ギフト / Gift

GIFT

1997 11-episode, Fuji-TV comedy/thriller of sorts that starred (drumroll please) Kimura Takuya as Yukio/Takehiro - a hot dude with long, sexy hair he wears back in a ponytail while delivering things to clients, and then when the job is done, he removes the band to let the glorious mane fly free ^^;

I couldn't find a decent image of this drama to post here, so I found a pic of him from around that time period (he looks pretty much that way in the show).

At the start, the theme song took me by surprise when I heard Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music doing Tokyo Joe - nice touch!

But, then I began to resent the way, too long intro ten minutes into every episode but the last.
Also had viewing issues with this one at aznv.tv, which forced me to risk a computer virus having to watch this at disgustingly scary dramacrazy.net.

Pop-up paradise that website, and ad-laden to the hilt, too!

Every five, danged minutes (your movie will appear in 30, 29, 28 ...)

EF YOU!

I hate having to abandon aznv.tv, but for KimuTaku, I'll do anything  (*^.^*)

Anyway, if you haven't seen this one, or you've forgotten what it was about after all these years (LOL) - the story begins when a woman who's just stolen billions from some research facility is tracking down her boyfriend, who appears to have absconded with the loot.

When she arrives at his place, she follows a trail of blood to his room, opens a closet door, and out falls a naked and badly beaten (damn, that guys got amazing skin, huh?) Yukio, who now has amnesia and can't remember anything about his past, including his own name.

She takes him in and gives him the delivery job, all the while hoping he'll get his memory back and tell her where her long-lost lover has run away to, but 3 years pass where Yukio can't recall a thing still.

Each episode has him delivering a new and interesting item to a new and interesting character, but it isn't until the very end that we realize what each of those encounters is supposed to mean to Takehiro (his real name).

Someone at aznv.tv wrote a totally snarky comment about this being Japans sleazy way of offering soft-core to Take-kun's adoring fans, and as per usual, I couldn't DISagree more.

Yes, he was shown in black briefs and falling out of that closet numerous times, but c'mon now - do you honestly believe that was ALL they were trying to convey?

Grow up and get a life.

I know it's old news, and I know everyone is like WAY over him now, but ....... I LOVE THIS GUY!

Still haven't heard him sing, yet, though.

Anyway, Yukio eventually gains back his memory, and it isn't pretty what he discovers about his past, but the ending is a good one!

Here's a brief article I found while searching for a decent image of the drama, and I think you'll get a kick out of what he has to say.

Takuya Kimura
Written by Jack Herbert
The sexiest man in Asia
Takuya Kimura Actor/singer/TV star Takuya Kimura, popularly known as "Kimutaku", is a member of pop-group SMAP and Japan's biggest male star. He is regularly voted Asia's best-looking man and is a major sex-symbol in Asian gay culture.

However, he is an atypical heart-throb. In his frequent acting roles, he performs his own stunts, which hospitalised him after he fell onto some rocks in 1998.

The hysteria surrounding him might be dangerous, especially given his talent for "bad-boy" roles. His use of a butterfly knife in 1997 TV drama 'The Gift' allegedly prompted a spate of copycat attacks by disaffected teenage fans on teachers and other students.

Despite a macho image (by idol standards), he seems to have a curious fascination with cosmetics, which frequently feature in his TV commercials. He's also rumoured to carrying a bag of make-up at all times, and wear platform shoes to compensate for his teeny (167cm) stature.

In 2000, he married singer Shizuka Kudo, to the dismay of millions of Japanese girls (and a slightly smaller number of Japanese men). They have 2 children.

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Pride / プライド

2004 Fuji TV drama that stars Kimura Takuya as Satonaka Halu, a brash, overly confident but lonely and desperate young man who plays minor-league hockey for a living.





Y'know, I never gravitate toward sports-themed dramas or movies because aside from watching tennis on TV, sports has no appeal whatsoever -
yet, every time I watch one of these types of dramas or movies, I can't help but get sucked in both emotionally and figuratively until the very, last episode.

Everyone who reads my blogs knows all, too well that I only watch what I like, and if I recognize the name of someone I'm crazy about or madly HORNY for, I'll watch them in anything!

He wasn't the star, but Sakaguchi Kenji is in this one, so how could I possibly resist?


NOT a spoiler, so re-LAX


Halu (funny how his co-stars called him Ha-Ru) is super-popular, blindly followed by his peers, and the ace goal-scorer for the Blue Scorpions.
He's also cynical about life, love, and the pursuit of happiness, so he makes a 'game' of dating girls via 'contract' - assuring him of a no-strings relationship until he gets bored and wants to move on.

A girl who works at the head office of the local franchise, Takeuchi Yuko as Murase Aki, gets talked into joining her co-workers at the Face-Off bar near the office, and Halu easily spots another victim in her.
He moves in on her almost immediately, and since she is overly bored waiting for her boyfriend of two-years to return from overseas as he promised, she decides what the hell, I'll play along and accepts Halu 'contract' to pretend-date until the anticipated first-love eventually decides to return to Japan.

Aki hasn't heard from this guy in over two years, yet every, single Sunday she goes to a bridge and waits for him since that's where he asked her to meet him on the day he left her.

She's not into sports (like me) and at the first game she attends, instead of cheering for the team, Aki cringes every time a guy slams against the wall, flips over backwards onto the ice, or gets body-checked by an aggressive opponent (same way I'd do if I tried to watch a game that violent).

