Hyouchakusha~ "Drifter"

 A naked man (Takumi Saito) washes up on shore with no memory of who he is or where he came from. Upon being discovered, he utters the words “Winner take Nothing” before passing out.

When it is discovered that the quotes come from a book, he is dubbed Hemingway, after the author. With help from the girls who found him (Shiori Yoshida, Nao Ota, Kyoka Sumida), they use social media to alert the public to him in an effort to identify him. However, no one seems to know him.

At the same time Hemingway is in the news, a crime spree is also happening- a serial killer has been abducting and murdering young girls, and the latest missing child’s Mother is frantic.
While in his hospital bed, Hemingway’s hands sketch out an abstract scene of water and a child underground. When the girl is found, they are shocked to see that his drawing predicted the girl’s whereabouts perfectly!

Thus he is brought to the attention of the police (Namase Katsuhisa and Junki Tozuka) who suspect this man may have something to do with the abductions, and journalist Emi Shintani (Mai Shiraishi) who feels that there is something deeper to the story. And as they dig, they find themselves deeper and deeper into a bigger conspiracy…

Just began watching Hyouchakusha and it is an interesting one so far though it seems to me the sketch pad scribble prediction thing has been used many times before...We'll see where this one goes....

Notes on "First Love"

 Caught the film "First Love" from earlier this year starring Keiko Kitagawa as Yuki Makabe, a psychologist specializing in child cases, who investigates the case of a young girl Kanna Hijiriyama (Kyoko Yoshine) who out of nowhere suddenly stabbed her Father to death with a knife, with no apparent motive.

To get to the imprisoned girl, Makabe must work with the girl's lawyer Kasho Anno (Tomoya Nakamura), and we learn the two have a history, one which may impede the case and the girl's upcoming trial.

A very interesting tale which, once it starts, keeps you interested til all the hidden secrets are revealed, not only with the accused girl, but with Anno, Makabe , and her husband as well!

Along with Kitagawa, Yoshine and Nakamura, we also have Yoshino Kimura as the girl's stand-offish Mother Akina Hijiriyama, and Yosuke Kubozuka as Makabe's photographer husband Gamon...

Was surprised how quickly this movie made it to the fansubbers since it just came out in february of this year- gives me some hope that the May 2021 Mei Nagano movie "Jigoku no Hanazono" will be making its way soon!!

More Okaeri Mone Gushing

 I know you all are pretty tired of seeing these Okaeri Mone posts, but this past week's chapter was yet another really great one! 

While the other week they focused on Mone's friends, family, and relationships, this week we are back at the Weathercaster  Station, and it was a gripping and slightly more serious one to see as Mone and her colleagues deal with the upcoming arrival of a typhoon as well as its inevitable aftermath.

I love how this week really spent time showing the characters in their element. In fact, for a huge part of this week's chapter, most of it was Mone working at her desk, computer, etc. taking her job very seriously and intently!

Like I mentioned before, Mone is constantly growing and becoming wiser  and we are right there alongside her!

I will try to back off so many Okaeri Mone posts, but when the show pleases as much as this one does, it's hard to stop!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

A Yumiko Shaku Sighting!

 We were listening to Namie Amuro’s Single Collection :”Best Fiction” this past weekend, and when it got to her excellent song “Baby Don’t Cry”, was asked, “So when was this single released?”, to which I replied, “So long ago that it was the theme song...for a Yumiko Shaku drama!”

The drama in question was of course her awesome 2007 show “Himitsu No Hanazono”, and it got me thinking about what ever happened to her! I think the last time I has seen her in a drama it was way back in 2012 as a guest in the MatsuJun/Eita action drama “Lucky Seven” and after that hadn’t seen her at all!

So it was with some excitement watching the just-subtitled penultimate episode of the fun “Dream Team” where they introduced the latest “angry co-star whom Sayaka Yamaguchi must win over” character , and it was played by none other than Ms. Yumiko Shaku herself!

As you can see, she’s still looking as lovely as ever and here’s hoping to see her appear in a bit more substantial role in the future!
PS: Sayaka is such a great actress- I’d mentioned before how she could command a sassy, no-nonsense look in “Radiation House”:

...and here in "Dream Team", manages to look completely lost and clueless as befitting her naive character, LOL!

PPS: What, they’re making a SEQUEL series to Radiation House???
Guess that show was more popular than i thought!!!