The Ever-Changing Masanobu Takashima

Masanobu Takashima then...

...and now!

 TBS has launched their "TBS on DEMAND" service and for the first time we are getting a TON of their classic dramas in wonderful, crisp quality, and out of sheer nostalgia I grabbed the 1993 drama “Double Kitchen” which was among the very first Japanese dramas I ever heard of!

Lots of memories not only with it being one of the earliest j-dramas I watched, but its involvement with j-pop act Princess Princess (one of my all-time fave groups who provided the theme song for the show, which I detailed here) and my then-infatuation with Actress Tomoko Yamaguchi!

While watching it, it was exciting seeing everyone looking so YOUNG, besides Tomoko there was also Megumi Yokoyama, Shiro Sano, and Masanobu Takashima. 

And it was while watching Takashima in his role as the newlywed husband Kunoichi Hanaoka that it really struck me: What EVER happened to  Takashima? Back in the day, he was THE go-to actor for the “nice guy” roles, indeed, if you look at his output in the 90’s he was J-dramas’ virtual Tom Hanks!!

Besides his role as Hanaoka in Double Kitchen, he had roles as good-guy characters like Ippei in the HOTEL series, Morio Kobayashi in the Miho Nakayama drama “For You”Shinichi Tsutzuki in “Kimi Ga Jinsei No Toki”... Heck, even brother Toyotomi Hidenaga in “Hideyoshi”, these were all kind and relatable characters whom you liked, and I remember at the time me and Golden even had a nickname for him: “Smiley”, for his always positive demeanor!

Then, I don’t know why, but he started appearing as these really evil and/or corrupt guys, like Hashida in “Kurokawa No Techo”, Naito in “Joshu Seven”, Akutagawa in Kareinaru Ichizoku, and Shibasaki in TWO WEEKS!

Really,  it was as if Takashima was re-writing his legacy as a likeable guy into an utterly repulsive persona instead! Why, Takashima-san, why?

Telling you, this must have been what people felt when all-around nice guy Henry Fonda played the evil child-murdering Frank in Once Upon A Time In The West!

J-Drama Opening Credits Deja Vu!

LOL, after remarking how much the opening credits to the Hideaki Takizawa/Kyoko Hasegawa drama "Boku Dake No Madonna" reminded me of the opening to the Takuya Kimura/Tomoko Yamaguchi drama "Long Vacation", I dug out my files and had to laugh- they were more similar that I thought!

Both have a "vacation" theme and thus open with tropical island snippets before ultimately having the two main characters "meet" on a wall during sunset!

The "Long Vacation" Opening:

And then, The "Boku Dake No Madonna" Credits:

Hola, Chotto Onagi, Desune?

Shiranakute ii Koto 終わり

Wrapped up Shiranakute Ii Koto and it was a very good drama indeed, in my opinion one of Yuriko Yoshitaka’s best! The story of a journalist who discovers her Father is a convicted murderer and her search for the truth was a gripping one to be sure, but more than that it was the individual episodes showing Kate at her best, tracking down the leads and cracking the cases that MADE the show!

Kate Makabe is surely one of Yuriko Yoshitaka’s absolute best roles ever- she embodied the gung-ho journalist with such cute eccentric tics that only she could bring to the character and I found myself rewinding scenes just to hear the engaging way she delivered her lines!

And the other characters in the show were great, too- I mentioned earlier how much I loved the way her workplace really respected Kate, including her fellow journalists supervisors and boss, and I always looked forward to seeing them do their thing!

Will really miss watching this show each week!

A couple of other things I noted during the show:

There was an episode when Kate injures her right arm. The staff is worried about her coming back to work so soon, but she says “I’m left-handed anyway so I’ll be fine”.

I was like, “Has Kate been using her left hand this whole time?" and then I thought, "Is Yuriko Yoshitaka left handed in real life? ” I then went back and re-watched the first bunch of episodes and, YEP, she’s left handed!

Huh, never noticed that before!

Another thing I noticed:

Odaka is frequently shown in his Photography Studio where he works and where he and Kate have many of their meetings and private talks.

In one episode, they showed the outside of the studio:

…and I immediately recognized it as the same storage house where Abe Sadao and the gang lived in “Kokoro Ga Pokitto Ne”!

I'd know those steel doors anywhere, LOL!
Posted by zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Who's that Girl: Misato Tate

Been enjoying a bit of fun nostalgia rewatching the excellent drama “Suteki Na Sen Taxi” (with Yutaka Takenouchi as the stalwart driver of the cab that can take you back in time if you have the nerve to try…and the money to pay!), and as I was going over some of the wonderful secondary actors who make up the show, I said, “What I wanna know is, who is THIS girl in the Yoshida Yo episode playing the unnamed girl who tells off the two-faced Yoshihiko Hakayamada?

 Mystery girl calling out Hakayamada as a Marriage-Meeting Crasher who only comes to get free sex from participants...

  "N-Now, Now...don't be silly..." he sheepishly tries to save face....

But the feisty girl calls him out and in letting Yoshida Yo know what she's in for if she falls for this creep's traps!

Hakayamada is adamant, but Yoshida sees him for the lowlife he is, thanks to the mysterious whistleblowing woman!

When I had originally seen it, I thought she looked like a very tanned and bronzed Mao Inoue, but looking closer I realized is was some other girl altogether! Going onto Dramawiki didn’t help as they only listed the “main” guest stars. Who WAS this girl?

Well, it took only a day until we discovered: She is... TATE MISATO!”

Tate Misato! So now we had a name, and looking up her wiki, I was stunned to find that now only did she have a long career in the business, but her very first role was a guest in one of my ALL-TIME favorite J-dramas, LONG VACATION! 

Running off to my collection of older dramas, I stuck in my copy of Long Vacation, and SURE ENOUGH, she was INDEED that “bitchy” spoiled girl who gives Minami a hard time and calls her “Baba”!

Long Vacation 1996

 Minami DARING this girl to call her "BABA" again! (she does!)

Hahaha, Imagine THIS being her first drama!

While Misato Tate hasn't quite made it to a major star, the amount of guest starring roles she has is staggering, and I was further stunned to find she’s appeared in a BUNCH of dramas I watched! Here are just a FEW of the roles she’s played:

JOKER~ Yurusarezaru Sosakan (2010)

Himitsu Chouhouin Erika  (2011)

BOSS2 (2011)

Hungry! (2012)

Perfect Report (2010)

FACE-MAKER (2010)

Jotei (2007)

Massugu Na Otoko (2010)

Yamada-Kun 7-Nin No Majo (2013)

Shiawase Ni Naruyo (2011)

Isn’t that amazing? Lotta Nurse roles, LOL! 

She even appeared in dramas like the Keiko Kitagawa/Sho Sakurai Detective shops “Nazotoki wa Dinner no Atode” and the Miho Kanno  show “Mitsu No Aji”, but try as I might, I just couldn’t spot her in the episodes so was unable to screencap 'em!

Hope to continue seeing her in dramas, but her output has been quite minimal as of late. The most recent thing she’s done was in the latest Kamen Rider show “Kamen Rider ZI-0” as an…OL?! Haha, I’d love to see that!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com