenki Oneesan”, I was like, hey, I KNOW this song!!! Heh, seems like through dramas I know a LOT more songs than I thought!

Kanjani8

As for the rest of the show, well, it was OK, but nothing out of the ordinary. It was nice to see Dreams Come True again, but like Fukuyama Masaharu and Matsuda Seiko, they weren’t even at the venue and had their performances beamed in via satellite. I was hoping SMAP would do Shareotsu (theme song for that awesome Kitagawa Keiko drama Dokushin Kizoku) but they opted for their prior two singles. Oh well, at least they had Kitajima Saburo close the show, which gave this year’s Kohaku the solid ending it needed!

Udo Yumiko

PS: Lots of pretty and sexy gals on this year’s show, but special mention must be made for gorgeous announcer Udo Yumiko, who had me on the lookout throughout the entire show- with her commanding aura and elegant features, she had me totally under her spell!

Til Next Year...
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

J-Drama Femme Fatales: Dan Mitsu

   Luscious, Luscious, Luscious!!! That’s the mantra going through my mind these past few episodes of drama "Hanzawa Naoki" regarding the gorgeous Dan Mitsu in her role as Higashida’s seductive mistress- SO sexy and hypnotic seeing her onscreen that before I knew it I was writing up yet ANOTHER gush on her loveliness, this time as the drama's resident "Femme Fatale"!

I thought I had seen it all seeing her rocking a bikini, but as I devour scenes of her in the sexiest of dresses and ensembles (as befitting her occupation of a Caba-Club Hostess),  I realize this chick is just TOTAL babe-ness WHATEVER she's wearing!!!!

I ‘d originally thought Dan Mitsu’s role as sultry Fujisawa Miki was going to be a minor background character but I have to apologize as Miki has turned into a major player in the game being dealt here! Who would have thought an actress with such a mousey voice could deliver such powerful passages, going head-to-head with Sakai Masato himself and creating such dynamic, gripping scenes!

   Growlll, even when she’s her usual brooding silent self, the flames of anger burn slowly behind her eyes, and you can actually FEEL the rage she’s feeling against Hanzawa, THAT’s how intense some of these scenes are! Pretty unbelievable how much depth this character actually has...you find yourself actually CARING about her...and that's a dangerous thing!!! Whoa, gotta get back for MORE!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com