Favorite J-Pop Singles: Moritaka Chisato / Watarasebashi

  Took a trip down memory lane this past weekend with Moritaka Chisato’s 3CD Collection “The Singles”, and if there’s one thing I realized is just how much I love, love, LOVE her! Starting into the mix  with songs like “Alone” and “Junanasai”, and I was feelin’ good cruising ‘round town, and as the collection entered its second phase I was feeling quite nostalgic as I rocked on with tracks like “Fight!” and “Watashi Ga Obasan Ni Nattemo”, but I wasn’t prepared for how HARD it would hit me once the classic “Watarase Bashi” started!
    As soon as the opening strains began, I instantly got goosebumps all over, thinking “HOLY CRAP, I forgot how AWESOME this song is!!!” and as the song went on, I began to recall the translations to this beautiful song, and before I knew it, I was getting all weepy and blinking back tears!  Once that innocent and sincere recorder solo came in and the song swelled back with the violins (synths?) building up to its sweet finale, I was just completely destroyed! AHAHAHA!

     I had barely time to recover before the next big favorite of mines came on with “Watashi No Natsu”, “Kibunsokai” “Natsu No Hi” “Kaze No Fukaurete” and “Futari Wa Koibito”, one after another I was getting hit, and through it all, one thing kept resonating in my mind, and that was how MUCH I REALLY LOVED Chisato Moritaka! Listening to the songs, it came back to me that there was a time when she was the most important artist in my life, and I could feel those old feelings for her coming back in full! 
   Going online later, I was amazed to find that since Chisato’s Watarasebashi came out, several other artists have covered the tune, and I was slightly shocked to find that typing in ‘Watarase Bashi” on Google,  I could scroll through pages of other artists’ info before I came up with any reference to her! Did a double take when I saw the latest cover version described as “A remake of an old Aya Matsuura song” AHAHA! 
    I began to wonder if many people even knew that Chisato was the original singer  of Watarase Bashi, and in fact even co-wrote it, and was quite please when I found this wonderful new video travelogue of Chisato Moritaka going back to Watarase Bridge to celebrate her 25th Anniversary ascertaining this! 

Taking a trip down to the bridge, Chisato (who’s still looking as sweet and pretty as ever) visits the site where she finds a plaque acknowledging the impact and her contribution to the song!

 Next to the plaque, there’s even a button you can press to hear the strains of the tune! Chisato humbly comments; “It’s embarrassing, but it makes me happy, too!” Awww, so SWEET!

 So much fun- she even made time to visit that "Phone Booth next to the Barber Shop" mentioned in the song!

All in all, “The Singles” was one HELL of a NOSTALGIA ride- After all these years, it is nice to have a gentle reminder of just how important an artist Chisato Moritaka is in my life!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

A Quick Note

Just a quick note to say damn, W NO HIGEKI is getting AWESOME! Man, Emi Takei is soooo good performing dual roles as the good twin/bad twin in this drama! I'm halfway through the show and am still amazed how each episode's cliffhanger is blowing me away and keepin' me comin' back for more!!!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Riko Narumi to Release Photobook

  Looks like cutie pie Riko Narumi's going to be releasing her very own shashinshuu in the near future, and perusing the sample pics on the tokyohive site, the one outstanding question going through MY head is: Exactly how much of that Riko Narumi Book RICO DAYS features her in a BIKINI? THATS the deciding factor! 
Sure, I can see that ONE shot in the promotional press conference pictures (see above), but is that a sign of the book's material or the one "money" shot in an otherwise "arty" (re: boring) shashinshuu like so many others? 
 Edit: Looking over the samples on the SANSPO homepage, those pics (below)are a good sign that the book might actually be worth the $67! Oh MY, our little young girl has blossomed into a young LADY, hasn't she? Sugoi!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Pure Love FX

f(x): Krystal, Victoria, Luna, Amber and Sulli

Well, It’s official: SMEntertainment’s dance group FX (stylized f(x)) is the latest of my favorite k-pop groups right now and I’ve celebrated by putting in an order with CD Japan for their latest mini-labum ELECTRIC SHOCK as well as the handful of previous releases they’ve had! It only took one viewing of their blistering hot MCountdown Comeback stage performance (of Electric Shock and the awesome JET) to make me stop wasting time and get onboard the wave of FX goodness!

