Akai Ito

No food post for today but a japanese drama promo! Akai Ito - catch the review here and be sure to watch this show- have a good weekend everyone.

Last Friends

Very productive today. Not only reviewed food but manage to review a dorama. Watched Last Friends recently. Click here to read review. My photoshop skills are improving. I love the ethereal feel of the picture above. :)

Zettai Kareshi

Ok, weekend watching for those who are not going out anyway. Do grab zettai kareshi and pack some tissues with you for this one. I like this one :) Yes i am sucker for soppy movies at times.

Sky Of Love

This is a good movie but it is pretty sad. Read about it here. Remind me next time to read spoilers first before buying the movie. Would have save a lot of trees last night.

Nodame Cantabile

This is not a food blog but a J-drama review~ yes, when the cat is bored, one watches J-dorama. Much better than Korean dramas ( don't kill me but there is too much crying involved ) japanese serials are more gritty, funnier sometimes and it's amazing everything can be squeezed into 7-10 episodes. HK dramas should take note. Well, i can't diss Hong Kong series too much, i do get addicted to some...

This dorama is recommended by my colleague YY, who is a fan of j-dorama and k-doramas. A big thanks to her, cos' i really love this dorama and i am waiting for the anime to come out eagerly.

A lot of mangas (comics) have been translated to either animes or doramas' recently and Nodame Cantabile is one of them. This one is based on a manga written by Tomoko Ninomiya. Comes highly recommended by a lot of people.

Now, it's about 2 people who are studying music in Uni, who are complete opposites of each other. Chiaki Shinichi, the main male lead, is neat, precise and a bit of a up tight fella at times, while Nodame Megumi ( hey that's my name in japanese ) is the total opposite. Untidy, ( she doesn't bathe very often ), quirky and with a fondness of stealing people's lunch boxes, she meets up Chiaki one day ( being neighbours ) and she falls in love with him. You actually see "hearts" popping out of her.. Chiaki on the other is not impressed with her but when he sees her playing the piano and her passion for it, it is the start of an unusual friendship.

The dorama feels like a live action anime, complete with er.. people flying around, proper anime sound effects.. LOL, sometimes i could not help laughing out a loud. It is also reminded me of my music classes i took when i was small. To be honest, i played about 60% of the songs in this show, however, not as good as the people inside.

The characters are actually a gem, they each have their own personality and can be amazingly funny! I love the gay guy ( Masumi ) who has a serious crush on Chiaki. His afro hair is funny(especially the part where it "pops" up) and it is good to see that he and Chiaki became good friends after. :)

Nodame herself is a gem, albeit the fact she does not shower often. Please watch out for the farty song bit. Hilarious!

Funniest Episode: Eto Sensei doing the farty dance.
Most touching moment: When Chiaki realizes that Nodame is more than just a friend. Aww...
Most strange character: Franz Stresemann he speaks japanese with a foreign accent, i ended up speaking japanese with that same strange accent for the next few days.

This will turn you into a j-dorama fan. If you don't really like it, watch it for the songs, they are well performed.

Dorama- Tokyo Tower 2007

I bought this dorama with trepidiation. Hayami Mokomochi? Eh... Pretty good looking guy but acting wise- still a long way to go. If you cannot recall what show he acted in - Think RONDO- evil brother, and Brother Beat

Not expecting much - i just plugged the DVD in and started to watch. Well i am hooked. I thought it was Mokomichi acting like in brother beat -yes, he did but then he had greater depth this time around. The premise of the story is a young boy and his mother trying to strike it out on their own after both parents divorced. Mokomichi- playing Nakagawa Masaya ( ma-kun), choices to follow his mother. The japanese women normally are not really accepted back home after divorces, so poor ma-kun's mom ( called Okan here ) struggles to keep more than one job to take care of him.

