Crush Of The Day: Rin Takanashi

The new Maki Horikita-led crime drama Higanbana~Keishicho Sosa Nanaka is just chock full of lovely ladies that I love, including Dan Rei, YOU, Kang Jiyoung and the stoic Mao Daichi, but the one actress who has been sailing head and shoulders above the rest is darling, darling Rin Takanashi, here reaffirming the initial attraction I had for her in 5 Ji Kara 9 Ji Made: she is cute, cute CUTE!

Higanbana is an OK drama about a girl (Horikita) who uses psychic abilities to "hear" the voices of the dead, but more than that, the thing that keeps me glued to my screen is Rin’s playful portrayal of cutie pie Rin Ito (Yes! Her character’s name is Rin, too!) and her adorably girlish antics in each episode!

   Each member of the Higanbana Team has their personality; Jiyoung's an Americanized Gal, YOU is a harried mother, etc, and I was stoked to see that the character of Rin’s was of a sunshiney, cheerful , dizzy and giggly girl, she’s so cute in every episode, you just want to put her in your pocket and take her home!

  Her skills involve computer detective work and sifting through forensic evidence, but her true skills are that of a Martha Stewart variety: making crafts and baking cookies and brownies. Best thing of all, whenever she shows off her latest hobby creation, she is falling over with pride, squealing “look what I made!” LOL

   Boy, the Higanbana Directors really know how to properly play her up, with lots of wide-eyed innocent gazes, anime-speed girly speaking and OOOHH, those disarmingly effective POUTS! 

So much like an anime come to life, man, there are scenes where she looks like a living Japanese Barbie Doll! And did I mention how much I love a girl with ribbons in her hair? Mmm.

  This makes TWO dramas where Rin Takanashi is playing these wonderfully sweet and innocent babes, part of me is really worrying what I’ll do when I finally see her playing a crude and morose character. Will I be able to take it? LOLOL.Directors, please take note: continue to cast Rin Takanashi in Cutesy Roles forever!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

More Yui and Hiroshi With Aruitemo, Aruitemo (Still Walking)

Yui Natsukawa and Hiroshi Abe in Still Walking

Still riding on a very intense Yui Natsukawa high after falling in love with her in “Kekkon Dekinai Otoko” and was trying to get my hands the 2011 drama  “Shiawase no Kiiroi Hankachi” because it starred both Yui and Hiroshi Abe as a married couple. Well, I still haven’t managed to locate it, but I realized I DID already have a MOVIE starring Hiroshi Abe and Yui Natsukawa as a married couple, the film “Auruitemo, Aruitemo (Still Walking) which I’d been sitting on for years and I immediately dug it up to watch!

 This was one of those laid-back “absorb the atmosphere” kind of flicks, ones that take the time to show random things like an old man walking down a hill or a train clicking across the scenery…and it reminded me not just a little of the terrific Hiroshi Abe/Tomoko Yamaguchi drama “Going My Home”: Same story of a city resident going back to visit his relations in a small old-fashioned town, and once there, sitting back and taking in the slowed down pace on the town. Heck, they even got YOU to play his younger sister in both of them!

I’d originally downloaded this movie at the recommendation of a friend who really likes Hiroshi Abe , Ironically, he never remembers his name, instead calling him “that guy who looks like Rider-Man”. One day he told me, “Hey we saw this Japanese movie with that guy that looks like Rider Man, and it was really good! It’s about this guy who goes back home to visit his family, but he doesn’t get along with his father who thinks he’s good for nothing”. When I looked like I was thinking “That’s it?”,  he added, “eh, there was more to it, but it was more in the way the movie was shown than the story itself.” And how right he was!

 So I got it, but I never got around to checking it out til now (Well, some of  the beginning looks familiar, so I may have watched some of it initially but I don’t remember it)! But that’s okay because I don’t think there’s a better time to be watching it than right now, where I can fully appreciate both Yui and Abe’s acting skills and the way they play off each other! Actually, everyone was really great, such natural and organic scenes which were composed mostly of dialog, GREAT dialog which grew and simmered like real conversations… so realistic, at times if seemed like I was watching a hidden camera video recording of some family’s life!

