Holy CRAP, I just blew through half of the 10-episode suspense drama Ghost Writer in ONE SITTING! Those who know me know that I’m usually not one to watch so many episodes at once (I prefer to pace myself and watch one episode per day and give some time to think about it), but this show had me firmly attached to the edge of my seat from the minute it began, and before I knew it I had gone through FIVE episodes in a ROW!
Risa Tono and Assistant (and ghost writer) Yuki Kawahara
Thankfully, Episode 5 ended on such a stunning cliffhanger that felt like the end of “Part One” and so before I began “Part Two”, I thought it was a good time to stop for the day, catch my breath, and write up this piece full of GHOST WRITER gushing!
Innocent Newbie Writer Yuki Kawahara
Veteran Celebrity Writer Risa Tono
Starring Nakatani Miki and Mizukami Asami, Ghost Writer tells the tale of a struggling newbie writer named Yuki Kawahara (Mizukawa) who, after years of trying to “make it” in Tokyo without success, is about to give up, marry, and move back home. But a chance meeting with her idol, the hugely successful writer Risa Tono (Nakatani) puts her right in the middle of where the action is, and she ends up working as Tono’s assistant.
What Kawahara is shocked to find out, however, is that Risa Tono, besides being a cold, selfish, and manipulative woman, is suffering from writer’s block and has been running on fumes for the past few years. She sees potential in Kawahara’s writing, however, and, under the guise of “nurturing” her, begins to use her writing in her own pieces. Soon Kawahara is working in the shadows as Tono’s ghost writer, and here’s where things really heat up!
Tono’s agent (the always weaselly Tanaka Tetsushi) is an unscrupulous man who believes only in money and plays the two women against each other to his own advantage-using naive and innocent Kawahara’s writing to boost expired Tono’s writing slump and making each one believe the other is acting only for his own benefit.
The "Always-Up-To-No-Good" Tanaka Tetsushi
Soon the two women have a psychological game going on between each other and MAN! Do these two chicks GIVE IT to each other!!!! Risa think Yuki's only in it to advance her own writing career, Yuki thinks Risa's using her because she's washed up as a writer. As each camp tries to figure out what the other 's ultimate plans are, they pull underhand moves on each other, til you don't know WHO the "right" person is and who the "wrong" party is! All they DO know is that when the two of them are working together, they produce best sellers!
Such an awesome show- both Asami Mizukawa and Miki Nakatani are just AMAZING at their jobs-every scene with them is so damn brilliant!! In addition, the show is helped by a really great supporting cast, including Miura Shohei as a literary agent who befriends Yuki, Kimura Midoriko as Tonou’s able secretary/manager and OH MY GOSH, the seductive and succulent Nanao as Oda’s co-worker Tsukada in the publishing house.
Miura Shohei as Oda
Nanao as Tsukada and Miura Shohei as Oda
Aw man, I’m REALLY fighting to urge to watch MORE of the Ghost Writer but I really should pace myself , if ONLY to make this GREAT drama last a little LONGER!
As I mentioned in the previous post, one of the GREAT perks of watching the awesome drama Ghost Writer is having the luscious model-cum-actress NANAO there to tantalize my eyes! Damn, I was already drooling for her way back when I saw her in “Snow White Murders” and now I get to see this little vixen all dolled up and dressed to the nines in EVERY FREAKING EPISODE!!! Hot DAMN!
Yep, every episode, I was just, screencapping, screencapping, screencapping! After being dazzled by Nanao's sultry looks, I HAD to go online and see if I could find out more about this lovely lady's MODELLING past...would there be Bikini pictures of the former Ms. Arai in those google searches? A quick peek told me HELL YES!!! Oh MAN is she a STUNNER!
Hmmm, I've just GOTTA get ahold of some of her Gravure DVD's... Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com
Usually the way it goes is that whenever I get a new K-Pop song that sounds interesting, I’ll throw it in a folder on my desktop and then when I have enough tracks, I put them together and make mixes to listen to while I drive around, and that’s how I learn a lot of the new songs and groups (especially ones that are not as well known or promoted).
