Some K-Pop Goodness In The Mail

Apink Secret Garden CD, SNSD's Galaxy Supernova Single, Japan Tour DVD 

Another banner day here as not only did my new Girls Generation releases come in (the new Japanese Single “Galaxy Supernova/Do The Catwalk” and the Japan Concert Tour DVD), the first CD of my new K-Pop Faves APINK  also came in!!! So Stoked!
  About a month or two ago, Soompi had a special on the new Apink album “Secret Garden” which not only came with a bonus photocard, but came autographed by all six members! Well, I was a bit too late to get it myself, but I DID manage to find someone selling theirs, (albeit at a slight markup, but that’s what I get for coming so late to the party!) and as I’m right now falling so much in love with these girls I couldn’t be happier!

Apink Autographed CD with HQ Photo and Namjoo Trading Card!

Now, onto the MAIN prize here, the Girls Generation Girls and Peace Japan Concert at Saitama Super Arena!!! Though most of the Japan releases have been mostly of the Jewel-Case type, Girls Generation's releases have ALWAYS gone just a little bit further, and this new DVD set is no exception! With a mylar slipcase containing a Concert T-shirt, thick glossy photobook, Two DVDs featuring the Concert as well as backstage footage of the Girls’ Tour, this was a collectible that I’m proud to add to my SNSD Collection! Ooh, and if THAT wasn’t enough, this DVD set came REGION FREE, so I was able to blast this baby on my Bluray Home Theater setup! SO COOL!!!

Girls' Generation Girls and Peace DVD

  As I’ve gushed and raved about before in an earlier post, the fancam concert coverage of the Girls and Peace Concert was of such high quality and shot so well, I was actually a bit worried that I might have a hard time enjoying the official DVD release, silly as that sounds! But I shouldn’t have worried- the concert was as awesome as any fancam footage, and all in crisp picture quality and sound! And one more thing that the official release has is the close-up shots of my beloved girls as well as multi-shot angles of the stage!

Girls and Peace DVD Booklet & Discs

  Like I’ve gushed before, this Concert Tour just has to be one of the best yet, awesome songs from both the first Japanese Girls Generation release as well as the songs from the new Girls and Peace album, as well as a few from the current “I Got A Boy” album like Express 999 and the titular IGAB, innovative stage sets (utilizing the huge widescreen as a backdrop) and BOY! Some of the prettiest and SEXIEST outfits ever!!!!

SNSD Concert T-Shirt (Front and Back)

 For me, some of the absolute highlights are their performances of “Paparazzi”, "Animal", “Reflection”, “Time Machine”, "Express999", “Diamond” and a moving perf of “All My Love Is For You” (Tiffany especially looked really into it, and the end where Sunny pops a bubble floating by her just MADE the song for me!), additionally some really cute and fun perfs of “My J” “Go For It” and “Gee”, and as an added bonus , disc two contains dance version shots of “Boomerang”, “Diamond”, and what is probably my favorite single performance on this DVD, a dance version of the hot “Reflection’!!
  Yup, seems like all my money is going to these K-pop releases here and there, but when they’re as awesome as these are, I’m gonna keep on keepin' on!!!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

The Dancing Clip That Launched the APink Fandom Ship

 Cube Entertainment Idols A PINK were among the very first K-pop groups that my friend tried to turn me on to when he was introducing  me to the new world of Korean music, but for some reason, at the time I just couldn’t get into them. I think a big part of it was that they seemed so…J-Poppy to me, and I was far more interested in the exciting new KPOP sound, ya know whut I mean?
   Don’t get me wrong, they had quite a few songs I really liked, among them My My, Bubibu, and their latest (at the time) single HUSH, but I wasn’t interested enough to go exploring further into them. Even as they got more popular and well-known, they always appeared to me as “those cute J-poppy girls”…at least until the Idol Special episode of Running Man, that is!!!
   In this episode, each Running Man member was placed in a team with two idols from a group (most hilariously Kwangsoo with MBLAQ), and Gary of Leessang fame was teamed up with APink's Eunji and Naeun! Now, by this point I DID know both girls a little bit, as they had become quite prominent in entertainment/variety circles, but there was something about their appearance that suddenly took hold of me-First off, they were WAY more beautiful than I remembered and secondly-THAT DANCE!!!!

EunJi and NaEun with Gary in Tow

The newly formed "Gary Pink", LOL!

