Otsuka Nene sipping Soup

Back On Track with GeGeGe No Nyobo!!!!!

After I finished watching the last of the 36 translated episodes of the NHK Asadora GeGeGe No Nyobo, I knew I was in for a LOOOOONNNGGG stretch of time waiting for more episodes to get subtitled. And just when I thought I was going to have to break down and try to watch the rest of the series untranslated, Yametekudasai got me in touch with his friend (and karaoke comrade) Groinksan!

Groink-san has this amazing j-drama trading site where he’s been dealing with Japanese dramas, music programs and movies for quite some time now, and it was through him that I was able to get my hands on  ALL 156  awesome episodes of my beloved Ge Ge Ge No Nyobo asadora…and ALL SUBTITLED, thanks to the busy folks over at NGN! YATTTTTAAA

Already dove right in because I just couldn’t wait (and quite truthfully have been going into withdrawals from lack of my sweetie Nao-Chan in my life!) and am already gaining momentum again…WHAT AN AWESOME SHOW THIS IS!!!!! 

The Highs and Lows of CoCo Stage Outfits

One of my Very Favorite CoCo Outfits: Budokan 1992

More Faves: The 1993 Deluxe Edition Concert

The other night Car was telling me about how much she disliked Kazunari Nino’s outfit during Ararshi’s performance of WISH on this past year’s MUSIC STATION SUPER LIVE, and of how despite this, she couldn’t stop watching it.

 I had to tell her that ugly oufits are about the biggest quirk I canNOT over look, and mentioned that there was a CoCo Live concert  where, during the last set,  I hated the girls’ outfits so much, I just couldn’t watch it. In fact, through the 15(!) years of Coco being one of my very favorite j-pop groups of all time, I probably haven’t watched that part of the concert more than 4 times.

The even MORE ironic thing is that  those outfits appeared during the last set of CoCo’s famed Budokan concert (Azusa’s Farewell show) and besides being my FAVORITE CONCERT from the girls, the first two sets that preceded the ugly ones are just about my FAVORITE outfits from them!

Fave Outfits: Set One of the Budokan Concert

Fave Outfits: Set Two of The Budokan Concert

Car said, you have GOT to upload those pictures so I can see your idea of a “good” outfit and a “bad” outfit. Remembering how much she hated most of Princess Princess’ stage costumes, I said, “Somehow, I think you’ll think even the GOOD outfits are crappy!” AHAHAHA But anyway, since I'd already screen-capped most of them, I figured it couldn't hurt!


So Here's the stuff...Here's an example of a GOOD Outfit, one of my faves from the Natsu 92 Concert:

 And right below, is the screencap of my LEAST favorite outfit of all time from the girls, one that dissuades me from EVER putting on side 3 of my CoCo Budokan Concert Laserdisc!

Drumroll, Please....

GAK! I don't know if you can see how awful those suits are in the last one. Looks like someone raided a Hotel Curtain closet for material. Sigh, It's too bad because they're singing the only live performance I have of "Tasogare Tsushin", a song I really like!!

A Happy Surprise on Shojiki Shindoi

Matsushita Nao on Domoto Tsuyoshi No Shojiki Shindoi

Been watching some of my older Kinki Kids TV shows (like the Shida Mirai one I just blabbed about earlier), and while going through my collection of Domoto Tsuyoshi No Shojiki Shindois, I came across an episode where I leapt up in excitement when I saw who the guest was!


Domoto Tsuyoshi No Shojiki Shinoi is a sort of free-form exploration show like Soko Ga Shiritai (in a sense), as each episode features Tsuyoshi and a guest going shopping or enjoying a new town or place, and then eating at some interesting establishment. The guests are ususally female guests so as to  give Tsuyo a "mock date" for that week's excursion, and it was always fun to see which actress or geinokai would show up next!


So I'm watching this one particular Shojiki Shindoi, and the show begins with his striding up to an outdoor cafe to meet his date/ co star, and who should be waiting at the table but Ms. GeGeGe herself, NAO MATSUSHITA!!!!! WOOOOOT!!!!  I couldn't WAIT to see what they were gonna do!