FlaShe: SuA, GoUn, Narae and Yeji
Sometimes I’ll be listening to a mix and will be taken by a certain song- even though I’ve head the mix a few times, at that instance, something about it will simply captivate me and I’ll have to hit the replay button and think, “HUH! This is a really GOOD song!” Folks may remember this is how I first really got into AOA with their song “Moya”… though I knew songs from them before, it was THAT song that “did it” for me, and I became a big fan of theirs! As you may have noticed in recent posts, I have been becoming more and more a fan of newer rookie groups because of their catchy “j-poppy” sound (and looks, heh) with artists like Year 7 Class 1 and their song “White Wind”...
Year 7 Class 1 / White Wind
Well, I’ve been listening to my newer mixes and once again, the songs that have leapt out and me and made me instantly love them have been poppy songs from new-ish Rookie girl acts! Loving the tunes, I then went on Youtube and downloaded some performances of the groups doing the songs and have fallen in love with these groups! Besides Year7 Class1, the Rookie Groups and songs that I’m REALLY LOVIN’ Right now are:
FlaShe/My Day
As you can tell by this entry’s header pic, Flashe are pretty much the group I'm most excited about, at least right now! Whenever this song would come on when I played my mixes, I’d think, “Man these girls sound like an 80’s J-pop Idol group!” Such a joy to see such happy and energetic girls, and the cute dance moves really make the song! They are performing on the Migliore Stage, the same place where Crayon Pop performed “Bar Bar Bar” for the first time (or at least that I saw)
Sonamoo / Just Go (Ganeungeoya) Such a sweeeet, catchy and SOULFUL song, I was thrilled when I looked them up and found out Sonamoo was the new TS Entertainment group I’d been hearing about! They are SECRET’S little sisters! They are a LOT more innocent and cutesy than Secret, though, so they are very different in that regard! Actually, all of Sonamoo's songs have been pretty terrific, (definitely a group to keep an eye on) but this one is by far my fave! I’m embedding their introductory Dance Practice video so you can get to know the members as well!
GFriend / My Buddy The fourth fave new rookie song sadly has no video or live performance attached to it as it’s an album-only track, but it is such a great, heartfelt song , and in fact, it’s the closing song on my latest K-pop mix! Already saw how adorable Yerin was with her guest appearance on Running Man, and have been enjoying seeing GFriend perform their new song "Me Gustas Tu", but OH HOW I WISH they would perform My Buddy live onstage!
Ahhhh, all of these songs are so great- this should tide me over til f(x) EVER gets around to finishing their upcoming album...what's TAKING them so FREAKING long???!!! Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com
Back when my friend Dan-O was introducing me to J-pop, the ruling Idol group du jour was Pony Canyon’s CoCo and so the few CDs and singles he owned of other artists really stand out to me. Among them was Judy And Mary’s Orange Sunshine, East End Yuri’s “Da Yo Ne” (LOL) and a few releases by pop duo Wink. One of those albums was one called “Voce”, and he made a cassette tape of the album for me, telling me that perhaps I might enjoy it as much as CoCo. Well, nothing could substitute CoCo for me, but by golly, that Voce album was a fine, fine album indeed! DanO also had a Music Video collection by Wink which turned me onto a few of their singles that I ended up really liking (as recounted here), and at first I was disappointed that none of the songs were on this CD. But they were so cool and catchy and the girls voices so sweet and smooth, I DID end up loving that album a LOT!
A few months later I was in a band that did covers of j-pop songs, and at our initial meetings, everyone was invited to suggest songs for the band to do. The members came up with songs leaning more towards rock, (with acts like Luna Sea and Lindberg) so I was met with befuddled looks when I told them I wanted to do a couple of songs from Wink. WINK! Yep, THAT’S how much I loved them by then!
Wink: Sachiko and Shoko
The songs I wanted to do were “Sore Wa KISS De Hajimatta” and “Please Please Me”, both from the aforementioned Voce album.As the latter title suggest, these were VERY Beatles-influenced tunes, with bright, jangly guitars and Sachiko and Shoko’s soaring vocals layered above. I figured once they heard it, they’d see what potential these songs had, they were so freaking GOOD!