Dancing to "NoNoNo"

  For their latest single "NoNoNo", the girls had come up with a catchy new dance move (which they explained during their appearance on "Weekly Idol" was called the "OngGoJu" dance move), and WOW was it captivating! Equal Parts Soft-Shoe Shuffling and Hawaiian Hula Dancing, this was the PERFECT accompaniment to the catchy tune, and it was here on the Running Man stage I saw it for the first time!

Watching them do the dance just blew me away with all that sassy hip swiveling, swinging and sashaying, and they looked like they were having so much FUN dancing with Gary (especially Eunji with her DEVASTATING Eye-Smile!!!), I thought to myself, “CRAP, what have I been missing out on?” Further investigation on these gals was warranted!!

 After the show was over, I immediately began looking for live performances of NoNoNo, and BROTHER, if I thought the dance move looked cool with the two girls and GARY, you can BET I was all the more blown away when I finally got to see ALL SIX of the Apink members performing it onstage!!!! Such stylish synchronicity and refreshing girlishness, and MAN, can that Eunji SING!!!!!!! I had No IDEA she had such a set of pipes!!!

Yep, I  was really beginning to appreciate them in a new light, and then, as if to give my newfound love an added boost,  someone in a K-pop forum I frequent uploaded the MV for their new song “U You ” and WHOA, after watching THAT, it was ALL OVER- I was a FAN! My GOSH, these girls were SO DAMN pretty, sexy AND adorable in this video, all I could think was “Was THIS what I’d been AVOIDING all these months???!!!” I HAD to get into THIS game!!!

  SO yeah, I’m an admitted LATECOMER to the whole APINK experience, but as they say, it’s better late than never, and so I’ve been out grabbing all the Apink Goodness I can get my hands on, beginning with their new album “Secret Garden” which contains both U You AND NoNoNo! Awww Yeah, looks like ANOTHER K-Pop group is poised to enter the fold of Zdorama FAVES!”

PS: I've been since told that perhaps the reason why I'm only NOW getting into Apink is because I'm getting used to the overt sexiness and sultry style of K-pop and now Apink looks like sweet and innocent diversion...don't know if this is the case, but for now, I'll be busy studying the evidence!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Goddesses In The House: KARA is Back!!

Kara New Albums "Full Bloom" and "Fantastic Girls"

   KARA came back this month in a glorious two-pronged fashion, releasing new full albums in both the Japanese AND Korean market, so I got the best of both worlds- the light J-poppy stuff  in their new Japan album "Fantastic Girls", and the harder-edged rocking stuff with the new Korean release "Full Bloom"!!
  As usual, the Japan CD came in a regular Jewel case which, though very pretty, was your standard non-bells-and-whistles release (though it DID come with a bonus pack of 6 photos from the girls' Go Go Summer Promotions) but the KOREAN one was impressive and beautiful as HELL!!!!

The CD came housed in a big 7"x7"x1" box which contained a fold-out card cover where the actual CD was stored, a thick 25 page picture booklet (featuring the girls in their "Princess" outfits, their regal "Queen" outfits and their masculine "Damaged Lady" pinstripe suits) as well as a packet of 5 huge photos of the girls (from the aforementioned "Princess" session)...WHAT AN AWESOME SET!!!!

Aw MAN, I was just talking to a friend the other day about how much Goo Hara has grown into a pretty little lady, but as these pictures from Full Bloom have reasserted, Han Seungyeon is my tried-and-true BIAS, OH MY GOSH does she look ABSOLUTELY STUNNING here!!! Soooo, soooo DAMN PRETTY!!!!!!
   Oh YEAH, I've got me some LISTENING to Do THIS weekend!!!!

PS, in a curious turn of events, I managed to get not one but two photos of our Goddess Gyuri in my photo set, leaving me to wonder if the duplicate pic was included instead of another photo (like, say, a group shot?) or if I'm simply extra-blessed with Gyuri Goodness!!!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

f(x)'s "Pink Tape" is Another Masterpiece!

  MAN! That f(x) Pink Tape...Though I’ve only recently gotten the fx album, I’ve been listening to it over and over again for a good month now, and I have to say, the Pink Tape album confirms that fx are one of the most ORIGINAL and innovative acts out there. God DAMN, almost EVERY single song on that album stunned me with its sheer UNPREDICTABILITY! This is ONE group that are ALWAYS pushing the envelope musically!

 From the first song Rum Pum Pum Pum (and BTW, when I blast it in my car, that’s when I realize how well the bass is recorded on these discs!) I'm hit with their tight sound, the way the song's minimalistic structure keeps you on the edge of your seat building up to its droning choruses gets you so amped up for the rest of the album!!! Definitely another classic to add to their already impressive clutch of singles.