Funny that only a few months ago all I knew of them was that they were “The Group That Jessica’s Sister Is In”, but slowly but surely, they’ve risen to become what I consider to be one of the COOLEST groups out there! Sure you’ve got Jessica’s aforementioned little sister Krystal in the forefront of the band, but you’ve also got the exotic and sultry Chinese Beauty Victoria, the J-pop adorable Sulli, the ultra-kewl tomboyish Amber and the mighty powerhouse vocals of Luna, together uniting to form one of the most kick-ass K-pop dance troupes ever! 

  When I first heard their music, I thought it was good but nothing overly extraordinary, then I got to see the girls in action in the MVs for “La ChaTA and Chu!, and IMMEDIATELY “got it”- the main attraction of this act was their amazing and superb dance moves and choreography- quick, intricate and tight, watching them do their thing  made me fall in love with the songs, and as I watched their PV offerings, I found myself liking everything I heard from them: La Chata, Chu, Hot Summer, Nu Abo, Pinnochio, and on and on, til their latest release Electric Shock finally pushed me over the edge from casual listener to excitable fan!

    Another aspect I love about the group is the individual personalities of the girls in the band, and once again I have to say that awesome variety/reality show RUNNING MAN was really essential in teaching me the who’s who of FX! From Krystal, Sulli, Victoria and Luna, almost all the members have guested at least ONCE on the show (and some like Sulli, even more!); so far, Amber’s the only one who hasn’t made an appearance, but I got to know here even better in the reality show INVINCIBLE YOUTH!

Up on the schedule, f(x) is getting geared up to make their way into the Japanese market, and while I’m not sure if  their music is quite the J-Pop World’s cup of tea, I’m already enjoying the Nihon remake of Hot Summer, and can only wait eagerly for more! Who knows what’s next- A Japan Original? Only time will tell!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Some TLC for TTS

 When I first got into SNSD, I was busy trying to get ahold of all the current and back-related albums within the Girls’ massive catalog, and only barely paid attention to their latest Sub-Unit group that had just come out, Girls Generation TaeTiSeo or TTS for short.
 Comprised of Girls Generation’s “Hard Hitters” Taeyeon, Tiffany and Seohyun, their mini-album “Twinkle” focused more on the strength of the girls vocals than the decidedly more idol-centered SNSD projects, a move that was made pretty clear for me when I saw the MV for the title track.

  I have to say that although I liked the song Twinkle well enough, I REALLY didn’t care for the girls’ look, aside from bangs, curly permed hair is the style I simply abhor, and though Seohyun wisely avoided the look, Taeyeon and Tiffany looked almost unrecognizable to me in that video with those crazy hairstyles, and I have to admit I didn’t have a whole lot of interest in getting it, allocating it to a “side project” that wasn’t part of the real SNSD discography.   With that mindset, getting the Twinkle album was kind of put on the backburner and might have stayed that way for awhile, but by chance a friend of mine made a copy of the album for me, and wouldntchaknowit, that first night driving around listening to it, I was just blown away by it and it immediately became a regular album in my CD player in my car, and within a month’s time, knew that this was one mini-album I just HAD to have! I ordered it immediately!

When you think about Mini-albums or EPs in general, they’re usually presented in a CD sized digipak or jewelcase with little else, and I was totally expecting the TTS album to follow suit, but I’d forgotten one thing, and that was that when it comes to their Mini-Albums, K-pop releases are second to none!

Opening up my package, the first thing I was presented with was a big white folded up paper, which turned out to be a 18x24 folded up poster, MAN, though I didn’t care for the TTS hairstyles much, I couldn’t deny how BEAUTIFUL the poromotional pictures were! And and Billy Mays would say, but WAIT…there’s MORE! 

Taking out the poster, I was next presented with this beautiful 5x7 package with a glossy mylar sleeve around it… when removed you got an overlay picture card and a pretty box…

Inside the box was an amazing 15 postcard set that featured pretty and colorful shots of the girls on both sides..