It's a pretty sad story and very inline with mother's day last week. Ma-kun, all grown up, is typical of young adult, thinking his mom is nothing but a pure embarassment for him. Hm.. remember the time you felt your mom was the same? Bet all kids tot the same. Mokomichi plays the spoilt ma-kun to aplomp till sometimes i wanted to smack him sometimes.

Okan- is selfless- no matter what Ma-kun does to her, she still thinks only of him and that her son is perfect in all aspects. The story takes you through Ma-kun's trial in life such as graduation, getting a job in Tokyo and through all their trials in life. Ma-kun realises the sacrifices his mom and his grandmother put through to make sure he has a good life ahead.

Wont spoil everyone's fun by giving out so many details but do check out. Sometimes you may see some of yourself in this show. :D Tissues are required.

The theme song is quite nice- Sang by the people who did the theme song for Ruri No SHima. The song is called Tsubomi by Kobukoro.

No pics this time :|

Karei Naru Ichizoku

Directly translated it means Wealthy Clan. This is a dorama from TBS which stars my all time fav Takuya Kimura. First saw him in Long Vacation and it was love at first sight. Been his fan since 2000 and it's like 7 years already!

The story is based on a novel of similar title. The Manpyo clan is extremely rich yet is a family filled with lies, deceit, mistrusts among the family members. Takuya plays Manypo Teppei, the oldest son in the family, who has his own steel factory. Daisuke the father, runs the Hanshin banks in Kobe. Teppei and Daisuke are always at logger heads because of this hatred Daisuke had for the grandfather - keisuke.

The shows follow the storyline whereby Teppei wants build the best steel factory in Kobe- however faces may obstacles from his dad who secretly works behind his back to ensure he fails

It is one of TK's stellar performance as the cool and controlled Teppei. I am not going to say much about this show as you need to watch it. Think all rich people are happy? Think again. The ending will shock you. Go get it. The desperado song playing through out the show is suited for it.

Ningen no Shoumei ( Proof of Man)

This is a very old dorama- dated in 2004. Was recommended by YY to watch this dorama. I bought it in one of the shops in low yat- was on the same floor with the hand phone shops ( i think ). But you can get this dvd in most video shops.

Ningen no Shoumei - ningen means Man, shoumei means proof. It sounds like a scientific dorama but actually it is a detective story. Starring Yutaka Takenouchi and a host of season Japanese actors. The man who played the grandpa in Ruri no Shima stars in this movie. Also stars Matsuzaka Keiko who plays Tokiko in Yoshitsune. (Btw: Dorama Wiki says she is of korean ethnicity) .

Story starts of with a murder of a black man in Odaiba. His last words were "Stora-ha". Yutaka stars as Munesue Ichiro, a police man who investigates the death of this black man. The black man- called Johnny Edwards was found with no identification, no money, no passport seeming just appeared in Tokyo. What was his purpose here? Munesue and team tries to find out why. Munesue is actually a lone cop but when transferred to the Central HQ department, is paired up with a seemingly bumbling cop called Yokowatari.

At the same time, there is a second story running about a middle age lady, Kouri Kyoko ( plated by Matsuzaka ) who runs for election when her husband is hospitalized. She seems like the perfect candidated- a housewife, well groomed and educated and a mother of 2 children, but there seems to be a past of hers that is now catching up with her.

The show is shot in parts of Tokyo and parts of US. Yutaka actually goes to US to meet up with some of his counterparts to find out more on Johnny Edwards.

I must say i am totally impressed with this show. I actually finished this show within 2 days as it was exteremely addictive. It doesnt look attractive to begin with but it was good! Firstly, it is the cast, there is blend of younger japanese actors as well as the older japanese characters which i feel are great. Kudos to Matsuzaka- she plays a really cold hearted person very well. Benefit her cool and calm facade, the "evil" person she plays here is excellent! I also like how Yokowatari and Munesue in the end paired up pretty well. Yokowatari - stood up for Munesue when everyone thought he was a hothead and a liability to the department.