Sorewa KISS De Hajimatta:
Please Please Me:
Unfortunately, the stigma of doing "IDOL" songs was too much for my fellow bandmates to get past, and in the end, I couldn’t convince anyone to DO any of the songs. I DID get some kind of validation though, when one day, I overheard the singer talking to the guitarist- I heard her ask him, “So... did you ever hear those Wink songs Z wanted to do?”, to which he laughingly replied “Ehh, they were alright.” LOLOL To this day, Sorewa KISS De Hajimatta and Please Please Me are still some of my most favorite J-pop tracks out there! A year or so later, Princess Princess would release a song called “Seishun Daydream” that was quite similar to “Please Please Me”, leaving me to realize that this Beatlesy Song structure was a oft-used and loved passage! Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com
Blerg, in a move that many predicted, Sulli has officially left f(x). I guess that news of all five members returning to the studio was only a pipe dream (and like a fool, I believed it!!!) Thankfully (at the moment) Victoria is still in the group...her recent non-appearances for their Japanese release push (citing health issues) had me worried that f(x) may be down to their core three members! Sulli will focus on her acting while the other four continue as f(x). And what is UP with their new album? So far, so LITTLE news on THAT front! And in other news, Jessica has officially left SM Entertainment, many are sad, but truthfully I was really nervous when she was let go from Girls Generation but was still contractually obligated to obey SM's directives. So much more relieved that she can now do whatever her plans require freely. Whether the fashion industry or a new singing career, wishing the best for her! Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com
Recently found out about the most insanely hilarious Japanese Animated series called GHOST STORIES (Gakko No Kaidan). While a fairly serious “School Kids Fighting Ghosts in School” type of show a la Kindaichi no Shonen Jikenbo, it is the American translated, dubbed version that is all the roar lately! Usually the English Company is given scripts to work from for each episode, but when American distributors Animax acquired the series, none was included. Apparently the series actually hadn’t done very well in its initial run and when they contacted Japan about the details, were given carte blanc to write whatever they wanted…and did they ever!
Upon hearing that they could do whatever they wanted to the source material, they decided to turn this run of the mill and highly clichéd Ghost Story show into a virtual parody of itself with self-aware characters (“Is this the first or second time we’re ripping off The Ring?”), totally un-PC personalities and scripts filled with crass f-bomb loaded dialog, I’m telling you, this stuff was freaking HILARIOUS!
Even funnier is that every single voice actor here is part of the real anime network, so the voices spewing out all this silliness are “legitimate” voices that you've heard in "real" shows talking! Watching interviews with Chris Patton (Hajime) and Rob Mungle (Amanojyaku), all veterans of the animation voice over field, every single one of them happily said it was some of most fun they ever had!
Over time the notorious Ghost Stories English Dub has developed a cult-like following and its DVD release was more successful than the original Japan version! Going onto the web, so many of the lines from the dub have become classics, for me, the single greatest line has to be when they had a character with his initial “V” on his shirt, he announces to the Class“The V on my sweater stands for Very Big Deal...but that’s beside the point.” Oh my GOSH, too funny!
Just started watching the Jdrama Katagoshi No Koibito, and oh my GOSH, it is a HILARIOUS romp! Though released in 2006, this show has a real “classic” feel to it that feels like I would have seen it in my “golden era” of J-drama watching in the mid-90’s and this ensemble cast (led by the sturdy Ryoko Yonekura) is everything you'd want in a drama- great characters that you just love, played by great-looking actresses (and actors) and a freaking awesome, witty script that gives the cast terrific things to say and creates such great scenes!
Ryoko Yonekura as Moe and Saki Takaoka as Ruriko
Ryoko Yonekura may be playing the best role I’ve ever seen of hers, an extremely likeable, fun and SEXY lady named Moe, but it’s Saki Takaoka as her ditsy best friend Ruriko who steals each and every scene she is in for me- this is the most fun, playful and ADORABLE I’ve ever seen her in ANY drama so far!