Postcard Set

And by the time I got to the collectible random member card (mine was of Seohyun) and the fold-out lyric booklet, I was so overwhelmed with goodies that when I came upon a silver seriographed object inside the booklet, I didn’t recognize what it was at first…THE CD!!!!  LOLOL, I’d unpacked so many goodies from the package, I completely FORGOT the reason the package was FOR!

Yep, ultimately, all that extra stuff was all just enhancement to the actual point of purchase- the ALBUM, and Man, what an album it was! A MINI Album, to be sure, but so chock full of goodness! From the opening strains of the uber-funky title song “Twinkle” to the passive song “Baby Steps” through to the Hard Rockin’ “Checkmate”, this one ran the entire gamut, and even managed to introduce me to three new FAVORITE songs,  actually the three middle songs, OMG, Library, and Goodbye Hello!   First we’ve got OMG (Oh My God) that sounds like it could have come straight from the HOOT sessions, so brassy and full of punch, this retro-jazzy tune even reminded me of the old classic Hikaru Nishida stuff, for some reason!

Next we’ve got the sweetest track on here, the marshmallowy gentle “Library”, I’d already fallen in love with the song by it’s insanely catchy verses and chorus, but when I saw a Tiffany fancam and I got to see the song with her doing her absolutely adorable hand gesture- dance moves during the chorus, it sent it to the next level of LOVE!

And to top it all off we’ve got the amazing feel-good masterpiece Goodbye Hello, which is probably one of my very favorite SNSD tunes right now. How good is this song? Well If I had to sum it up I’d say that if Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning of Jellyfish ever wrote a K-Pop song, it might sound an awful lot like this song, full of bright McCartneyish piano chords, sweet choruses and an achingly heartbreaking story (of a girl who can’t believe her boyfriend would leave her), listening to Taeyeon, Tiffany and Seohyun harmonizing on the choruses sounds sooooo awesome, bittersweet never sounded so good!

 Since the time Twinkle has been released, SNSD has so far released one Japanese Single already (and are preparing for another one), but I’m holding out for their next album proper- if it’s ANYTHING like TTS’s Twinkle album we’ll have one HELL of an album on our hands!!!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Ishihara Satomi Strikes back....

Oh My GOSH, this new Oguri Shun /Ishihara Satomi drama Rich Man Poor Woman is SO FREAKIN" GOOD!!!! Satomi Ishihara is SOOOOOO freakin' PRETTY and ADORABLE and her character  is so SO unbelievable SWEET and Cuddly!!!!!

Knew I was going to enjoy this one from the moment I saw her adorably peeking out from the doorway at a spastically energetic  Oguri Shun in the opening credits....Awww, so cute!

There will DEFINITELY be a follow up here after I've caught up to the current episodes airing right now...HOW could I have MISSED this one....? More Soon...

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

13Sai No Hello Work Still Going!

  Happy to discover that the drama 13 Sai No Hello Work has been continued to be translated and subbed all this time… when I last watched an episode months and months ago, , it was at episode 3 (of 9) and I wasn’t sure if the rest were going to be subtitled...imagine my surprise when I saw that the subbing team (the interestingly named AndThenYouDie Fansubbers) had been doing it all along!

Kogure (Matsuoka) with his younger self (Tanaka Taketo)

 Starring Matsuoka Masahiro, Yokoyama Yuu and Uber-Cutie Kiritani Mirei, this drama’s story of a man who timeslips into the past to mentor his 13 year-old self (so he won’t grow up into the loser he is) is a crazy one to be sure, but it’s one I just love watching, and I think ultimately it comes down to how much fun actor Matsuoka has whenever he’s doing a wacky show like this one.

Kiritani Mirei as pretty teacher Mano Shoko

Yokoyama Yu and Matsuoka as Takano and Kogure

    I was cracking up in Episode 5 where Kogure (Matsuoka) and Takano (Yokoyama) have to take care of a rock group with a spoiled lead singer. Coming home, Takano tries to calm down an angry Kogure, when they slip in this little inside joke for us:

LOLOL! That shows you how silly and fun this show can be! Ah, once I realized episodes 4-7 had been subbed, I snatched them up and watched them ALL! Sigh, Now I’m back to playing the waiting game, just praying and hoping for episodes 8 and 9!!!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Moritaka Chisato "The Singles"

 My Chisato Moritaka Box Set “The Singles” arrived today, and I am extremely pleased at how nice this package is- a beautiful 3-CD set befitting one of the greatest j-pop artists of the 90’s and of all time-or at least, in MY opinion!!! My initial fears that the release might be nothing more than a mundane, slapped together rehash were quickly put to rest as I unwrapped the set, opened up the gatefolds and took in the sweet packaging, the wonderful picture discs and glossy photobook- They really took time and care with this one, and unfolding this package made me as excited as I was when I first picked up “Do The Best” all those many many years ago! 

