Hana no Ato~ After The Flowers

Keiko Kitagawa in Hana no Ato~ After The Flowers

A very early Keiko Kitagawa film from 2010, starring n Keiko as Ito, the only daughter of a Clan official set to be married in a political matrimony in the near future. However, before that can happen, she happens to meet a young at a cherry blossom viewing, who seems to know her and calls her by name.

His name is Eguchi (Shuntaro Miyao), and he tells her he’s heard of her skill at a recent sword-fighting tournament, and wishes he had been there to try his hand against her. This intrigues the young woman, and she finds she cannot get him off her mind! 

With the help of her father (Jun Kunimura), she sets up an invitation for Eguchi-a home visit where he can view the garden, share tea, and have that battle of swords with each other!

They have a feisty duel overseen by her Father, and though Ito is ultimately bested by Eguchi, she admires the way he takes her head-on, never pandering, and the single touch of her arm by him when she stumbles affects her more than she’d like to admit!

However, time goes on, and both Eguchi and Ito have their own pre-arranged marriages to commit to, so they go their own way. Her fiance (Masahiro Komoto) has arrived back in town from his travels and begins stopping by to visit her. Or is it to mooch of the fine food and drink?

And so it goes, with Ito and Eguchi only occasionally crossing paths from afar. A relationship between them is not meant to be, but that single day duelling with swords nonetheless binds them, at least in mind.

As for Eguchi, his new life entails becoming the clan political envoy and he is sadly among  those jealous and who would seek to do him harm, such as the man named Fujii (Ennosuke Ichikawa) . And when Ito hears word that somehow Eguchi has committed suicide by seppuku due to an error in protocol, she cannot believe such a stalwart man could be so irresponsible. She suspects foul play, and though she has her own upcoming marriage to consider, uncovering the truth of Eguchi’s situation becomes her top priority.

And what she uncovers grates her soul and calls within her the shared code of the samurai that she and Eguchi once shred, knowing that to restore his honor calls for an act of revenge!

Bit by bit she tracks down the evil ones responsible and, with her own life at stake, means for them to woe the day they decided to cross those she cares about!

Holy HANNAH was this a good movie!!! Such great acting with a GREAT cast, great pacing, and I love how the way it builds up to its inevitable conclusion just like a Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Western...and the scenery! Someone on a forum once recommended that you see Hana No Ato at the  best quality possible because of the film’s cinematic beauty, and WOW, were they right! Every scene was so colorful, moody and picturesque!!

An all-around AMAZING movie!!!

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....!

Yamata Nadeshiko Shichi Henge

Another drama that I SWORE I finished a long time ago, was surprised to see this one in my “unwatched” folder. And going through the episodes, seems I DID watch a lot of it, but decided it would be a welcome chance to watch the entire series all over again! 

Will say, it TOTALLY rekindled my love for precious Aya Oomasa, she is SUCH a sweetie as the sensitive and shy wallflower Sunako, you wanted to hug her in every episode! 

A wonderfully morose girl with a taste for the macabre (think Wednesday Addams), it's a gas watching her as she deals with living with a room full of shining “ikemen” (Kazuya Kamenashi, Hiroki Uchi, Yuya Tegoshi, etc, was this drama produced by Johnnys?) who, tasked with the job of transforming Sunako into a "lady",  in turn learn to become better people themselves.

Such a great show, and if the drama seemed full of guys, they made sure the show had its share of hot chicks as well! One huge bonus was seeing babealicious Ranko Kanbe as the bouncy Noi Kasahara...

Noi is asked by the boys to pretend to be Sunako's friend, but once realizing how sweet Sunako is, becomes her friend for real!  

Some of you may remember I fell in love with Ranko thru her appearance on Arashi’s “Mannequin5 segment, this is the first time I’m seeing her in a drama! Such a bubbly and warm personality and such an "anime" style voice!!

As well naughty Aki Hoshino as a very stalkery rival to Ranko for the boys affections, this was the first time I saw Aki as a character and not just a pretty model...in fact, this might be the first time I'm seeing her NOT showing off those ample assets of hers, and instead, looked like quite the dainty young girl!

And DAMN, special mention MUST be made of how damn SEXY feakin’ Reiko Takashima is in this as the matriarchal Landlord of the eccentric household…back in the day she was really a spicy item and it’s cool to see her STILL workin’ that sass!

This show was a real treat to watch!!!!