The next song “Shadow” showed me the eclectic direction they were going with this dreamy swarth of toylike sounds-  I call this track their “Bewitched” song because the magical chime effect they use throughout the tune sounds just like Samantha casting a spell, I''m like, Wow, this sounds like the background music to someones' fantasy dream!!  “Pretty Girl” is just drenched in that 90’s alt music I love like LUSH and the like, though the song began with a sort of R&B vibe, soon guitars are added to the mix, and then when the chorus kicks in,t I get a VERY retro feel. Superb vocals, too, very desperate and moody sounding.

Though the structure of this song is a bit like “Electric Shock”, it's the hypnotic bridge that really makes the next song KICK for me, reminding me a bit of Bjork’s Homogenic album, very moody and spacey! And right after that atmospheric bridge, it sets you up for that ROCKING chorus! KICK KICK KICK, no wonder Victoria cites this as her favorite track off the album! And has Sulli ever sounded more adorable when singing the line "Hot Like Pancakes" LOLOL, that's PURE Sulli! Signal- Wow, what a song! This song sounds like it could have been taken right off the tracklist of SNSD’s last album because it is SO Girls Generation Power-Pop flavoured- Lot of focus on the energetic vocals, I can almost hear Jessica and Sunny singing it! Whenever I hear this one, I get SO into it, my mind starts imagining dance moves for it, such an awesome song!!

One of the most danceable tracks off this album, STEP's a real discotheque "Thumping" track, if you know what I mean! Ya better believe this song gets blasted in my car whenever it comes up! BTW, might be a good time to mention here how much I dig the way they utilize Amber's english sound-bites throughout the album, the looping line "You Watch My Step!" used so imaginatively as the canvas which the girls cheerfully sing over! (BTW funny, both Pretty Girl and Step are also KARA titles, huh?) Up next is the lone ballad off of Pink Tape, and here we see just how awesome the girls' vocals are! A duet of sorts, with Amber, Krystal and Luna singing with D.O. of EXO fame, I just love how they sound during the choruses. Amber sang a bit of this  backstage at Show Champion in English, which was cool! Funny that f(x) is primarily known for its electronic music, but you tend to forget how awesome they can sing, especially Luna, my GOSH do I love her voice!!! Aw, the extremely demented "Airplane"...The song starts off SO prettily and dreamy, and just when you think you've gotten ahold of another beautiful ballad of theirs, the song takes a 90º turn and literally warps into this cacophany of weird sound bites and spastic synth loops, the first time I heard it I felt assaulted by the barrage of sounds! I DID find the song catchy, however, and after a few listens, the song's structure "came together" in my head and now Airplane sounds like a surreal Salvador Dali painting set to music! I love waiting for Krystal's voice "Airplane! ...Love!"

In a side note, I saw the girls performing this song a few times on Music shows, and I 'm sorry to say I wasn't too impressed with the choreography for this song- it made the song seem boring and tired. But maybe I just haven't seen the right performance yet.  The chugging guitar riffs that accent the next song Toy reminded me of the licks in the old Faith No More song “We Care A Lot”, and one night as I was listening to Boy, the Faith No More lyrics from We Care A Lot came back to me: “We care a lot about Transformers “cause they’re more than meets the eye!”- Just as I thought those lyrics, Amber says the line “I’m Transforming Now!” which really knocked me out with its coincidence! THEN what I consider the album’s MASTERPIECE…though I’ve been raving about how avante-garte and innovative Pink Tape's songs are, my very, VERY favorite song off this album is just about the only song that sounds like "traditional" f(x), the swinging beat song “No More”, Holy CRAP do I LOVE this song- the melody is SO catchy and the girls voices are SOOOO, SOOOOO GOOOD, almost like 50's style harmonizing!!!! 

Reading the lyrics online its about them singing to a girlfriend who's always falling in love like a "fox-girl"over and over, so cute!!! I love the playful way they sing about getting sick of their girlfriend's lovelife games, but know they'll be there for her because they're friends. Already this is one of my top favorite f(x) songs of all time, I get such a freaking BUZZ listening to this, I love it SO MUCH!!!! Yeou Gateun Gijibae, Yeou Gateun Gijibae, you fox-girl, You fox-girl!!! So, So CATCHY!!!!!!!

As the album heads towards its conclusion, the girls decide to start wrapping things up with this solid dance track "Snapshot". When the song began I thought it was going to be like SNSD's "Romantic Street" with its "Olde Fashioned" flavor, but soon enough it turns into pure love f(x) with its catchy choruses and refrains!