Truthfully, until I saw her in Katagoshi No Koibito, I’d thought Saki could only play serious and bleak roles, but HOLY CRAP as the cloying and mischievous Ruriko, she is hitting every high note in my affection register and by episode three, I was totally convinced- I freaking LOVE her!
Mmm, Lookin' Good!
Like Minami had Momoko in Long Vacation, every cool, strong and assertive woman needs her girlishly silly best friend, and Moe surely has hers with Ruriko, a VERY spacey girl who is very meddlesome with Moe’s affairs, very insecure about her OWN lovelife, and VERY attached and “clingy” to Moe. They are two best friends who are always bickering with each other, and I mean to tell you, It. Is. freaking. dialog. GOLD!
"You say Whaaaa?"
Man, Saki Takaoka is sooo freaking CUTE in this show, So beautiful and “bimbo-ish”, playful, coy and OOOOHHH, when she wrinkles her nose and produces that eye-smile, I just DIE!
Ruriko's Adorable Eye Smile
Watching it, you can’t help but think, man, THIS is the character that Satomi Ishihara was going for in her sluttily spacey role of Saeko in Shitsuren Chocolatier” , every action, gesture and nuance is PURE Ruriko!
Ruriko with Takashi (Sano Kazuma)
Above and Below: With Husband Nobu (Masaru "Facemaker" Nagai)
So the year was 1999, and at the time I think the only dramas I’d seen Saki in were Pure and Hitonatsu No Proposal, both playing homey and demure girls. Honestly I didn’t know her that well, but my image of her was as a sweet, quiet young girl -at the time I hadn't even known of her idol/singer beginnings! Just a regular gal.
As Machiko in Pure (1996)
with Takahashi Katsunori in Pure
Pure
So anyway, at this time I had just purchased the new photobook from idol group CoCo member Mikiyo Ohno called “True Blue”, published by Bunkasha Books. While perusing its pages, in the middle of the photobook, there was a glossy pamphlet that looked like a catalog. Wani Books would regularly insert such things into their books, so I wasn’t surprised to see one there- But I WAS intrigued because all the cover of the booklet showed were the words:
One, Two, Three…
What was this, some kind of countdown? Countdown to WHAT?
Oh My GOD Holy Jumping JESUS!!! After regaining my composure, I flipped to the back of the leaflet and was stunned to find that this nubile waif clad au naturel was none other than Saki Takaoka! What! This busty bombshell was that shy, mousey girl so in unrequited love with Takahashi Katsunori in PURE? Holy TOLEDO, who KNEW she had such a ROCKING figure under those proper outfits!!! DAMN, I had to find out MORE about this book!!! Though I didn’t know names at the time, I was to later find out that the person who shot the photobook was Kishin Shinoyama, the same man credited with shooting the infamous Rie Miyazawa book “Santa Fe” (I’d find out he’d shot other great books, as recounted here), but all I knew was that this was one of the FIRST Japanese celebrities I knew that had done a nude Shashinshuu, and that I HAD to get it!
My KishinShinoyama books Rie Miyazawa, Riona Hazuki & Saki Takaoka
Well, back in the days before the internet, I wasn’t as connected as we all are today: when One, Two, Three got initially released, I wasn’t able to get it. In fact, it wasn’t until they re-released it in paperback form (a bit smaller, but with bonus photos not included in the original book) with Kishin Shinoyama’s “Accident” Series that I was able to buy it! And it wasn’t until even later that I FINALLY found a copy of the original Hardcover release of that Saki Takaoka Book to call my very own!
Ahhh, Saki!!! Now that I’m watching Katagoshi No Koibito and am all in ga-ga love with you, I am SO FREAKING GRATEFUL that I have your Shashinshuu in my collection! Really, I think I’d be DYING right now if I had to scramble to get a copy NOW (though, with the internet it would probably be a LOT easier a time than before!) But part of me is a little bummed that the unrobed beauty in the book doesn’t look anything like you look as the babe-a-icious Ruriko, now THAT would be worth fighting for all over again!