Compatible Color Outfits? LOL

First off, I have to say that Nao-chan was quite lovely-looking, with this pretty blouse and necklace, and they both had to laugh when Tsuyoshi remarked that their clothes looked almost color-coordinated, they matched so well! Ahhh~ was so much fun to see Nao being HERSELF, and I have to say that as Tsuyo went about town with her, I felt pangs of jealousy, for I wanted it to be ME taking her out on that date! AHAHAHAHA!

Nao-chan enjoys, Tsuyo is distracted...

Exploring the sights during a light drizzle

From an early unagi and rice meal to start out the day, stops at the various shops around the area, pulling over to get some green tea ice dessert, playing around with the marionettes at a specialty puppet shoppe and having a seafood nabe at a fancy restaurant then finishing up the trip with a hamburger steak dinner, it was a FULL day I wish I could have been a part of! 

Marionette Fun at the Puppet Shoppe

Nao-chan and her disarming laugh!

And what better way to wrap things up with a rousing game of Jenga! Tsuoyshi was his usual cool and laid back self, but it was sheer joy to watch cute Nao's face wrinkled with determination as she struggled through the nerve-wracking challenge; in the end the tower of blocks eventually came crashing down on her, which of course elicited even MORE adorable squeaks of surprise from her! God, I LOVE this girl!!!!

Jenga!!! Ganbatte, Nao-chan!!

CRASH! LOL

The discovery of this wonderful episode  was timely indeed, for besides being on my mind almost all the time lately, I  was to realize that today is in fact Nao-chan's BIRTHDAY!!! Yes, this adorable actress who stole my heart as Fumie Murai in that NHK Morning Drama turns 26 today!!! Omedetto, Nao-Chan!!

Kyoko Fukada: She's a Lady!!!

She's a Lady! The Still captivating Ms. Fukada

Watching an episode of SHIN DOMOTO KYODAI with the adorably precocious Shida Mirai as the guest, as the Domoto Brothers chatted up with the Hammer Session star, I happened to glance at the the back row of people sitting directly behind them, and was taken aback by how beautiful and grown up Kyoko Fukada was!

Shida Mirai with Yucali and a very gorgeous Fukakyon

Now, I've ALWAYS loved her since the first time her cherubic smile graced the cover of idol magazine BOMB waaaaaay back in the day, but I hadn't realized til I saw her sitting next to Shida Mirai how she had grown from this cheery chipmunky girl into this gorgeous WOMAN! WOW!

Never mind Koichi, look at that stunning woman behind him

There was even a cute segment where Shida Mirai wanted to pretend to be a guy and "hit on" Fukakyon, and her choice of word during the skit sums up my sentiments EXACTLY!!! AHAHAHA!

"You're So Pretty!!!" says an energetic Shida Mirai-chan

A Catch Before A Fall

Erika-chan on VS Arashi

Erika on the "Falling Pipe" Platform

While I wait for more subbed Episodes of Gegege No Nyobo to arrive, I dug up some of my older episodes of  the Arashi Game show VS ARASHI to wile away the time, and spent the day re-watching some of my favorite ones. By chance one of the episodes I viewed featured the cast of CODE BLUE who dropped in to participate in the "Falling Pipe" segment, and who should be the very first challenger but Erika Toda! Well, I just HAD to screencap her part because it was so funny and as you all know, Erika Toda is just the cutest thang!! 

Hmmm...Will she be alright? asks the Announcer.

The object of "Falling Pipe" is that the contestant stands in a cage of sorts with four poles surrounding them. At one point, two of the poles will drop multi-colored pipes down, and it's the guest's job to grab them as fast as possible before it can slip away! If you grab it at the very beginning of the pipe, you get a golden 100 points. If you're slower and grab further up, you get 50 points, and so on. Unfortunatley, you never know WHICH of the four poles will have the pipes, which the opponent has secretly chosen!

Nino limbers up for the challenge

Erika's first up to bat and is requesting that Nino take it easy on her, sweetly calling him  "oniichan" as if this might sway him into letting her breeze by, but Kazu has no mercy and sets up the pipes ready to win! Soon he's selected the secret poles and Erika tenses up for the pounce...

Which ones will the pipes fall from???!

Nino then begins to randomly ask her about various things to throw her concentration off, and when she least expects it, he releases the pipes!! SWOOSH! Down comes the pipes! And did she get one?