And then we come to the final track to the Pink Tape Odyssey, the somber "Ending Page" where the girls sing thoughtfully about a failing romance, wondering how the story of their lives together will end- what will be on the final page? Gotta say, ending the album with this song always leaves me with a lonely feeling, but I STILL have to step back and say, "Wow, what an AWESOME album!!!" And then I go back and listen to it again!!!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

So, Which Idols Have Appeared Most On Running Man, Anyway?

Idols On Running Man

So I was watching the awesome latest episode of Running Man, this time it was their annual "Idols" Special, and when I saw MBLAQ's Lee Joon making yet another of his many  guest appearances, it got me to thinking...which K-Pop idols have appeared most on Running Man, anyway?  I ransacked my old files as well as online streaming to catch up on my Running Man episodes, and though I may have forgotten or missed a few, I think I've checked off the scorecard, and what I came up with is as follows... (I decided to only focus on the Idols that have appeared at least 3 times, 'cause otherwise I'd have WAY too much people to deal with!)

...so coming in at the NUMBER ONE spot of Guest Appearances with a total of 10(ten!) Episodes under his belt is CNBLUE's Jung Yong Hwa, a number of episodes that is ONLY tied with Lizzy of AfterSchool, and that's counting her stint as a regular cast member!!!

Okay, looks like next week Big Bang is all set to make their comeback re-appearance on the show, so Daesung and SeungRi's numbers will be going up soon as well! Better get my calculator out again...
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

The Fine Art of the J-Drama Ending Credits

Nakama Yukie in Gokusen's Ending Credits

American Culture TV Sitcom fans know well the power of a good, catchy theme song, and it’s even been proved that the songs for shows like Gilligans Island and Brady Bunch were more than just the jingles that played during the cast and crew listings- it’s a HUGE part of what MADE the show!
  Sadly, by the 90’s, TV shows began to adopt a disturbing trend of  disposing of the lengthy theme songs altogether and began to replace them with shorter sound bites of music and began running the cast credits during the show’s undercrawl in an effort to minimize screentime for more advertising slots. Understandable but still a bummer for the Pop Culture fanatic!

 Fortunately, it was JUST at this time that I began watching Japanese dramas, and it was here I found that the opening and closing tunes were very much alive, and in fact still treated as an important component to the shows they were promoting. Not only were songs written and recorded by artists specifically for the show, but the clips and images running during the song are just as beautifully crafted and magnificently put together as the drama itself!

Case in point: Just the other night I was going through an old harddrive of J-drama stuff, and came across the ending song for Yukie Nakama’s wildly successful drama “Gokusen” in MP4 format. Remembering how much I liked the theme song “Feel Your Breeze” by V6, I clicked on it, and I have to say, watching the song play with the set images rushing by of teacher “Yankumi” playing Kick the Can with her students gave me goosebumps, and then when it got to the chorus of the song, I remembered that it always played at the scene where she’s holding the can up and running from her students, PERFECTLY matching the song, and I have to say, watching this made me tear up with emotion, it gave me SUCH a warm feeling!

After it ended it made me remember that the ending song for the old Emi Wakui drama “Pure”, which featured the song “Namonaki Uta”, ALSO employed this style of affixing a certain phrase of the song with a set image, in the case of Pure, the Rickenbacker Guitar chiming into the chorus was ALWAYS set to the image of Emi tossing an armful of feathers into the air at the same moment each time, til the viewer found he was always waiting for it!

Wakui Emi in Pure's Ending Credits

  I then began to try and remember other shows with favorite ending credits and in fact, MANY of them have already been uploaded and talked about here, including the aforementioned Pure with Mr. Children’s “Namonaki Uta”, Okane Ga Nai with “Over The Trouble” by Oda Yuji, NAOMI’s ending “Girls Be Ambitious” by True Kiss Destination, Masahiko Kondo's "Ai Wa Hitotsu" from the crazy drama Stalker~Sasou-Onna, "Himawari" by Sugar for the drama Shiawase Ni Naritai, and the incredible Shomuni ending "Sunaona Mamade" by IZAM with Astral Love! 
     Others I've still to do write ups for eventually are credits for shows like Tengoku Ni Ichiban Chikai Otoko featuring TOKIO's "Oh! Heaven", KinKi Kids' "To Heart" from the Domoto Tsuyoshi drama of the same name, and probably much more I can't recall right now!