Halu scores a pretty impressive goal, though, and he skates up to the wall, staring at her until she uncovers her eyes, then pointing to his eyes, he gives her the signal to keep them open next time.
After the game, he hands her a molar that was knocked out during the game, totally creeping her out, but she takes the unexpected present, making Halu smile.

Aki has a friend who is determined to marry money, and by innocent mistake, Sakaguchi's (I totally love this name) Hotta Yamato borrows his rich buddy's sports car to take the girl home.
This gives her the wrong but exciting impression that HOT-ta is not only gorgeous but loaded as well, so naturally she wants him and decides to marry him right then and there.

HOT-ta just wants sex, though, but deep-down, he's a good boy with character, and it isn't until he falls in love with her that he takes her to a 'love' hotel.



The rich hockey player and flashy dude on the team is Ichikawa Somegoro as Ikegawa Tomonori, a playa with long hair and a sense of style who loves the ladies and drops c-notes like they are monopoly money.

As with a majority of Asian dramas, especially Japanese, EVERYone has a secret to hide and a sob story to tell.
Pride is no exception to this unwritten rule, and for 11 episodes we find out the secrets and stories of the key team players and the gals who adore them.

Sato Ryuta is Shimamura Makoto, the team clown and chicken-shit more interested in being close to Halu than participating in or even learning how to play hockey.
I love Sato, and in every drama or movie I've seen him in, he's always managed to tug at my heartstrings and make me say 'aw!' at least three times.

The guy from Kougen e Irrasshai, Sato Koichi, turns out to be the Blue Scorpion's replacement coach after their first coach ends up in the hospital.
Halu doesn't like him one bit, having grown up with and hero-worshipped the old coach, so the two clash almost every time they meet.

Yes, Halu starts to have deeper feelings for Aki and vice versa, and of course the latent boyfriend decides to return from overseas at the most inopportune of times!

Snobby girl finds out eventually that HOT-ta isn't the rich guy she dreamed of marrying, too.

Richy Rich Tomonori gets in trouble by being accused of knocking up a high-school girl, and when sad-ass Makoto ends up getting dropped from the team, his hero Halu doesn't come to his defense or even argue about it with the coach he loathes.

Snobby girl ends up falling for a 'real' rich guy who also happens to play on an opposing team the Blue Scorpions are doubtful they'll be able to beat in the championship games, and HOT-ta goes out of his way to beg the rich guy not to use her as a 'mistress' instead of marrying her.

Yea, that's how he ends up in a pool of blood, but I sure as heck ain't telling you how or what happens afterward!

Even the new coach ends up with a few secrets and stories to tell, though he remains an aloof hard-ass throughout the drama, he's still got a lot to say and even more to bring to the table in this excellent, 11-episode jaw dropper.

This is how it ends ...

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Long Vacation / ロングバケーション

1996 Fuji TV drama that starred Takenouchi Yutaka, Toyohara Kosuke, and Kimura Takuya.

Kimura plays Sena, an aspiring pianist recently graduated from college and lacking the passion necessary for him to win competitions and keep his love for the piano alive.








On her wedding day, 31-yr old model, Hayama Minami (Yamaguchi Tomoko), is left at the altar, so she runs through the streets in traditional wedding garb, busts in on Sena, and she demands to know where her fiance is hiding.

She gave the man all her money and is homeless as well since she told her landlord about her up-coming marriage.

Sena happens to be the one to introduce her fiance to another woman from his job, where he works teaching children how to play the piano.
He feels guilty, so he permits Minami to move in with him.

She's quirky, abrasive, and unbridled, but the longer that she remains with Sena, the more that she matures and learns how to temper her wild side, making her seem like more of a demure lady than a silly twit.

It's her silly side that attracts the viewer, though -

When she is with her girlfriend, the action flows seamlessly, the dialogue is genuine, and you feel for her in a realistic way.
In other words, there is nothing pretentious or boring about either girl, and that is refreshing from a non-Asian perspective.



Minami's younger brother, Hayama Shinji (Takenouchi), is as carefree and immature as his sister, and like Minami, one can't help but to be drawn into Shinji's silly character.
He went out of his way to make you want to punch him in the face, and at the same time want to embrace him and assure him that everything would be alright.







Sena has a one-sided love interest, Minami can't get over her awol fiance, and Shinji starts to mess around with Sena's girl despite the fact he is living with a woman.



Along comes our dashing photographer, Sugisaki Tetsuya (Toyohara Kosuke), who has had a mad crush on Minami for a couple years now - ever since he assisted a photographer at one of her modeling gigs.

Ekin Cheng vibe


Minami is still gorgeous and doesn't look a day over 21, yet her agency treats her and her friend like yesterday's left-overs.

Slowly, she develops feelings for Tetsuya, but at the same time, her interest in Sena has grown.
When Tetsuya finds out about her living arrangements, he's not happy and suggests that Minami find herself a new place to live.

In the end, it's Minami's girlfriend who sets things straight.

Because of Takenouchi, I chose to watch Long Vacation at aznv.tv, and I am truly glad for that decision.
It's an oldie but goodie with flawless subtitles and a pretty good soundtrack as well.

I recommend this drama to anyone looking for a few hours of interesting story and an escape from the everyday.

The title is linked to the aznv.tv website for your convenience.

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