Gak! Here they come! 

YES!!! She managed to grab one of the pipes at the last moment! But looking at WHERE she grabbed, Erika is not so pleased at the low points she scored...a dismal 20 points...

20 Points? Is THAT ALL? Booooo!

And the look on her face as she sheepishly shuffles off the platform says it all! But she shouldn't have felt TOO bad... Later on , RYO did even WORSE!

Ehhhh...I sucked!

The only thing that could have made this episode better was if Aragaki Yui showed up, too, however, she was not among the six guest CODE BLUE actors that evening! Still, it was a very fun and entertaining one, and Erika-chan's still as cute as ever!

CODE BLUE Cast: Yamapi, Toda Erika, Ryo, et al...

Gegege No Mada Mada

Ahh, just finished watching episode #36 of Gegege No Nyobo, which was the last (so far) of the subtitled chapters that are available, and what an end it was! Though no more subs have so far come out, this latest chapter was a fine, fine way to wrap things up!

  Episode 36 just happened to finish on a very big arc in the drama, focusing on the first milestone in the newly-married couple’s lives, as Shigeru’s struggling manga KITARO finally gets relaunched with the promise of more orders to come! In this way, it still felt like I watched a “complete” story, that is, I didn’t feel like I was left hanging. It really felt like the end of the first movie in a series.

This concluding episode was so heartwarming and  touching, and I have to say that it even brought tears to my eyes! More than just the triumph of getting his manga published is the sweet and subtle way that, through  working together on the strip, the couple find themselves drawing closer and closer to each other, and it was so endearing to watch Shigeru letting Fumie help him with his work, and even now, looking at this screen cap of the two working side-by-sde makes me all misty-eyed!!

Such an AWESOME, AWESOME show, and I hope that I'm someday able to watch the entire drama!

More Notes on Gegege No Nyobo

Up to Week Six of Gegege No Nyobo, and already my heart is wrenching knowing that this is the last of the episodes that have been translated so far. The drama is so, so, good and  it’s even more frustrating that it's coming to a halt because the storyline has just been getting better and BETTER with every episode!

Nao Matsushita is such a dream, she breaks my heart in each and every scene she’s in, from  her puzzled expressions, open- mouthed surprise or her warm and radiant happy smile, I find myself falling more and more in love with her! I find that even in a scene where she’s simply sweeping the porch, I can rewind and watch over and over, so, so cute.

I get such a  warm feeling watching this show, and I realized it’s been giving me the same happy and overwhelming feeling I got when I was watching AGRI (the 56^th NHK Morning Drama starring Misato Tanaka as the titular heroine), and this is no small statement in that AGRI is my hands-down favorite, most beloved Japanese Drama OF ALL TIME, bar NONE! The fact that  Gegege No Nyobo manages to capture that same magic for me is truly amazing and wonderful!

There are, of course, many obvious reasons why the show reminds me so much of Agri, not least of which is that it’s a period piece based on a real-life person, but what really seems similar to me is the HEART of the show, especially regarding the overwhelming sweetness of the heroine. In that good-natured “No matter how hard things get I will keep a positive outlook and treat everyone kindly” way, in fact, Nao Matsushita ‘s Iida Fumie is very much like Misato Tanaka’s Agri Mochizuki.

Another thing I find similar is the themes they follow: Agri was a young girl who moved to Tokyo to marry eccentric writer Mochizuki Eisuke who seemed to neglect her as a wife, similarly, Fumie and Shigeru‘s relationship mirrors this, with Fumie moving to Tokyo to support Murai’s manga work and finding herself feeling left out.

And just as a lonely Agri found friends and support within the town’s local tavern and Setsuko, the woman who ran the bar, so does Fumie find solace in the town’s rental Manga Store with the shop’s owner Tanaka Michiko. And  I was thrilled to see that part of  Tanaka played by Matsuzaka Keiko, whom I’ve LOVED ever since she played the part of the equally motherly friend to Aoi Miyazaki as Ikushima in ATSUHIME!

Ahh-hh, All I can do is hope that the powers that be will continue to translate and sub this wonderful show. With only those first 6 weeks translated and 20 more weeks of episodes on my hardrive just WAITING for some good ol’ subtitles to adorn them, I’ll be taking a lesson in patience (and crossing fingers!!!)