Watching this has really reinforced my Yui Natsukawa love, man…she was so doggone pretty and delicate in this one, not at all like the tough realist Natsumi Hayakawa, but both really great characters. And of course, no matter who she plays, her characters always have those signature dimples, and in fact, there's a scene where Mother (played excellently by the awesome Kiki Kirin) even comments, "Oh, you have cute dimples!" LOLOL

PS. Was really cool to realize the line “Aruitemo, Aruitemo” used as the title of this movie came from none other than the immensely gorgeous Japan chanteuse Ayumi Ishida’s  song “Blue Light Yokohama”, how cool is THAT!!!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

My Epic Rave on Awesome 2006 Drama "Kekkon Dekinai Otoko"

Hiroshi Abe as the Insufferable Shinsuke Kuwano

Man, I’ve just finished one of the best dramas I’ve seen EVER, and it only took me 10 years to getting around to watching it! The drama is the Hiroshi Abe “Kekkon Dekinai Otoko” (The Man Who Can’t Get Married), and though it came out in 2006, it looked so much like “At-Home Dad” or  “Otono No Otoko” that it just never interested me enough to actually sit down and watch it! But when I saw the drama listed in both Desertraven’s AND John’s TOP FIVE Japanese Dramas of ALL TIME, I knew I owed it to myself to check it out…and I’m SO GLAD I DID!

Man Meets Dog

Cute Neighbor Michiru (Ryoko Kuninaka)

 As the title might suggest, Kekkon Dekinai Otoko tells the tale of a successful architect of marrying age named Kuwano Shinsuke (Abe) who, because of his awful social skills, condescending attitude, and stand-offish demeanor, just can’t seem to land any marriage prospects. Not that he minds. His attitude is that marriage is for losers and being single is the only way to live has served him well his whole life, and indeed, he does seem to enjoy being on his own. But when a chance interaction with a rambunctious young girl (Ryoko Kuninaka) next door occurs, things begin to change, and slowly but surely he begins to change as well! 
  Kuwano has lived a life shielded from others, but when he collapses due to stomach pains, he gets his first interaction with the outside world when Michiru helps him get to the hospital. There he is introduced to another woman who will play a big role in his “coming out of his cave” lifestyle, the smart and sensible doctor Hayasaka Natsumi (Yui Natsukawa).  

Michiru Checking in on her Neighbor

"Are You Okay?"

"What Does it Look Like?"

Meeting Dr. Hayasaka

Won't listen to Doctor's advice

These chance meetings create a web of socializing around Kuwano, and with the help of his Architectual Firm’s partners  Eiji Murakami (Takashi Tsukamoto) and Maya Sawazaki (Reiko Takashima), turn Kuwano into someone halfway decent!

Kuwano with asistant Eiji (Tsukamoto Takashi)

Producer Maya Sawazaki (Reiko Takashima) pleads

Kuwano and Dr. Hayasaka

Bright and bubbly Michiru

Meet The Family

Concerned Little Sister Keiko (Rieko Miura)

The Hard-Headed Shinsuke Kuwano

  Like I said, I first thought of this drama as kind of like Masahiko Nishimura’s “Three Grown Men”, but really this story owes more of its inspiration to the Jack Nicholson/Helen Hunt movie “As Good As It Gets”; both feature crotchety men with bad socializing skills who slowly come out of their shells thanks to the affection for the neighbor’s dog. And as Greg Kinnear reaches Jack Nicholson with his dog Verdell, so does Kuwano’s neighbor Tamura Michiru touch Abe, with a cuddly pup named Ken-chan.

A Stand-Offish Pug

"Hey...you're okay!!"

Friends

 Hiroshi Abe is really something else! He’s the only actor who can play such COOL and DASHING characters in movies, and then turn around and play these TOTALLY DORKY misfits! He is SO hilariously BELIEVABLE as the manic OCD Kuwano, there are complete scenes just featuring him doing his thing, exercising, dressing, cleaning his house, and EATING! Boy does this guy LOVE to EAT!

    You can see, with his fussy attitude and prissy behavior, why he shuts out other people and enjoys being alone, a guy like this SHOULD be on his own, and yet, despite his horrible attitude, people still like him and won’t give up on him!

Kekkon Dekinai Otoko is, of course, totally Hiroshi Abe’s show, but I believe the thing that elevated this drama into one of the very finest out there comes down to his supporting cast, MOST IMPORTANTLY, these THREE lovely ladies, Michiru Tamura, Natsumi Hayasaka, and Maya Sawazaki, as played by Ryoko Kuninaka, Yui Natsukawa, and Reiko Takashima...

Oh my GOSH, it was THESE gals that really propelled the show and I have to make a special point to sing my praises to their efforts, in the gushing essays that follow below! (or you can just click on the links here)

Kekkon Dekinai Otoko Pt,II: Ryoko Kuninaka

Kekkon Dekinai Otoko Pt. III: Yui Natsukawa
Kekkon Dekinai Otoko Pt. IV: Reiko Takashima

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com