I am not fangirl-ing Yutaka here but i feel he is one Japanese actor that has the most potential. Everyone talks about Ken Watanabe but they should start looking at Yutaka. Firstly- like in my last review of Kazuko- he is willing to take on roles that shows his talent and is not those of the pretty boy looks kind. Munesue's character is one with alot of anger and pain. As a young boy, he watched how his father got beaten to death by American troops that stopped in the port town he was saying. Since then, his was always looking out for the guy who beat his father to death. I must say this is the saddest part of the show. Can he put aside his anger and hatred and be a better person? Watch it to find out more!.

The whole story of Johnny, Munesue and the Kouri family are all tied up together, leading to a final discovery of who Johnny Edward really is.

One more thing- Yutaka showcases his english here. Initially i expected his english to be very thick with the Japanese accent but no, suprisingly he is good. Very smooth with a hint of american accent.

Do i recommend you watch it? Yes. Good story of what people will do to actually keep up appearances. It also deals with the past history of American trops in Japan. Still a sore subject for a lot of people. Good show with good actors and good story line. I like the bit where yutaka says "No one deserves to die".

Suprisingly - i can't find any much screenshots for this show. This one, i took from someone's blog ( thank you)

Kazoku (Family)

Long before I started watching Anime, i used to watch Doramas alot. My very first Dorama was Oshin. Dubbed in BM that time, that was the best thing i could get from the local channels. I think in the year 2001, TV3 decided to show Long Vacation and I started rewatching again! Wow... That got me hooked on Takuya Kimura and the likes of Yutaka Takenouchi.

Since then, i never stopped watching doramas. Am particularly picky on what i watch on Dorama and i only watch specific actors and actresses. Yutaka happens to be one that i watched most of his shows. He started out with more romantic doramas like With Love and growing up doramas like Beach boys. But he has slowly become quite an accomplished actor with good shows like Rondo, Ruri no Shima and my current favourite Kazoku.

He stars as a 35 year old family man with a wife and small child ( son ) who spends most of his time at work. His wife, ever so patient, struggles to keep some sense of family life with a husband that is seemingly more obessed with his work than his family. The final straw is broken when Yutaka's character Ryohei decides to take the family overseas without consulting his wife on how she feels. Satomi ( the wife) decides to leave Ryohei, moves out of the house with Yuto. Yuto however decides he loves his dad more and decides to stay with him. Ryohei has to learn how to care for a 5 year old from scratch. From bathing, cleaning and to cooking his lunch boxes for him.

During that time, he meets a widower Saeki-san ( Shin-chan) who used to work in his previous company ( and whom he also retrenched ). He works in the same kindy as Yuto goes to school to and teaches Ryohei about not missing out on his child growing up. Ryohei, having to learn how to care for his son soon realizes that his wife did not have it easy taking care of the child.

It's quite a good dorama compared to what i have seen over the year. Basically, it is a story common in every country. Husband out working all the time, wife left alone at home with the kid feeling a little bit unappreciated. Basic moral of the story is - keep your family close. Dont miss out on oppurtunities with your family otherwise you never know when it is gone.
Yutaka and Watari Tetsuya ( Saeki-san) pull in good performances here. In the first few episodes, i really didnt symphatize with Ryohei's character- I actually thought he was a bit of a MCP. But his character grows on you. You see him struggling to bring up a kid and especially when the took menial jobs to earn money for his boy. I never really mentioned about Ryohei's wife. She's the lady who acted in Pride as Haru's coach's wife. Initially, I was ok with her, some where in the middle, she really didnt get to me when she only could care for herself and not for a little boy. But then, it is understandable as she had to put up with years of Ryohei making decisions only by himself and ignoring her and Yuto completely at times.
Funny Moments- Octopus sausages :) Sad moments - Yuto trying to understand what happens to his parents. Recommended to watch: Yes- and tissue is required :)

P/S: The pictures/charts are taken from TV Asahi website. Thank you very much.