After taking in the sights for a bit, it was time to peruse the contents:

Disc One ( 1987-1991)

New Season

Overheat Night

Get Smile

The Miha

Alone

The Stress

Junanasai (17)

Daite

Michi

Seishun

Kusaimono ni wa Futaoshiro

Ame

Benkyo No Uta

Konomachi

Hachigatsu No Koi

Disc Two (1991-1995)

Fight!!

Concert No Yoru

Watashi Ga Obasan Ni Nattemo

Watarase Bashi

Writer Shibo

Watashi No Natsu

Hae Otoko

Memories

Kaze Ni Fukarete

Rockin’ Omelette

Kibunsokai

Natsu No Hi

Suteki na Tanjobi

Watashi No Daijina Hito

Futari Wa Koibito

Disc Three (1995-1999)

Yasumi No Gogo

Jin Jin Jingle Bell

So Blue

La La Sunshine

Gin Iro No Yume

Let’s Go!

Sweet Candy

Miracle Light

Snow Again

Denwa

Umi Made Gofun

Tsumetai Tsuki

Watashi no Youni 

Mahiru no Hoshi

Ichido Asobi ni Kite yo '99

Man, will you look at that body of work Chisato has, (heck, will you look at that body!) especially in Disc Two which features the years 1991-1995 which I consider not only the golden age of Chisato’s work, but of my entire J-pop experience! 

Ahhhh, just looking over the titles on this set has got me reveling in sweet memories! Haven’t got a chance to actually listen to the CDs yet (saving that for this weekend) but you can bet that when I do, it will be like the 90’s all over again!!!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

A Whimsical K-Pop Purchase

SNSD Vita500 Bottles wi Jessica and Yuri

 I've always had a great sentimental attachment to the things that first introduced me to new interests: the first Book I read, the first Comic I read, the first Beatles album I bought, etc, and so it made perfect sense to me when I saw that someone in Singapore was selling the old bottles of VITA500 with SNSD's Jessica on the label, I just HAD to have it!

  As you may recall, when I first heard Girls Generation it was only through their songs Genie and Mr. Taxi, and it wasn't until I saw their extremely cute commercials hawking health drink Vita 500 that I got to see just waht these girls looked like! It was done in an innovative way- there were 10 different commercials, one for each individual member of the group, and one featuring all 9 girls, and as you may recall, the one girl I immediately fell for was Jessica!

SInce then I've become a huge fan of the girls; SNSD is just about my favorite K-pop group out there (along with KARA) and to this day Jessica's still holding strongly as my favorite member. When I saw these bottles up for auction, I thought it was the PERFECT way to celebrate my love of the girls, and since I was in a big-spending kind of mood (har har), I decided to go ahead and purchase the bottle with my OTHER favorite member Yuri as well!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Running Man Still Running...

  I know I’ve said this before (and repeated it here ad nauseum), but I just have to say it again: MAN, that awesome variety show Running Man just has to be the most exciting, imaginative and FUN show out there! Tuning in each week to the antics of Jaesuk, Sukjin, Jongkook, Jihyo, Gary, Kwangsoo and Haha always makes my day and continues to amaze and blow me away!!

When I first took the time to check out Running Man, it was only because SNSD was the guests and had no idea of its format, if it was a regular show, or simply just a two-part special, all I knew was that this was a show that fellow SONES all swore was a MUST SEE for any SNSD fan- and they were right, of course! It was such an entertaining show and I really got to know the girls in a new and fun light!

Later I was on a forum looking for Invincible Youth when I saw that they had the latest episode of Running Man up for grabs and that the guests were members of KARA. Checking out that episode(ep94), I was initially concerned that KARA didn’t appear til the end, but the show was SO DAMN ENTERTAINING that by the time the guests showed up, I’d fallen in love with the regular cast members and didn’t even CARE who the guests were! From then I became a fan of Running Man for life, and began to seek out not only the latest episodes but the earlier ones as well!