Fukada Kyoko and Domoto Tsuyoshi in To Heart End Credits

And for ending credits that are simply heartbreaking to watch, try  "Only Human" by K from the drama One Litre No Namida, Seija No Koshin's "Ito" by Miyuki Nakajima or Yutaka Ozaki's "Oh My Little Girl" from the morose Konoyo No Hate!
     Though most of the J-drama ending credits I highly regard are from the era I was watching them most vivaciously (mid 90’s to 00’s), show like the aforementioned Gokusen prove that they’re still on top of the game! In fact, thinking now, later shows like Yaoh with TOKIO's "Mr. Traveling Man", "Orange Range's "Kimi Station" from Loss:Time:Life, Oda Kazumasa's "Sayonara Wa Iwanai" from Triangle, and "Wonderful Life" by &G from Boku To Kanojyo to Kanojyo no Ikiru Michi are just as powerful, and even the Horikita Maki drama Hanazakari Kimitachi e ending song with Ai Otsuka’s “Peach” gives me the same sense of warmth and wonder!

I’ve been watching J-dramas for a good 20+ years now , and I think I can positively state that when it comes to the sacred thing known as the ending song credits, those folks have REALLY elevated it to an ARTFORM!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Executive Crush Status: Toda Erika

You know, watching the Tomohisa Yamashita drama Summer Nude, I really thought this was going to be the show where I finally fell in love with pretty actress Karina (whom I've always liked but never got to the point of obsession), but as each episode went on, though I loved Karina's character a LOT, slowly but surely I began to get that tug in my heart every time Erika Toda was onscreen! 

Erika Toda! My first instincts watching this show was that there was no way I'd fall back in love with her again with that short bob haircut, but I don't call her the cutest thang ever for no reason- she had her "Manic Pixie" persona on  all the way to 11, and though her character of Hanae was of a decidedly tomboyish vein, I found her stealing every scene she was in!

Erika gets the news that she's been awarded Executive Crush Status

 So yeah, watching the show each day I was like "no... must... resist... cuteness... charms....", but it was of no use, and by episode 4, it was clear that my dear, darling Erika had been turned back into another crush of the day and it was time to promote her to "Zdorama's Executive Crush Status", that distinguished and totally inconsequential award ranking I've created which includes a few other past Crush Of The Day girls like Satomi Ishihara and Keiko Kitagawa! 

 So far it's all well and good, but what happens when I fall in love with her AGAIN? Executive EXECUTIVE Crush Status? Lifetime Achievement Award? Only time will tell....
In the meantime, enjoy the liberal Tomboyish Erika Toda Picspam, all of her turn as the adorable Hanae in Summer Nude!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Darkness Falls in Movie "Kaibutsu"

Koichi Sato in Kaibutsu

Wow, I just finished watching the incredibly Dark Movie special "Kaibutsu"(Monster) and I have to say it's been quite awhile since I've seen a movie that was so unpredictable in its subject-matter, twists and double dealings that I was on my toes (and at the edge of my seat) throughout the entire flick!

Jun Kaname

Chiaki Kuriyama

The story of Kaibutsu concerns a Police Detective named Kosai (Koichi Sato) who is determined to arrest an up-and-coming politician (Jun Kaname) suspected of a crime committed 15 years ago involving the murder of a little girl is intriguing enough, add in a surreal extra-sensory power Kosai has of being able to perceive a murder scene by scent alone, and you've got a slightly X-Files-ish tale on your hands. Going further and adding in another case he's working on concurrently with his new partner Ishikawa (Chiaki Kuriyama) involving a worker named Masaki (Osamu Mukai) working at a Sewage -Treatment Center who's suspected of liquidating bodies with the city's new high-pressure waste disposal unit, and we're reaching DAVID LYNCH creepiness!

Osamu Mukai

Mikako Tabe

  "There are people who want to disappear, and then there are those whom people want to disappear", Masaki tells Kosai one day, and this seems inarguably true in a world where cruel criminals callously murder innocent victims and those slighted burn with taking revenge into their own hands, and as people begin disappearing left and right, the question of just who the "good" people are in this movie and who the "monsters" are begin to blur.

   By the movie's conclusion, we are left with that thought to ponder, and as the movie ended and the characters departed, I for one wanted to see where the events set up in this movie would lead! In fact, the ending left me on SUCH a  "What Happens Next...?" kind of feel, I even rushed to AsianMediaWiki to see if this was the pilot to a new TV series or another movie (like the two-movie chaptered Double Face, for example), but so far nothing yet....
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com