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Uchida Yuki / TENCA Wo Torou! ~Uchida No Yabou~

Yuki Uchida’s happy and upbeat song TENCA WO TOROU! ~Uchida No Yabou~ was another single off of that very first J-pop mix that I got and though at the time it barely registered (that’s what happens when you’re sandwiched between ZARD and Chisato Moritaka), years later when I happened to play the cassette again, I was amazed how great and FUN this little tune really was!

Taken from a wacky comedy drama called “Hanjuku Tamago” and starring Uchida herself as on of three goofy sisters trying to get ahead in life, with the other two sisters being played by actress Ritsuko Tanaka, ( SAY, whatever happened to her…?) a really young and cute Rie Tomosaka as the baby of the family and Hiroko Shino as the slightly daffy, sarcastic and long-suffering mother!

 Tenca Wo Torou is one of those songs that REALLY matches the show and its’ wackiness, and after watching this clip of the show’s opening sequence once, I’m sure you’ll all agree with me!

I remember once when we all piled into a friend’s car on the way to the movies, and he began playing TENCA on his tapedeck. This made sense since he was the guy who made me that cassette tape with the Uchida Yuki song in the first place! Anyway, the song was blaring out and suddenly his wife turned and said, “I think Yuki Uchida is a REALLY pretty model and a VERY good actress… but I CAN’T STAND HER SINGING!! AHAHAHAHA, we ALL cracked up in the car on THAT one!!

 However her singing skills (or lack thereof), Uchida seems to be having great fun with this song, as evidenced by her cute performance of it on that year's RECORD TAISHO.  She seems to know it's a wacky song just for fun, and I love her inflections on the lines like "Maji Maji MAJI?!! "AHAHAHA!  Lucky! Lu—u-u-cky!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Globe / Feel Like Dance

Back in the days when CoCo ruled our worlds, just about the only way we got to see other j-pop acts was on Japanese Music programs like Music Fair, Pop Jam, and HEY HEY HEY Music Champ, and it was through watching the Top Ten countdown on the latter that we would get a grasp of what else was popular in the j-pop world.  One group that always seemed to appear regularly on the tops of the hitmaking charts was a strangely named trio called GLOBE.

Every time I would see them top the charts, I would ask Dan if he knew these guys, and he’d say quizzically, “No, but MAN they’re always number one on the countdown!!!” At the time, we didn’t know the man behind this group was Tetsuya Komuro, the guy behind another act we loved in TRF (which , naturally, stood for Tetsuya’s Rave Factory), but we KNEW this group had SOMETHING about them, they were so popular!

It wasn’t until much later that finally, my friend (who had made a  bunch of other great j-pop mixes) came through for me once again by including Globe’s latest single on his latest j-pop cassette mix! “Ah”, I said, “I’ve been WAITING to hear an entire song proper from these guys!” 

The song on the tape was called “Feel Like Dance”, and it was THEN that I could tell it was the same producer and songwriter behind my favorite TRF songs, because this peppy, danceable little tune sounded JUST like the best of Tetsuya’s rave factory like Boy Meets Girl and Crazy Gonna  Crazy! I loved it immediately, and immediately marched down to pick it up!

I would go on  to enjoy all the other singles that Globe had to offer: Departures, Freedom, Joy To The Love (heck, a lot of ‘em are gonna end up here on my favorite singles list!) and I just LOVE Keiko’s voice, but I never quite understood why that white guy (Mark) who did all the rapping spoke such crummy English! You may as well have kept DJ Koo at that point…!

Gakky on Himitsu No Arashi

Once again the fine folks over at Angeldevils have served up another interesting episode of the terrific HIMITSU NO ARASHI-CHAN, and this was one that I’ve been waiting to see translated for a WHILE now, because the VIP Room guest was none other than the adorable Aragaki Yui!!

The great thing about the VIP Room segment is that they always try to explore the guest’s little known side/private life, and when it’s someone like Gakky whom I know little about outside of her acting work, it was a real treat! 

Finding out things like how she has over 23 parkas, how she doesn’t like surprises and how she loves watching clips of goats that sound like humans (!) when she needs to relax, these were awesome little insights into her true personality!