Thanks to the efforts of subbing teams iSUBS and KSHOWNOW, I had access to watch almost every one of its 100+ episodes, from its very FIRST episode down through to the latest 105th, and it has been a sheer and utter JOY to pick one to watch every day after work! Sadly, I’ve finally reached the point where I’ve watched all the past episodes and now have to go back to waiting patiently each week for the new episode to arrive and satiate my “fix”! 

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Orange Caramel Candies

  I love After School's Lizzy and I'm also a big fan of 70's J-pop group Candies and so when I heard that Lizzy's offshoot group Orange Caramel was going to cover the Candies' awesome "Yasashii Akuma (Sweet Devil)", I was all for it! Then thinking about it later, I have to wonder why they chose a classic J-POP song for their first foray into the Japan market...isn't this like having an Italian Restaurant come to Hawaii and then serving up LauLau and Poi dinners? 
    Oh wait, looking at the track listing, looks like the Candies song is going to be released along with a Japan version of Orange Caramel's popular "Magic Girl" song, so I suppose they're covering all bases as they ease into the J-pop scene, LOL. Til we can hear the song, here's the Candies doing their classic original...

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Majo Saiban Verdict: Meh.

Finally got around to finishing up the Toma Ikuta / Ishida Yuriko mystery / suspense drama MAJO SAIBAN, and I have to say that although the acting was pretty good and the direction kept me interested, the endless manipulation going back and forth of "She's a Witch-She's not a Witch" drove me crazy, and the drama's ultimately cliched ending made this drama such a disappointment!!!

In fact, the only thing that kept this show from being a complete waste of my time was Kutsuna Shiori who managed to be such a cutie despite playing the supremely emo-filled role of the Witch's troubled daughter Haruka..,Love this girl!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Those Mysterious AFTER SCHOOL Girls

  Readers of this blog already know of my love for After School’s Lizzy through her cute appearances on “Running Man”, truth be told, several of the girls have been on the show in the past, and I liked them all enough that when I found out that After School was going to be on the latest episode of “Beatles Code”, I just HAD to check it out!
 Besides Lizzy, Runnign Man introduced me to Uee, and within that same episode, her fellow members Nana and Raina (who stopped by to help Uee with a mission), so there were already four reasons to watch that show, little did I know that through it, I would disover  that ALL of the members were pretty and lots of fun, and by the end of the episode, I was dying to know who the OTHER members were!

I tired to make out their names as the hosts introduced them, but not only were the names spoken too faast for me to catch, they didn’t even introduce all of them! In desperation, I emailed my friend who listened to After School to see if he had any information about the individual members because I was dying to learn more about them, in particular these three girls (see below pic), who were cute, giggly fun and TOTALLY my type, especially the first one who reminded me ever so slightly of Mao Inoue:

Sadly, he told me that he had only general interest in the group and didn’t know any of the members individually except Uee (and that was from her regular job hosting Inkigayo rather than any inside scoop on After School), so I was pretty much on my own…
  Then suddenly like a savior swooping doewn from the skies came the cool Idol Olympics specials, andwouldn’tcha know it? They solved my burning questions regarding those mysterious girls names in just the first 20 minutes! For among the girls Idol groups there like T-ara (in their pre-fiasco days), SISTAR, DalShabet f(x) and NineMuses, also came After School, and who should be participating in the very first game, but those exact three girls I had wondered about:

Jooyeon? Lee Young? Gaeun? Finally, I had NAMES to go with those pretty faces and adorable attitudes!!! Thanks ever so much to the fine folks at KSHOWNOW who subtitled the Idol olympics and made it possible for me to crack a mystery that had been haunting my K-pop fandom!!! 
Now, onto the internet to look for pinups of these lovely ladies...LOLOL

PS: Using the "process of elimination" technique, the only name left on the list of After School members is Jungah, so i'm assuming  that's the name of the slightly Seohyun-looking girl sitting next to Uee (above pic)...my gosh, does this mean I finally know ALL the members ??? Hallelujah!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com