This was timely indeed, as I’d just come from watching her in the incredible MY BOSS MY HERO, and though I don’t like bangs on a girl, somehow I made the exception for Yui-chan in that drama. Imagine how delighted I was seeing Gakky appear in the VIP Room with this luscious, long hair! Oooh, she looked soooo yummy!!! And with the addition of the pretty dress she was wearing, I just could. Not. Stop. Taking. Screenshots!!!

This was a total win-win episode for me filled with great beauties, because not only did the VIP Room segment feature Yui Aragaki, the second half of the show was the Arashi Ranking Derby, and among the guests was the smolderingly beautiful Kuroki Meisa as one of the judges (my GOSH this woman is GORGEOUS!)…

And the Main Race Ranking for “Who Would You Want To Go On A Date With? Was none other than another fave actress of mine (and, like Aragaki-san, a past Crush of the Day, to boot!) Aibu Saki!!! As usual she brought her cheerful and sparkling personality to the show, SO much fun to see her again!!!

Ahhh, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Himitsu No Arashi-Chan has GOT to be one of the most INTERESTING ways to see models and actresses that I love …the “corners” (or rather, segments) that they appear in are created in a way where the girls can relax a bit and really “be themselves”, and one can’t HELP but come away loving them just a little bit MORE!! 

Crush Of The Day: Matsushita Nao

Nao Matsushita in Gegege No Nyobo

Ge! Ge! GeGeGe No Geeeeeee!

As predicted, it only took me the rest of the week's episodes to totally fall in love with Matsushita Nao and her achingly sweet portrayal of Iida Fumie in the NHK Asadora GEGEGE NO NYOBO. She is SUCH a SWEETHEART that in only a few episodes, I was completely and utterly smitten with her!!!

I don’t know if Nao Matsushita is the kind of actress that you’d call a “raving beauty”, but she’s definitely pretty enough, and when you add that wholesome and pure charm she exudes to the mix, you get a girl that you’d want to scoop up and marry in an instant!! Never mind how “tall” she is!!! Who in their right mind would turn down an omiai because of her height?! That’s nuts!

If you’ve been following my interest in Nao Matsushita, you know that I first realized how attractive she was during her stint as co-host (along with Johnny’s Jimusho ARASHI) of this year’s Kohaku Uta Gassen. 

Kohaku Uta Gassen 2010

As I noted in that earlier post, she seemed to get cuter and cuter as the night went on, and by the time the show ended, I REALLY wanted to get my hands on Gegege No Nyobo and check it out! (I suppose it didn’t hurt that they were showcasing the drama, with guest appearances by Ren Osugi and Osamu Mukai as well as a clip/preview of the show itself!)

The drama started out promising enough with a young girl playing the younger Fumie, but the show REALLY grabbed my attention when Episode 7 came up and Nao made her first appearance! Wide-Eyed and innocent, I  KNEW I was gonna fall hard for her, she was such a CUTIE!!! Plus, she’s such a Good Girl, it breaks your heart when bad things happen to her- you really want to just hug her and cheer her on! And Hug Her! Yeah!

I really thought this was the very first drama I’d seen Nao in, but imagine my SURPRISE when I read Hamanosilence’s blog and found that she’d appeared in RYOKITEKI NA KANOJYO before! WHAAAAT!!!! I couldn’t believe it- She was in that drama? I didn’t remember her at ALL!

Then , thinking HARD upon it, it HIT ME!! She was Tsuyoshi Kusanagi’s childhood friend who was the original “love interest” until naughty Rena Tanaka came along to kick THAT romance to hell! Sadly, Nao’s character is a victim of unrequited love , as she gets brushed off in favor of the Sassy Girl herself!

in Ryokiteki Na Kanojyo

That was quite a revelation to know I’d seen a WHOLE drama with her in it BEFORE Gegege No Nyobo, because for me, I’ve  REALLY come to accept her as Fumie Iida, rather I should say, I believe she’s just like that character in real life! AHAHAHA!

I’m crossing fingers that this drama will continue to be translated and subtitled by the powers that be, for it’s only been subbed up to week Six so far, and it would be such a tragedy if  the show was dropped ‘casue no matter HOW MUCH I love the asadora, I just wouldn’t be able to follow it without subs!